Chapter 7 : Chapter 7
Chapter 7: The Real Trial
Back at the Defying Heaven Sect.
At Kite Plaza.
When everyone heard Ning Ri say that he respected the choices of the minority, a burst of laughter rang out...
That laughter was directed at Xun Cang, who was seated off to the side.
This, too, was one of Elder Xun of the Joyous Union Courtyard’s traditional performances—
Having his orientation questioned!
Whenever Xun Cang was the one sent out to recruit disciples, the questions he asked were always like this.
And if the person Xun Cang was questioning was of a suitable age, broad-minded enough, and capable of accepting a wider range of things, Xun Cang would even produce all sorts of vivid, straight-to-the-point images for them to view.
Among the disciples watching the spectacle at Kite Plaza, quite a few had either fortunately or unfortunately been treated to that experience before.
At the same time,
a handsome elder with a calm expression and a face like polished jade fixed his gaze on Xun Cang. There was more than a trace of displeasure in his voice as he said, “Elder Xun, in the future, when you ask people those questions, do not drag the ideals of our sect into it.”
“That is the ideal of your Joyous Union Courtyard. It is not the ideal of the Defying Heaven Sect, nor is it the ideal of my Forge Sea Peak.”
Mo Cuidao was the peak master of Forge Sea Peak, which was the sect’s Artifact Refining Peak.
Because of that, many disciples would ask: since it was clearly the Artifact Refining Peak, why was it called Forge Sea Peak? Did Elder Mo perhaps like being together with the sea?
If people were simply asking that question plainly, that would have been one thing. But among those who had already gone through Xun Cang’s Heart Inquiry, not a single one of them was asking it innocently.
Seeing the anger hidden within Mo Cuidao’s words, Xun Cang laughed and said, “Elder Mo, do not be in such a hurry. You spend so much time in seclusion and have not gone down the mountain in so long. You do not understand. The times have already changed, and the disciples are all rather lively now.”
“They are only asking in jest because they do not know better. They are not truly questioning your preferences. They merely want to get a little closer to you...”
Mo Cuidao gave a cold snort and directly cut him off. “That is enough.”
Xun Cang shut his mouth.
At the same time,
just as Ning Ri’s Heart Inquiry came to an end, a fourth water screen appeared in the air.
As for the first three trial participants, Ning Ri included, after being “driven” out of the Defying Heaven Sect, they all experienced the same thing—
A cry for help!
Only then did everyone see—
After Liang Chengdao left the Defying Heaven Sect, he brought out his dharmic treasure carriage—a horseless carriage.
The horseless carriage was extremely fast. In no time at all, it plunged straight into the mountain forest, far away from the Defying Heaven Sect.
But halfway through the journey, Liang Chengdao, seated in the carriage, suddenly heard a cry for help from ahead:
“Kind sir, please save me!”
“I am willing to pay any price!”
“Please, save me...”
Hearing that voice, Liang Chengdao opened his eyes, his expression as indifferent as ever. At first, he had intended to close them again...
His mother had once told him that whenever trouble arose outside, he should first protect himself, just as he did in the palace...
But as the cries for help outside the carriage grew ever more urgent, his gaze flickered for a moment. In the end, he still took out his prince’s token, cast a layer of concealment over his face, and lifted the curtain...
Ahead of him, a slight and delicate-looking young woman came running out in a panic. Her dress was stained with dirt in many places, her hairpins were in disarray, and she looked as though she had rolled miserably in the mud several times. She carried the aura of first-grade Qi Refining, but it was already extremely weak.
At a glance, it was clear that she was nearly at the end of her strength!
Behind her followed a masked bandit at second-grade Qi Refining. He carried a blade and pursued the woman closely.
And the very moment Liang Chengdao lifted the curtain, the woman accidentally tripped and fell. She cried out in pain, then turned back in terror to look at the bandit, who had already closed in on her side.
In that instant, utter despair appeared on her face...
That brought forth an excited laugh from the masked bandit. “Heh heh, there is no one around for miles. Let’s see how you plan to run this time... Hmm? Boy, are you thinking of interfering in my business?”
