C39

The morning mist had yet to disperse, but the bell from the Divine Profound Sect's Cliffless Hall had already resounded throughout the entire mountain peak.

Zi Ling, who had been cultivating quietly for an entire night, slowly stood up. She unhurriedly packed the refined pills and all the necessary items, then leisurely walked towards the direction of the stone tablet at the back of the mountain.

Restarting the trial monument was a grand occasion that happened once every ten years for the Divine Profound Sect. Therefore, early in the morning, the entire sect was abuzz with activity, and disciples of three to five groups could be seen everywhere.

The ringing sound of the bell echoed throughout the world. Only the elite disciples had the qualifications to enter the trial monument, and the rest of the disciples were all eagerly looking on.

When Zi Ling arrived in front of the trial monument, over a hundred elite disciples had already gathered. The Sect Master of the Divine Profound Sect, Huo Zhen, was standing on the stage as he solemnly looked down at the rows and rows of disciples below.

Once the trial tablet is opened, it will only reopen three months later. At that time, no matter what you guys are doing, you must put aside what you are doing and quickly come out. Otherwise, the trial tablet will close and you will forever be trapped inside. Huo Zhen told the most important matter to all of the disciples. The disciples knew that this would be the harshest and most dangerous event in history.

The legend of the Stele was too distant, to the point that even the current generation of disciples were unaware of it. However, through the Sect Master carefully opening the trial tablet, everyone could feel that this experiential learning was not so simple.

As Zi Ling listened to Huo Zhen's words, her gaze drifted to her surroundings before landing on a familiar figure on the high platform.

Deacon Ou stood up straight, hands crossed in front of his chest, eyes slightly lowered, making it hard for others to see his emotions. However, a smile suddenly appeared on Huo Zhen's face when he instructed the Elders to take out the sect's treasure.

The purple silk caught this smile just in time. In her heart, Deacon Ou was not a simple person. Firstly, he was Zheng Zhong, who could sneak into the human race, and secondly, he seemed to have connections with the Ye Family. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known about Ye Ling's background.

Because of these misgivings, from the moment she saw Deacon Ou, her attention had been on him. That strange smile allowed her to be certain that the other party must have done something, and that it was not a good thing!

The few elders had cautious expressions on their faces as they stared at Huo Zhen.

Huo Zhen had already made his decision. He nodded at the others, "Time's up, let's begin!"

The few elders glanced at each other before helplessly standing around to protect him.

A circular bronze mirror was placed in front of the trial monument. Everyone held their breath, and their gazes fell upon that solemn back.

Huo Zhen raised his hand as streams of profound mystical Qi flowed into the copper mirror. In the next instant, the light emitted from the copper mirror intensified, and an enormous pillar of light poured onto the trial monument.

Under the light pillar, the trial tablet emitted an ancient and heavy aura. The pitch-black body of the tablet absorbed the light that shot out, emitting a sparkling and translucent luster.

At this moment, Zi Ling's heart shuddered inexplicably. She hurriedly retracted her gaze from Huo Zhen's body and looked at the trial monument. He saw that after the Stele had absorbed the light pillar, it had become even darker like ink …

As for Huo Zhen, his face slowly turned pale white.

Time gradually flowed by. Although it was not long ago, everyone felt that it was incomparably slow in their hearts. Everyone could see the changes in the Stele. After absorbing the pillar of light, the body of the stele seemed to have come alive from a deep slumber. A hint of vitality could be seen within the vicissitudes of life.

Everything seemed to go smoothly, and the body of the monolith began to shine even brighter. As time passed, a faint vortex gradually appeared.

"Success …"

Some disciples could not hold back their excitement and shouted.

"Just a bit more …"

Just as the vortex tunnel was about to be formed, Huo Zhen suddenly took a few steps back and spat out a mouthful of blood onto the ground.

"Ah …" Many people exclaimed.

"Sovereign …" The few elders couldn't help but take two steps towards Huo Zhen.

However, Huo Zhen forced himself to hold on as he continued pouring Xuan Energy into his body.

"Disciples, prepare …"

It was already a critical moment. He was only one step away from restarting the trial monument. And restarting the trial monument only took an instant, so all the disciples had to be prepared to enter in time.

However, just as Huo Zhen finished speaking, his expression suddenly shook and his body flew out as if he had suffered a heavy blow.

"Sovereign …" The few Great Elders shouted out at the same time as they ran towards Huo Zhen from all four directions.

Having lost Huo Zhen's support, the bronze mirror placed in front of the trial monument began to shine weakly, as if it was going to disappear at any moment.

"Quick, continue. Don't let it disappear." Huo Zhen pointed at the light pillar that was about to disappear and said loudly.

The few elders hurriedly released Huo Zhen and made their move at the same time. When their Xuan Energy was poured into the bronze mirror, the light pillar that was faintly discernible lit up once again.

Huo Zhen did not care about his injuries at all as he stood at the very front, continuously channeling profound energy through his body.

Standing behind a group of deacon elders, Deacon Ou's smile became increasingly strange, as if he were carefully plotting something and was about to close the net.

If anyone's gaze was not on Huo Zhen, it could only be Zi Ling. She suddenly took a step forward. Under everyone's astonished gazes, her steps were steady but swift as she walked to the front of the monolith.

"I think I can help." She said to Huo Zhen.

