Chương 188: Chapter77: Within the Trial Realm, the Gathering of All Sides

In that very moment, not far behind him, the grey mists parted like a heavy curtain drawn by unseen hands. A frail youth, his visage as pallid as bleached bone and devoid of any healthy color, stepped forward with measured, silent strides. He bowed deeply toward the senior disciple, his voice dripping with a carefully maintained veneer of reverence.

"Greetings, Senior Brother. It has been but a month since our paths last crossed, yet your cultivation has achieved another breakthrough. Truly, a cause for grand celebration." The Huanming Sect cultivator turned, his gaze narrowing as it fell upon the boy. His expression soured instantly, a flash of somber resentment crossing his features before he spoke in a detached, chilly tone.

"You overpraise me, Junior Brother. You have been within the Huanming Sect for less than a year, yet you reached the Foundation Establishment stage with ease. Now, after a mere month in this secret realm, you have vaulted into the Mid-stage. Such a cultivation speed is rare even in the annals of legends. It is no wonder the Master views you as his true successor, and the Sect Leader himself intends to groom you as the next in line to lead the sect."

The youth lowered his head, a bashful, awkward smile playing on his lips as he scratched the back of his head in a display of feigned humility.

"The Sect Leader and Master are far too kind. While I have been fortunate enough to advance quickly, I would never dare harbor such lofty, presumptuous ambitions."

"Hmph! Since you have emerged, let us proceed to the exit," the senior brother grunted, his voice laced with suppressed irritation.

"Remember our Master's decree: during this Mu Family excursion, I am the one in command. Do not act on your own whims." With a cold snort, he identified their heading. A streak of dark, shadowy light erupted from his form, and he transformed into a blurred silhouette, streaking through the sky. Behind him, the youthful cultivator shook his head slightly. The bashfulness vanished in an instant, replaced by a glint of sharp, cold mockery in his eyes as he followed closely in pursuit....

Deep within a secluded mountain ravine, a diminutive cultivator dressed in threadbare, impoverished robes knelt on the earth. He carried a weathered bamboo basket on his back and held a jade trowel with trembling care. He was meticulously unearthing a foot-tall spirit herb with narrow leaves and clusters of purple-black berries.

"A treasure! A true treasure!" he muttered under his breath, his eyes gleaming with unadulterated avarice.

"This Puling Grass is at least four centuries old. It yields fifty fruits every decade and serves as a core ingredient for over twenty types of spirit pills. If I sell this to the sect, I won't take a copper less than five hundred... no, six hundred low-grade spirit stones!" A few paces away lay the carcass of a ferocious, scale-covered beast. A jagged hole had been punched through its forehead, ending its life instantly.

Having extracted the herb, the man placed it into a white jade vial and tucked it into his bamboo basket. The basket was clearly a spatial artifact of significant quality, as the herb vanished into its depths with ease.

"Sigh... this Tier 2 Mid-grade Armored Beast... even though I tried to keep the wound small by hitting the head, those vultures in the Refinement Department will still use it as an excuse to drive the price down. It'll hardly fetch any stones now! Dammit, why did my hand twitch? That strike should have taken out the eye instead." He grumbled incessantly, his face contorted in simulated physical pain.

"But even a mosquito's leg is meat. I can't just leave it." With a wave of his hand, the massive carcass vanished into his storage bag.

"Time is running out. I need to hurry and see if there are any more herbs left. Those thick-headed fools... they enter the Trial Realm only to kill and plunder each other. Do they have any idea how many spirit plants they destroy in the process? Why can't everyone just keep their heads down and get rich in peace? Idiots! Utter idiots!" Just as he prepared to depart, his face suddenly paled. He slapped his storage bag and pulled out a Trial Stone that was now vibrating, pointing toward the exit.

A blood-curdling, agonizing howl erupted from his throat.

"How can the time be up already?! I haven't dug enough! I haven't found the Thousand-Li Marriage Grass that would make Junior Sister Xiao Lin fall for me instantly! How can I leave now? I refuse! I do not recognize this! I protest!" He beat his chest and stomped his feet, wailing at the heavens. After a long moment, his eyes turned bloodshot. He thrust a middle finger toward the empty air and roared, "That damned old ghost of a Sect Leader!

If you hadn't promised me two thousand spirit stones as a reward, I would never have committed the stupidity of wasting my time watching a 'spectacle' instead of making real money!"

"Damn you all! Just you wait! I might not have scoured the entire Trial Realm this time, but in two hundred years, my disciple will finish what I started! In four hundred years, my grand-disciple will continue! In six hundred years, my great-grand-disciple... my lineage will strip every single blade of grass from the Mu Family's realm!!" With tears of genuine sorrow for the "lost" spirit stones, the cultivator turned away. He took to the air, his flight leaving a trail of falling tears behind him....

In a dark, subterranean stone chamber, three cultivators sat in a meditative circle. At their head was the preeminent figure of the Luoyang Sect's younger generation—Jun Wuqing. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. They were positioned within a complex formation, forming a triangle. Suspended at the center of the array was a pulsating orb of white light.

Under the array's influence, threads of white radiance were being peeled away and funneled into the three cultivators' bodies. Suddenly, a sharp, brittle snap echoed within the confines of the secret chamber. The white light orb was instantly webbed with a network of fine, crystalline fractures before it shattered entirely into a cloud of shimmering dust. At that exact moment, the three cultivators within the chamber opened their eyes in unison.

