Chapter 1589: The Second Pass
Even among cultivators of the same late-stage Spirit Transformation, if Han Zhumei used her wind-attribute arts or movement skills, it would be very difficult to find a trace of her.
If it weren’t for the suppression of the invisible membrane, she might have even passed the trial directly without a sound!
After the Bright Flame Sect passed the trial, the four Spirit Transformation cultivators from the Pure Yang Hall at the base of the Blood Pagoda Lamp also flew out immediately. In the next moment, the Blood Pagoda Lamp instantly shrank and was put away by Wu Gouzi with a wave of his hand.
After Han Zhumei returned to the Bright Flame Sect’s side, she was greeted by smiling faces. But before they could celebrate, Chongyangzi’s voice rang out.
“The two of you sects, come forward and receive your orders!”
Upon hearing this, the cultivators of the Broken Army Sect and the Bright Flame Sect quickly stood up and gathered towards the center of the high platform.
After watching the two sects’ cultivators stand still, Chongyangzi first nodded slightly before speaking again.
“First of all, congratulations to both of you sects for successfully advancing! This is what you have dreamed of, and it is also what the Pure Yang Hall wishes to see. Now, for the next pass, as I have told you before, it is a pass for the Pure Yang Hall to evaluate your comprehensive overall strength. Even if you lose, it will not affect the third-rate sect status you have already obtained. If you win, then the Pure Yang Hall will award two Great Nothingness Fruits and one hundred supreme-grade Spirit Stones!”
After saying this, Chongyangzi swept his gaze over the cultivators of the two sects below, his eyes lingering slightly on Li Yan’s face.
As expected, he saw Li Yan’s eyes instantly light up.
Li Yan had not expected that the reward from the Pure Yang Hall this time would not only be one hundred supreme-grade Spirit Stones, but also two more Great Nothingness Fruits. It was just that the form of the congratulatory gift had been changed to a competition between the two sects.
In fact, it wasn’t just Li Yan; the eyes of all the cultivators from both sects lit up at this moment. No one could have imagined that the Pure Yang Hall would be so generous.
These two items were exactly what their sects needed for subsequent development!
They were now third-rate sects, and by obtaining these two treasures, they could cultivate at least two more Spirit Transformation cultivators.
Moreover, these kinds of treasures could also be stored as a sect’s foundation. Once the time was right, they could even produce a Void Refining realm expert like the Blood Lantern Sect.
Of course, the Spirit Transformation elders of the two sects could naturally imagine such a reward, but it was almost impossible for Nascent Soul and below cultivators to possess it.
However, as long as the sect benefited, they would naturally benefit as well. They had contributed to this battle, and the sect would definitely reward them with something suitable after they returned.
Moreover, they were not blessed to enjoy a reward of this level. Even a single supreme-grade Spirit Stone, if obtained by a Golden Core cultivator, would only bring disaster.
But for someone like Li Yan, it was different. He felt that once he opened his mouth, although Shangguan Tianque might not be able to give him all one hundred supreme-grade Spirit Stones, there should be no problem in giving him at least ten or twenty.
In addition, after the sect’s rank was successfully promoted this time, the sect’s various resources would increase by several times, and he would naturally be able to gradually obtain what he wanted.
The cultivators of the two sects did not speak, all waiting for Chongyangzi’s next words. But Chongyangzi did not continue to speak, only turning his head slightly to look at the charming and moving Elder Fang beside him.
Elder Fang nodded, then stood up. At the same time, she gently waved her snow-white arm, and a long scroll painting immediately appeared above her head.
As soon as the scroll appeared, the crowd below felt a surging aura coming from the scroll. It was the result of a vibrant spiritual energy continuously spreading out.
Elder Fang quickly recited a mantra, and then let out a soft cry.
“Open!”
Following her crisp voice, the scroll floating in mid-air instantly expanded, and at the same time, it extended to both sides in an instant.
In just a moment, the painting had rapidly unfurled. Soon, its length reached a thousand zhang, and its width was about five hundred zhang.
It immediately covered a patch of the sky above, and then it stopped growing.
Thus, a vivid landscape painting appeared before everyone’s eyes. The mountains and rivers in the painting were all animated. The river water flowed gurglingly, and one could even hear the sound of various water currents.
And the trees on the mountains were also constantly rustling with the mountain wind, making a rustling sound.
There were even many beasts and birds on the ground and in the air. Their roars and calls were also clearly audible.
It was just that these landscapes and the beasts and birds within them had all been shrunk many times over.
