Beyond the Sky Above Chapter 7

Jinghai Sect is a small sect, so the trial is not very complicated and is mainly divided into two parts.

The first is to examine the progress of the disciples. Through mutual learning among disciples or guidance from teachers, it is determined whether the outer disciples are qualified to enter the inner sect, and whether the inner disciples are qualified to learn the next more advanced technique.

The second is to let the disciples go deep into the Jinghai Mountains for trials. Long before the trial conference, the Jinghai Sect would release some low-level monsters on each peak for the disciples to hunt. This is a common practice for many sects to conduct trials, which can train the disciples' actual combat capabilities.

People like Lu Yanping who have already been ranked as the chief disciple have an enviable aura, and can practice the high-level techniques of the sect even without passing the trial. But it is different for others.

Many people study and practice diligently just to show their skills at the trial conference and attract the attention of their master. Not to mention those outer disciples who are determined to enter the inner peak, even those who have become inner disciples hope to get rewards through the trial, because the rewards for this year's trial are particularly generous. In addition to the Peiyuan Pills and some defensive magic weapons distributed in previous years, it is said that there will also be a Ningshuang Sword refined by Elder Chen himself.

In fact, after practicing for several years to more than ten years, outer disciples, unless they have poor aptitude, can generally reach the fifth to sixth level of Qi Refining. This is only the average level of the Jinghai Sect. If it were one of the top sects such as the Shangxuan Sect and the Tianyan Sect, even ordinary outer disciples would at least be at the Foundation Establishment stage.

The root cause is that the path of cultivation is easy at first and becomes difficult later. The period from Qi Refining to Foundation Building is relatively easy, and it becomes more and more difficult as time goes on. It is already considered good enough to be able to form a pill, let alone to reach the Nascent Soul stage. Therefore, many beginners are confused by the smooth progress at the beginning, and when they encounter obstacles later, they are likely to fail.

Zhou Yin's outstanding performance this time attracted the attention of the upper echelons of Jinghai Sect. In addition, his injuries had not yet fully healed. In order to be fair, the sect leader exempted him from sparring with others. After confirming that his cultivation had indeed reached the seventh level of foundation building, he was considered to have passed the first level of the assessment. This caused many people to secretly envy and hate him.

But Oscar Huang and his companions were not so lucky. In the three consecutive days of sparring, they were not assigned to the same group. When facing those inner disciples who were higher in rank than themselves, they had to use all their strength, which led to exhaustion. Every day they returned to the inner peak tired like a dog. Even Lily Liu, who always paid attention to her appearance, was no exception. Even though the male disciples who sparred with her were intimidated by her frail beauty and more or less showed mercy, that meant that she would face more fierce attacks from the female disciples who were assigned to spar with her.

Their dishevelment was even more obvious when contrasted with Zhou Yin, who spent the whole day leisurely reading books and was neat and tidy.

"Ayin, we are fighting hard outside, and you don't even come out to cheer us on!" Oscar Huang came back covered in dust and muttered complaints.

Zhou Yin looked away from the book and gave him a condescending look: "If I go and see, you can win more impressively?"

He had just finished bathing and was sitting on a rattan chair in the yard in a white singlet with wet hair. His profile looked as delicate as ice jade. Grace He blushed and her heart beat fast at the look he gave her. She stroked her hair involuntarily and noticed how disheveled she looked, feeling a little annoyed.

During the trial today, she saw many male disciples from the sect, which was an eye-opener. There were many handsome and outstanding ones among them, but when it came to Grace He and temperament, no one could compare to the man in front of her.

Oscar Huang was speechless and argued: "If the other party hadn't cheated and used the earth-inducing technique, causing me to be almost buried alive, I wouldn't have been so flustered!"

"Win or lose, there are only two results, no excuses needed." These understated words contain some cruel and realistic truths, but the high-spirited young man did not take them to heart.

He chuckled, leaned closer and whispered: "It's a pity that you didn't go to see it. There are quite a few beautiful women in the inner sect. Take Chen Yuanzhi for example, she is much prettier than Lily Liu and Grace He."

