Chapter 22: The Notorious Magpie Rises

  The short and stout man saw the big brother speaking like this, knowing that the tenth-level cultivator of the Refining Qi period was not an ordinary cultivator. He became even more curious and asked: "Big Brother, we were late for several days and didn't know what happened. Who exactly did Lin kill?"

  A tall and thin man snorted coldly before saying, "He killed three people, two of whom were 12th-level Qi Refining cultivators from the same family. And that family's ancestor is a Golden Dan period senior of the Lei Yan Sect!"

  Upon hearing this, the short and stout man was shocked and exclaimed: "He killed that Golden Elixir Realm elder's descendant, how can he still be alive?"

  The tall and thin man continued, "Because he seems to have a backing in the Lei Yan Sect, and later even made a bet with that Golden Dan period senior, accepting the condition of another battle. That Golden Dan period senior agreed to it for the sake of avenging his juniors, and found a high-ranking expert among the Qi Refining period disciples of the Lei Yan Sect, but in the end still died miserably at his hands without him even getting hurt. Do you think we dare offend such a ruthless person?"

  At this point, the short and stout man also took a deep breath, thinking that he had really lost his head earlier. If Lin's man had really made a move against them, he would probably be dead by now. Wiping away the cold sweat on his forehead, he said with relief: "Fortunately, big brother is here, otherwise I would have been in trouble! Next time I see him, I'll immediately walk around!"

  Using mid-grade spirit stones to recover spiritual energy was more than three times faster than using low-grade ones, so after resting for less than half an hour, Lin Tianyang and the others began climbing upwards once again.

  At this time, on both sides of the mountain road, more and more people were seen sitting on the ground to recover their spiritual power. Even the five men who had previously tried to snatch the middle-grade spirit stone appeared, and that short and stout man, who had just looked ferocious, now revealed a difficult smile, clearly extremely fearful of Lin Tianyang. The three of them felt an indescribable feeling, and Lin Tianyang also understood that after beheading three people on the life-and-death platform, he had become notorious.

  When the three of them climbed to a height of about six hundred zhang, there were already very few people left. Although the fastest ones had approached the top of the mountain, most of them were still struggling to climb below this height.

  They climbed another hundred feet and the three of them rested together again. At this moment, it was only noon, so they didn't rush and rested for half an hour before continuing on their way. Just as they arrived at the mountain top around dusk, the three of them suddenly felt a release in their bodies, and to their surprise, there was no gravity constraint at the summit.

  Li Li sat motionlessly on top of a massive boulder at the summit, accompanied by over a dozen Lei Yan Zong disciples who had arrived early.

  Lin Tianyang looked at the nearly thousand cultivators who had arrived earlier than him, all sitting cross-legged on the mountain top, and secretly sighed in his heart. Although they were all Qi Refining stage cultivators, there were also some hidden dragons and sleeping tigers among them.

  Within an hour, more and more people arrived at the summit, which was originally relatively empty. To Lin Tianyang's surprise, many of them were only in the Qi Refining stage, with some as low as the 7th or 8th layer. Their speed was slow, and their spiritual power would likely have been depleted halfway up the mountain. Most of them didn't even have mid-grade spirit stones to recover with, so they must have relied on sheer determination to make it this far. Among them was even a young girl who couldn't be more than 14 or 15 years old, and Lin Tianyang couldn't help but admire her perseverance.

  At the moment when the time reached the hour of You, Li Li, who was originally sitting on a giant stone, suddenly opened her eyes and ordered the Lei Yan Zong disciples beside her: "Seal off the road!"

  When she ordered, under the leadership of two foundation-building monks, more than a dozen Qi-refining disciples rushed to the intersection leading to the mountain top. The two Qi-refining monks who were about to climb to the top of the mountain within tens of feet immediately shouted out a spell together, and in an instant, a green light wall rose at the intersection. Those two Qi-refining monks were shocked when they saw it, wanting to rush into the light wall, but were bounced back by the light wall all at once.

  At this time, Li Li stood up from the giant stone, her eyes swept over the two Qi-refining cultivators, and said lightly: "The time has come, all those who have not been able to reach the top of the mountain should go back. You have lost the opportunity to become an inner disciple, but if you still want to become an outer disciple, you can go down the mountain to find Left Envoy!"

  After Li Lian's announcement, all those who had not yet climbed to the top of the mountain felt a wave of disappointment in their hearts. More than half of them directly gave up on the opportunity to become an outer door disciple. However, there were still several thousand people who thought that since they couldn't become inner door disciples, being an outer door disciple was better than coming for nothing!

  After announcing the results to those who didn't pass, Li Li swept her gaze over the nearly ten thousand remaining people and said: "You either have profound cultivation or unyielding determination, which is why you were able to pass the first trial. Here, I'd like to congratulate you all first. Now, give yourselves two hours of rest, then continue with the assessment for the second trial!"

  Only two hours of rest time were heard, and the people who came later immediately seized the time to continue recovering their magic.

  Li Li had seen all this before, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. She then asked: "Is there anyone among you with a Heavenly Spirit Root, an Earthly Spirit Root, or a special Spiritual Body? If so, come forward!"

  Lin Tianyang's heart skipped a beat as he heard this, it seemed that they were going to select the core disciples. His eyes scanned the entire mountain top and saw three people standing up one after another, walking towards Li Li.

  Li Li looked at the mere three people present and couldn't help but slightly furrow her brow. In the past, when recruiting disciples, there were at least four or five people, and sometimes even six or seven. It seems that the number of core disciples will decrease again in the next decade or two.

  The three people, two men and one woman, walked to Li Li's front, all somewhat nervous. Li Li started with the woman, stretched out her hand and pressed it on her forehead, nodded in satisfaction after a moment: "Not bad, unexpectedly it's Tianlinggen of Mulinggen, what's your name? Where were you born?"

  "Little girl Liu Ye, Yongzhou Sanxiu!" The woman replied respectfully.

  It seemed like Li Li was even more satisfied when she heard that he was a loose cultivator, and she couldn't help but nod repeatedly.

  She then tested the two behind her, but they both had heterodox spiritual roots. Although it was not bad, it was still inferior to the heavenly spiritual root.

  After checking, Li Li directly transmitted to the three people: "You three follow this Qi Shizhong later, and you don't need to participate in the next assessment!"

  The three of them exchanged a slightly surprised glance, then smiled and said: "Thank you, Senior Li!"

  As the three of them left the mountain top under the leadership of a foundation-building cultivator, some people showed surprised expressions, but most didn't pay attention, apparently they also understood the situation.

  "After they left, Li Lian continued: 'Among you, there are those who have not reached the 9th level of Qi refining at the age of 25, and those who are over 30 years old. Although you broke the rules to participate in the inner door assessment, I will let you off because you passed the first test. Otherwise, if I catch you, it will be a killing without discussion!'"

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