The trial participant behind the third water curtain was Ning Ri.
After entering, Ning Ri first waited in a bright void for nearly half a day, yet the trial never came.
At first, he had thought the first stage of the disciple trial was imprisonment, meant to test his patience.
Bored stiff from sitting there, he could only begin practicing hand-blades. A hand-blade was still a blade, and it could also raise his blade technique skill points.
Though hand-blades were far slower than actual blade techniques, something was better than nothing.
Save when he should save, spend when he should spend. Without savings, there was nothing to spend.
Just as he had practiced enough, he found himself in a quiet chamber, where he saw Xun Zang seated some distance away.
Ning Ri immediately bowed respectfully. "Greetings, Elder Xun!"
He could tell that this Elder Xun's figure flickered indistinctly; clearly, he was an avatar.
Xun Zang smiled. "No need for such formality."
"This disciple trial is very simple."
"The ideological interview that was not conducted during the previous disciple recruitment will be conducted now."
"It is called [Heart Questioning]."
Upon hearing this, Ning Ri understood. So they were simply continuing the conversation they had not finished before.
His heart immediately settled—
He recalled that, at the disciple recruitment site, quite a few people had passed [Heart Questioning].
Then he should be fine this time as well.
Ning Ri then cupped his hands. "Please ask your questions, Elder Xun!"
Xun Zang asked, "Young Friend Ning, may I ask: from childhood until now, what has been by your side the longest?"
Ning Ri thought first. Several modern names flashed through his mind in rapid succession—mobile phone, computer, figurines...
After weighing it again and again, he finally answered, "Probably a little cat puppet of mine."
The little cat puppet referred to a cat figurine from his previous life, one that had accompanied him for a long time.
Xun Zang nodded slightly. "Very well. Then let me ask you this: would you be willing to become Dao companions with your little cat puppet?"
Ning Ri: "?"
His expression immediately turned strange...
Haqi Xun, you bastard... Are you making me get together with Hakimi?
Come to think of it, what kind of question was this? What did it have to do with the disciple trial?
Besides, how could I possibly marry a figurine?
Then again, someone in my previous life really had married a figurine, but I couldn't accept that...
Ning Ri did not answer rashly, trying to guess why the disciple trial was asking such a question.
But after pondering it over and over, he still could not figure out what this disciple trial was actually testing. In the end, he answered, "Elder Xun, I am unwilling."
Xun Zang did not ask why he was unwilling. Instead, he continued, "Then let me ask you this: if you would not choose the little cat puppet as your Dao companion, what would you choose as your Dao companion?"
Ning Ri answered concisely, "A woman who loved me and whom I loved in return."
Xun Zang asked again, "Very well. Then let me ask you: if one day this woman who loved you and whom you loved suddenly contracted a terrible illness and became a man, would you still choose to remain with her?"
Ning Ri: "?"
After remaining silent for a while, he said, "This... Cultivation is so convenient. She should be able to change back right away, shouldn't she?"
Xun Zang first nodded approvingly, then threw out another question. "Young Friend Ning, according to what you said, even if your Dao companion became a man, as long as she looked like a woman, you could accept it?"
Ning Ri: "???"
You... Me... Huh?!
Ning Ri fell silent. His brain crashed for a moment.
He swore that he had never been silent for so long in his life.
Even when he had been hit to death by a truck and sent to another world, he had not felt his mind stop turning for this long.
Come to think of it, did this count as same-sex attraction?
He hurriedly said, "I-I didn't mean that..."
"I meant that cultivation is very convenient. She should be able to return to normal."
Upon hearing this, Xun Zang revealed an enlightened expression. He did not press further with unreasonable questions such as, "What if she simply can't be cured?"
He changed the question again. "Then if your little cat puppet became a woman who loved you and whom you loved, could you accept that?"
Ning Ri froze. "Huh? A Cat Girl?"
Xun Zang asked with a smile, "What does Cat Girl mean?"
Ning Ri summarized simply, "...More or less what you just described. A rather cute female cat demon."
Xun Zang said, "Very well, Young Friend Ning. So if your Dao companion became what you call a Cat Girl, could you accept it?"
The moment Ning Ri heard this, he felt like there was no joy left in life. Could Xun Zang really have mistaken him for someone with a peculiar hobby?
What exactly did this have to do with the disciple trial anyway?
He then answered, "Elder Xun, my thoughts are still the same as before. Cultivation is very convenient. She should be able to change back..."
Xun Zang nodded. "I understand. Since that is the case, Young Friend Ning, Heart Questioning is over. You have failed your trial."
The instant those words fell, Ning Ri's eyes widened. "Huh?"
"Elder Xun, how did I fail?"
Then his emotions gradually became agitated. "The choice I made represents only myself! It does not mean that I do not respect your personal preferences and choices, or those of the sect!"
At that moment, Ning Ri had regarded Xun Zang and the Heaven Defying Sect as fellow travelers on the same path.
The reason was simple.
According to the rules of Heaven's Dao, the union of yin and yang was the natural order.
Therefore, pursuing the union of yin with yin or yang with yang was also a path that defied heaven!
So he believed that Xun Zang and the Heaven Defying Sect might also be seeking fellow travelers of the same path, which was why they had eliminated him.
Based on the experiences of the previous two trial participants, Xun Zang should have sent Ning Ri away directly at this moment. Yet upon hearing those words, his face stiffened, and then he burst into laughter. "Hahaha, young friend, you misunderstand. Most people in the Heaven Defying Sect and I are quite normal."
Ning Ri went quiet. He realized he had said the wrong thing, but he immediately changed his words. "...Actually, I also respect the choices of the minority."
But those words were of no use.
Swish—
He found himself back at Kite Plaza, and then he was sent down the mountain.
When he reached the Heaven Defying Sect's mountain gate.
Ning Ri was still silent.
He stood silently before the mountain gate for half a day, then let out a sigh and walked into the distance. At the same time, he sighed heavily. "Cultivation is truly difficult..."
As he lamented, thoughts turned in his mind—
"I still feel like Haqi Xun eliminated me on some trumped-up excuse. Is sexual orientation really that important?"
"He probably just thinks my aptitude isn't good enough..."
"I can't enter the Heaven Defying Sect, so I can only find another place to get cultivation techniques."
"Sigh... If only I'd read up on some continental secrets in the Pillars of Cultivation Pavilion. Maybe I could have found where Rogue Cultivators gather. Why did it have to come to this... Hmm, wait!"
"Gao Hong commutes from home. I can go wait at his hometown first. When he goes home to visit family, I can find a way to ask him where Rogue Cultivators gather, can't I?"
Once he realized this, Ning Ri's eyes lit up.
Just then.
An extremely panicked, helpless cry for aid came from the woods:
"Young hero, save me!"
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