Liang Yan, Ji Lai and Li Xiran gradually slowed down after leaving the intersection.
They had been delayed for a long time in the previous battle, and they were not in a hurry to get on their way at this time. Instead, they wanted to be wary of others setting up an ambush in advance.
Especially Li Xiran, after using the "Dragon and Tiger Fighting Technique", he is now a little weak and can only rely on pills to slowly restore his spiritual power.
They walked for about half a stick of incense before arriving at the second fork in the road.
"What a strong smell of blood!"
Li Xiran frowned and looked forward.
I saw that this intersection was made up of a total of four mountain roads, and on a big tree in the middle of the road, there were six headless corpses hanging upside down! These corpses were covered with bloodstains, and they seemed to have suffered extremely brutal torture.
shocking.
At this moment, a middle-aged man wearing linen clothes and carrying a long sword stood in front of the tree with his hands behind his back.
Although it was just a back view, Liang Yan recognized this person at a glance.
"Situ Kuangsheng!" Liang Yan called out his name.
The middle-aged man did not respond, and still stared at the body on the tree, looking thoughtful.
"Did you kill all these people?" Ji Lai asked with a frown.
"no!"
The person who answered this question was not Situ Kuangsheng, but Liang Yan beside him.
"Look at the sword and know the person. If these six people were killed by Situ Kuangsheng, they should have sealed their throats with a sword. They would never have died like this. Looking at the marks on the corpses, the perpetrator should be very serious.
He likes the pleasure of killing others." Liang Yan analyzed lightly.
"Oh? You know me quite well!"
Situ Kuangsheng chuckled lightly and responded for the first time, but he still did not turn around, still staring at the body on the tree, and continued: "There are no signs of fighting near here. The six people on the tree should have been killed first.
People used illusions and other magical powers to confuse their minds, and after losing resistance, they were brutally killed. This also explains why they couldn't crush the candidates' tokens in time and escape from here."
"Why is this so?" After hearing this, Li Xiran said with confusion on his face: "If you just want to pass the assessment, wouldn't it be enough to ask the other party to hand over the token? Most of the candidates who came to participate in the assessment are monks within the territory of Wushuang City.
Why do you have to put the other party to death? Are they here to kill people and seize treasures?"
"Hey, I'm afraid the perpetrator is neither greedy for treasure nor here to take part in the assessment."
Situ Kuangsheng pointed to the six corpses on the tree, and then said: "None of the storage rings on their hands have been taken away. I just checked, and even the exquisite stones are kept inside, and there is nothing missing.
.”
"What?"
As soon as he said this, Ji Lai and Li Xiran's expressions changed, and even Liang Yan frowned.
"What do you mean, your Excellency, the perpetrator just wanted to kill people?" Liang Yan asked.
"almost."
Situ Kuangsheng nodded and said: "These people are not here to take the test at all, but to kill people!"
"That's wrong!" Li Xiran on the side suddenly shouted: "There are only four mountain roads here, and two of them are the people who died in the trees, one for us and one for fellow Daoist Situ. So which mountain road did the murderer come from?"
"Haha, the rules for going up the mountain along the mountain path were set by the third-round examiner Ye Qing. As long as you walk out of the mountain path, it will leave traces on your body. Wushuang City will have its own way to detect it, even if you climb to the top of the mountain.
Passed this round of assessment. But these people have no intention of participating in the assessment, so how can they abide by the rules?" Situ Kuangsheng said calmly.
"You mean they didn't go up the mountain along the established mountain road, but shuttled between the various mountain roads, searching for their prey?" Li Xiran said with some surprise.
This time Situ Kuangsheng did not reply, but stared at the six corpses on the tree for a long time. After a long silence, he said to himself: "Wuwei Taoist Pang Zhaochun, Cangming Grottoes Li Ding, although you
All his magical powers are common in my eyes, but his death is a bit too ugly."
After he said this, he turned back and glanced at Liang Yan and others, and suddenly said: "From now on, the nature of this assessment has completely changed. The examination has turned into a hunt. The entire vast green mountain,
It has also become a hunting ground. With the magical powers of the few of you, continuing to go up is tantamount to death. If you want to save your life, it is the wisest choice to go down the mountain immediately."
"Are you going to die?"
After listening to Situ Kuangsheng's advice, Ji Lai and Li Xiran looked at each other, and both turned their attention to Liang Yan, only to see him staring at the body on the treetop, seemingly not taking Situ Kuangsheng's words into account.
