Trial Ends

"Martial Brother, I know my strength is too lacking, and I can't be much help in battle. But I'm skilled at plenty of other things."

"Martial Brother, one look at you tells me you're someone single-mindedly pursuing the Dao and improving your strength. I can handle many of the sect's miscellaneous affairs for you, like buying things and gathering information!"

Faced with Su Shi'er's refusal, Zhu Hanwei did not give up. Instead, he called out with a beaming smile.

He still understood the principle of playing to one's strengths and avoiding one's weaknesses.

Gathering information?

Su Shi'er was about to speed up and leave when he heard this and suddenly changed his mind.

There was still a Venerable Lord behind that Man in Black, and he had no idea who that was. If he wanted revenge, strength was certainly important, but he also needed enough information.

Relying on himself alone, he could not fully balance improving his strength and investigating matters at the same time. Besides, that Man in Black knew his name, so he was at risk of being exposed at any moment. There were many things he was not suited to handle personally.

With that thought, Su Shi'er had an idea.

"Come on. Let's find somewhere secluded and wait for the trial to end."

"Alright! You got it!"

Delight appeared on Zhu Hanwei's face as he nodded repeatedly. Then he added, "Martial Brother, I know a secluded place! Thirty li west from here, there's a cave."

Su Shi'er nodded. "We'll go there. With your strength, being able to last until now means you do have some skill."

Zhu Hanwei hurriedly shook his head and gave a bitter smile. "Martial Brother, how could I possibly have that kind of skill? During the trial, disciples with low cultivation like me simply aren't worth anyone else's notice."

"When we run into someone powerful, we just lower our heads and let them inspect our Storage Pouches. Then they let us leave."

Su Shi'er thought about it and realized that made sense. The disciples who had come here were all after Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. The odds of low-cultivation disciples finding anything valuable were far too low.

"Then why were you being hunted by that person just now?" Su Shi'er asked again.

Zhu Hanwei pursed his lips. "It's depressing when you get to the bottom of it. A few days ago, the disciples of Tianhua Peak went completely mad and started hunting disciples from the other peaks like crazy. No

matter how high or low their cultivation was, anyone they ran into got killed!"

"All at once, the entire trial ground descended into chaos. Every ox demon and snake god came crawling out, and low-cultivation disciples like us became the unlucky ones, getting chased down and killed everywhere."

"I heard someone stole something from them, but I have no idea who did it!"

The more Zhu Hanwei spoke, the more depressed he became. To him, this was nothing but a disaster falling from the sky.

"Uh..." Su Shi'er immediately understood, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly. He did not pursue the topic further.

An hour later, the two arrived at a secluded cave.

After returning Zhu Hanwei's Storage Pouch and tossing him ten ordinary Second-Grade Spiritual Materials, Su Shi'er walked to a corner of the cave, took out a meditation cushion, and sat down cross-legged.

He had more spiritual materials than he could use now. Since he intended to make use of Zhu Hanwei, it would certainly help him more if Zhu Hanwei became an Official Disciple.

Su Shi'er could still see that much clearly.

Without rushing into cultivation, he sat on the meditation cushion and first took stock of the items on the hawk-nosed man.

There were no fewer than fifty Storage Pouches alone.

There were nearly two hundred spiritual materials, as well as eleven Low-grade Magical Artifacts of various kinds.

These artifacts were of far too poor a quality to catch Su Shi'er's eye anymore.

After sorting through the miscellaneous items, Su Shi'er's gaze fell upon the final three objects.

The first was the longbow used by the hawk-nosed man. It was a deep green bow, with the three small words "Heavenly Wolf Bow" engraved upon it.

This was merely a Low-grade Magical Artifact. However, bow-type artifacts were relatively rare, so it still had some value.

"This longbow condenses True Yuan into attacking Light Arrows. Its power is about the same as the Fire Control Technique, only it consumes slightly less True Yuan."

"By itself, it could not possibly unleash such astonishing power!"

Su Shi'er narrowed his eyes. He still remembered the astonishing arrow the hawk-nosed man had fired at him.

The power of that arrow had rivaled a full-force strike from a top-grade magical artifact. It had even surpassed it by a fair margin.

Shifting his gaze, he looked at the second item beside it.

It was a quiver containing three jet-black arrows.

The arrows were black from end to end, gleaming faintly. The words "Explosive Arrow" were engraved upon them, and they contained astonishing spiritual energy fluctuations.

"Explosive Arrows! One-use High-grade Magical Artifacts. No wonder their power is so incredible!"

Su Shi'er drew a deep breath, delight appearing on his face.

With just one glance, he knew these arrows were what had triggered that astonishing attack.

He had witnessed the power of the Explosive Arrows with his own eyes. They could absolutely be called a trump card.

"Paired with this longbow, these arrows can catch an opponent off guard when attacking. With them, I have another means of preserving my life."

With a faint smile, Su Shi'er put the two items into his storage ring.

Only then did he turn his attention to the final item: a black bead.

The bead was pitch-black throughout and emitted a chill. It felt ice-cold and bone-piercing in his hand.

Su Shi'er tried channeling True Yuan into it and immediately sensed a mass of black sand filled with a sinister aura inside the bead.

The black sand occupied only a third of the bead's interior. Under the stimulation of his True Yuan, it became exceptionally active, ready to burst forth at any moment.

"This black sand is no simple thing, though it seems to be a consumable item as well. Still, that doesn't matter. As long as it can be useful at a critical moment, that's enough!"

Thinking this to himself, Su Shi'er put away the Yin Wind Bead as well.

Only then did he take out a Cinnabar Fruit, swallow it, and continue cultivating.

Time flashed by, and more than thirty days passed.

Early that morning, Su Shi'er opened his eyes.

His spiritual power was now exceptionally dense. After refining a Cinnabar Fruit and cultivating bitterly for over twenty days, his cultivation had finally reached the peak of Qi Refining Stage Six.

Feeling the abundant True Yuan within his dantian, the corners of his lips curled upward, and he could not help revealing a trace of joy.

In merely five years, he had raised his cultivation to this level. Even the sect's formidable geniuses were no more than this. Yet he was only an insignificant person with Mixed Spiritual Roots.

"Martial Brother, the Teleportation Talisman has finished absorbing spiritual energy. We can leave now." At the cave entrance, Zhu Hanwei saw Su Shi'er open his eyes and excitedly called out while holding a Teleportation Talisman.

"No rush. Let me sort through my things first."

Su Shi'er spoke calmly, remaining seated where he was as he began taking stock of and organizing all his resources.

He planned to sort all his most precious and important resources into the storage ring on his hand.

This storage ring was truly a fine thing. It was more convenient to use than a Storage Pouch, and it was also concealed. No aura fluctuations could be detected from it at all.

At the same time.

Within Yun Ge Sect, more than a dozen figures tore through the air and arrived one after another at the valley where the Ancient Teleportation Array had been set up.

The group exchanged glances without wasting words. Led by the Grand Elder of Tianshu Peak, they all poured their True Yuan into the array.

The earth rumbled as the incomparably massive ancient array once again appeared before them.

Then everyone stared intently at the array, their expressions somewhat tense.

After all, this was a new place, and the disciples they had sent were all rather weak. No one could say how many resources they would bring back.

Yet the amount of resources brought back was tied to the future development of every peak. All of them stood to benefit directly.

Moreover, every peak had brought out quite a few trump cards for this trial. For a time, each of them harbored different thoughts.