Chapter 15: Advancement (1)

Posted byYours TrulyOctober 1, 2023Posted inZanxing

The incense stick had burned down to only half its length.

Ziluo looked at the cultivators on the mushroom-mountain. At this point, most of the cultivators had stopped climbing upward and had started fighting with those around them.

“Sister, they refuse to climb further,” said a young disciple at her side.

Ziluo sighed and shook her head. “These cultivators fear difficulties and dangers, unwilling to continue upwards. Little do they know that the higher they go, the more abundant the spiritual energy within the Lianshan Flowers. The one at the summit is even more valuable than a second-grade spirit herb.”

After the trial ends, the Lianshan Flowers these cultivators pick will be rewarded to themselves. If they could climb a bit higher, their rewards would be more abundant, but it was a pity.

“Wait,” another fellow disciple pointed upward, “There’s still a young man up there.”

Ziluo looked in that direction and saw a young man in azure robes struggling to climb higher on the rocky mountain. He was not very old, sweat pouring down from his forehead, and the climb was exceptionally difficult, but he never stopped moving.

Ziluo revealed a satisfied smile. “This fellow cultivator indeed possesses a firm resolve in his cultivation. Impressive.”

“Sister, can he pass the trial?”

“It’s highly likely.”

On the other side, Zanxing was still climbing at a leisurely pace.

To be honest, at this point, she didn’t really want to continue climbing higher. The spinning mushroom-mountain was making her head spin, and she was genuinely worried about getting dizzy and falling.

Perhaps it was because she appeared fragile and unassuming, but all the way up, no cultivator had attempted to snatch her flowers. Zanxing planned to pick a few more and then find a secluded spot to hide. She figured her time was running out.

Just as she was thinking this, a voice came from beside her, “Yang Zanxing.”

She looked up, and to her surprise, it was Wang Shao and Duan Xiangrao. It seemed like an unexpected encounter.

“You’ve actually made it this far,” Wang Shao stared at her, his eyes filled with astonishment.

For Zanxing to have passed through the Elemental Gate was already quite incredible to Wang Shao. Now, seeing her reach this point, seemingly on par with him, Wang Shao felt like he was in a dream.

“It’s thanks to your blessing,” Zanxing replied casually, “Just good luck.”

Her attitude, which showed a complete disregard for him, once again infuriated Wang Shao. He was about to lose his temper when Duan Xiangrao cleared her throat, reminding Wang Shao of his original intention. He lowered his voice and said, “Give me the flowers.”

“What?” Zanxing looked at him, wondering if this man had lost his mind.

“Miss Yang,” Duan Xiangrao spoke softly, “You participated in the selection tournament because you want to enter the Taiyan Sect and obtain the spirit medicine to heal your facial injury. Once Young Master Wang enters the Taiyan Sect, he will naturally find the spirit medicine for you.”

“That’s right,” Wang Shao pretended, “I will also provide you with enough spiritual stones and elixirs. You won’t lose out.”

Zanxing asked, “Are you trying to take advantage of me because you’re afraid you won’t be able to enter the sect yourself? Isn’t this cheating?”

“Yang Zanxing, don’t speak so harshly,” Wang Shao blushed with anger, “I’m saying this because I hold you in high regard!”

“Thank you for your regard, but I’m not interested,” Zanxing replied.

“Miss Yang,” Duan Xiangrao smiled as she spoke, “The path of cultivation is long and lonely, full of hardships. Why should an ordinary woman like you go through this torment? If you sell the flowers to Young Master Wang and later heal your face, you can find a good husband, enjoy the harmony of love and marriage. Isn’t that better? A woman’s lifelong hope is to find a good home, so why engage in conflicts and roughen yourself?”

Zanxing replied, “I fear marriage.”

Duan Xiangrao was left speechless.

Wang Shao, unable to contain his anger, said, “Why waste so many words with these oddballs? Yang Zanxing,” he sneered, “If you won’t take the polite offer, don’t blame me for not being sentimental!”

Is this how a person should talk? Not to mention Mu Cengxiao, it felt like even Zanxing, his fiancée, was punching him. This person was truly annoying.

Before the words even settled, Wang Shao grabbed the stone wall with one hand and swung his other hand towards Zanxing.

It seemed like words alone wouldn’t do so he was resorting to force.

Zanxing sidestepped, narrowly avoiding the attack, and pressed herself against the stone wall to evade it, her hands gripping the wall to prevent herself from falling.

“I’ll say it again,” Wang Shao stared at her coldly, his tone aggressive and tinged with impatience, “Give me the flowers!”

“No, I won’t,” Zanxing’s expression turned equally cold.

In the original story, this scene should have involved Mu Cengxiao and Wang Shao. Mu Cengxiao had become mortal enemies with Wang Shao after accidentally killing “Miss Yang”. During the selection tournament on the mushroom mountain, Wang Shao secretly attempted to kill Mu Cengxiao and steal his flowers. However, he underestimated the male lead, resulting in a confrontation that ended with Wang Shao falling from the giant mushroom. He ultimately didn’t even manage to touch the gates of the Taiyan Sect and suffered a miserable fate.

But now, without this deep-seated enmity, this plot twist was happening between her and Wang Shao!

Could it be implying that she had now acquired the male lead’s script, and all the scenarios designed to humiliate the male lead had to be endured by her?

This was not a good development!

Xiangrao’s smile faded from her face, and her gaze turned sinister. She said, “There’s no time left, let’s go together!”

The timer incense was about to burn out.

Another wave of cultivators had their flowers snatched away, and the participating cultivators pushed them down from the mushroom mountain, sealing their fate away from the sect.

“The time is running out,” the young disciple looked into the distance. “I wonder if the remaining people on the mountain will be enough to make up one hundred and twenty.”

Ziluo remained silent. The closer they got to the end, the more critical it became. Sometimes, in just a few breaths, the situation could change dramatically.

On the mushroom mountain, Zanxing was struggling to evade the attacks of the two people in front of her.

Wang Shao was really shameless, actually ganging up two against one. In the original story, there was no character like Xiangrao. However, perhaps due to the deviation caused by the “Miss Yang” storyline, this setting forcibly introduced a second malicious female character.

Xiangrao blocked Zanxing’s way, and with one hand clinging to the stone wall, Zanxing could only use her other hand to defend. Wang Shao took advantage of the situation and approached, trying to snatch the basket from her back.

Unable to spare an extra hand for defense, Zanxing’s expression changed in an instant. A bold idea struck her. She activated the Xiao Yuan Pearl within her body and injected the elemental energy from the Lianshan flowers she had absorbed earlier into the flowers’ cores in her basket.

Suddenly, a burst of golden light erupted from the basket.

The plucked flowers seemed to come to life. At the moment when Wang Shao’s hand approached, they dramatically transformed, extending into dozens of purple-black, withered hands that reached fiercely toward Wang Shao’s face.

Wang Shao was unprepared and took a palm strike from the ghost hands on his face. He slipped and fell straight down.

“Young Master Wang!” Xiangrao exclaimed in shock.

A loud “clang” echoed.

The enormous white mushroom mountain gradually stopped spinning, and the purple flowers on the stone wall vanished. The flames were extinguished, and the last speck of incense ash was blown away by the wind.

A clear female voice resounded throughout the entire Immortal Viewing Platform.

“The trial is over.”