A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 359: Fortune and Disaster
Duan Rong, Ximen Kankan and Liu Shushan left Jifengbiandao by the pond. After walking for a while, they faintly heard the sound of clear wind chimes coming from not far away.

The three of them walked towards the place where the sound of the wind chimes came from. After walking around a few steep rocks, they saw a seven-story tower standing abruptly next to a cliff.

The tower was built of bricks and stones, with rough wooden beams. At first glance, it looked quite old and simple.

There are wind chimes hung on the four corners of the eaves of the tower. When the breeze blows, there is a clear jingling sound.

Obviously, there must be Taiyi Ling in that ancient tower.

The three of them walked towards the ancient tower. When they were about three meters away from the tower, suddenly a man walked out of the tower.

He was a young man with a pale complexion and a thin figure. When he walked out of the ancient tower, there was a gray look between his brows.

Judging from his expression, he definitely didn't get the Taiyi Order from the ancient tower.

The young man had just walked not far out of the ancient tower when suddenly a man jumped out from the dense forest next to it, shouting and grabbing the young man's sleeve.

The man who jumped out was half a head shorter than the boy who came out of the tower, but he looked very clever. He glanced at Duan Rong and the others with a flickering look in his eyes, then pulled the boy and said, "Come with me. There is a place for chess games in the dense forest."

The young man, whose face was originally gloomy, suddenly brightened up his eyes when he heard this.

"Chess?"

He grew up immersed in chess.

The two of them then moved and leapt into the dense forest.

Duan Rong, Ximen Kankan, and Liu Shushan were standing not far away and saw the scene clearly.

Ximen Kankan's eyes flashed with cunning. "A chess game? Shall we go and see it?"

"This..." A hint of hesitation appeared on Liu Shushan's face.

Duan Rong took one look at Liu Shushan and knew what he was thinking.

He suspected that the two guys were setting a trap to trick them. However, the third test prohibited killing and looting, so what was the point of their setting a trap?
Duan Rong said, "Brother Liu, killing and looting are prohibited here. There may be a chance for a game of chess in the dense forest. Why don't we go over and take a look?"

Liu Shushan's eyes moved. He didn't expect that Duan Rong could see through his doubts at a glance and even point out the bottleneck.

"Brother Duan is right. I was overthinking it."

As soon as Liu Shushan finished speaking, Ximen Kankan had already jumped into the dense forest. "If you two keep talking nonsense, they will disappear without a trace."

Duan Rong and Liu Shushan immediately moved and caught up with Ximen Kankan.

The three of them flashed in the dense forest, and soon they entered the depths of the forest.

The surroundings were obviously quieter.

From afar, they saw two vague figures in front of them flash behind a large rock.

The three of them also quickened their pace and dodged the huge rock.

Behind the big rock is a pine forest.

There are eight stone tables in the pine forest.

There was only a stone table, and two people were playing chess.

The other seven stone tables were each empty with someone sitting on them, and the two guys from before were each walking towards one of the stone tables.

Duan Rong's eyes moved slightly. No wonder the two guys didn't avoid them when they spoke. It seemed that there were still many vacancies in the chess game here.

But this place is indeed a bit remote!

Duan Rong looked around and sighed in his heart.

At this time, Ximen Kankan and Liu Shushan both walked towards the stone table in the pine forest. They each stood in front of the stone table, bowed slightly, and then sat down.

They had already started playing chess when Duan Rong walked over leisurely.

As soon as Duan Rong walked to the west gate Kankan, he saw that the registered disciple who had been sitting in front of the stone table before they arrived suddenly stood up and handed his sect's cloud certificate and assessment approval slip to the person opposite the stone table.

The man stamped his seal on the assessment approval slip and handed a Taiyi Order to the registered disciple.

The registered disciple was very happy. He put the sect's cloud certificate in his sleeve, stroked the token in his hand, and left happily.

