On this stone tablet, the densely-packed personal names numbered no less than several thousand. And to mention the stone tablet itself, it was even larger than the Qingyun Leaderboard.
Gu Zuo was astonished.
He searched through this stone tablet, and found that those personal names were distributed in very regular patterns. From bottom to top, the names went from a sparse collection to a concentrated mass. Also, regardless of whether those personal names were thinly spread or crowded together, they all appeared to be intentionally presented in vertical formats, and none of them covered each other. Moreover, at the topmost position, Gu Zuo saw some familiar names... Huang Ji, Hu Yulei, Xu Jiaojiao, Teng Yunfei, and so on.
However, the baffling thing was that the sequence of these people’s names wasn’t the same as their sequence on the Qingyun Leaderboard.
Gongyi Tianheng smiled: “Young Lady Ling, what’s the meaning of this?”
Ling Ziwei simply said: “Any testers here must leap out, and carve their own names onto the stone tablet with their fingers. Because the downward pressure produced every three meters in front of the stone tablet is different, it proves that the higher one’s name is carved, the stronger the individual at the time of the carving. However, this strength is only measured by the degree of strength. To determine a person’s true combat power, one should still look at the Qingyun Leaderboard.”
In other words, this place was more or less for everyone to compare their foundations and what not, but when engaging in combat, there were many elements that would alter the battle situation. Indeed, such countless changes and constant permutations were matters of challenging the Qingyun Leaderboard.
Thus, it seemed that this stone tablet was a place to spread one’s fame. It didn’t have too big of a use, but if one wanted to try and experience it for oneself, there wasn’t any harm in doing so.
Gu Zuo opened his mouth and asked: “Big...young master, do you want to go give it a try?”
Tianheng smiled and said: “Since we came here, I might as well have a try.”
Moreover, he was a newcomer, and he could build a bit of fame here. Someday, someone might want to challenge him. And if he wanted to challenge others, he also wouldn’t be casually rejected.
Tianheng made his decision. Gu Zuo deferred to him, and Ling Ziwei, who always strove to stand out, was unassertive at this time.
The two of them stood quietly on the side, waiting for Tianheng’s display.
Gu Zuo: “I wonder where big brother will carve his name...”
Ling Ziwei: “Xiantian martial artists usually can’t even carve in the first zone. If someone can rise to the second zone, then this person is a preeminent genius.”
Gu Zuo: “Then, big brother is definitely a preeminent genius!”
The words of the two also entered Tianheng’s ears, but he didn’t say anything. A short while after listening to the full details, the sole of his foot stamped down, and he soared into the air!
In the blink of an eye, an abundant and vigorous power descended from above his head. Like swatting a housefly, it seemed like it wanted to slam him straight into the ground!
However, as far as Tianheng was concerned, this bit of pressure couldn’t do anything to him. After circulating the true qi within his body for one revolution, that pressure immediately lightened. Tianheng continued to rise higher into the air. He quickly broke through the first zone, and entered the range of the second zone!
Gu Zuo raised his head to watch.
The first and second zones were only fifteen meters long each. It was said that these sections were suited to Xiantian martial artists. After going even higher, the third zone was no less than sixty meters long. It was a place for Immortal Realm martial artists to exhibit their graceful bearings.
Most of those numerous names were carved in the third zone. The personal names of the first and second zones were extremely sparse. The ones that remained there numbered only a measly couple hundred.
Gu Zuo thought about it, and somewhat understood.
The personal names of the Immortal Realms and Xiantian Realms didn’t match up. Did this mean that, after a martial artist left their name in the third zone, their name etched in the first or second zones would disappear? Otherwise, it would be impossible for this kind of situation to occur...
One would only see Tianheng rising higher and higher. In a brief split second, he reached the 15th meter, the 18th meter, and then the 21st meter!
Immediately following that, it was 22.5 meters, 23 meters... 24 meters, 24.3 meters, 24.6 meters...
From a speed that was extremely fast at the start, his momentum gradually slowed down until it became somewhat challenging to ascend a fraction of a meter. Finally, when he reached 29.99 meters, he couldn’t rise up anymore!
This height of 29.99 meters was the limit.
After that, Tianheng still had some energy left over. He extended a finger, and wrote down his own name in that spot.
In that moment, the words “Gongyi Tianheng” shone with dazzling light, suppressing all the names in the first and second zones beneath it at once.