"Fellow Daoist Situ advised me to leave, but what do you want to do?" After a moment of silence, Liang Yan suddenly asked.
"I?"
Situ Kuangsheng licked his lips and suddenly smiled: "Of course I'm not here to take the exam. The reason why I signed up for the competition is just to challenge the monks from various sects. However, this year's candidates are so disappointing to me.
I originally thought that Cang Yueming was already the top expert in this assessment, and I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but I didn't expect that there was someone more powerful than him here. Haha! With such a good opportunity, I, Situ Kuangsheng, naturally want to learn a lesson!"
"Are you crazy?"
Ji Lai frowned and said: "I don't know what the origin of these people is, but they can actually kill Wuwei Dao Sect and six monks of the same level in Cangming Cave. Their strength is simply unbelievable. You are alone, and you still want to trouble them?"
"
"Hehe! My Situ Kuangsheng's way of swordsmanship is to live towards death, and it cannot be established until it is broken! Today's battle is the battle of enlightenment that I have been waiting for for a long time!"
Situ Kuangsheng was very interested. After saying these words, he strode out of the mountain road without looking back and disappeared into the depths of the white mist.
At the intersection, Liang Yan, Ji Lai, and Li Xiran looked at each other and were a little silent for a while.
After a long while, Li Xiran said hesitantly: "I didn't expect that there would be such a change in this assessment. Now there are dangers in the mountain. In my opinion, it is better to give up the assessment and go down the mountain to inform Senior Ye Qing and let her solve this problem.
.”
"Give up the assessment?" Liang Yan shook his head and said with a smile, "Do you think it's safe to go down the mountain now?"
"What do you mean?" Ji Lai frowned.
"Although I don't know the origins of these people, but since they dare to kill people in a big way, there must be an ambush below the mountain road, and I may not be able to escape if I turn back now. Besides, I finally came here, but I didn't plan to just do this.
Give up the opportunity to join Wushuang City."
There are still some words that Liang Yan has not said, which is Nokibai's first request to him: to keep Li Xiran and join her in the Bihai Palace of Peerless City.
This matter is related to the magic mark on his body. Besides, the other party's first task is not too difficult. Liang Yan doesn't mind completing this task first and then seeing the other party's subsequent plans.
So at this moment, he will never give up the assessment, nor will he let Li Xiran go down the mountain alone.
"Then what should we do next?" Ji Lai asked from the side.
Liang Yan pondered for a while, then raised his hand to cast a spell, and put the storage rings of the six people on the tree into his sleeves, and then said: "With these people's exquisite stones, we have enough to pass the test. So.
What we have to do now is to hide our own aura as much as possible. As long as we can reach the top of the mountain safely, the rest can be left to Wushuang City."
"Hide your own aura?" Ji Lai shook his head and said, "I'm afraid this is not easy to handle. These perpetrators obviously have extremely good detection skills. If we want to reach the top of the mountain without them, I'm afraid it's not realistic.
"
"Hehe, I have already considered this."
Liang Yan smiled slightly and said: "Liang is best at concealing himself, so he is naturally confident that he can hide it from the outside world. As for you, please forgive me for a moment and take shelter in my gourd."
"this"
Li Xiran and Ji Lai thought about it for a moment, then nodded and agreed: "Since Brother Liang has decided so, we have nothing to hesitate about. We just hope that Brother Liang can act cautiously and never take risks."
"Don't worry, I will be careful enough and I will definitely let you pass this assessment successfully."
After Liang Yan finished speaking, he raised his hand and patted the Taixu gourd on his waist, and a green glow emerged from it, and the figures of Ji Lai and Li Xiran were involved in it.
The two people did not resist at all and allowed Qingxia to lead them into the gourd.
The Taixu Gourd is its own realm, with a radius of tens of thousands of miles. There are also many secrets such as sword pills and fairy trees. Liang Yan will naturally not let them move around at will. He will only put them in a valley with weapons around them.
The barrier set up by Ling Xiaojiu made it impossible for the two of them to leave the valley even half a step.
After doing all this, Liang Yan made another secret with one hand and activated the "Tian Ji Zhu" and "Yuan Mu Dao" spells in his body at the same time. His entire body almost turned into nothingness, and then he walked up the mountain road.
