Chapter 4: Hand It Over
“My axe!” Meng Jingzhou hollered in the illusionary domain. His first thought was to go into the water to retrieve his axe.
The River Spirit appeared on the river’s surface, holding three axes.
“Young man, you—”
Splash!
Before the River Spirit could finish, he witnessed Meng Jingzhou diving straight into the river.
The bubbles he makes are even larger than mine.
What on earth is going on?
The River Spirit was stupefied. It was his first time encountering such a situation.
The gurgling bubbles gradually faded into a concerning silence. The only disturbance to the serene river surface was the ripples under the River Spirit’s feet from the aura waves he was emitting.
“Why is there no movement…don’t tell me he drowned?” the River Spirit mumbled.
That said, he wasn’t worried that Meng Jingzhou had really drowned. After all, this is an illusionary domain; people won’t die from drowning.
Before the River Spirit could figure out what Meng Jingzhou was up to, something unusual happened once again!
Ripples on the river surface grew more rampant, prompting the River Spirit to knit his brow. I am controlling my power well, so it shouldn’t be due to my aura waves.
It finally dawned upon him. “It’s that lad!”
Strands of golden aura waves could be seen within the stream. Above the surface, the mist exuded traces of immortal intent, as if an unknown abomination was spawning at the bottom of the river, one capable of making the heart palpitate.
Three water jets spurted out of the river, spraying golden mist across the whole river which shrouded the River Spirit’s view.
Suddenly, an inexplicable gust of wind dispersed the golden mist.
Three figures appeared. They all bore Meng Jingzhou’s appearance, but it was not a stretch to say that their mannerisms were completely different from the original.
The River Spirit shuddered. It was an instinctive reaction, coming from the bottom of his soul.
In front of him were Meng Jingzhou the mortal, Meng Jingzhou the formidable cultivator, and…Meng Jingzhou the immortal!
This phenomenon could be explained by the illusionary domain’s fundamental principle—anything that falls into the river would manifest in three forms: mortal, spirit, and immortal.
“Hand it over,” the three Meng Jingzhous requested simultaneously, grabbing their respective axes.
With immortal Meng Jingzhou around, the River Spirit was at his mercy.
Immortal Meng Jingzhou obtained the Heaven Splitting Axe, the immortal artifact; formidable cultivator Meng Jingzhou obtained the Mountain Splitting axe, the spirit artifact; and the mortal Meng Jingzhou took advantage of the other two’s presence to deftly swipe the worn-out axe before the River Spirit could register what was happening.
With all three axes in hand, the illusionary domain shattered, and Meng Jingzhou successfully passed the second round.
Following that, Meng Jingzhou temporarily fell unconscious as a self-protection mechanism, just like the others who had passed the second round.
~~~
After watching Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou’s performance in the second round, the members of the Dao-Seeking Sect were stunned speechless for a long time.
What happened to being “honest people?”
Yun Zhi kept her opinions to herself. I have a feeling that if we recruit these two people into the Dao-Seeking Sect, we can say goodbye to peaceful days.
But I hope my gut feeling is wrong.
Just then, the real River Spirit appeared with a golden and a silver axe in his hands, belligerently marching toward Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.
Not once have I ever suffered such humiliation as the guardian spirit of the Dao-Seeking Sect.
“Don’t block me! I must teach these two brats a lesson today; I will break their arms and legs then reattach them!”
The Dao-Seeking Sect disciples hurriedly restrained the raging River Spirit.
“Senior River Spirit, you can’t chop them up!”
“Please quell your anger, Senior River Spirit.”
“If word gets out that something happened to the participants, our sect’s reputation will be ruined!”
In the end, it required Dai Bufan’s intervention to restrain the incensed River Spirit.
“Rest assured, River Spirit, the third round is personally designed by me, Dai Bufan; it will definitely teach those two a lesson.”
The River Spirit finally relented upon receiving Dai Bufan’s word.
The third round was intended to be the ultimate challenge. There had been two proposals—one was proposed by Yun Zhi and was thought to be more mild, while the other was proposed by Dai Bufan and was deemed to be a little cruel. Both would test one’s Dao Heart.
