Beauty and Jade, Tribulation and Tribulation!

The cultivation hall, the Venom Pit opened once more.

Fee-paying disciples crowded all around, each staring fixedly at the multicolored, bizarrely shaped snakes and insects within the Venom Pit. Some feigned disdain, while others wore startled expressions.

Those fee-paying disciples seeing the Venom Pit for the first time reacted most strongly, muttering without end:

"Entering the Dao means soaking in that Gu insect basin?"

"Damn it, is this entering the Dao or courting death?!"

The older disciples immediately sneered when they heard them. "Watch your mouths! If you want to bathe in the Venom Pit, you'll have to wait a full year before you get the chance."

Fang Shu stood among the crowd, his expression unchanged as he squeezed the hard object inside his sleeve.

According to the rules of Solitary Gu Hall, only fee-paying disciples who had studied at the academy for a full year could take part in the Venom Pit tribulation.

Fang Shu clearly did not meet that requirement yet. Thus, he had brought spirit stones, hoping that after the other disciples had finished their tribulations, he could spend them to ask Hall Master Du to permit him to enter the pit early and undergo his tribulation.

While no one paid him any attention.

He stood alone in a corner, looking over his fellow disciples. Their expressions differed, but all of them seemed excited, and a faint sense of sentiment rose in his heart.

The last few times he had watched the Venom Pit tribulations, Li Hou'er had been beside him. Now Li Hou'er had become an immortal cultivator and entered the academy's inner sect long ago, leaving Fang Shu alone to watch from the sidelines.

Fortunately, after half a year of cultivation, it was finally almost time for Fang Shu to show what he could do, break through the gate and enter the Dao, and leave the outer courtyard!

Thus, Fang Shu was actually looking forward to today's Venom Pit tribulation even more than the fee-paying disciples around him.

Yet his expression remained calm. He suppressed his thoughts and merely waited patiently at the side, regulating his breath as he watched in silence.

Before long, Hall Master Du appeared.

After this old woman gave her customary explanation of the first tribulation of entering the Dao and Refining Essence, she clapped her hands, signaling for the disciples undergoing tribulation today to step out on their own.

Clap, clap! A total of five disciples pushed their way out of the crowd, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

The most eye-catching among them was the burly young ascetic, built as strong as an ox—Shi Hou.

"It's Senior Brother Shi Hou. He's the number one ascetic cultivator in our academy!"

"If Senior Brother Shi Hou doesn't enter the Dao this time, heaven's law itself would not allow it."

Quite a few disciples discussed the matter animatedly, clearly holding Shi Hou in great admiration.

But whispers of gossip also rose from the crowd:

"Hmph! He's just reheated leftovers. So what if he enters the Dao today? His age is right there for all to see."

"He hasn't even passed the tribulation yet. Save the praise until afterward."

Shi Hou's expression was resolute. Clearly, he took neither the praise nor the mockery around him to heart.

Only when a woman near him spoke softly to him did he react at all, a smile appearing on his face.

That woman dressed differently from the disciples of Solitary Gu Hall. Her clothes were neat and practical, but she lacked any of an ascetic cultivator's air. Amid the academy disciples, she stood out like a sheep among the flock.

As everyone discussed and waited, the woman asked Hall Master Du a few questions. Then, she suddenly faced the crowd, cupped her hands, and spoke:

"Esteemed disciples of Solitary Gu Hall, I am Xiang Xingwu, the fifth daughter of the proprietor of Seven Fragrance Tower in Guling Town.

Today is a grand occasion, with so many disciples of your hall undergoing tribulation and entering the Dao. Seven Fragrance Tower has always enjoyed good relations with Solitary Gu Hall, so today, we have specially prepared a little prize for everyone."

Her words immediately drew the attention of the many disciples present.

Many began muttering:

"Seven Fragrance Tower? Is that the somewhat famous restaurant in the market district?"

"I hear Seven Fragrance Tower has quite a few branches in the market district. They also deal in demonic beast materials and specialize in medicinal cuisine. They may not be a renowned merchant guild, but they are still worthy of the name, with a substantial family fortune."

A faint smile appeared on the Seven Fragrance Tower woman's face. She rolled up her sleeve, exposing her fair left arm and the jade pendant tied around it.

The jade pendant was white, shaped like a crescent moon.

She said:

"This jade is called the Pure-Moon Treasure Jade. It weighs one tael and three qian. Worn on the body, it can aid meditation, dispel pent-up gloom, calm the heart, and sharpen the mind. Set beneath the moon at night, it even has a chance of drawing down moonlight. The amount will not be much, but it can still improve one's cultivation.

