CH 23.2

chen sheng was startled.

he shifted his gaze back to the four injured shadows in front of him.

“quick, wuxing!”

the level master position must belong to them!

among the three of them, they were lucky to have a pill cultivator, wuxing.

moreover, chen sheng and wuxing had been sharing the same cave for years, going in and out, and even sleeping together.

when wuxing recited the formulas and theories of various medicines, he had listened to many of them!

now, the pill cultivator wuxing was bound, just like huangfu yuan, unable to move.

however, when he looked at the trial question in front of him, he pondered for a moment and then spoke, “three revival pills, one clear spirit pill, one blood elixir, one ice and snow elixir, and some red lotus powder!”

upon hearing this, chen sheng quickly rummaged through wuxing’s medicine bag!

having lived together for six years, he was very familiar!

“it’s in the jade cicada box.”

“for the blood elixir, it’s the one sealed with red clay!”

“the red lotus powder is infused with the fragrance of spirit tea…”

as wuxing gave directions, chen sheng searched through the items, and he had more than enough time within the twelve breaths.

chen sheng’s confidence soared.

losing level 349 wasn’t a big deal; getting the level master on level 841 would be an even greater achievement!

lin shuang, an outer disciple, even if she was hiding her true strength, had no place in this level that tested elixirs.

meng zi was a true sword cultivator.

by the time the fourth round of “oops, i’m dead” came around, chen sheng even had the leisure to ask his senior brother who was transmitting messages, “what level is lin shuang on?”

as he asked, a self-assured smile appeared on chen sheng’s face. the inner demons that had been haunting him after being defeated by the outer disciple lin shuang were gradually dissipating.

but in an instant, his eye twitched.

“junior brother, hurry!”

“huh?”

“when you were in the third round, she was in the first, and when you reached the fourth round, she was already in the third! hurry!”

“huh?”

chen sheng’s eye twitched as he looked at the four ‘wuxings’ in front of him.

“ah, junior brother, they’re already in the fifth, no, the sixth round!”

“what?”

chen sheng widened his eyes.

his actions of rummaging through the items came to a halt.

“eleven breaths, twelve breaths… this disciple has met an untimely end.”

“chen sheng, wuxing, qian wanjun, failed the fifth-round challenge of ‘oops, i’m dead,’ please restart from the first round.”

the trial cave showed no mercy, causing chen sheng to take a step back.

meng zi, who had also retreated almost to the stone wall, was similarly stunned, looking at his two teammates.

four ‘huangfu yuans’… six ‘huangfu yuans’… seven ‘huangfu yuans’ successively appeared.

to distinguish their different injuries alone would take three or four breaths.

then, they had to think about which elixirs to use and search through their mustard seed bags.

however, lin shuang had taken out a peculiar, square-shaped ‘medicine chest’ from her mustard seed bag from the first round.

it was transparent and layered.

each compartment had labels with uses.

the first layer: emergency and detoxification

the second layer: chronic symptoms

the third layer: spiritual qi and sea of consciousness restoration

the fourth layer: satiety, speed enhancement, and beauty maintenance

with her hands flying, she hardly even glanced at the medicine chest.

it was as if she remembered the location of each elixir in every compartment.

no hesitation, no mistakes.

【medicinal power meets the standard.】

【disciple has been treated.】

【disciple temporarily avoids death.】

…

【disciple has been saved from danger.】

【passage of the seventh round!】

meng zi could hardly catch his breath.

when the seventh round came and ten ‘huangfu yuans’ fell to the ground, lin shuang’s movements momentarily froze.

“it’s too late, the seventh round, ten injured, the difficulty in the eighth round will increase…”

her complexion turned grim.

“it’s too late…”

meng zi opened his mouth, feeling that she had already done exceptionally well.

much better than him. “if we can’t make it, let’s switch to another level.”

“no.”

lin shuang took a deep breath.

“we can’t lose here.”

they were already in the seventh round! if they failed at this point, all the time spent on the previous seven rounds would be wasted!

“senior brother huangfu!”

huangfu yuan frowned too and looked at the ’10’ of him in front of him. “junior sister, i’ll do my best.”

after saying that, he focused his gaze ahead.

but just as he was about to report the elixirs as before, lin shuang suddenly took advantage of the completion of the seventh round and swiftly retrieved a thick stack of talisman papers from her mustard seed bag.

she suddenly slapped them towards him, towards his lips!

huangfu yuan: “???”

meng zi: “???”

in an instant, huangfu yuan’s thin lips were covered with speed-enhancing talismans, twelve above and twelve below.

his elixir reporting speed instantly tripled!

“stop bleeding, revival, fire, burnt lotus pill, pure yin pill… ling jue qing jue, ba zi powder!”

in one go, he rapidly reported the elixirs and his thin lips fluttered, almost sparking.

meng zi: “…”

stiffly turning his head, he saw that at some point, lin shuang had also attached numerous stacks of acceleration talismans to his hands and arms.

like flowing water, her hands moved.

like flowing water, the elixirs were launched at high speed.

like flowing water, there was a popping sound of air friction as lin shuang’s arms produced up to twelve afterimages each!

meng zi was so close that he could see it, no, he could barely see it from behind.

“seventh round passed in nine breaths.”

“eighth round passed in six breaths.”

“ninth round passed in six breaths.”

“tenth round—”

ten ‘huangfu yuans’ appeared, blinked, and fell to the ground in the blink of an eye.

in just an instant.

meng zi hadn’t even seen the last person clearly when he heard the majestic voice coming from the trial cave.

“tenth round passed in six breaths.”

