Chapter 136: Leaving the Trial Ground

Time is a mysterious thing; when you want it to pass slowly, it insists on passing quickly, and when you want it to pass quickly, it becomes as sluggish as an old ox.

In this final month remaining in the Trial Ground, everyone lived as if each day were a year, terrified that the scourge Tie Lin might suddenly charge over. Fortunately, right up until the third day before the trial ended, Tie Lin still had not appeared.

Only at this moment did Zhuge Qing faintly sense that her judgment had been wrong; Tie Lin might truly have fallen. If he hadn't, the other party certainly would have taken action and would not have allowed the cultivators of the Three Great Sects to leave the Trial Ground just like that.

"Brother Zhang! In your opinion, has Tie Lin fallen?"

Zhang Nuo stood behind the young woman. At this moment, his heart was also in great turmoil. Having hidden in the Trial Ground for three years, would Zuo Mutang still cause trouble for him after they went out? Although Zhuge Qing kept giving her word that as long as they left the Trial Ground, she would handle everything, could she really do it?

The Sect Master of the Nanxuan Sect was her father, but that didn't mean everything she said was necessarily reliable! As he was pondering this in his heart, he suddenly heard the young woman's words. He was startled for a moment, then said in a low, deep voice:

"I suspect he has fallen!"

The young woman turned her head and gazed at Zhang Nuo with deep affection, a trace of an imperceptible, strange look flashing through her eyes.

"Why do you say that!"

"If it were me! In the final ten days before the trial ended, I would definitely find a way to charge up the small mountain. Even if I couldn't slaughter all the cultivators, I could at least kill dozens of them!"

Zhang Nuo was expressionless, his gaze deep as he looked into the distance; even the young woman could not see through his thoughts.

"You're right! That's what I thought too!"

Moving a few steps closer to Zhang Nuo, the young woman's natural fragrance drifted into Zhang Nuo's nose with the breeze. He snapped back to his senses abruptly, only to see that the distance between the young woman and him was less than half a foot!

Usually, just one glance at the young woman would make Zhang Nuo's heart beat wildly. Now, at such a close distance, he was actually stunned into silence for a moment!

"Brother Zhang, having spent these past few days with you, I feel you are truly a very good person! I hope that after we leave the Trial Ground, I can still be with you!"

The young woman said these few sentences with extreme charm, and her appearance was one of deep sincerity and lingering affection, making Zhang Nuo feel an itch in his heart. However, in an instant, the young woman left his side and walked toward a group of cultivators. As she turned around, a triumphant smile appeared on Zhuge Qing's face; the smile flashed and vanished, not lingering for long at all!

Zhang Nuo stood where he was for a long time without moving. After his emotions calmed down, he pondered for a moment, couldn't help but sigh lightly, and gave a bitter smile!

The young woman's schemes were truly too deep. Fearing that Zhang Nuo would be poached by other sects in the final few days, she actually used her beauty to seduce him and even expressed that she had feelings of admiration for him!

"Would you really take a fancy to someone like me?"

Muttering to himself, Zhang Nuo's expression was incomparably dejected.

"This little ghost is truly beautiful; even this old man is tempted!"

Suddenly, Chunyangzi's voice came from within his mind!

"Senior! Please don't tease me!"

Zhang Nuo replied immediately.

"However, that you can see through her true purpose makes me feel quite relieved! Little Zhang, remember this: in the Cultivation World, there are no eternal enemies and no eternal friends. Just like this trial; when they first entered, the Four Great Sects were killing each other, but later, for the sake of profit, didn't the Wuji Sect, Nanxuan Sect, and Beixuan Sect join hands?"

Listening to Chunyangzi's words, Zhang Nuo nodded.

"Don't talk about sect brothers; sometimes even husbands and wives will turn against each other because of a supreme treasure. On the path toward eternal life, no one can resist temptation!"

These words echoed in Zhang Nuo's mind for a long time. Back then, Sun Yiyang had also used schemes to push his master, Lin Fan, aside and sit on the throne of the Sect Master. And wasn't Zhuge Qing at this very moment using all sorts of methods to try to win him over? All for the sake of the sect's strength.

"Heh! The Cultivation World!"

Zhang Nuo sneered, then strode back into the ranks of the cultivators.

The day to leave the Trial Ground finally arrived. Countless beams of white light descended from the sky of the Trial Ground; these white lights were emitted by the massive teleportation array on the Tianjiang Plain.

Everyone had finally waited for this day, each one beaming with joy. Being able to survive in the Trial Ground was already no easy feat. Zhuge Qing stood by Zhang Nuo's side, unwilling to leave for even a moment, as if the other party might grow wings and fly away.

"Fellow Daoist Zhuge! Fellow Daoist Zhang! We shall meet again!"

Han Liang cupped his hands toward the two of them and said with a smile. He had a very deep impression of Zhang Nuo; although his cultivation was not high right now, Han Liang believed that within a dozen years, Zhang Nuo would definitely be the strongest among their generation.

Zhang Nuo and Zhuge Qing returned the gesture separately. By this time, cultivators were already rushing toward the white light descending into the Trial Ground. Han Liang turned and flew into the white light, disappearing into it in the blink of an eye.

"Let's go too!"