Gu Zuo blurted out: “So awesome!”
Ling Ziwei’s beautiful eyes also carried a trace of deep respect.
Tianheng dropped to the ground, and revealed a smiling expression to Gu Zuo. His appearance was light, gentle, and effortless.
With one look, Gu Zuo knew that his dear big brother hadn’t used all of his strength this time around. Suddenly, Gu Zuo blinked his eyes.
— Oh, right. When his big brother was Xiantian stage six, he could “fight hand-to-hand with Immortals”. Now that he was one step further, shouldn’t it be feasible for him to dash straight past thirty meters?
But at the present time, it was also convincing for him to claim the top position of the Xiantian zones.
Anyway, this test was over, and the Qingyun Leaderboard had been looked at. Gu Zuo recalled that Ling Ziwei previously mentioned another wonder. He turned his head to look at her: “Young Lady Ling, where can we see that Wondrous Fire Cloud you talked about?”
Didn’t she say that it was on the mountain top?
Ling Ziwei’s delicate body flashed by. Her entire person appeared at the back of the Qingyun Leaderboard: “It’s right over here.”
Gu Zuo and Tianheng exchanged glances, and the two ran over together.
After going around the Qingyun Leaderboard, Gu Zuo found that the place where Ling Ziwei stood was in front of a large, sunken pit. Originally, she was wearing a light-yellow, full-body cheongsam. At this moment, the dress seemed to be dappled with faint, red lights.
Gu Zuo scampered over, but didn’t feel anything in particular. However, once he arrived in front of the pit and looked down according to Ling Ziwei’s slender and jade-like finger, he sucked in a cold breath.
— Eh?!
Tianheng’s hooded eyes also witnessed the sight inside the pit.
As it turned out, in this enormous pit, whose perimeter was at least twenty to twenty-five meters wide, a multitude of large and small red clouds drifted along. Tongues of flames danced on top, and the cloud layer was quite thick. To their surprise, the clouds seemed to have real substance, and they weren’t simply flames.
Could it be that these were fire clouds?
Ling Ziwei already started explaining: “This is the Wondrous Fire Cloud, and this place is the Fire Cloud Pit. No one knows how long ago when this pit naturally birthed the fire clouds. The clouds are very peculiar. For any martial artists below the Immortal Realm, after jumping into the pit, they can land their feet onto these fire clouds. They won’t fall into that bottomless pit. But if an Immortal Realm martial artist goes down, not only won’t they be able to rely on the fire clouds to bear their weight and hover, they’ll also be swarmed by the fire clouds. They’ll either be seriously injured and go back...or they’ll die in the pit.”
Gu Zuo looked ahead. There were quite a few Xiantian Realm disciples sitting cross-legged on tufts of fire clouds. Their entire bodies seemed to be engulfed in flames, and their facial expressions appeared to be especially sinister and frightening. The surfaces of their bodies constantly emitted faint trails of black gas. In addition, countless beads of sweat poured down their foreheads. The sweat also seeped from their bodies, soaking the layers of clothing.
So, were they being burned? It looked a little painful, but they wouldn’t die from it?
Tianheng asked a question: “Young Lady Ling, are the disciples on those fire clouds our fellow seniors who cultivate in seclusion here?”
Ling Ziwei nodded her head: “Yes. They’re this place’s secluded disciples. They’re in the middle of using the Fire Cloud Body Tempering.”
Gu Zuo: “Fire Cloud Body Tempering?”
Using self-immolation?
Ling Ziwei quickly explained: “This fire is extremely unusual. When any Xiantian martial artists drop onto the fire clouds, they only need to cover themselves in true qi, and the flames won’t burn them. Rather, the flames will pass through the true qi and enter as threads of fire. These threads will go into the body, and incinerate bits of the physical body’s impurities, leaving the body pure and free of filth. This will also let the numerous Xiantian disciples reduce the obstructions that they’ll face during future breakthroughs.”
Thus, because many secluded disciples had generous and somewhat privileged families, they could buy lots of medicinal pills. However, taking many medicinal pills would cause pill poisoning, or there’d be lots of impurities within their bodies. At this time, they would only need to endure the pain of a few roastings in the Fire Cloud Pit to gradually “clean” themselves up. Moreover, through these roastings, the strengths of their physical bodies would rise, allowing their powers to become even more valiant!
