After Faking Her Death and Escaping, the Junior Sister Fell to the Demonic Path - Chapter 33

Zhou Zhixue was panting heavily, hands on her knees, standing on the five-hundred-and-first step of the Heavenly Staircase.

The attribute-clashing attacks had given her quite a bit of trouble.

But now was not the time to rest.

She looked at her fellow disciples, one by one, who, like her, had crossed the five hundredth step but hadn’t paused, instead forging ahead.

There were so many people climbing the Heavenly Staircase; if she stopped now, how could she face her Senior Sister?

She gritted her teeth and took another step forward.

Time passed by, and the Elders who had been gathered to watch the excitement gradually dispersed, returning to their seats to close their eyes and rest.

To pay too much attention to a certain disciple was in itself a kind of bias.

Qin Qingyi sat firmly on the high platform, and even though she was worried, she could only wait.

This was only the first day; there were still six days of assessment to follow. She ought to appear more composed and demonstrate the demeanor of a Senior Disciple.

However, her fingers constantly tapping the armrest of her chair betrayed her anxious heart.

Venerable Wen Qing, annoyed by the tapping, simply flicked a Constraint Spell at her, holding her in place.

That brought some peace.

Qin Qingyi glared in response.

Time ticked by, the sun set below the horizon, and the moon gradually ascended.

This was the sixth hour.

“Isn’t anyone coming up soon?”

Some Elders began to whisper.

“This batch of disciples is frankly a bit slow.”

Qin Qingyi felt even more anxious upon hearing this.

But just moments after the words fell, a figure appeared at the end of the Heavenly Staircase, slowly approaching the finish line.

Everyone immediately sat up straight again, waiting patiently.

“Master, Master.”

Qin Qingyi called out softly.

Venerable Wen Qing, half-asleep, looked up, a little displeased: “What is it?”

Qin Qingyi desperately winked at her: “Master, quickly unbind me.”

Venerable Wen Qing realized, finally recalling the constraint she had placed on her disciple hours ago, and quickly removed the spell.

Qin Qingyi stretched her limbs, then explained to Venerable Wen Qing:

“I think the disciple about to finish the Heavenly Staircase looks like Junior Sister. Wait for her to come over, and I’ll take a closer look to see if she’s injured.”

This level of concern made everyone look sideways.

“You two have such good rapport, sleeping together every day, closer to each other than to your Master.”

Venerable Wen Qing snorted softly.

She recalled that when she first brought the little fox back, thinking she was young and her first disciple, Venerable Wen Qing considered raising her herself.

But the little fox utterly refused, kicking and biting whenever she was held, and at night she was even more restless, refusing to sleep peacefully.

After several days of this, Venerable Wen Qing felt an unprecedented mental exhaustion, yet the little fox herself was full of energy, like a wind-up toy at night.

Ultimately, Venerable Wen Qing’s patience ran out, and she had to let the little fox sleep in her own room.

She was even ridiculed by Shangguan Yu for this for quite some time.

Upon hearing this, Qin Qingyi, as if finally catching a chance, retorted: “Unlike you, you don’t teach your own disciple, instead throwing the responsibility to another disciple. The disciple doesn’t teach, the mountain peak isn’t managed. You’re happy to be idle, while your disciple is about to be exhausted.”

“Others still ask why my cultivation hasn’t improved over the years; your disciple is too ashamed to answer.”

Venerable Wen Qing was utterly embarrassed, but with all her colleagues around, she couldn’t possibly lose face to her own disciple like this.

So she simply widened her eyes, meaning: are you going to defy your Master?

Qin Qingyi stared back without backing down. So what if she was defiant today?

Dare you kill me?

Do you dare?

Venerable Wen Qing exclaimed “Aiya” and was about to roll up her sleeves to discipline her.

Seeing the two were about to start a fight, Shangguan Yu lightly coughed twice, interrupting the standoff.

“A disciple has passed the test.”

Sure enough, those words were the most effective.

Qin Qingyi and Venerable Wen Qing stopped bickering and simultaneously looked towards the end of the Heavenly Staircase.

A child stood there, her eyes shining as she looked in their direction.

Who else could it be but Zhou Zhixue?

Three thousand steps, six hours.

