The man-eating flower looming in front of them was especially huge, four to five meters tall. Its stalk was so thick it would take two people with their arms spread to encircle it. A gaping, bloody maw yawned open like a bottomless black hole. It was downright terrifying.
At this moment, Tong Zhen had already been swallowed in a single bite.
Outside, Fu Yan wasn’t particularly worried about her. This man-eating flower should only be a second-rank beast. With a body as tough as Tong Zhen’s, there was no way she’d be afraid of something like this.
The man-eating flower, however, did not share that view. It stared at Fu Yan, who was standing on the ground with her sword in hand, and seemed exceptionally enraged. This was the person who had just chopped off all of its vines.
Without a second thought, it lunged and snapped its huge mouth down at Fu Yan.
Dragging its heavy body, it was nowhere near as fast as Fu Yan. She flipped lightly backward and dodged the bloody maw with ease.
Missing its target made the man-eating flower even angrier. It threw back its head and let out a crazed roar, and more green vines burst from behind it, whipping toward Fu Yan, trying to entangle her completely.
Fu Yan had already comprehended the second form of the Wuhuan Sword, and her Wind Shadow Step had reached the peak of minor completion. At this point she naturally wouldn’t be afraid of a few vines. She darted through the tangle of green, sword flashing.
Her sword rose and fell, and not a single vine managed to cling to her.
Dragging this out wasn’t a solution. Just as she was hesitating over whether to attack the man-eating flower from the inside, the giant flower suddenly began to thrash in place, its whole body contorting in a hideous struggle, as if it were in excruciating pain.
Fu Yan paused, then quickly realized Tong Zhen had made her move. A heartbeat later, she sprang back several steps without a hint of hesitation.
The next second, just as she’d expected, Fu Yan watched as the man-eating flower’s belly was forcibly torn open from within. A hole ripped wide, and a figure slowly stepped out.
Seeing the man-eating flower collapse to the ground in agony, Fu Yan flashed forward and swung her exquisite broken sword. One clean stroke took off the flower’s head.
At last, the beast’s aura completely vanished.
“You alright?”
Fu Yan sheathed her Linglong Broken Sword and walked toward Tong Zhen, speaking up as she approached.
Tong Zhen shook her head, looking a little aggrieved, as if she still hadn’t recovered. After quite a while, she finally lifted her gaze to Fu Yan and said,
“I was scared to death just now. I thought I was really gonna die. I almost crushed the bead the elder gave me.”
Fu Yan fell silent.
This girl really had that little confidence in her own strength?
From what she could tell, Tong Zhen’s background obviously wasn’t simple. Judging from her manner, she’d probably grown up with everything she needed. Her strength was impressive, but she had very little experience with real life-and-death combat.
On the cultivation path, though, hothouse flowers were useless. Only true tempering could bring about real breakthroughs.
“What’s that?”
Fu Yan suddenly noticed a red fruit in Tong Zhen’s hand, about the size of an apple. Just looking at it, she could already feel the dense spiritual energy contained within.
Tong Zhen froze, then glanced down at her own hand before slowly saying,
“I don’t know either. I just found it in the man-eating flower’s belly. Judging by the look… I think it might be a Scarlet Sun Fruit.”
The Scarlet Sun Fruit was a fairly rare spiritual fruit. It could strengthen a cultivator’s physical body, consolidating their realm and even helping them break through.
And this was a training ground the sect had deliberately set up; normally, fortuitous encounters wouldn’t appear here. Tong Zhen’s luck was quite good. Most likely the man-eating flower had eaten it somewhere and hadn’t had time to absorb it yet.
“Senior Sister Fu, do you want it?” Tong Zhen asked.
Fu Yan couldn’t help finding it a little funny. This kid was almost too straightforward. She could only say helplessly,
“This is your own chance. Keep it safe. Besides, this fruit will help you a lot. It’s not of much use to me.”
