Chapter Fifteen

Shi Ming?

The servant and Shi Ming had both come from the mortal world, and had both been accepted into the Qingyang Heavenly Sect in the same year and drawn qi into their bodies in the same year, entering the inner gate.

It was just that over the years, neither of them had made any progress in their cultivation, remaining stuck in place, never reaching the Qi Refining stage.

And having only succeeded in drawing qi into the body, they were still considered mortals in the eyes of others — no different in essence from the outer-gate disciples.

Fortunately, one of them had later been taken into Xuanjian Pavilion, and the other into Misty Pine Residence. Even though they were only doing odd tasks, their standing was far higher than that of some inner-gate disciples, let alone the outer-gate disciples, who were incomparably better off.

The servant and Shi Ming had some history between them. Since Shi Ming had come to him for help, he naturally wouldn't turn a blind eye.

The servant gently pulled the main gate open and glanced back at the quiet Xuanjian Pavilion. He pointed toward the corner under the eaves and said in a low voice: "The head senior disciple is busy — we absolutely cannot disturb him. Let's go speak outside."

Shi Ming had been thinking the same thing. He followed the direction the servant pointed, and walked to the corner of the wall.

"What is it you need help with?" the servant asked, getting straight to the point. Xu Ziyang was in the pavilion, and he could be summoned at any moment. He couldn't afford to linger too long.

Shi Ming knew this. He kept it brief too. His voice trembled, as though he was in quite a hurry: "Can you carve a figure for me?"

Before entering the Qingyang Heavenly Sect, the servant's family had made their living from woodworking, and under their influence, the servant's own woodworking was quite good as well. His carving skill in particular was masterful to the point of being uncanny — the objects he carved were true to life, vivid, as though alive.

Carving a figure for someone — for the servant, that was no difficulty at all. He agreed without hesitation and asked: "Who do you want carved?"

But as the words fell, Shi Ming gave a dry cough, and his expression suddenly shifted into something rather odd. His gaze became evasive and wandering, as though he found it difficult to say.

The servant stared at him blankly: "Don't tell me you don't even know who you want carved?"

"Of course I know." Otherwise he wouldn't have come to find the servant. It was just that the name kept turning over on Shi Ming's tongue without making it out.

The servant could tell Shi Ming was in some difficulty and took a step back: "You don't have to say who it is. Do you have a small portrait of the person? Give me one."

So he could carve from the portrait.

This... Shi Ming's gaze grew even more evasive, and even his voice dropped considerably: "Is it alright if I describe them verbally?"

Which was to say he didn't have one.

The servant was nearly moved to laughter despite himself. Coming to ask a favor in the middle of the night with absolutely nothing prepared — a clever woman cannot make a meal without rice. Without even a single portrait, how was he supposed to carve, purely from imagination?

But taking their friendship into account, the servant bit back the unkind words that rose up, and after considering it, let out a helpless sigh: "Alright then."

Shi Ming leaned close to the servant's ear and described in careful detail the image in his mind, his breathing heavy and sinking, his voice coarse and rough.

The servant listened, his breath catching, his thoughts going hazy, his own breathing growing a little unsteady. Could there really be a person this beautiful in the world? Most importantly: "You don't want me to carve the head?"

Everything Shi Ming had described was the limbs and body in detail, without a single mention of the facial features. Wouldn't a figure with no head be rather unsettling?

"No." Shi Ming exhaled sharply, his eyes gleaming with an eerie brightness in the dim light of the corner: "Only carve what I described."

...

The two of them huddled in the corner, talking in hushed voices.

About two quarter-hours later, Shi Ming carefully glanced around in all directions, hunched his shoulders, turned, and walked away, his figure swallowed up by the darkness.

Two days later.

The day of the sect test.

The sun blazed directly overhead. A clean breeze stirred the trees and foliage on the mountains surrounding the Qingyang Heavenly Sect, rustling the leaves and sending dappled patterns of light and shadow swaying across the ground.

Two disciples of similar age, guided by the inner-gate administrator, made their way to the center of the front hall on the main peak, dressed in the outer gate's coarse linen, their eyes bright and sharp with alertness.

Lian Ci, standing in the front hall, saw this and was visibly more satisfied. On either side of him stood Xu Ziyang and Cen Yan, along with a few inner-gate disciples who had come to observe.

— He Ming had not come. He was busy working on finding a way to dissolve the Heavenly Dao marriage contract. Cen Yan's marriage contract had always been a thorn in his heart, and now that there was finally a chance to pull it out, he could hardly bear to stop — as though he would read through every last book in the entire library at once if he could, and find a method that very instant.

Lian Ci hadn't pressed him to attend. After all, if the two disciples wished to study under He Ming, Cen Yan could take on disciples on his behalf.

The test was held in the front hall. When the time came, Lian Ci announced that the test had begun.

The first round of testing had Xu Ziyang and Cen Yan each taking responsibility for one disciple, assessing them by asking questions on cultivation common knowledge and related matters.

The questions they asked were not crafted to be tricky, and the difficulty was gradual, progressing from easy to hard.

The two disciples had only been in the sect for a year and a half, so their cultivation time was still short. When answering, their words stumbled a little — but their reasoning was reasonably clear. Both Xu Ziyang and Cen Yan gave a passing evaluation.

The second round of testing needed to be conducted within the secret realm.

The secret realm held all of the sect's cultivation resources, and could only be opened by the Sect Master or senior elders when absolutely necessary. It would not be opened to admit disciples unless unavoidable.

The key to the secret realm was in Lian Ci's keeping, carried on his person. Lian Ci silently recited several incantation verses, and the key flew out from his sleeve and hovered in midair.

As the key emitted a blinding radiance, a transfer formation opened before the two disciples.

