599 The Exhausted Bai Zhong

As one of the esteemed guardians of the restricted areas, Bai Zhong's job was to maintain order within his assigned restricted area.

He had always been able to complete his role with aplomb, but this year's Immortal Spirit Tower trials had been especially hectic.

An Lin and Xu Xiaolan's monstrous strengths highlighted a major flaw within the Immortal Spirit Tower. Xuanyuan Cheng sent Shu Yu to the afterlife, thereby accentuating the lack of humanized management within the Immortal Spirit Tower…

Bai Zhong felt extremely exhausted. However, he was spurred on by having all these flaws pointed out to him. Perhaps he should thank all these students as they highlighted all the fallacies of the Immortal Spirit Tower to him in the most direct ways possible.

Liu Qianhuan had already defeated her opponent on the eighty-seventh level and received the Star-Crushing Palm from the Celestial Immortal as an inheritance.

Bai Zhong appeared before Liu Qianhuan and offered genuine words of congratulations.

She had definitely created a record by clearing level eighty-seven as a Half-Step Soul Formation Stage cultivator, and this was a clear indication of her strength.

Liu Qianhuan pondered for a while before selecting level ninety-one.

Bai Zhong didn't want to interfere with her choice, but his lips twitched slightly when he saw the badge she was picking up, and he couldn't help launch into another preaching rant. He told her that she had to stay grounded and not bite off more than she could chew. It was already quite a feat to be able to pass through level eighty-seven, and in his opinion, she should be progressing in a sequential order to gather two more inheritances.

To his surprise, Liu Qianhuan waved her hands and told him not to interfere with young people as everyone was a separate entity with their own ideas, opinions, and dreams. There was a generation gap between old people and young people, so old people should let young people make their own decision.

"A frog at the bottom of a well has no business offering advice to a fish in the sea. Senior Bai Zhong, I don't mean to offend you, I just can't think of any other analogies to express my emotions and elaborate on the issue of generation gaps…"

Liu Qianhuan went off on a rant of her own, and her preaching sermon had Bai Zhong rooted to the spot in silence.

She meant no offense? That was definitely a lie!

Shouldn't he be the one preaching to Liu Qianhuan? Why had the roles been reversed?

He suddenly realized that none of these students were people he could mess with!

Bai Zhong immediately teleported Liu Qianhuan to the ninety-first level without another word. As he left, he was still thinking about what Liu Qianhuan had said, and an inexplicable sense of sadness welled up in his heart.

On the eighty-sixth level, a pure white sword projection slashed through the air before slicing a man who had his whole body enshrouded in black mist in half. Boundless holy flames of a vermilion bird latched onto his body and reduced him to ashes.

A projection of the man reappeared before speaking in a satisfied voice, "Well done, Xu Xiaolan. You have successfully defeated me, and I will now be passing the inheritance of Heavenly Poison onto you."

Xu Xiaolan backtracked a couple of steps as an awkward expression appeared on her face. "Senior Ling Hujun, can… can I refuse?"

Ling Hujun's pupils contracted as incredulity appeared on his face. "You want to refuse my inheritance?"

Xu Xiaolan nodded with determination on her pretty face. "My bloodline is imbued with the power of fire and lightning, both of which are nemeses to all poisons, so there is no way the two powers could fuse together. Even if I were to obtain your inheritance, I wouldn't be able to make good use of it…"

Ling Hujun's body swayed as his heart throbbed.

Her logic was watertight, but he was once a high and mighty top-tier Celestial Immortal! Countless people once begged him for his instruction, but there was someone actively refusing his inheritance now? A strong sense of humiliation and indignation began to well up in his heart.

Bai Zhong immediately appeared on the eighty-sixth level after detecting the fluctuating emotions of the Celestial Immortal there.

"Congratulations to Student Xu Xiaolan for passing the trial of the eighty-sixth level," Bai Zhong announced as he forced a smile onto his face.

"Thank you. Um, Senior Ling Hujun, I really am sorry."

Xu Xiaolan bowed as she apologized once again.

Bai Zhong wiped the cold sweat on his forehead as he tried to smooth things over. "Some things are pre-ordained by fate and can't be helped. Senior Ling Hujun is extremely benevolent and forgiving, so he won't hold anything against you."

