Chapter 361: The Count of Fortune and Misfortune

Duan Rong, Ximen Kankan, and Liu Shushan left the place where the debate on the Dao was held by the water pool, and after walking for a distance, they faintly heard the crisp sound of wind chimes coming from not far away.

The three of them walked toward the source of the wind chime sounds, and after rounding several steep, large rocks, they saw a seven-story tower standing abruptly beside a cliff wall.

The tower was built of brick and stone with rough wood as beams; at a glance, it looked quite old and simple.

Wind chimes hung from all four corners of the tower's eaves, and as a light breeze brushed past, they emitted a series of clattering, crisp sounds.

In that ancient tower, there must clearly be a Taiyi Order.

The three of them walked toward the ancient tower, and when they reached a distance of about three zhang from it, someone suddenly walked out from inside.

It was a fair-skinned youth with a thin build; as he walked out of the tower, a look of gray defeat was etched between his brows.

Judging by his expression, he certainly had not obtained a Taiyi Order from inside the ancient tower.

The youth had not walked far from the ancient tower when someone suddenly darted out from the nearby dense forest, grabbing the youth's sleeve while calling out.

The person who darted out was half a head shorter than the youth who had left the tower, but he looked like a quirky character; he darted a glance at Duan Rong and the others with flickering eyes, then pulled the youth and said, "Come with me. Inside the dense forest, there is a place for playing chess."

The youth, whose face had been gray with defeat, suddenly had his eyes light up upon hearing this.

"Playing chess?"

He had been immersed in chess since he was a child.

The two then displayed their movement techniques and darted into the dense forest.

Duan Rong, Ximen Kankan, and Liu Shushan were standing not far away and had seen this scene clearly.

A flash of cunning appeared in Ximen Kankan's eyes. "Playing chess? Shall we go take a look too?"

"This..." A trace of hesitation surfaced on Liu Shushan's face.

Duan Rong looked at Liu Shushan and knew what he was thinking.

He suspected that the two boys from just now were setting a trap for them. However, this third round of the assessment prohibited killing and looting, so what use would it be for them to set a trap?

Duan Rong said, "Brother Liu, killing and looting are prohibited here. Perhaps there really is an opportunity point for playing chess in that dense forest; why don't we go over and take a look?"

Liu Shushan's eyes shifted; he had not expected Duan Rong to see through his inner doubts at a glance and even point out the crux of the matter.

"Brother Duan is right; I was overthinking it."

No sooner had Liu Shushan finished speaking than Ximen Kankan had already darted into the dense forest. "If you two waste any more time, those two will be gone without a trace."

Duan Rong and Liu Shushan immediately displayed their movement techniques and followed Ximen Kankan.

The three of them flickered through the dense forest and, before long, entered its depths.

The surroundings were clearly even more quiet and secluded.

They saw from afar the two flickering figures ahead, who flashed behind a large rock.

The three of them also quickened their pace and flashed past that large rock.

Behind the large rock was a pine forest.

Inside the pine forest, eight stone tables were set up.

Only at one stone table were two people currently playing chess.

The remaining seven stone tables each had one person sitting alone, and the two boys from before were each walking toward one of the stone tables.

Duan Rong's eyes shifted slightly; no wonder those two boys hadn't avoided them when they spoke earlier—it seemed it was because there were still many vacancies for chess games here.

However, this place was indeed somewhat remote!

Duan Rong raised his eyes to look around and sighed inwardly.

At this moment, Ximen Kankan and Liu Shushan both walked toward the stone tables in the pine forest, and after offering a slight bow at their respective tables, they sat down.

They had already begun to play, and only then did Duan Rong walk over with a leisurely stroll.

Just as Duan Rong walked over to Ximen Kankan's side, he saw the Registered Disciple who had been sitting at the stone table before they arrived suddenly stand up and hand his Sect Cloud Token and assessment slip to the person opposite him at the stone table.

That person stamped his seal on the assessment slip and then handed a Taiyi Order to the Registered Disciple.

The Registered Disciple was very happy; he tucked away his Sect Cloud Token while rubbing the token in his hand, and left in high spirits.

