Expelled from the Sect

Fu Hongchen was stomped to the ground, his face ground raw with pain.

Beside him lay his Soul-Piercing Cone. The fight just now had drained too much energy, and even the artifact spirit within the Soul-Piercing Cone seemed listless.

Chu Zeming stomped hard on Fu Hongchen's face twice more and asked in a low voice, "How was it? Comfortable?"

Fu Hongchen clawed fiercely at the ground, his gaze vicious, but he did not say a word.

Chu Zeming gave a disdainful laugh, then sent Fu Hongchen flying with a kick, knocking him more than ten meters beyond the arena.

His body crashed onto the ground with a dull thud.

Fu Hongchen had already sustained severe injuries in the fight. His white robes were stained with blood and dust, and he no longer possessed that elegant bearing, handsome and refined as an exiled immortal.

Now that Chu Zeming had kicked him mercilessly to the ground, Fu Hongchen could not help coughing violently. Soon, a streak of bright red blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

"Senior Brother!"

"Senior Brother Fu, what happened to you?"

"This is too much! How dare you treat our Kongtong Sect like this!"

The Kongtong Sect disciples hurriedly gathered around Fu Hongchen and helped him up, their faces all filled with righteous indignation.

Amid the arena that had broken into two halves, Chu Zeming put away the Luminous Glaze Sword, raised his brows, and sneered. "I merely returned what you did to us. How is that excessive? Isn't your Kongtong Sect a great cultivation sect? Why is your Senior Brother Fu so unable to withstand a single blow? Could it be that your so-called famous sect is nothing but an empty name?"

A familiar scene, familiar words.

Now, they had been returned to the Kongtong Sect intact.

Below the arena, the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect disciples who had just been bullied so badly could not help reddening their eyes.

With no one to stand up for them, they had chosen to be strong. Yet the moment they felt gentleness, they could no longer restrain the grievances in their hearts.

The arena had already been destroyed.

Chu Zeming simply walked off the arena. Standing in the vast training grounds with the Luminous Glaze Sword in hand, he looked toward all the Kongtong Sect cultivators with dark, unfathomable eyes and asked, "Does your sect have any more disciples who wish to fight me?"

Without question, no Kongtong Sect disciple accepted the challenge.

This man had clearly come to repay tooth for tooth. Going up meant getting beaten, then having their face stomped on. Who would willingly rush forward to be abused?

Besides, even Senior Brother Fu had lost. Who among them could defeat him?

Thus, for a time, all the Kongtong Sect disciples fell silent.

His stomped face still burned with pain. Fu Hongchen shot Chu Zeming a resentful glance and said in a low voice, "Let's go. We're going back!"

They had arrived with their noses in the air and left with their tails between their legs.

Watching the Kongtong Sect disciples depart, the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect disciples who remained behind—those who had just been crushed, struck down, and humiliated—could no longer hold back.

"Senior Brother, I want to cry!"

"What, did a brick get into your eye... Wuwuwu."

Chu Zeming put away the Luminous Glaze Sword.

He lifted his gaze toward his sect juniors, whose bodies were covered in wounds and bruises, and said word by word with utmost seriousness, "All right, don't cry. Remember everything that happened today. In the future, reclaim the dignity you lost with your own hands. Senior Brother cannot protect you for a lifetime. The immortal path is long, and many more things like this will happen in the future—perhaps even worse. When that time comes, what Senior Brother hopes to see is all of you, able to stand on your own."

The young man in dark robes stood straight before the ruins of the destroyed arena. When he looked at them, a trace of gentleness appeared on his flamboyant, striking face.

His voice was not loud, but it carved itself deeply into the hearts of every disciple in the training grounds.

The training grounds had been damaged.

Chu Zeming was summoned to the main hall by Ling Yunzi again.

Looking at the former chief disciple standing straight below him, who had repeatedly made him lose face and showed not the slightest respect in his eyes, Ling Yunzi slowly spoke. "Chu Zeming, as a servant, you are not qualified to use an arena reserved for the inner disciples of our sect. Do you know your fault?"

Looking at Ling Yunzi's pretentious, aloof, noble demeanor, Chu Zeming really fucking wanted to punch him and cave in his chest.

Suppressing his temper, Chu Zeming said slowly, "I know my fault."