Gu Zuo nodded his head: “Then, what’ll happen if their true qi is used up?”
Ling Ziwei: “...They’ll certainly have to leave before their true qi is used up. Otherwise, their bodies would be rolled up in the flames immediately. A person would be burnt up completely from inside out. Perhaps, only fire-attribute martial artists who practice fire-attribute cultivation methods have a chance of escaping. If not, that martial artist will undoubtedly perish.”
Gu Zuo soaked up this new information.
So to say, this Fire Cloud Pit was a good place. It was just that, one needed to be extremely careful when cultivating.
After that, Ling Ziwei went back to introduce the rules for challenging the Qingyun Leaderboard.
Firstly, there were no problems with people on the Qingyun Leaderboard’s upper ranks challenging other upper ranks, and people on the lower ranks challenging other lower ranks. However, between an upper rank and a lower rank, an upper rank wasn’t allowed to use any killing moves against a lower rank, and only the lower ranks could issue challenges to an upper rank. This was to prevent these highly-valued core disciples from slaughtering each other. At the same time, it prevented disciples with higher strengths from recklessly strangling other geniuses before they matured to the same realm.
Of course, aside from these couple of rules, there were no other rules to speak of. For the disciples who came to the Qingyun Mountain Range, they could stay as long as they wanted. If they wanted to leave and they took along a token, they could leave automatically. There was a lot of freedom. However, the disciples weren’t allowed to explore the area that was said to partition the inner ring. It definitely wouldn’t be found. Even if those Elders and upper echelons came out from that place, they wouldn’t pass through the outer ring.
In addition, there were also some other matters. Ling Ziwei talked to them about everything that she remembered.
While Gu Zuo was listening, he repeatedly nodded his head.
If they didn’t encounter Ling Ziwei, he and his big brother would still be making inquiries about this place. Let alone coincidentally meeting someone who had free time, even if they were to meet someone, why would that person painstakingly explain things to them?
Thus, their luck truly was very good.
What should be said had been said. Ling Ziwei didn’t linger here since she also had many things that she needed to take care of. After quickly saying her goodbyes to the two, she went down the mountain.
Tianheng didn’t say much either. He only exchanged a few words with Gu Zuo before leaping out and jumping into that Fire Cloud Pit.
Right. He wanted to experience the feeling of the Fire Cloud Body Tempering.
The instant that he entered the pit, Tianheng covered his body with true qi. In the blink of an eye, those countless tongues of flame flickered and lapped, engulfing his entire body.
Threads of fire entered his body, and instantly swept out in all directions. Under the impact of these fire threads, his meridians, flesh, bones, and organs constantly produced the feelings of being cooked through.
These fire threads seemed to be searching for things to attack. As a result, the fire dashed to the left and rushed to the right, looking all over. After constantly wreaking havoc on Tianheng, the fire unexpectedly didn’t find anything. In the end, it finally gathered inside the flesh and on the surfaces of the organs and veins while quietly burning. At this very moment, within every wisp of blood and lump of flesh, it seemed as if something was drawing away the water from every nook and cranny. Gradually, things began to dry up. However, under the abundance of the true qi, the affected locations became plump and full again...
In fact, this was normal.
This fire cloud was a kind of peculiar flame. Shouldn’t the things that those fire threads were constantly looking for be the impurities inside the body? However, Tianheng possessed the Tiandu Body. His flesh was Xiantian, and originally, it was incomparably pure. Although he previously ate some things that weren’t so pure when he was a weak and sickly youth, he only had the best medicinal cuisines and top grade medicinal pills ever since he met Gu Zuo. Of the two, while the former might’ve occasionally had some impurities due to the grade of the medicinal ingredients and meat essences, the top grade pills completely lacked any impurities. Naturally, this allowed Tianheng’s physical body to become even purer — Basically, he had already reached an immaculate level.
Prior to this time’s body tempering, Tianheng hadn’t eaten anything for a full day and night. When he broke through to stage seven, that extremely small amount of impurities had been jolted out of his body, and had dissipated into the air. Now, no matter how much those tongues of flame searched, it couldn’t find even the tiniest bit of impurities.
As a result, the Fire Cloud Body Tempering really could only temper the body and nothing else.