【congratulations, huangfu yuan, meng zi, and lin shuang, for breaking the record of the fastest trial of ‘oops, i’m dead’ on the 841st floor.】

【time taken, fifty-two breaths.】

“…”

meng zi took a step back.

huangfu yuan remained silent, closing his mouth filled with talismans.

lin shuang let out a long breath. “geez, i thought there would be more people in the later rounds, but it’s still ten huangfu senior brothers.”

she looked as if she had wasted her energy.

meng zi fell into silence. after looking at the ugly first-order acceleration talismans scattered on the ground, he became lost in thought.

huangfu yuan stood still, looking dumbfounded as he touched the talisman papers on his mouth.

【huangfu yuan, meng zi, and lin shuang can proceed to the resting courtyard to collect the layer master’s reward!】

how did she do it?

the red list appeared once again.

the onlookers, including chen sheng, bai yu, numerous inner disciples, and even outer disciple xu rui, remained silent.

“junior sister lin, i never expected your talisman skills to be so… exquisite.”

the iron chains on huangfu yuan’s body vanished in an instant.

looking at lin shuang, he strangely rustled the twenty yellow talisman papers plastered on his lips.

he chuckled.

a faint red hue seemed to overflow from his phoenix eyes but quickly dissipated. his expression remained neutral, and he used his index finger to remove the twenty talismans from his mouth.

with his eyelids drooping, there seemed to be a hint of trembling at the corners of his eyes.

lin shuang turned her head away and coughed, her talisman papers also trembling. her arms, which had been pushed to the limit due to acceleration, were screaming in pain.

“senior brother, you worked hard.”

“i didn’t expect, senior brother, that your eye technique was also so refined.”

she turned to look at huangfu yuan, her eyes moist at the corners and provocatively squinted at him.

she had just tried to keep up with his pace and pushed her fire eye golden pupil technique to the limit. now, her eyes were slightly red.

but in just a few breaths, huangfu yuan, who had observed dozens of people, had clear phoenix eyes and showed no signs of exhaustion.

“hehe, it’s just some naturally gifted vision.”

“no big deal, senior brother, just some low-level talismans with a third-grade rating.”

“…”

“…”

both of them stopped in their tracks, then simultaneously walked out of the 841st-floor cave.

meng zi landed last, and his eye twitched.

he firmly pressed his temple and drew the bright big knife from behind him with a screech.

“you two, stop right there—!!!”

“huangfu yuan, lin shuang!!”

his roar shook the gate of the cave, causing it to tremble violently.

dust fell everywhere, stopping huangfu yuan and lin shuang in their tracks.

“you two—what’s going on! explain yourselves!!!”

“!”

“…”

meng zi roared, and huangfu yuan and lin shuang both stepped back.

“hey.”

they retreated to the mountainside, and a faint sigh suddenly rang in their ears.

it seemed like an old man, yet it also seemed like a young man.

one sound made all three of them’s scalps tingle.

the crushing pressure swept over their entire bodies like a tide!

“who!?”

meng zi gripped the knife handle tightly.

lin shuang pressed her mustard pouch.

huangfu yuan raised his gaze.

the dust shaken down by meng zi’s roar fell to the ground one by one.

the scene inside the cave slowly became clear.

there was no one there.

but a watery curtain of light suddenly fell beside the teacup at the entrance of the cave.

lin shuang and the others froze.

in the holographic projection of the curtain of light, several disciples of the clearwater sect, dressed in their robes, were reduced to pieces in an instant by over ten black threads in the air!

without even having the chance to scream, they spewed blood, and their elixir fields were extinguished.

the only surviving disciple in the air had his arm cut off, and he screamed in pain and anger. however, he didn’t even have time to glance at the blood clots around him before he fled at top speed!

let alone saving them, they couldn’t even collect the corpses!

“if the last question just now had been like this, what would you have done?”

the old man in the cave inquired, accompanied by the flow of blood in the water curtain, which exploded in their ears.

lin shuang, meng zi, and huangfu yuan exchanged glances.

“in today’s trial, you all passed and became the fastest.”

“but above the foundation building, during the soul refining, the void entering…”

“the life and death of cultivators are determined by the thought of the powerful.”

“today, it took fifty-two breaths to save seventy-five people.”

“tomorrow, with a single thought, how many people will you be able to save?”

the scar on lin shuang’s wrist, hidden in her sleeve, suddenly felt a burning sensation.

she clenched her fist abruptly.

in front of the strong, the weak had no way out!

huangfu yuan looked at the holographic projection in the cave, where the body parts turned into blood, and his phoenix eyes gradually reflected a bright blood-red color.

meng zi tightly gripped the black knife handle, his eyebrows as sharp as blades, glaring at the area behind the watery curtain.

“what do you suggest then, to run away and give up like him?” meng zi couldn’t help but shout angrily.

the dignified voice turned into a faint laugh.

“i, at the ninth level above the foundation building, am waiting for you to come and answer again!”

all three of them were shaken.

even though it was approaching noon, lin shuang’s entire body was about to enter a state of rest.

but at this moment, she couldn’t help but extend her hand to press on her dantian.

the surging blood and qi were boiling.

it was as if an uncontrollable voice was shouting within her body—condense the essence, refine the spirit, enter the void…

she had to advance layer by layer, rush to the pinnacle of the 9,000 levels of zhenchuan, and become the strongest!

“nine thousand levels…”

meng zi muttered.

“zhenchuan changes every ten years, who knows which level you’ll be on.”

but the watery light and shadow disappeared, and there was no response.

in the cave, the oppressive aura that had just made their blood boil dissipated in an instant.

it was as if nothing had ever happened.

but in the study of this cave, a jade box on a treasure shelf opened.

three and a half-torn leaves, cut by sharp knife qi, appeared in front of them.

the blade qi evaporated from the leaf, leaving only a row of neat small characters.

—nine thousand soul refining levels: life or death.