Tong Zhen nodded blankly. She had no intention of eating it for now anyway. After all, it had come out of the man-eating flower’s stomach. Even someone like her, who loved to eat, felt a bit queasy at the thought. But that was fine; she could sell it later and trade it for chicken drumsticks.
Before long, the two of them tidied up briefly and continued on through the trial.
The Bing-stage trial had four levels in total. The remaining two were fairly standard. Fu Yan’s strength had soared again, and she also had Tong Zhen with her—a girl with terrifying raw power.
So the two of them cleared the Bing-stage trial with ease.
When they walked out from the Bing-stage checkpoint, it was already afternoon. There were far fewer people outside now. Fu Yan didn’t think much of it and went straight to the registrar elder to collect her reward.
Five hundred lower-grade spirit stones and one True Qi Pill.
It wasn’t much, but even a mosquito was still meat. For Fu Yan right now, it was pretty decent.
“Well done.”
The registrar elder seemed in a good mood. He smiled as he praised Fu Yan and Tong Zhen, though in the end his gaze lingered on Tong Zhen, clearly thinking about something.
Leaving the training grounds, Fu Yan planned to head straight back to continue cultivating. She needed to completely consolidate her grasp of the second form of the Wuhuan Sword. Otherwise, any flaws would be easily exposed.
“Thanks for today, Fu Yan.”
Tong Zhen, who had somehow produced yet another chicken drumstick from who-knew-where, munched as she beamed at Fu Yan in thanks.
Fu Yan glanced at the drumstick in her hand, the corner of her mouth twitching uncontrollably. After a moment, she said,
“I didn’t actually help you with much.”
Now that she had a clear grasp of Tong Zhen’s strength, Fu Yan wasn’t even sure she herself could win for certain if they really fought. But Tong Zhen’s temperament still needed some serious honing.
“Can I still come play with you in the future, Fu Yan?”
Tong Zhen suddenly looked up at her with bright, watery eyes and asked softly,
“I just joined the inner sect. I don’t know anyone.”
Fu Yan wanted to say, they weren’t exactly close either. But in the end, she didn’t say anything.
In the days that followed, Fu Yan immersed herself in cultivation in her small wooden hut. As time went on, she grew completely proficient in both forms of the Wuhuan Sword.
Tong Zhen came by to look for her twice during that time. But seeing Fu Yan constantly in the middle of cultivating, she didn’t disturb her much. In fact, she was even influenced by Fu Yan’s diligence. She reluctantly put down her drumsticks and went back to train as well.
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
For the past two days, Fu Yan had been trying to break through to the mid-stage of the Aperture Realm. There were some signs of progress, but the breakthrough still refused to come. In the end she could only give up helplessly.
Breakthroughs had to follow their natural course.
Early in the morning, just as Fu Yan changed into her inner-sect robes and pushed open her door, she heard clear, ringing chimes coming from the main peak of the Shui Ling Sect.
At the sound of the bell, countless specks of light rose in the sky, all flying toward the main peak’s dueling arena. Today was the sect’s once-a-year inner-sect ranking tournament.
For a moment, Fu Yan felt a bit dazed. She hadn’t expected time to pass so quickly.
“Fu Yan, come on! The ranking tournament’s about to start!”
Tong Zhen suddenly popped up outside the courtyard, calling to her excitedly.
Because Tong Zhen was about the same age as this body’s original owner, and had only entered the inner sect a few days earlier than her, the honorific “senior sister” felt a bit awkward. Fu Yan had simply suggested they call each other by name.
Fu Yan returned to herself and answered,
“Let’s go.”
As the two of them flew on their swords, Fu Yan was still thinking about the details of today’s tournament when she suddenly heard Tong Zhen’s delighted voice at her side:
“Up ahead—looks like that’s Senior Sister Bai Li!”
Fu Yan paused slightly and lifted her gaze.
A familiar figure fell into her line of sight.