The game of chess has just begun, and there is no sign of any clues as to what is going to happen with Ximen Kankan.

Duan Rong would visit Liu Shushan from time to time.

But here, not long after, three more people came.

After that, more and more people came.

It seems that there is no wall that is impenetrable. Although this place is remote, once the door is opened, people will flock to it.

The originally quiet pine forest soon became noisy. In front of each stone table, there were two or three people waiting.

When there are a lot of people, chess pieces will fall from time to time. Whenever Duan Rong sees them, he will quietly go over and pick them up.

In fact, when he was in Xiangu County, he also devoured many chess pieces' spirits. Initially, it was just to deal with Ximen Kankan's troubles when he wanted to play chess with him.

However, Duan Rong wanted to see at this time whether the chess pieces in this sect had higher spirit levels than those in Xiangu County.

However, after trying several times, Duan Rong was greatly disappointed.

The spirits of the chess pieces here are all blank. In other words, most of these chess pieces are new.

At this moment, Duan Rong discovered that Liu Shushan had squeezed out of the crowd holding a Taiyi Order.

Duan Rong's eyes moved and he said, "Congratulations, Brother Liu!"

Liu Shushan said with a smile: "Why should I be so happy? This is easy to get. To be honest with you, Brother Duan, although I have some experience in the art of playing chess, I am definitely not an expert. But it was not difficult to win the game just now!"

"Is that so?" Duan Rong's eyes moved slightly.

It seems that what he expected was not wrong. Since the pass rate of this third test was over 80%, there must be some place where people were let off the hook. It seems that this is one of them.

Not long after, Ximen Kankan also squeezed out from the crowd, holding the black Taiyi Order, and waved it in front of Duan Rong, saying, "How about it? I have one too."

Duan Rong smiled calmly and said, "Since everyone has gotten it, let's go find Xiao Yu, Shen Mizhi and the others. I wonder where they are now?"

"Brother Liu, do you want to join us?" Duan Rong looked at Liu Shushan and asked with a smile.

Liu Shushan said, "I have nothing to do anyway, so I'll go with Brother Duan and Brother Ximen. There are people I can talk to along the way."

Ximen Kankan said: "Liu Houzi, you have a good temper, a bit like a dead friend of mine."

"A dead friend?" Liu Shushan was slightly surprised.

"Yes." Ximen Kankan continued without hesitation: "His name is Jiang Qingyu."

The three of them walked out of the dense forest while talking. They didn't know where Xiao Yu and Shen Mizhi were, so they could only continue walking forward along the ancient tower beside the cliff.

This canyon is a long and narrow valley stretching for twenty to thirty miles. No one knows where Xiao Yu, Shen Mizhi and the others were lowered from.

As the three of them walked, they saw a rather strange-looking farmyard in a bamboo forest.

How could there be such a farmer's house in this valley? This place is obviously built.

They stood outside the farmyard and looked inside. They saw a pigpen in the corner of the yard with a big black pig inside, grunting.

In the middle of the courtyard, there was an old woman sitting there weaving cloth. She ignored the three people standing outside the courtyard and looking at her.

Duan Rong looked at the old woman, his eyes slightly moved. He believed that this courtyard must also be an opportunity point for Taiyi Order. However, this place was quite strange. Although the old woman weaving cloth looked kind, Duan Rong always felt that she was a little creepy for some reason.

Duan Rong didn't want to stay here any longer. When he was about to leave, he suddenly saw two graceful figures walking out from the bamboo forest.

Looking closely, it was Xiao Yu and Shen Mizhi.

Duan Rong, Ximen Kankan, and Liu Shushan immediately went to greet him. As soon as they met, they started chatting together.

It turned out that Xiao Yu and Shen Mizhi had each obtained the Taiyi Order.

In this way, they have all passed the third assessment and can leave the canyon.

Out of curiosity, Ximen Kankan asked about how Xiao Yu and Shen Mizhi got the Taiyi Order.

