Xiuxian: But It's Not a Game

Chapter 160 The Trial Begins and the Rules
He ultimately didn't want the jade gourd; it contained a Primordial Limitless Pill, which he already had two of.

Moreover, he obtains a batch of thousand-year-old Vermilion Fruits every year, and his second sister-in-law is skilled at refining the Primordial Limitless Pill, so he will never lack anything in this regard.

Four days passed in the blink of an eye. When they woke up early that morning, they found that their master, Jin Yinian, had already returned.

Looking at this disciple who was highly valued by his master and had the potential to become an immortal, Jin Yinian felt quite complicated.

It would be a happy thing to have a good apprentice, but the thought of having to work to support the apprentice made him, who was used to being free and unrestrained, feel very uncomfortable.

But this order came from his master, Xuanwei Daoren, who rarely gave such a strict command that he had to obey, and he was not allowed to slack off.

"Ugh!"

There was no way to resist, so I could only console myself that I would be free once my disciple passed his tribulation, and then I could continue to lie down.

Having figured it out, he waved to Su Yu:

"Come on, I'll take you there."

The master and his disciple took to the air and flew towards the top of the suspended mountain. After passing through the clouds, they saw an upside-down mountain peak with swirling clouds and mist on its summit, where a palace stood.

He looked around and saw figures constantly passing through the clouds and landing in front of the palace on the mountaintop. Jin Yinian flew towards the palace with Su Yu, introducing it to him as he did so:

"The town's teaching inheritance trial is held every six months, and all those who registered in the first half of the year will begin their trial on this day."

"Generally, there are only one or two spots available for each trial, but there are estimated to be dozens of applicants, making the competition quite fierce."

"Of course, I believe you can secure a spot, but you must not underestimate others. If you are careless, you may fail."

Su Yu said earnestly:

I won't give them a chance!

"My disciple, you are very steady and reliable. I am at ease with you."

As they spoke, the two landed at the palace gate. Jin Yinian's serious expression quickly disappeared, and he waved to the many fellow disciples who were standing at the gate with a smile.

"Senior Brother Wang, you've arrived! Is this your disciple? Wow, he's quite the handsome young man. He's sure to be the champion in this trial."

"Hello, Senior Brother Li. Is this your new disciple? He seems quite extraordinary. Go easy on my disciple when you run into him later."

"My apprentice? He's just here to make up the numbers. He's only been a student for a year. There aren't many spots left in this year's class, so I'm letting him get familiar with things first. We'll see how he does next year."

"Really, why would I lie to you? I'm so bad myself, how good could my apprentice be? Even pearls aren't this precious."

"Oh, Senior Sister Qi, is this your new disciple? She's so beautiful! Does she have a Daoist partner? I have a disciple, who is she?"

Su Yu listened to her master's words, keeping her head down and not daring to look up.

It's clear that Master is very well-connected within the sect; he greets and exchanges a few words with almost every fellow disciple who comes over, and they all seem quite familiar with each other.

But
Su Yu kept her head down the whole time, maintaining a smile with her lips pursed, and only breathed a sigh of relief after entering the hall.

Upon entering the hall, Su Yu immediately noticed seven seats at the head of the table, where three people were already seated. A faint aura of immortal light enveloped them. Su Yu's gaze fell upon the three, two of whom were Earth Immortals with a level exceeding two hundred.

The remaining one, though not an Earth Immortal, is a top expert with a level exceeding 190.

In the center is the Grandmaster, the Xuanwei Daoist, the head of the Suspended Mountain.

On the left is the Old Ancestor of the Wandering Dragon!

He is the second-in-command of the Suspended Mountain.

Through the celestial light, one could see that the appearance of the Old Ancestor of the Wandering Dragon was not much different from that of the Grandmaster. Both had white hair and beards and an air of otherworldly elegance. However, one could sense with the naked eye that one of them had a stable and powerful aura, while the other had a deep and heavy aura like that of an old man in his twilight years.

Jin Yinian's expression turned serious after entering the main hall. He led Su Yu to find a place to stand below.

There were already quite a few people in this spot, and Su Yu recognized them all; they were his grandmaster's other disciples, that is, his many senior uncles.

He was very courteous, greeting each of his senior masters one by one, and then stood obediently at the back without saying a word.

Although he kept a low profile, he could feel many eyes on him.

Curiosity, scrutiny.

"Could it be that everyone already knows about my master giving me special tutoring?"

As time went by, more and more people arrived, and the remaining four of the seven seats at the top were also taken.

There are a total of five Earth Immortals and two top-level experts who are not Earth Immortals but whose level exceeds 190.

The Suspended Mountain is only one of the twenty-three branches of the Xuanzhen Immortal Sect, yet its overall strength is already comparable to that of the Flying Star Sect, which dominates the Flying Star Islands overseas. It is truly formidable.

Once everyone had arrived, a clear bell rang out, and the Grandmaster's voice rang out:

"Today is the day of the Suspended Mountain Inheritance Trial. All disciples who have applied for the trial, please come forward."

Jin Yinian nudged Su Yu's shoulder:

"Go up there, don't be shy!"

Su Yu nodded slightly and strode out from the crowd. More figures followed, and within a dozen seconds, 38 young disciples had gathered.

These young people are all energetic and spirited, with an aura and presence far exceeding that of ordinary people.

Upon seeing this, Master Xuanwei stroked his beard and nodded, then said in a deep voice:
"You are all the contemporary elites of our Suspended Mountain, each with superb cultivation, which is very gratifying to me. However, the inheritance is limited, so we can only select the best among the best. The patriarch has decreed that the younger generation should obey the patriarch's decree and use the patriarch's inherited trial method to select elites to inherit the supreme Xuan Ting treasure of our sect."

