Chapter 713

On the peak of Green Bamboo Peak, hundreds of cultivators gathered.

The peak master of Green Bamboo Peak, Qing Huangzi, had not yet appeared, but Ning Zhuo had already arrived.

It was early morning, and the daylight was not yet intense.

The vast sea of clouds rolled silently at the waist of the peak, like ten thousand cloud beasts slowly stretching their huge bodies in their sleep.

The bamboo forests that could be seen everywhere on Green Bamboo Peak had a deep color, neither emerald nor green, but warm and introverted, and also revealed a kind of tough cold light close to metal. As the light flowed, the jade textures were faintly visible.

The bamboo leaves were extremely thin, with a circle of crystal jade light condensed on the edges. As the morning breeze blew, ten thousand jade leaves rubbed against each other, making a rustling sound. This sound was not like the rustling of grass and trees, but more like countless tiny jade chimes being gently tapped by the breeze, merging into a clear and ethereal sound of bamboo waves and jade chimes, washing away the noise of the world.

Ning Zhuo appreciated the beautiful scenery here and noticed someone casting a gaze.

He turned his head to look, followed the gaze, and saw Ban Ji.

Ning Zhuo smiled slightly, spiritual sense transmitting: "Fellow Daoist Ban Ji, I didn't expect us to meet here."

Ban Ji's amber-like pupils revealed a trace of coldness, spiritual sense replying: "Fellow Daoist Ning Zhuo, I have already agreed to temporarily delay the spar with you. I didn't expect you to be so ignorant of good and evil, specifically running over to make things difficult for me."

"Why?"

"After investigating me once, do you think that Ban Ji of the Ban family is an easy person to deal with?"

"You actually want to block me in the Xingyun Trial related to mechanisms?"

"Hehe, it's simply wishful thinking!"

Ning Zhuo maintained a smile, spiritual sense communicating: "Fellow Daoist Ban Ji, to tell you the truth, I also know a thing or two about mechanism techniques."

"After inquiring about some of your situations, I developed a lot of interest in you, fellow daoist."

"For this Xingyun Trial, please don't hesitate to enlighten me."

Ban Ji snorted coldly and ignored Ning Zhuo.

His face was covered in frost, but his heart was even more vigilant.

He had long started planning for Qing Huangzi's Xingyun Trial. The former set up the Xingyun Trial with the purpose of selecting suitable cultivators to find successors for his mechanism inheritance.

Qing Huangzi's mechanism technique was a powerful supplement for Ban Ji.

Therefore, Ban Ji had always attached great importance to it.

Now, Ning Zhuo suddenly came to make trouble—this made Ban Ji feel slightly nervous.

"Ning Zhuo is my human tribulation, but my family activated the mechanism, and he can also sense something strange about me."

"Therefore, he came!"

"Will this trial have twists and turns because of him?"

A sense of irritability lingered in Ban Ji's heart.

Ning Zhuo taking the initiative to come this time was undoubtedly a tough offensive posture. This made Ban Ji immediately realize that Ning Zhuo's previous refusal to spar was not cowardice at all, but a steady strategy to collect intelligence first.

"This kid is indeed young and vigorous!"

"I didn't look for trouble with him, but he looked for trouble with me first. Hehe."

"I want to see the quality of this human tribulation!"

Thinking of this, a figure floated over.

Qing Huangzi stood in front of everyone.

His eyes were calm, and he had three long beards. His figure was clear, and his green shirt was straightforward. He held a nine-section green jade staff in his hand, with a small bronze bell hanging from the staff head.

The surroundings quickly quieted down.

Qing Huangzi spoke slowly, stating the reason for holding this Xingyun Trial—his lifespan was coming to an end, and he had no qualified successor, so he simply used this Feiyun Conference as an opportunity to set up multiple trials to select outstanding cultivators to inherit his legacy.

