Chapter 101: Dao Mai Examination

“Wait, there’s likely something amiss here!”

As Sima Lingzhen clapped his hands in loud laughter, a low voice suddenly rang out from the jade table opposite him.

Sima Lingzhen frowned at the sound, turned his gaze with clear displeasure, then his expression shifted to one of “I knew it.”

“Hou Wen, brother? Again? Since you first came to the Southern Region, you’ve always been this suspicious and paranoid. Do you truly believe your divination arts can fathom all the mysteries of heaven and earth?”

Sima Lingzhen raised an eyebrow and gave a faint smile.

“I’m not belittling you, brother, but even in our Yucheng Sect, the one most skilled in divination—the very Junyao brother who received secret transmissions—would never dare think so.”

How long has it been since you transferred from the lower academy to the main sect? Your experience is still shallow.”

“You’ve been anxious ever since that one divination before we left—this is bringing shame upon Yucheng Sect and making our fellow brothers here laugh at us!”

A thousand rays of auspicious mist shimmered; clear radiance swirled—

Within the Orchid Pavilion, six or seven raised platforms had already been erected, each occupied by a Jin Dan True Person, draped in radiant light, bearing profound virtue.

Before them, jade tables held rare celestial fruits, spiritual elixirs, and liquor—objects of exquisite spiritual energy that Qinrenxinpi .

The True Persons had been smiling and chatting merrily with Sima Lingzhen and Hou Wen, the atmosphere harmonious enough.

But as the two Yucheng disciples subtly clashed and Sima Lingzhen’s words revealed unmasked mockery, the mood instantly froze—thick, stiff, and silent.

The Jin Dan True Persons stared at their noses, their noses at their hearts, saying nothing.

If even they adopted such postures, the Dongxuan Lianshi serving wine at the back were even more silent, not daring to breathe loudly.

At the jade table opposite Sima Lingzhen sat a tall Daoist clad in purple-and-blue Eight Trigrams robes, wearing a Lotus Crown, a vintage bell hanging at his waist.

He was around thirty, with a short beard, a lean, sharp face, and an aura as solemn and immovable as a towering mountain range.

Hearing Sima Lingzhen’s words, Hou Wen slightly frowned; a flash of piercing light passed through his eyes, yet Sima Lingzhen appeared utterly oblivious, his face still wearing a faint smile.

“Wood and fire interplay, water is violated by moist descent, earth star present—this is the pattern of Eight Fiends confronting the Proper Seal, portending an omen of malevolent spirits…”

After a long, cold appraisal of each other,

Hou Wen finally sighed deeply and said slowly:

“I know you’re from the Tangting Sima clan—among the Twelve Great Clans, most of you are arrogant and prideful, deaf to counsel.”

“But my divinations rarely err—there must be something amiss in this Ten Thousand Li Illuminating Talisman; that evil Yin-Sheng Demon may well be the malevolent spirit foretold in my omen!”

“Brother, even if you don’t care for your own life, can you not consider the greater affairs of our sect?”

Seeing Sima Lingzhen unmoved,

Hou Wen fell silent for several breaths, then said helplessly:

“This is the Dao Mai Examination, held once every thirty years. Since we’ve been assigned this duty, we must fulfill it faithfully.”

“We haven’t even gone to Ai Jian’s Xuanzhen Sect to evaluate and inscribe their names in the Golden Register—how can we abandon our post over some mere evil Yin-Sheng Demon?”

Yucheng Sect oversees nearly a thousand Dao Mai and branch halls—all branches that had split off over countless ages.

Though these Dao Mai bear Yucheng’s name and enjoy its benefits, learning its teachings and techniques, if a disciple excels, he may be recommended by the Dao Mai’s master to study at Yucheng for a time.

But these benefits come at a cost.

These Dao Mai must pay annual tribute to Yucheng’s main sect to maintain ancestral ties, and every thirty years, Yucheng sends two Dao Mai Inspectors to assess their progress.

Evaluating everything: disciples’ cultivation base, mountain aura, techniques, merits against demonic forces.

If a Dao Mai receives a failing grade three times consecutively, it is erased from Yucheng’s rolls—its name struck from the Golden Register. It loses all benefits and may no longer claim affiliation with Yucheng, or face punishment.

Sima Lingzhen, Hou Wen—

These two men

are Yucheng Sect’s current Dao Mai Inspectors, tasked with evaluating the Dao Mai of the Southern Region.

The Southern Region is spiritually barren—not a land conducive to cultivation.

Only Ai Jian, who once committed grave errors and nearly was expelled, had hastily founded a Dao Mai here…

While still in Yucheng’s lower academy, Hou Wen had dominated with his Primordial Divine Divination, rising into the Top Ten Disciples, then naturally advancing to the main sect.

Before coming to the Southern Region, he had expended great effort to divinate this journey—and received a dire omen.

But having received the talisman edict, he could not retreat now—otherwise he’d appear cowardly before his brothers and disappoint the Elders who valued him.

