The very next day.
Several jet-black, windowless carriages arrived at a clearing halfway up the mountain.
The crowd gathered. A man in black flipped through a register, and after confirming the count, ordered everyone to board the carriages and prepare to head to the location of the initiation trial.
Having known of the Demon Sect's vicious and cruel methods for two years, the young Cultivators obediently boarded the carriages, embarking on the path of a trial that would decide their fates.
The journey in the carriages lasted for three whole days.
As the carriages came to a halt, the young Cultivators disembarked one by one.
Blinding sunlight streamed down.
Qi Yun, the last to emerge from a carriage, squinted as he scanned his surroundings.
Before him was the entrance to a forbidding mountain valley.
Surrounding the valley entrance stood dozens of Cultivators in uniform black clothes. Their faces were hard and cold, and they stood ramrod straight like iron spikes. Their gazes were sharp as a falcon's, filled with undisguised scrutiny and pressure.
Each held a long staff wrapped in purplish-black Talismans, the tip of which faintly shimmered with a dark light.
Seeing this display of heavy security, Qi Yun slowly furrowed his brows, a sense of unease creeping in.
"What took so long?"
At the head of the carriage procession, a man who appeared to be in his forties, with a goatee and meticulously combed hair, scanned the young Cultivators before him.
"We weren't slow. We had to pass through the Zombie Alliance's territory this time. It wouldn't have been wise to make a big show of it."
The black-clothed man in charge of the transport let out a long sigh of relief and handed over a scroll filled with names, family histories, and clan relatives. "My job is done. The rest is up to you."
He then glanced back at the mostly bewildered young Cultivators, the corners of his mouth curling into a smirk.
"Hmph." The man with the goatee casually stuffed the scroll into his robes and slowly stepped forward.
His icy gaze swept over the young Cultivators. With a flick of his right wrist, a jet-black Copper Bell carved with Ancient Seal patterns appeared from thin air.
JINGLE—!
His fingers clenched abruptly, and the bell shook violently!
A visible sound wave instantly erupted!
The next second!
In the next moment, an indescribably piercing shriek, accompanied by a sharp pain as if their hearts were being squeezed, caused all the young Cultivators to let out a muffled groan. Their faces turned ashen, veins bulged on their necks, and they clutched their chests as they sank to one knee in agony, looking as if they might suffocate and die at any second.
'A Magical Artifact?'
Forcing himself to look up, his face pale, Qi Yun stared intently at the black Copper Bell in the man's hand, his jaw clenched tight.
'A show of force to put us in our place?'
"Now, I will speak, and you will listen."
The man's cold voice rang out, the lingering power of the Copper Bell still vibrating in the air:
"You have been nurtured by our Holy Sect and granted a glimpse of the path to immortality. This is a fortune spanning three lifetimes.
Today, you are summoned here to receive a blessing of immense proportions.
If you can pass this trial, you will be formally inducted into our Wuji Holy Sect, where you may comprehend the Great Dao and seek Longevity!"
At his words, the expressions of the young Cultivators below shifted. A trace of longing appeared on their once-silent faces.
A thin smile crept onto the man's face as he continued:
"You are all quite lucky. The trial this time is very simple.
When the trial begins, you may enter the valley first.
Half a day later, these fellow disciples behind me will enter the valley to hunt for you.
As long as you can last for one day without being found.
You will be allowed to join our Holy Sect!"
At this, the tense expressions of the young Cultivators visibly relaxed.
'Just have to last for half a day?'
'It sounds like... there's actually a chance.'
"Then... what if we're found before the time is up?" a young Cultivator asked after a brief silence.
At this question, everyone present turned to look at the man with the goatee.
Feeling their gazes upon him, the man unhurriedly stroked his short beard and said in a placid tone:
"What do you think?"
'I get it.'
'Failure means becoming "Talent," then.'
"Alright, time is short. Prepare yourselves. The trial will officially begin in a quarter of an hour."
He put away the Copper Bell, and with one last glance at the young Cultivators before him, the corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk. He flicked his sleeve and turned to leave.
The moment the man left, the crowd immediately erupted in hushed whispers.
They were all discussing the trial's content and the horrific fate of being reduced to "flesh-and-blood Talent" upon failure.
"Qi Yun, want to stick together after we enter the valley? There's safety in numbers, more or less."
Looking at Tang Shun, who had come to propose an alliance, Qi Yun hesitated for a moment before nodding.
"Alright, there's strength in numbers. Count me in."
"Good, it's settled then."
Besides Tang Shun, the other young Cultivators also began to form their own groups. After all, the trial sounded simple, but who knew what hidden traps or snares lay in wait.
Two heads are better than one, after all. Going it alone right now was practically suicide.
A quarter of an hour passed quickly.
When the man with the goatee returned, the young Cultivators, under the watchful gaze of the cold-faced, black-clothed Cultivators at their side, began to walk toward the valley before them.
The valley entrance was flanked by soaring, steep cliffs. The rock walls, hundreds of meters high, created a heavy sense of oppression.
A howling wind whipped violently at their robes, the fluttering sound nearly drowning out everything else.
Qi Yun followed closely behind Tang Shun's group. As they reached the edge of the valley entrance, he instinctively glanced back.
He saw that the Black-clothed Cultivators, who had been scattered around, had now silently converged on either side of the goateed leader, poised and ready to move!