Ling Hujun's thunderous expression eased a little as he turned his eyes on Bai Zhong. "Of course I won't hold anything against such a young and promising cultivator. But can't you give the trial-takers some information on the level they are challenging? For example, what kind of trial there will be, what kind of inheritance can be obtained… I would've thought it was common sense, but I guess not… hmph!"

Ling Hujun's body slowly faded away. Bai Zhong was dumbstruck, and he stared off into space.

Had he just been scolded? Bai Zhong felt as if he was about to vomit blood. How was everything his fault?

He had initially planned to deliver another preaching rant to Xu Xiaolan, but he had to swallow all his words now.

An awkward smile appeared on Bai Zhong's face as he pulled out the numbered badges again. "You may choose the next level you would like to go to now."

Xu Xiaolan mulled it over for a short while before picking up the badge with the number ninety-five.

Bai Zhong's face convulsed slightly, but he managed to catch himself before saying anything.

Xu Xiaolan was a Soul Formation Initial Stage cultivator. Wang Xuanzhan was also a Soul Formation Initial Stage cultivator when he fell at level ninety-four. Was Xu Xiaolan so confident that she felt like she was superior to Wang Xuanzhan? She still had two chances left, so why was she being so rash?!

In the end, he abandoned any attempts at persuasion.

So be it. Experiencing failure was a mandatory part of everyone's cultivation path. Perhaps failure here would serve as a valuable lesson to her.

Xu Xiaolan progressed to the ninety-fourth level. Su Qianyun also passed the eighty-first level trial soon after.

Su Qianyun received the inheritance of the White Water Steps technique, and upon seeing Bai Zhong, she chose level eighty-three with elation on her face.

Bai Zhong almost wept tears of relief upon seeing this. He had finally met someone who he didn't feel the need to preach to!

Su Qianyun didn't really have much ambition. All she wanted to do was to stay grounded and collect more inheritances. This was more important to her than challenging any of the higher levels.

On the ninety-first level, sword intent swept through the frosty air.

A Celestial Immortal wielded a green longsword as sword projections rippled through the air like green water, leaving a series of dazzling trajectories in their wake. The sword projections were imbued with the Dao of unyielding persistence, which was exemplified by the analogy of dripping water penetrating through a stone. Each of his mystical sword projection tore gashes into the realm of extreme frost en route to Liu Qianhuan.

Liu Qianhuan was completely on the back foot as she defended herself frantically against the countless sword projections with her frosty longsword, but she was unable to stage any counterattacks.

"You have the Ancient Sword Dao Physique as well as a perfected domain. Why aren't you at the Soul Formation Stage yet?"

The sword-wielding Celestial Immortal thrust forward with his sword as the immense penetrative power imbued within his sword instantly broke through Liu Qianhuan's domain of extreme frost before landing on her body.

Liu Qianhuan flew back like a cannonball before tumbling to the ground as she panted heavily.

"Why are you afraid of taking that final steps? What kind of obsessive notion has forced you to falter at the final hurdle?" The man walked toward Liu Qianhuan with confusion etched on his cold features.

"Shut up and fight!" Liu Qianhuan gritted her teeth as she stood up. She pointed her frosty longsword at her approaching opponent while standing tall and proud with a biting frosty emanating from her body, as if her body were a powerful divine sword.

The man ignored Liu Qianhuan as he continued talking in a slow voice, "In the Dao of the sword, one can attain immortality through obsession. If you can't do that, why don't you use your sword to slice through it all? I'm sure you're capable of something like that."

Liu Qianhuan's body trembled as she was suddenly rooted to the spot.

Sometimes, when one was lost, it would just take one sentence from an observer with a keen eye to point one in the right direction.

Perhaps she had thought of this method before, but she would always subconsciously ignore it.

For a person to appear at this time and brutally dispel all her confusion to show her the right path, she had no choice but to consider that path…

After a few seconds of dumbstruck silence, a vibrant smile appeared on Liu Qianhuan's face. "Alright. Since you put it that way, I'll make a breakthrough for your viewing pleasure!"