And since Hou Wen’s journey began,

his constant vigilance, born of the omen—

in Sima Lingzhen’s eyes, appeared as narrow-minded, baseless panic—utterly contemptible.

Between great clans and commoners, resentment always ran deep—even within the same sect, mutual dislike was common, friendship rare.

Moreover, Sima Lingzhen had long grown weary of Hou Wen’s paranoia, already harboring three-tenths of anger, making him sneer all the more.

If only we’d gone to Xuanzhen Sect immediately,

less time spent together would have spared much discomfort.

But just days ago, Huolong Shangren had sent a divine decree from afar: Wang Shu, who had gone to Nan Chan Zhou to seek herbs, was now missing. After deliberation, the Elders of the Xuanjiao Hall decreed that Sima Lingzhen and Hou Wen must wait until Wang Shu’s fate was confirmed before proceeding to Xuanzhen Sect for the Dao Mai Examination.

As for Wang Shu’s connection to Ai Jian, and how his fate ties into this Dao Mai Examination—that is another matter entirely.

Since this was Huolong Shangren’s decree, approved by all Xuanjiao Hall Elders, neither could defy it.

Even though Sima Lingzhen despised Hou Wen, he had no choice but to delay his journey to Xiao Ganshan’s Xuanzhen Sect.

At this time, several Southern Region sects, hearing the news, specially hosted a banquet at Wulong Guan to invite them.

Sima Lingzhen and Hou Wen thus accepted the invitation, resting at Wulong Guan, waiting silently for developments…

Hearing Hou Wen still fretting, stalling, even invoking the great duty of the Dao Mai Examination to pressure him,

Sima Lingzhen sneered inwardly: “When you were among the Top Ten Disciples in the lower academy, you owed much to Shao You. Now that Shao You, overreaching, dares challenge Xie Brother for the True Transmission seat, you’re eager to leap forward, opposing me at every turn, rushing to be a lapdog to curry favor? Pathetic! You use your divination as an excuse—do you really think I, Sima Lingzhen, don’t know your motives?”

“Once Xie Brother ascends the throne, I’ll one day drive you out of Xudu Tian, force you to carve out a branch hall in some barbaric wasteland, and leave you to waste your remaining years there!”

“Not just you—Shao You and his whole pack of hounds will meet the same fate!”

Sima Lingzhen ceased his thoughts, sneered again, waved his hand—and summoned a ten-zhang-tall Yingluo Tian Gong, radiant with splendor, wreathed in auspicious mist, its grandeur illuminating ten li of cloud sea with dazzling brilliance!

He stomped his foot and flew into the heavenly palace, activating its array seals.

The palace erupted in chaotic colored light, stirring the spiritual energy of Wulong Guan into surging tides—clouds tore open, light burst forth, and high, clear phoenix cries and dragon roars echoed like thunder, shaking the eight peaks!

A newly promoted Jin Dan True Person from Shenhuo Cliff rose, stunned, exclaiming:

“What an extraordinary magic treasure! Is this the Yucheng Sect’s Yujing Feigong?”

In Yucheng Sect, any disciple who passed the Great Competition and advanced from one of the Four Lower Academies to the main sect received a “Yujing Feigong” from the Spirit Treasure Hall—a reward for their cultivation, meant to protect their life.

This “Yujing Feigong” was a magic treasure of the highest rank: fully sealed with protections, capable of withstanding attacks from Primordial Spirit True Persons, and possessing astonishing speed—far exceeding ordinary Jin Dan cultivators—able to ride the currents of time and space, vanishing and reappearing in the blink of an eye.

At this moment—

The Jin Dan True Person from Shenhuo Cliff forgot propriety, projecting twin flames from his eyes to scrutinize the seals and materials, his gaze filled with envy.

Shenhuo Cliff’s foundation lay in forging and crafting; the Three Iron Scrolls left by their founding ancestor, Copper Mountain, contained one scripture pointing directly to the Primordial Spirit fruit, while the other two detailed the precise methods of crafting magic treasures.

Copper Mountain had once studied in Yucheng’s lower academy, but failed to make the Top Ten Disciples, repeatedly failing the Great Competition, never rising.

Disheartened, he voluntarily requested to be expelled from the lower academy, wandered for centuries, even visiting distant lands beyond the cosmos, finally arriving in the Southern Region to establish Shenhuo Cliff’s lineage.

Because of this, Copper Mountain held a deep, obsessive longing for Yucheng’s main sect—his own prized treasure, the Luotie Feigong, was modeled after Yucheng’s Yujing Feigong, striving to replicate its external form and aura.

And now,

in the eyes of this newly promoted Jin Dan True Person from Shenhuo Cliff, the heavenly palace summoned by Sima Lingzhen—

the seals, needless to say,

but the internal forging techniques and material ratios, though only vaguely discernible, were clearly opposite to those of their sect’s treasured artifact, the Luotie Feigong!

This revelation left the Shenhuo Cliff True Person cold and trembling, his face betraying shock.

