Fragment Secured

The thunderstorm and lightning disappeared, and the mudslide receded.

The sun in the sky began to radiate its scorching rays, striking Yongjin Mountain directly and precisely.

'Boom~'

A jet of molten lava shot up from the mountaintop, instantly turning Four Seasons Everlasting Wonders Mountain into Flaming Mountain.

This completely stunned the cultivators outside the Bookstore. They stared blankly at the Flaming Mountain that suddenly appeared on the projection, unsure of what to say.

Liu Changsheng, who was in the Four Seasons Everlasting Wonders Mountain, was even more uncomfortable. He had just withstood the impact of the heavy rain and mudslide, and then he was subjected to extremely high temperatures.

One second his body was soaking wet, the next it was dry and burning hot. Liu Changsheng could even smell a faint burning odor; clearly, his clothes were about to catch fire from the heat.

Liu Changsheng was also covered in sweat and felt dizzy. The huge temperature difference was too much for his body to bear. If it weren't for his Spirit Venerable physique being baptized by a large amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, an ordinary person might have died on the spot.

To Liu Changsheng's surprise, the boy named Chenxiang, although in very poor condition, was still alive.

"It seems his physique is quite extraordinary." Liu Changsheng sighed, Bite, and continued walking towards the mountaintop.

'Roar~'

A stream of molten lava Spit Up and flowed down the mountain. Liu Changsheng narrowed his eyes and seized the opportunity to dodge the lava.

However, this road had been occupied by lava, so Liu Changsheng had no choice but to take another one. But since it was not the main road, the road was rugged and difficult to walk on; in addition, the weather was so hot that Liu Changsheng felt that he was about to be exhausted.

The temperature rose higher and higher, and Liu Changsheng felt his consciousness becoming blurred. He felt dizzy and lightheaded, as if he were about to die at any moment.

"It seems I'm not up to it," Liu Changsheng thought bitterly.

He initially thought climbing a mountain was nothing special; he had experienced all sorts of hardships and difficulties on his path of Liu Changsheng. But now he realized that this seemingly simple climb was the most difficult hurdle he had ever encountered in his life.

Those life-or-death moments from the past seem so insignificant in the face of nature.

Compared to those mountains, the one before you is invincible; the summit is right in front of you, but you know you can never reach it.

That feeling was utterly hopeless.

'Bang~'

A thud was heard as Liu Changsheng instinctively turned his head and saw that the boy had collapsed from the intense heat.

"Heh~ It seems I'm a bit stronger than you." Liu Changsheng finished speaking with difficulty, then felt the world spinning, and then he was plunged into darkness.

'Whoosh~'

Two beams of golden light shot out, carrying Liu Changsheng and Chenxiang away from the Four Seasons Everlasting Wonders Mountain. At the same time, the world returned to clarity, and the mountain peak returned to normal.

"Did they pass the divination or not?" A cultivator outside the Bookstore asked curiously, witnessing this scene.

"I guess it didn't pass..." one cultivator said uncertainly.

"I think it's too difficult. If reaching the summit is the only criterion, I doubt anyone could reach it with their cultivation sealed. So there must be other criteria. Maybe the one who goes the furthest will be the winner," a cultivator Analytic.

"Then Liu Changsheng has won, hasn't he?" another cultivator said.

The two were climbing the mountain just now. Although Liu Changsheng was slightly behind at the beginning, he overtook Chenxiang later on. Although it was by a small margin, he did indeed surpass him.

"Maybe..." the cultivator replied ambiguously. How could he be sure about such a thing? He wasn't the one who set the question, and the result wasn't up to him to decide.

At this moment, in the projection, Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie respectively brought Liu Changsheng and Chenxiang back to the Sacred Buddha Cave and woke them up.

Liu Changsheng opened his eyes groggily and found himself back in the Sacred Buddha Cave. His face lit up with joy, but then he saw the boy named Chenxiang beside him, and his joy faded.

"It's a pity that neither of you managed to reach the summit," Sun Wukong said regretfully.

Chenxiang and Zhu Bajie immediately became anxious. The meaning of these words was very clear: they were telling Chenxiang that he had lost his qualification to become a disciple.

Liu Changsheng, on the other hand, didn't react much. He had tried his best, and there was nothing to regret if he couldn't get it. After all, although that fragment was important, it wasn't worth pursuing indefinitely. There were still ninety-eight fragments scattered in various places in the book's world, so he didn't need to keep fixated on it.

"You should go back..." Sun Wukong waved to Chenxiang and Zhu Bajie.

Knowing they had no hope, Zhu Bajie and Chenxiang could only leave regretfully. Liu Changsheng waited until they were gone, then glanced at Sun Wukong and noticed he was also looking at him. Thinking he was being urged to leave, he stood up, clasped his hands in a respectful bow to Sun Wukong, and said, "This junior takes his leave."

After saying that, Liu Changsheng turned to leave.

"Hey~ wait a minute." Sun Wukong suddenly spoke up.

Liu Changsheng stopped and turned to look at Sun Wukong with a puzzled expression.

Sun Wukong chuckled, moved closer to Liu Changsheng, handed Liu Changsheng the fragment in his palm, and said, "Take it."

"Huh?" Liu Changsheng was a little confused.

Why would I give myself the fragments when I haven't fulfilled the requirements?

Sun Wukong looked at Liu Changsheng and said jokingly, "Don't want it? If you don't want it, Old Sun 'll take it back."

"I want..." Liu Changsheng didn't care about anything else and grabbed the fragment from Sun Wukong's palm.

After the fragment entered Liu Changsheng's hands, a prompt appeared in his mind.

Successfully obtained a fragment, gaining 100 points and ranking first on the leaderboard.

When Liu Changsheng heard the voice in his mind, he felt both relieved and happy. There was actually a points leaderboard, and he was even in first place, which was quite unexpected.

Subconsciously, Liu Changsheng looked up at the sky, a smug expression on his face.

The projection was positioned directly towards Liu Changsheng, so everyone could see what Liu Changsheng looked like.

Everyone noticed the changes in the points leaderboard in the background. They were initially envious of Liu Changsheng, who was ranked first, but seeing Liu Changsheng smug look, they couldn't help but start mocking him.

"Look at that smug look on his face. He's probably forgotten about being crushed by everyone just now," a cultivator sneered.

"Exactly, what's there to be proud of? He didn't even climb to the top of the mountain himself, and I don't know why the Victorious Fighting Buddha would give him the fragments." Another cultivator also disapproved and said disdainfully.

"Maybe they felt sorry for him."

In short, the atmosphere changed instantly after Liu Changsheng's face appeared. Originally, everyone was quite supportive of Liu Changsheng, but now they all despise him, looking like he's bringing shame to the Azure Dragon Continent.