It was not yet the hour of Si, but sixteen disciples had already gathered in front of the Special Martial Arts Hall.
Today, there were two tests, and those who failed would be mercilessly sent away by the academy. Unlike when they first arrived at the academy, the children had now spent four months here. During this time, they had been diligently cultivating almost day and night, and bonds of camaraderie had formed between them. If anyone failed to pass the test, it wouldn’t be as easy to forget as last time.
Surprisingly, the academy seemed to place great importance on these two tests. On the central platform of the Hundred Pavilions, incense smoke curled upwards. The huge bronze cauldron, usually covered in snow and ice, had been cleaned spotlessly at some point. A faint, elegant fragrance permeated the buildings. Below the platform, the academy’s five instructors had arrived even earlier than the disciples. Each of them had changed into formal ceremonial robes. Even Hu Jiaping, who usually lacked any semblance of an immortal disciple’s demeanor, now exuded an air of otherworldly grace.
Bai Ligelin, whose palms were originally sweaty with nervousness, found her heart racing towards Mo Yanfan’s extraordinarily handsome figure upon seeing him in ceremonial robes.
“Even if I don’t pass the test today, I’ll have no regrets,” the young girl muttered, clearly captivated by his transcendent beauty, her words becoming incoherent.
Two months ago, after the incident with the fake Lin You, they all thought Mo Yanfan wouldn’t teach the martial arts and sword classes anymore. To their surprise, he returned, continuing to instruct the disciples in fist techniques and swordsmanship as before. Master Zuo Qiu had specifically instructed the three who knew about the situation – Li Fei, Lei Xiuyuan, and Ji Tongzhou – not to reveal anything about Mo Yanfan and A Jiao’s affair. Li Fei and Lei Xiuyuan, grateful for Master Zuo Qiu’s kindness, kept their mouths tightly shut. Except for Ji Tongzhou’s occasional grumbling about how it had ruined his image of the dignified Xing Zheng Hall, the matter had indeed been kept secret.
At the hour of Si, the resonant sound of a bronze bell echoed throughout the academy. On the high platform, several figures appeared as if ink had suddenly spread on paper. Li Fei’s sharp eyes immediately recognized Master Zuo Qiu among them. Most of the others had youthful faces with white hair, while some appeared extremely young. However, judging by their bearing and demeanor, which were distinctly different, these must be the other founders of the Fledgling Phoenix Academy.
Hu Jiaping turned and bowed, saying in a clear voice, “Greetings, seniors. The hour of Si has arrived. Shall we begin the test?”
Master Zuo Qiu nodded slightly, “Let’s begin. This test is particularly crucial. I request the five instructors to be rigorous and meticulous.”
Li Fei had thought that today’s two tests would be like before, but she suddenly became nervous when it turned out to be so formal and grand. Behind her, a few male disciples were whispering, “I heard the spirit root attribute test is very strict. It seems that in previous years, at least half of the disciples were eliminated at this stage. There are only sixteen of us this year. If half are eliminated, won’t there only be a few left?”
Half of the disciples were eliminated in previous years? She became even more nervous. Perhaps because Ri Yan had been asleep for two months without waking, she felt somewhat lacking in confidence. Could she manage with just herself? Sigh, she had indeed become too dependent on Ri Yan. This wasn’t good, not good at all.
Hu Jiaping waved his long sleeve, and the disciples felt a gentle breeze brush their faces. Suddenly, the doors of the sixteen Special Martial Arts Halls disappeared, revealing a pitch-black interior that made one feel uneasy.
He looked up at the sky and said, “Those who cannot leave Jian Jia Mountain before the hour of Wei will be considered eliminated.”
With another wave of his long sleeve, the children felt as if an invisible hand had suddenly pushed them from behind. They involuntarily dispersed toward the sixteen Special Martial Arts Halls. As soon as Li Fei stepped through the door of the hall, the scene before her eyes changed abruptly. Cold wind mixed with snow pelted her face as she passed through the door, finding herself standing in a desolate snow-covered plain.