His exclamation drew the gaze of the True Persons on the platforms, each with differing expressions.

The status gap between disciples of a great sect like Yucheng and these men was as vast as earth and sky.

Not just in cultivation scriptures, techniques, or spiritual blessings, but even in wealth alone, they were utterly out of reach.

Merely this fully sealed, heavily guarded flying palace was a possession most Jin Dan True Persons here lacked—yet they were from major sects like Wuguang and Shenhuo Cliff.

For poorer Jin Dan hermits, they might not even possess a single magic treasure, forced to rely on high-grade talismans as substitutes…

…

…

“Truly, a bunch of uncultured Southern barbarians—you don’t even recognize my Tangting Sima clan’s ‘Zisu Bafang Gong’? You think it’s the ‘Yujing Feigong’?”

Sima Lingzhen found it amusing, but was too lazy to explain.

Though the “Zisu Bafang Gong” was spacious, with pavilions, pools, and gardens sufficient for nearly a hundred residents, it still fell far short of the “Yujing Feigong,” which was nearly a small city.

Moreover, when activated, the Yujing Feigong radiated magnificent colored clouds like a rising sun—its aura unmistakable.

Only these Southern cultivators, living in a land far from cultivation’s bounty, where even major sects’ mountain gates lay distant,

could remain so ignorant—even those who had painfully achieved Jin Dan.

After settling on the cloud couch in the main hall, Sima Lingzhen suppressed his laughter, withdrew a jade tablet from his sleeve, and was about to activate it—when he saw Hou Wen frowning across the pavilion, as if about to speak again.

“Brother, stop your nagging! Who would dare attack a Yucheng cultivator at the cost of universal condemnation? And do you think my cultivation is made of mud?!”

Sima Lingzhen grew even more impatient:

“Don’t use the Dao Mai Examination to pressure me! Wang Shu’s fate is still unknown! According to Huolong Shangren’s decree, even going to Ai Jian’s Xuanzhen Sect must wait until Wang Shu’s fate is confirmed!”

With that, the heavenly palace swept aside the divine winds, flashed with light, and vanished.

“Hmph… Everything must be tied to clan status?

These clan folk are truly fools—keeping you around only tarnishes the Heavenly Lord’s reputation!

Watching the flying palace vanish, Hou Wen stared for a long while, then suddenly drew back his gaze and sighed.

No one dared respond.

The True Persons on the platforms chuckled awkwardly, raising their cups to urge Hou Wen to drink—the atmosphere relaxed once more.

And among them all.

The True Person Wang from the Five Radiance Sect, however, remained expressionless, never lifting his cup, his fingers silently clenched beneath his flowing sleeves.

“Huaiwu… you fool, how could you be so stupid as to befriend a Celestial Demon?! If you merely wished to escape Xudutian, why didn’t you come to me? Do you think I’d steal your Celestial Demon from you?”

Not far from his dais, the Jin Dan True Person from the Flower God Mansion wore a faint smile, keenly observing the shifts in Wang True Person’s expression.

She was a voluptuous, graceful beauty, her arms encircled by colorful ribbons, and twenty-four Flower God Colorful Calamities suspended behind her head like nebulous, chaotic clouds.

“The boy you’ve been guarding, Huaiwu, is dead already,” she said softly, after watching for a moment.

Wang True Person showed no expression, and did not look at her.

“To be honest, it’s a rare Evil Wrath Yin Victory Demon? If I were this Huaiwu boy, I’d hide it too—distrusting even my parents and masters, let alone an old acquaintance of my teacher.”

She smiled again and spoke:

“But how fortunate that this Celestial Demon found someone who resonates with the ‘Sacred Prayer of the Silent Heavenly Palace’! If she reincarnates and possesses a body, becoming a Suiyu Demon Child, she may prove impossible to control.”

“Are you speaking a lot today?” Wang True Person said coldly.

“Too bad—now that Sima Lingzhen of the Yucheng Sect has intervened, even the mighty Twelve Clans will see that Evil Wrath Yin Victory Demon sent straight into the elixir furnace.”

The beautiful woman pretended not to hear, covering her lips with a laugh:

“Not just it—your guarded Huaiwu boy is dead too!”

Wang True Person shot her a cold glance, his eyes flickering several times as if hesitating, then finally turned his face away.

“Huaiwu… you’re truly dead now…”

He lowered his eyelids and sighed inwardly.

…

…

Fuyu Lake.

The cruel demonic light struck Chen Hang’s chest and spread outward through his limbs and meridians, like multicolored silkworm threads weaving tightly, and within mere breaths, it had completely wrapped Chen Hang.

From afar, it looked like a radiant, splendid cocoon.

Seeing the cocoon now formed, Huaiwu’s Cave Lord finally relaxed, gently flicking his fly whisk.

“Now that the work is complete, I can finally rest. Two hundred years of waiting—this moment has finally come. Heaven has not forsaken me!”

He thought to himself.

And within the great cocoon.

Chen Hang now felt something utterly unprecedented.