Skylark Terrace

After taking his leave from Feng An's residence, Kong Jiao headed home, his mind heavy with worries.

From time to time, he sighed and smiled bitterly.

"I only just came back from Frostmoon Altar. I haven't even recuperated for two months, and now I have to go out and see blood again."

"But since it's supposedly a trial, I probably won't run into any overly powerful enemies, right? Experts like Han Dong should surely be left for the first-echelon disciples to deal with."

"I'm only at the fifth level of the Wheel-Nourishing Realm. I should be safe enough."

Though he said that, the world was unpredictable.

Especially on a battlefield—who knew whether he might encounter some late-stage Wheel-Nourishing Realm powerhouse?

After all, he had merely gone to Frostmoon Altar to gather herbs and had run into Han Dong.

"I need to go back early and make some preparations. I should also remind Senior Brother Shangguan."

"This Sect Master really has nerve. How many of these outer sect disciples have never even seen human blood? Isn't he afraid they'll all die outside?"

By the time he returned to his cave dwelling, Shangguan Yuzhou had already been waiting outside for quite a while.

The two gathered together and exchanged information.

Sure enough, the news Shangguan Yuzhou had learned from a late-stage Wheel-Nourishing Realm disciple differed little from what Feng An had told him.

"The information from both sides matches. We can be almost certain that this outer sect trial will be fraught with danger," Kong Jiao remarked.

He looked toward Shangguan Yuzhou. The latter was eager to give it a try, his eyes brimming with excitement.

For a battle fanatic, the battlefield might well have been a fine destination for Shangguan Yuzhou.

"But we should still make some preparations. Don't go dying out there." Shangguan Yuzhou lowered his head in thought, then vanished in a puff of smoke. Who knew what he had gone to prepare?

Kong Jiao was left standing at the cave entrance for a long while. Then he simply turned and headed for the Chaotic Stone Grounds to drill his halberd techniques.

He had the life-saving poison pill he had just exchanged from Elder Zhou Shangxiang.

That gave him one more powerful trump card than before he had gone to Frostmoon Altar.

There was no need to prepare anything else. He should train when it was time to train. If he could bring the Moon-Soul Citybreaker Halberd to major completion soon, it would become another powerful trump card.

"I'm no longer the man I once was. I can kill even sixth-level Wheel-Nourishing Realm cultivators. This trial may not necessarily be a bad thing." Kong Jiao's confident voice drifted softly through the air.

Half a day later.

At noon.

Dong—

A clear, lingering bell suddenly rang out from the highest peak of the outer sect.

The sound was not loud, yet it possessed extraordinary penetrative force. Its waves spread across the entire outer sect.

So long as they remained within the Cangwu Sect, every disciple could hear that lingering chime echoing through the mountains.

Many newer disciples looked at one another in confusion after hearing the bell, not understanding its meaning.

The veteran disciples above the fifth level of the Wheel-Nourishing Realm all turned solemn. Quite a few even called out the name of the magical artifact that had produced the sound.

"Dragon Roar Bell!"

The Dragon Roar Bell was a magical artifact used to summon outer sect disciples.

The Cangwu Sect had a rule: when the Dragon Roar Bell rang, all disciples still within the sect who had reached the fourth level of the Wheel-Nourishing Realm had to arrive at Skylark Terrace within one hour.

"The Dragon Roar Bell hasn't rung in nearly twenty years."

"The last time it rang was when the Fire Virtue Sect was wiped out. Nearly half the outer sect disciples were killed or wounded. Now it's ringing again—this is no good sign."

"The funeral bell has rung again!"

Several elderly veteran disciples gathered together, their faces filled with grief.

Many of them had been disciples who survived the chaos of the Fire Virtue Sect.

Now, hearing the Dragon Roar Bell once more, they felt far more fear than anything else.

At the same time, within the Chaotic Stone Grounds, Kong Jiao emerged along with the ringing bell.

Sweat had soaked through his clothes, but he paid it no mind. His eyes fixed directly on the direction from which the bell had come, and he softly said, "So soon?"

Skylark Terrace.

It was located on the main peak of the Cangwu Sect's outer sect, where the ancestors of the Cangwu Sect had used great power to cleave off the mountainside with a single sword strike, creating a platform.

It could accommodate ten thousand people.

Few disciples were usually willing to come here, because Skylark Terrace was no good place.

It was a place that always accompanied some great battle or conflict of the sect.