Is this Jian Jia Mountain? Where is the mountain? She carefully observed her surroundings. Unlike the miasma-filled forest and forbidden area of the second selection, the biting wind here was like a knife, yet the air smelled fresh. In the distance, countless steep peaks appeared like straight lines spreading across the gray sky. Goose feather-like snow fell on her head and shoulders, and apart from the sound of the wind, there was no other noise.
Instructor Hu Jiaping was being too irresponsible. Today’s test was so important, yet he had only mentioned it in passing, leaving them completely unprepared. The wind from all directions made it difficult for her to stand steady, with only the western wind being slightly weaker and carrying some scent of the mountain forest. Li Fei untied the stone sword from her waist and threw it out, flying swiftly toward the west on her sword.
Time was limited, only two hours. The requirement to pass was to leave Jian Jia Mountain, which could be deduced to be similar to the second selection – certain conditions must be met for the door to appear. In any case, the first step was to find other disciples. There’s strength in numbers.
After flying for a while, she saw only endless snow-covered plains and terrifying cliffs. Compared to these perilous peaks, the Tiger’s Mouth Cliff of Qing Qiu seemed like a small mound. As Li Fei was looking around, trying to find traces of other disciples, she suddenly heard the wind move behind her. Her reaction was incredibly fast, immediately erecting an ochre-colored earth-element defensive wall around her body. With a loud “clang,” something attacked her from behind. The impact was indeed heavy, causing the ochre light of the earth-element defensive wall to dim considerably.
She immediately re-established the defensive wall and made her sword spin rapidly in the air, turning back. To her surprise, behind her was a massive bird demon. Its jet-black wings, when spread out, were longer than two of her put together. Under its long beak grew a huge wattle, and its eyes were blood-red, looking incredibly ugly.
A demon attacking her! This was a first in her life!
Li Fei deployed a mist illusion to conceal her form while concentrating on gathering spiritual energy. In an instant, bursts of fire exploded on the bird demon’s body – this was the basic fire-element immortal technique, Li Fire Technique. The bird demon’s feathers were scorched by the Li Fire, immediately enraging it. It opened its long beak and spewed out thick black smoke.
Hidden behind the mist illusion, Li Fei couldn’t avoid it in time and inhaled some of the black smoke. She felt a pungent odor and immediately saw stars, nearly falling off her sword. If she fell now, she would truly become a meat patty! She immediately withdrew the mist illusion technique and with a flash of golden light, flew rapidly towards the ground while summoning wood-element spiritual energy to envelop her body and dispel the demon poison she had just inhaled.
The bird demon, with half of its feathers burnt off, was unwilling to let her go and pursued relentlessly. Its iron wings were huge, and with just a few flaps, it caught up to the stone sword. It opened its mouth and spewed out another cloud of black smoke.
While dodging, Li Fei was puzzled. Due to her special constitution, she had never encountered demons or wild beasts since childhood. Later, when she fell into the academy’s forbidden area, the demons there all avoided her and even brought her food. None had ever laid a finger on her. Why wasn’t this bird demon afraid of her? Wasn’t her constitution supposed to ward off evil and filth?
Another “clang” sounded from behind as the bird demon pecked at her fiercely again. This wouldn’t do; she needed to end this quickly. Li Fei concentrated on circulating her spiritual energy, about to deliver a fatal blow, when suddenly numerous beams of golden light fell from above, instantly piercing through the bird demon’s body. It let out a strange cry, and its huge body instantly turned into a torn piece of white paper, scattered by the mountain wind.
White paper? Li Fei suddenly realized that this demon was a counterfeit created by immortal techniques and demonic power. No wonder it attacked her! It seemed the academy had indeed put a lot of effort into this test.
More strange cries of bird demons came from behind. She looked back and saw a young man flying on a sword not far away. He was surrounded by more than a dozen bird demons spewing black smoke, but he always managed to dodge skillfully.
