“Your sword, lend it to me.”Zhang Ruochen said.
Mu Jiji had already gone to break through the Ancient God Mountain last month, so he wouldn’t be breaking through today.
He removed a blue sword from his back and handed it to Zhang Ruochen.
“Wow!”
Zhang Ruochen pulled the sword out for a moment, and instantly, blue sword light emanated from the scabbard with a sharp fluctuation of sword qi.
“A tenth rank True Martial Treasure Weapon, it’s something to make do with.”
Zhang Ruochen took the sword back into the scabbard and took unhurried steps to the foot of the first mountain.
As he looked forward, he saw that, in front of him, was a smooth green stone wall, and on the stone wall, there were densely engraved words.
It was said that only those who had reached the Half-Saint realm were qualified to leave a word on the stone wall of the first mountain.
Each word contained the sword dao intention of a Half Saint, and had become one with the entire Ancient God Mountain.
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze landed on one of the characters “Dao”.
“Wow!”
That one “Dao” character, which instantly emerged with a white glow, fell off the stone wall and transformed into a translucent middle-aged Taoist priest who flew down in front of Zhang Ruochen.
“Defeat me and you can pass the first level.”
Without giving Zhang Ruochen too much time to think, the middle-aged Daoist stretched out a hand and grabbed it into the void. In the next moment, in his hand, a three-foot long sword coalesced.
The middle-aged Daoist stomped out sixteen steps in a row, transforming into sixteen silhouettes as he simultaneously stabbed out with the sword, striking at sixteen vital points on Zhang Ruochen’s entire body.
Zhang Ruochen appeared quite calm and closed his eyes, and with a swish, he drew his blue sword, turned his arm, and stabbed down behind him with his backhand. The sharp blade of the sword accurately pierced through the middle-aged Taoist priest’s heart.
From the beginning to the end, Zhang Ruochen’s footsteps did not move a bit, and his movements appeared to be flowing.
The middle-aged Taoist priest’s body immediately turned into a ray of white light and flew back to the stone wall, transforming back into the character “Dao”.
“Passed the first level of the first mountain so easily?”
Zhang Ruochen smiled faintly and opened his eyes to look around; many of the Sacred Transmission disciples were still fighting the translucent silhouettes.
Among them, the vast majority of them, ended in defeat.
Only a few of them had defeated the translucent silhouette and passed the first level of the first mountain.
Han Chu and Pang Long had both managed to pass the first level, while Xun Hua Liu ended in failure.
At the foot of the first mountain, the test was the cultivator’s sword dao cultivation. Obviously, Xun Hua Liu’s Sword Dao cultivation was still quite different from Han Chu and Pang Long.
Zhang Ruochen ascended a treacherous mountain path and travelled towards the mountainside.
Han Chu had been keeping an eye on Zhang Ruochen, and when he saw Zhang Ruochen’s figure in front of him, he immediately performed his body technique and hurriedly chased after him, landing beside Zhang Ruochen and said, “I really didn’t expect that your Sword Dao cultivation was so powerful, and that you defeated the guardian with just one move.”
Zhang Ruochen appeared unperturbed as he stared at her and said, “It’s just the first pass of the first mountain, nothing remarkable.”
Han Qiu’s beauty was very bright, black and white, her eyelashes were long and curved, and she smiled sweetly, “It’s not quite like your character when you say that.”
“Oh?”Zhang Ruochen said.
“In the past, you didn’t know what modesty was at all. The way you looked at me was also not as clear as it is now.”Han Qiu’s red lips were extraordinarily crystalline, drawing out a charming arc.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “At that time, what were my eyes?”
“At that time, your eyes were full of lecherous glints, itching to strip the clothes off my body.”Han Qiu was not embarrassed in the slightest and said with a smile.
It wasn’t the first time Zhang Ruochen had met Han Chu, and he knew her character quite well, thus, he wasn’t surprised in the slightest that she would speak in such a bold manner.
“Lin Yue, I feel like you’ve been possessed by a ghost and have completely turned into another person, that person makes me feel very familiar, yet somewhat strange.”
