Chapter Fifteen: Shu Mountain Trial

  Remember in one second

  The old man with a lame leg didn't even give him a glance, but seemed to be muttering to himself: "Want to leave? Kid."

  Dai Yun did not know what he meant and hummed a sound.

  The old man said: "You help me with something, and I'll let you go."

  The old man said coldly, "It seems that you not only don't know how to be a human being, but also don't know when to advance or retreat. You colluded with the evil spirit of Wudong Cave and fell into our Shushan Sect's hands, which is known for its righteous and evil-hating reputation. You should have been reduced to ashes. Your skills are not refined, and you've fallen into someone else's hands, yet you still can't be controlled. Now, I won't make things difficult for you. Just do one thing for me, run an errand, and I'll let you go. What are you waiting for if you don't agree immediately?"

  After hesitating for a moment, he said: "Alright then, what do you want me to do?"

  The old man asked back: "What realm have you practiced to, young one? Tell me and let me hear."

  Dahui knew that there was a saying about the seven major realms, and the lowest level had the Golden Elixir of the Great Way, the emergence of the yuan Shen, riding the clouds and fog several realms. He himself had a low Dao cultivation and hadn't even reached the realm of the Golden Elixir of the Great Way. Dahui said: "I have a low Dao cultivation and haven't yet formed the elixir."

  The old man laughed, his ugly face twisted even more, and said: "You haven't even formed the Connection Elixir, yet you talk about going to Mount Shu to learn swordsmanship. You really don't understand anything."

  Dai Yuan: "How did you know we wanted to learn swordsmanship?"

  The old man snorted: "Do you think I want to listen? You're talking so loudly, disturbing the old man's sleep."

  。”

  Dai Wu was taken aback, and then thought that the lame old man must have overheard their conversation. He knew about the red hairpin being taken away by San Zhi, but he didn't stop them at the time. Dai Wu tentatively asked: "That night my friend disappeared, did you hear anything?"

  The old man said with a playful expression, "I don't care who was killed and who escaped, I'm only telling you that if you haven't reached the boundary of the Dan stage, you can't learn swordsmanship."

  At this time, Dabai knew that the old man was turning a blind eye, and that night he had let Sanzhuti escape. Dabai didn't say anything clearly, but cupped his fists and said: "Thank you for your guidance, senior. What do you want me to do? Please tell me."

  "Alright, in two days those self-proclaimed gentlemen will be organizing their disciples to go to the Blood Refining Valley for a trial. You can go too, and bring back some demon pellets for this useless old man."

  The old man took out a piece of green jade waist token and handed it to Da Yun. Da Yun took it over, only to see that the token was crystal clear, with majestic mountains and valleys hidden inside. On the back of the token, there was a long sword shining, and two characters "Xiao Meng" were engraved on it. Da Yun had heard the middle-aged man call this old man "Shifu Xiao Meng" before, so the words on the token must be this old man's Taoist name without a doubt.

  Dai Yun took the token and strolled around Mount Shu for two days, only to find that the waist token of the Xiaomeng Taoist was still very useful. No matter where he went, as long as he showed his waist token, the Mount Shu disciples would immediately let him pass. However, this strange old man seemed to have a bad reputation, and everyone who saw Dai Yun holding the waist token kept their distance, with not a single person willing to chat with him for more than a few sentences.

  Shu Mountain is indeed a famous sect, and the scenery in the mountain is magnificent and beautiful everywhere. There are countless pavilions and buildings that broaden one's horizons. Until the third day, Dabai entered Shu Mountain's Scripture Pavilion with his waist card. Since Dabai started practicing Taoism, he has been exploring everything on his own. After entering the Scripture Pavilion, he only glanced at a few introductory books and felt that he had gained a lot. Dabai couldn't help but deeply regret not coming two days earlier.

  After several days, Da Xi finally remembered the task entrusted to him by Lao Dao and reported to the designated place on the mountain road in Shu Mountain. Looking at the large jade stone arena, more than a hundred young disciples had gathered, everyone was enthusiastic about the upcoming Blood Refining Valley trial, which seemed to be a grand event among the younger generation of Shu Mountain. The Shu Mountain disciples were mostly familiar with each other, each wearing a green robe and carrying a Qingfeng sword on their back, while Da Xi wore plain clothes, looking somewhat out of place and awkward, and no one came to talk to him.

  Dai Yun leaned in to listen, and all he heard was the Shu Mountain disciple talking about this trial, which seemed to require going through a treacherous knife mountain and fire sea, extremely difficult, and finally reaching the end point to obtain the demon dan. Dai Yun thought that Old Man Xiao Meng had let Hong Chui go, and had also promised to spare himself, was a man who upheld justice, so he had promised to get the demon dan for him, no matter how dangerous it was, he would do his best.