Meanwhile, Gu Zuo sat cross-legged in front of the Fire Cloud Pit. He lowered his head, and used his psychic power to pay firm attention to his dear big brother.
He watched as Tianheng jumped down, and was caught by a wisp of fire cloud. He also watched the flames rise up on that fire cloud. The flames thoroughly enveloped Tianheng, and almost completely covered him up. With senses that were sharper than that of other people, Gu Zuo perceived those fire threads as they burrowed into the pores all over Tianheng’s body, conducting further body tempering! But, Gu Zuo saw that Tianheng’s expression didn’t show a fierce appearance like the other people who were undergoing the Fire Cloud Body Tempering.
Could it be that his big brother wasn’t in pain?
However, Gu Zuo quickly threw out this way of thinking.
Because, with his understanding of Tianheng, Gu Zuo was able to discover the tautness in Tianheng’s body. If there wasn’t any sharp pain, then it shouldn’t have been like this. As such, the reason why Tianheng’s expression could be so tranquil should’ve been because...he had long gotten used to suffering.
...This was also right.
Although the Fire Cloud Body Tempering was painful, Tianheng once endured the agony of having one’s meridians clogged. Whenever he freely moved about, it was like walking on the tips of blades. Wouldn’t that be even more painful?
Since he could endure that, he could certainly endure this.
Gu Zuo sighed.
Previously, when Gu Zuo realized that his big brother would persevere through the pain, he only felt admiration. But now, while he was only watching his big brother undergoing body tempering on the fire cloud, he felt a feeling of unease from the bottom of heart because his big brother’s expression was too calm.
Perhaps... It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that his heart was also pained.
Gu Zuo sighed again.
Indeed, after thinking about it, it would be very painful. If it was him, he certainly wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Unfortunately, there was nothing that Gu Zuo could do to make it less painful for Tianheng. After all, for things like body tempering, the more it hurt and the longer one persevered, the greater the benefits. It was impossible for him to stop Tianheng from improving his physical body just because his heart felt uncomfortable — In actuality, this kind of body tempering opportunity was very hard to come by.
As such, he could only support his big brother, and accompany Tianheng on the side.
With such thinking, Gu Zuo simply sat cross-legged next to the Fire Cloud Pit, operated his cultivation method, and continued to consolidate his realm and accumulate true qi.
“Chongyun Sect has gone too far...”
“Sadly, while I thought my aptitudes were extraordinary, such that none of the many disciples of the Inner Sect entered my eyes, I couldn’t even last a few moves under that Chongyun Sect’s tyrannical abuse! It’s truly...disheartening.”
“Be brave after a humiliation. Is it possible that you’ll stay depressed just because of a temporary setback?”
“If I was seriously like that, then why would I have come here?!”
The arrivals who accompanied these voices were two young men. They were tall and sturdy, and their facial features were handsome. Their faces should’ve been heroic and exuberant, but their brows were now laded with exhaustion. The lights in their eyes were also somewhat dim. No longer were they as high-spirited as before.
These two people were secluded disciples. One was called Cui Hao, and the other was called Huo Qing. Both of them were personages on the Qingyun Leaderboard’s lower ranks. A few days ago, they fought a few battles with those Chongyun Sect disciples. Originally, they shared wins and losses with their opponents, and occasionally, they would gain the upper hand. However, Chongyun Sect’s side suddenly dispatched someone else. This person completely overpowered them like chopping dried wood and pulling out withered grass. If they had been able to fight to their hearts’ content, then ultimately losing wouldn’t have mattered as much. But for the most part, the other party didn’t make but a couple of moves, and they had already been struck off the platform. They’d even suffered serious injuries!
Cui Hao and Huo Qing — One lasted three moves, and the other lasted four moves. Both of them had been heavily injured after being beaten. Once they left in disgrace, it took a day or two for them to recover with the help of a high-level pharmacist.
But while their bodies healed, the blows that their faces and spirits took weren’t so easy to recover from. To think that they were valued and nurtured by Qingyun Sect, and that they were brilliant and famous personages in some people’s hearts. And yet, now —
At this time, the two were in the middle of studying the reasons for their own failures. Before anything else, they were determined to properly cultivate in the Qingyun Mountain Range, and to hone their physical bodies to become even stronger.
Hence, because their cave dwellings were relatively close, and because they intended to help one another by pointing out the other’s mistakes, they went together.
