The Great Desolate Sect

In this way, in a rush, Zhang Tie spent a full seven days in busyness. Just emerging from underground, he first efficiently cleaned the storage bag filled with broken stones until it was spotless, then found a relatively flat spot and sat down on the ground.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, falling into a recollection of the gains from these past few days. Thinking of this, his face involuntarily showed excitement.

In the storage bag, mid-grade spirit stones were now piled up like a small mountain. Upon careful counting, there were over three thousand seven hundred mid-grade spirit stones. If converted to low-grade spirit stones, that would be over thirty-seven thousand.

When had Zhang Tie ever possessed such immense wealth? Never! This unprecedented sense of security made his heart feel incomparably stable and at ease.

Zhang Tie quickly found Jiang Yun, who was cultivating. He returned the storage bag and informed Jiang Yun that he was about to go out and explore the place marked with a circular symbol on the map, according to their previous plan. He would send Jiang Yun a message at the edge of the grand formation upon his return.

After saying this, he turned without hesitation and strode towards the edge of the formation.

Entering had been fraught with numerous difficulties and dangers, but exiting was unexpectedly without any resistance. Zhang Tie walked out with such ease and freedom.

He reached into his bosom and took out the deerskin map, examining it again. Then, he identified a direction, unleashed the Wind Riding Technique, and sped off.

Three days passed like flowing water, and Zhang Tie finally arrived not far from the location marked on the map.

What unfolded before his eyes was a vast, boundless, and incredibly dense mountain forest. Towering mountain peaks rose and fell in succession, layer upon layer, stretching as far as the eye could see, like endless surging waves, inspiring awe.

Zhang Tie took out the deerskin map again, confirming it repeatedly. The location was indeed around here; he definitely hadn't gone in the wrong direction.

After carefully putting away the map, Zhang Tie began to pay close attention to his surroundings. At the same time, he would occasionally sink his consciousness into the storage bag, monitoring the changes in the four tokens.

After walking for about another quarter of an hour, Zhang Tie slowly emerged from a mountain valley. At that very moment, a colossal and incredibly shocking statue suddenly came into view. The statue stood majestically within a massive circular stone platform hundreds of feet in diameter, its imposing and magnificent aura breathtaking.

The statue was entirely a deep black. Its ferocious lion head seemed capable of devouring everything, its robust ape body exuded power, its three swaying snake tails were chilling, its single horn on its head was incredibly sharp, the mane around its neck resembled burning flames, and its mouth full of interlocking fangs was utterly terrifying.

Its legs were planted in a stance, firm and powerful, its arms raised high, looking up at the sky, as if roaring in anger. The giant mouth on its abdomen seemed capable of swallowing heaven and earth, and its entire body was covered in dense scales that flashed with heart-pounding cold light.

The first impression this statue gave was of power, savagery, and ferocity, making one feel fear and dare not show any disrespect with just a single glance.

Surrounding this massive statue stood nine white pillars, each about a foot in diameter and over three feet tall. Both the pillars and the stone platform beneath them were covered in intricate formation patterns.

In front of the stone platform, there was a black stone tablet, over three people tall, standing silently.

Zhang Tie's heart trembled slightly. He had never seen such a strange appearance for a statue in any of the miscellaneous records he had ever read. Such a grand and mysterious existence must not be an unknown entity.

Zhang Tie took a deep breath, maintaining a high degree of caution, and slowly walked towards the mysterious stone tablet. As he approached, he was surprised to find that on the left side of the stone tablet, three large characters were clearly written: God Testing Stele.

Zhang Tie couldn't help but frown, pondering with a mind full of questions. What exactly did this God Testing Stele test? Could it be divine sense? No, everyone who could enter here was only at the Qi Refining stage, how could they possess divine sense?

Zhang Tie racked his brain, thinking hard for a long time, but ultimately could not figure it out. However, he secretly decided in his heart that he could find out its secrets by going forward and trying it out.

Zhang Tie took a deep breath, slowly paced to the front of the stone tablet, extended his right hand, and gently placed it on the stone tablet. Then, he closed his eyes, concentrated his spiritual power, and slowly infused spiritual power into the stone tablet. However, to his disappointment, the stone tablet showed no reaction at all.

