The “Introductory Trial” opened as scheduled, and the martial arts arena was packed to the brim.
There were far more people here than Lu Xiangyu had seen back at the Outer Sect village. In addition to rogue cultivators and outer disciples, there were talents brought by families associated with the Haiqian Sect, more than doubling the original crowd.
A massive stage rose in the center of the arena, with a circular perimeter cleared around it and protected by formations. No matter how earth-shattering the battles on stage became, the spectators below would remain unaffected. However, for safety reasons, it was still best not to stand too close.
Initially, Song Shenshi remained by Lu Xiangyu’s side. Lu Xiangyu lined up to draw a lot and saw that the two people in charge were the same as before: the female cultivator named Ruo Zhiwei and the male cultivator called Nan Ji.
After receiving her bamboo slip, Lu Xiangyu leaned in and whispered into Song Shenshi’s ear, “Where is Senior Brother Li? Why are only these two busy working?”
There was absolutely no empty space near the drawing table. Lu Xiangyu had half her body pressed against her, and since she kept moving restlessly, she was practically pulling the other woman into a half-embrace.
Song Shenshi frowned slightly. “Li Wenran has other matters to attend to.”
“What could be so busy? These two are so pitiful,” Lu Xiangyu joked.
She seemed to sense that Song Shenshi disliked crowds, so she held onto her and refused to let go.
Song Shenshi said helplessly, “Senior Brother Li is at the Hall of Rituals, protecting the family heads.”
Lu Xiangyu asked again, “What about the others? Can’t the Aqua Peak find a fourth person capable of working?”
Song Shenshi finally reached her limit and dragged her away.
It wasn’t until they reached the edge of the arena that they found a place to rest. For an event of such scale, it was indeed strange to dispatch only two disciples; even the others helping maintain order were from the other two peaks.
Lu Xiangyu rolled her eyes and spotted a familiar figure. She motioned toward that direction with her chin.
Little Miao Jiu still had an unfinished candied hawthorn stick in her hand. Seeing Lu Xiangyu wink at her, she quickly swallowed two of the hawthorns in one go, the crunch echoing in her mouth, and trotted over to Song Shenshi.
When Song Shenshi looked at her, Miao Jiu smacked her sugar-coated lips and said, “Senior Sister! I… I have something to tell you…”
Her eyes blinked rapidly. When Song Shenshi didn’t speak, she looked as if she had forgotten her lines.
Lu Xiangyu was frantic in the background, her face scrunched up in worry. Miao Jiu looked at her helplessly until Lu Xiangyu pointed urgently in a specific direction.
“Oh, right! It’s the back mountain… Senior Sister, can you come with me to the back mountain? I have a secret to tell you.”
Song Shenshi nodded gently. “If it’s not far, I suppose I can.”
As Song Shenshi followed Miao Jiu away, Lu Xiangyu nearly collapsed, clutching her forehead. As expected, entrusting such a critical mission to Miao Jiu was highly ill-advised, but she didn’t know anyone else.
Now that Song Shenshi was led away, her plan could truly begin.
Lu Xiangyu pulled out the bamboo slip she had just drawn. It was a very ordinary-looking slip; every slip in the bamboo cylinder was roughly the same length and size with rounded ends, differing only by the Haiqian Sect runes carved on the bottom.
Soon, everyone had drawn their lots. A loud gong sounded from the center of the arena, and a booming voice announced the names.
“First match: Zhang San versus Li Si!”
What a coincidence for those two names to meet, Lu Xiangyu mocked internally while pressing two fingers together to channel a sliver of spiritual energy into the rune.
The arena matches could last up to two days and nights. According to the drawing order, losers left the stage while winners continued to fight. Losers were allowed to go home, but those who hadn’t fought yet were forbidden from leaving; an empty slot would be counted as a forfeiture.
As the spiritual energy entered the rune, Lu Xiangyu narrowed her eyes and indeed saw a massive, densely packed, glowing array beneath her feet.
The Haiqian Sect had few Talisman Cultivators; these bamboo slips were actually part of a formation. Every slip looked identical on the surface, but the formation “angles” beneath them were different.
Lu Xiangyu swayed and staggered into the crowd as if she were sleepy, but she was actually peeking at the glow beneath everyone’s feet.
As long as she could find that last slip…
There was no shortage of experts among the crowd. Although it was a tournament-style stage, as long as one’s luck was good enough to win a single match, they didn’t even need a winning streak to pass. In theory, if every winner became the loser of the next match, only one unlucky person in the entire arena would fail to pass.
However, a cultivator’s desire for victory wasn’t that simple. There were many among them who were clearly powerful and just looking for a reputation, and they would have no problem weeding out half the “small fry.”
Lu Xiangyu considered herself merely the most energetic small fry among the bunch.
She finally found the person holding the last slip—clearly another “useless” small fry.
The man was wearing a filthy Daoist robe. Despite it being the day of the grand trial, he was leaning against a tree, clutching a wine jar and looking utterly drunk.
“Hey, wake up.” Lu Xiangyu kicked his foot.
Luo Shengwang lazily lifted an eyelid, glanced at her, and tilted his jar back, only to find it empty. He licked the wine stains from his beard.
This man didn’t look like a cultivator in the slightest.
“What is it?” he grumbled, letting out a wine-scented burp.
“I’ll give you wine to drink, do you want it?” Lu Xiangyu said, hands on her hips.
Luo Shengwang sneered, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.”
Lu Xiangyu pointed at the bamboo slip lying on the grass next to him.
“Trade that slip to me. Name your price.”
“Don’t want to.”