Jun Wuqing's gaze swept across his two companions; they exchanged silent nods, their eyes burning with an irrepressible surge of excitement. After a long moment of heavy silence, Jun Wuqing spoke in a low, resonant voice: "Two centuries ago, an elder of our Luoyang Sect discovered this hidden grotto within the Trial Realm. Inside, he found the soul light orb containing a legacy of profound techniques.

However, the inheritance was notoriously eccentric, requiring a single individual to simultaneously possess Water, Fire, and Wood spirit roots to receive it. Our predecessor was forced to leave empty-handed, returning to the sect to spend a hundred years of painstaking labor to devise a compromise. He created a secret method that allows three cultivators—each possessing one of the required roots—to jointly accept the inheritance.

By manifesting it together, we can unleash eighty percent of the technique's true power. Even so, that alone is enough to cause our collective strength to skyrocket!"

"Brother Jun speaks the truth," a younger cultivator beside him added, his voice trembling with fervor.

"Though the three of us are currently only at the Foundation Establishment stage, if we combine our powers to manifest the Tongshen Transformation, we might actually stand a fighting chance even if we were to encounter a Golden Core expert!" Jun Wuqing nodded, a rare smile of satisfaction tugging at the corners of his mouth, though his expression quickly returned to one of seasoned caution.

"The senior who left this manual possessed three spirit roots within a single body; such talent is staggering. It is highly probable they were a Nascent Soul sovereign. Now that we have secured this legacy, while I dare not claim we are guaranteed to reach the Nascent Soul stage, condensing a Golden Core should be as certain as the rising sun. Once we achieve that, and with our combined strength, no one in the Golden Core realm will be our match. But until then, we must remain vigilant.

If even one of us falls, this divine ability we have worked so hard to obtain will become utterly useless."

"Rest assured, Senior Brother," the other two Luoyang Sect disciples replied, their expressions tightening with solemn resolve.

"Once we depart from the Mu Family's territory, we shall return directly to the sect for secluded cultivation. We will not take a single step outside the sect gates until we have reached the Golden Core stage."

"Heh, I am gratified that you both understand the gravity of the situation," Jun Wuqing said with a nod, though he suppressed a weary sigh in his heart. To the outside world, the Luoyang Sect appeared to be at the height of its glory, but the internal reality was precarious. Their Ancestor, who had been in seclusion attempting to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, had recently emerged and announced his failure.

The Sect Leader, despite being at the peak of the Late Golden Core stage, had less than fifty years of longevity remaining. The four other Golden Core elders had, at most, a century of life left to them. The Luoyang Sect was facing a devastating succession crisis—a 'green-yellow gap.' If no new Golden Core cultivators emerged before the older generation sat in meditation for the final time, their rivals would undoubtedly descend like vultures. The sect's decline into obscurity was a very real possibility.

To maintain their standing in the cultivation world, the Luoyang Sect needed at least five new Golden Core experts within the next century. Jun Wuqing and his two companions were the primary targets of this desperate cultivation effort. From the moment they joined the sect, they had been secretly burdened with the mission of entering the Trial Realm to claim this inheritance.

If they succeeded and simultaneously formed their Golden Cores, the sect's power would surge, potentially making them the premier power in Huizhou, second only to the Mu Family. Consequently, before leaving the sect, they had been given strict orders: once the inheritance was secured, they were to avoid all unnecessary complications and prioritize their own safety above all else. Jun Wuqing suddenly arched an eyebrow and laughed softly.

"Come, junior brothers. Let us head toward the exit. I wish to see just how 'heaven-defying' the young geniuses of the various sects truly are. Today, we shall let them have their moment in the spotlight while we remain in the shadows. Decades from now, when the three of us roam the Zhao Kingdom's cultivation world together, they will finally understand who the true winners are!"

"The deadline has arrived. Although I do not currently possess a single Mu Jade Sword, once the chaos of battle begins at the exit, I may yet find an opportunity to snatch one," Xing Tianxie murmured. Perched atop a towering ancient tree, he slowly opened his eyes and gazed at the Trial Stone, which was now emitting a faint, rhythmic luminescence. His eyes clouded with contemplation as he whispered to the wind, "That mysterious black-robed cultivator... is it truly you? I am exceedingly curious."

As his voice faded, the branch was already empty. Far in the distance, a streak of light tore through the sky, whistling toward the horizon with lightning speed.

"I know not the full extent of that black-robed man's divine abilities, but based solely on his ability to summon a hundred Foundation Establishment skeletons with a wave of his hand and his casual use of Sharp Gold Breaking Arrows, there is no one in this Trial Realm who can match him!"

"Furthermore, I have a powerful premonition that this person is anything but ordinary. The exit of the Trial Realm will surely be the stage where he displays his true brilliance!"

"Wei Qubing of the Three Thousand Dao Sect, Yin Wuyu of the Supreme Demon Sect... I wonder if you can withstand the opponent who appears today. I am looking forward to it!" Ge Yucheng of the Beast Taming Sect rose to his feet. The strange, black-scaled frog at his feet seemed to understand his low mutterings. Recalling the mysterious figure they had encountered days ago, the creature's large eyes couldn't help but flicker with a trace of primal dread.

As a demon beast, its intuition for danger was far more acute than that of a human. From the moment it saw the black-robed cultivator strike, it knew with absolute certainty that had a true battle occurred, both it and its master would have perished instantly.

"Let us go. He will likely show his true face today. I am curious to see which sect has secretly nurtured such a magnificent disciple. If he can forcefully break through the exit today, his sect will surely flourish for centuries to come because of him!"