Chapter 85
Yu Sui didn't sleep for long. After half an hour, she woke up, patting her face to clear her head and looking toward Mei Liangyu standing at the cave entrance.
Xue Mushi's distance from them was neither too far nor too close, within the range where Strange Fire could monitor living beings. She just didn't know if Senior Brother would discover him at this distance.
After stopping for a while, Sheng Hao and Zhongli Shan's group also continued forward.
Zhongli Shan and the others knew Mei Liangyu very well. Without sufficient certainty that he wouldn't follow and fall down, and moreover for Yu Sui's sake, Sheng Hao had nothing to say. They waited for a while, then decided to advance first and rendezvous with Kong Yiyi and the others, having Nian Qiuyan divine the situation.
If Mei Liangyu hadn't been eliminated, he would also find ways to contact them. The Agricultural School Transmission Beast would contact Cang Shu first.
The cliff was too deep and would also disrupt Five Elements Energy. If they took a detour, it would probably take two to three days.
In this situation, finding Nian Qiuyan, who could accurately divine results, was the optimal choice.
Sensing the movement behind, Mei Liangyu turned back: "Awake?"
Yu Sui nodded, rubbing her eyes as she got up.
Mei Liangyu asked again: "Sleep for so long?"
"I'll sleep for three days and nights after leaving Dragon Slaying Cave." Yu Sui covered her face and yawned, her eyes still somewhat misty. "Senior Brother, I didn't advance by sleeping."
Mei Liangyu made a sound of acknowledgment and nodded: "Then try again next time."
The two walked out one after another. Yu Sui asked as she walked: "If a School of Names Thirteenth Realm practitioner or Saint-level Spirit Speech blessing were used, could it also bless others to advance?"
"The School of Names focuses on the connection between 'name' and 'reality.' Whether name comes first or reality comes first depends on different situations and will have different judgments. What you're describing..." Mei Liangyu glanced at Yu Sui walking beside him, "is called daydreaming. In dreams, you can directly advance to Saint level, but when you wake up, you have to face reality."
Yu Sui pretended not to understand: "I just like living in dreams."
Mei Liangyu chuckled, saying unhurriedly: "When passing through Dragon Throat's 'Three Thousand Divergent Paths,' you'd better restrain such thoughts. Being addicted to illusions and not knowing reality is also a kind of divergent path. If you can't pass, you won't reach Dragon Head Ye Pool."
"Is it a trial similar to illusions?" Yu Sui asked curiously. "Do I have to pass three thousand stages?"
While chatting with Mei Liangyu to elicit Senior Brother's explanations, she quietly signaled Xue Mushi to wait ahead for an "encounter."
"You could call it an illusion, but it won't tempt you based on your existing life experiences. Instead, it will give you different life experiences. Perhaps you've had a hard life in reality, so in Three Thousand Divergent Paths, you can live well."
Mei Liangyu said: "It will give you what you can't obtain, what you most desire deep in your heart, granting you a new life, while also testing your moral character of good and evil. Regardless of what school you cultivate, tests of temperament are necessary and most important."
Yu Sui asked: "Must one choose good to pass?"
This question was somewhat interesting.
Mei Liangyu asked back: "Do you think choosing evil would work?"
"Good and evil aren't absolute." Yu Sui looked down at the mountain path under her feet. "How many people in this world dare guarantee that from birth to death, they've always maintained good thoughts and never done any evil deeds, big or small?"
Mei Liangyu nodded, his expression indifferent: "That's reality, but the academy's trials have already made the choice for you. They want you to maintain good thoughts from birth to death."
"Whether anyone can achieve this is another matter. I actually agree with the Legalist School's proposition that human nature is inherently evil, so people spend their whole lives learning and restraining themselves, learning to maintain good thoughts and restraining the heart that wants to do evil."
Yu Sui's pupils reflected the scattered pebbles on the ground.
Some evil intentions were hard to restrain.
When people were in extreme situations, they always asked: Why me?
Among millions of people in the world, why me?
Mei Liangyu said: "The academy's various assessments and trials all have clear standards, especially illusion types. Don't try to distinguish right from wrong, just choose good and you'll be right."
Yu Sui was stunned: "Senior Brother, this isn't good. Doesn't that make temperament-related trials basically useless?"
"I'm only telling you how to get points from the academy." Mei Liangyu gave her a cool sideways glance. "As for your cultivation temperament issues, that's Master's job. I'm just your Senior Brother, not responsible for teaching these things."
