Chapter 719

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

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

It was early morning, and the sky light 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 forest, which 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 texture was faintly visible.

The bamboo leaves were extremely thin, with a circle of crystalline 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 struck by the breeze, merging into a clear and ethereal sound of bamboo waves, washing away the noise of the world.

Unlike Ning Zhuo was enjoying the beautiful scenery here when he noticed someone casting a gaze.

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

Unlike Ning Zhuo smiled slightly, and his spiritual sense transmitted: "Fellow Daoist Seeing Ban Ji, I didn't expect us to meet here."

Seeing Ban Ji's amber-like pupils revealed a trace of coldness, and his spiritual sense replied: "Fellow Daoist Unlike Ning Zhuo, I have already agreed to temporarily slow down the contest with you; I didn't expect you to be so unaware of the good, running over specifically to make things difficult for me."

"Why?"

"Do you think that after investigating me once, you think Seeing Ban Ji of my 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 a daydream!"

Unlike Ning Zhuo maintained a smile, and his spiritual sense communicated: "Fellow Daoist Seeing 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 give me some advice."

Seeing Ban Ji snorted coldly and ignored Unlike Ning Zhuo.

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

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 Seeing Ban Ji.

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

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

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

"Therefore, he came!"

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

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

Unlike Ning Zhuo's active arrival this time was undoubtedly a tough offensive posture. This made Seeing Ban Ji immediately realize that Unlike Ning Zhuo's previous polite refusal of the contest was not fear of fighting 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 open. He held a nine-section emerald bamboo 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 about to end, and he had no qualified successor, so he simply used this Feiyun Conference as an opportunity to arrange multiple small trials to select excellent cultivators to inherit his inheritance.

Apparently, many cultivators who arrived had already inquired about this situation in advance; hearing Qing Huangzi speak like this, their expressions did not change. Some were old men, some looked like young masters and ladies of aristocratic families, and there were also loose cultivators dressed in strong clothes and carrying swords.

"Alright, the small trial officially begins." After Qing Huangzi stated the reason, he was quite straightforward, struck the ground with the bamboo staff, and started directly, "Great Array, open!"

The bamboo staff pointed to the ground, and the emerald light rippled like water patterns; the figures of the hundred cultivators blurred and twisted in the brilliance, as if they had been thrown into the swaying emerald water shadows.

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

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

Seeing Ban Ji took a deep breath; the air was filled with the slightly pungent smell of fresh bamboo branches breaking, as well as the heavy dampness of the soil.

And most of the cultivators were slightly panicked. Because they discovered that their cultivation had been suppressed to the Foundation Establishment stage by the great array, and the spirit talismans, magic tools, and even elixirs they carried with them 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 use their full strength, choose one, and 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 emerald birds startled.

Everyone had long been ready for battle; at this moment, they simultaneously channeled their spiritual sense to carry out large-scale detection.

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

There was no doubt that the magic treasure-level bamboo puppets were the focus of everyone's competition!

Sure enough, dozens of magic power suspension threads shot out like lightning, shooting toward the magic treasure-level boutique bamboo puppets in 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 with solid quality that broke through the siege and caught up with these bamboo puppets.

Unlike Ning Zhuo's Five-Qi 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 also doing the same.

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

"Hehehe, hahahaha!" Seeing Ban Ji's spiritual sense transmitted, emitting wanton wild laughter, "You guys are just so-so, all get lost!"

His spiritual sense radiated rolling demonic intent, eroding the spiritual senses of other cultivators, causing them to disintegrate rapidly, and then turning them into his own use.

Seeing Ban Ji cultivated the demonic art "Greedy Mechanism Demonic Heart Art," 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 opportunities to nourish greed, and greed becomes wild.

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

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

Seeing Ban Ji specifically clamored at Unlike Ning Zhuo: "Unlike Ning Zhuo, I thought you had something special. This little bit of spiritual sense is not enough to look at; you still vainly hope to block me?"