"According to the trial rules, there are four stages in total."

"First test: Righteous disciple. As a righteous disciple, how can you not have merit? All disciples need to accumulate merit within six months." "Second test: Devoted to the sect. As a disciple of the sect, you need to consider the sect's interests. All disciples need to accumulate sect contributions within six months."

"The third challenge: Exorcising demons and monsters. As the righteous disciples, you need to exorcise demons and monsters. All disciples need to kill demons and monsters with negative merit within half a year."

"The fourth challenge: a battle of magic. As the leader of the disciples, one must have the strength to command respect. After six months, the ten disciples with the highest combined scores in accumulating merit, sect contributions, and demon-slaying will compete in a battle of magic in front of the Ancestral Hall."

"There are two spots available for this trial. I hope all disciples will do their best!"

After speaking, Xuanwei Daoist waved his hand, and dozens of streams of light flew out, landing on the disciples and forming a complex talisman. The Daoist's voice rang in their ears:

"The inheritance trial will be jointly supervised by all sect leaders. No one may ask elders for help, hire cultivators above the Loose Immortal level to assist, or privately interfere with or disrupt others' missions. Violators will be punished according to sect law."

All the disciples responded in unison:
"Disciple, please remember this!"

Xuanwei Daoist turned to look at the remaining powerful figures at the head of the table and asked:
"Do any of you fellow disciples have anything to add?"

All the bigwigs shook their heads and waved their hands.
Master Xuanwei nodded, then turned and waved to them:

"Then, the trial shall now begin. Disciples, proceed!"

The crowd bowed and withdrew one by one.

The trial had begun when they stepped out of the main hall.

Outside the main hall, 38 young men and women dispersed, their eyes gleaming as they sized each other up, while some left as soon as they stepped outside.

Although they belong to the same lineage, everyone is now a competitor, so there's nothing more to say.

Su Yu cupped her hands in greeting to the crowd and then strolled away.

He opened the panel halfway through, and there was a prompt on it:
"Warning: You are under the influence of the Shadow Immortal Talisman; your every move will be known to others!"

This thing will be present throughout the trial, monitoring their every move and clearly showing whether they are cheating.

As talismans crafted by true immortals, they cannot be shielded by their abilities.

Apart from that, there are no other restrictions. In theory, they can do anything now, including leveling up.

Su Yu did not return to Fengyun Dao Academy, but instead sent a message to Ding Lingyu, and then left Xuankong Mountain and headed straight for the mountain gate.

After waiting for a while at the mountain gate, a figure flew down beside him; it was Ding Lingyu.

At this moment, Ding Lingyu was no longer as spirited as before; he looked extremely dejected, as if he had suffered some kind of blow.

Su Yu knew what he was disappointed about. It was probably because he had failed the inheritance trial in the first half of the year, and his family had suffered a great loss in the trial competition.

Su Yu asked, somewhat puzzled, the question that had lingered in her mind for a long time:

"This Inheritance Trial is held every five years, and each person can participate in a total of three times. Why don't you wait until the next one to participate?"

Ding Lingyu let out a soft breath, sighed deeply, glanced at Su Yu for a moment, and said:
"You don't know that different generations will have different benefits in obtaining the lineage's inheritance through the inheritance trial. The disciples who participate in the inheritance trial in the first generation and succeed will definitely be direct disciples of this lineage and will receive the highest level of training from the lineage."

“In the future, when there are changes in leadership within the factions, unless someone advances to the Earth Immortal level first, the leaders of each faction will definitely be selected from disciples of this level.”

"Well"

Su Yu now understood why his master had asked him to register first; it turned out there was this factor involved.

At this moment, Ding Lingyu continued:

“Although I’m a beginner, I wanted to give it a shot. What if I succeeded? It’s only one chance, and I’m confident I can succeed with two more. But I never expected them to be so unscrupulous for this opportunity, even affecting my family.”

Su Yu frowned and asked:

"Did you ask your guild to help you with your quest?"

Ding Lingyu nodded:
“They also use this method to help with the mission, and I would be at a disadvantage if I didn’t do it.”

"No wonder."

He had nothing to say about this, just as Ding Lingyu said, it would be too much of a loss if I didn't do it since everyone else does it this way.

But it's also normal for others to discourage you from doing so.

Helping a family or guild is not against the rules, nor is attacking a rival family or guild. It's just a bit unethical.

But when it comes to our future, whether or not we adhere to martial ethics is irrelevant.

Based on Ding Lingyu's experience, Su Yu had a solution for how to avoid affecting her family: simply don't rely on the guild's help.

As long as you don't rely on external forces, it's normal competition. But if you target your family members, that's against the rules, and the sect won't allow it.

Furthermore, he could not rely on Ao Run's power.

The rule is that cultivators above the Loose Immortal level are not allowed to assist in the fight, and spirit pets above level 100 are also included.

Therefore, families and guilds can only offer limited assistance. At most, they can help with tasks that accumulate merit and sect contributions, but they can't offer much help in the later stages of demon-slaying and monster-exorcising.

Without the help of skilled warriors, ordinary guild members would suffer heavy losses when fighting the big boss.

"So, in the end, you still have to rely on yourself!"

Su Yu pursed her lips and looked at Ding Lingyu again, asking him for advice on some problems and tips he had encountered in the trial.

Half an hour later, Su Yu and Ding Lingyu parted ways and flew towards the Foreign Affairs Peak, which was not far from the mountain gate.

(End of this chapter)