Just based on Yu Sui being able to hide from assassinations for over ten years, plus the hatred and conflicts between family members, yet still being able to pretend to be foolish and cheerful while living until now, her temperament wasn't bad either.
Besides, if he taught everything, what would they need Master for?
Yu Sui asked about Three Thousand Divergent Paths again: "Must I definitely pass through it?"
Mei Liangyu said: "You're a Ghost Way School disciple. Your corresponding final trial is it."
Just as they finished speaking, they saw Xue Mushi standing on the opposite riverbank, soaking wet.
Xue Mushi emerged from the morning white mist, standing by the riverbank, staring blankly at the two people walking side by side on the opposite shore. After hesitating for a moment, he slowly raised one arm and waved at Yu Sui and the other.
Yu Sui: "......"
This kind of silly appearance was quite normal for Xue Mushi, very fitting and completely matching his personality.
But he was supposed to be the aloof and temperamental Divine Calculator now.
Mei Liangyu looked at Xue Mushi, then at Yu Sui beside him, his brow twitching slightly. If you said this Taoist School disciple had a strange temperament, well, at first glance, he was quite strange indeed.
"That seems to be Xue Mushi." Yu Sui said softly.
"Not 'seems to be,'" Mei Liangyu said. "It is him."
Yu Sui also waved at Xue Mushi. Xue Mushi could still pretend to be foolish. He shouted across the riverbank to the two: "Can I use Eight Trigrams Living Arts to cross the river?"
Mei Liangyu said: "Yes."
Yu Sui shouted back loudly: "Senior Brother says yes!"
Xue Mushi used Eight Trigrams Living Arts to cross the water. Yu Sui was explaining to Mei Liangyu about how he had fallen into the river during a previous fight. The river water there would restrict Five Elements Energy. Having suffered losses before, he didn't dare cross rivers easily.
Mei Liangyu looked at the two in front of him, stroked his chin and said: "Well, everyone's gathered."
Yu Sui asked Xue Mushi: "Why are you all wet? Didn't you take shelter from the rain?"
"Last night's rain hasn't stopped until now. I was afraid other Class A Students might have also fallen down, so I kept moving and changing positions to avoid encounters." Xue Mushi pressed his lips together, very naturally continuing: "I used divination to avoid dangerous places."
Mei Liangyu looked him over and said: "Then divine whether there are any shortcuts down here."
Xue Mushi: "Fine."
The considerate Yu Sui said: "Is that okay? How's your condition? Maybe rest a while before trying."
"It's no problem." Xue Mushi shook his head, and copper coins flew out from his hand, hovering beside him.
Mei Liangyu had just mentioned it casually. After all, Su Tong had praised how accurate Xue Mushi's divination was, but he hadn't witnessed it himself.
While disciples from various schools knew some divination, they basically only divined matters related to themselves, and achieving even thirty percent accuracy was already good. Divining for others was mysterious beyond mysterious.
The Technical Arts School was the ceiling for divination arts, followed by the Taoist School.
So no matter how capable Mei Liangyu was, he wouldn't take action himself in divination matters, just waiting to see Xue Mushi's results.
The copper coins hovering in different positions trembled and made humming sounds. After one position made a sound like cracking, it flew back to Xue Mushi's palm, then another, until only one coin remained.
"Go this way." Xue Mushi pointed at the coin floating in the air.
Mei Liangyu led Yu Sui following him, saying nothing. Divination methods varied, and results were what mattered.
Along the way, Yu Sui altered other disciples' routes, directing them here. If only she and Xue Mushi survived after falling from the cliff, it would arouse suspicion.
People wouldn't easily believe in your "luck," always having various strange analyses, thinking it wasn't coincidence.
Yu Sui directed lone wolf disciples or pairs. Though it took some time, Mei Liangyu dealt with them all.
Having just advanced to Tenth Realm, he also wanted to practice.
Yu Sui could also observe Senior Brother's strength up close and openly.
Mei Liangyu was indeed misled by the disciples Yu Sui had directed through terrain changes, thinking that more than just them had survived the fall. After all, Five Elements Energy could be used later, so other Class A Students could survive if they reacted quickly enough.
The cave entrances hidden among the forests all looked pitch black from outside, leading to unknown destinations.
Xue Mushi walked into the cave entrance, igniting Celestial Fire for illumination, looking at the pebbles on the ground and saying: "It's School of Names Mountain Stone Path-asking."
Neither he nor Yu Sui knew School of Names Nine Schools Arts. Although Yu Sui could transmit through formations, she couldn't use them in front of Senior Brother, so she turned to look at Mei Liangyu.