Xiao Yu said that the place where she obtained the Taiyi Order was by playing a Sudoku game, and she could get a Taiyi Order if she passed the level.

Duan Rong looked slightly surprised and asked, "You also know Sudoku?"

Xiao Yu rolled his eyes at him and said, "What's so strange about that? I've been good at this since I was a child. Why do you think the boss picked me when he checked the accounts at the escort agency?"

Duan Rong then remembered that he and Xiao Yu had checked the accounts at Yuanshun Escort Agency together.

It seems that Ruan Fengshan is not a general who will make random decisions.

"What about you?" Ximen Kankan turned his head and looked at Shen Mizhi and asked.

Shen Mizhi said: "I got it in a place that studies music. There are all kinds of musical instruments there, and the master plays them. You can pick any instrument and as long as you can follow his tune, you will pass the test."

Ximen Kankan looked at Shen Mizhi and asked, "When will you learn music?"

Shen Mizhi said: "My mother taught me when I was a child."

As Shen Mizhi spoke, her eyes turned sad and gloomy. Her mother died when she was very young, and her father was not around when her mother died of illness.

Ximen Kankan said: "Oh, so that's it. I thought you learned it in Huaying Tower?"

When Shen Mizhi heard Ximen Kankan say this, her eyebrows immediately stood up. Huayinglou is a famous brothel in Xiangu County.

Ximen Kankan knew that he had said something wrong, and when he saw Shen Mizhi getting angry, he immediately rushed out.

As soon as Ximen Kankan jumped out, Shen Mizhi had already chased after him.

As Ximen Kankan ran, he shouted, "Attacking is prohibited here. Don't break the rules!"

Shen Mizhi didn't listen to him and just kept chasing after him.

But Ximen Kankan had achieved the second level of true Qi realm after all, and Shen Mizhi could not catch up with him for a while.

Liu Shushan was a little surprised when he saw the two of them suddenly start chasing each other and Shen Mizhi glaring at him with hatred.

Duan Rong glanced at Liu Shushan and said calmly, "Huayinglou is a famous brothel in Xiangu County."

Liu Shushan exclaimed, and suddenly realized why Shen Mizhi was angry. He shook his head secretly, and sighed in his heart that Ximen Kankan was too outspoken.

The two chased each other for a while and finally stopped one after the other.

Shen Mizhi slowly returned to the team and started chatting with Xiao Yu. Ximen Kankan stayed several feet ahead, looking back from time to time as he walked, fearing that Shen Mizhi would chase him again.

They came to a cliff, stood on a high place, and looked into the distance. They saw a column of smoke rising from somewhere in the distance of the canyon.

The place where the smoke is coming from is the exit of the canyon.

They confirmed the direction and headed there.

As Duan Rong followed them, he fell into deep thought.

This third assessment is actually giving them the Taiyi Order.

Duan Rong finally understood at this time that the outer disciples he met in Xiangu County, such as Fan Yuanhai, Zhu Qunxiang and others, probably all had the Taiyi Order in their hands from this rift canyon.

Duan Rong couldn't help but think further. If the third test was to issue the Taiyi Order, then if he stepped onto the altar during the first test in the Valley of the Gods, he could be exempted from the third test.

Since the passing rate of the third examination is so high, what is the meaning of exempting the third examination?

Duan Rong touched the somewhat cold Taiyi Order in his sleeve pocket and suddenly thought of something. If he stepped onto the altar, he could be exempted from the third test, which meant that he would not be issued the Taiyi Order.

"Not issuing the Taiyi Order?!" Duan Rong's eyes suddenly moved.

At this moment, he finally understood the meaning of stepping onto the altar. Not issuing the Taiyi Order meant that he would not be allowed to be an outer disciple.

In other words, if he stepped onto the altar at that moment, he would directly become an inner disciple.

In fact, Duan Rong’s guess was correct, it was indeed like that.