Obviously, many cultivators present had already inquired about this situation in advance. Hearing Qing Huangzi speak like this, their expressions didn't change. Some were old men, some looked like young masters and ladies of noble families, and there were also loose cultivators dressed in strong clothes and carrying swords.

"Alright, the trial begins now." After stating the reason, Qing Huangzi was quite straightforward, tapped the ground with his staff, and started directly, "Great formation, open!"

The staff tapped the ground, and the green light rippled like water. The figures of the hundred cultivators blurred and twisted in the brilliance, as if they had been thrown into the swaying green water shadow.

Ning Zhuo waited for his vision to stabilize, then discovered that he and others had already been sent by the formation to the space within the formation.

This was an open space, surrounded by walls of green bamboo, rising from the ground, towering into the clouds.

Ban Ji took a deep breath; the air was filled with the slightly pungent smell of broken fresh bamboo branches and the heavy dampness of the soil.

While most of the cultivators were slightly panicked. Because they discovered that their cultivation had been suppressed to the Foundation Establishment stage by the formation, and the spiritual talismans, magic tools, and even elixirs they carried were all subject to a restrictive force, making them difficult to use.

Qing Huangzi was nowhere to be seen, but his voice was transmitted: "Bamboo puppets are about to arrive. Everyone must do their best to choose one, and you can only use spiritual sense and magic power suspension threads to try to control it and refine it for your own use."

"When the time limit is reached, cultivators who have not seized a bamboo puppet will be eliminated."

As soon as the voice fell, the air vibrated, setting off ripples that were semi-transparent.

Immediately, countless bamboo puppets fell from mid-air like a flock of startled emerald birds.

Everyone had long been waiting in full battle array. At this moment, they simultaneously activated their spiritual sense to conduct large-scale detection.

Ning Zhuo's eyes bloomed with brilliance, his spiritual sense scattered, and he immediately discovered that the vast majority of the bamboo puppets were only at the magic tool level, but there were individual ones that exuded precious light, reaching the magic treasure level.

Undoubtedly, the magic treasure-level bamboo puppets were the focus of everyone's contention!

Sure enough, dozens of magic power suspension threads shot out, shooting toward the magic treasure-level boutique among the bamboo puppet group.

The magic power suspension threads entangled with each other in mid-air, many consumed each other, and disintegrated in mid-air.

But there were also a few high-quality ones that broke through the encirclement and caught up with these bamboo puppets.

Ning Zhuo's Five Elements suspension threads were naturally among them.

His spiritual sense followed the magic power suspension threads and quickly invaded the interior of the bamboo puppet, but other cultivators were doing the same.

Consequently, multiple spiritual senses collided inside the bamboo puppet and fiercely consumed each other.

"Hehehe, hahahaha!" Ban Ji's spiritual sense transmitted, emitting a wild laugh, "You guys are nothing more than this, all get out of my way!"

His spiritual sense emitted rolling demonic intent, eroding the spiritual sense of other cultivators, quickly disintegrating it, and then turning it into his own use.

Ban Ji cultivated the demon technique "Greedy Mechanism Demon Heart Technique," which was not the family technique of the Ban family, but had another opportunity.

This technique emphasizes: feeding the demon with greed, and the demon becomes fierce; seizing the opportunity to nourish greed, and greed becomes wild.

The demonic intent and wild thoughts helped Ban Ji sweep away his opponents, invincible.

Even Ning Zhuo's spiritual sense was defeated again and again, unable to hold its ground, and had to swallow the bitter fruit of defeat.

Ban Ji specifically clamored at Ning Zhuo: "Ning Zhuo, I thought you had something special. This bit of spiritual sense is not worth looking at; you still want to block me?"

He seized the opportunity to strike at Ning Zhuo's morale.

"Interesting!" Ning Zhuo's eyes shone, full of interest.

Although he had participated in several great battles, this was his first time encountering a clash between spiritual senses.

"Is this the 'Greedy Mechanism Demon Heart Technique'? It should be a first-class technique, indeed powerful!"