Meanwhile, Miao Jiu had led Song Shenshi to the back mountain, clutching her bare wooden skewer and licking the leftover sugar. She had claimed she was taking her Senior Sister to see something good, but where were there “good things” in the back mountains? She couldn’t very well go to the medicinal gardens and pluck the herbs of the healer sisters—she’d have her braids pulled for that!
Miao Jiu could only wander aimlessly. Before she had walked more than a few paces, Song Shenshi picked her up with one hand and set her back on the path leading toward the medicinal gardens.
Oh no, Senior Sister Song really is eyeing the healer sisters’ herbs!
They hadn’t walked for long when the sky suddenly became shrouded in dark clouds as if it were about to rain. The air crackled with electric sparks; Miao Jiu’s hair stood on end, and she caught the scent of something scorched.
Within the dark clouds, the faint silhouette of a black serpent could be seen churning. The aura of the surrounding protective formations was crumbling. Song Shenshi reacted instantly—something had happened to the Great Demon-Warding Array.
She sped toward the site with Miao Jiu. Upon entering the array, they found the demonic energy in total disarray. In mid-air, the disciples maintaining the formation were being enveloped by black mist one by one, spitting blood before falling unconscious and plummeting to the ground.
Another figure was in the sky battling the black serpent. Before long, however, that person also lost the fight. Struck by a sweep of the serpent’s tail, they were sent crashing down, landing right near Song Shenshi.
She rushed over to check. It was Lin Feiyuan, his face deathly pale and half his robes soaked in blood. Trembling in her arms, he coughed up blood continuously. With a look of pity, Song Shenshi told him not to move.
“Miss Song… that thing… I fear there is a problem with it,” Lin Feiyuan warned.
“I understand.”
Miao Jiu stayed behind to look after Lin Feiyuan. Song Shenshi turned her back to them, her sword already unsheathed.
“There are five spirit stones in this bag, not a single one more!” Lu Xiangyu tossed a pouch of spirit stones, hitting Luo Shengwang with it.
Lu Xiangyu, who had originally intended to solve this with five copper coins, felt a throbbing headache of pure annoyance. A single spirit stone was worth three months of food for an ordinary family; even in the Outer Sect of the Haiqian Sect, one would have to save for a month to get one—especially someone like him who did nothing but drink lazily all day.
Sure enough, faced with such a massive temptation, Luo Shengwang beamed as he caught the bag. He looked like he was about to prostrate himself before her.
“Ah, the slip is yours! Safe travels, fellow cultivator! Come back again next time!”
Having secured the lot, Lu Xiangyu immediately distanced herself from the man.
She looked back and saw Luo Shengwang clutching the spirit stones as he headed straight down the mountain, having no intention of competing in the arena at all.
Lu Xiangyu rubbed her temples, thinking to herself that the stones were given to her by Song Shenshi anyway, and the female lead had more merit points than she could ever spend… Giving her a bag of stones like this every day for cultivation was quite extravagant. Thinking of it this way, the female lead was actually quite good to her.
A sudden hollow feeling hit her chest; she felt worried about that person.
She had a nagging feeling that something had gone wrong, otherwise, Song Shenshi should have returned by now.
Lu Xiangyu hated this feeling. Perhaps Song Shenshi had been called away by an elder for business—why did she feel the need to be told everything? Besides, she hadn’t gone far, and Lu Xiangyu couldn’t feel that specific “resentful” emotion… well, maybe just a little bit now.
Sigh, I only want to become the top champion because Song Shenshi asked me to. No, I must prove it to her.
Even a “small fry” could be a cunning, principled small fry.
Lu Xiangyu began to move toward the center of the arena, observing the powerful experts nearby. She held the very last slip, which meant her opponent would be only one person—the absolute strongest survivor among the entire group.
Such a person was easy to find.
Lu Xiangyu noticed a cultivator with a different surname standing next to a sword-cultivating disciple from the Aqua Peak. The man had not yet entered the sect, but judging by his aura, he was certainly no weaker than the disciple beside him.
From their conversation, it seemed the two were brothers.
“Brother, you joined the Haiqian Sect years ago; why do you never come home?” Du Yuxi asked.
“A cultivator must focus solely on the Dao. if one is constantly longing for the mortal world, how can one improve?” Du Yifeng replied coldly.
This man had a thin, frail build and a mean-spirited face; he didn’t look like someone of great strength.
“It was through the support of the family and the teachings of our parents that we could become cultivators and do as we pleased… but if one day our parents grow weak and the family needs our protection…”
“Du Yuxi, if that is your mindset, you shouldn’t have picked up a sword!”
Du Yifeng flicked his sleeves and walked away, leaving the tall youth standing there with a frown.
According to Lu Xiangyu’s observation, the youth’s talent and temperament were both superior to the brother who was already a disciple.
Lu Xiangyu asked a few people around and learned their names. The Du family was quite famous within the Haiqian Sect and even had a small role in the original novel.
This Du Yifeng was not as noble as he appeared. Although he entered the sect in the same year as Song Shenshi, he didn’t just suffer a crushing defeat in the introductory trial; he was also nothing like the generous female lead. He was extremely petty; if you offended him, being dragged into a grove in a sack for a beating was a light punishment. Occasionally, when he went too far, some outer disciples would simply vanish, and no one would care.
He’s a textbook villain… Lu Xiangyu thought back further and actually found him in the plot following the destruction of the Haiqian Sect.
Du Yifeng was much more formidable than the “Little Ghost King” Lu Xiangyu. As the saying goes, “Good people don’t live long, but villains live a thousand years.” Not only did Du Yifeng survive the sect’s great calamity, but he also wiped out his own family. He somehow captured a weak demonic soul and swallowed it whole to fall into the demonic path, and even dug up his own younger brother’s bones to refine them into a magical tool.
He clearly recognized Du Yuxi’s talent, and it had driven him to a state of madness fueled by jealousy.