"The holder of this jade may also receive VIP treatment at Seven Fragrance Tower. Using this jade as collateral, one can obtain a line of credit worth thirty thousand talisman coins."

These words immediately stirred up a commotion in the crowd.

Even Fang Shu's gaze shifted involuntarily, landing on the treasure jade at the Seven Fragrance Tower proprietor's daughter's wrist.

He had experienced the flavor and benefits of consuming moonlight himself.

Unfortunately, when he meditated on his own afterward, he had never managed to draw down even a thread of moonlight. Only because he had consumed moonlight before could he clearly tell, during later cultivation, whether spiritual energy had entered his body, granting him a small benefit.

"This treasure jade is that woman's personal possession. Could it be..." Some of the sharper disciples around them immediately guessed the Seven Fragrance Tower proprietor's daughter's intent. "She's brought out a token of affection. Whoever obtains this jade obtains Seven Fragrance Tower's favor—and her favor?"

In the face of everyone's discussion, the woman named Xiang Xingwu remained poised and graceful. As her eyes shifted, she deliberately glanced at the young ascetic Shi Hou beside her.

That glance made the surrounding disciples understand even more clearly:

"Ha! So after all that, she's just here to build momentum for Shi Hou."

"No wonder the name Seven Fragrance Tower sounded so familiar. It's the merchant guild that sponsored Shi Hou before."

In an instant, everyone understood. This so-called prize was indeed Xiang Xingwu's "token of affection." Whoever gained it would gain Seven Fragrance Tower's favor.

But this item had already been claimed!

Amid the crowd's discussion, the young ascetic Shi Hou shed his usual dullness. He took half a step forward, standing out from the crowd as he swept his sharp gaze over the disciples who had yet to enter the Dao.

Forget the watching crowd—even the other four disciples planning to undergo tribulation frowned slightly and tactfully looked away.

Xiang Xingwu's face flushed slightly, but she continued with a smile:

"Today, among those in Solitary Gu Hall who successfully pass tribulation, the one with the strongest qi and blood and the finest precious blood shall receive Seven Fragrance Tower's gifted treasure."

After saying this, she retreated into the crowd and waited behind Hall Master Du, chatting softly with Senior Sister Yu'er, Hall Master Du's granddaughter.

Yet her gaze remained fixed on the young ascetic Shi Hou. When Senior Sister Yu'er teased her a few times, the blush on her face deepened, making her look like a ripe peach.

"Enough." Hall Master Du held her teacup as she spoke calmly. "The prize is merely icing on the cake. It is time for the disciples of my hall to test the mettle of your bitter cultivation and fight for your own futures."

"Yes, Master."

The five disciples, men and women alike, including Shi Hou, all responded in low voices.

Then one disciple stepped forward from among the five.

Gritting his teeth, he struck his own body hard, turning himself red like the shell of a boiled shrimp. After muttering an incantation, he stepped into the Venom Pit.

Immediately afterward, other disciples hurriedly swallowed medicine or ignited talismans, turning them into talisman ash before drawing it into their stomachs in a single breath. All of them were making their preparations.

Only the young ascetic Shi Hou remained unmoved, watching his nose, his nose watching his heart, waiting quietly.

Clearly, he did not intend to fight for the lead. He planned to enter the Venom Pit last and hold down the finale as he underwent tribulation and broke through the gate!

"Ahhh!"

Just as before, screams, cries of pain, and groans rang through the cultivation hall.

People were carried out one after another. Even the one who fared best had half his body paralyzed, howling as he crawled out of the Venom Pit himself.

He even brought out a heap of snakes and insects with him, frightening the surrounding disciples into scattering.

This Venom Pit tribulation was as miserable as ever. Four people in a row failed their tribulations.

Although everyone had expected such an outcome, the disciples around them still fell silent, no longer laughing and chatting as they had at the beginning.

Even Hall Master Du frowned slightly and turned her eyes toward the young ascetic Shi Hou.

Shi Hou's gaze was calm. Seeing the four fail, he did not hesitate in the slightest. After bowing to Hall Master Du, he turned and walked openly into the Venom Pit without even warming up his cultivation beforehand.

Only after he reached the middle of the Venom Pit did veins bulge across his chest, abdomen, limbs, and neck. His muscles twisted and knotted, forming nine large and small secret insect-face inscriptions.

Boom! Dense qi and blood spread from his body. It had not yet taken shape, but it was enough to make the nearby disciples feel a wave of heat.

This sign of qi and blood spilling outward made many eyes light up.

Fang Shu narrowed his eyes as he studied him.

Shi Hou's tribulation today was practically a sure thing!

The disciples began whispering among themselves again, eagerly watching the pit. Even Hall Master Du's slightly furrowed brows relaxed.