“Lei Xiuyuan!” Li Fei exclaimed excitedly upon seeing her companion. The Tai A Technique that killed the bird demon just now must have been his doing! Besides him, no one could use the Tai A Technique so domineeringly.
He seemed to have heard her call and waved his hand as if telling her to leave quickly. How could she possibly leave? So many bird demons were chasing him; how could he handle them alone?
Li Fei flew towards him rapidly, circulating her spiritual energy to cast an earth-element defensive barrier around him. Seeing the nearest bird demon about to spew poisonous smoke again, she immediately threw out several small green leaves. This was the wood-element basic immortal technique, Vine Entanglement.
The leaves stuck to its long beak, instantly transforming into numerous vines that bound its mouth tightly. The next moment, countless beams of golden light shot out again, tearing this bird demon apart like a rag, unwillingly turning into shredded white paper and scattering.
Li Fei flew to Lei Xiuyuan’s side, about to speak, when he suddenly reached forward and grabbed her waist, flying rapidly toward the ground. Just as they were about to crash into the snow, he leaped off the stone sword, causing Li Fei to lose her balance. The two children fell hard into the soft snow, rolling several times.
“Hey!” Li Fei, dizzy from the tumbling, immediately became angry.
“Talk later.” Lei Xiuyuan stood up and closed his eyes to concentrate, and golden light began to gather and pulse in his palm. Gradually, it was as if he held a small sun in his hand.
“Go!” He shouted clearly, and that ball of golden light suddenly shattered, turning into countless golden specks flying towards the sky. In the blink of an eye, the countless golden specks transformed into innumerable beams of golden light, falling like rain and covering several miles around them. The previously relentless bird demons were pierced by the golden light, instantly turning into white paper. Faint roars of other demons could be heard from the forest, presumably, all the demons within several miles had been swept away by his metal-element immortal technique, Golden Arrow Rain.
This was an immortal technique that could only be learned by those with metal-attribute spirit roots like Lei Xiuyuan during cultivation. Metal-element immortal techniques were known for their invincibility, and in terms of attacking power, they were the most superior among the five elements.
Lei Xiuyuan let out a long breath, turned back to Li Fei with a smile, and said, “If you hadn’t come, I was planning to lure more demons to kill them all at once. What a pity.”
Li Fei was immediately speechless. Had her good intentions become a burden?
She stood up, patting the snow off her body, and said coolly, “It seems you can manage on your own and don’t need help. I’ll go find others to travel with.”
As she was about to leave, she sensed Lei Xiuyuan slowly crouching down behind her. She couldn’t help but turn back to look, only to see him clutching his ankle, seemingly in pain.
“What’s wrong?” Li Fei quickly went over, “Are you injured after all?”
Lei Xiuyuan’s voice was very soft: “I think I’ve sprained my ankle. It looks like I do need your help after all. What should we do?”
Li Fei was speechless again. This child’s stubbornness was even worse than Ri Yan’s. If he didn’t want her to leave, he should just say so! If he wanted to show off his abilities like Ji Tongzhou, he should just say so!
While shaking her head, she still took off his shoes and socks. Indeed, his ankle was slightly red and swollen, presumably sprained when he jumped off the sword earlier.
She cast out an ice-blue healing net, covering his ankle. Among the group of four, because Master Zuo Qiu had determined her spirit root attributes to be primarily water and secondarily earth, only she had learned this water-element healing net. Even Bai Ligelin with her secondary water spirit root couldn’t learn the healing net yet.
Suddenly, a hand brushed away the hair from her forehead. Li Fei looked up in surprise to see Lei Xiuyuan sitting opposite her, smiling slightly: “Your hair was messy.”
She irritably brushed his hair too: “So is yours.”
He didn’t speak again, his eyes, seemingly filled with mist, kept looking at her. Li Fei initially returned his gaze quizzically a few times, but he just kept looking at her without saying anything.
Gradually, she began to feel uncomfortable under his gaze and finally couldn’t help but ask urgently: “What are you looking at?”