'Hm? Could it be...?'
His gaze sharpened. Qi Yun suddenly thought of a possibility, and his expression shifted.
Many others also noticed this strange development.
Hearts sinking, no one dared to say a word. They simply quickened their pace and plunged into the valley's shadows.
Watching as the last Cultivator's figure was swallowed by the valley, the man with the goatee stood with his hands clasped behind him, his voice as cold as iron:
"Begin.
Remember, be quick and clean. Try to leave the corpses whole.
This batch of 'Talent' is reserved for Junior Martial Uncle Song. He won't accept them if they're in poor condition."
"Yes!"
With a unified cry, nearly twenty Black-clothed Cultivators immediately set off, marching toward the valley with their purplish-black, Talisman-wrapped staves in hand.
'Half a day? Heh.'
'If they actually believed that, they deserve to become part of the Holy Sect's flesh-and-blood reserves.'
"The first rule of cultivation: never trust anyone.
I hope you all..."
The man with the goatee stared into the gloomy valley, exuding a chilling indifference to life and death.
"...remember it with your lives."
...
'That old bastard was probably lying through his teeth.'
'Giving us a half-day head start...'
'As if you can believe a word someone from the Demon Sect says!'
As the realization dawned on him, Qi Yun's expression grew grim. He was about to discuss the sudden turn of events with Tang Shun and the others, but when he looked up, his pupils contracted.
Where was Tang Shun? Where was everyone else?
There was only dead silence!
Towering ancient trees blotted out the sky, plunging the area into dim light. The stench of decay filled the cold air, as if he had stepped into a graveyard.
"Is this... random teleportation?!"
He looked around, but there wasn't a soul in sight. For a group of forty to fifty young Cultivators, this was completely illogical. Qi Yun's face darkened at the sight.
'Are they afraid of us grouping up, so they forcibly separated us?'
'First, I need to find a place to hide.' After a brief pause, Qi Yun started moving. 'If I'm right...'
'The people from the Infinite Demon Sect are probably about to enter the valley to hunt for us.'
Right now, time was life. A moment's delay could mean plunging into the abyss.
But just as Qi Yun turned to leave, a sudden chill made his entire body go stiff.
There, crouched on a tree branch, was a panther. Its fur was black as ink, its eyes were amber, and its snarling nose revealed two menacing fangs.
Unbridled savagery and hunger churned in its eyes, and thick drool dripped from its jaws...
'Am I this unlucky?'
With a resigned sigh, Qi Yun's expression hardened. The fingers of his right hand blurred, forming three Seal Techniques in an instant.
'Clear Wind Technique!'
The True Qi in his body flowed along with the Seal Skill, surging from his fingertips and into Heaven and Earth.
From the void, a surge of the Power of Heaven and Earth responded, materializing as a gentle wisp of Clear Wind that coiled around his body and lifted him.
Clear Wind Technique!
A Magic that summoned the Clear Wind to greatly increase one's movement speed.
'Run!'
The instant the Clear Wind lifted his body, Qi Yun tapped his toes, and his feather-light form shot forward.
"ROAR!"
The black panther on the branch, however, had no intention of letting this "tasty meal" get away. With a low roar, its muscles bunched, and it exploded with terrifying power, transforming into a black bolt of lightning that tore through the shadows in hot pursuit!
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Qi Yun pushed the Clear Wind Technique to its absolute limit, his figure weaving through the forest at incredible speed, leaving a trail of afterimages.
Yet the heavy, rapid footfalls behind him were like maggots clinging to bone; not only did he fail to shake his pursuer, but the sound was getting closer.
He could almost feel the beast's fetid breath on the back of his neck.
'This is bad!'
'This isn't an ordinary beast. It's an aberrant, on the verge of becoming a demon!'
Even with the buff from the Clear Wind Technique, Qi Yun's speed was astonishing, but two legs could never outrun four.
Especially not an aberrant one.
Fortunately, while the aberrant was fast, it was also bulky and had poor agility. Qi Yun used his own nimble movements to dodge and weave, managing to maintain a temporary stalemate.
As he leaped over a fallen tree, intending to use the terrain to kite the beast for a while longer, Qi Yun's expression suddenly froze.
'Huh? What's this...?'
Just a moment ago, a tremor had run through his heart, as if he had sensed something.
And the source of that tremor... was the Divine Mystery Panel.
'I have to check it out!'
In his current predicament, the Divine Mystery Panel was his only hope. He glanced back at the black panther as it corrected its course to pursue him, then immediately leaped in the direction of the tremor.
...
「A few minutes later.」
In the middle of a meandering, babbling brook, atop a cluster of rocks, a single stalk of grass swayed in the wind. It was completely translucent, like spun glass, appearing almost illusory.
The next second!
A hand shot out and precisely snatched the naturally-formed Treasure Grass.
"Got it!"
Qi Yun had barely gotten a look at the Treasure Grass in his palm.
When a strange suction force suddenly erupted from his palm, instantly completing its Refinement and absorption.
At the same time, the text on his Divine Mystery Panel began to change.
The progress bar behind [Clear Wind Technique] began to fill at a visible rate.
In the blink of an eye.
It was full!
[Magic Auto-Update Complete]
[This is a minor version update...]
...