The young woman turned her head to say to Zhang Nuo, and at the same time, she grabbed Zhang Nuo's hand. The moment their hands held each other, Zhang Nuo felt as if his whole body had been electrocuted and gone numb! A flush appeared on his face.

Zhuge Qing's Dharma Treasure flashed with spiritual light under her feet, and she charged into the white light descending from the sky. After rushing into the white light, Zhang Nuo only felt a wave of dizziness in his head, and in the blink of an eye, his figure appeared on the Tianjiang Plain.

Closing his eyes slightly to let the discomfort from riding the teleportation array fade, when Zhang Nuo opened his eyes again, he saw the Sect Leaders of the Four Great Sects standing in front of the teleportation array with their sect's cultivators, waiting for their disciples to emerge.

"Qing'er! You've come out! You had your father so worried!"

As soon as Zhuge Qing's figure appeared, an aged voice immediately rang out.

"Father!"

The moment the young woman saw Zhuge An, she flew over at once, but she never let go of Zhang Nuo's hand, pulling him all the way to the old man's side.

The old man's expression froze as he looked at his daughter in surprise. Why was she holding a man's hand? Zhuge Qing had always been arrogant; it was difficult for ordinary men to even get close to her. Looking at the intimacy between the young woman and Zhang Nuo, it had far exceeded an ordinary relationship.

"Let me introduce you, his name is Zhang Nuo, he is someone I newly recruited into the sect during the trial!"

Zhuge An's gaze was filled with even more astonishment. This Trial Ground was full of disciples from the Four Great Sects; could his daughter have poached someone from another sect? Thinking about it carefully, such a thing seemed unlikely! Just at this moment, the old man was startled, because he thought of one thing.

Three years ago, on the day the Trial Ground opened, a young cultivator was blasted into the teleportation array by Zuo Mutang. Because of this matter, the Sect Leaders of the Four Great Sects had even argued about it. Could the person his daughter brought back be the very cultivator who was blasted into the Trial Ground back then!

As soon as the young woman saw her father's expression, she immediately guessed his thoughts!

"No need to guess, he is that cultivator who was blasted in by Zuo Mutang!"

Seeing his daughter beaming with joy, as if she had picked up a treasure, Zhuge An also began to understand a little. This young cultivator was certainly no ordinary person; otherwise, given his daughter's personality, she would absolutely not have taken him into the sect.

"Greetings, Sect Master!"

During their conversation, Zhang Nuo also learned that the old man before him was Zhuge Qing's father, the current Sect Master of the Nanxuan Sect, Zhuge An!

"No need for formalities!"

He hurriedly told Zhang Nuo to forgo the formalities. Someone his daughter had taken a fancy to must surely have unique qualities, and he could not put on the airs of a Sect Master.

"Father, if there is a dispute later because of Zhang Nuo, do not speak. Leave everything to me!"

Fearing that Zhuge An did not understand the situation, the young woman whispered repeatedly in his ear.

"Understood!"

Don't look at Zhuge An as a Sect Master; there were some things he still had to listen to his daughter about. It wasn't because he pampered his daughter, but because his daughter's intelligence and wisdom sometimes even surpassed his own.

At this time, most of the cultivators from the Trial Ground had come out. Zhuge Qing cast her gaze toward the Corpse Refining Sect's side, where she saw Leng Xinghun looking furious, with Gu Yu standing beside him. Gu Yu kept his head down and his hands at his sides, not daring to even breathe loudly.

The people of the Corpse Refining Sect were already gloomy by nature, and added to this atmosphere, it made people feel even more uncomfortable. The young woman's gaze searched among the Corpse Refining Sect's cultivators for a long time, but she never found Tie Lin's figure. It seemed he had truly fallen in the Trial Ground.

"I will now begin to count the number of people from each sect who have come out of the Trial Ground. Everyone who participated in the trial, please stand at the very front of your sect!"

The person speaking was none other than Xiao Zhengxing. When he glanced at the disciples of his own sect who had emerged from the Trial Ground, his heart sank instantly; only twenty-some people had come out, and the loss of disciples this time was particularly heavy! However, the only thing that made him feel fortunate was that Han Liang had not perished inside.

Holding the roster in his hand, he swept his gaze over the cultivators who had emerged from the Trial Ground and immediately noticed that the Nanxuan Sect had the most people out.

"Han Liang!"

Xiao Zhengxing called out the disciples of his own sect first. Upon hearing this, Han Liang replied, "Present!" Immediately following was the second person's name. Very quickly, the Wuji Sect was finished being called; a total of two hundred disciples had entered, and only twenty-three had come out of the Trial Ground!

The next to be called was the Beixuan Sect. After calling them one by one, a total of twenty-eight people from the Beixuan Sect had emerged, only five more than the Wuji Sect.

Next was the Corpse Refining Sect, with a total of forty-seven people emerging! Finally, it was the turn of the Nanxuan Sect.

"Zhuge Qing! Yu Lei!..."

When Xiao Zhengxing finished reading the names one by one, the Nanxuan Sect actually had as many as eighty-two people; it was very obvious that the Nanxuan Sect had won this trial.

But just at this moment, Nangong Ao, who was standing in the Beixuan Sect's ranks, had his expression change, because he had not heard the name of Zhang Nuo!