The Trial Begins; the Demon Summoning Cult Appears Again

From the carriage, looking as far as the eye could see, Rare Beast Peak was already visible.

Rare Beast Peak was the last peak of the Clear Abyss Mountain Range, and also the one closest to the wilderness.

Ahead stretched a vast, surging crowd, inner and outer sect disciples divided as clearly as river water and well water.

But without exception, they were all new disciples who had yet to take part in the sect trial.

The moment this carriage belonging to the Sect Master came to a stop, it instantly became the center of the crowd.

"Is that the sect leader's personal disciple, Ying Bing?"

"Hiss... This junior sister's looks are practically cheating."

"Keep your voice down. I heard she's opened eight meridians in the Blood-Qi Realm. I heard it from Elder Qian Bufan's personal disciple. She was even rewarded with a set of Black Cloud Gauze inner armor because of it."

"How long has she even been in the sect? Eight meridians already? What a monster!"

"Don't tell me someone could take first place in the sect trial in their very first year after joining? That would be dazzling enough to shock the heavens."

"Who's that beside her?"

"Disciple Li, the one who joined at the same time as her."

"I know. Disciple Li is a really good person!"

Hearing the other disciples' chatter, the corner of Li Mo's mouth twitched faintly.

Thanks, but I do good deeds without seeking fame. There's really no need to hand me a good-person card.

"Moon-Gazing Cliff seems to be deep within the trial grounds."

Scanning the map, Li Mo found the place he and Ying Bing had agreed on.

The deeper one went into the trial grounds, the stronger the exotic beasts became.

Moon-Gazing Cliff was very remote, and on the way there, one even had to pass through the territories of many late ninth-grade, even peak ninth-grade exotic beasts.

Without a few real tricks up one's sleeve, one truly would not be able to set foot there.

"One hour..."

Li Mo looked toward Ying Bing as she walked to the very front of the crowd, and silently cheered himself on.

Don't look down on us transmigrators as if we aren't walking cheats!

Suddenly.

Li Mo discovered that a familiar gaze was fixed dead on him.

Wang Hu.

At this moment, Wang Hu still wore that unruly expression, but a sickly trace between his brows made his whole person seem dark and sinister.

Meeting Li Mo's gaze, he blankly drew his hand across his neck, making a throat-slitting gesture.

"What's gotten into this guy now?"

Speechless, Li Mo instinctively felt that the latter's state was not quite right.

So with a thought, the Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye swept over him.

[Name: Wang Hu]

[Age: 16]

[Bone Structure: Tiger arms and leopard waist.]

[Realm: Blood-Qi Realm, eight meridians.]

[Mandate: Black]

[Evaluation: Somewhat talented. If he studies diligently and trains hard, he may perhaps achieve something in the future. However, he is narrow-minded, repays the smallest grievance like Yazi, and is arrogant and domineering, making him prone to walking an extreme path.]

[Recent Experience: The Beast Seed has been planted deep within him, and he has strayed far down the wrong path. His own essence blood is no longer enough to sustain it. He is preparing to devour exotic beast blood and is gradually losing his reason.]

"Beast Seed?"

Li Mo raised his brows slightly.

What puzzled him was not Wang Hu's ending, but the fact that the other party had actually come into contact with the Demon Summoning Cult.

Before the outer sect disciples' sect trial, if they did not withdraw from the sect, they were not allowed to leave the mountain gate.

If the other party had remained inside the Clear Abyss Sect all this time, where had this Demon Summoning Cult Beast Seed come from?

"This sect trial is probably anything but ordinary."

Li Mo pondered inwardly for a moment.

Mm. When the Daughter of Destiny got involved in something, if everything was normal, that would be abnormal instead.

According to the usual routine, Ice Block should turn the raging tide, and there might even be a desperate counterkill?

But since he already knew...

"Master!"

Li Mo ran straight over to where the elders were seated.

"Hm?"

Shang Wu had been dozing off. At the sound of her disciple's voice, she scratched her hair, bleary-eyed.

"Time to eat?"

"I'll treat Master to a meal after the trial is over. I have something to report."

Li Mo spoke, voicing his judgment.

However, he found an excuse and covered up the Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye with another explanation.

When the words "Demon Summoning Cult" came out of his mouth...

Xue Jing and Qian Bufan instantly turned solemn, and even the drowsiness in Shang Wu's eyes dispersed.

"Are you certain he is a Demon Summoning Cultist? This matter is no joke."

Qian Bufan's voice was low, worry faintly showing between his brows.

"My father serves as a county commandant, and once captured a fiend from the Demon Summoning Cult. I only felt that the aura was similar, so I cannot be completely certain, but considering how grave the matter is, I thought it best to report it to the elders. Even if I misjudged, that is better than knowing and failing to report it."

Li Mo's words were perfectly reasonable.

"Little Mo handles matters properly."

Xue Jing pondered for a moment, then said, "There is a ninety percent chance that the boy called Wang Hu has cultivated the Demon Summoning Cult's evil art, Hundred Beast Blood Refinement."

"They've stretched their claws into our Clear Abyss Sect."

Yin Huaxuan, elder of Rare Beast Peak, abruptly rose to his feet.

It was as if he were preparing to drag Wang Hu up here and interrogate him thoroughly.

