Leaving the blood mud space, Li Weiyi still had the words of his Spirit Tablet Master echoing in his mind.
*If my telekinesis breaks through again, just what kind of change will happen to the Shaoyang Star?*
Over the next three days, Li Weiyi dared not engage in strenuous activity. Aside from eating medicinal cuisine, he spent his time nursing his injuries or entering the blood-tree forest to cultivate telekinesis, swallowing light to nurture his flame.
The trial participants returned one after another.
Li Weiyi did not know how many people had died or been injured in this first trial, but the medicinal cuisine kitchen had grown much quieter than before.
Seeing Yao Yin walk out from the stone door, Li Weiyi hastily got to his feet, preparing to leave.
"Y-You... wait a moment!"
Feigning composure and indifference, Yao Yin held her small hands behind her back and stepped into the blood-tree forest, stopping about a zhang away. "In the spider cave, why didn't you kill me?"
This was the first time Li Weiyi had seen her in three days. He replied, "When we entered the cave, didn't we agree to outlast the other competitors first? So I was merely honoring my promise."
Tossing those words behind him, Li Weiyi walked briskly away toward the medicinal cuisine kitchen.
Evidently disbelieving that answer, Yao Yin quickened her pace to keep up, though she maintained a distance of at least a zhang. "Fine, then it's a deal! The favor I owe you, I will definitely repay."
"Repay the favor?" Li Weiyi echoed.
The pride inherent to Pure Immortal Physique martial cultivators surfaced in Yao Yin. "It was you who fed me that precious cistanche, wasn't it? A blessing in disguise—over these three days, I have already broken through to the eighth spring. Among all the competitors, only that nine-spring Perfected Person poses any slight trouble. How about this: I will eliminate every other competitor and save you for last."
"Kill me last?" Li Weiyi asked.
Yao Yin's expression turned solemn. "It cannot be helped. When the time comes, I will give you a fair duel."
Li Weiyi nodded, silently resolving to give her a fair duel as well.
"By the way, what actually happened in the spider cave? Why did your entire body crack with ice lines?" Li Weiyi asked offhandedly.
Yet the moment Yao Yin heard those words, only "entire body" echoed over and over in her head. Certain improper images instantly sprang to mind. Her pleasant expression vanished in an instant, and her gaze grew cold and grim.
"Shameless. It seems Yin Twenty-Four was entirely right about you."
With a huff, Yao Yin mobilized her dharmic power and sped ahead, unwilling to walk with him any longer.
Li Weiyi froze in place, utterly baffled, with no idea what he had said wrong. He muttered to himself, "It's her problem, definitely not mine. Hmm... what kind of nonsense has Yin Twenty-Four been spreading? Since when is a Hidden One such a gossip?"
Arriving at the medicinal cuisine kitchen, Li Weiyi and Yao Yin sat as far apart as possible.
The surviving trial participants arrived one after another—only eighteen in total, all present and accounted for.
The reason they assembled so fully was that today's medicinal cuisine was exceptionally rich, serving as a reward for all who had passed the trial.
"Eight died in just the first trial. It seems that even without slaughtering one another, surviving until the final month won't be easy," an ordinary mortal martial cultivator who had opened eight springs remarked in a warning tone.
Of the four who had opened eight springs, one had died, leaving only three.
A tiger-like mutant race cultivator of eight springs licked his lips and grinned. "If we eliminate all competitors in advance, we won't need to take the trials at all. We can win directly."
The eight-spring mortal cultivator's face darkened, well aware he was no match for him.
Defeat meant death.
Once the meal was finished, Yao Yin suddenly shot forward like a bolt of lightning, moving with extreme speed as the dharma artifact dagger in her hand thrust straight toward Li Qing.
Without the slightest warning.
Even Li Weiyi was startled. He had never imagined that while the tiger-like mutant of eight springs had kept mouthing ruthless threats without acting, the seemingly frail Yao Yin would be the first to openly ambush a competitor.
It was clearly beyond Li Qing's expectations as well, forcing him to scramble in response.
*Slash!*
The dagger sliced dangerously close to Li Qing's neck, leaving a bloody streak across his chin.