Xu Ziyang stepped forward and handed two signal flares to the two disciples: "When the test is complete, send up a signal flare, and the Sect Master will let you out."

The two of them put the signal flares away carefully.

"Enter." Lian Ci gave the command.

Neither of the two disciples dared disobey. One after the other, they stepped into the transfer formation. A flash of white light, and both disappeared from where they had stood. The transfer formation also closed and vanished before everyone's eyes — it would only reopen once their testing was complete and Lian Ci activated it again to bring them out.

Lian Ci put the key away, and with a sweep of his sleeve, a bronze-mirror-like magical instrument floated into the air, growing larger and larger, growing until it was the size of a round table, then stopped, hovering steadily.

The Tracking Mirror, a scrying instrument linked to the secret realm, could display the interior of the secret realm as images outside, allowing observation of what was happening inside.

Lian Ci channeled spiritual energy into the Tracking Mirror. In the next instant, a streak of light swept across the mirror's surface, and the figures of the two disciples appeared before everyone.

The transfer formation had sent the two of them to different locations — one in a mountain valley, one in a dense forest. Both settings were filled with danger, with ferocious spirit beasts that could charge out at any moment.

Both disciples were cautiously surveying their surroundings, fists raised to chest height, bodies slightly crouched, ready to fight at any moment.

Suddenly, the deafening roar of a large beast class tunneled into everyone's ears, and two massive spirit beasts came bursting out from behind the disciples, lunging at them from behind.

Both disciples' expressions changed drastically as they dove sideways, just barely dodging in time. One fled into the mountain valley in a panic, while the other gripped the sword at his waist and, facing the spirit beast, began retreating step by step.

With only qi drawn into the body and no actual cultivation level to speak of, the spirit beast's rank was not high, but it was more than enough to deal with two people who had no cultivation to their name.

Confronting a spirit beast head-on was not a wise choice.

Lian Ci watched the Tracking Mirror fixedly, spiritual energy gathered in his hands, ready at any moment to open the secret realm and rescue them. But just then, the wrist of the disciple holding the sword gave a twist, and he unleashed a technique that differed from anything used by the Qingyang Heavenly Sect.

Lian Ci's expression darkened. That was... a demon clan technique!

Before setting up the Guardian Formation, Lian Ci had often fought against the demon clan, and there was no way he would misidentify it. When had the demon clan infiltrated the outer gate?

Both Cen Yan and Xu Ziyang saw through the anomaly. The two exchanged a glance and read the same information from each other's eyes: something was wrong with this disciple!

Lian Ci let the gathered spiritual energy dissipate, and took no further action.

The test proceeded in an orderly manner. An hour later, the disciple sent to the dense forest launched a signal flare. Lian Ci used the key to open the transfer formation and brought the disciple out.

The disciple bowed, and before the bow was even complete, Lian Ci's expression went cold. He called out in a sharp voice: "Kneel!"

The disciple was startled, and dropped to his knees in a panic: "Sect — Sect Master?"

Lian Ci looked down at him coldly, his voice enough to chill one to the bone: "Are you aware of your guilt?"

Aware of what guilt?

The disciple looked completely bewildered, with no idea what had happened: "This disciple... this disciple doesn't know what crime has been committed."

The test had been passed — wasn't he supposed to become an inner-gate disciple now? Why did the Sect Master look so terrifying?

"Death is at your door, and still no remorse!" Lian Ci said coldly: "This seat asks you — the technique you used to slay the spirit beast in the secret realm — which sect's technique was it?"

The disciple suddenly understood, finally grasping the crux of the matter. He immediately rushed to explain: "This disciple doesn't know which sect's technique it is either — it was just that not long ago I happened to see Wen Yuan practicing it, and thinking it looked interesting, I copied a move. This disciple dares not lie — every word is the truth — I ask the Sect Master to look into this!"

Lian Ci glanced at Xu Ziyang. Xu Ziyang understood without a word being said. In the time it took to burn two quarter-hours of incense, he came back, bringing with him a tall, thin middle-aged man.

The man was marched in with his arms twisted behind his back, shoved all the way to the front hall, his face wearing a confused expression.

"It's him!" The disciple pointed excitedly at the man: "Sect Master, he is Wen Yuan — the technique I used is the one I stole from him!"

Wen Yuan looked at the disciple, then looked at the unpleasant expressions of those surrounding him, and seemed to realize something. He suddenly yanked his arm back, spun around, and bolted for the exit.

"A demon clan spy has infiltrated my Qingyang Heavenly Sect, and you still think you can run?" Lian Ci bellowed the order: "Stop him!"

The demon clan knew no mercy and was condemned by all in the hundred immortal sects. The disciples in the front hall immediately released their spiritual energy and surged to surround Wen Yuan.

Wen Yuan let out a dark click of his tongue, and the full force of his mid-Golden-Core, near-late-Golden-Core aura erupted from him.

Except for Cen Yan and Lian Ci, every disciple who had charged forward was driven back. Even Xu Ziyang had some difficulty holding his ground and retreated two steps.

This demon clan spy had such a high cultivation level, and yet he had been lurking in the outer gate all this time — if no one had ever noticed... The more Lian Ci thought about it, the more alarmed he became. His voice grew colder and sharper, and he threw himself into the attack: "This seat will see exactly what the demon clan is up to with schemes like these!"

Lian Ci was late Golden Core, higher in cultivation than Wen Yuan. Knowing he couldn't win, Wen Yuan bared his blood-hungry grin at Lian Ci, flashed to stand before two inner-gate disciples, and with a single palm for each, shattered both their heart meridians. He threw them — like discarding objects — in the direction of Lian Ci, who was now almost upon him: "Sect Master Lian, accept this gift from me — no thanks necessary!"