Mei Liangyu didn't need them to speak, consciously taking on the task of opening formations for transmission.
Under his Five Elements Energy guidance, the pebbles rearranged themselves, forming an open stone door.
Crossing the stone door led to Dragon Belly's Tenth Section.
Emerging from Dragon Belly Tenth Section's transmission point, they saw a sea of flowers. Unlike the Ninth Section's gentle drizzle, here the sunlight was warm, the flower sea colorful, stretching endlessly.
Yu Sui said softly: "This area doesn't seem easy to traverse."
"Illusions," Mei Liangyu said. "Don't look too much. Navigate by daylight star observation."
With a wave of his hand, a star chart appeared above, four directional constellations connecting into lines, pointing toward different directions.
Just as Xue Mushi was about to move forward, Mei Liangyu stopped him: "First see clearly what's under the flowers before walking."
Xu Constellation was separated out alone. Xu Constellation Star General, Frost White Python flew out, its massive body swiftly swimming through the flower sea. While crushing flowers and grass, it also exposed the black curse insects hiding beneath them.
"Walk where there are no curse insects." Mei Liangyu walked in front.
Yu Sui didn't want these troubles either, but she couldn't alter some natural scenery. If she wanted to take shortcuts from the cliff bottom to find Sheng Hao and the others, this transmission point was necessary.
The curse poison was fierce, capable of eroding Five Elements Energy. The Frost White Python blazed a trail, but after being contaminated by too many curse insects, it shattered after a while.
Mei Liangyu summoned a new one, continuing this cycle until they walked out of the flower sea.
The transmission point to Dragon Belly's Eleventh Section wasn't far, right at the end of the flower sea.
However, those without sufficient strength would have perished long ago in the flower sea. Only a few could reach the end.
At this moment, Mei Liangyu looked at the pitch-black cave entrance before him and fell into thought.
Crossing the flower sea took only half an hour, with the end being the transmission point, directly to Dragon Belly's Eleventh Section. Wasn't this speed a bit fast?
At this rate, he might reach Dragon Throat earlier than Zhongli Shan and the others.
"Senior Brother?" Yu Sui, who had already walked inside the cave, turned back to see Mei Liangyu stopped at the entrance without moving, looking at him in confusion.
Mei Liangyu looked toward Xue Mushi behind Yu Sui: "I haven't walked this route before."
Xue Mushi said: "There are many transmission points in Dragon Slaying Cave."
This was the truth. Every currently well-known transmission point was discovered through countless attempts by previous disciples.
Xue Mushi had also combined divination power. He didn't think Mei Liangyu could find anything suspicious about this.
As long as he answered more coldly and expressionlessly.
"I wonder where Third Brother and the others are now. Should we go ahead to find them or turn back?" Yu Sui asked at the right moment.
"No need to find them. We're moving fast, so let's continue forward." Mei Liangyu withdrew his gaze from Xue Mushi and walked toward the cave. "As long as your divination doesn't go wrong, I can use transmission beasts to contact them and have them take the same route."
This way, no one's time would be wasted, and Zhongli Shan and the others following behind would be safer.
Having witnessed Xue Mushi's divination abilities, Mei Liangyu had to admit he had somewhat underestimated him before.
Yu Sui glanced at the disciple distribution within Dragon Slaying Cave. They weren't the fastest, the fastest group had already reached Dragon Belly's Twelfth Section. Beyond that was Dragon Throat.
She took another look at Dragon Belly Twelfth Section's transmission entrance. Many red dots had stopped there, some clustering in groups of two or three while maintaining distance from each other. They seemed to be different teams. Though all exposed, they hadn't started fighting.
……
The sixth day of the Dragon Slaying Cave challenge.
The transmission entrance from Dragon Belly's Twelfth Section to Dragon Throat.
Before them was still a pitch-black stone cave entrance. Outside the entrance was a shallow beach, with sea waves lapping forward with the morning breeze. The sea surface sparkled, and several warships moved slowly in the distance, looking exactly like the Military Formation: Dragon Fish scene.
There were about twenty to thirty Class A Students on the beach, organized in various teams of two to three or three to five people.
However, these were all scattered outside the cave. The only three Class A Students who could stand at the cave entrance were Kong Yiyi, Nian Qiuyan, and Cang Shu.
The Class A Students closest to Kong Yiyi were only eight steps away.
Within this distance, some stones on the ground formed a simple landscape diagram.
The Class A Students who could reach here at this time wouldn't be weak, and they all cooperated in small teams, compensating for one-on-one deficiencies.
Precisely because everyone was strong, they had been deadlocked here for a long time.
