fairy family

Chapter 187 Immortal Ladder Selection, Exorcising Demons and Accumulating Merit
"Nine Dragon Waterfalls in the Immortal Garden?!"

Nearly ten thousand examinees all suddenly raised their heads to look at the sky-covering waterfall outside the cloud boat.

Surrounded by clouds and mist, with shimmering water, the waterfall cascades down in nine tiers, splitting into several streams, as if the sky itself had been pierced.

Yu Que gazed at it, and couldn't help but murmur, "Truly, it seems as if the Milky Way has fallen from the ninth heaven."

He casually recited a line of poetry, which did not cause any commotion around him. The other candidates were all restless and constantly craning their necks to watch this magnificent scene.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, after the martial arts immortal Yuan Wu issued his command, he hovered high in the sky, turned around, and bowed once more towards the Nine Dragon Waterfall:
"Disciple Yuan Wu respectfully requests the Immortal Ladder."

The rustling sound of the waterfall was even louder in everyone's ears. The water that had been cascading outside the boat suddenly split into dozens of streams and fell onto the cloud boat.

An uproar erupted at the scene, and many candidates hurriedly dodged, lest they be hit by the flying waterfall.

The waterfall cascaded onto the cloud boat, causing it to lurch forward, but thankfully it didn't capsize.

Amidst the chaos and clamor, Yuan Wu remained calm, immediately flicking his sleeve and pointing to the dozens of small waterfalls cascading onto the boat, he shouted:
"Those who wish to enter the examination hall shall ascend this celestial ladder on their own."

This palace examination is limited to three days. Anyone who can subdue demons and restore the immortal garden in the Nine Dragon Waterfall will receive merit.

Three days later, the rankings will be determined based on the amount of merit accumulated.

After saying these words, Yuan Wu sat cross-legged in mid-air, closed his eyes slightly, and said no more.

Nearly ten thousand test-takers pondered these words. Some looked at the waterfall hanging above the boat with troubled expressions, while others were excited and shouted loudly:

"I will obey the orders of my predecessors!"

Whoosh! Immediately, some people headed towards the waterfalls on the boat, boldly attempting to climb upwards against the current, unafraid of falling to their deaths if they ran off the boat.

However, nearly half of the people didn't even take a step. Their bodies were swept away by the waterfall and they fell onto the deck, soaking wet, becoming like drowned rats.

Nearly half of them, after leaping a few steps, also jumped back onto the deck with troubled expressions, failing to successfully ascend the ladder to heaven.

This situation has put the test takers in a difficult position.

They immediately understood that there were hurdles to overcome in order to participate in the martial arts examination. If one couldn't even climb the "ladder to immortality" mentioned by the examiners, then one wouldn't even be able to enter the examination hall, and the only outcome would be failure.

After a brief commotion on deck, sneers and mocking voices immediately followed:
"Make way, everyone, don't block the way."

"If you can't even climb the ladder, you might as well give up on the exam and go home to sleep. Otherwise, you might fail to exorcise the demon and end up dying in the fairy garden, which wouldn't be good."

With a whoosh, several figures appeared, some with radiant light emanating from their bodies, others casting spells, all soaring into the air and effortlessly disappearing into the source of the waterfalls, their bodies vanishing into the clouds.

The first batch of candidates were clearly from prominent backgrounds, and they all displayed their standing techniques with an air of nonchalance.

Yu Que stood on the deck, observing carefully, and soon saw the second batch of candidates enter the examination hall.

There were more of them, but most of them used the method of stepping on their own right foot and using the waterfall as a ladder to disappear into the clouds.

Seeing that no screams came from the clouds, Yu Que felt a little relieved and, without further hesitation, also jumped towards the Nine Dragon Waterfall.

His legs stepped into the cascading waterfall, and it truly felt as if he were standing on a ladder. The power to control the water gathered beneath his feet, and he quickly climbed upwards, disappearing into the clouds.

After him, nearly ten thousand candidates put in their best efforts to climb that ladder of immortality.

A few hours later.

About 30% of the candidates, after repeated attempts, either lacked the necessary magical power, or lacked the appropriate means, or chose to give up voluntarily, all remained on the deck looking dejected.

Although no more candidates entered, the martial immortal Yuan Wu did not remove the celestial ladder, but instead allowed the waterfall to wash over the cloud boat.

Although each palace examination has a quota for those who die, and no special treatment is given to the immortals taking the exam, it is only proper to leave them a way out if they want to retreat.