It was as though the masked bandit had only just noticed the halted Liang Chengdao. He turned to look at him.
With his features blurred beneath a layer of hazy light, Liang Chengdao spoke in a calm voice. “I do not wish to kill. I will give you one breath of time. Get lost.”
The moment those words fell,
the masked bandit burst into loud laughter. “Hahahaha, boy, do you even know who you are talking to—ugh...”
Before he could finish, the bandit clutched his throat in agony. Blood continued to pour from it. He stared at Liang Chengdao and forced words out from his throat: “Y-you... how could you ambush me?!”
Bang—
The instant he finished speaking, the bandit collapsed to the ground and died.
Liang Chengdao put away the prince’s token in his hand. To avoid needless complications, he had just used the spell stored within the prince’s token to kill the bandit in an instant.
The prince’s token could prove his identity, but it could also be used to strike suddenly while the other party was distracted by the display of that identity.
When the woman saw that the bandit had been killed, tears immediately filled her eyes with gratitude, and she knelt again and again in thanks. “Many thanks for your great kindness, Young Master!”
Liang Chengdao swept a glance over her and said blandly, “There is no need...”
With that, he tossed her a medicinal pill and turned to leave. Before departing, he added one more sentence:
“Follow my carriage. There is a mountain village just ahead.”
As soon as he finished speaking,
Liang Chengdao boarded the horseless carriage and set it in motion. As the wheels turned, a spell stirred up a current of spiritual wind that swirled around the woman, making her immediately feel much lighter...
And then,
after Liang Chengdao passed by the woman, he suddenly discovered that the entire scene before him had changed. The bandit and the woman both vanished, transforming back into the very world he had been in when he first entered the water screen.
He froze slightly. Then he turned and walked out, only to find all the elders not far away smiling as they looked at him...
At that, Liang Chengdao’s expression shifted slightly, and he narrowed his eyes—
He understood at once!
The earlier Heart Inquiry had only been there to throw people off.
The bandit and the woman afterward had been the real trial!
At that moment, the gray-robed elder Guan Yan smiled and said to Liang Chengdao, “Many thanks to young friend Liang for stepping in to save her! The trial result will be announced after the others have completed theirs. Please wait for now.”
After a moment of silence, Liang Chengdao said, “Many thanks, Elder Guan.”
Then he walked to the side and sat down, observing Gao Hong and Ning Ri in the water screens. At the same time, his expression remained somewhat guarded...
He was worried that this might still be an illusion.
But as he touched the jade pendant in his robes, he felt that something was off...
His jade pendant had the power to break illusions. Ordinary illusions could be shattered with ease.
Everything in the trial had felt so real, without the slightest flaw. Could that truly have been an illusion?
Or had the Defying Heaven Sect gone so far as to invite a great illusion master, just to create the most realistic possible trial for its disciples?
That would have been completely unnecessary!
At the same time,
Gao Hong, the second trial participant, encountered the same situation as Liang Chengdao after leaving the mountain.
However, because he moved more slowly, it was only after quite a long while that he ran into the bandit and the woman crying for help.
When Liang Chengdao, seated at Kite Plaza, saw the woman fall once again in front of Gao Hong, the corner of his mouth could not help twitching slightly...
And within the water screen, the moment Gao Hong saw that, he immediately roared in anger, “How dare you, thief?!”
The instant those words fell,
Gao Hong charged forward without the slightest hesitation, like a raging bull. Spiritual energy surged around his feet, and when he shot forward like an arrow loosed from the bow, the immense force erupting from his body actually shattered the dirt road beneath him...
The bandit was still laughing viciously and did not even have time to finish his second sentence—“How dare you interfere in my business...” before he was rammed to death on the spot.
Bang—
After the bandit died, Gao Hong was just about to help the woman up and escort her back when his water screen abruptly shattered.
Then, just like Liang Chengdao before him, he walked out of the light portal.
When he emerged, he still looked somewhat dazed...
Then,
everyone’s attention focused on the third water screen.
At that moment, Ning Ri, too, had come upon a woman who had fallen right in front of him.