The crowd below all looked up at the sky. Li Yan felt that the painting at this moment seemed to be embedded in the sky, like a mirage had appeared in the sky.
And below the painting, there was an even denser spiritual energy continuously seeping out, making the crowd below feel refreshed and clear-headed.
“Is this… a Mountain River Diagram?”
“A Mountain River Diagram!”
“…”
As Li Yan observed carefully, the name of a magical treasure immediately flashed in his mind.
The so-called Mountain River Diagram was actually a space that had been refined into a painting.
And the size of this space was not something that an ordinary spirit-storing space could compare to. It could be ten thousand li, or even hundreds of thousands of li wide.
And the various laws of heaven and earth inside were not much different from the outside world.
It was a secret realm established by some sects, but this kind of secret realm could be moved and taken away at any time.
But there was no doubt that the difficulty of refining this treasure was also extremely high. Just the refining materials, even a force like the Pure Yang Hall, probably couldn’t produce many.
Just by looking at how many small sects were under the Broken Army Sect, and how many forces like the Broken Army Sect the Blood Lantern Sect had, one could know how deep the foundation of a second-rate sect in the Immortal Spirit Realm was.
After seeing this treasure, Li Yan’s eyes narrowed, and he looked carefully at the painting. This was a good thing. However, he was just thinking about it.
Although this thing was good, it definitely couldn’t compare to the “Earthen Patch” in his hands!
This kind of Mountain River Diagram magical treasure, once successfully refined, its overall form was fixed. Neither its size nor the future upgrade of the resources inside was possible.
But the “Earthen Patch” was an artifact blank containing original laws from the very beginning. It could always grow, but its growth speed was related to the master who refined it.
The current range of the “Earthen Patch” was only about a hundred thousand li, and it hadn’t even formed the sun, moon, and stars inside. This required Li Yan to continuously raise his own level, and the “Earthen Patch” would also continuously upgrade.
All of this was undoubtedly the credit of True Lord Qianchong. The power of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth he mastered was simply ridiculously strong, to be able to refine such an original artifact blank.
Even Nascent Soul realm cultivators had an understanding of the laws of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, but even Body Integration realm cultivators of the same level might not necessarily be able to refine an original artifact blank that could grow.
At this moment, many of the cultivators from the two sects and in the plaza below immediately recognized this scroll. This was a supreme treasure of heaven and earth that could store things.
And unlike other spirit-storing spaces, where whether it was an item or a living being, it would disappear in an instant after entering, and could only be seen with divine sense.
But with this Mountain River Diagram, even if they were in the outside world, they could still see the shrunken figures.
But after the person entered, they would not feel their body shrinking, but would feel the same as being in a spirit-storing space, just that they had changed environments.
Everyone did not expect that the Pure Yang Hall would take out such a supreme treasure in the second pass assessment. Could it be that they were letting the two sects’ cultivators enter here to compete?
Logically speaking, even within the Blood Lantern Sect, there were too many places where the Broken Army Sect and the Bright Flame Sect could fight without any scruples, and there was no need to enter this kind of treasure.
Moreover, the outside environment was the real world. Wasn’t this just a waste of effort?
“As you have guessed, this is a Mountain River Diagram. The space inside is twenty thousand li. You just need to sit cross-legged under this painting in a moment. At that time, I will cast an imprint on your bodies. You will need to use your divine sense to communicate with the imprint to form a brand, and an imprint incarnation will appear in the Mountain River Diagram. This imprint incarnation can exert about seventy percent of your main body’s strength. This applies to everyone who enters, so it is also fair. Afterwards, your main body’s sea of consciousness will be able to clearly sense everything in the Mountain River Diagram through the imprint incarnation. During this period, the divine sense brand of the main body cannot leave the sea of consciousness, which means that your main body outside must wholeheartedly maintain the imprint incarnation. Otherwise, the imprint incarnation will collapse, and you will withdraw from the Mountain River Diagram, and you will also have withdrawn from the second pass. Moreover, if you need to use a storage space, it will also be materialized on the imprint incarnation, but those storage pouches or storage rings are just illusory objects. When you communicate with your divine sense, you are actually communicating with the imprint in your main body, using it as a bridge to summon the items from the storage pouch. After being injured inside, you will not bleed, but you will continuously lose your main body’s magical power, which will also cause your combat power to continue to decline. You can also restore your magical power by taking medicinal pills, but you cannot repair your body. At the same time, after a person dies, the imprint incarnation will take a short process to dissipate, and the magical treasures or medicinal pills that were used will also return to the main body’s storage pouch along with the final dissipation of the imprint incarnation. Therefore, you do not need to worry about your treasures being lost due to the death of the imprint incarnation! After the imprint incarnation dies, your main body outside will suffer a backlash. You can recover by taking medicinal pills and healing on your own. The second pass uses the Mountain River Diagram because the Pure Yang Hall does not want you, who have just successfully raised your rank, to suffer heavy casualties among your sect’s cultivators and end up being beaten back to your original state. That would lose the true meaning of it all.”