As no more candidates went to take the exam, Yuan Wu stretched out his palm and swung it towards the dozens of waterfalls on the cloud boat.

Its magical power transformed into a red light, which swirled above the waterfalls, creating a mirage-like scene where an illusion appeared above each waterfall.

These illusions reflect the scenery within the Nine Dragons Waterfall, flickering and changing repeatedly until the figures of examinees emerge, at which point they become stable for a few breaths.

The immortals, both large and small, waiting in the cloud boat also cast their gazes upon the various illusions.

The old leader and his friend with the bulbous nose looked at him, scrutinized him several times, and he sighed softly:

"As expected of a Dao Palace that has existed for ten thousand years, its foundation is indeed profound. Such a celestial garden and secret realm is rarely entered by many people, yet you have managed to use it as an examination hall."

The old leader was a sharp-eyed and discerning man. He recognized the spiritual energy within this fairy garden from the various scenes at the Nine Dragons Waterfall.

Any candidate who enters the examination room, even if they do nothing but meditate and absorb spiritual energy for three days, will gain a great deal.

One day in the secret realm is equivalent to a month's worth of effort in the outside world.

Upon hearing this, the man with the red nose yawned and said calmly:

"It is merely a remnant of ancient immortals. It has been destroyed for ten thousand years, and the immortal energy has long since dissipated, leaving only residual spiritual veins."

If disciples weren't sent in to clean from time to time, who knows how many evil spirits would have bred inside, turning the Immortal Garden into a ghost town.

"That won't be good; it'll just be tricky."

Upon hearing this, the old leader's eyes lit up, realizing that Huangshan Taoist Temple's move was a win-win situation.

Choosing such a dilapidated fairy garden as the examination venue not only allows the examinees to gain some benefits, but also allows them to take advantage of the situation and tidy up the fairy garden.

Suddenly, the old man thought to himself:

"Isn't this kind of test, which involves refining demons and restoring the immortal garden, exactly what we refiners want?"

It seems the youngsters in the guild who took the exam this year are all quite lucky. That Yu family kid, his luck is even better; even if he doesn't become a true disciple, he should still be among the top.

………………

the other side.

Yu Que was in the clouds and mist. After walking several hundred steps, he suddenly felt his body stumble and a chill ran through him. He thought he was about to fall from the sky.

But the next moment, a slightly familiar feeling of dizziness appeared in his mind.

When he came to his senses again, the clouds around him thinned, and solid ground appeared beneath his feet.

Looking around, Yu Que found himself in a pastoral landscape, with shimmering water all around and rolling mountains in the distance, shyly hidden in the thin mist.

The place where it stands is a terraced landscape, except that the shallow water in the terraces is not filled with rice, but is just a pool of clear, crystal-clear water.

"Is this... the secret realm of the Immortal Garden?" He looked around and couldn't help but sigh softly, feeling quite amazed.

Compared to the previous cave dwelling, the current Nine Dragon Waterfall Immortal Garden can be described as a world of its own.

If it weren't for the fact that what was above Yu Que's head wasn't the sky, but rather ripples like the surface of water, he would have thought that he hadn't entered the secret realm, but had fallen into some scenic spot in the Huangshan Mountains.

What excited Yu Que even more was that he took several deep breaths, a hint of greed flashing in his eyes.

"This place is imbued with spiritual energy!"

After checking repeatedly, he was certain that he had not misjudged the situation.

The air around was filled with spiritual energy similar to that of the previous cave dwelling, or rather, the spiritual energy here was even more concentrated than that of the cave dwelling.

Yu Que suppressed his excitement and scanned the terraced fields around him. He immediately noticed that each pond was not completely empty.

Within the crystal-clear water, transparent fish swam as if they were floating in the air.

With a splash, Yu Que immediately used his magic to lift up a water ball.

He pinched a thumb-sized fish out of the water sphere, examined it several times, and then put it directly into his mouth, chewing and swallowing it.

With his eyes closed, he discovered that the fish had been digested into a spiritual liquid in the first layer of his stomach, emanating a pure and nourishing aura.

"nice one."

Yu Que opened his eyes and immediately uttered a soft word of praise.

He looked around, and a surge of greed rose in his heart.

If he can catch enough of these small fish here, this trip to the palace examination will be worthwhile. He might even be able to accumulate enough spiritual energy to reach the eighth rank in one go.

However, despite the changes in his expression, Yu Que managed to suppress the greed in his heart.

"My current cultivation level is already at the lower level of the eighth rank. Before obtaining the Six Organs Diagram, I should not rashly improve my realm. Why should I be attracted by these external things?"

