The Transcendent White Works Slowly Cultivating Immortality Volume 1 Chapter 67 Sixty-Seven: Looking for Trouble

  Less than a hundred people can enter the White Jade Garden's inner circle to discuss matters, all of whom are heaven's proud sons among the common people. Except for a small number with background and power to rely on, the rest are strong climbers who have risen through continuous struggle. No one will bow their heads to outsiders, and they will also secretly compare themselves to each other. Over time, they form their own set of rules. Whoever wants to join this circle and gain recognition must speak with strength, even if it's the Star Master's child, there is no room for emotional face-saving.

  This place has never lacked talent and can't stand mediocre and incompetent people. The addition of someone like Xiao Yao with average achievements will inevitably lead to the disdain of many strong people, and Cheng Ze is one of them.

  In the Xianyu period, Cheng Ze was considered to be somewhat famous. From a young age, he was known as a genius within the Floating Island, not only having a single Earth Spirit Root but also possessing extremely high intelligence. He had already reached the middle stage of the Xianyu period after cultivating for only 8,000 years, and his strength was formidable, with few peers among cultivators of the same level. Initially, he came to the White Jade Pavilion along with his younger brother, Cheng Yu, who although not as intelligent as him, was still a top-notch talent, ranking in the top ten on the White Jade Pavilion's Merit Board. However, despite this, Cheng Yu suffered defeat after defeat in the triennial competitions and had yet to advance for a long time.

  Cheng Ze also hoped that his younger brother could be promoted to the main courtyard as soon as possible, but unfortunately, his younger brother's strength was not enough, and he could only encourage and whip him from the side, hoping that he would succeed one day. And this cultivator named Chong Rou, who could refine equipment without any test, had already entered this place, thinking of his own brothers' hard work with no results yet, how could he not resent?

  He looked at the man in front of him who was speaking softly and saw a hint of malice in his eyes, "Who are you, fellow Taoist?"

  The man smiled and said: "I am Zi Dong."

  Cheng Ze glanced at the achievement list and found Zi Dong's name in 57th place, a few places lower than himself. Since the other party was standing here relying on their strength, his tone became slightly more polite, "May I ask what is the relationship between this Zi Dong fellow and that Rong Rou? And what basis do you have to say that their strength is actually above ours?"

  Zi Dong furrowed his brow, looking as if he was in distress. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "Ah, her relationship with me is complicated to explain, so I'd rather not say anything. As for why I'm so certain she's stronger than all of you, just wait until you meet her and try it out for yourselves. Isn't that more credible than my empty words?"

  Having finished speaking, he didn't wait for anyone's response and turned around to leave, leaving Cheng Ze and several other fellow practitioners exchanging puzzled glances.

  "What a weirdo," said a man standing beside Cheng Ze: "Brother Cheng, how much of what he says do you think is believable?"

  Cheng Ze thought for a moment and said, "Since he told us to go try it ourselves, why bother guessing whether it's true or not? Besides, there are rules here. If this heavy softness can't prove its strength, no one will recognize her. If you're interested, you can come on stage at that time."

  Several people listened and felt that there was some truth to it, so they began discussing whether anyone would be willing to go verify it. However, before the discussion could yield a result, someone with sharp eyes spotted Xiang Yao walking slowly towards them from a distance and asked: "Fellow cultivators, is this newcomer named Chong Rou the same female cultivator who was at the front gate?"

  The crowd followed his line of sight and indeed saw a woman in a white Taoist robe walking towards them, her appearance and attire exactly as described in the rumors.

  Xiao Yao had just arrived at the square for a short while, and she felt that many gazes were concentrated on herself. Moreover, with her appearance, the atmosphere in the center of the square was slightly stagnant. She didn't know if it was because she was too sensitive, but she always felt that these glances carried some unfriendliness and disdain. However, this was her first time coming here, and she had never offended anyone, so why did people seem to dislike her?

  Unable to guess the reason, Xiao Yao could only treat it as her own illusion and went to the task list to select a task.

  Before she could take a closer look at the list, someone stepped out from beside her and bowed to her, saying: "Is this not Fellow Daoist Rong Rou? I am Cheng Ze, the 53rd ranked cultivator on the Merit List. I've heard that Fellow Daoist has received high praise from Senior Lianyue, so you must have some extraordinary abilities. Would you be willing to show us a glimpse of your skills, allowing all of us to broaden our horizons?"

  Xiao Yao didn't understand the private rules here, and somewhat bewilderedly replied: "Liu Li senior only took notice of me because my equipment forging skills are decent. If this Daoist friend wants to see me forge equipment, they'll have to wait a few more days."

  Cheng Ze saw her confusion and politely explained: "If fellow daoist only has the advantage of refining instruments, why not enter the garden as a guest? Now that you have entered with the identity of a strategist, you must follow the rules here. Fellow daoist did not pass through the White Jade Pavilion's trial every three years to enter this garden, so you must accept the assessment here. Only by passing the assessment will we recognize you."

  Xiao Yao furrowed her brow, "Why do we still need to go through an assessment? I've never heard of such a rule before. She swept her gaze over the crowd again, but saw that everyone's expression was calm and didn't seem fake. So she asked, "What kind of assessment method is this?"