Everyone had unanimously voted for Yun Zhi’s proposal, which was very mild. Even if a candidate couldn’t pass, there would be no punishment. However, to appease the River Spirit, they could only switch to Dai Bufan’s idea instead.
Yun Zhi had no objections to that. It’s not a bad idea to let these two fellows suffer a bit.
The second round eventually weeded out a sizable number of participants. Faced with the temptation from the axes, many had followed the desire in their hearts and tried to deceive the River Spirit by claiming that they had dropped the Heaven Splitting Axe and Mountain Splitting Axe.
As those eliminated left, they complained that the Dao-Seeking Sect’s second round of the trials was overly tough.
However, not all felt the same way. Those who passed the second round certainly weren’t complaining.
~~~
“The second round was actually pretty simple,” Man Gu recounted. “I just had to speak the truth.”
The candidates waiting for the third round nodded together.
“What?! You mean we weren’t supposed to jump into the river and snatch the axes from the River Spirit?” Meng Jingzhou exclaimed.
Why are their methods different from mine?
Lu Yang rolled his eyes at Meng Jingzhou, finding him stupid. “If the River Spirit weren’t an illusion but instead real, wouldn’t you have provoked him?”
“You should have done what I did—ask for all the axes and toss them into the river. That way, it could be counted as us dropping all three axes into the river.”
Meng Jingzhou felt as if he had seen the light. “That’s really clever.”
The rest silently watched Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou concluding their experiences in the previous round. Did we clear it in the wrong manner?
Man Gu nodded. I remember Father mentioning that the Ancient Barbarian Tribe bloodline almost went extinct precisely because of our arrogance and incompetence. As a descendant, I must overcome this weakness, be humble, and learn from others.
Man Gu felt that he had found his role models.
Just as everyone was about to discuss the proper method to pass the trial, Yun Zhi and Dai Bufan appeared along with the other Dao-Seeking Sect disciples.
A smile hung at the corners of Dai Bufan’s mouth. With a flip of his hand, a mountain the size of his palm materialized. Within the timespan of a few breaths, it had already shot up to a few hundred zhang[1] in height.
Gasps of awe buzzed throughout the crowd. The skill showcased by Dai Bufan was a rare sight even among cultivators.
Dense with lush and verdant trees, it was no different from an actual mountain. On one side of the mountain was a long staircase leading to the summit.
“This item is called Heart-Seeking Mountain, a mystical item I have requested an elder to craft. All living beings, be it immortals or mortals, are equal on this mountain. Your task is to climb the Heart-Seeking Mountain. The higher you climb, the stronger your willpower.”
“Reaching the fiftieth step is considered a pass.”
Someone raised a question. “But wouldn’t that give Man Gu an unfair advantage?”
It was not surprising that someone had brought it up. Despite being fifteen years of age, Man Gu stood a head taller than others and possessed the physique of a twenty-five or twenty-six-year-old. One stride of his could cover twice the distance.
Dai Bufan flashed a smile. “You don’t have to worry about this. The Heart-Seeking Mountain will ensure that everyone’s physique is brought to the same level. Even if you are a cultivator, you will become a mortal once you are on my Heart-Seeking Mountain.”
“Is there a time limit?” someone else asked.
“No.”
The crowd rejoiced. Since there is no time limit, doesn’t that mean that we can keep trying? We don’t have to agonize over not passing the third round!
Could this third round be just a formality?
“May we use magical treasures?” Many of them had been bestowed specially-crafted magical treasures by their clans. No spirit energy was required to activate them, providing them with a significant boon.
Dai Bufan’s smile almost turned into one of schadenfreude. “Yes, you may.”
That is, if you can.
1. One zhang converts to about 3.33m. ☜
Rakumon's ThoughtsYou'd probably have already seen it before, but it's WuxiaWorld stylistic choice to keep most of the measurement units in the original form. A quick note here for the common units:
Li: Divide whatever number you see by 2 to get the distance in km (Miles people, I trust you to do the calculations yourself :D)
Zhang: Multiply whatever you see by 3 to convert to meters(technically not the most accurate, but it'll do...)
Chi: Multiply by 30 to convert to centimeters (approx, yeah)
Cun: Multiple by 3 to convert to centimeters
Not the most rigorous mathematics, but let's just roll with this heh
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