The game had just begun, and at Ximen Kankan's table, nothing could be determined yet.

Duan Rong would also go to check on Liu Shushan's side from time to time.

But before long, three more people arrived here.

Afterward, the number of people slowly began to increase.

It seems there is no wall that doesn't let the wind through; although this place was remote, once it was revealed, people flocked to it.

The originally quiet pine forest soon became noisy. Two or three people were gathered around each stone table, waiting.

As more people arrived, chess pieces would fall from time to time; whenever Duan Rong saw this, he would quietly go over and pick them up.

In fact, when he was in Xiangu County, he had devoured quite a few Spirit Tools of chess pieces. Initially, it was just to cope with the annoyance of Ximen Kankan asking him to play chess.

However, Duan Rong wanted to see if the Spirit Artifact Tier of the chess pieces in this Sect was higher than those in Xiangu County.

But after trying a few times, Duan Rong was greatly disappointed.

The Spirit Tools of the chess pieces here were all blank. In other words, most of these chess pieces were new.

Just then, Duan Rong noticed that Liu Shushan had already squeezed out of the crowd holding a Taiyi Order.

Duan Rong's eyes shifted, and he said, "Congratulations, Brother Liu!"

Liu Shushan laughed: "What is there to congratulate? It was easy to obtain here. To tell you the truth, Brother Duan, although I have some insights into the art of chess, I can by no means be called an expert. The game just now was won without much effort!"

"Is that so!" Duan Rong's eyes shifted slightly.

It seems his guess was correct; since this third round of the assessment had a pass rate of over eighty percent, there must be places where they go easy on the candidates, and it seems this place was one of them.

Not long after, Ximen Kankan also squeezed out of the crowd, holding a black Taiyi Order, and shook it in front of Duan Rong, saying, "How about that? I have one too."

Duan Rong, however, smiled with a calm expression and said, "Since everyone has obtained one, let's go find Xiao Yu and Shen Mizhi. I wonder where they are right now?"

"Brother Liu, would you like to come along?" Duan Rong looked at Liu Shushan and asked with a smile.

Liu Shushan said, "I have nothing to do anyway, so I will go with Brother Duan and Brother Ximen. We'll have someone to talk to along the way."

Ximen Kankan said, "Monkey Liu, your temper is actually quite good; you're a bit like a friend of mine who passed away."

"A friend who passed away?" Liu Shushan was slightly surprised.

"Yes." Ximen Kankan continued without any avoidance, "His name was Jiang Qingyu."

As the three of them spoke, they walked out of this dense forest. Not knowing where Xiao Yu and Shen Mizhi were, they had no choice but to continue forward along the ancient tower by the cliffside mentioned earlier.

This canyon was a long, narrow valley stretching twenty or thirty miles, and it was unclear where Xiao Yu and Shen Mizhi had been dropped off.

As the three walked, they saw a farmstead that looked rather strange in a bamboo grove.

How could such a standard farmhouse exist within this valley? It was clearly built here.

Standing outside the farmhouse, they looked inside and saw a pigsty in the corner of the yard, with a large black pig inside, grunting and squealing.

In the center of the yard sat an old woman, weaving cloth. She acted as if she did not see the three people standing outside the yard, looking her over.

Duan Rong looked at the old woman, his eyes flickering slightly. He believed this courtyard must also be a place of opportunity for a Taiyi Order. However, this place was quite eerie; although the weaving old woman looked kind and benevolent, for some reason, Duan Rong always felt she was somewhat creepy.

Duan Rong did not want to stay here long. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly saw two graceful figures walk out from the other side of the bamboo grove.

Looking closely, it was indeed Xiao Yu and Shen Mizhi.

Duan Rong, Ximen Kankan, and Liu Shushan immediately went up to meet them.

Once they met, they began to chat.

It turned out that Xiao Yu and Shen Mizhi had each obtained a Taiyi Order.

In this way, all of them had passed the third assessment and could now leave this canyon.

Out of curiosity, Ximen Kankan asked about the process by which Xiao Yu and Shen Mizhi had obtained their Taiyi Orders.