The palace examination will only last three days. I must slay many evil spirits, obtain the necessary credentials, and accumulate merit!

Immediately, he simply scooped up two mouthfuls of water from the pond, then ignored the spirit fish scattered all over the place and began to swim around to see what evil spirits could possibly exist in such a beautiful and spiritually rich place.

His action, projected onto the illusions outside the fairy garden, was only momentary, but it was immediately seen and recorded by the ghosts, gods, and immortals on the cloud ship.

The other candidates who, along with Yu Que, landed in the Land of Spiritual Beauty, also made their own choices.

Some people, tempted by the spiritual objects, used their magic to gather up everything around them that had some spiritual energy; others simply built huts and dug caves in places rich in spiritual energy, looking like they were setting up camp and preparing to devote themselves to cultivation.

Some people disregarded the spirits around them and immediately took out their magical implements to patrol the vicinity, trying to purify the evil spirits.

Thousands of test takers, a diverse array of individuals, made different choices.

Yu Que quickly found a place that resembled an evil spirit at his lodgings.

It was a pond bubbling with black mud, and the dozen or so ponds nearby had also been eroded by the black mud, becoming foul-smelling and polluted with spiritual energy.

Traces of ghosts can still be found in the black mud pond, and it seems that monsters and ferocious beasts have already been born inside.

After testing the waters a few times, Yu Que did not act rashly. Instead, he took out a bamboo pole and used the small fish he had caught earlier as bait, casting it into the black mud pond like a fisherman.

Before long, a rotting snake-eel emerged from the black mud pond, swallowed the small fish whole, and bit through the bamboo pole.

Upon seeing Yu Que, the creature not only did not back down, but its eyes flashed with ferocity as it pounced directly at Yu Que.

Yu Que narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a low voice, "An eighth-rank ferocious beast."

The next moment, he unleashed a thunderous attack, sending out a sword that pierced directly into the beast's mouth, splitting it in two.

After killing the fiend, Yu Que took a look at its flesh and blood, and his brows furrowed.

Unlike the ferocious beasts he encountered in the outside world, the beasts here were filled with evil energy even in their flesh and bones.

Its spirit is extremely vicious, and it would take a great deal of effort to remove its evil energy and transform it into a ghost or god.

Moreover, in the darkness, Yu Que felt a chill towards the spirit of this thing, and subconsciously resisted refining it into a ghost or god.

After hesitating for a moment, Yu Que extinguished the spirit of the creature. He had no intention of putting it into the black gourd, but instead scattered it around to avoid exposing his privacy.

He merely followed orders, taking a wisp of evil energy from the ferocious beast and suppressing it in the ancestral temple as evidence to be handed over later.

As for the flesh and blood of the ferocious beast, he divided it into several pieces and threw them all back into the black mud pond, arranging them into a nine-palace eight-trigram formation.

He kept only the skeleton of the snake eel and fed it to the White Ridge Sword.

The Tai Sui lineage is not averse to either meat or vegetables. Such bones tainted with evil energy will not only fail to affect his natal sword embryo, but will only add a few more traces of malevolent energy to it.

Immediately afterwards, Yu Que chanted incantations and destroyed the snake-eel's nest, causing all its evil energy to leak out and no longer be able to gather into a pile. After leaving a seal, he drifted away.

The rest of the day.

While subduing demons and monsters in various places and resolving the situation where ferocious beasts were born and evil energy gathered, he also familiarized himself with the environment of the fairy garden.

In addition, Yu Que also met some other candidates.

However, on their first day there, everyone was cautious and busy exorcising ghosts and demons. After only a brief encounter, they hurriedly avoided each other and left.

It wasn't until the end of the first day, when thousands of examinees had filled the entire Immortal Garden, that friction began to emerge.

But all the people around them were doing was forcibly seizing spiritual objects and ostracizing others.

At this time, Yu Que had been subduing evil spirits all the way, and had already suppressed nearly ten evil spirits in his ancestral temple. He felt that his performance in the palace examination was promising.

When he subdued the eleventh ferocious beast and captured its evil aura in the temple again, his ancestral temple suddenly began to vibrate.

In his alarm, he saw a column of evil smoke rise from above his head on its own, and no matter how much he used the power of the ancestral temple, he could not conceal it.

Looking at the column of smoke above his head, Yu Que's expression changed, and he thought to himself:

"Oh no! They're waiting for us here."

Such plumes of smoke could be vaguely seen from a mile away, immediately attracting a lot of attention.

(End of this chapter)