Chapter 77: Deep Bond

The meaning of purple rank is this—two people, one of whom is Zhou Gan.

“This time, the Immortal Rank assessment is stricter than before: those with dual elemental roots start at white; those with single elemental roots or dual elemental roots with a Dao Body start at green; those with single elemental roots and a Dao Body start at purple.”

Looking at Zhou Gan’s purple light ring beneath his feet, Sun Daoyu explained to the others with no small amount of pride.

Zhou Gan truly deserved his pride—over a thousand participants took part in this Immortal Rank gathering, half had already been ranked by the Immortal Rank Mirror, yet only two achieved a starting purple rank; at this ratio, a purple-rank candidate was one in a hundred.

This was even after every major family sent their most gifted heirs to participate.

In the scene, the Seventh Young Master and Zheng Fa walked past the Immortal Rank Mirror one after the other.

The Seventh Young Master’s light ring beneath his feet was white.

But Zheng Fa’s light ring beneath his feet, though white, carried a faint hint of green—so faint it was barely noticeable.

“This junior brother has actually mastered a Dao-entry martial art?” Sun Daoyu, an Nascent Soul disciple, was well-traveled: “But Dao-entry martial arts are incomparably inferior to a Dao Body—this junior brother’s starting rank can still only be considered white.”

“What does ‘starting rank’ mean?”

Zheng Fa’s younger sister, Zheng Shan, couldn’t help asking.

“Your starting rank is your cultivation potential. Those with purple starting rank may enter the Immortal Gate directly, without further assessment. They are the true geniuses our Hundred Immortal Alliance needs—future pillars of our alliance. As for those with green or white starting ranks, they can only enter the Hundred Immortal Alliance through craftsmanship.” Sun Daoyu’s face broke into a smile, both proud and exasperated: “But my junior brother… he’s aiming for our Zhang Shijie as his goal.”

He turned to look at Zhang Shijie: “Zhang Shijie, our wager begins.”

…

Zheng Fa looked at the white light ring beneath his feet and was not surprised.

What surprised him was Zhou Gan’s choice.

After everyone had passed the Immortal Rank Mirror, a voice unlike any human echoed through the hall:

“Those with purple rank may enter the Immortal Gate directly. Those below green rank, choose one door to enter for the next assessment.”

Zheng Fa and the others looked into the hall and saw five small doors standing behind the Immortal Rank Mirror, each inscribed with:

“Fu,” “Dan,” “Qi,” “Zhen,” and “Za.”

Zhou Gan, implicitly regarded as the leader and standing at the front of everyone, walked straight toward the door marked “Fu.”

“Aren’t you purple rank?”

Someone behind him asked.

“I’m not just purple rank.”

He didn’t turn back, stepping into the door.

Zheng Fa and the Seventh Young Master exchanged glances, thinking this man was impossibly arrogant.

The Seventh Young Master muttered under his breath:

“I’ve never met anyone more deserving of a beating than him…”

The two followed the crowd into the “Fu” door.

After a short corridor, they arrived at nine connected halls—the very one of the five buildings behind the main hall.

A white-robed man waited there for them.

He too was startled to see Zhou Gan’s purple light ring, but asked no questions, merely nodded to the group, said nothing, and turned to bow toward the halls, a talisman in his hand igniting without wind.

“Humbly summon the Nine Mountains Ancestor!”

The Nine Mountains Ancestor?

Zheng Fa watched in disbelief as the nine palaces before him suddenly rose from the ground, their eaves sprouting mountain peaks, their walls becoming cliff faces.

In an instant, nine towering, continuous mountains stood before them.

Before each person appeared a continuous silver ribbon, winding up the nine peaks, ending at the summit of the highest ninth peak—a series of transparent plank paths.

“This Fu Dao assessment is set by our Nine Mountains Sect: the requirement is to climb the Nine Mountains—each mountain has nine hundred and ninety-nine steps of plank path; the one who ascends the farthest wins.”

“To enter our Nine Mountains Sect, you must rank among the top twenty in step count!”