"Yin Hua, look at you, getting anxious again."

Xue Jing stopped him. When he looked at Li Mo, a little more satisfaction appeared in his eyes, and he said, "We understand. Go back and participate in the trial for now. Let everything proceed as usual. Just treat it as though nothing happened."

"Yes."

Li Mo readily complied.

Old Man Xue was probably making other plans.

In the Clear Abyss Sect, if there were matters even the elders could not handle, there was no use in him overthinking them.

Half an hour later.

Qian Bufan stood before everyone with his hands clasped behind his back, announcing the rules of the trial.

"Ordinary wild beasts do not count toward your score."

"Early-stage, mid-stage, and late-stage ninth-grade strange beasts are worth 1 point, 3 points, and 15 points respectively."

"Of course, there are also peak ninth-grade strange beasts, worth 100 points. However, unless you possess battle strength comparable to the Inner Breath Realm, it is best not to try lightly."

"After successfully killing a strange beast, or when you have no other choice, you may release a signal arrow. An inner sect steward will go to you."

After Qian Bufan finished speaking, he returned to his seat.

As his voice fell, the disciples received their signal arrows and chose weapons that suited their hands.

Then over a thousand people surged grandly into the mountain forest.

"Junior Brother Yin Hua."

Xue Jing suddenly spoke.

"Mm."

Yin Huaxuan nodded.

He blew a bone whistle, and hundreds upon thousands of birds flew out from Rare Beast Peak. Some flew into the forest, while others began circling in the sky above.

In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a signal arrow rang through the sky.

Afterward, an inner sect steward returned dragging the corpse of a black panther. The black panther was as large as a calf, its eyes bulging like copper bells, the savage ferocity still frozen on its face.

The fatal wound was at its throat, sealed by a single sword strike, without a drop of blood spilled.

Because the wound had already been frozen over.

"Ying Bing, record one point." Qian Bufan nodded in amazement.

"There are no few disciples capable of killing a ninth-grade strange beast, but to do it so cleanly and efficiently, without using even the slightest bit of extra strength, is difficult."

Yin Huaxuan's eyes flickered.

"Even if I suppressed my cultivation to the Blood-Qi Realm, I could not achieve this level."

Xue Jing clicked his tongue in wonder.

"Little Bing didn't seem to have any real combat experience before."

Shang Wu's almond eyes shone.

Her first time cutting down a strange beast, and she had done it like slaughtering a chicken.

There had once been no small number of disciples with extremely high talent who were clearly very strong, yet the moment they faced a strange beast, they were cowed by its aura and could not bring out even thirty percent of their full strength.

Some people, on the other hand, grew stronger when they met strength, fighting ever more bravely—people like herself.

Shang Wu called this the innate sacred body for brawling.

"Why hasn't my good disciple made any noise yet?"

Her Ladyship the Master propped her cheek in one hand, her weary eyes half-lidded, as if she were about to fall asleep again.

Woo—

Another signal arrow rang out.

"Li Mo has killed one early ninth-grade strange beast!"

The strange beast dragged back by the inner-sect deacon made the many elders sink into thought.

After staring at it for a long while, Xue Jing finally said hesitantly:

"This thing... is a Wing-Fanged Snake?"

Fair was fair.

If Old Xue had not just used Wing-Fanged Snake scales to refine medicine, he truly would not have recognized what this thing was.

This "snake corpse" had its head blasted apart, its fangs shattered, and every bone in its body broken, causing its long snake body to be crushed into a lump, like a soda can flattened under someone's foot.

Too brutal.

It was the complete opposite extreme from Ying Bing.

Qian Bufan held his plump belly and sank into thought.

"Martial niece Shang Wu, what Li Mo practices... isn't it swordsmanship?"

"His Six Harmonies Fist has also reached great accomplishment."

Shang Wu spread her hands, indicating that this had nothing to do with her.

Yin Huaxuan picked up a fragment of snake fang.

"The hardest part of a Wing-Fanged Snake's entire body is its snake fangs, yet they were smashed apart along with its body by a single punch."

"That boy's current realm is no lower than Ying Bing's."

"And he's also practiced some kind of external hardening art?"

Xue Jing's scalp went numb.

The elders had no objections. With their eye, they could already tell many things just from the traces of battle.

Judging by the results of facing an early ninth-grade strange beast, Li Mo's performance was in no way inferior to Ying Bing's.

But the elders opened their mouths, then found they did not know whether they should praise him or not.

This combat style was far too similar to a certain someone's...

Clear Abyss Sect already had enough of a headache with one Shang Wu!

If a second one appeared, would that not be disastrous?!

"Sigh, Old Xue, you were muddleheaded. How did you not take the boy Li under your wing back then?"

"?? My true-disciple slots were full. Elder Qian had slots—why didn't he take him!"

"I was thinking of taking him back then, but wasn't it martial niece Shang Wu who got there first?"

"You were muddleheaded!"

"Is it still in time to stop him from straying onto the wrong path?"

The elders sighed and groaned.

Shang Wu shot to her feet, one hand on her hip, the other clenched into a fist that cracked and popped.

"If you want to dig at this old lady's corner, fine. Whoever beats me gets my precious disciple."

The platform instantly went quiet.