Heart-Questioning

The expressions of all three changed at once. Repaying a favor was one thing, but if they truly listened to Li Zishen and killed someone on Yonglu Mountain, they could forget about surviving in the cultivation world afterward.

What was wrong with the Li Family? After all that nurturing, they had raised a brainless piece of trash? Was that reasonable? Were they trying to become enemies with Yonglu Mountain?

Once the Wind-Treasure Gourd was capped, the wind vortex in the air quickly ceased. As though it possessed a spirit, the folding fan drifted over to Wen Xu. With a gentle sway, it landed in his right hand.

Its aura then turned peaceful, no longer resembling the rabid mad dog from before, snapping at anyone it could catch.

"Have you three not decided yet?" Wen Xu lightly moved the folding fan, looking as though his temper was actually quite good.

The three of them: ...

Li Zishen cursed furiously where he stood. Unfortunately, his vocabulary was too impoverished. Not only did he fail to insult anyone, he was instead cursed bloody by the fully recovered Bian Chunchou. In the end, he was so enraged that he fainted on the spot.

"With that kind of temperament, and he still wants to cultivate immortality? I think if he set up a stall at the village entrance, the old men there would despise him for not even knowing how to write properly." Bian Chunchou disdainfully clapped his hands. "What do we do now?"

Chen Zui had already knocked everyone unconscious and lined the four of them up neatly. "Of course, we go snatch their magic artifacts!"

"But what if they..."

"If we can beat them once, we can beat them a second time!"

Chen Zui spoke flatly, yet his words revealed boundless confidence. Besides, fighting openly and fairly was far more likable than sneaking around in the dark like flies and dogs, pulling petty tricks.

On the Shadow Wall, although Pill Peak and Artifact Refining Peak were fighting over Wen Xu, Chen Zui was also extremely sought-after. Pure-hearted and immensely talented, he was the ideal disciple template in many people's minds.

In fact, aside from those two, several other examinees had also performed brilliantly. It was clear that Yonglu Mountain would surely recruit a batch of exceptionally gifted disciples this time.

Even the furrow between Sect Master Gu Wufang's brows relaxed. "How are the preparations at the Heart-Questioning Realm?"

"They have long been completed. Once the Mountain Examination ends, the examinees who pass will automatically enter the Heart-Questioning Realm."

As its name suggested, the Heart-Questioning Realm questioned one's Dao heart, one's own heart, and one's heart in pursuing immortality and ascension. If one's resolve was not firm and swayed from side to side, then no matter how great one's talent was, one would never cultivate into anything worthwhile.

And if one's temperament leaned astray and one's desires were too heavy, things might be fine in the early stages. But once heavenly lightning descended in the later stages, cases of perishing halfway through were simply too numerous to count. Naturally, Yonglu Mountain wanted disciples with better character as well as greater talent.

Of course, every sect was the same. They did their utmost to select, from among those available, disciples most suited to their own sect. There was nothing to criticize about that.

Back in the Mountain Examination, thanks to "Bodhisattva Li's" delivery from a thousand miles away, Wen Xu's group's combat strength soared in a straight line. Of the three, one fought at close range, one from afar, and one served as a diplomatic envoy. In short, if they could win, they fought; if they could not, they sat down for friendly negotiations. By the time the Mountain Examination was nearing its end, not only did each of them have a magic artifact, they had even earned a tidy sum by helping others find magic artifacts.

Naturally, Chen Zui had initially disagreed, but alas... his pockets were empty. His mother had said that when away from home, one could sometimes bend a little for spirit stones. After thinking it over, he decided to lower his head slightly to spirit stones.

Thus, the three paupers happily formed a united front.

The Yonglu Mountain bigwigs watching from the sidelines: ...You brats really had some wild methods.

Actually, Bian Chunchou had been the one to suggest it in the beginning. It was not because poverty had driven him mad and he had decided to earn examinees' spirit stones during the Mountain Examination regardless of the occasion. It was because once Chen Zui started fighting someone, he simply could not be stopped.

Once he got into a fight, he could not be stopped. Once he could not be stopped, he snatched magic artifacts. The crucial part was that Wen Xu always managed to stumble upon magic artifacts by sheer accident. Their magic artifacts kept increasing, their combat strength kept growing, and if this continued, they would probably provoke public outrage.

Bian Chunchou thought this would not do. But giving away magic artifacts for free felt far too wasteful, so... they could trade goods for goods. Spirit stones, talismans, pills, anything would do. As long as the price was right, anything could be exchanged. First come, first served; latecomers might find there was not enough left.

Wen Xu, who had previously only worked hard at studying: ...I understand.

"Is this the finish line? It looks a little like the road we take down the mountain to Langyuan City." As Bian Chunchou spoke, he searched for Yonglu Mountain disciples, hoping to hand over the magic artifacts early and then... ahem, split the gains from this trip evenly.

Yet after searching for ages, he found neither Yonglu Mountain's Elder Zhao nor even any Yonglu Mountain... Oh, no, why was someone lying over there? Judging by the clothing, he should have been an outer sect disciple of Yonglu Mountain.

The three walked closer to look. Good heavens, his injuries were far too severe. As a university student, Bian Chunchou had never seen such a bloody, gruesome sight. His stomach immediately churned, but he still forced it down.

At that moment, the outer sect disciple spoke with a body broken but will unyielding:

"Run... run! It's a vengeful ghost! Down the mountain, there is... a Red-Clad... Red-Clad Vengeful Ghost running rampant!" With that, he fainted outright.

What was that? A vengeful ghost?

Chen Zui gripped his saber, his gaze grave. "You two, quickly take him to Yonglu Mountain and call for help."

"What about you?"

"Me?" Chen Zui revealed an eager expression. "I'll go meet this Red-Clad Vengeful Ghost!"

Heart-Questioning

A Red-Clad Vengeful Ghost, as the name implied, was a vengeful ghost formed from an ordinary person who had died wearing red. To die clad in red, one was either wronged or resentful. Generally speaking, a Red-Clad Vengeful Ghost possessed combat strength comparable to a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator from the moment it came into being.

As for why this only referred to ordinary people and did not include cultivators, it was because when cultivators died, body and Dao both vanished, and they directly entered reincarnation. Of course, there were exceptional circumstances, such as Liberation by Violence or rebirth through body possession, but these were evils expressly forbidden in the cultivation world. Once discovered, they were executed on the spot, with not even their souls left behind.

"Are you insane? That's a Red-Clad Vengeful Ghost!" It was comparable to a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator. The three of them combined would only be delivering themselves to the ghost as food.

Chen Zui, however, said, "On my way to the Yonglu Mountain Range, I encountered a Red-Clad Vengeful Ghost. It was not killed by me, but every person a Red-Clad Vengeful Ghost kills raises its cultivation by one level. If it kills a hundred people, its cultivation will become comparable to the Nascent Soul Realm. I have to stop it from killing people. Otherwise, none of you will be able to escape!"