Xiao Yu said that the place where she obtained her Taiyi Order required playing a kind of Sudoku game, and passing the level would earn one a Taiyi Order.

Duan Rong's eyes were slightly surprised, and he said, "You even know Sudoku?"

Xiao Yu rolled her eyes at him and said, "What's strange about that? I've been quite good at this since I was a child. Why do you think the Manager chose me for that audit at the Escort Agency?"

Duan Rong then remembered that he and Xiao Yu had conducted that audit at the Yuanshun Escort Agency together.

It seemed Ruan Fengshan hadn't been picking people at random after all.

"What about you?" Ximen Kankan turned his head to look at Shen Mizhi and asked.

Shen Mizhi said, "I obtained mine at a place that examined musical temperament. There were various musical instruments there, and a master was playing them. You could choose any instrument, and as long as you could harmonize with his melody, you would pass."

Ximen Kankan looked at Shen Mizhi and said, "Since when do you know musical temperament?"

Shen Mizhi said, "My mother taught me when I was little."

As Shen Mizhi spoke, her eyes became resentful and dim. Her mother had passed away when she was very young, and when her mother died of illness, her father hadn't even been by her side.

Ximen Kankan said, "Oh, I see. I thought you learned it at Huaying Pavilion?"

As soon as Shen Mizhi heard Ximen Kankan say this, her eyebrows immediately stood up. Huaying Pavilion was a famous brothel in Xiangu County.

Ximen Kankan realized he had made a slip of the tongue. Seeing Shen Mizhi's anger, he immediately exerted his movement technique and darted away.

As soon as Ximen Kankan darted out, Shen Mizhi chased after him.

While running, Ximen Kankan shouted, "Fighting is forbidden here! Don't break the rules!"

Shen Mizhi didn't listen to him at all and just kept chasing him.

But Ximen Kankan had, after all, achieved the True Qi Realm Second Layer, so Shen Mizhi couldn't catch up for a while.

Liu Shushan was slightly surprised to see the two suddenly start chasing each other, especially with Shen Mizhi glaring with hatred.

Duan Rong glanced at Liu Shushan and said indifferently, "Huaying Pavilion is a famous brothel in our Xiangu County."

Liu Shushan let out an "ah," suddenly realizing why Shen Mizhi was angry. He shook his head secretly, sighing in his heart that Ximen Kankan was too unrestrained in his speech.

The two chased for a while and finally stopped, one after the other.

Shen Mizhi slowly returned to the group and started chatting with Xiao Yu, while Ximen Kankan kept a distance of several yards in front, walking while occasionally looking back, fearing that Shen Mizhi would chase him again.

They arrived at a cliff and stood on a high point. Looking far into the distance, they saw a column of wolf-smoke rising steadily somewhere in the far reaches of the canyon.

The place with that wolf-smoke was the exit of the canyon.

They confirmed the direction and walked toward it.

As Duan Rong followed them, he fell into deep thought.

This third assessment was actually just a way to distribute the Taiyi Orders to them.

Duan Rong finally understood at this moment that the Outer Sect Disciples he had met in Xiangu County, like Fan Yuanhai and Zhu Qunxiang, probably also obtained the Taiyi Orders in their hands from within this rift canyon.

Duan Rong couldn't help but think further. If the third assessment was just to distribute Taiyi Orders, then during the first assessment in the Yougu of the divine statue, stepping onto the Altar would have exempted one from the third assessment.

Since the pass rate for the third assessment was so high, what exactly did it mean to be exempted from it?

Duan Rong touched the somewhat cold Taiyi Order in his sleeve and suddenly realized. If stepping onto the Altar could exempt one from the third assessment, wouldn't that mean they wouldn't be given a Taiyi Order?

"Not given a Taiyi Order?!" Duan Rong's eyes suddenly flickered.

At this moment, he finally understood the meaning of stepping onto the Altar. Not being given a Taiyi Order meant not being allowed to become an Outer Sect Disciple.

In other words, if he had stepped onto the Altar at that moment, he would have directly become an Inner Sect Disciple.

In fact, Duan Rong's guess was correct; it was indeed like that.