  Just before departure, it was time to check identities. When it was the turn of the big fellow to have his identity checked, someone frowned and said: "This person is not one of our Shu Mountain disciples, how did he also manage to sneak in and participate in the trial?"

  。”

  Another old man shook his head and said: "Xiao Meng's uncle is making a fuss again." He looked at Xiao Meng with an expression of great dissatisfaction.

  Until someone asked an old Daoist, the old Daoist took a look and also looked helpless, saying: "Since it's Xiaomeng Shixiong's token, then it doesn't matter, let him go."

  All the disciples checked their identities one by one, and then lined up to depart. The team left the dojo, went around half of the mountain peak, entered a cave, and came out of the cave to arrive at the Blood Refining Valley. In the Blood Refining Valley, the sky was not visible, and it was all blood red. Looking forward, only the front was endless, with uneven heights, and magma flowed on the ground.

  Many people stood at the entrance of the valley, waiting. Not a few had just heard that Da Wei was not a disciple of Shu Mountain, and many were pointing fingers at him, each with an air of self-importance. Da Wei's face was calm and indifferent, but in his heart he was disdainful. These Shu Mountain disciples had the support of their sect, so they could be as arrogant as they pleased, wearing Qingfeng treasure swords and light silk brocade. In contrast, he had spent years fighting against evil spirits and monsters, struggling to forge a single short sword. Thinking about this, Da Wei couldn't help but reveal a proud smile.

  After a while, the person in charge of Mount Shu gave the order to set off, and the disciples rushed forward one after another. Someone shouted: "We, the disciples of Mount Shu, must strive to be the first, don't let others surpass us."

  "Some people say: 'That's natural.'"

  The corners of his mouth curled up, revealing a faint smile, and that person's words were naturally directed at himself.

  Everyone rushed out of the valley, and in front of them was a scorching lava land. Dahan looked around and found that he was alone on one side, while all the other disciples of Shushan were on the other side, obviously treating him as an outsider with a competitive attitude.

  Out of the valley, in front of them was a sea of magma. It seemed that they were about to be tested on their cultivation. Da Yun didn't stop and started using his magic power, stepping onto the magma as if he was walking on air. Even so, Da Yun still felt like the heat from below was unbearable and quickly used his magic power to run forward. After running for hundreds of steps, they finally left the magma area behind. In front of them were steep cliffs with several ropes hanging between the two sides of the mountain. Da Yun jumped onto one of the ropes but only took a few steps before feeling the strong wind blowing against him, causing the rope to shake violently. Da Yun's body swayed and he almost fell off the cliff. He quickly used his magic power to stick firmly to the rope and slowly made his way across, until he reached the other side. Although it was only tens of steps, when he finally reached the other shore, his face was pale and covered in cold sweat.

  After a brief rest, he turned back to see that most of the Shu Shan disciples were still walking on the lava, some had even inserted their long swords into the lava and stopped to rest, only one or two of the fastest disciples had reached the cliff, one was still thinking, and the other was climbing up the rope.

  。

  Dai Yun smiled and continued walking forward. After passing through a mountain road, a strong gust of wind suddenly blew, making it difficult to move forward against the wind. As he walked halfway, a mournful sound came from the wind, disturbing his mind. Dai Yun had been wearing the Kunlun stone on his chest all along, which was an object that calmed his mind and had withstood the attack of the evil spirit of Yuanyuan. The power of the wind to disturb his mind was obviously very weak and had no effect on him. Since he obtained this treasure, he had used it many times, each time with great help.

  After passing through this mountain road, Da Yi looked back and saw no one else following behind him. Although these Shu Mountain disciples were not inferior to Da Yi in terms of their Taoist skills, Da Yi had been living in the mortal world for a long time and had experienced many hardships, so his mastery of magic and his understanding of it were not comparable to those of the Shu Mountain disciples. After passing through the mountain road, they arrived at the end of Xue Lian Valley, where there were several strange buildings.

  It wasn't until they walked closer that they realized these buildings were trial grounds, and disciples who wanted to take the trial had to choose one to pass. After a brief look, they found that the difficulty of each trial ground was different. Da Ye had already been competing with the Shu Mountain disciple, hesitated for a moment, and then headed towards the most difficult trial ground.

  As soon as he entered the trial ground, Da Yi looked around and saw that it was a spacious corridor, extremely dark. Every few dozen steps in the field, there was a stone platform, unknown for what purpose. Da Yi had not walked out a few steps when he suddenly smelled a faint smell of blood, and seemed to hear some noise. Da Yi immediately became vigilant and lightened his footsteps.