It seemed that there would not be a day with no successful candidates in the hall after all.

Xiang Xingwu of Seven Fragrance Tower shone with excitement, her eyes bright and intent.

Senior Sister Yu'er saw this and teased her. "What, do you merchant guild people still think this uncut jade from our hall is a little too old?"

Xiang Xingwu answered excitedly:

"Though Brother Shi is already over twenty, his temperament is resolute. Once he enters the Dao, Seven Fragrance Tower will support his cultivation. In the future, he will surely rise up despite a late start. He may even have a chance to join an immortal sect!"

She said joyfully, "Such uncut jade—others see stone, but I see jade. How could I possibly disdain him?"

Hearing this, the faint scrutiny in Senior Sister Yu'er's eyes eased somewhat. She, too, turned to watch the Venom Pit with composed interest.

At that moment, in the span of just a few sentences.

The snakes and insects in the Venom Pit went mad as well. No longer fearing Shi Hou, they lunged and bit at him, some with feet, some with hands, spewing out great quantities of venom.

But this venom did not frighten Shi Hou. Instead, it made the qi and blood around him surge all the more violently.

As though no one else existed, he practiced boxing and cultivated within the square-zhang Venom Pit, driving his qi and blood onward.

His shouts thundered, his movements were like lions and tigers, his bearing fierce and imposing.

In the blink of an eye, a hundred breaths passed.

Thump, thump. Suddenly, the sound of beating drums rang in everyone's ears.

Including Fang Shu, everyone stared without blinking at Shi Hou. This was a sign that his qi and blood were flourishing, his heart beating like a drum.

In the next moment, he could break through the gate and enter the Dao, seize control of his qi and blood, release it as smoke, and advance into a first-tribulation Refining Essence immortal cultivator!

Hall Master Du nodded slightly at this moment.

But just then.

Shi Hou suddenly opened his eyes. Rather than breaking through and entering the Dao in one final push, he scooped up the bat's venomous blood from the Venom Pit with his hands and prepared to pour it into his mouth.

This act of voluntarily drinking blood stunned the disciples around him.

Senior Sister Yu'er and Hall Master Du both looked shocked and doubtful.

Senior Sister Yu'er urgently called out, "Stop! Shi Hou."

Smack!

At the instant Shi Hou was about to drink the blood, Hall Master Du opened her mouth and spat out a date pit.

The date pit struck Shi Hou's wrist, making his arm go weak and drop. The blood never reached his mouth.

Hall Master Du shouted sternly:

"Shi Hou! Let this old woman remind you: when breaking through the gate, stability comes first. You must not charge ahead recklessly."

Seeing the Hall Master suddenly interfere with Shi Hou's tribulation, the disciples were even more bewildered, unable to understand why.

But Fang Shu raised his brows slightly. He understood what was happening.

Shi Hou actually harbored the same idea as Fang Shu—to squeeze as much potential as possible from himself during the Venom Pit tribulation and gamble for a brighter future.

Moreover, Shi Hou was even more ferocious and reckless than Fang Shu had imagined. The moment he acted, he intended to drink poisonous blood directly into his organs!

To be honest, Fang Shu had never even considered that.

Before becoming an immortal cultivator, one could not yet control one's qi and blood, and the human organs were exceedingly fragile. Both the Insect Method and the Lead Method worked from the outside inward, primarily tempering the muscles and flesh, without yet involving the organs too deeply.

If he could not withstand the poisonous blood's corrosion, life and death would be impossible to predict.

Within the Venom Pit, Shi Hou heard Hall Master Du's words and stared at his weakened right hand, hesitation showing on his face.

But then, the woman from Seven Fragrance Tower also spoke. "Brother Shi, breaking through and undergoing tribulation also requires a settled mind."

After saying that, she retreated behind Hall Master Du again.

At her words, resolve immediately returned to Shi Hou's face.

Facing Hall Master Du, he pressed one hand to his chest and bowed, speaking in a low voice:

"Master Du, this disciple was born in poverty and wasted several years. If I do not obtain excellent precious blood in this tribulation and rise in pursuit, how could I ever have another chance to join an immortal sect?

"I beg Master Du to grant me this."

Hearing this, Hall Master Du cast a cold glance toward where the Seven Fragrance Tower woman stood.

But her face remained wooden. She did not stop him again, merely saying flatly:

"Your master has already said what needed to be said. Decide for yourself."

Once she finished speaking, Hall Master Du lowered her eyelids, unwilling to watch any longer.

Senior Sister Yu'er at her side was still visibly moved.