If one stepped onto the Altar, one could ignore all worldly chores and focus solely on cultivation.

These worldly chores included not only various matters of the secular world but also the many miscellaneous tasks within the Sect. Moreover, nearly all the resources in the Sect would be tilted toward you.

This was for one reason only: as long as one stepped onto the Altar, there was a possibility of forming a Nascent Soul. Although the probability of forming a Nascent Soul by merely stepping onto the Altar without taking a step further was very low.

But no matter how low, it still existed.

As long as there was a glimmer of possibility of forming a Nascent Soul, the Sect would tilt all its resources to fight for that one chance of survival!

Because experts of the Nascent Soul Realm were the lifeblood of the Sect.

Furthermore, there was one more point that Duan Rong could never have guessed.

As long as you could step onto the Altar, not only could you immediately become an Inner Sect Disciple, but you could also follow the Taiyi Sect Ancestor Lv Yinlin for twenty years of cultivation, during which Lv Yinlin would personally guide your practice.

One hundred and eighty years ago, the current Sect Master of the Taiyi Sect, Chu Qiushan, followed Lv Yinlin and practiced for twenty years.

However, decades ago, Chu Qiushan suddenly encountered an obstacle in his cultivation, trapped at the mid-stage of the Dongming Realm, unable to break through; the reason he later came out to serve as Sect Master was merely to use the trivialities of the mortal world to temper his state of mind, hoping to find another way to break through the obstacle.

Yet, seeing that fifty years have passed, he clearly has not achieved a breakthrough.

In fact, at the very last moment, Duan Rong gave up on stepping onto the Altar. At that time, he was not very clear whether it was a blessing or a curse; he only vaguely felt that something was wrong.

One can only say that having keen senses can sometimes truly save one's life.

The situation with Yang Sixuan, the Chief of the Ruling Sect Justice Division, was not the most significant problem.

Duan Rong's greatest hidden danger was actually the Source Blood Core of the Filthy Blood Divine Art within his Spirit Sea.

Once he followed the Taiyi Sect Ancestor Lv Yinlin to practice, the Source Blood Core hidden in his Spirit Sea would certainly not escape the detection of Lv Yinlin, an old monster who had lived for over a thousand years.

Moreover, once Lv Yinlin discovered that Blood Core in Duan Rong's Spirit Sea, he would definitely not let Duan Rong go.

Because the Filthy Blood Divine Art is Lv Yinlin's reverse scale!

The founder of the Filthy Blood Sect, Fu Yi, was once Lv Yinlin's most prized disciple.

Back then, in the Yougu of the divine statues, Fu Yi not only stepped onto the Altar but also took two steps forward. This, of course, was already over two hundred years ago.

Lv Yinlin believed that Fu Yi had a great hope of forming a Nascent Soul, so he cultivated him with everything he had, holding nothing back.

One year, two hundred years ago, Lv Yinlin took Fu Yi into the God-Demon Relic.

It was inside that God-Demon Relic that Fu Yi obtained the Filthy Blood Divine Art.

After coming out, because this art was too evil, Lv Yinlin warned Fu Yi not to practice it.

But Fu Yi, behind Lv Yinlin's back, practiced it in secret and killed many young girls.

When Lv Yinlin later learned of this matter, he was so furious that he almost killed Fu Yi by accident.

After Fu Yi recovered from his injuries, whether it was out of resentment that Lv Yinlin had almost killed him, or because he could not let go of the Filthy Blood Divine Art, he ultimately betrayed the Sect, hid in the secular world, and founded the Filthy Blood Sect, not only practicing the Filthy Blood Divine Art himself but also passing this art on to his followers.

The once-beloved disciple, through a twist of fate, had actually become a mortal enemy!

The hatred in Lv Yinlin's heart for the Filthy Blood Divine Art was etched into his bones. If he discovered that there was a Source Blood Core of the Filthy Blood Divine Art in Duan Rong's Spirit Sea, and that Duan Rong had even achieved the second level of the Filthy Blood Divine Art, then the consequences for Duan Rong could be imagined.

(End of this chapter)