When the Three-Destinies Old Man was back to the stage where he was originally at, hundreds of envious eyes were looking at him as he carried Xuan Danfeng through them.
Xuan Danfeng had her slender arms around his neck and she was smiling with a delightful look.
"Why are you looking at me like this? I am just an ugly old man." He said before putting her down gently.
"I know," she continued to look at him with a smile.
The Three-Destinies Old Man was smiling weakly. Was she for real? Everyone had come for the tournament but she seemed to be uninterested and seemed to be coming for him. He did not really trust her because he had seen plenty of ruses in his life. He was determined not to fall for her tricks…
His eyes had quickly returned to the tournament and saw that there was a group of cultivators that had reached the top of the flatten mountain. He was just in time to witness the first group that had completed the first trial.
This first group that had reached the top was Yue Lingxi, Shangguan Furong, Qiuxiang Huan and Qiuxiang Hanyu. They had indeed found a way up to the top of the flatten mountain.
The second group to arrive at the top of the flatten mountain was Lu Qingyun, Leng Qiuyue and Qian Jingjing.
Yue Lingxi smiled when she saw Lu Qingyun, "Hmph, you have reached the top too. Not bad."
Lu Qingyun took a step back as though he was afraid of her. Indeed he was. "We are lucky, that's all."
Qiuxiang Huan and Qiuxiang Hanyu were surprised that Yue Lingxi and Lu Qingyun were acquainted with each other.
Leng Qiuyue was equally surprised.
Lu Qingyun turned to Leng Qiuyue and Qian Jingjing before he said in a low voice, "This maiden is extremely dangerous. I suggest that we stay as far as possible from them."
Leng Qiuyue had a surprise look. The veiled maiden looked quite beautiful even with her veil showing only her eyes and she had not expected Lu Qingyun to suddenly turn around to warn them about her.
Lu Qingyun emphasized, "She is…very, very dangerous. Avoid her at all costs."
Leng Qiuyue and Qian Jingjing looked at each other with a half-amused look.
Qian Jingjing chuckled softly, "If you are so afraid of her, I will help you to thrash her. I wonder what the next trial will be though. If it is a competition trial then I will seek her out to end her qualifications. How about it?"
Lu Qingyun frowned softly, "You will be instant kill by her."
Qian Jingjing shot him an unhappy look, "You are looking down on me? Do you know that I am the highest potential cultivator in the Spirit Sword Manor and a peaked fourth realm immortal celestial? If I can get instant kill by her, what about you?"
Lu Qingyun replied coolly, "I may still be able to hold her off with one or two of my ingenious sword strokes."
Qian Jingjing nearly spurted blood when she had heard him and even Leng Qiuyue could not resist a smile.
Everyone in the Heavenly Fragrance Divine Realm, including the other regions knew that the Heavens Spirit Sword of the Spirit Sword Manor was a most powerful profound sword art. The Rippling Nine Stage of the Heavens Spirit Sword was almost invincible. In the past, this divine realm was actually ruled by the Spirit Sword Manor and was known as the Spirit Sword Divine Realm.
The present grandmaster of the Spirit Sword Manor had only attained the Heavens Spirit Sword to the Rippling Seven Stage and that was already enough to place him on the top of the majority of the second tier celestial clans. There was a rumor that if he could attain the Rippling Eighth Stage, even Shen Yufeng and the present Heavenly Fragrance Princess may not even be his match.
Qian Jingjing shot Lu Qingyun an unhappy look, "You…you…if you haven't been a help to me, I would have challenge you now to a duel!"
Lu Qingyun was quite startled that she was suddenly angry with him. He was only trying to give his honest opinion so he asked bitterly, "Maiden Qian, I am just trying to give you a warning. Instead of being grateful to me, why are you upset with me for?"
"Because you are just a first realm good-for-nothing cultivator!" Qian Jingjing blurted out.
Lu Qingyun gasped and he was looking sheepish immediately. It was because he had totally forgotten that in the eyes of the others, he was only a first realm cultivator and not a peaked fourth realm cultivator.
"Yes, yes…I am sorry." He weakly responded.