Nian Qiuyan had set up Trigram Formation: Eight Diagrams at the cave entrance. After entering the formation, you could walk seven steps freely, but if you hadn't exited the formation by the eighth step and encountered Kong Yiyi, you would surely die.
Kong Yiyi, as an outstanding Military School combatant, cooperated with Nian Qiuyan's trigram formation and Cang Shu's curse poison and beast control, blocking the cave entrance all night. No one had managed to pass.
Seeing dawn break, Nian Qiuyan squinted and smiled warmly: "Another new day, time to divine three new trigrams."
"Don't divine anymore." Bai Duo, a School of Names disciple waiting on the left side, rolled his eyes and pointed at Nian Qiuyan. "If it weren't for you putting Kong Yiyi at the eighth step, if you were there instead, I'd knock your head off."
Clearly quite irritated by Nian Qiuyan's trigram formation.
His specialty was military divination arts.
Cooperating with Military School disciples, he could truly achieve the level of one person repelling a thousand armies.
Everyone knew that Nian Qiuyan only divined three trigrams per day.
The weakness was obvious, but breaking through wasn't easy.
Kong Yiyi turned to look at School of Names disciple Bai Duo, arrogantly lifting her chin and pointing at him with her gaze: "When bragging, you don't blush or pant. Why don't you try entering the formation and see who knocks whose head off."
Bai Duo snorted coldly, withdrawing his hand: "You let Nian Qiuyan fight me."
Kong Yiyi said: "I'm telling you to fight me."
"Why should I fight you?!" Bai Duo said hatefully.
Kong Yiyi put her hands on her hips, silver bangles on her wrists sliding back and colliding with soft crisp sounds. She remained calm: "Then why should Nian Qiuyan fight you?"
Bai Duo stamped his foot angrily: "His trigram formation is blocking all of us here. If not him, who should we fight?"
Kong Yiyi: "I don't care."
Nian Qiuyan smiled: "Everyone calm down. It's just an academy trial, no need to be so angry."
Hearing this, others couldn't help but glare daggers at Nian Qiuyan.
This trigram formation looked crude without much spectacle, but once you entered, after seven steps, the eighth step would unconditionally place you under Nian Qiuyan's control. During your seven steps, the trigram formation had already extracted all your Five Elements Energy and gathered it in Nian Qiuyan's hands.
Thus at the eighth step, your life and death were completely at Nian Qiuyan's whim.
Having Kong Yiyi guard the eighth step was because their current opponents were all Eighth or Ninth Realm Class A Students who could cooperate in breaking formations. Kong Yiyi's Military Formations and weapon control could maximize and enhance the trigram formation's power, making it impossible for anyone to pass.
But those who could break through the formation weren't nonexistent.
Ghost Way School disciples had the easiest time passing Trigram Formation: Eight Diagrams.
Ghost Way School's Soul Control and Seven Consciousness could evade the trigram formation's mechanism of extracting Five Elements Energy. Unfortunately, Ghost Way School disciples were fewer compared to other schools. While there were some with strong abilities and promising futures, they were just fewer.
Besides Mei Liangyu, only three Ghost Way School disciples could break Nian Qiuyan's Trigram Formation: Eight Diagrams.
Though these three weren't as famous as Mei Liangyu, they had some skill in Ghost Way arts. It was just that Mei Liangyu knew too much, making his capable fellow disciples pale in comparison.
Coincidentally, all three had been eliminated earlier and were currently cursing at Dragon Slaying Cave from outside.
The remaining twenty-plus Class A Students weren't without thoughts of joint attacks, but they were also competitors against each other. What if someone backstabbed them during the process?
Unable to establish trust, cooperation was impossible.
Even if they wanted to cooperate, Kong Yiyi and Nian Qiuyan would argue back and sow discord among them.
Nian Qiuyan's public statement was: "The trigram formation only blocks people, doesn't harm them. After our team's other members arrive, we'll go to Dragon Throat together, starting from the same point. Before that, everyone suffers no losses."
As long as you didn't reach the eighth step when breaking the formation, nothing would really happen.
Fighting would only create longer stalemates for all sides, with no one able to easily eliminate anyone.
Some teams thought this was acceptable, so they kept their distance from everyone, resting at the edges or getting food, some even going fishing in the sea.
Other teams thought this wouldn't work. What if Nian Qiuyan went back on his word and left another trigram formation here to delay them after the others arrived?
School of Names disciples like Bai Duo tried every way to provoke Nian Qiuyan, wanting him to step out for a fight, first eliminating this troublesome person who could set trigram formations.