He used a secret method to hide his aura. In order to be cautious, he did not walk very fast. The remaining section of the mountain road took about an hour.
Along the way, Liang Yan saw several more corpses. He didn't know which sect they were, but they were all unlucky disciples. The death conditions were horrific.
Everyone was already dead, so Liang Yan was naturally not polite. He roughly checked the storage rings of these people and put them all into his sleeve.
The monks who came to take part in the assessment were all top disciples of various sects, and each of them was wealthy. Liang Yan obtained their storage ring, and his financial resources naturally increased greatly.
In particular, the storage rings of some monks also contain the magical powers and secret techniques of their own sects. Although these secret techniques recorded in the books are not the top magical powers of their respective sects, Liang Yan's "Tao Sword Sutra" has been cultivated to the point of golden elixir.
The period has come to an end. At this time, I also want to know more about the various magical spells in Antarctic Fairy Continent, so as to broaden my own cultivation path in the future.
He walked along the way and collected a dozen storage rings. It was not until the fog in front of him gradually dissipated that he realized that he had reached the top of the mountain.
The peak of this unnamed mountain is quite large, and the surrounding area is lush and green, planted with all kinds of rare and exotic plants, and in the middle of this flower garden, there is a lotus pond.
Sitting in a small pavilion by the pond was an old Confucian wearing a brown robe and a scribe's scarf.
Although this man is over sixty years old, his eyes are bright and sparkling, and he is well-dressed. There is an emerald green flute at his waist. The three-inch beard under his forehead seems to have been carefully trimmed. At this time, his clothes
Piaopiao actually looks like an old man.
"It's actually him!"
Liang Yan was stunned for a moment. Isn't this person the "Senior Nan" he met in "Tianxing Academy" that day? According to Ji Lai, this person was also the creator of "Hundred Flowers Book". He traveled around the world in his early years.
One hundred beauties with excellent temperaments from Antarctic Fairy Continent are included in the book. No matter how you sound, they don’t sound like serious monks.
At this moment, besides the old Confucian, there were two other people in the pavilion.
One of them was dressed in white as snow and was Mu Hanxue, known as the "Ice Mountain Snow Lotus", while the other was wearing a black robe with a sallow complexion and looked sickly.
The three of them were talking and laughing in the pavilion, and they seemed to be having a great time talking, especially Mu Hanxue, who would make the old scholar laugh heartily every time he whispered a few words.
At this time, Liang Yan had already climbed to the top of the mountain, and several people in the pavilion naturally noticed it. The old Confucian smiled for a while, then turned his head and looked at Liang Yan.
"Oh? You actually reached the top of the mountain too?"
The old Confucian seemed to be in a good mood, and he laughed and said: "It seems that you are hiding something secretly, that's all. Since you have passed the third round of assessment, let's come to the pavilion. The old man is the fourth round.
Examiner, the Southern Star of Zhengyang Palace!"
After receiving this person's invitation, Liang Yan did not step forward immediately. Instead, he stopped where he was.
The scene in front of me was so unusual. You must know that the entire mountain peak had been turned upside down. Many monks who participated in the assessment had died halfway. Even I relied on the cover of the Tianji Pearl and was cautious all the way to the top of the mountain.
But Mu Hanxue and the man in black seemed to have arrived here a long time ago, and they were chatting and laughing with the fourth-round examiners. They didn't seem to have experienced any battle, which was a bit strange.
Thinking of the news that Nogibai once told him, he had some doubts before, but now he can't help but believe it.
"Why don't you come in? In fact, my fourth round of assessment rules are very simple, which is to enjoy flowers in the pavilion. As long as you can distinguish which parts of the surrounding flower beds are illusory and which ones are real, you can pass my assessment.
." Nan Tianxing stroked his beard and said.
"senior!"
Liang Yan, who was standing outside the pavilion, suddenly said: "Did you know that there is a kind of Gu called 'Three Autumn Fate Gu'?"
As soon as "Three Autumn Fate Gu" was spoken, Nan Tianxing, who was originally smiling, immediately changed his expression and shouted with some seriousness: "Boy, why are you talking about this?"
"Because there is one next to you!"
"What?!"
Nan Tianxing was stunned for a moment, and glanced at the two people beside him subconsciously. He saw Mu Hanxue's confused eyes, while the man in black was calm and calm, as if there was nothing strange about him.