If you step onto the altar, you don't have to worry about all worldly matters and can only focus on your practice.

This worldly affairs not only include various affairs in the secular world, but also many affairs within the sect. Moreover, almost all the resources in the sect will be tilted towards you.

Just because of one thing, that is, as long as you step onto the altar, there is a possibility of forming a Nascent Soul. Although, if you just step onto the altar without taking a step, the chance of forming a Nascent Soul is very low.

But no matter how low it is, it does exist.

As long as there is a slight possibility of forming a Nascent Soul, the sect will devote all its resources to fighting for that glimmer of hope!

Because, the strong people in the Nascent Soul Realm are the lifeblood of the sect.

Moreover, there is one more thing that Duan Rong would never be able to guess.

As long as you can step onto the altar, you can not only become an inner disciple immediately, but you can also follow the Taiyi Sect's ancestor Lu Yinlin and practice for twenty years. During these twenty years, Lu Yinlin will personally guide your practice.

One hundred and eighty years ago, the current Taiyi Sect leader Chu Qiushan followed Lu Yinlin and practiced for twenty years.

However, Chu Qiushan suddenly encountered an obstacle in his practice decades ago. He was stuck in the middle stage of Dongming Realm and could not break through. The reason why he later came out to become the sect leader was that he wanted to use the trivial matters of the world to temper his mind in the hope of finding another way to break through the obstacles.

However, fifty years later, he apparently had not made any breakthrough.

In fact, Duan Rong gave up stepping onto the altar at the last moment. At that time, he was not very clear whether it was a blessing or a curse, he just felt vaguely that something was wrong.

All I can say is that having sharp six senses can sometimes really save lives.

The decision on the part of Yang Sixian, the chief of the Zongzhengsi, is not the main issue.

Duan Rong’s biggest hidden danger is actually the blood core of the origin of the Filthy Blood Divine Art in his sea of consciousness.

Once he follows Taiyi Sect's ancestor Lu Yinlin to practice, the original blood core he hides in his sea of consciousness will definitely not escape the detection of Lu Yinlin, this old monster who has lived for more than a thousand years.

Moreover, once Lu Yinlin discovered the blood core in Duan Rong's sea of consciousness, he would definitely not let Duan Rong go.

Because the Divine Art of Filthy Blood is Lu Yinlin's Achilles' heel!

Fu Yi, the founder of the Divine Art of Filthy Blood, was once Lu Yinlin's most proud disciple.

Back then, Fu Yi not only stepped onto the altar in the Valley of the Gods, but also took two steps. Of course, this was more than 200 years ago.

Lu Yinlin believed that Fu Yi had a great chance of having a baby, so he gave all he knew to educate him without keeping anything to himself.

One year two hundred years ago, Lu Yinlin brought Fu Yi into the ruins of gods and demons.

It was in the ruins of gods and demons that Fu Yi obtained the Divine Art of Filthy Blood.

After coming out, Lu Yinlin warned Fu Yi not to practice it because he thought this skill was too evil.

But Fu Yi practiced secretly without Lu Yinlin's knowledge and killed many girls.

Later, Lu Yinlin learned about this matter. In his rage, he almost killed Fu Yi by accident.

After Fu Yi recovered from his injuries, he didn't know whether he was jealous of Lu Yinlin for almost killing him, or he couldn't let go of the Dirty Blood Divine Art. He eventually left the sect, lurked in the secular world, and founded the Dirty Blood Religion. He not only practiced the Dirty Blood Divine Art himself, but also passed it on to his followers.

The former beloved disciple, by some strange mistake, unexpectedly became his mortal enemy!

Lu Yinlin's hatred for the Dirty Blood Divine Art was so deep in his heart. If he found out that Duan Rong actually had the blood core of the Dirty Blood Divine Art in his sea of consciousness, and that Duan Rong had even achieved the second level of the Dirty Blood Divine Art, then the consequences for Duan Rong could be imagined.

(End of this chapter)