Especially after the campaign to eliminate the Fire Virtue Sect twenty years ago, when nearly half the outer sect disciples had been killed or injured. They had gathered at Skylark Terrace then as well, and it had become a shadow in the hearts of the previous generation of outer sect disciples.

Now that the Dragon Roar Bell had rung again, no matter how fiercely those surviving old disciples resisted in their hearts, they had no choice but to climb the steps of Skylark Terrace once more.

The time it took to burn a stick of incense passed.

Having come alone after hearing the bell, Kong Jiao now stood at the foot of Skylark Terrace. He looked up at the white jade stairway stretching all the way to the terrace at the summit and let out a long breath.

"Today, I'll finally be taking a walk through the Cangwu Sect's legendary land of calamity."

With that, he steadied his mind and slowly stepped onto the stairs leading to Skylark Terrace.

Kong Jiao did not walk quickly. Around him, outer sect disciples streamed past him without end.

Most wore troubled expressions, though a small number were visibly excited. They simply circulated their spiritual energy and shot from the foot of the stairs straight toward Skylark Terrace.

Along the way, Kong Jiao saw no fewer than a hundred sixth-level Wheel-Nourishing Realm disciples, all part of the outer sect's second echelon of combat strength.

Those with strength truly were different. Fear was rarely visible on their faces.

Yet he did not see a single disciple above the seventh level of the Wheel-Nourishing Realm—the first echelon of combat strength. They had probably received advance notice, just as they had been the first to learn about the outer sect trial.

As he neared the top of Skylark Terrace.

Whoosh! An extremely swift figure flashed past Kong Jiao's side in an instant, so fast that his pupils contracted slightly. He saw only a blur of a person and could not even make out their face.

Then a fight erupted ahead.

The disciple who had swept past Kong Jiao directly intercepted a brawny man with his upper body bare.

The two exchanged no words and immediately began fighting.

The disciple who had initiated the attack moved in an elusive, shifting manner. With a longsword in hand, he continuously launched attacks at the brawny man from tricky angles.

The brawny man used slowness to overcome speed. His iron fists whirled so densely that not even wind could pass through, and he did not fall into disadvantage.

The disciples on the stairs were not surprised in the slightest. Delighted to watch the spectacle, they pointed at the two fighters and discussed them.

"You Liufeng is fighting Zhu Dan again."

"The two have held grudges against each other for a long time. Whenever they meet in the outer sect, there's always a fight."

"But their strength is evenly matched. I'm afraid it'll be hard for them to determine a victor again."

"Two sixth-level Wheel-Nourishing Realm cultivators!" After judging their strength, Kong Jiao skirted around the fighting area and continued onward.

Fights like this happened constantly in the outer sect, and generally no one died.

Kong Jiao had no interest in watching. Though his current cultivation was only at the fifth level of the Wheel-Nourishing Realm, after absorbing Frostsnow Essence and learning the Moon Palace Taiyin Scripture, ordinary sixth-level Wheel-Nourishing Realm cultivators truly were no match for him.

When Kong Jiao stepped onto Skylark Terrace, it was already packed with people.

Since none of the elders had arrived on the platform yet, the disciples remained fairly relaxed. The bustling crowd had formed into various small groups, speculating over why the Dragon Roar Bell had sounded this time.

Kong Jiao's gaze swept over the crowd one person at a time.

He discovered that they were roughly divided into two camps.

One camp consisted of cultivators at the fifth level of the Wheel-Nourishing Realm and below. They were the most numerous, accounting for eighty or ninety percent of everyone present, and occupied the rear of Skylark Terrace.

The other camp was an area exclusively for sixth-level Wheel-Nourishing Realm cultivators.

They were fewer in number, only around two or three hundred people.

Yet they all stood at the very front of Skylark Terrace.

The two camps were sharply divided, with an empty strip between them where neither side crossed over.

No matter what, sixth-level Wheel-Nourishing Realm cultivators were already the outer sect's second echelon of combat strength. Naturally, they had to be distinguished from the other disciples.

Kong Jiao was not surprised. That was simply how this world worked.

Thus, after sweeping his eyes over both camps, he started walking toward the group at the rear.

Yet after only two steps, a lean figure suddenly emerged from the camp of the second-echelon fighters and blocked his path.

Kong Jiao's expression changed slightly. He immediately looked up, only relaxing when he saw Feng An's familiar face.

It turned out Feng An had arrived at Skylark Terrace early. Now that his strength had recovered, he naturally belonged with the group of sixth-level Wheel-Nourishing Realm cultivators.

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