Huo Zhen's face was ashen. He looked at the disciple that he just received and could no longer say anything. He could only wave his hand, signaling her to stop messing around.

Zi Ling pretended not to notice and smiled towards Deacon Ou's direction.

Deacon Ou who was hiding his body had a bad premonition as he saw this. In the next moment, Zi Ling's hands were pressed against the trial monument.

"Hua …"

The black body of the stone monument seemed to have sucked in all the moonlight as it exuded an ancient and heavy aura. Glimmers of light glimmered on the surface of the monument, as if it had been infused with a strong life force.

At first, Zi Ling wasn't sure if injecting spiritual energy would work, but it seemed that the mysterious energy was dragging her along as well as the thought of destroying Deacon Ou's plan, causing her to step forward without much hesitation.

At this moment, she was sure that there was something special about this monument. The spiritual energy she poured into it seemed to have filled a pool of stagnant water with fresh water, and it started to churn and churn.

Puff …

At this moment, Huo Zhen finally could not hold on any longer. After spitting out a large mouthful of blood, he fell backwards. The other elders were also injured by the backlash.

Zi Ling's gaze shifted from Huo Zhen and the others to Deacon Ou who was in the distance. The latter smiled deeply at her, as if to say: You won't be able to change the entire situation!

Is that so?

Zi Ling's eyes narrowed. She no longer probed for more spiritual energy, but gave it her all.

Having lost the support of Huo Zhen and the few elders, the Stele dimmed for a moment before it started to shine again.

Zi Ling's action caused a huge commotion among the disciples below.

"The Sovereign and several Elders couldn't restart the smelting trial monument, what is she doing?"

"You're courting death!" I think she's going to get a backlash soon. "

The majority were skeptical. Zi Ling didn't let her be distracted. At this moment, besides the reaction coming from the trial monument, she also didn't want Deacon Ou to have any more hopes of succeeding.

A steady flow of spiritual energy was sucked into the trial monument, causing the monument to glow even brighter.

"You overestimate yourself!" Liu Shuang let out a cold snort, as if she would see the backlash of Zi Lingbo spitting out blood in the next moment.

Some of the disciples who were on good terms with her also started to ridicule her. However, all of this did not affect the purple silk in front of the trial monument. She squeezed her eyes shut, and the familiar feeling grew stronger as she pressed her arm against the stone.

In her mind, there seemed to be a voice calling out to her, but the voice was very weak. She constantly released her spiritual sense and focused on listening, but in the end, she could not find anything.

Deacon Ou originally thought that everything was going according to plan, but who would've thought that there would be an unforeseen event. Just as he was thinking of a way to get rid of this variable, he heard a series of gasps coming from below.

He raised his head to look, and a huge vortex appeared in front of the test monument that was radiating a great amount of light.

"Quickly, all the elite disciples enter the trial monument." Seeing that the opportunity had arrived, Elder Lin immediately instructed the disciples.

Zi Ling turned her head to look at Deacon Ou who was gnashing his teeth but was at a loss of what to do. She smugly smiled at him and took the lead to rush into the whirlpool.

Behind her, the elite disciples followed one after another.

The number of disciples in front of the monolith continued to decrease. The anger on Deacon Ou's face slowly faded, concealing all traces of the storm in his dark eyes.

"Tell them to carry out the second plan." After instructing the others, he did not even glance at the Stele once more. He turned around and walked down the mountain.

In the blink of an eye, the purple silk had already entered the trial monument. In the next moment, other disciples of the Divine Profound Sect entered one after another and stood by her side.

Not too long later, Huang Ying, Gold, and Zhao Ting, who had arrived later, found the location of the Purple Silk.

"Junior Sister, how did you do it?" This time, Zhao Ting had no choice but to admire them. He had personally witnessed his Master and the elders expending all their energy to fail to open the trial tablet even after the backlash.

Zi Ling smiled slightly and said, "I only borrowed the contribution of Master and all the elders to kick my way in."

Zhao Ting wouldn't believe it, but he wasn't able to figure out the mysteries behind Zi Ling's body.

At this moment, more and more people gathered around him. Everyone noticed that they were on a wide platform. The edge of the platform was covered by fog, so they couldn't clearly see what was on the other side.

But there seemed to be a cover over them, and the mist could not penetrate it no matter how hard it tried. Some disciples curiously reached out their hands to touch the fog, but their entire bodies were sucked into it.

"What's going on?" Seeing this scene, Huang Ying subconsciously took a step back.

Zi Ling raised her head and looked around. She felt that there should not be any danger, and since there was no other way out, she extended her hand to touch the fog. Sure enough, a powerful suction force pulled her into the fog.

After she disappeared, Huang Ying, Jin and Zhao Ting followed into the mist.

Zi Ling's spiritual sense was sharp, and she soon noticed that there were a few people near her. Thus, she said, "This should only be the entrance to the trial monument. Follow me closely." After saying that, she carefully felt a sense of familiarity from a certain direction. After hesitating for a moment, she started to walk in that direction.

The fog covered an extremely wide area, and at first, she could still sense other people from the same sect. But now, Zi Ling could only sense the three people behind her.

"We've been walking for so long, but we still haven't left. Could we have been trapped in the wrong direction?" Zhao Ting was more rational and quickly raised his opinion.