She had climbed up, the first disciple to ascend the Heavenly Staircase.

She was smiling, waving to Qin Qingyi.

“Junior Sister has passed!”

Seeing her successfully ascend, Qin Qingyi also stopped arguing with Venerable Wen Qing.

From a distance, she sent a private message to Zhou Zhixue: “Congratulations on passing, Junior Sister.”

Zhou Zhixue on the other end flashed a huge smile.

Although it was only the first trial.

But Zhou Zhixue covered her pounding heart, unable to suppress her excitement.

She was the first!

She was the first to climb up!

At this moment, a golden light appeared on the First Pass List hanging on the Sword Edge Peak, and Zhou Zhixue’s name was firmly engraved at the top.

Zhou Zhixue looked at her name, her eyes shining astonishingly bright.

After this, many disciples successfully climbed up one after another. Seeing that the first place had already been claimed, they all showed looks of envy.

Since she was participating in the Inner Sect Assessment and could not return to her peak before the assessment ended, Zhou Zhixue restrained her inner excitement, did not go forward to speak with Qin Qingyi and the others, but obediently returned to the rest area for participating disciples according to the rules, immediately starting to meditate and recover her spiritual power.

There were a total of six trials on the Heavenly Staircase; she had fought her way through them one by one, and the spiritual power in her Dantian was already exhausted.

There were still six days left, and she could not afford to relax.

Not until the prescribed ten hours had passed, and seeing no one else emerge from the Heavenly Staircase, did an Elder step forward and announce the assessment results.

“The assessment is over. 1538 candidates passed.”

“Another 541 candidates failed to ascend the Heavenly Staircase on time. The assessment is a failure. We hope you will try again next time.”

After the formal announcement, the Elder stepped back, leaving the time to the disciples who were mostly exhausted after passing the trial.

With a few hours remaining until tomorrow’s assessment, they had to race against time to recover their spirits.

The next day, in the talisman drawing trial, Zhou Zhixue’s name again took the lead, ranking first.

Moreover, she took less time than the others, and the completion rate of her talismans was shockingly high.

Looking at the talisman that Elder Chen specially brought out and loudly praised, some disciples found it unbelievable and came up to ask her how she did it.

Zhou Zhixue just smiled shyly: “I just draw talismans quite often.”

But when she said this, others did not believe her, scrutinizing her with questioning glances, all thinking she was holding back.

Until the third day, the spirit plant identification, Zhou Zhixue was first again.

She smiled shyly: “I just read books quite often.”

The fourth day…

Zhou Zhixue looked at her ranking, smiled shyly: “I just…”

Before she could finish, the rest of the participating disciples collectively took a few steps back.

Enough!

No need to say any more!!

They knew she was going to be humble again!!!

It was like this until the seventh day.

After the six previous days of trials, the number of those who had passed, compared to the thousands who started, was now only a little over a hundred.

Everyone looked around, seeing the familiar or unfamiliar faces of their fellow disciples, and thinking about the assessments over the past few days, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

This is great.

It’s finally coming to an end.

It was at this time that Shangguan Yu stepped forward and announced the final assessment—the Illusion Realm Asking Heart.

She stood outside the Sword Pavilion, looking at these brilliant talents who had overcome many obstacles and emerged from the multitude of disciples, and announced the new assessment rules.

“What was tested before were all courses that Sword Sect disciples learn daily, and cannot be considered a true test. Today’s final trial, however, is what Sword Sect disciples should truly strive to improve.”

Upon hearing this, many disciples widened their eyes.

“I remember previous assessments didn’t have this, did they? Why the sudden change this year?”

Qin Qingyi raised an eyebrow, quietly asking Venerable Wen Qing beside her.

Unexpectedly, Venerable Wen Qing also frowned: “I don’t know.”

Many disciples who had participated in previous Inner Sect Assessments were also whispering.

Shangguan Yu allowed the chatter below, not refuting it.

This year was indeed different from previous years.

In the past, the final part of the Inner Sect Assessment was a martial arts competition, a sword competition, where disciples would compete for ranking, and then choose which Elder they wished to apprentice under based on their rank.

But this year, the rules had changed.

The commotion lasted for a while but soon quieted down.

