Before the Trial

At five in the morning, just as the sky was faintly brightening and Seacloud City was beginning to wake, the people throughout the entire city seemed to receive some kind of summons as they poured en masse toward the various plazas within the city.

Meanwhile, giant doorframe-like objects had been prepared in advance upon these plazas. At this moment, the doorframes were already brimming with water, and a mountain forest could be faintly seen through the water!

"The once-a-year Demon Subduing Valley trial is finally here!"

"Yeah, I've been looking forward to it for a long time!"

"Are there any good fledgling talents this time?"

"The Ascension Academy is keeping it very under wraps, saying that last year's seed quota leaked out early, which led to a flood of merchants showing up at their doors and disrupted the Ascension Academy disciples' cultivation!"

"Although there are no quotas, grapevine news still exists. Word is there's someone called Yuan Qingming who comes from the North Sea Yuan Family!"

"How could a North Sea Yuan Family disciple come to the Ascension Academy? Shouldn't he be going to the Tianyi Sect?"

"Maybe he wasn't taken in by the Tianyi Sect, hahaha."

"Watch your tongue!"

"Ahem!"

"North Sea Yuan Family disciples are just so-so anyway. I heard the Southern Forest Guang Family also has disciples participating in this year's Demon Subduing Valley trial!"

"The Guang Family isn't common. I remember twenty years ago there was someone called Guang Mu, known as Heavenly King Guang Mu, who killed fourteen fierce beasts single-handedly and shook Seacloud!"

"Your news is outdated. That Guang Mu already broke through to the Qi Refining Stage four years ago and was promoted to an Inner Disciple!"

Jiang Yunhao also brought a woman with him to the water curtain.

The woman was only 1.60 meters tall with a tiny face, yet her figure was magnificent. Although she wore coarse cloth clothing, it could hardly conceal her fair elegance, yet not many people looked at her.

Seacloud City was equivalent to the Shanghai of his past life. Naturally, with such a developed economy, beauties wouldn't be lacking, but how could beauties compare to a competition?

She was none other than Madam You, Mu Yunshan's lover.

"Sister You, have a seat!" Jiang Yunhao actually brought a stool, drawing the attention of countless people.

Quite a few people slapped their foreheads. Ah, right! Why didn't I think of bringing a stool?

"It's not that you didn't think of it—who would ever think of this? I've been watching here for over sixty years, and I've never seen anyone bring a stool to sit on!"

These words left Jiang Yunhao with a face full of dark lines. No, isn't bringing a stool a standard feature when watching a show? How could people not even think of this!

Yet because of his reminder, quite a few people really did run back and fetch a stool over.

With this coming and going, the two people whose positions weren't prominent to begin with actually arrived right at the front row.

"Actually, I'd be fine without watching this!" Madam You said.

"Staying cooped up at home all the time is pretty boring, isn't it?" Jiang Yunhao laughed. "Coming out to catch some breeze can also ease your mood!"

"Alright!" Madam You nodded.

By the way, let's observe the caliber of the Ascension Academy disciples, Jiang Yunhao thought.

Senior Zhong Li always said his cultivation talent was pretty good, but Jiang Yunhao was afraid the senior was just being polite. Now that he had the Ascension Academy disciples for comparison, he could finally know what his true level was!

"Word has it that Inner Disciples are coming to watch the battle today!" someone said.

"Why would Inner Disciples come to watch this?"

"Who knows? After all, they're Inner Disciples; they do whatever they want!"

"That's true."

On the other side, in the Ascension Academy plaza, the students participating in this Demon Subduing Valley trial had already formed a gigantic square formation.

The second-year students participated in full, while the first years selected one thousand representatives, plus their retainers, totaling four thousand people.

An imposing host of forty-four thousand people.

Behind the forty-four thousand people stood a white jade grand gate forty meters wide and sixty meters high—this was the entrance to the secret realm.

Fang Zhuo stood on the high platform in front of the plaza. A viewing platform had been hastily constructed here overnight, and the chairs on the stage were purple-gold in color with a luxurious style and make; these were prepared for the Inner Disciples.

One very counterintuitive matter was that Taiheng revered blue and gold. Blue-gold was also a color exclusively used by the great experts of the Taiheng Sect's Spiritual Law Realm, and Inner Disciples could also use blue-gold, but only one person—the Grand Inner Disciple, known as the Daozi of the Taiheng Sect, Tian Dao Yi.

"Brother Yang, are you nervous?" Xun Hu asked.

"Why would I be nervous?" Yang Ning countered.

"This is the tank's first appearance in this world!" Xun Hu said. They felt the tank was a fine thing, but other people might not necessarily recognize its worth.