"Although my 'Mirror Platform Psychic Technique' is also a first-class technique, its specialty lies in psychic communication, not in spiritual sense."

"Losing to an opponent like Ban Ji is to be expected."

Ning Zhuo was not angry and had self-knowledge.

In fact, the cultivation of spiritual sense in the Mirror Platform Psychic Technique was a huge shortcoming. The Three Sects Masters therefore specially designed many mechanism mirrors to match it, helping to expand the range of spiritual sense, or make it more precise, or more profound, etc.

Ning Zhuo wanted to use these, but had no way. Because Qing Huangzi had long stipulated that only spiritual sense and magic power suspension threads could be used.

Ning Zhuo suffered a small setback, his state of mind was peaceful, and he immediately shifted his target and attacked other magic treasure-level bamboo puppets.

Ban Ji grinned: "Ning Zhuo, I want you to know the bitterness of making things difficult for me!"

He successfully seized a bamboo puppet, but did not let it go, immediately channeling magic power suspension threads and spiritual thoughts to participate in the contention for other bamboo puppets.

In the regulations, only one bamboo puppet was allowed per person.

Ban Ji had already successfully secured his bottom line, and now he was mainly interfering with Ning Zhuo!

Ning Zhuo tried several times, all of which failed.

Besides Ban Ji, there were quite a few cultivators whose spiritual sense was very special, either cultivating corresponding techniques or using some secret techniques or skills.

In short, Ning Zhuo's spiritual sense was not outstanding among them.

Of course, he was not without advantages.

Ning Zhuo's advantage lay in the fact that his spiritual sense was more persistent and recovered very quickly. This was not the credit of the "Mirror Platform Psychic Technique," but Ning Zhuo's own deep foundation; his physical body and soul far exceeded ordinary people.

Until the last magic treasure-level puppet, Ning Zhuo finally saw an opportunity.

"This guy's spiritual sense is not special, but he can always fight repeatedly despite defeats, and has plenty of stamina."

"He is my human tribulation, must not be underestimated!"

"To be safe, I must seize every good opportunity. It would be best to eliminate him in the first round!"

Ban Ji thought of this, his breathing became heavy and murky, like a broken bellows being pulled.

He made a final effort, and the greed in his spiritual sense was like a tide, rushing toward Ning Zhuo's spiritual sense.

Ning Zhuo immediately felt Ban Ji's strong thoughts—"Mine!" "Seize it!" "Tear you apart!"

Ning Zhuo's spiritual sense retreated steadily, while Qing Huangzi's voice came again, telling everyone that only thirty breaths of time remained.

Ban Ji laughed and clamored at Ning Zhuo: "You are doomed to lose!"

A smile suddenly curled up on the corner of Ning Zhuo's mouth.

He spiritual sense transmitted: "Everyone, how long do you want to endure? Now is the final battle opportunity!"

The cultivators were awe-struck and suddenly attacked Ban Ji together!

Ban Ji's expression changed drastically.

It turned out that while clashing with spiritual sense, thoughts could also be transmitted.

Ning Zhuo contacted fellow daoists while clashing with Ban Ji.

Ban Ji kept chasing and beating Ning Zhuo's spiritual sense, suppressing the latter with all his might, showing an arrogant and self-important aura.

This made other cultivators vigilant and wary, and under Ning Zhuo's connection, they secretly formed an alliance against Ban Ji.

"Ban Ji's strength is so powerful; if we let him play later, our hope will be slim!"

"He is suppressing Ning Zhuo now; if Ning Zhuo is defeated, the rest will be us."

"Attack with all your might, eliminate Ban Ji first!"

The cultivators shared a common hatred and launched a siege together.

Ban Ji tried his best to resist, but there were many cultivators, and he had consumed a lot by chasing and beating Ning Zhuo's spiritual sense everywhere before, causing him to fall into a predicament of steady retreat.

"Bad!"