  "It's simple," he paused, then proudly raised his head, pointing to the achievement board behind him: "Fellow Taoists only need to exchange blows with any of the names on the Transcendent Realm ranking list for one match, and afterwards everyone will have their own judgment."

  Xiao Yao blinked, she was just here to discuss business and didn't want to be the first in line, why did she have to fight for others' recognition? If she had known it would be so troublesome, she would have refused from the start. At the same time, a doubt arose in her mind, what was the intention of that Luli senior, entering this garden and not even mentioning such an important matter as the assessment beforehand.

  However, she misunderstood Luliu this time. This rule was only tacitly agreed upon by these plotters and publicly announced to others, so even the elders in charge of the mansion were unaware of it.

  Xiao Yao felt that she didn't need to prove anything to others, but under the watchful eyes of everyone, it wasn't good to make a scene and disrupt the rules. So, she slowly asked: "May I ask, Fellow Daoist Cheng, after this trial, what if one passes, and what if one doesn't?"

  Cheng Ze continued to look at her with a condescending gaze, saying: "If you pass, we will acknowledge you as a fellow Taoist and you can continue to stay in our garden. If not, please leave voluntarily and return to your original place. However, previously, there was a fellow Taoist who boasted that Rong Rou's strength surpassed ours. With such strength, I believe that exchanging blows with us would be no loss for you."

  Xiao Yao listened and was stunned, her voice involuntarily rising slightly as she said: "Are you saying that someone thinks they are stronger than all of us, so they want to fight me?"

  Her words made everyone seem to be provoked, and Cheng Ze immediately frowned in dissatisfaction. "Whether or not someone has said it before, Daoist friends must also come up with convincing strength."

  "Who is that?" Xiao Yao lowered her eyes. Even if Cheng Ze was telling the truth, and they did have such a rule, the person who was secretly praising himself was also stirring up trouble behind their backs. Otherwise, the gaze of these cultivators towards themselves would not be filled with dissatisfaction, mockery, and provocation.

  Cheng Ze saw his eyes suddenly turn unfavorable, hesitated for a moment, and still said: "He calls himself Zidong Daoist, saying that he has a complicated relationship with fellow Taoists."

  Damn it! Screw you!

  Xiao Yao's forehead bulged with a faint blue vein, and her chest felt stifled, but she couldn't afford to make a scene in public. Her sharp eyes scanned the crowd, searching for the culprit!

  Cheng Ze thought she was looking for a sparring partner, so he didn't say anything else and quietly waited beside her. After a while, seeing that she was still searching around, he urged: "It's already been a quarter of an hour, has Fellow Taoist Rou found a satisfactory opponent? If you really can't choose one, I can discuss with others to decide on a sparring partner for you."

  At this moment, Zidong was nowhere to be found, and on the side, there was still a bunch of trouble waiting for her to deal with. Xiao Yao's mood had reached its worst point, she raised an eyebrow and swept her gaze over everyone's expressions one by one, finally glancing at the achievement rankings before meeting Cheng Ze's eyes again.

  "It's already been decided below," she calmly narrated, with two clusters of flames seeming to dance in her eyes.

  "Oh, please let me know." Cheng Ze originally wanted to take the initiative and duel with her himself, but hearing that she had already decided on an opponent, he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

  Suddenly, Xiao Yao spat out two words from between her teeth, "Zi Dong."

  "Who?" Cheng Ze thought he had auditory hallucinations.

  "It was Zidong Daoist that fellow Daoist just mentioned." Xiao Yao repeated in a detailed and expressionless tone.

  "No way!" Cheng Ze immediately said without hesitation.

  "Why not?" Xiao Yao said with a smile, "It was Program Dao's own words earlier: just need to spar with any one of the ranked Huashen cultivators. Zi Dong is on the list and is a Huashen cultivator, which rule did he break?"

  "This..." Cheng Ze was momentarily speechless, he had originally wanted to say that Zidong and the other person were in cahoots, but thinking about it, there seemed to be no evidence to prove it, and it would be hard to convince others. Moreover, Zidong had also said that their relationship was complicated, which made him look at this woman with eyes that seemed to be spitting fire, feeling even more that the two of them were strange.

  But Cheng Ze had nothing to refute, Xiao Yao looked around at the crowd of cultivators and loudly declared: "Zi Dong Daoist friend! Please come out and fight again!"

  Although there were no less than thirty people gathered in the square, at this moment no one made a sound. Xiao Yao's voice echoed through the air, but no one responded.

  Many people in the Fourth Down were also looking for a cultivator named Zidong, but after searching for half a day, they still couldn't find him.

  Xiao Yao stood in the center, unmoving, seemingly determined to wait for someone. After a stalemate for a while, Cheng Ze reluctantly stepped forward and advised: "This Purple East Daoist is not present at the moment, why don't you consider changing your opponent?"

  Xiao Yao first glanced at him, then smiled brightly and said: "If you're not in the mood, since Zi Dong is not here for now, let's wait until he's available to spar again. If not today, then tomorrow; if not tomorrow, then the day after; even if it takes until next year, I'll only acknowledge him, everything depends on his willingness!"

  Cheng Ze's face turned black, and he was about to say something when Xiang Yao interrupted him, "Don't worry, as long as he is willing to come out, I'll accompany him at any time! Absolutely won't flee in battle!"

  The author has something to say: Zidong started using his group ridicule skill and directly killed countless people, while he himself retreated unscathed.