A month had passed, and the Sacred Tower Trials resumed once more. Cultivators of the Xuantian Continent gathered early before the Mystic Heaven Mirror, buzzing with heated discussions.
【Here we go, I’m here!】
【Is this the fourth round already?】
【Yes, there are five rounds in total—the next one will be the final battle.】
【Which sect is leading in Sacred Stones right now?】
【It hasn’t been announced, but according to our elders’ estimates, the ranking is: Purple Flame Realm, Qingling Mountain, Divine Evolution Temple, and Jade Rhino Valley. But in the last round’s Star Moon Valley ruins, Purple Flame Realm lost the final Star Stone to Qingling Mountain, so the gap between them is razor-thin. The final winner is still up in the air!】
【First place can only belong to Purple Flame Realm!】
【First place can only belong to Purple Flame Realm! Senior Brother Di Qi, go for it! Victory for Senior Brother Di!!】
【Exactly! Those Qingling Mountain folks only know how to scheme—they won’t last long.】
【Ugh, the moment I arrive, I hear dogs barking. How unlucky.】
【Let them bark. The louder they bark, the worse their luck—hehe.】
As the two sects with the strongest chances of claiming the top spot, cultivators from Qingzhou and Dizhou bickered relentlessly.
Amid the chaos, cultivators from other regions quietly munched on metaphorical popcorn, squeezing in their own comments.
【Haha, I don’t care whether Purple Flame Realm or Qingling Mountain takes first. I’m just curious which three sects will make it to the final Sacred Tower battle.】
【The top two are guaranteed as long as they don’t get eliminated this round. The third will probably be Divine Evolution Temple—Jade Rhino Valley’s Sacred Stone count is too low, so they’re likely to be knocked out.】
【Not necessarily. Those little foxes from Jade Rhino Valley have insane luck.】
【I agree. Until the very last moment, nothing’s certain.】
【True, the monks from Divine Evolution Temple always have terrible luck—probably karma from all those souls they’ve ferried.】
Just as the arguments reached a fever pitch, the Sacred Tower Trials officially began. Someone shouted: 【Enough! Stop fighting and focus—it’s starting!】
…………
This time, Wen Shuangbai and her group were transported onto a high-speed spirit ship.
In the ship’s grand hall, over a hundred cultivators of varying strengths sat cross-legged on the floor. Among them were twenty-four disciples from the four major sects.
Surrounding them were warriors clad in silver-gray armor. At the front, a middle-aged man in golden armor swept his gaze over the crowd and declared, “Form your own teams. Each team must gather one hundred Divine Phantom Herbs within seven days—or the Valley of Divine Phantoms will be your grave!”
Divine Phantom Herbs? What were those?
Not just Wen Shuangbai, but every cultivator in the hall wore a puzzled expression, turning to whisper with their teammates.
“What the heck is a Divine Phantom Herb?”
“Bro, are we being scammed? Fifty thousand Sacred Stones for a hundred herbs sounds too good to be true.”
“It’s legit! Someone I know got paid, which is why we’re here. This is the City Lord’s spirit ship from Zhuoguang City—no way it’s fake!”
“……”
Hearing the familiar name, Wen Shuangbai’s brows lifted slightly as she exchanged glances with Xie Ziyin and the others.
The City Lord’s residence of Zhuoguang City…
The reason Qi Yaoling had become the thousand-year-old demonic tree was because of the medicine brought by the City Lord’s people.
After the Zhuoguang City round ended, Wen Shuangbai had tried to investigate the City Lord’s residence but found almost nothing.
All they knew was that the City Lord, Wang Hu, was originally the son of a butcher. He left home to wander, stumbled upon some great opportunity, and became a cultivator.
Thirty years later, he returned, led his villagers to cultivate the land, and built Zhuoguang City.
Beyond that, no one knew what his opportunity was, who his master had been, or why he’d founded Zhuoguang City.
Perhaps Purple Flame Realm knew—after all, it was their disciples who had entered the City Lord’s residence in Zhuoguang City.
But as rivals, Wen Shuangbai doubted Purple Flame Realm would share anything useful. The matter had been shelved—until now.
Who would’ve thought they’d cross paths with Zhuoguang City’s Lord again here?
“Silence!” The armored man unfurled a scroll. “This is the Divine Phantom Herb.”
Wen Shuangbai looked up—and nearly laughed. The so-called “Divine Phantom Herb” looked like… well, grass. The kind you’d find anywhere on the roadside.
Unsurprisingly, the others erupted in complaints.
“This is just grass.”
“My backyard’s full of this stuff. Five thousand per stalk? Seriously?”
The armored man smirked, offering no explanation. “You’ll understand once you’re down there.”
With that, the spirit ship lurched to a halt. The man strode to the door and flung it open.
A gust of eerie wind blasted in, whipping hair and robes wildly. Worse, an icy, sinister aura seeped in, raising the hairs on everyone’s necks.
“Who’s going first?” the man asked.
The cultivators exchanged uneasy glances. No one volunteered.
The six from Qingling Mountain kept their heads down—Shen Hefeng had just finished a covert divination and shaken his head ominously.
“No one?” The man’s eyes landed on the most conspicuous group in the corner: the bald monks. “Then you go first.”
