Chapter 4: Hand It Over, You

"My axe!" Meng Jingzhou shouted in the illusion, wanting to go down and fish for the axe.

The River Spirit lifted the three axes and appeared on the river surface.

"Young child, you..."

Splash—

Before the River Spirit finished speaking, he saw Meng Jingzhou take a dive and jump into the river with a splash. The bubbles he spat out were bigger than him.

What's the situation?

The River Spirit was dumbfounded. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

The bubbling bubbles gradually decreased until they disappeared. The river surface was terrifyingly calm, only the aura emitted by the River Spirit caused ripples to ripple under his feet.

"Why is there no movement? He wouldn't have drowned, would he?" the River Spirit muttered. He wasn't too worried that Meng Jingzhou would really drown. This was an illusion; people couldn't drown here.

Before the River Spirit could figure out what Meng Jingzhou wanted to do, a strange change happened again!

The ripples on the river surface became more frequent. The River Spirit frowned slightly. He controlled his power very well; it shouldn't be caused by the aura he emitted.

He realized: "It's that kid who jumped into the river!"

Only to see strands of golden aura mixed in the stream. The water vapor on the river surface emitted strands of immortal intent, as if some great terror was gestating at the bottom of the river!

The unknown great terror made people palpitate!

Three fountains surged on the river surface, spraying higher and higher, splashing pale golden water mist, filling the entire river surface, making the River Spirit unable to see what was happening for a while.

A wind blew from nowhere, blowing away the pale golden water mist.

Three figures appeared, all looking like Meng Jingzhou, but their momentum was earth-shattering compared to before.

The River Spirit trembled. That was an instinctive reaction from the depths of his soul!

Ordinary Meng Jingzhou, cultivation expert Meng Jingzhou, and... Immortal Meng Jingzhou!

This was the source rule of the illusion: if an ordinary object falls into the river, three changes—mortal, spirit, and immortal—will appear.

"Hand it over, you," the three Meng Jingzhous said in unison, taking away their own axes.

With Immortal Meng Jingzhou there, the River Spirit had no power to fight back and was at his mercy.

Immortal Meng Jingzhou got the immortal-tool Heaven-Opening Axe, cultivation expert Meng Jingzhou got the spirit-tool Mountain-Opening Axe, and mortal Meng Jingzhou bluffed, taking advantage of the River Spirit's lack of reaction to get the worn-out axe.

With the three axes in hand, the illusion shattered, and Meng Jingzhou passed the test.

Those who passed the second stage would temporarily fall into a coma. This was the human body's self-protection mechanism.

The Profound Heaven Sect crowd looked at Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou who passed the second stage and were silent for a long time.

What happened to the honest people?

Miss Yun Zhi didn't speak. She had a premonition that if these two people were recruited into the Profound Heaven Sect, the Profound Heaven Sect would never have peace.

Hope the premonition is wrong.

The real River Spirit appeared, holding gold and silver axes, rushing toward Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou aggressively.

As the guardian spirit of the Profound Heaven Sect, he had never suffered such a great humiliation.

"Don't stop me. I must teach these two little brats a lesson today, break their hands and feet, and then reconnect them!"

Seeing this, the Profound Heaven Sect disciples hurriedly stopped the angry River Spirit.

"River Spirit Senior, you can't chop them!"

"River Spirit Senior, calm down."

"If something happens to the people participating in the test, and it gets out, our Profound Heaven Sect's reputation will be ruined!"

Finally, Dai Bufan came forward to stop the furious River Spirit.

"River Spirit Senior, don't worry. The third test was designed by me, Dai Bufan. I will definitely be able to teach these two a lesson."

Seeing Dai Bufan guarantee to him firmly, the River Spirit gave up.

As the grand finale, the third test had two plans. One was proposed by Miss Yun Zhi, which was relatively gentle, and one was proposed by Dai Bufan, which was a bit cruel. Both could test the Dao heart. After everyone voted, they unanimously decided to choose Miss Yun Zhi's plan.

Miss Yun Zhi's plan was too gentle, and even if one couldn't pass, there was no punishment. To appease the River Spirit's anger, they could only choose Dai Bufan's plan.

Miss Yun Zhi didn't have any opinion on this either.

It would be good to let these two little guys suffer a bit.

The second stage screened out a large group of people. Facing the temptation of the three axes, many people followed their inner desires and deceived the River Spirit, saying that what they dropped were the Heaven-Opening Axe and the Mountain-Opening Axe.

They were screened out and left the illusion, complaining one after another that the Profound Heaven Sect's second stage was too difficult.

However, not everyone complained that the second stage was too difficult. For example, those who passed the second stage didn't complain.

"The second stage was quite simple," Man Gu said. "Just tell the truth."

The crowd waiting for the third stage nodded one after another, all saying the same thing as Man Gu.

"What? It wasn't to let us jump into the river and snatch the axes from the River Spirit's hands?" Meng Jingzhou shouted. Why was everyone else's method different from his?

Lu Yang rolled his eyes at Meng Jingzhou, thinking he was truly stupid: "If the River Spirit wasn't an illusion but real, wouldn't you have offended the River Spirit?"

"You should have been like me, asking for the River Spirit's axes and throwing them all into the river. That way, all three axes would count as being dropped by us."

Meng Jingzhou suddenly understood: "You are still the smart one."

Everyone silently watched Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou summarizing their experience and began to doubt whether their own passing methods were wrong?

Man Gu nodded slightly. He remembered his father saying that the Ancient Barbarians almost perished precisely because they were arrogant and unlearned. As descendants, they must overcome this shortcoming and learn humbly from others.

Man Gu felt he had found an object to learn from.

Just as everyone was discussing what the correct passing method was, Miss Yun Zhi, Dai Bufan, and other Profound Heaven Sect disciples appeared.

A smile hung on the corner of Dai Bufan's mouth. He flipped his palm, and a palm-sized mountain appeared. The mountain grew with the wind, and in just a few breaths, it grew to a height of a hundred feet.

Everyone whispered in admiration. This move was rare even among cultivators.

The mountain was densely forested and lush, no different from a real mountain. On one side of the mountain, there was a long climbing staircase leading directly to the top.

"This object is called the Heart-Asking Mountain, a strange object I asked an elder to refine. On the Heart-Asking Mountain, immortals and mortals are equal. What you need to do is climb the Heart-Asking Mountain. The higher you climb, the firmer your will."

"Climb to the fiftieth step, and you can pass."

Someone raised a question: "But in this way, wouldn't Man Gu have an advantage?"

The fifteen-year-old Man Gu had the physique of a twenty-five or twenty-six-year-old, a head taller than others. Climbing the mountain indeed had an advantage; his steps were wide, one step equaling two steps of others.

Dai Bufan laughed: "Don't worry about this problem. The Heart-Asking Mountain will pull everyone's physical fitness to the same level. Whether mortal or cultivator, in my Heart-Asking Mountain, everyone will become a mortal."

"Is there a time limit?" Someone else raised a question.

"No."

Everyone was happy. No time limit meant they could keep trying, right? Why worry about not passing the third stage?

Could it be that this third stage was just a formality?

"Can we use magic treasures?" They had special magic treasures bestowed by their clans, which could be used without spiritual energy, a great weapon.

Dai Bufan laughed with some schadenfreude: "Yes."

If the magic treasures could still be used. ===== CHAPTER 5 =====