“For those with white starting rank, those with green starting rank gain an additional nine hundred and ninety-nine steps; those with purple starting rank…”

The man looked at Zhou Gan, unsure how to proceed.

“I shall tread every peak of the Nine Mountains.”

Zheng Fa understood his meaning—the man intended to score a perfect run, needing no bonus steps.

Zhou Gan spoke, then stepped onto the first plank. A basic elemental talisman appeared beneath his feet, and the next step ahead began flashing rapidly with various talisman patterns.

Zheng Fa began to understand the test’s intent—they had to step onto the next plank at the precise moment the pattern displayed matched the elemental talisman beneath their feet.

“Ah…”

Zheng Fa watched helplessly as a Daomei fellow stepped onto the next plank, but the pattern didn’t match—the transparent plank shattered into powder, the man fell from midair, his descent piercing through colorful clouds, vanishing from sight, none knowing if he lived or died.

Others hesitated after stepping onto the first plank, and their base elemental talismans glowed a few times before vanishing entirely—talismans and planks alike.

The man, caught off guard, fell even more clumsily than the previous one.

… So waiting in place wasn’t enough—there was a time limit!

You had to step within a set time, and the pattern on the next step had to match the elemental talisman beneath your foot.

With a time limit and requiring deep understanding of Fu Dao, this test was clearly no simple matter.

As he observed, he suddenly noticed an unnatural silence beside him—he turned and saw the Seventh Young Master three steps away, pale-faced, staring at the plank before him.

Zheng Fa then remembered a little-known fact—he’d just learned the Seventh Young Master was afraid of heights.

These transparent planks were practically designed to exploit his greatest weakness.

Seeing Zheng Fa watching him, the Seventh Young Master forced a stiff smile:

“I just realized… the Immortal Gate isn’t all that great.”

“Thinking of giving up?”

“What’s giving up? Don’t you remember what my courtyard’s called? Not-Envious-of-Immortals! I don’t care about the Immortal Gate!”

“…If you go back like this, your mother will scold you.”

The Seventh Young Master hesitated, then shrugged:

“My mother? I’ve been used to it for years!”

“Your sister will beat you.”

The Seventh Young Master’s face twisted in conflict, then he gritted his teeth:

“My sister… she probably won’t kill me.”

“Hmm… really decided to go back?”

“Yeah!” The Seventh Young Master nodded firmly.

“Then fine—Gao Yuan has always wanted to be Gao Er, and now he’s got his wish.”

“Huh? What’s ‘Er’?”

“Don’t you know Gao Yuan? He loves to compete.”

The Seventh Young Master nodded.

Zheng Fa said calmly: “Among the three of us, he can’t match me if I enter the Immortal Gate, but compared to you, he’s good at books and trained in martial arts—truly cultured and martial. He’s always thought he should be number two.”

“Before, when your Fu art was stronger than his and you could enter the Immortal Gate, he dared not be too bold.”

“But now that you’re going back…”

Zheng Fa didn’t finish—already the Seventh Young Master had jumped to his feet.

“He has this kind of ambition?”

“Think about what kind of person he is!”

“I’ll be number three?”

“I think that’s exactly how he sees it.”

“Even worse than Gao Yuan?”

“He won’t say it, but he’ll think it.”

The Seventh Young Master clenched his teeth and walked toward the transparent plank.

Zheng Fa smiled behind him.

You might endure your parents screaming “wretched child” ten thousand times, but you’ll never accept a friend calling you trash—especially a friend who used to be worse than you.

A nearby boy who’d overheard their conversation looked at Zheng Fa and sighed: “That Gao Yuan… he and this brother have a deep bond, don’t they?”

“Huh?”

The boy said: “You mentioned your mother’s scolding, your elder sister’s beatings—he didn’t react. But when you mentioned Gao Yuan, he suddenly found the courage.”

Watching the Seventh Young Master trembling, crawling upward with hands and feet, gritting his teeth.

Zheng Fa nodded: “Indeed, very true.”