After grumbling for a little bit, they steadied their minds once more. The two people then arrived in front of the Fire Cloud Pit.
Only, just as they got there, they surprisingly discovered that sitting before the Fire Cloud Put was...a pharmacist? Not only was this face new, but it was also very soft and immature.
This was so strange.
Right at this moment, that teenaged pharmacist who was sitting cross-legged opened his eyes.
His features were delicate and pretty, and his figure was slim and supple. His pair of eyes were like dots of lacquer, and had a clear shine. The light in his eyes turned a little, and they appeared to be very spirited. He seemed to be quite charming.
Cui Hao and Huo Qing’s impressions of this teenaged pharmacist weren’t bad, but there were some matters that couldn’t be let off just because of a good impression — In the Qingyun Mountain Range, there were always only martial artists. This wasn’t a place where pharmacists would show up.
So, who was he?
Cui Hao stepped forward, and opened his mouth to ask: “Junior Sect Brother, how did you come here? Can you use a passage token?”
Huo Qing also stood shoulder to shoulder with Cui Hao, and looked over with inquiring eyes.
Soon after, they watched as that teenaged pharmacist blinked his eyes. Then, his expression became somewhat embarrassed.
Huo Qing and Cui Hao both faintly furrowed their brows.
Could this really be a person who had some other objectives? The Sect’s defenses shouldn’t have been this weak!
“These two Senior Sect Brothers, the passage token...is in the hands of my family’s young master.”
At this time, a feeble voice sounded out.
Gu Zuo was quite embarrassed.
Although that passage token had both of their names written on it, he had handed it over to his big brother for safekeeping. Right now, it wasn’t in his possession at all. He didn’t think about this before. What was he supposed to do if someone later came to verify his identity while he accompanied his big brother’s body tempering?
His identity couldn’t be confirmed this time, but he shouldn’t be out of luck, right?
However, just sitting here and resigning himself to his fate wasn’t any good. While Gu Zuo didn’t care if the other party believed him or not, he still feebly spoke a sentence to explain himself.
Immediately following this, the two young disciples who seemed to be very familiar with this place exchanged glances. After that, they opened their mouths and asked: “Junior Sect Brother, what’s your name?”
— Did this mean that they believed him?
Once Gu Zuo heard this, he roused himself: “This one is Gu Zuo. My family’s young master is called Gongyi Tianheng. The passage token for the two of us has been approved. Right now, my family’s young master is tempering his body down below. I’m worried about his safety, so I’ve been waiting on top. If these two seniors don’t believe me, you just need to wait for my family’s young master to come out to confirm it.”
Those two young disciples heard this, and nodded their heads.
“I am Cui Hao.”
“My name is Huo Qing.”
“Among everyone down below, which one is your family’s young master?”
Gu Zuo turned around, extended a hand, and pointed at Tianheng’s position: “Senior Sect Brother Cui, Senior Sect Brother Huo, please look. That is my family’s young master.”
Cui Hao and Huo Qing both looked over there. Sure enough, they saw an extremely handsome young man who wore brocade robes and was sitting upon a fire cloud. This man was likewise a new face — The words of this teenaged pharmacist were somewhat trustworthy.
Gu Zuo thought about it, and continued to convey his own security: “My family’s young master also left his name on the stone tablet.”
Cui Hao and Huo Qing heard this, and flew in front of the stone tablet. They raised their eyes, and looked up.
Their gazes continuously shifted upwards. Finally, at the very top of the second zone, they saw a newly-carved personal name.
Gongyi Tianheng.
Cui Hao’s eyelids twitched: “This name is very familiar...”
When they heard the teenaged pharmacist mention it before, they already felt it was familiar. Now that they saw it, this feeling became even more pronounced. In that case, where did they hear of it...
Huo Qing opened his mouth in haste: “Wasn’t it mentioned by a couple of seniors that someone went to seize glory for the Sect before we went over?”
Cui Hao understood right away.
Yes. Chongyun Sect came to start quarrels with Qingyun Sect’s disciples, and it didn’t take only a day or two. While they had been in secluded cultivation, someone really had stepped forward to fight a few rounds with those Chongyun Sect disciples. Later on, due to repeated battles, that person’s body received heavy injuries and they had to withdraw.
Wasn’t that person’s name Gongyi Tianheng?!
T/N: Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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