"I only cared about suppressing Ning Zhuo and wanted to squeeze him out, forgetting about this group of cultivators."

"My Ban family is one of the few mechanism families in Feiyun Country, and I am the only candidate recommended by the Ban family to join the Myriad Phenomena Sect. This itself is conspicuous and makes people wary."

"Ning Zhuo, this guy, is not famous and doesn't get the attention he deserves."

"Damn it—"

"Hold on, must hold on!!!"

Ban Ji gritted his teeth, and his body began to shake.

He desperately sent out spiritual sense, causing his upper dantian sea of spirit to shake violently, as if it had been pierced and stirred by thousands of rusty steel needles!

"I can't lose!"

"I can't fall here; I must hold on even if I die."

"Hold on for me!!!"

Ban Ji squeezed out all his potential, his eyes filled with bloodshot, his expression extremely fierce, very terrifying.

In the short thirty breaths of time, he felt like a year.

Ning Zhuo was always at the forefront, his spiritual sense exhausted, and he mobilized the sea of spirit to generate new spiritual sense.

If he didn't set an example like this, how would other cultivators follow?

Hearts cannot be chaotic!

"Three, two, one, time is up." Qing Huangzi opened his mouth.

Ning Zhuo's eyes went dark, his face was pale, and he felt dizzy.

"No!!!" Ban Ji let out a painful roar; he tore his hair, his eyes fierce, as if he wanted to choose someone to devour.

He persisted until the end, desperately holding on, but ultimately fell short—the bamboo puppet he had seized before was also snatched away by others.

He never expected that he would fall in the just-started round.

To take the test, he specifically studied a lot of intelligence about Qing Huangzi, and even guessed how Qing Huangzi would test his successors. He firmly believed that he was prepared and could get what he wanted.

As a result, just in the first round, he was squeezed out by everyone!

"The most damn culprit is Ning Zhuo!"

"I want to kill him, I want to kill him!!!"

Ban Ji was so angry that he almost died on the spot, wishing he could devour Ning Zhuo alive.

Ning Zhuo responded with a smile.

He smiled pale and weak. This victory was also a miserable victory for him.

Among the cultivators who seized the magic treasure-level bamboo puppets, he was not one of them.

In the end, Ning Zhuo only seized a magic tool-level bamboo puppet.

But Ban Ji was eliminated and lost the qualification to participate in the next round.

With such results, Ning Zhuo was already satisfied!

Ning Zhuo controlled the palm-sized bamboo puppet, making it walk in the small maze built of green bamboo.

A sharp piercing sound exploded without warning, and more than a dozen bamboo spears protruded from the walls on both sides, wanting to pierce the bamboo puppet controlled by Ning Zhuo into a hornet's nest.

Ning Zhuo tried his best to control the bamboo puppet to dodge, but the previous spiritual sense clash was too serious, and it hadn't fully recovered yet.

With this drag, although the bamboo puppet broke through this section of the road, its chest was still pierced, forming a hole.

"What should I do?" Ning Zhuo frowned, feeling worried.

This was only the second round, and it was so difficult; the difficulty of the next rounds would probably be even greater.

A flash of inspiration, Ning Zhuo chose the exposed bamboo spears, chopped them down, and used them as materials to repair himself.

The hole in the chest of the bamboo puppet was wrapped around by new bamboo pieces. It held two other bamboo spears in its hands and set off again.

Breaking through the maze, he arrived at the third round.

On a fairly wide arena, cultivators controlled their respective bamboo puppets to engage in a melee.

"Damn it, hateful. I had already guessed this round and made a lot of preparations!"

"Ah—! Why did I lose? How could I lose here?"

Ban Ji was so angry that he almost fainted, really unable to accept the facts before him.

And when he found that Ning Zhuo had become one of the last twelve winners, he clutched his chest, gasped fiercely, and almost wanted to look up to the sky and roar, then vomit three liters of blood.

"My tribulation!"

"He is my tribulation!!"