She looked at Hall Master Du, whose eyes had already closed, hesitated as if she wanted to speak, and ultimately chose to withdraw as well, no longer interfering.

But after withdrawing, she no longer paid any attention to Xiang Xingwu of Seven Fragrance Tower beside her.

Only Xiang Xingwu kept both eyes tightly fixed on Shi Hou. Her face was as excited as his, filled with boundless anticipation.

She clenched her teeth, doing her best to encourage Shi Hou with her gaze.

After Shi Hou gave her a slight nod, he used his uninjured left hand to scoop up poisonous blood from the Venom Pit, tipped back his head, and swallowed it in one gulp.

Sizzle, sizzle!

At once, sounds like corrosion came from Shi Hou's mouth, tongue, and throat. Before everyone's eyes, his face twisted in agony.

And he was not done. He actually grabbed the snakes and insects from the Venom Pit and tore into them with huge bites.

Drinking poisonous blood, feasting on venomous insects.

That was how he underwent his tribulation.

Before everyone's eyes, the qi and blood around him were driven to the utmost limit, already condensing into smoke on their own, lush and thick.

Blackish-red light spread across his skin, glossy as oil, and his body swelled several degrees larger.

This display left many people astonished, clicking their tongues in amazement.

"What a physique! He can make it!"

Xiang Xingwu was even more moved, trembling like a flower branch in the wind, her face filled with anticipation.

But just as everyone believed Shi Hou was about to condense his blood into smoke and successfully break through the gate—

Pfft!

His expression changed abruptly. He suppressed it for a few breaths, but then a mouthful of pitch-black poisonous blood sprayed from his mouth, landing outside the Venom Pit.

After the poisonous blood fell, it corroded streak after streak into the black stone slabs of the cultivation hall.

Fortunately, another tribulation disciple had previously crawled out carrying snakes and insects, frightening the crowd around the Venom Pit into retreating quite a distance. Otherwise, Shi Hou's mouthful of poisonous blood might well have sprayed onto someone else.

For a moment, the cultivation hall fell silent. Then an uproar broke out.

Many sighed in regret.

This mouthful of bloody water was proof enough that Shi Hou could not withstand the poison blood; his qi and blood had gone astray.

Xiang Xingwu's eyes widened. Shock covered her face as she stared fixedly at Shi Hou.

The woman seemed to still be holding onto hope, expecting Shi Hou to endure it.

But Shi Hou sat within the Venom Pit, his burly body taut for three or four breaths before black blood slowly trickled from his seven apertures.

He stared blankly at Hall Master Du in the hall and rasped, "Cross the tribulation... cross the tribulation..."

Hall Master Du sat with lowered eyes, utterly unmoving.

Smack!

Shi Hou's body suddenly toppled over and crashed into the Venom Pit, splashing up a wave of poison blood.

Everyone stared straight ahead, while Xiang Xingwu stood frozen.

Hall Master Du's movements were ghostly. Without even opening her eyes, she had somehow risen at some point. She struck out in a flash, scooped him from the Venom Pit, and laid him on the stone slabs, preventing more poison blood from pouring into Shi Hou's mouth.

After being pulled out, Shi Hou lay on his side. His iron-forged body was now curled like a shrimp, his skin blackish-red with a deathly pallor showing through.

"C-click..." His teeth chattered and his whole body convulsed, as though he were repeating two words.

Fang Shu knew that the words he repeated could only still be "cross the tribulation."

The sight made him sigh inwardly, not knowing what he could say.

This pitiful scene fell into the eyes of the others as well, and the training hall fell silent once more, with only the sound of breathing audible.

Even the disciples who had mocked and ridiculed Shi Hou earlier now remained silent, pity on their faces.

As for Xiang Xingwu, utter disappointment appeared on her face, and her eyes seemed to mist over with tears.

Amid the silence,

Hall Master Du listlessly waved a hand and called to the other disciples. "Carry him out as well. Remember to have Leech Master call Ant Master over too. Do everything you can."

Those instructions thoroughly determined his failure, as well as his future.

Then Hall Master Du hunched over and silently turned around, intending to lift the stone sculpture and close the Venom Pit.

Lying on the ground, Shi Hou heard her words. His face twisted with unwillingness as he struggled to look toward Hall Master Du, but two disciples immediately lifted him onto a door plank and hurried toward the medicine hall.

Before they left the door, however, within Shi Hou's unwilling and blurry peripheral vision, someone suddenly stepped inside and appeared before the Venom Pit, facing Hall Master Du's back.

Shi Hou could no longer make out that person's figure. From afar, he only heard a clear, cold voice making a request:

"Disciple begs forgiveness for this presumption. Master Du, please grant me one tribulation in the Venom Pit."