Zhang Tie withdrew his hand with some disappointment, gritted his teeth, and pressed his head firmly against the stone tablet, concentrating all his attention. But the stone tablet still remained motionless.

Zhang Tie looked at the giant statue and pillars behind him with confusion, then turned to look at the unresponsive stone tablet before him. He then hardened his resolve and decided to test it with various spells.

He moved his hands, casting spells like Fireball Technique, Ice Cone Technique, Fire Rain Technique, and others, attacking the stone tablet, but it still showed no reaction.

A surge of uncontrollable anger instantly rose in Zhang Tie's heart. He cursed inwardly, "I traveled hard for three to four days, and all I got was this unresponsive piece of junk? If I had known, I would have brought Jiang Yun with me. That kid is proficient in formations; maybe he could figure something out. Do I really have to go back and get him? But that would delay a lot of time. However, it seems like that's the only way now."

After careful consideration, Zhang Tie ultimately decided to go back. But as he looked at the stone tablet before him again, his anger could not be suppressed. He suddenly raised his right fist, gathered all his strength, and smashed it fiercely onto the stone tablet.

"Rumble!" A deafening roar erupted instantly, and the entire mountain valley seemed to tremble.

The stone tablet suddenly emitted a blinding white light, so intense that it was impossible to look at directly, shooting straight into the sky. After the white light pillar lasted for a few breaths, the light suddenly changed from pure white to red. After a few more breaths, a conspicuous red character "Profound" slowly appeared on the giant stone tablet.

Immediately after, a red light, like lightning, shot into Zhang Tie's forehead and vanished without a trace.

Before Zhang Tie could react to this series of sudden and astonishing changes, a faint and ethereal voice, from an unknown source, sounded: "The Great Desolate Sect disciple trial will commence in thirty days. Disciples who pass the test will be able to enter the trial grounds." This voice seemed to possess endless magical power, repeating itself three times before slowly disappearing into the vast heavens and earth like a receding tide.

At this moment, Zhang Tie had just processed the information that had shot into his mind. It turned out that this stone platform was essentially a teleportation array, which would transport disciples who passed the God Testing Stele test to the Great Desolate Sect's trial grounds. Only disciples who successfully passed the trial could obtain the Great Desolate Sect's inheritance; if they failed, they would be teleported out.

Performance in the trial would directly determine the content of the inheritance received. The Great Desolate Sect was a body cultivation sect from tens of thousands of years ago in the cultivation world, so it was evident that its inheritance would naturally be related to body cultivation and would undoubtedly be extremely precious.

After digesting this shocking information, Zhang Tie's face turned red with excitement. Although he didn't know why the Great Desolate Sect's trial secret realm would suddenly appear in this cultivation world, nor whether the once glorious Great Desolate Sect still existed in the world today, the inheritance of a great sect from tens of thousands of years ago was like a massive treasure laid out before him, truly tempting and irresistible.

At this moment, Zhang Tie suddenly felt a slight warmth on his forehead. The heat made him reach up and touch his forehead, feeling as if something had been added. So, he quickly used a spell to condense a clear water screen and looked into it. To his surprise, he discovered that a clear "Desolate" character, emitting a mysterious light, had appeared on his forehead.

However, Zhang Tie did not panic because of this. He calmly guessed that this should be a unique mark of passing the test.

At this time, the dazzling light pillar had disappeared, and the surroundings had returned to peace. But Zhang Tie suddenly thought of something extremely bad: how significant was the massive commotion he had just caused?

First, there was the white and red light pillar that shot into the sky, then the immense sound that echoed through heaven and earth. The worst-case scenario was that perhaps all the disciples of various sects within the entire secret realm had witnessed this astonishing scene.

They would surely think it was some kind of treasure or an earth-shattering opportunity, and someone would definitely come here. Thinking of this, Zhang Tie couldn't help but frown, his face showing deep worry.

But just then, a sudden change occurred. The statue suddenly emitted a faint white light all over its body, followed by the nine towering pillars also emitting white light. A massive white light shield instantly appeared over the entire stone platform.