The moment doubt arose, the illusion began to warp.
“Break!”
Ignoring the excruciating pain, Liu Fuyin forcibly drew upon the last trace of spiritual power in her body. She drove her sword viciously into her own thigh, and the piercing pain shattered the illusion before her.
“Boom—”
A gap instantly exploded open in the training arena. Liu Fuyin staggered out, her face deathly pale as she gasped for breath.
She lowered her eyes to her leg. There wasn’t a single wound.
The elder in charge helped Liu Fuyin up onto the platform. Ji Zhaoxi held her chin high, looking unbearably smug.
But Liu Fuyin didn’t provoke her as she usually did. She merely glanced at her before standing off to the side to rest.
“I was the first one out,” Ji Zhaoxi whispered as she came up beside her.
The corner of Liu Fuyin’s mouth twitched, but she ignored her.
The Ji Zhaoxi in reality was even more annoying than the Ji Zhaoxi in the illusion.
Seeing her expression, Ji Zhaoxi looked satisfied and returned to her original position.
The other disciples emerged one after another, but two remained trapped in the illusion. The veins on their foreheads bulged as they clawed frantically at their own skin.
When the time was up, the sect master calmly raised a hand.
The Second Elder forcibly awakened the two disciples. The instant they regained consciousness, their spiritual power completely collapsed and their spirit roots shattered. They would never be able to cultivate again.
Below the platform, Gu Wuyou let out a sigh of relief. Luckily, he had lost in the first round. If he had entered the Heart-Questioning Path, he didn’t know whether he would have been able to escape.
Getting out would have been wonderful. But if the elders had been forced to wake him, he would have lost his chance to cultivate for the rest of his life…
What a vicious Heart-Questioning Path!
“Sect Master, can the next match begin?” Triangular Eyes asked with a beaming smile.
He had been waiting impatiently.
The sect master swept him a cool glance. “Begin.”
The Second Elder hurriedly spoke up. “Shu Bai, show some restraint.”
He didn’t understand why Zhishan had suddenly wanted to sign a life-and-death contract with Wen Shubai. Wen Shubai’s cultivation was clearly much higher, and he was afraid Wen Shubai might go too far.
Wen Shubai had just been about to speak when Triangular Eyes let out a cold laugh.
“Second Elder, a life-and-death contract has its own rules. This isn’t an ordinary trial.”
His fists clenched tightly. Everyone thought Wen Shubai was the strongest.
Wen Shubai clearly had a heart demon now, yet the Second Elder still wanted him to go easy…
The following rounds were the major assessment for disciples who had joined the sect years ago. These disciples had struggled their way through Tianjue Sect for many years. From the moment the bell rang, the atmosphere grew oppressively tense.
The disciples in the training arena didn’t immediately swing their swords. Instead, they rapidly widened the distance between them. Their movements were seasoned, their toes lightly tapping against the stone tiles as sword qi sliced through the air with a grating shriek.
Spiritual power intertwined across the sky. In an instant, the stone tiles exploded into powder. Various forms of spiritual power collided in midair, and wave after wave of shockwaves burst outward, sending several nearby new disciples tumbling to the ground.
At that moment, Liuli sat on a tree branch, watching everything with great concentration and occasionally jotting down a few words.
But all she wrote were the disciples’ weaknesses. She loved using other people’s shortcomings to highlight the strengths of her young mistress. It made for wonderfully satisfying reading.
In the training arena, Triangular Eyes was struggling terribly. He kept dodging and weaving. He had to hold out until only a few people remained before he could make it onto the platform.
“Are you worried about Senior Brother?” a voice suddenly asked beside her ear.
Ji Zhaoxi’s face flushed bright red, and she immediately denied it. “No! I’m watching their matches.”
Liu Fuyin calmly replied, “You’re happy when Senior Brother wins, and you frown whenever he gets hurt.”
Ji Zhaoxi glared at her. “Sore loser!”
Liu Fuyin: “…”
The battle in the training arena had reached a stalemate. Long swords formed a dense net of blades, while the spiritual pressure caused the surrounding air to grow thinner and thinner.
Triangular Eyes stayed hidden behind the other disciples, clutching his chest as blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
No. If this continued, neither he nor Wen Shubai would make it to the platform.
Just as Wen Shubai broke through the sword formation, Triangular Eyes’ hidden hand tightly gripped a Bone-Eroding Nail.
As long as Wen Shubai died, the nightmares that had haunted him all these years would finally end. No one would ever compare him to Wen Shubai again.
He opened every meridian in his body and anchored his soul firmly to the Bone-Eroding Nail. The two forces resonated with each other. He was determined to make Wen Shubai die without fail!
The Bone-Eroding Nail transformed into a streak of dark light and silently vanished into the surging waves of spiritual power.
“Buzz—”
At the center of the vortex, Wen Shubai frowned. The Chongli Sword slashed fiercely through the void, sweeping aside all the spiritual power mixed together around him.
The spiritual power of the Chongli Sword directly drew the Bone-Eroding Nail toward it, sending it violently back in a backlash. A surge of spiritual power in the air was stirred into shreds.
The other disciples in the training arena wore solemn expressions as broken swords whirled through the air. None of them wanted to be eliminated in the very first round.
Triangular Eyes didn’t even have time to let out a scream. His entire body shuddered, his eyes filling with blood, and he collapsed directly onto the ground.
The sword qi of the Chongli Sword pierced through the chaotic spiritual power in the air and pressed down on him with overwhelming force. Triangular Eyes’ qi sea finally could not withstand the pressure. The foundation of his cultivation was forcibly torn out, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Senior Brother Zhishan seems to be injured.”
“Where? I can’t see from here.”
The disciples in the training arena fought fiercely, while those nearby kept their distance, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.
After a long while, fewer and fewer disciples remained in the arena. Wen Shubai sheathed his sword and stood still. He didn’t spare the sprawled Triangular Eyes a single glance.
The elder in charge hurriedly sent people to carry Triangular Eyes away.
“Why did you only bring him down now? It’s too late. His spirit root is already shattered.”
“They were fighting so fiercely. I didn’t dare go up and drag him out.”
“What about the life-and-death contract?”
The elder in charge exchanged a glance with another elder, then tried to wake Triangular Eyes.
“Zhishan? Zhishan! Are you still going to fight Wen Shubai on the platform?”
Triangular Eyes kept his eyes closed, listening clearly to their voices.
Of course he was going to fight. Wen Shubai definitely wouldn’t be able to pass the Heart-Questioning Trial. He was certain of it…
This was his best chance to defeat Wen Shubai.
But no matter what, he couldn’t get up. His consciousness was also growing increasingly hazy.
“His spiritual power has dispersed. Ask the elders how to deal with this. Zhishan has been in the sect for so many years…”
“Understood. I’ll go ask now.”
On the platform, Ji Zhaoxi let out a sigh of relief when she saw what had happened. Triangular Eyes’ spirit root was shattered. There was no way he could attack Senior Brother now.
“You’re relieved,” a faint voice said from beside her.
Ji Zhaoxi: “…”
At last, Ji Zhaoxi couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you Liuli? Do you have to write down every little thing, even when I let out a sigh of relief?”
Liu Fuyin said nothing.
She was nothing like that gluttonous maid Liuli.
At that very moment, Liuli, sitting in the tree, let out a huge sneeze and pulled her clothes tighter around herself.