Ling Yunzi's expression was cold. "The raw stone used for the arena in these training grounds was painstakingly found on the sixth level of the Spirit Mirror Platform by the previous sect master—my father. It took decades of polishing before it could take shape. For the sake of your once having been my disciple, I will not pursue your offense of using the arena without permission. However, because of your recklessness, the sect arena has been destroyed. I will not punish you too severely. I will give you half a month to find an identical piece of raw stone from the Spirit Mirror Platform and bring it back to repair it. If you fail to do so, leave the sect on your own."

Chu Zeming said, "...Yes."

After leaving the main hall, he found a group of disciples gathered outside, chattering noisily.

When they saw Chu Zeming emerge, they immediately crowded around him.

"Senior Brother, are you all right? Did the sect master punish you?"

"The sect master won't punish Senior Brother, right? Senior Brother only destroyed the arena to stand up for us."

Chu Zeming gave them a reassuring smile. "No. He merely told me to find another piece of raw stone for the arena."

Upon hearing this, the disciples sighed in relief.

Chu Zeming looked at their relaxed faces, but he did not tell them how difficult it was to obtain the raw stone—or that Ling Yunzi had only given him half a month.

The purpose was simple.

Ling Yunzi wanted to drive him out using the methods of a fake good man and a hypocrite.

The sixth level of the Spirit Mirror Platform.

When Chu Zeming had transmigrated into this body, the original owner, who was at the Golden Core Realm, had only just opened the second gate of the Spirit Mirror Platform. Now, he had to open the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth stone gates within half a month, then find the arena's raw stone inside and bring it back.

Time was pressing. After leaving the main hall, Chu Zeming took Xiao Hei directly to the Spirit Mirror Platform.

After obtaining a teleportation talisman, Chu Zeming did not hesitate. With a flash, he entered the Spirit Mirror Platform.

The scenery around him abruptly changed, and the nine stone gates appeared before Chu Zeming once more. Two gates glimmered with white light, while the other seven remained dormant. Chu Zeming extended a hand, his fingertips touching the third dark-gray stone gate. With the cultivation of the Nascent Soul Realm, the Spirit Mirror Platform automatically acknowledged his strength, and the third stone gate slowly lit up.

Chu Zeming withdrew his hand and stepped through the gate.

After Chu Zeming left, the originally empty and silent nine stone gates suddenly began flickering with white light.

Then, a light and nimble voice sounded from thin air within the Spirit Mirror Platform—

"Golden light... He possesses... Master's... power..."

After the voice faded, an illusory figure appeared before the third stone gate Chu Zeming had entered—a tiny, translucent silver-white shadow.

Its features could not be seen. It looked like a ghost.

It stared at the place where Chu Zeming had vanished, then slowly followed him inside like a little tail.

After it left, all nine gates of the Spirit Mirror Platform vanished as though they had never existed.

After all, he already possessed the strength of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Against the ghosts and demons of the third level of the Spirit Mirror Platform, Chu Zeming was like a broadsword chopping cabbages, cutting them down with casual ease. With Xiao Hei escorting him all the way, no terrifying demonic beast dared approach them. After the strongest demonic beast within the Spirit Mirror Platform was defeated, the fourth gate of the Spirit Mirror Platform slowly opened for Chu Zeming.

Behind Chu Zeming, the white shadow hid itself among the grass behind tree trunks, following the young man in dark robes neither too close nor too far away like a little tail.

One level after another...

As time passed, Chu Zeming's practical combat experience increased day by day.

By the time he reached the sixth level, his body was already covered in wounds, blood dripping everywhere. Even the hand gripping the Luminous Glaze Sword trembled faintly.

He had exhausted too much of his strength.

Standing at the edge of a cliff, Chu Zeming looked up—an endless red sea of blood stretched in every direction. The stench of blood filled the entire world of the sixth level of the Spirit Mirror Platform. Amid the surging crimson waves, countless grotesque floating corpses bobbed up and down... Looking at the bizarre scene before him, Chu Zeming's heart filled with shock.

Why was the sixth level of the Spirit Mirror Platform like this?

Strange voices rose and fell from the sea of blood.

"Immortal... Become immortal... Cannot become immortal... Die... Become immortal..."

The voices came from the floating corpses in the sea of blood.

They had died tens of thousands of years ago, yet the obsessions within their bodies had not faded. Driven by the final thread of resentment from their lives, they endlessly repeated the same cry. Their cries drowned out the sound of the blood waves, filled with despair, fury, unwillingness... every kind of emotion.

Standing before this endless sea of blood, Chu Zeming suddenly seemed to see the scene from the mural—countless struggling, furious cultivators.

What, exactly, did becoming immortal mean?

Why did their voices reveal such desperate emotions?