Han Qiu’s pretty face had a teasing look on it, and her bright, beautiful eyes, stared tightly into Zhang Ruochen’s eyes, wanting to see if his eyes would change.
“Just think of me as possessed by a ghost!”
Zhang Ruochen performed his body technique and with a swish, he dashed forward, leaving a series of silhouettes on the mountain path.
Han Qiu stared at Lin Yue’s back, her crystal red lips pursed slightly as she muttered to herself, “It’s really too similar, how could the two people’s temperaments be similar to such an extent? Could it be that that fellow really borrowed a body and returned to his soul?”
The waist of the first heavy mountain, located at four thousand metres above sea level, was surrounded by steep cliffs, if one were to accidentally fall, even a cultivator of the Fish Dragon Realm would have to be seriously injured.
On the cliff wall, using iron pillars as thick as buckets, an iron bridge thirty feet long was made, extending outwards all the way across the mid-air.
Zhang Ruochen followed one of the iron pillars and came to the mid-air position, glancing downwards, the bodies of the Sacred Transmission disciples at the bottom of the mountain were even tinier than ants. If they were to fall, one could imagine how terrifying it would be.
At the end of each iron pillar, there was each a wooden pavilion built, with vermillion pillars and golden glazed tiles, like an immortal pavilion suspended in mid-air.
After waiting for roughly an incense stick of time, a Sacred Transmission Disciple of the Fifth Transformation of the Fish Dragon, walked out from inside, this person seemed to have failed the second level, and with a sigh, he headed down the mountain.
Zhang Ruochen pushed open the door and walked into the attic.
In the attic, on the wall directly in front of him, there was a painting of a woman in a white Taoist robe in a sword dance pose.
The woman in the painting, who was extremely beautiful, gave off a feeling of freshness.
Suddenly, the woman on the painting actually moved. She stepped out seven times in a row, and the sword in her hand changed twelve times.
In just a split second, the woman on the scroll, however, stopped and became still once again.
Was that really a painting?
In the pavilion, a woman’s voice resounded as if it was coming from the painting, “Within an hour, restore the sword stance from just now and cultivate it to at least the minor achievement realm, and you will pass this level”
Zhang Ruochen revealed a look of awe as he stretched out two fingers and gently stroked the top of the painting, “It’s a bit interesting.”
Just now, the stroke he made was naturally not a desire to desecrate the woman in the painting, but rather, he wanted to confirm if that painting was a spatial treasure.
In fact, that painting was not a spatial treasure.
According to Zhang Ruochen’s guess, it should be the holy soul of a certain half-saint that had attached itself to the top of the scroll and fused with the ink to form such a divine phenomenon.
Just now, the woman on the scroll had performed one of the sword moves from a set of Ghost Grade Lower Grade Sword Techniques.
Not only was it necessary to note down the steps and gestures of the sword move, but also to analyse the way the true qi operated, and most crucially, one had to cultivate the sword move to a small degree of success within an hour.
This level, the test was, the cultivator’s enlightenment.
For other Fish Dragon Realm cultivators, it was estimated that they couldn’t even see the moves of the woman in the painting, so it was as difficult as hell to comprehend the sword moves and cultivate them to the minor achievement realm.
However, for Zhang Ruochen, it was not too difficult.
Zhang Ruochen sat on the ground, and in his mind, he used the Heart of Sword Intent to simulate the sword stance that the woman in the painting had just executed, breaking down the footwork and gestures, and then, he rehearsed it in his Qi Sea.
After spending only half a pillar of incense, Zhang Ruochen had successfully cultivated the sword stance to the minor achievement realm.
After he had rehearsed the sword stance, a woman’s voice once again resounded from the painting, “Second level, pass.”
Zhang Ruochen turned around intending to walk out of the pavilion, but then suddenly stopped.
In his eyes, a brilliant aura flashed through and he decided to test it out.
Thus, he pressed his hand on top of the sword hilt and drew out the blue sword in a lightning-like manner, utilising his entire body’s true qi, his toes flew up off the ground, and stabbed the sword at the scroll on the wall.
“Daring.”
Suddenly, in the scroll, an intense white light surged out.