It's not just Oscar Huang who is admired by the young man. Judging from the competitions in the past few days, whenever Chen Yuanzhi participates in a trial, there are always crowds of people watching.

The Demon Master, who had no interest in such topics at all, let Oscar Huang chatter on and on while he continued to read with a blank expression, unaffected by the topic.

Three days later, he met Chen Yuanzhi, who was mentioned countless times by Oscar Huang and described as a fairy from heaven.

Her beautiful face is almost flawless, although still a little immature, but one can already foresee her future beauty. She is wearing a dress the color of a fiery red lotus, which makes her skin look whiter than pearls and snow. No wonder all the disciples of Jinghai School are flocking to her. Such a beauty is quite outstanding even in the world of cultivation, let alone in the secular world.

"Are you Zhou Yin? You don't look anything special, so why would the head master make an exception for you? And you, don't look so pitiful, it's disgusting!" She looked at Zhou Yin and Lily Liu back and forth, her face full of arrogance.

In the second level of the trial, the outer disciples who passed the first level will be randomly assigned to a group together with the inner disciples who were also sent out for the trial. They will go deep into the Jinghai Mountains and eliminate low-level monsters. In the end, the number of monsters hunted will be used as the score of each group.

Those monsters were released by the sect specifically to test the disciples. As long as you are careful and cautious, there will be basically no danger to your life. However, in previous years, some disciples were seriously injured or even killed because of their arrogance, so no one dared to take it lightly.

Zhou Yin, Lily Liu, Chen Yuanzhi, Lu Yanping, and Song Shushan, five people who were not familiar with each other, were divided into the same group through drawing lots and stood in front of the teleportation array.

To be precise, it was Lily Liu and Zhou Yin, who were unfamiliar with Lu Yanping and Chen Yuanzhi. Song Shushan was a very ordinary disciple in the inner sect, with average aptitude, at the eighth level of Qi Refining. He usually had no sense of existence, and was reserved and uneasy when facing Lu Yanping.

Lily Liu is timid, Zhou Yin is cold, Chen Yuanzhi is spoiled, and Song Shushan is reserved. These four people have completely different personalities, including two women. This combination gives senior brother Lu Yanping a headache. He didn't have to participate in the trial at all, but the head of the sect Zou Jingyuan values this disciple who inherited his mantle very much, and hopes that he can establish his authority among the second and third generation disciples through his own strength, and prepare for taking over the position of head of the sect in the future.

At this moment, facing Chen Yuanzhi's provocation, Lily Liu shrank her neck and hid slightly behind Zhou Yin, while Zhou Yin...

Zhou Yin didn't even look at her, he just looked at the sword in his hand with a slight frown.

Since they have to face monsters, even if they are low-level ones, a wooden sword will be of no use, so any disciple who passes the first level of the trial will receive a sword personally bestowed by the sect leader.

The sword was forged by Elder Chen, the sect's most skilled weapon refiner. In terms of quality, it certainly cannot be compared with the Frost Sword that was given as a reward, but it is certainly much better than swords in the secular world. It has defense and five elements attributes added to it, and the user's spiritual power combined with it can exert greater power.

The sword in Zhou Yin's hand is called Rongshui, which matches his water spiritual root. However, in his opinion, this inferior and low-level magic weapon can only deal with ordinary monsters. If he encounters unpredictable variables, he will have to rely on luck.

Seeing that her words were ignored by the other party, Chen Yuanzhi's face turned red.

Since she was born as the daughter of the sect's elder, and Elder Chen's only daughter, she would always grant her requests. In addition, she had an outstanding appearance, so she had been praised by everyone in the sect since she was a child. She had never been treated so coldly, so she immediately summoned her sword.

"Master, Senior Sister, calm down!" Song Shushan was shocked and didn't dare to reach out to stop her.

"Junior sister," Lu Yanping interrupted before things got out of hand. "It's getting late, we should set off quickly, otherwise we will fall behind others, and then the Frost Sword you want most will be snatched away."

When the Ningshuang Sword was mentioned, Chen Yuanzhi's anger suddenly subsided a lot. She glared at Zhou Yin and the others hatefully, snorted, and turned around and left.