Just a sliver more, and Li Qing would have been dispatched in a single blow.
"Fine! Since you're begging for death, I'll eliminate you, Pure Immortal Physique, ahead of time!"
Li Qing touched his chin, finding his fingers coated in blood. Past the initial shock, sheer murderous intent flared in his eyes. Drawing his sword, he slashed outward.
Yao Yin had intended to rely on her superior footwork and the secret of her breakthrough to take Li Qing, the strongest contender, by surprise. From the exchange between Li Qing and Yin Nine a month ago, she had noticed that Li Qing's movement speed was his weakness.
Yet to her astonishment, in just one month, Li Qing had rectified that flaw.
The footwork he had just used to dodge her assassination attempt was unmistakably at the level of Heavenly Dao Dharma Convergence.
*Swish! Swish...*
Both possessed consummate footwork. Bursting out of the medicinal cuisine kitchen, they landed on the plaza beneath the Telekinesis Stone Wall. In an instant, afterimages flickered across the ground, and their dharma artifacts clashed repeatedly.
That a Pure Immortal Physique possessed the freakish combat power to challenge across a realm was common knowledge acknowledged by all under heaven.
The eight-spring tiger-like mutant stared intently at the battlefield. "What a pity! She was just a hair away from pulling off the assassination."
Though he voiced regret, a look of relief spread across his face.
Li Weiyi said, "If you go lend her a hand, you might just be able to dispatch that nine-spring Perfected Person."
"And then? The first one she'd kill next would be me." The eight-spring tiger-like mutant was no fool. He knew full well who posed the greatest threat at this stage.
*Thwack!*
Unleashing swordplay at the Heavenly Dao Dharma Convergence realm, Li Qing produced an ear-piercing sword chime, breaking through Yao Yin's Heavenly Wind Palm Technique with a single thrust.
The sword tip pierced clean through her palm and emerged from the back of her hand.
Yao Yin bit her pearly teeth and endured the agonizing pain, immediately wrenching her blood-drenched hand free. Using her footwork, she vanished into the purple bamboo forest in an instant.
"Freshly broken into eight springs and you dare ambush me—weren't you a little too impatient?"
Li Qing roared in fury. Instead of giving chase, he held his blood-stained longsword and cast a murderous glare at the crowd behind him. In particular, his gaze locked onto Li Weiyi.
Moments ago, when he had prepared to press his advantage and slay Yao Yin, he had sensed a ripple of Li Weiyi's dharma qi from behind.
He knew Li Weiyi was no ordinary figure, having been specially brought in by the Earth Wolf King's Army to monitor him. Under current circumstances, only one of them could walk out alive.
Li Weiyi had surely intended to follow Yao Yin's lead and launch a sneak attack against him.
Now that Yao Yin, the Pure Immortal Physique, was injured, she would inevitably face the pursuit of every eight-spring cultivator. But before that, Li Qing worried that the eight-spring cultivators might join forces to take him down first.
Thus, after careful deliberation, Li Qing chose not to immediately chase the cornered foe who had nowhere to run, opting instead to intimidate the restive pack first.
"Yin Twenty-Four, Yin Twenty-Five, that Pure Immortal Physique overreached and attacked me first. Am I now free to kill her at any time?"
Li Qing called out toward the two Hidden Ones standing at the edge of the plaza.
Yin Twenty-Five answered, "Once a lower-realm cultivator strikes first, they forfeit the right to protection. If you wish to kill her, naturally we will not interfere."
Li Qing fixed his gaze upon all the eight-spring cultivators, including Li Weiyi. "Did you hear that clearly? You only have one life. Before you make a move, you'd better weigh your own strength."
Li Weiyi had indeed intended to strike moments ago, but remembering the doubts still lingering in his heart—which required private confrontation with Li Qing to confirm—he had held back.
"If I challenge the telekinesis mural, can they launch a sneak attack on me?" Li Qing asked, seeking to add another layer of deterrence.
Yin Twenty-Four said, "Of course not."
"Good!"