"Hmph!" Qian Jingjing hummed coldly and she was smiling again. "Alright, I forgive you then…"
Leng Qiuyue was secretly observing their exchanges. It was extremely difficult for a maiden to be really upset with Lu Qingyun because he had a calming presence that was around him and it made him an irresistible pull for many.
Lu Qingyun was shouting to the heavens in his heart, "Heavens! Please let the next trial to be a competition between the cultivators. Why did you toy me all the time and refuse to let me to show off my real skill levels!"
"Cultivate the heart…" Qin Keqin's mesmerizing voice was suddenly floating in his mind.
"Yes, yes." Lu Qingyun said weakly to himself when he had recalled Qin Keqin's reminder. But deep in his heart, he was still determined to show off and to shake off his good-for-nothing cultivator image.
On the speculator stage, Qin Keqin was laughing delightfully. "My Yun'Er has overcome the first trial. He is so smart to have found a trail to the top. Why are there so many fools that are climbing the steep cliff?"
Shen Yufeng chuckled, "Because they are fools."
The heads of many of the celestials who had overheard them lowered their heads in shame…
Feng Xiaoxiao had turned to Tang Xuefeng, Zhao Riyue, Zhao Xingye and the other Heavenly Fragrance Heralds as she chuckled, "It seems to me that the female cultivators are smarter than the male cultivators. Only Lu Qingyun is using his brains for the trial, don't you think so?"
Tang Xuefeng smiled, "It seems to be the case. The men are usually capable of only using their brawls. Maybe we can even find one or two potential female protégés to recruit from this tournament. This batch certainly looks quite promising."
Feng Xiaoxiao nodded, "That Yue Lingling, Qiuxiang Huan and Qian Jingjing have potential."
Tang Xuefeng replied coolly, "That Qian Jingjing may have some potential but she has a poor sense of direction. Moreover…"
She took a look at Grandmaster Gao Yishu of the Spirit Sword Manor before she said in a low voice, "The Spirit Sword Manor will never allow the core protégés of their Heavens Spirit Sword to be leak out. Moreover, there is an enmity between us. Therefore, taking their protégés is a no, no for us."
Qin Keqin had suddenly turned to them with a sheepish smile, "Actually having a poor sense of direction is not something bad you know. As long as the map is well-drawn, sense of direction isn't an issue at all."
Feng Xiaoxiao, Tang Xuefeng: ???
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An hour later, the first cultivator had climbed to the top of the flatten mountain with some great difficulty. His muscles and body were aching terribly but he was also glad. It was because he was the first person to get to the top of the flatten mountain.
He was none other than Yu Tianjian, the Young Master of the Heavy Moon Sect.
For this achievement alone, his renown would resound throughout the celestial clans for being the first cultivator to have passed the first trial!
But he was soon shocked to see that there were seven others who had arrived behind him.
How was it possible? He had not seen them climbing on the cliff?!
The steep cliff would require one to two hours to climb and he was considered to be a fast climber. How did they arrive faster than him?!
He was even more stunned to see Lu Qingyun. This good-for-nothing cultivator was actually one step ahead of him? He had almost spurt blood when he saw him.
"This is…impossible…how did he get ahead of me?"
But there was nothing he could do except to wait at a corner first.
Tens of minutes later, more and more cultivators had arrived at the top of the flatten mountain. They too, were surprised to see Lu Qingyun and the many others that were at the top. They had been climbing after Yu Tianjian and thought that he was the first.
"The good-for-nothing cultivator Lu Qingyun is also here?"
"How did he get in front of us?"
"Did he cheat?"
"And there are others…"
"But we didn't see them in front of us…"
"It is impossible that they are ahead of us…"
As time passed, there were now hundreds of cultivators that had successfully scaled the steel cliff and they were more exhausted than the first few waves of cultivators that had arrived earlier. It was because they were the weaker group or else they would have already got ahead in the first place.
Dozens of cultivators were seen lying flat on the ground, thanking the heavens that they did not fall from the steep cliff and they were breathless from exhaustion.
Among them was Nangong Yu.
He could not believe that Lu Qingyun and Leng Qiuyue were actually ahead of him even though he had a head start over them!
After a while, hundreds of eyes were suddenly upon a small group of cultivators that had walked casually to the top of the flatten mountain. This group of female cultivators consisted of just three and were all from the Alluring Blossoms Palace.