Lily Liu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, raised her eyes and saw Lu Yanping's comforting gaze, her face blushed and she lowered her head.

Lu Yanping smiled slightly: "Although these monsters are low-level and not a big threat, the Jinghai Mountains are too big after all. There are many places that even our elders have never been to. We don't know where the teleportation array will take us. It's better for everyone to be careful."

The last sentence seemed to be spoken while looking at Lily Liu, and her face instantly turned redder.

The teleportation array was just an ordinary one. It could not accurately determine the direction, but could only roughly determine the range and send them to any place in Jinghai Mountains. Jinghai Mountains were vast and boundless, so disciples from different groups would generally not meet each other. That was to say, until they were teleported back at the end of the specified time, there might be only four of them fighting side by side from beginning to end.

As the five people stepped into the teleportation array, the light suddenly increased, so dazzling that it was impossible to open their eyes. About half a cup of tea later, the light gradually faded, and the magic array pattern of the innate Bagua engraved on the ground had long disappeared.

What appeared before their eyes was a vast stretch of endless mountains, one after another, shrouded in clouds and mist, with towering ancient trees, and a silence that seemed as if no one had ever set foot there since ancient times.

Chen Yuanzhi was a little stunned: "Where is this?"

"Of course it's the Jinghai Mountains." Lu Yanping answered casually, looking around and frowning slightly.

The surrounding vegetation is completely different from the ones I am used to seeing in the back mountain. I have come here for training several times in the past few years, but I have never been to this place. I think it should be very deep in the mountains, a place that is even less visited by people.

Several people walked forward along the knee-high grass. This was not the first time that Lu Yanping had accepted this kind of trial. His cultivation in the Foundation Establishment stage made him superior to all the other disciples of the Jinghai Sect. This kind of trial, which tested disciples in the Qi Refining stage, would basically not pose any threat to him, so he looked very relaxed.

Because the senior brother was by her side, Chen Yuanzhi was naturally not nervous at all, and even showed excitement in being eager to try.

This is not a dense forest, but the tree trunks are thick. Each tree is at least a thousand years old, not to mention the big trees that require five or six people to hug. When the wind blows, the branches and grass rustle, but other than that, no birds or insects can be heard.

Chen Yuanzhi even bent down to pick a wild flower, looked at its eight-pointed star-shaped petals, and smelled it: "This flower is so beautiful!"

Flowers and beauties complement each other.

Lu Yanping was always indulgent towards such a beautiful girl, and with her father being an elder, he smiled and said, "This is called Broken Star Flower. It is said that it was formed from fallen stars in the sky."

"Really?" She opened her eyes wide.

"Of course it's just a legend." Lu Yanping laughed.

Lily Liu watched them talking and laughing, feeling a little envious. She also bent down, picked a flower and secretly put it into her sleeve.

The monsters seemed to have disappeared without a trace. After about an incense stick of time had passed, there was still no sign of the monsters.

"Brother, are we going in the wrong direction?" Song Shushan asked.

"Let's just move forward for now." Lu Yanping said.

No one else had any objection, but after another stick of incense had passed, Chen Yuanzhi gradually began to show an impatient look.

"How long will it take? I didn't have this much trouble the last time I took the trial. We'll soon run into monsters. We must be going in the wrong direction!"

Lu Yanping frowned and looked around. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Zhou Yin say, "Something is wrong here."

"What's wrong?" Song Shushan was stunned and asked subconsciously.

"There are no ordinary birds and beasts in a place like this. It's not normal." Zhou Yin looked up at the sky with his usual indifferent expression.

"What do you know about common sense? Even we didn't sense any evil spirit!" Chen Yuanzhi retorted without thinking. For some reason, she really liked to confront Zhou Yin.

But the other party did not answer her, but his eyes fell on the right side in front of him.

Song Shushan followed his line of sight and couldn't help but exclaimed: "Look, what is that?"

Vines were entangled around the thick trunk, and behind the trunk, a head of long black hair was revealed.

The other person turned her head slightly, revealing a beautiful profile. She looked quiet and elegant, as if she was taking a nap against a tree trunk.