The golden light gate remained completely motionless, not repelling anyone.

The woman easily passed through that light gate without encountering any obstruction.

“How—how is this possible?!” Wang Shao was greatly shocked.

“Miss is amazing! Miss passed through that gate!” Hong Su joyfully high-fived Lao Niu in celebration: “Miss will succeed!”

Duan Xiangrao frowned and asked Wang Shao beside her: “Didn’t you say her cultivation had just reached Refining Qi Stage First Level?”

“That’s what it originally was.” Wang Shao couldn’t care about anything else, quickly passed through the Yuanli Gate, and caught up to Zanxing in a few steps, grabbing her wrist: “Stop!”

“Is there something else?” Zanxing shook off his hand and asked.

“…When did you achieve Foundation Establishment? Clearly, before coming to Pingyang Town, you were only at Refining Qi Stage First Level.”

Zanxing looked at Wang Shao in front of her. After a while, she curled the corner of her mouth: “This is all thanks to that demon beast in the mountain stream at Dusu Mountain that day.”

“Demon beast?” Duan Xiangrao, who had followed them, looked suspicious. “That ‘Yu’?”

“I was dragged into the water by the demon beast, but later I was fortunate to escape from the demon beast’s mouth and even obtained a demon core.” Zanxing replied unhurriedly: “Young Master Wang also knows that one demon core is equivalent to a Third-Grade spiritual herb. Absorbing the Yuanli from the demon core can help cultivators break through.”

“Where is the demon core?” Wang Shao urgently pressed, then his face drastically changed: “You couldn’t have…”

“Refined it.”

“Refined?” This time, even Duan Xiangrao cried out in shock.

“Young Master Wang, originally that demon core should have been given to you. Unfortunately,” Zanxing looked at Wang Shao’s face that had turned pale with a mix of azure and white, and said gently: “You and I have ended our marital fate, and I have no one to rely on, so I could only refine the demon core myself, break through to Foundation Establishment, and come here to participate in the selection trial with you.”

Wang Shao nearly spat blood upon hearing this. One demon core could have allowed Yang Zanxing to advance from the Refining Qi Stage First Level to Foundation Establishment. If he had absorbed the Yuanli within it, he definitely could have broken through to Late Foundation Establishment, maybe… maybe even achieved Golden Core formation!

This woman was simply wasting heaven’s gifts!

Duan Xiangrao’s face also looked terrible. She never expected that a disfigured woman she hadn’t taken seriously would outmaneuver them.

“Time is almost up,” Zanxing nodded to him. “Young Master Wang, I’ll see you at Wangxian Terrace.” With that, she walked toward Wangxian Terrace without looking back.

Behind her, Wang Shao clenched his fists tightly, his eyes red with rage: “That bitch, I must kill her!”

Zanxing had no mind to care about Wang Shao’s current regretful mood. She walked to the base of Wangxian Terrace, where many cultivators who had passed through the Yuanli Gate were now gathered. She looked up toward the Taiyan Sect disciples on Wangxian Terrace. The leading Senior Sister Zi Luo was bowing her head, speaking to the cultivator beside her about something. Suddenly, Zanxing heard someone calling her name from behind: “Yang Zanxing?”

Zanxing turned around. Standing before her was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth, handsome and tall and thin, whose wheat-colored skin made him look less like a cultivator with immortal air and more like a young man with wild nature. His ochre-colored, tight-fitting clothes still had patches, and his fierce eyes carried some wariness, like a young panther that had just matured, alertly facing the hunter before him.

Although she had never seen this person before, Yang Zanxing almost immediately understood that this must be the original male protagonist of “Nine Heaven Summit,” Mu Cengxiao.

Because this youth’s style was extraordinarily different from the surrounding cultivators. Even though his clothing and appearance weren’t outstanding, standing here, he was simply impossible to ignore, his entire being radiating the protagonist’s aura.

“You didn’t die?” he said in shock.

“I fortunately escaped with my life,” Zanxing answered, feeling somewhat puzzled in her heart. According to the original story, it was Mu Cengxiao who fell into the water stream. Mu Cengxiao had obtained the Xiaoyuan Pearl as his golden finger, rose several levels in a row, entered Foundation Establishment, and thus gained the qualifications to participate in the selection trial and shine brilliantly. But later, she had transmigrated into “Miss Yang’s” body, and the Xiaoyuan Pearl became her possession. Without his golden finger, Mu Cengxiao should have been just a Refining Qi Stage novice and shouldn’t have appeared here.

But his appearance here now meant he had already passed through the Yuanli Gate. To pass through the Yuanli Gate, Mu Cengxiao had to be at least at Foundation Establishment cultivation. Could it be that during these days, Mu Cengxiao had other fortuitous encounters?

Zanxing sighed in her heart. As expected of the male protagonist, he could always fall off cliffs and meet good masters, find secret manuals in mountain caves, with endless luck and opportunities, full of good fortune that would make even Africans cry.

“You’re also participating in the selection trial?” Mu Cengxiao was also somewhat incredulous. Wasn’t Yang Zanxing just a young miss who only knew how to eat, drink, and play? She had wasted so many Spirit Stones and spiritual medicines, and in the end, barely managed to achieve Refining Qi Stage First Level. What did she mean by coming here now?

“Just here to observe,” Zanxing replied. She thought that Mu Cengxiao had still made it here and encountered Wang Shao. This meant the main plot hadn’t changed, and later the two should still fight, but this time, at least she wouldn’t have to become the cannon fodder who attracted hatred.

Thinking of this, she added another sentence: “I’m disfigured, and Wang Shao broke off our engagement.”

Mu Cengxiao looked at her strangely, somewhat puzzled why she would say this.

Just as he was pondering, the last cultivator entered the Yuanli Gate. On Wangxian Terrace, Zi Luo smiled sweetly: “It seems everyone is ready.”

She took out a palm-sized cone from her sleeve and threw it onto Wangxian Terrace.

Instantly, with a thunderous “boom,” the ground erupted in rolling dust and smoke. In just a moment, a giant stone mountain rose from the ground.

This stone mountain was narrow at the bottom and wide at the top. At first glance, it looked like a giant white mushroom. This mushroom was also slowly rotating. Zanxing stared in amazement: “What is this, a spinning chair from an amusement park?”

“This is the ‘Mountain Chain Flower.'” Zi Luo smiled as she explained to everyone: “Can you all see the purple flowers on the mountain?”

Zanxing looked carefully and finally saw that on this big white mushroom, there were indeed many glowing purple small flowers. At the mushroom’s stem, there were only a few scattered flowers, but the higher up, the more flowers there were.

“For today’s selection trial, you may climb the mountain and pick flowers on your own. You have the time of one incense stick to climb up the stone mountain, and you must not fall from the stone mountain. After one incense stick burns out, we will count the Mountain Chain Flowers in each person’s hands on the stone mountain. The top one hundred and twenty people from top to bottom will become disciples of our Taiyan Sect.”

Zanxing understood. Simply put, this was a rock climbing and treasure-grabbing game, with admission by ranking. However, she looked toward that giant stone mountain. It seemed simple, but the big white mushroom was rotating, which could easily cause dizziness. It was quite unfriendly to people with acrophobia or vertigo. Moreover, to pick more flowers, one had to climb higher. But with so many monks and so little porridge, during the flower-picking process, there would inevitably be open and covert struggles.

The surrounding cultivators were all ready to move, eager to try.

Zi Luo smiled: “Then, let the trial begin.”

The incense on Wangxian Terrace was immediately lit.