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

"Interesting!" Unlike Ning Zhuo's eyes were shining, full of interest.

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

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

"Although my 'Mirror Platform Psychic Art' is also a first-class technique, its specialty lies in psychic connection, not in the aspect of spiritual sense."

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

Unlike Ning Zhuo was not angry and had self-knowledge.

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

Unlike 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.

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

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

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

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

Seeing Ban Ji had already succeeded in securing his base, and now he was mainly interfering with Unlike Ning Zhuo!

Unlike Ning Zhuo tried several times, all of which ended in failure.

Besides Seeing Ban Ji, there were quite a few cultivators whose spiritual senses were very special, either because they cultivated corresponding techniques or adopted some secret arts or skills.

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

Of course, he was not without advantages.

Unlike 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 Art," but because Unlike Ning Zhuo himself had a deep foundation, and both his physical body and soul far exceeded ordinary people.

It was not until the last magic treasure-level bamboo puppet that Unlike Ning Zhuo saw an opportunity.

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

"He is my human tribulation, I must not underestimate him!"

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

Thinking of this, Seeing Ban Ji's breathing became heavy and turbid, like a pulled broken bellows.

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

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

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

Seeing Ban Ji laughed loudly, clamoring at Unlike Ning Zhuo: "You are doomed to lose!"

Unlike Ning Zhuo's mouth, however, suddenly curled into a smile.

His spiritual sense transmitted: "Fellow Daoists, how much longer must you endure? Now is the final battle opportunity!"

The cultivators were solemn, and suddenly attacked Seeing Ban Ji together!

Seeing Ban Ji's expression changed drastically.

It turned out that while clashing with spiritual senses, one could also transmit thoughts.

Unlike Ning Zhuo was clashing with Seeing Ban Ji while contacting like-minded people.

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

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

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

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

"Use full strength to attack, eliminate Seeing Ban Ji first!"

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

Seeing Ban Ji hurriedly tried his best to resist, but there were many cultivators, and Seeing Ban Ji had consumed a lot chasing Unlike Ning Zhuo's spiritual sense everywhere before, causing him to fall into a predicament of retreating steadily.

"Bad!"

"I only cared about suppressing Unlike Ning Zhuo, wanting to squeeze him out, and forgot about this group of cultivators."

"My Ban family is one of the few mechanism families in the Feiyun Kingdom, and I am the only candidate recommended by the Ban family to join the Myriad Phenomena Sect. This itself is tree-high and attracts the wind, making people wary."

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

"Damn it—"

"Hold on, must hold on!!!"

Seeing Ban Ji gritted his teeth, and his body began to sway.

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

"I can't lose!"

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

"Hold on for me!!!"

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

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

Unlike Ning Zhuo always rushed to the front, his spiritual sense was exhausted, and he mobilized the sea of spirit to produce 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 spoke.

Unlike Ning Zhuo's eyes went dark, his face was pale, and his whole person was dizzy.

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

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

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

In order 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, in the first round, he was squeezed out by everyone!

"The most damn culprit is Unlike Ning Zhuo!"

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

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

Unlike Ning Zhuo returned a smile.

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

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

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

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

With such results, Unlike Ning Zhuo was already satisfied!

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

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

Unlike Ning Zhuo tried his best to control the bamboo puppet to dodge, but the previous spiritual sense clash was too severe, and it had not fully recovered until now.

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

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

This was only the second round, and it was so difficult; I'm afraid the difficulty of the next round will be even greater.

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

The hole in the bamboo puppet's chest was wrapped back and forth by new bamboo pieces. Its hands were still carrying two other bamboo spears, and it set off again.

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

On a quite wide arena, the cultivators controlled their respective bamboo puppets and carried out a melee.

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

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

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

And when he discovered that Unlike Ning Zhuo had become one of the final twelve winners, he clutched his heart, breathed heavily, almost wanting to roar at the sky, and then vomit three liters of blood.

"My tribulation!"

"He is my tribulation!!"