Especially since Inner Disciples were actually participating in this Demon Subduing Valley trial.

"Keep a normal mindset!" Yang Ning smiled lightly. "It would certainly be cause for joy if they appreciate it, but it's no big deal if they don't. We didn't build this thing to sell tanks, but to survive in the trial—we mustn't put the cart before the horse!"

"That's true too!" Xun Hu nodded, yet thinking of how strong the tank was, it would actually be somewhat regrettable if they didn't achieve a good result in the trial.

Yang Ning's mood was even better than Xun Hu imagined, because the Inner Disciples had already entered the city, yet not a single person had discovered the Cloud-Mist Information Matrix around the people!

Thus, the Cloud-Mist Information Matrix could spread outward much more boldly, no longer restricted to a single Seacloud City.

"They're coming!" Deep Blue reminded him.

Yang Ning reined in his smile, watching brilliant lights gradually rise from the east accompanied by a surging pressure that rushed straight toward the plaza!

"This is... Mana Pressure?" Yang Ning was startled. The suppression of the body refinement realm by Qi Refining was absolute; no matter how genius a body refinement cultivator was, it was very difficult for them to fight against a Qi Refining cultivator.

One of the reasons for this was precisely because of this Mana Pressure.

Mana Pressure acted not only upon the physical body, but also upon the spirit, and could even cause people to directly lose their fighting spirit.

If one didn't even have a fighting heart, how could one defeat a formidable enemy?

"Lin Tianheng!" Following the direction of the pressure, Yang Ning spotted Lin Tianheng at a single glance!

Unlike when he first saw Lin Tianheng, when the previous two times he saw him he had been standing motionless, at this moment his robes fluttered as he stepped upon the void and paced forward!

Every step he took seemed to tread upon Yang Ning's heart, bringing a momentary feeling of suffocation.

And this was merely the might he inadvertently radiated. If he deliberately targeted him, Yang Ning believed his heart would burst and he would die within a single step!

"Peerless Divine Ability: Calamity Annihilation Heavenly Origin Steps!" Along with everyone else, Yang Ning gazed at the newcomer with reverence while having Deep Blue carefully observe his posture from every possible angle that could observe Lin Tianheng.

Doing this certainly wouldn't allow him to learn it, but learning even a shred of its divine charm would be good.

Behind Lin Tianheng, Wang Yao and Wang Yi still followed.

To his left also followed a young woman dressed in green with a jade flute tied at her waist. The young woman had a melon seed-shaped face, willow-leaf eyebrows, eyes as clear as water, exquisite features, and a trace of coolness carried upon her face.

Behind the young woman followed a maid—one Yang Ning had seen before, precisely the maid who had stood behind Lin Yuanxi last time.

So it was very obvious that this young woman was Lin Yuanxi herself. So this was what she looked like.

To Lin Tianheng's right stood a bald, robust man over two meters tall with his arms crossed over his chest, wearing a magnificent platinum long robe. The robust man also wore a string of prayer beads around his wrist, yet his head lacked incense scars, making him look somewhat like a monk and somewhat like a dual-flower red pole of some gang.

Perhaps the monks around here didn't have incense scars to begin with?

Beside the robust man were several other men and women who looked like their statuses were not low. Among them, a youth dressed in purple caught Yang Ning's attention because he seemed to glance at him.

"This person is called Ming Yunxiu, a level-six Qi Refining Talisman Mirror cultivator. He should be the reinforcements Fang Zhuo invited!" Deep Blue said.

"No wonder!" Yang Ning understood. Level-six Qi Refining—he was two realms apart from Lin Tianheng.

When everyone arrived at the viewing platform, the Inner Disciples took their seats, while retainers, maids, and the like stood behind them.

Seeing that everyone was seated, Fang Zhuo hastily stepped to the front of the stage and said in a ringing voice, "Everyone has seen it. This session of the Demon Subduing Valley trial is different from past years. Not only are first-year talents participating, but Inner Disciples have also come to observe the ceremony. Therefore, you must all perform well. Should your performance be outstanding, not only will the lords not begrudge their rewards, but taking you away directly to take you as subordinates is not impossible either. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; whether you can seize it depends entirely on all of you!"

Without waiting for the disciples below to issue fierce boasts, Fang Zhuo waved his arm, and the white jade portal opened with a rumbling sound. Then, with a single command, the forty-four thousand people either ran or leaped, directly vaulting into the interior of the gate!

"This gate is randomly teleported. The four of us must hold hands and not get separated!" Xun Hu shouted.

"Understood!" Yang Ning, Su Bai, and Ning Rong hastily grabbed his arm. When the four of them rushed to the gateway amidst a blurring of their vision, when they appeared once more, it was already a wilderness blooming all over with flowers!