Li Qing strode toward the Telekinesis Stone Wall and pressed his palm against it.
*Whoosh!*
A semi-incorporeal silhouette of Yin Nine stepped out from the stone wall, wielding a giant greataxe as he charged at the challenger, Li Qing.
With a booming crash, the greataxe collided with Li Qing's longsword.
Li Qing slid backward four zhang, his face instantly draining of color and his sword hand trembling uncontrollably. Facing Yin Nine's incoming second strike, he immediately deployed Heavenly Dao Dharma Convergence footwork to evade.
*Boom!*
*Rumble!*
...
Li Weiyi watched the battle between man and silhouette, nodding slightly.
Li Qing had made tremendous progress over this past month!
A month ago, a single exchange had sent Li Qing's sword flying, leaving him completely helpless.
After withstanding seven moves, Li Qing's sword finally dropped, and he immediately conceded.
Yin Twenty-Five was shocked. "How could he have improved so drastically? Right now, I can only endure four moves against Yin Nine myself."
A look of amazement also surfaced in Yin Twenty-Four's eyes. "Someone capable of becoming a nine-spring Perfected Person in the outside world is naturally no ordinary individual."
Yin Twenty-Three arrived, his massive frame looming beside them, and said, "He obtained an opportunity in the nine-spring trial. The trace veins in his body are likely close to being fully silver. In another month at most, once he achieves completely silver veins, he will truly stand invincible among this batch."
"Still, he won't be a match for Yin Nine! Yin Nine is at the mortal pinnacle, possessing a hundred silver trace veins," Yin Twenty-Five noted.
With the newcomers so strong, Yin Twenty-Four felt the pressure and unconsciously glanced toward Li Weiyi.
Li Qing retrieved his longsword from the ground, swept his gaze across the terrified eight-spring cultivators, and then followed Yao Yin's residual aura, disappearing into the purple bamboo forest.
Someone looked crestfallen and murmured bitterly, "Is there even any point in the rest of us continuing the trials? It feels like the spot for Yin Twenty-Six can't possibly belong to anyone else!"
The eight-spring tiger-like mutant suggested, "What if all of us join hands to get rid of him first?"
"Join hands? With just us? If that Pure Immortal Physique hadn't crippled a hand, teaming up with her might have given us a chance. But now, with only one good hand, her combat power probably isn't much greater than yours."
...
Li Weiyi walked across the plaza, glanced toward the crimson Telekinesis Stone Wall in the distance, and, not wishing to discourage the pitiful bunch any further, decided to go after Li Qing first.
Li Qing used his footwork to pursue downstream along the blood river.
"You want to run? Where can you possibly flee? Past this river valley, ferocious insects lurk everywhere."
After pursuing for over twenty li, Li Qing suddenly slowed his steps as three divergent underground river branches appeared before him.
His gaze locked onto the narrow opening of the rightmost underground river, the corners of his mouth curling upward. "That fragrance on your body has been giving away your trail all along. How can you escape? You wouldn't dare venture deep inside; you must be hiding right at the entrance. Ferocious insects nest within—your flesh would be gnawed away bite by bite, a torment like death by a thousand cuts, far worse than dying.
"Come out. Dying under my blade is far cleaner than perishing to ferocious insects."
Hidden in the shadows of the cave entrance, Yao Yin tore a strip of cloth from her clothes. Gritting her teeth, she tremblingly wrapped her continuously bleeding palm, cold sweat beading across her face from the agony.
When Li Qing's dharma artifact sword pierced her palm, the blade had carried dharma qi, preventing the wound from healing in the short term.
*Don't be afraid, Yao Yin... everyone dies sooner or later... don't be afraid. Losing is losing, but didn't you prepare yourself to lose before coming to the Hidden Gate? You won't be scared... you won't. Fight!*
Sitting on the ground with her back against the stone wall, her chest heaved as she fought to overcome her terror of Li Qing, desperate to recover her fighting spirit and condition. Gathering her courage, she was just about to charge out when a familiar voice suddenly rang out from outside.
"Li Qing, isn't it time we had a proper talk about the matter between us?"
Chapter 82