Divine Evolution Temple: “???”
Wen Shuangbai and her team shrank further into themselves, praying not to be singled out like those unlucky monks.
After the six monks were unceremoniously shoved off the ship, it moved on, stopping again to eject another team.
Each time, only one team was dropped at a location.
Seven rounds later, the hall had thinned considerably—yet Qingling Mountain and Purple Flame Realm remained quiet, each huddled in their respective corners.
As for Jade Rhino Valley…
Before entering, Elder Tortoise had given them one instruction: follow Qingling Mountain’s lead.
So, the little fox spirits mimicked Wen Shuangbai’s group, staying perfectly still.
The ship halted once more. But this time, before the armored man could speak, Shen Hefeng suddenly jumped up. “We’ll go!”
The Jade Rhino Valley foxes immediately began whispering.
“Xiaoli, should we go too?”
“Yeah, Elder Tortoise said to stick with Qingling Mountain.”
Yu Xiaoli hesitated. “But each spot only takes one team. There’s no way we can go with Shuangbai and the others.”
Yu Qianli: “Then what do we do?”
Yu Xiaoli: “We’ll go at the next stop. We can’t take their spot.”
The others agreed: “Alright.”
But just as they decided, Purple Flame Realm’s diviner finally finished his calculations and hastily stood. “No—we’ll go!”
Shen Hefeng immediately pointed at them and snapped, “You brat! Didn’t you hear me call it first? Are you a copycat or what? If I eat crap, will you do that too?”
Purple Flame Realm’s cultivator wasn’t as quick-tongued as Shen Hefeng. Stuttering "you, you, you" for ages, he couldn’t get a proper word out, his face flushing red with frustration.
Seeing this, Di Qi stood up and said with a light chuckle, "We’re all friends here. No need for things to get so unpleasant."
He turned to the steward sent by the City Lord’s residence and spoke courteously, "We’ll defer to your judgment, sir."
The steward gave a hum of acknowledgment, glancing between Qingling Mountain and Purple Flame Realm before finally declaring, "Then—" His finger circled in the air before pointing at the jade rhino valley’s little spirits, who had been watching the drama unfold. "You lot, down you go."
The six little spirits from Jade Rhino Valley blinked in bewilderment. "Huh??"
---
An incense stick’s time later, the six from Qingling Mountain were dropped at the next location.
Shen Hefeng clambered up from the sandy mud, dusting off his backside while grumbling, "Those sanctimonious hypocrites from Purple Flame Realm ruined my perfectly divined hexagram!"
"Calm down, old madman," Lu Jiayao said cheerfully. "Purple Flame Realm didn’t get their way either. Jade Rhino Valley was the one sent down, and the good spot went to our friends. Isn’t that fine?"
"Fine my foot." Shen Hefeng had always been vicious at heart—he only cared about his own advantage. What did he care about those little spirits from Jade Rhino Valley? It wasn’t like they’d handed over their little turtle for him to use as a shell!
"Enough. What’s done is done," Li Zhuohua, ever the impatient one, urged. "Quit whining and start divining already!"
She wanted to get moving!
Nearby, Wen Shuangbai surveyed their surroundings.
Stretching before them was a desert landscape, but unlike ordinary deserts, the sand here was pitch black.
Black dunes rolled endlessly into the distance, with no end in sight.
Not a single trace of plant life could be seen within her field of vision.
No wonder the City Lord’s people on the spirit ship had said they’d understand once they got down here.
So this was what the golden-armored man had meant—any grass that could grow in a place like this had to be the Divine Mirage Grass.
Wen Shuangbai sighed inwardly before shifting her gaze to the sun overhead.
Hanging in the sky, the sun cast a cold, pale glow. Stretching a hand out, she felt no warmth—only a chilling draft.
The wind howled from all directions, seeping into their clothes. Lu Jiayao shivered violently, huddling closer to Yin Xuan. "This place is freezing… and it feels weird. I don’t like it one bit."
Yin Xuan nodded. "Agreed."
Meanwhile, Xie Ziyin was inspecting the large, bulging cloth bag the spirit ship had tossed down to them before leaving.
Every team had been given one, supposedly containing supplies for the next seven days.
Inside were six padded coats, a large bottle of fasting pills, a small vial of spirit-stabilizing pills, a jade token, and a slip of paper.
The paper had a few hastily scribbled instructions:
1. Do not travel at night. Find shelter from the cold and sand.
2. Consume one spirit-stabilizing pill daily—or go mad without fail.
3. Once you’ve gathered a hundred Divine Mirage Grass plants, crush the jade token. We’ll come retrieve you. Falsify the count, and you die.
As Xie Ziyin read, a tiny wooden hand suddenly stretched out beside him, trying to tug the paper closer.
"…" He turned his head to find Four Hundred—the little wooden figure—perched on his shoulder, straining to peek at the note despite having no discernible facial features.
Yet Xie Ziyin could practically sense its impatience.
Yes, Four Hundred was desperate!
Couldn’t it take a look too?!
Just then, Wen Shuangbai walked over and asked, "What does the note say?"
Xie Ziyin glanced at the flailing wooden puppet before leisurely folding the paper in half and handing it to Wen Shuangbai.
Four Hundred: "…!"