Several female disciples looked pitifully at Kong Yiyi, calling her Sister Yiyi or Little Sister Yiyi from several steps away, sweet-talking her not to guard the eighth step.
Kong Yiyi turned a deaf ear: "Not listening, not listening."
Yin-Yang School's Liao Xue said tearfully: "Sister Yiyi, after we pass through the formation, we'll definitely wait for you at Dragon Throat before leaving together. I keep my word."
Kong Yiyi pointed at disciples from the School of Names and Legalist School: "Say that again in front of the School of Names and Legalist School's testimony arts. If it's false, you'll be subjected to Legalist School judgment lightning punishment on the spot."
Liao Xue turned and threw herself into someone else's arms: "You Military School girls are all too heartless!"
Cang Shu was leaning against the stone cave yawning when several Junior Brothers and sisters came to him with sob stories, crying about how they'd die if they couldn't reach Ye Pool and get Heavenly Mechanism Arts.
He wanted to say then just go die, they could be eliminated without anyone having to act, but remembering Shi Yuezhen's warning that such words easily made enemies, he swallowed the words back and started staring at the air, completely ignoring others' sobs.
Some people tried to break the formation. After entering and feeling the oppressive sensation brought by the landscape's momentum, feeling as heavy as a thousand pounds and unable to bear the state of Five Elements Energy loss, they quickly retreated and gathered together to seriously study how to break the formation, occasionally asking Nian Qiuyan questions. The academic atmosphere was very friendly.
A tiny red transmission beast crawled up Cang Shu's shoulder, following his neck to his ear to tell him the message from Shi Yuezhen.
Learning that Mei Liangyu had fallen off a cliff with unknown fate, Cang Shu shifted his eyes, turned to walk toward Nian Qiuyan, and told him and Kong Yiyi about this.
Kong Yiyi puffed out her cheeks. Not expecting such a development, she lowered her voice: "What's Mei Mei doing jumping down? Wasn't that a certain death situation?"
Cang Shu said slowly: "Saving his Junior Sister."
So Kong Yiyi was puzzled: "Is he that type of person?"
Cang Shu added: "I guess so."
Kong Yiyi recalled Nangong Sui's appearance. She had eaten with Xing Chun and Kong Yiyi several times and had a good impression of Nangong Sui. After thinking carefully, she suddenly understood: "I get it. Mei Mei likes Nangong Sui."
Nian Qiuyan smiled: "He does quite like his Junior Sister Nangong Sui."
His divination about Nangong Sui wasn't negative. Xing Chun also said he often saw her running to Yin-Yang Five Elements Field to open star map military formations, transforming from an ordinary person to a Nine Schools Arts practitioner, diligently studying on the cultivation path.
Except for her close relationship with Gu Qian and being the heir of the Nangong family opposing the Zhongli family, there was nothing bad about her.
Mei Liangyu didn't care about the former, Zhongli Shan didn't care about the latter, and Nian Qiuyan and the others cared even less.
"He wouldn't jump down without some confidence." Cang Shu paused for a long while before adding: "He's not that reckless."
Kong Yiyi's understanding of "liking" was clearly different from Nian Qiuyan's understanding of "liking," so she argued back: "He doesn't always maintain absolute calm and rationality. After liking Nangong Sui, acting impulsively due to emotions is understandable."
Cang Shu looked at her with complete confusion.
Kong Yiyi raised her elbow and nudged Nian Qiuyan: "Explain it to Cang Shu again, he seems not to understand."
Nian Qiuyan shook his head and said warmly: "Mei Mei is most likely still alive."
After speaking, he began divining his first trigram of the day.
Black Divine Wood Signs were held in Nian Qiuyan's hands, his fingertip slowly sliding from bottom to top on the smooth sign surface. Golden light appeared and instantly vanished on the black Divine Wood Sign. Nian Qiuyan captured some information from the golden light, pausing at the sign's top.
"The person is still in Dragon Slaying Cave." Nian Qiuyan looked back thoughtfully at the transmission formation. "Seems to be ahead of us."
"How is that possible?" Kong Yiyi's eyes widened. "He fell from Dragon Belly's Ninth Section, didn't even pass the transmission formation."
But Nian Qiuyan said: "Didn't that Taoist School Divine Calculator also fall together? In Dragon Slaying Cave, crises are also opportunities. Newcomers have better luck than us."
Kong Yiyi rolled her eyes, scanning the disciples outside: "How about we go check it out first?"
Nian Qiuyan also whispered back: "Then the situation would get out of control."