Although the three cultivators had anticipated some danger, they never expected it to be so ferocious.
The three of them hesitated. Suddenly, the Early-Stage Nascent Soul cultivator with the scarred eyelid turned his gaze toward Yao Dai.
“With her here, Xie Tinglan will surely come. We might as well let them exhaust the Bloodthirsty Vines first.”
Yao Dai, currently dry-heaving in misery, knitted her brows. Realizing what they meant, her eyes widened in alarm. “Mmph!”
At that moment, the Nascent Soul cultivator stepped forward and pulled the rag out of her mouth.
“You knew about the clues I left in the cave!”
The Nascent Soul cultivator sneered, “You’ve only been cultivating for a few years, a mere ant trying to pull the wool over our eyes with your petty cleverness. Your foolishness will only get them killed.”
A rogue cultivator who could reach his level relied not just on talent, but on cautious calculations forged from crawling out of countless piles of corpses.
“...”
An icy chill ran down Yao Dai’s spine, her breathing trembling. Only now did she truly understand what Wen Li had told her before.
“Cultivation relies not just on talent, but on scheme and calculation.”
Only after being outsmarted did she realize the profound truth behind those words.
If they had intentionally allowed her to leave clues to lure Xie Tinglan and Master here, didn't that mean they had planned all along to use Master and the others as test subjects?
“You! Mmph!!”
Her mouth was stuffed once more. To prevent her from ruining their plans, they even slapped an Immobilization Talisman on her.
They hung her high from a nearby tree, making her extremely conspicuous.
It was obviously a trap, yet one that forced anyone concerned to step right in.
The three also set up offensive arrays and sealing arrays beneath and around the large tree. The array eyes and paths of survival all pointed toward the giant tree, forcing anyone caught in the trap to flee straight into the vines' attack range in their panic.
Once everyone entered, a barrier would immediately rise around the vines' attack range, leaving no escape!
Afterward, they set up a Spirit-Erasing Array outside the barrier and concealed themselves, waiting for their prey.
Yao Dai watched their scheme unfold with a pale face. Unable to move, she could only close her eyes. She felt deeply regretful of her own foolish cleverness, worrying that Master and Xie Tinglan would fall for the trap. At the same time, remembering Wen Li’s teachings, she forced herself to calm down quickly, analyzing potential scenarios and how to break the deadlock once they arrived.
If she ever gained control over the lives and deaths of others, she would surely be far more ruthless than them.
...
“Where are we?!”
A five-meter-tall tripod-bell hovered slowly in the air, with Wen Li and Xie Tinglan standing atop it.
Everyone stared at the underwater world beneath the lake in complete bewilderment. Even the rogue cultivators were stunned.
“Wen Li, are you here on behalf of the Zhaixing Sect to find the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit?” shouted Ye Mojin, who had regained consciousness below. “Since you want the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit, I won't compete for it! I can even help you take it, as long as you let me go. I can give you my Soul Blood and serve you as my master!”
“Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit? What’s that?” The Ziyang Sect disciples looked utterly lost.
Wang Xianlin caught on, looking at the other rogue cultivators trapped inside the tripod-bell with them. “You joined our sects not to train here, but for this Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit?”
With things having come to this, there was no longer any need for the rogue cultivators to conceal the truth.
“Why else do you think we all headed toward Cangxian Lake?”
Han Yanming, who was nearby, pressed further, “If you came for this fruit, then why are we here? If the three sects don't care about the trial competition and only want this fruit, why bring along disciples like us with lower cultivations without telling us anything?”
At these words, the other rogue cultivators also realized something, and someone voiced a suspicion.
“Weren't we told that the top winner could join the Xuandu Sect? You were probably brought in to help your sects secure the allocation of cultivation resources for the next century.”
The two groups simply had different purposes.
Seeing that Wen Li ignored him, the severely injured Ye Mojin’s eyes turned dark. The sense of unease in his heart grew stronger as he looked at the numerous disciples from the three sects around him who were heavily wounded and still unconscious, yet still brought along by Wen Li. Looking at the fact that practically every surviving cultivator was right here...
Suddenly, Wang Xianlin asked him, “What does the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit actually do?”
What does it do...
The fruit's effect... nourishing spiritual roots...
A flash of realization struck Ye Mojin's mind like lightning. His eyes widened as he stared at everyone, his complexion turning ghastly as the truth dawned on him.
“Tell me, what was your deal with the Ziyang Sect?”
“And you! What did the Zhaixing Sect tell you?!”
Disregarding the excruciating pain in his badly wounded body, he charged forward like a madman, grabbing those rogue cultivators with bloodshot eyes and demanding answers.
Though startled, the rogue cultivators saw no point in hiding it any longer and spilled the truth one after another.
“...The Zhaixing Sect told me that if I helped them find the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit at Cangxian Lake, I would take first place. This competition isn't about trial tokens, but about this immortal fruit!”
“What? The Second Elder of the Zhaixing Sect told me that if I found the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit, he would give me a High Grade Rank 1 pill to break through to Nascent Soul!”
“I heard someone say that there was a Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit in the Cangling Kingdom's Trial Realm that could nourish spiritual roots. I used helping the Ziyang Sect win first place as a condition to enter the realm and cultivate under that pretext.”
“Isn't the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit just a High Grade Rank 3 immortal medicine? How could it nourish spiritual roots?!”
When all the rogue cultivators sent into the Trial Realm by the three sects matched their stories, they realized the accounts completely conflicted. They had all been duped!
Hearing this, Ye Mojin understood everything. He collapsed onto the ground in a panic, suddenly recalling the Teleportation Talismans that Elder Huang Jue of the Wulei Sect had slapped onto them before they entered.
He reached out and pulled the talisman off with a trace of spiritual energy.
When he activated it, the talisman instantly vanished into thin air without triggering!
It wasn't a functional talisman at all!
Seeing this, Wang Xianlin hurriedly checked his own, which also dissolved into smoke. There was no longer any doubt.
“What?! The Teleportation Talismans are fake!”
The Teleportation Talismans that no one had ever doubted turned out to be fake. That meant after sending them inside, the elders of the three sects had no intention of ever letting them leave alive!
After all, no one would activate a Teleportation Talisman early for no reason; if it broke, they would be trapped inside forever.
“Why? Why would the sects do this to us? We are inner disciples! We were sent here to train!”
Several sect disciples began to break down emotionally.
Ye Mojin suddenly burst into wild laughter. “Hahaha! Hahaha!”
“What is there left to misunderstand?! From the very beginning, you were all discarded pawns—nothing more than bait to make us rogue cultivators drop our guard!” He looked at everyone with mockingly bitter eyes, laughing at himself as well. “The Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit is not some High Grade Rank 3 medicine at all, but a Supreme Grade Rank 1 treasure! It's a heaven-defying item capable of nourishing and repairing a cultivator’s spiritual roots!” Even Mahayana cultivators would probably turn green with envy.
Saying that, he staggered to his feet and looked up at Wen Li, who was gazing down at him.
“Wen Li! When you asked me about my deal with the Ziyang Sect, you had already guessed all of this, hadn't you?! Otherwise, you wouldn't have kept so many Foundation Establishment disciples around, dragging these dead weights along with you even after knocking them out or severely injuring them!”
The other disciples were bewildered. Han Yanming asked in terror, “What? Why did she bring us down here?!”
Although they now knew Wen Li had carried them along with ill intent, they had no idea why.
Ye Mojin continued to laugh like a lunatic, “Hahaha, why...?”
Rate on N.U.