The silhouette of a woman in a white daoist robe rushed out from the scroll like a ghost, and she too quickly stabbed out with her sword, erupting more than a hundred sword qi that crashed into Zhang Ruochen’s body.
“Boom!”
Zhang Ruochen crashed through the door of the attic and flew backwards, crossing the iron bridge, his back ruthlessly slamming into the top of the steep stone wall, leaving behind a human-shaped concave mark.
His body, then, slid down the narrow mountain path, staring with some suspicion towards the attic hanging in mid-air.
The intense white splendour quickly converged back and returned inside the scroll.
An ice-cold female voice came out from the attic, saying: ”Remembering that you are a first-time offender, I will spare you once. If there is a next time, you will be directly handed over to the Law Enforcement Court for disposal.”
Zhang Ruochen looked at his arm, the sleeve had completely shattered, revealing a bare arm.
“What a powerful sword technique.”Zhang Ruochen muttered.
The scene just now had startled all the Sacred Transmission disciples on the mountainside, all of them.
The gazes of the crowd stared towards Zhang Ruochen, rather puzzled as to what he had encountered.
Han Chu walked over and glanced towards the pavilion hanging in mid-air, asking in surprise, “What’s wrong?”
Zhang Ruochen took his blue sword back into its scabbard, looking extremely calm as he said, “I wanted to try to see if that painting was offensive, so I stabbed a sword at it, and thus, it became what it is now.”
On the mountainside, everyone was dumbstruck, their jaws dropping to the ground in shock.
Han Chu also froze for a moment, and then, laughed heartily, saying, “You actually dared to strike your sword at the guardian? I’m really impressed with you, for this kind of rule-breaking behaviour of yours, the gatekeeper will definitely not let you pass this level.”
“But, I have already passed.”
After saying that, Zhang Ruochen did not look back as he continued to travel along the narrow mountain path towards the top of the first heavy mountain.
The Sacred Transmission disciples at the mountainside were all as petrified as if they were petrified at once, staring incredulously at Zhang Ruochen’s back.
“He actually passed the second level of the First Heavy Mountain?”
“How could it be so fast, as I recall, it was only half a pillar of incense before he entered the pavilion.”
“Why didn’t I know before that the Two Eyes Sect still had such a powerful character.”
Pang Long felt like he had been struck by lightning, his eyes were filled with blood as he stared unbelievably at Zhang Ruochen’s distant figure, his mouth constantly chanting, “Lin Yue only achieved his current strength by virtue of a strange encounter. How could his enlightenment be so high? It can’t be… it must be impossible.”
Regardless of whether the crowd believed or disbelieved, Zhang Ruochen, at this moment, had already stepped onto the path leading to the top of the mountain.
“On the waist of the first heavy mountain, there are a total of two hundred and sixteen pavilions, one painting inside each pavilion, a total of two hundred and sixteen. If it was just a single Saint Soul, the paintings couldn’t possibly possess such a powerful attack. That is to say, each painting possesses a complete Saint Soul.”
“When Half-Saints and Saints die, their Saint Souls dissipate. How exactly did the Two Element Sect manage to keep the holy souls of dead saints from dissipating?”
Zhang Ruochen raised his head and looked towards the peak of the Ancient God Mountain, and vaguely, he felt an ancient and lofty aura pressing down. The clouds and haze were like seven-coloured waterfalls that hung straight down, and from afar, it was both magnificent and mysterious.
He sighed, ”It should be the power of the Ancient Divine Mountain that has kept the holy souls of the successive generations of saints of the Two Element Sect undying. Father was right, the Ancient God Mountain is indeed mysterious and seems to really hide some great secrets.”
The further one travelled upwards, the Ancient God Mountain would emit a powerful “potential”, and the power of the “potential” grew stronger and stronger, impacting Zhang Ruochen’s will all the time.
The “potential” that erupted from the Ancient God Mountain was as terrifying as a Saint’s “Holy Might”.
The third level tested the cultivator’s will.
Only by breaking through the first mountain’s “potential” and reaching the top of the mountain would a cultivator be considered to have passed the third level of the test.
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