Elder Fang’s pleasant voice spoke slowly, making everyone now very clear that their main bodies did not need to enter the Mountain River Diagram.
Thus, the cultivators of the two sects also heaved a great sigh of relief.
It was just as Elder Fang said. For the Great Nothingness Fruit and one hundred supreme-grade Spirit Stones, the two sects could really fight with great anger, regardless of life and death.
Once a few Spirit Transformation cultivators died, the first trial would have been meaningless. After this battle, they might even be at the bottom of the fourth-rate sects.
Shangguan Tianque was also listening carefully, and at this time, his heart also suddenly relaxed. When they set out, they had all been prepared for the thought that many people would perish, including himself.
Unexpectedly, in this pass, there would be no deaths, at most only injuries. Thus, regardless of the final result, this was already a joyous event from the heavens.
After Elder Fang finished speaking, her snow-like jade hands formed a hand seal in front of her full chest, and then pointed towards the two sects’ cultivators below.
Then, streaks of emerald green light spots flew out from her hand seal, shooting towards the cultivators of the two sects. However, there were only three people missing here.
It was Master Wei, Elder Yu, and Shangguan Tianque, who had failed the first pass. It was obvious that the three of them had already lost the qualification to enter this pass.
As soon as the green spots touched each person’s body, they immediately sank in and disappeared…
Li Yan felt that the moment a green spot entered his body, his sea of consciousness suddenly had some kind of connection with the Mountain River Diagram above.
This connection was very strange. In his sea of consciousness, the Mountain River Diagram at this time had already disappeared, and a gate of light had appeared. The gate of light was hazy, and one could vaguely see a large expanse of mountains and trees behind the gate.
It was as if he could truly enter the mountains and rivers behind it as soon as he stepped into the gate of light.
But at this moment, there was a restriction surging on the gate, producing a huge repulsive force that prevented people from getting close.
But in the eyes of Li Yan outside, he could clearly see the Mountain River Diagram in the sky above still floating gently, exuding waves of life and spiritual energy, yet he did not have that kind of feeling.
“After I have finished explaining the rules, you may then communicate with the imprints in your bodies, and the imprint incarnations will appear in the Mountain River Diagram. After entering, before I cast the art, your imprint incarnations will not be able to leave that place. Of course, if the imprint incarnation perishes inside, the imprint in your body will also disappear, which means you have left the Mountain River Diagram on your own. Afterwards, you can just take medicinal pills to recover from your injuries. The purpose of this pass is to evaluate the overall strength of each sect, including combat power, tactics, strategy, and so on. What the Pure Yang Hall needs is not a simple-minded brute with developed limbs, but a subordinate sect with comprehensive combat power. In a moment, after your imprint incarnations enter, with the center of the scroll as the dividing line, your two sects will each occupy half of the space. You will be given one hour to familiarize yourselves with your own side and the opponent’s terrain and topography. Afterwards, a dense fog will appear to interfere. This fog will interfere with everyone’s senses and divine sense, but it will not completely restrict cultivation, only interfere with the cultivators inside. This situation imitates a real harsh environment. We often walk in many places, and if we accidentally enter an enemy’s grand formation, we will be besieged by the formation. Even in the Heavenly Demon Prairie, which is closest to us, some regions have many strange restrictions. Therefore, you cannot always rely on favorable weather and geographical conditions. On the contrary, you will often encounter danger, which requires you to rely on your own cultivation to overcome these problems, and even use these environments to your advantage. In this pass, whether you choose to fight face to face, set up ambushes, use strategies, or other means, there is only one result: you must kill all the enemies on the other side to be considered victorious. If the other party has even one Golden Core cultivator left, but this person is skilled in concealment, and you just can’t find and kill them, the final result will be considered a draw. Then all the rewards will be divided equally between your two sects. The time limit I give you here is five days! If you have any more questions, then ask them quickly now, and you will be given answers!”
Elder Fang quickly explained the rules of this match, and then her beautiful eyes fell on the cultivators below.