Lu Qingyun could see that leading this small group was Gongsun Ya.
When the hundreds of cultivators saw them walking up from the other side, they were all stunned and were thinking, "Don't tell me that there is another way up here?"
"I feel so stupid…"
"I waste so much of my physical strength to climb up the steep cliff…"
"I only climb the steep cliff because everyone is doing the same…"
"I didn't think that there may be a trail up the flatter mountain…"
"I've thought that the others know better…"
"It is the blind leading the blind…"
Below the flatten mountain, the desolate beasts already had the flatten mountain surrounded and anyone that was unfortunate to be left behind was quickly slaughtered.
Many of the cultivators that were still climbing the steep cliff were starting to fall off the steep cliff as the desolate beasts were ramming and shaking the steep cliff, making the climb even harder.
Many of the cultivators at the top were shaking their heads as they saw many of the cultivators below were quickly slaughtered by the powerful desolate beasts.
Some of the desolate beasts were also great climbers and they could leap very high. Any cultivators that were below the mid-point of the steep cliff were all quickly picked and slaughtered as well.
The scene below was terrible to behold.
Luckily, the cultivators were not really killed off as this was only the trial illusion but it taught the cultivators of the harsh realities of the world.
Another one hour had passed before Shen Yufeng's face appeared in the sky above, "Not bad. Out of twelve thousands, slightly more than four thousands have actually survived till the end of the first trial. This is a much better result than I've expected."
Everyone was startled. A full two third of the cultivators had perished in the first trial and many of them were from the celestial powerhouses.
The cultivators from the celestial powerhouses were now looking suspiciously at the cultivators from the lesser celestial clans and the autonomous cultivators. It was because many of their numbers had fallen due to guile on the way to the top; from blocking their way, tricking them into dead ends and throwing stones on the steep cliff of the flatten mountain to make them fell to their deaths.
Today was a great humiliation and a slap on the faces on the usual arrogant sons and daughters of the heavens!
Shen Yufeng was smiling. It was because she had wanted to teach them an important lesson. Never underestimate your opponents even though you may be from a greater celestial clan. The guile and intelligence of the desperate were not to be underestimated.
"The second trial will start in ten minutes." Her voice echoed to all the competitors.
"Ten minutes? That's too soon…"
"I've just climbed to the top. I need an hour of rest…"
"This is too insane…"
"Can we have more rest time?"
But Shen Yufeng had already changed the scene and the top of the flatten mountain was rising even higher until they could see the misty clouds.
All of a sudden there were two bright portals, one blue and one green.
She chuckled, "One portal lead to life and the other one will lead to your death. Consider and choose well. You have only ten minutes to think."
With that her image had disappeared from the sky.
All of a sudden the edges of the flatten mountain was slowly shaking violently and was disintegrating!
Everyone was shocked!
"This is too ridiculous!!!"
"She says we have ten minutes but the trial has already started!"
"When she says ten minutes, she actually means we have ten minutes before the entire mountain disappears…"
"What sort of a stupid trial is this? One life and one death?! This is based on pure luck!"
"Did our region have the hardest level of the trials…"
Some of the female cultivators had broken down in tears. They had come this way with much difficulty and now they had to choose between one lucky option and one unlucky option. They were cultivators and fighters. If they had died in battle, they had no complaints but this was too cruel for them to choose!
Even Yue Lingxi had raised her eyebrows in surprise as she muttered, "This…is a little ridiculous!"
Qiuxiang Huan looked at her before asking, "Mistress, what shall we do? We have less than ten minutes to decide."
On the far side, Leng Qiuyue was asking Lu Qingyun. "Senior brother, what shall we do?"
Even Qian Jingjing was asking him. "So what should we do?"
Lu Qingyun looked at her with a weak smile, "Erm, Maiden Qian. Are we in the same team? You should go and look for your team to discuss your next step."
Qian Jingjing chuckled softly as she gave him a flustered look, "I think all my team had all perished and I think…"
She giggled for a while before adding, "And I think that you are quite a lucky fellow. So I want to know which portals you will be choosing."
Lu Qingyun frowned lightly, "Actually I feel that I am quite an unlucky fellow."
He was not lying. Seeing Yue Lingxi again made him felt like the most unlucky fellow.