Rule changes were not up to them to decide. Since the Sect Leader had decided, and since no one knew about the rule change beforehand, in a way, this was even fairer.

“For a long time, my Sword Sect disciples who travel outside are mostly known for their martial prowess, and are greatly praised because of the Sword Sect’s name, which has caused many disciples to ultimately lose their original intentions and their cultivation to stagnate.”

“Some disciples go down the mountain and never return, indulging in frivolous pleasures; others disregard their own strength, forcing themselves to challenge stronger opponents, leading to injury and disability.”

As Shangguan Yu spoke, she observed the change in the disciples’ expressions. Seeing some flush with shame and lower their heads, she paused, then continued:

“This change in the assessment is to ask your own hearts what your original purpose was for joining the Sword Sect. The sword is inherently heartless, but the person who wields it has a heart. If the heart changes, how can one be worthy of wielding a sword?”

After she finished speaking, she stepped back, her expression indifferent:

“If you are ready, you may enter the Sword Pavilion on your own to seek the sword and question your heart.”

As if remembering something, Shangguan Yu added: “Of course, entering the Sword Pavilion is not only to question your heart; if you have a fortuitous encounter, you might even obtain a destined life-bound sword.”

As her voice faded, the disciples exchanged glances. Although the possibility of obtaining a life-bound sword was tempting, none of them dared to be the first to step forward.

The sudden rule change caught them off guard. The long-standing rule of ranking based on strength was suddenly changed to entering the Sword Pavilion to face their inner demons prematurely. Many disciples could not accept it immediately.

Qin Qingyi stood beside Venerable Wen Qing, pondering the matter.

Although the rule change was sudden, upon closer thought, Senior Master’s approach was not wrong.

After all, in recent years, she had vaguely heard that cultivators of the sword were now called “barbarians” outside.

When they encountered anything, they just knew how to “draw the sword.”

Constantly drawing the sword made them seem like war fanatics.

It was just short of saying that sword cultivators were brainless.

When they truly encountered something that “drawing the sword” couldn’t solve, they would likely have no choice but to admit defeat.

A single sword cannot break all laws.

Yet, many sword cultivators fail to see this.

The Illusion Realm Asking Heart, to put it plainly, was to let them face their inner demons early.

If one had an inner demon, discovering it in time meant it could be cut off while it was still nascent, preventing it from gradually strengthening over time, which would make it harder to handle later.

If one inherently had no inner demons, why would they fear a mere “Asking Heart” trial?

In any case, it could not be considered a bad thing.

A disciple quickly realized this.

“Going onto the martial stage is a fight, and going to question the heart is also a fight with an inner demon. What’s the difference?”

A bright-eyed woman stepped forward, unclasped the sword from her waist, placed it on the table in front of Shangguan Yu, and bowed to her with cupped hands:

“Outer Sect disciple Feng Ning, I dare to try!”

The first person to step forward always drew the most attention.

Even Qin Qingyi couldn’t help but observe her.

“Her temperament is truly commendable.”

She praised aloud.

Shangguan Yu was also observing her. Seeing no fear on her face, and her demeanor calm and decisive, she also gained a measure of admiration for her.

She nodded slightly, indicating that Feng Ning could enter.

Feng Ning straightened her back, ignoring the various gazes behind her, and walked directly into the Sword Pavilion.

Zhou Zhixue looked up at the extremely tall spire of the Sword Pavilion, her eyes stinging from the sunlight.

The Sword Pavilion was not a pavilion, but a tower.

A tower that housed half the famous swords of the entire Xuanshen Realm. The tower had nine floors, each with a guardian, watching over the swords on that floor and the sword spirits born from them.

Senior Sister had told her all this.

Senior Sister also said that inside the Sword Pavilion there were not only swords but also various rare materials suitable for forging swords, most of which were obtained by the Sword Sect’s ancestors in various secret realms.

Every disciple could enter the Sword Pavilion after reaching the Golden Core stage to choose a sword belonging to them, or a piece of forging material. Whether they got a sword or material depended entirely on luck.

She had not yet reached the Golden Core stage, so naturally, she had never been inside.

She just hadn’t expected that she would be entering to see it with her own eyes today.