On the night after praying to Yushan Shengren, it snowed all night at the foot of Gufeng Mountain.
Early the second morning, the rooster’s crow awakened the dawn. After Zanxing finished washing and grooming and pushed open the door, what she saw was snow covering the entire mountain.
The azure green of Gufeng Mountain was covered with silvery white. The sunlight was tinged with a cold hue, and even the clouds and mist at the ends of the mountain peaks seemed frozen, like congealed jade piled at the edge of the azure sky.
When one walked outside and breathed into their palms, they could see a layer of moist white mist appear before their eyes.
Everything about the Taiyan Sect was good, except for one thing—winter was too cold. Zanxing had already spent a complete autumn here, yet still hadn’t adapted to the climate.
While thinking this, Tian Fangfang walked out of the small wooden building nearby. Seeing Mimi dozing at the doorway, she casually stroked its head while rubbing her hands and complaining to Zanxing: “It’s too cold today! These clothes are not warm enough!”
The gauze robes in the sect were just those thin two layers, probably to maintain the ethereal image of cultivators. The older disciples had already adapted to the clothing style here, but for new disciples, it was somewhat difficult.
Zanxing lifted her skirt, frightening Tian Fangfang into quickly turning around: “What are you doing?”
“Look.” Zanxing gestured for her to see. Tian Fangfang cautiously turned back her head and saw that under Zanxing’s gauze skirt, she was wearing thick cotton pants, immediately stunned.
“If you feel cold, just add long underwear inside.” Zanxing said, “You can’t see it from the outside anyway.” The cultivation world was too vain—this attitude of caring only for style and not warmth was no good. When they got old, whoever got rheumatism would know.
Tian Fangfang suddenly had the door to a new world opened for her. After pondering for a while, she felt Zanxing’s method was indeed good. She went back and added pants under her gauze robe before going with Zanxing to the dining hall for breakfast.
Today was the day of the inner sect assessment, and also the day for Xuan Lingzi to select a direct disciple. The dining hall was very crowded, and it happened to be the winter solstice, so the morning meal consisted of mutton dumplings. Zanxing and Tian Fangfang each ate a bowl and immediately felt much warmer.
After eating, the two went together to the competition stage.
The competition stage was already surrounded by people, similar to last time, yet not quite the same. Last time only Zi Luo presided at the front of the stage, but today was quite a valued occasion, with all seven senior uncles present.
Senior Uncle Yueguang, Senior Uncle Yueqin, Cui Yufu, Li Danshu, Zhao Mayi, Xuan Lingzi, and Gu Baiying were all seated on one side of the competition stage. In front of the stage stood a square boulder, extremely wide and long, with nothing on it.
Zanxing also saw Hua Yue, who cast a sinister glance at her, clearly not harboring good intentions.
These past days, Hua Yue had often sent people to harass her, though within the sect, he hadn’t found any opportunity to strike underhanded blows. At most, he would curse a few words and have his lackeys come find fault, since fighting was not permitted within the sect. It was said he had also broken up with Duan Xiangrao, disdaining her as merely an outer sect disciple unworthy of him as a prospective direct disciple. In short, he was heartless and faithless, comparable to a second Wang Shao.
Zanxing also saw Meng Ying. This future sect leader of the Taiyan Sect had recently emerged from seclusion, breaking through to mid-stage Yuan Ying. The difficulty of such an inner sect assessment was no longer suitable for her strength, so she didn’t need to participate. Zanxing’s gaze lingered between Meng Ying and Mu Cengxiao. These two seemed very unfamiliar with each other, and she hadn’t discovered any signs of romantic development yet. Zanxing pondered in her heart—it seemed that up to now, the plot segment involving Mu Cengxiao and Meng Ying hadn’t begun yet.
She wondered if this inner sect assessment would bring any unexpected changes.
While thinking this, Zi Luo on the stage had finished checking the list of the last disciple coming for assessment, set the roster aside, and the surroundings gradually quieted down. The disciples standing in formation knew the assessment was about to begin.
A total of four hundred disciples were participating in this assessment, all inner sect disciples of the Taiyan Sect. Xuan Lingzi stood up and walked to the center of the competition stage. Since this was to select his direct disciple, naturally, he would preside over the situation.
Xuan Lingzi said, “Today is the day of the inner sect assessment. This assessment, after joint discussion among all senior uncles, has been decided to change the assessment method.”
He extended his hand, and immediately a rice-grain-sized point of light appeared in his palm. Xuan Lingzi waved his hand again, and the rice-grain-sized light point fell into the air, gradually unfolding—it was a painting.
This was a long scroll depicting various demon beasts and cultivators. The demon beasts and cultivators seemed to be engaged in a great battle. At first glance, the painting appeared to depict a battlefield scene.
“What is that?” the disciples below whispered among themselves.
Xuan Lingzi smiled as he looked at everyone. After the disciples had discussed enough, he slowly said, “This is the Xumi Jiezi Map, and it is also the venue for your assessment this time.”
Zanxing was surprised in her heart—this examination venue was quite high-level.
Just as she thought this, Zanxing suddenly saw the long scroll depicting the battlefield scene enlarge before her eyes. The next moment, her vision blurred, and when she could see again, the environment she was in was no longer the competition stage from before.
This was a wilderness with very deep grass. Not far away was a dense forest, and the cloud layer was also very low, heavily shrouding overhead. At the limit of her vision was a dangerous peak with flowing waterfalls, looking bright and sunny. However, the distant scenery looked extremely fake, like a crude false painting. Only the gloom and desolation before her eyes was real.
The soil on the ground was very soft, tinged with some dirty red, faintly carrying a bloody smell. A crow perched on a tree branch, its blood-red eyes staring at Zanxing, emanating an ominous aura.
Xuan Lingzi’s voice came from the far end of the sky, as if separated by distant space, echoing everywhere. He said, “Twenty years ago, the Demon Lord Gui Diao Tang ravaged the human world, slaughtering the human race. In the great war between humans and demons, cultivation world sects led their disciples into battle. Our sect’s Qinghua Xianzi personally slayed Demon Lord Gui Diao Tang, helping restore peace to the human world.”
“After the human-demon war, our Taiyan Sect was severely injured, with many excellent disciples fallen. The demon race is evil and bloodthirsty, their crimes unforgivable. Later, someone drew the ‘Xumi Jiezi Map’ to reflect the tragic scenes of that year’s battlefield.”
“All disciples participating in the assessment—the land beneath your feet is the scene from the great human-demon war of that year. In this map, yuanli is used to outline various demon cultivators that appeared in that great war. Each time you defeat a demon cultivator, your yuanli automatically increases. Different demon cultivators represent different amounts of yuanli. Low-level demon cultivators give the least yuanli, and high-level demon cultivators give more. The number of all demon cultivators is limited. What you need to do is defeat as many demon cultivators as possible in the shortest time to obtain yuanli.”
“The ranking stone outside the competition stage will automatically update rankings based on the obtained yuanli every hour.”
Zanxing was listening intently when she suddenly felt something extra in her hand. Looking down, she saw it was a talisman paper with a crooked red character “stop” drawn on it.
“Each of you has a departure talisman in your hand. In the Xumi Jiezi Map, although the demon cultivators are fake, candidates may get injured while fighting the demon cultivators. When you can’t persist, you can crush the departure talisman to leave the examination venue on your own.”
“If you encounter Mo Sha, with your current cultivation level, don’t fight—just crush the departure talisman immediately.”
Xuan Lingzi said, “The competition lasts at most two days. The entire assessment ends when the last candidate leaves. Now, the trial begins.”