  He walked tens of steps forward, but the sound disappeared, and only his footsteps could be heard. This made Da Yun's heart even more vigilant, concentrating his mind and mobilizing his whole body's power. In this state of heightened alertness, he walked out another tens of steps, and it seemed that half of the trial ground had been passed, yet nothing had happened. Da Yun was puzzled, if passing the trial was this easy, then it would be too simple.

  The passageway was already very dark, and even with sufficient visual acuity, it was impossible to see far ahead. Dahai slowed down his pace, walking and stopping intermittently. Suddenly, he felt as if there were breathing sounds in front of him, and the air carried some heat. Just as Dahai took a step forward, he abruptly stopped and rapidly retreated. At this moment, two dark red glows suddenly appeared in the darkness. The glow flashed, and then Dahai only felt something pouncing towards him.

  Dai Yun turned around and ran, at the same time, he swung his hand and threw the Demon-Beheading Token behind him. The token hit something as soon as it was thrown out, and a loud roar was heard from behind. Dai Yun didn't dare to hesitate, and after running a few steps, he arrived at a stone platform. He hid behind the half-person-high stone platform, took a closer look, and saw that a tall and majestic demonic beast was staring at him with two small eyes the size of a child's fist.

  That demon beast was snow-white all over, with a body like that of a lion or tiger. It seemed to be the rumored Snow Lion. Da Yun's heart involuntarily beat faster as he knew that the Snow Lion was an ancient divine beast, extremely powerful and swift, yet very difficult to deal with. Moreover, from the situation earlier, this Snow Lion was also extremely cunning, having closed its eyes and held its breath waiting for Da Yun to crash into it.

  。

  After a moment of contemplation, relying on his own abilities to deal with this Snow Lion would probably be quite difficult. However, since he had promised Elder Xiaomeng, he had to kill the beast and retrieve the demon pellet.

  Dai Wu took out his short sword, thinking about how to kill the Snow Lion. The Snow Lion lazily licked its paw and shook its head, seemingly no longer interested in Dai Wu. Just as Dai Wu relaxed a bit, the Snow Lion suddenly jumped high into the air, turned around in mid-air, and pounced towards Dai Wu. Dai Wu felt a gust of wind rush past him and was frightened into hastily dodging to the side while running quickly around the stone pedestal.

  The snow lion pounced and missed, circling the stone pedestal in hot pursuit. Fortunately, the pedestal was not too small, and the snow lion's claws swiped at the air several times without catching Dabai. As the massive claws whizzed by, Dabai broke out in a cold sweat. After circling the pedestal several times, the snow lion leapt up again, clearing the pedestal and pouncing once more. Dabai hastily ducked down, pressing himself against the pedestal to avoid its attack.

  Several pounces failed to catch the Dahou, and the Snow Lion simply stopped chasing, squatting on the ground to slowly groom its fur. The Dahou was already extremely exhausted and didn't dare rest assured, fearing that the Snow Lion would launch another sneak attack. He knew that if things continued like this, the situation wouldn't be good, and since he only had this short sword as a means of defense, he thought about how to retrieve the Demon-Beheading Sword first before thinking of other ways.

  The giant axe was split into four pieces, one of which had just been thrown by himself and hit the Snow Lion's body, now lying on the ground about twenty or so steps away from him. However, at this moment, the Snow Lion was staring at him, and as soon as he left the stone platform, it would be a disaster.

  After a brief pause, Da Yun took out a piece of dried meat from his bag and threw it behind the snow lion. The snow lion was startled, let out a roar, and after smelling the aroma of the dried meat, cautiously looked at Da Yun several times before turning around to find the meat with its paws. Da Yun seized the opportunity to quickly run out of the stone platform, he had already spotted the location of Mo Xuan's token, swiftly picked it up, and then ran to the next stone platform.

  Dabai hid behind the next stone platform, and when he looked again, Xue Shi had already eaten the dried meat. The piece of dried meat was a bit too small for Xue Shi, who turned around to face Dabai. With two jumps, it arrived in front of Dabai again, staring at him intently without blinking. It jumped high and pounced on Dabai once more. This time, Xue Shi seemed enraged, chasing relentlessly, scratching and biting. Dabai dodged too slowly and was scratched by its claws, feeling a burning pain on his back. Dabai immediately came to his senses, realizing that throwing out the dried meat had probably triggered the beast's appetite, and now it really wanted to eat him.

  At this time, Dahai had already used all his strength and ran around the stone platform in a circle. Suddenly, the snow lion opened its mouth and sprayed out a stream of ice and snow. Dahai felt severe pain in his legs, his body shook, and he immediately fell to the ground.