Watching the floating corpses struggle desperately in the sea of blood, Chu Zeming's expression grew somewhat dazed. Then, he slowly took a step forward.

Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced his chest.

Chu Zeming hissed in pain, then abruptly snapped out of his daze.

Looking again, there were no floating corpses in the sea of blood, nor any strange voices around him. Everything had been an illusion.

A wave of lingering fear rose in his heart. Chu Zeming lowered his head to look at Xiao Hei and said softly, "Thank you, Dragon Treasure."

Xiao Hei flashed his tiny teeth and affectionately rubbed against Chu Zeming. Before he could rub against him for long, Chu Zeming suddenly asked, "When you bit me, did you inject poison?"

Xiao Hei angrily turned his head away, curling his limbs and head together.

Chu Zeming reached out and untangled him. "Don't be angry. I was only teasing you."

Xiao Hei and Chu Zeming had formed a life-bound contract; the two had long become one. Chu Zeming naturally knew that Xiao Hei would never poison him. The smile faded from his face as he crouched down and looked beneath his feet—

A precipitous cliff formed from black rock. After being soaked and battered by bloody water for countless years, even the black stone seemed to have been stained red. This was the raw stone used to make the arena.

At the same time, a gigantic bloody hand slowly condensed from the sea of blood and reached for the young man in dark robes standing by the shore.

Chu Zeming was lowering his head when he suddenly sensed a terrifying threat descending from above. His heart jolted. He flew backward to evade it, raised the Luminous Glaze Sword fiercely in his hand, then slashed at the bloody hand reaching for him.

With a splash, the blood shattered, then condensed once more into a horrifying bloody hand that pressed down viciously upon Chu Zeming. As the bloody hand gradually solidified, a hundred-zhang-tall giant, its entire body condensed from resentment, slowly rose from the sea of blood...

Outside the Spirit Mirror Platform.

All the elders and the sect master of the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect stood guard at the entrance. Behind them were the disciples of the entire Nine-Clear Haoran Sect.

Every disciple stared nervously at the entrance to the Spirit Mirror Platform.

A long time had already passed, yet the entrance to the Spirit Mirror Platform remained silent. No one had emerged.

Could something have happened to Senior Brother inside?

They were worried, but they did not dare say anything.

Qin Elder looked at Ling Yunzi, his expression displeased. "Sect Master, I have followed the teachings of the former sect master, doing my utmost to assist you and manage the sect with all my heart. Because you are still young, I turned a blind eye to your repeated mistakes. How could you do something so muddleheaded? Why target Zeming? You clearly know what is on the sixth level of the Spirit Mirror Platform!"

Ling Yunzi looked calmly at Qin Elder and said blandly, "Those at the Nascent Soul Realm can safely pass the first five levels of the Spirit Mirror Platform. The sixth level is indeed terrifying, but he can choose to crush the jade talisman and come out."

Qin Elder said angrily, "But the raw stone is on the sixth level! If he cannot obtain it, then coming out means leaving the sect! Zeming came first in the Joint Grand Tournament and reached the Nascent Soul Realm at such a young age. He is a future pillar of our sect! You are muddleheaded! How could you force him to leave?"

Ling Yunzi's gaze wavered slightly. He questioned coldly, "Qin Elder, you think too highly of Chu Zeming. If Chu Zeming can achieve great things in the future, then he will surely turn danger into safety during this crisis on the sixth level! If he cannot, why should you care so much? My father's divinations have never been wrong. The one who will lead our sect to prosperity must be a disciple who joins the sect midway! Chu Zeming is merely an ordinary disciple. Why have you made such a great fuss to question me, even lecturing me before the disciples of the entire sect? I want to know: are you the sect master, or am I? And last time, when I was attacked by an evildoer, I did not wish to suspect Chu Zeming. But since he is now at the Nascent Soul Realm, then perhaps he truly could have used a secret art to ambush me. I did not seek trouble with him and only wanted him to leave the sect of his own accord. That already counts as magnanimous and merciful! How do you have the nerve to lecture me, Qin Elder?!"

After saying this, Ling Yunzi's face turned slightly cold. With a sweep of his sleeve, an incense stick appeared at the entrance of the Spirit Mirror Platform.

Ling Yunzi turned around and coldly announced to all the disciples, "Today marks the end of the half-month deadline. This was the hour when Chu Zeming entered. I will now give him one more incense stick's worth of time. If he still has not emerged, I will expel him from the sect in my capacity as the sect master of the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect!"