Following the two, the first to come up was the elder of the Sword Sect, who was at the Tribulation Transcending stage.
"Oh my, Elder Chu, young friend Liu! Young man, you are truly formidable! Young man, you are truly formidable!" He walked over and patted Liu Jinghong's shoulder in a very hearty manner, making Liu Jinghong almost spit out a mouthful of blood.
It wasn't easy for him to climb that ladder; his bones and internal organs are aching all over, and then this happens.
Liu Jinghong gave a professional fake smile: "Not bad, not bad. Compared to your grand-disciple, you're still a little bit better..."
The elder of the Sword Sect felt a lump in his throat, his mouth opened and closed repeatedly, cursing his good-for-nothing grand-disciple a thousand times in his heart. Finally, he glared resentfully at Liu Jinghong, then turned to Chu Hongluan and asked, "Elder Chu, did you see that kid when you came up? Where did he climb to?"
Chu Hongluan chuckled and replied, "About eight hundred steps. I still have some energy left, so climbing up shouldn't be a problem, though it will be quite tough."
Hearing her say that, the elder of the Sword Sect felt a little better, and muttered:
"It's good to suffer a little. The essence of the cultivation techniques we practice in the Blade Sect lies in arduous training. If I wasn't afraid that the only heir of this generation of the Blade Sect would perish here, I wouldn't have come."
Those who can cultivate to his level already have their own lineage, so why would they need to compete with younger generations for inheritance?
He walked slowly, wanting to give the younger people a chance to show off. But after he leisurely strolled around for so long, only two people managed to surpass him, and neither of them were from his own sect.
Thinking of this, the elder of the Sword Sect once again beat his chest and stamped his feet in frustration.
Soon, Penglai Lezheng Chang'an, the Sword Pavilion Elder, the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect Elder, Jade Maiden Sect Xu Qingqiu, and the Joyful Union Sect Elder all reached their limits, each at the Nascent Soul stage.
Then came Kottinger.
The elder of the Sword Sect was quite satisfied. After all, among the younger generation, apart from Liu Jinghong, who was a real problem, his own grand-disciple arrived the fastest. That was good; he had made them proud.
Next was Mo Yu, his expression cold and desolate, his white robes stained with blood.
“As the chief disciple of the Sword Pavilion, Mo Yu, you should have performed better,” the Sword Pavilion elder said calmly with a cold face.
"Yes," Mo Yu replied.
He looked somewhat disheveled, with a few bloodstains on his pale, jade-like face, and a few strands of hair hanging down in front of his forehead, blurring the emotions in his eyes.
Time passed slowly, and the disciples who were able to climb up gradually made it. Of the eight disciples from Tianji Pavilion, only four made it up. Qiao Yue and Li Dazhuang were left at the very back, looking more and more miserable than the other.
"You two are refugees?"
Chu Hongluan couldn't help but tease her.
"Oh dear... don't even mention it... I almost died on the road! If it weren't for Brother Dazhuang pulling me out..."
Li Dazhuang was panting heavily: "It was clearly you... who wouldn't let go of my clothes..."
Chu Hongluan smiled and comforted her, "Everyone who came today is an elite disciple from a major sect. You represent more than half of the elites here. Everyone who sees you will praise you."
"Really?!" Qiao Yue's eyes lit up.
"Of course, you guys are already great."
Liu Jinghong was displeased: "Why haven't I heard my junior sister praise me?"
Chu Hongluan smiled faintly: "You even received your reward early on, and now you're turning around and saying I didn't praise you?"
Liu Jinghong belatedly realized what was happening, and her face flushed slightly.
Here, this is for you.
Chu Hongluan broke the jade pendant in two, handing the male pendant to Liu Jinghong and keeping the female pendant on her waist.
"This is from Jubaolou last time—"
"Yes, it's said that as long as they are within a mile of each other, the two jade pendants can sense each other. When we enter the next trial, we might be separated, but that's okay, I'll come find you."
Mo Yu stood in the shadows, his eyes flickering slightly.
"Alright, I see no one else wants to come up. How about we move on to the next trial?"
The elder of the Sword Sect spoke.
The light source at the end of the ladder is a mirror, and also the entrance to the next trial.
No one objected, and they lined up to walk into the mirror one after another.
Mo Yu brushed past Liu Jinghong's shoulder as they walked by, their eyes meeting with an indescribable coldness and hostility.
The moment Chu Hongluan stepped into the mirror, she felt a white blur before her eyes, her mind went blank, and she lost consciousness.
......
"Miss, Miss, waaaaah, wake up, wake up!"
Chu Hongluan was awakened by the crying beside her ear, and then felt a dull pain in the back of her head.
She frowned and squinted to adjust to the light.
"Miss? You're awake!"
Chu Hongluan propped herself up and sat up, subconsciously reaching out to touch the back of her head. When she pulled her hand back, it was covered in blood.
What's wrong with me?
“Miss! Have you forgotten? You were caught peeping at Prince Mo while he was bathing, which alerted the guards of the Prince’s mansion. We finally managed to escape here and were about to climb over the wall to get out! But you slipped and fell while climbing over the wall, hit your head on a pebble, and passed out! I called you for a long time before you woke up.”
The maid, her eyes red, struggled to help Chu Hongluan up, her voice urgent:
"Miss, let's hurry, the guards from the Mo Prince's mansion will be searching this place soon!"
Prince Mo? Peeping on someone taking a bath? Huh?
Chu Hongluan thought about it carefully and realized that it seemed to be true. However, the memory felt somewhat detached, lacking any sense of reality.
Never mind that, let's get out of here first!
Chu Hongluan waved away the maid's hand, grabbed her skirt with both hands, took a few steps back, and nimbly took a running start, jumped, and accurately climbed the wall.
"Over there! Quick! Catch them!" came the shouts of the guards from not far away.
Chu Hongluan squatted on the wall and quickly bent down: "Give me your hand! Hurry up!"
The little maid, Bitao, was not surprised and immediately did as she was told.
Chu Hongluan scooped her up and jumped off the wall.
In the blink of an eye, they both disappeared.
Back at the Minister's residence, Chu Hongluan asked Bitao to summon the physician to bandage her wounds. However, the physician was accompanied by the head mistress of the Minister's residence, who was also her own mother.
The head injury was treated and stopped bleeding, but he still got a severe scolding from his own mother.
Only after she repeatedly expressed that she had realized her mistakes and returned to the right path did her mother let her go.
After seeing off the family physician and her own mother, Chu Hongluan recalled all the absurd things she had done in the past. The more she thought about it, the more she wished she could just kill herself.
Tell me, she's the legitimate daughter of a high-ranking official's family, what kind of talented young men couldn't she find? How come she's so infatuated that she drools over every handsome guy she sees? Fine, drooling is one thing, but throwing yourself at him is another, right? And what's with peeping at someone taking a bath?
I just can't figure it out.
Chu Hongluan, the soon-to-be eldest daughter of the Minister's mansion, felt that she might have been out of her mind before, and that she only came to her senses after falling down.
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