Yellow Springs Peak Master

Elder Yun, Li Yanshan, and the others immediately opened their eyes and stared at the old man in yellow robes beneath the Glazed Bell.

"It's the Yellow Springs Peak Master!"

Quite a few people cried out the moment they saw him.

Everyone knew that the masters of the Glazed Sword Sect's Seven Great Main Peaks had all reached the Void Integration Realm.

The Yellow Springs Peak Master was named Huang Su. His Dao Name was Yellow Springs, and people called him the Yellow Springs Daoist.

The Yellow Springs Peak Master raised a hand and waved it gently. The yellow sand beneath Fang Chen and the others' feet seemed to come alive, streaming toward the center of the lake. It gathered into bridges three zhang wide that led straight to the center of Heavenly Lake.

"The bridges are formed. You may enter the Trial Path!"

The Yellow Springs Peak Master's ethereal voice echoed through the Sky Lake Barrier.

"Charge!"

The Outer Sect Disciples who had long been waiting by the lakeshore scrambled onto the sand bridges and rushed toward the center of the lake.

Fang Chen and the others were in no hurry. They were not particularly strong, while the Outer Sect Disciples charging ahead were. Many had already reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, just one step away from Foundation Establishment.

Only after nearly everyone else had rushed onto the bridges did Elder Yun say to Li Yanshan and Fang Chen, "Let's go too."

"Mm!"

Fang Chen nodded, then stepped onto the sand bridge with Li Yanshan behind Elder Yun.

Fang Chen, Elder Yun, and the others were the last to take the bridge from this direction. As they walked across, the bridge behind them dissolved, scattering into sand across the lakebed.

Fang Chen marveled inwardly at the power of cultivators. To raise a hand and gather sand into a bridge—he wanted to learn a feat like that too.

As they walked, Elder Yun said to Fang Chen, "Once we enter the Trial Path, we'll be separated at random. You'll have to rely on yourself from then on."

"We'll be separated?"

Fang Chen frowned slightly, surprise on his face.

Elder Yun nodded. "Yes. And not just us. Everyone who enters the Trial Path will be scattered at random. The sect does this so we can search as much of the trial grounds as possible. That way, we'll find more Glazed Mushrooms."

"Mm!"

Fang Chen nodded and quickened his pace behind Elder Yun.

After walking nearly a thousand zhang along the sand bridge, they finally reached its end. Below lay a vast sea of white mist.

Elder Yun smiled at Fang Chen. "The entrance to the Trial Path is right below us. I'll go first."

With that, Elder Yun scooped up Xiao Liu, the black dog, and leaped from the bridge. He plummeted into the white mist, and the Glazed Paper Crane following him plunged into the sea of mist as well.

Li Yanshan gave Fang Chen a slight smile. "Let's go down too."

Fang Chen nodded, and he and Li Yanshan leaped from the sand bridge together. The bridge beneath their feet dissolved completely, while their Glazed Paper Cranes descended alongside them.

They fell rapidly into the white mist. The instant he entered it, Fang Chen lost sight of Li Yanshan. All he could hear was the wind whistling past his ears.

After about twenty breaths, Fang Chen emerged from the mist. Below him stretched an unbroken mountain range, glowing red. Just as he was about to hit the ground, the Glazed Paper Crane that had followed him appeared beneath him, radiating seven-colored light. An invisible force countered his fall and let him land safely.

After Fang Chen landed, the Glazed Paper Crane circled him, gently flapping its wings. It looked rather playful.

"What an amazing Paper Crane!"

Fang Chen reached out to tease the Glazed Paper Crane. It seemed a little shy and immediately flapped its wings to dodge him.

"Haha, it even knows how to dodge?"

Fang Chen smiled and stopped teasing it. Instead, he looked around. He was in a grove of Black Scale Red Leaf Pines that appeared to have grown for a very long time. Their trunks averaged more than three zhang across at chest height, and they stood over ten zhang tall. Their pitch-black bark resembled overlapping black fish scales and gleamed faintly like metal. A thick layer of fallen pine needles covered the ground, soft and comfortable beneath his feet.

"Black Scale Red Leaf Pines this big must be over ten thousand years old, right?"

Fang Chen could not help marveling at the trees around him. Black Scale Red Leaf Pines were a special kind of spiritual wood that grew extremely slowly. A thousand-year-old tree was only about three chi across at chest height, while even the smallest tree he could see was a full zhang across.

Lamp oil refined from Black Scale Red Leaf Pine resin was a premium fuel often used by alchemists. It could improve the success rate and quality of certain pills.

Fang Chen had never expected to find so many high-quality Black Scale Red Leaf Pines inside the Trial Path.

The trees' needles were red, but after they fell and lost their Spiritual Power, they eventually turned yellowish brown.

The Glazed Mushrooms Fang Chen and the others sought were buried beneath this thick layer of pine needles. They would have to push the needles aside to find them.

Fang Chen stared at the Black Scale Red Leaf Pine before him and muttered, "These trees are far superior to Fire Spirit Sword Bamboo. I wonder how much Spiritual Power I could absorb from the Floating Immortal Sword if I used it to chop them down?"

He immediately summoned the Floating Immortal Sword and swung it at the tree.

Clang...

Sparks flew. Countless silver Runes suddenly appeared on the bark, and a powerful recoil surged through the Floating Immortal Sword, jolting Fang Chen's hand until the web between his thumb and forefinger ached. The blade had not left so much as a mark on the bark.

"It's so hard!"

Fang Chen stared at the spot where the Floating Immortal Sword had struck and could not help exclaiming.

The next moment, an icy current poured from the Floating Immortal Sword into his body. Fang Chen shuddered and immediately circulated the Glazed Qi Refining Art, but the current was too strong. It kept flowing into him without end. Even when he pushed the art to its limit, he could not refine it quickly enough.

A vast amount of Spiritual Power surged into Fang Chen's dantian, making it swell at once.

"What powerful Spiritual Power! If this keeps up, my dantian will burst!"

Fang Chen gritted his teeth, pain showing on his face.

Suddenly, he remembered the Glazed Body Refining Art he had just received from the Glazed Bell. He closed his eyes, recalled it, and tried to cultivate it.

Hiss, hiss...

As soon as he began cultivating the Glazed Body Refining Art, his heart raced and his blood flowed faster. Then he felt his body rapidly absorbing the Spiritual Power within him.

"It's working!"

Fang Chen's eyes brightened, and he circulated the Glazed Body Refining Art with all his might.