I proved immortality with thunder magic.

In a swamp reeking of decay, Zhou Tai was carrying the body of the Thunder-Patterned Frog Yuanbao as they waded through the foul water.

He had already entered the trial grounds and, unfortunately, landed in this swamp.

About 25 minutes ago, after communicating with the demonic cultivators, Master Sun of the Lingxu Sect brought a demonic cultivator at the Purple Mansion stage to the flying ship to have them check the number of people and their cultivation levels to confirm that there was no cheating.

Then the Flying Tower Ship and the White Bone Demon Ship flew to the Trial Grounds, which was the continuous barren mountains, and directly airdropped the trial personnel from both sides into the Trial Grounds.

The endless barren mountains they saw outside were actually a manifestation of the great array that enveloped the trial grounds.

The actual trial grounds have extremely harsh and complex internal environments, and it is said that the terrain inside often changes.

Therefore, Zhou Tai and the other trial disciples were not even given a map.

"Damn it, those old bastards are inhuman! If they had revealed more information, I would have been better off having packed a wooden basin in my storage bag beforehand!"

As Zhou Tai let the Thunder-Patterned Frog Yuanbao drag him forward, he angrily cursed the sect's higher-ups.

His storage bag contained all sorts of combat and living supplies, but he hadn't really considered how to deal with the current situation.

Fortunately, he brought the Thunder Frog Yuanbao with him, so he could still swim by being dragged along by the frog.

However, he was actually wronging someone. The reason he is in such an embarrassing situation is actually due to his own actions.

Because he was a cultivator with the lightning spiritual root, and he focused all his energy on drawing talismans, he didn't cultivate many auxiliary spells much.

And which of the other late-stage Qi Refining cultivators who have lived to sixty or seventy years old doesn't know how to cultivate some auxiliary spells such as "Floating on Water" and "Water Walking"?

In situations like this, or even when crossing rivers normally, one could easily swim across quickly with the help of magic, unlike his current predicament.

Moreover, most of the outer disciples of Spirit Beast Mountain have demonic beasts as pets. As long as those demonic beasts are not small species like Thunder Pattern Frog Yuanbao, they can serve as temporary mounts for their masters in Zhou Tai's current situation, carrying them across the water to shore.

So if we really have to blame someone, we can only blame him for being too unbalanced in his studies and for not paying enough attention to raising spirit pets.

If his Clawed Owl were capable of carrying people in flight, he wouldn't be in such a sorry state now!

At this moment, Zhou Tai could only pray that the Clawed Wind Owl Lai Fu, whom he had sent out to scout ahead, would bring back good news soon.

Meanwhile, just as Zhou Tai was fretting over his disastrous start, the high-ranking cultivators from both the immortal and demonic paths who had been watching their disciples enter the trial grounds were also sailing their massive ships back to the outer area to land.

They will have to wait here for another month until the battle inside is over before they open the passage to retrieve the survivors.

On the flying ship, after the ship docked, Tian Qi and the middle-aged beauty from the Yunxia Sect exchanged a glance before entering a cabin for rest.

Once inside the cabin, Tian Qi first set up some anti-spy measures, then complained to the middle-aged beauty from the Yunxia Sect via telepathy: "Fellow Daoist Ye, what kind of situation is this? Clearly, regardless of victory or defeat in this trial, neither of our sects will gain any benefit. We've already selected a group of disciples to participate in the trial according to their requirements, and yet they're still not satisfied and want to give us a hard time!"

"Does this mean we really have to drag all the Foundation Establishment seeds from within the sect here to die, only then will they be satisfied?"

Upon hearing this, the beautiful woman surnamed Ye immediately showed indignation in her eyes and said, "Isn't that right? The remaining spot for entering Cloud Mist Valley could have been allocated through other methods, as it has always been done. But this time, they insist on holding some kind of trial, making some juniors fight to the death for it!"

"I can understand that those demonic cultivators don't care about the lives of their disciples, but for the Nanhua Sect, which has always prided itself on being a righteous sect, to agree to this proposal is truly shameful!"

Tian Qi nodded in deep agreement, and then continued, "This time, neither of our sects was expecting any results, so we both arranged for some disciples whose potential had been exhausted to come. I think Haoyang Sect did the same thing. Unexpectedly, Nanhua Sect used this as an excuse to warn us. We need to quickly send the message back so that the True People of both sects know about this."

Upon hearing his suggestion, the beautiful woman surnamed Ye nodded repeatedly, saying, "That's only right. Lin Zhennan, a mere cultivator at the Purple Mansion stage, would never dare to look down on our two sects like that without orders from above. This must be the Nanhua Sect's true cultivators using him to warn our two sects!"

After a private discussion, the two took out their precious long-distance communication talismans and sent the message back to their respective sects.

As for Tian Qi's earlier claim that the trial grounds were being monitored, it was clearly just a ploy to scare Zhou Tai and the others into not fighting each other. In reality, there was no such thing as monitoring at all!

Zhou Tai was completely unaware of these matters at the moment.

After swimming in the swamp for nearly 15 minutes, he finally saw the return of the Clawed Wind Owl.

Goooo!

Because of its large size, the Clawed Owl Laifu could no longer land on Zhou Tai's shoulder. It could only flap its wings and fly low in the air, reporting its reconnaissance results to Zhou Tai.

The result was still encouraging. The land was not far from where Zhou Tai was at this time, and the Clawed Wind Owl did not see any other trial disciples or any monsters.

So Zhou Tai had the Clawed Wind Owl continue to lead the way and scout ahead, while he had the Thunder-Patterned Frog Yuanbao continue to pull him toward the shore.

However, not long after, the Thunder Frog Yuanbao suddenly stopped swimming and, without Zhou Tai's permission, opened its mouth and spat out lightning, striking a certain area of ​​the swamp ahead.

Blue and white lightning struck the dark water, splashing water everywhere and flashing with lightning.

Under the blue and white electric light, Zhou Tai was horrified to discover that a strange fish exuding demonic energy was hiding beneath the dark water!

The strange fish was suddenly struck by lightning, its skin and flesh were torn open, and wisps of demonic energy rose from its body.

However, it was not seriously injured and quickly stirred up waves, rushing towards Thunder Frog Yuanbao and Zhou Tai.

Fortunately, since falling into the water, Zhou Tai had been on guard against possible enemies and monsters, and had placed several magic talismans in easily accessible places.

Upon seeing the strange fish lunge at him, he threw out a lightning strike talisman without saying a word.

If someone else were to throw this lightning strike talisman, they might not be able to accurately hit a fast-moving target due to their lack of skill.

However, Zhou Tai was extremely skilled in lightning strikes, and no matter how fast the strange fish was, the lightning strike talisman he threw accurately hit its body.

This attack was far more powerful than the Thunder Frog Yuanbao's attack. A large hole was blasted into the monster fish's body, and its body was paralyzed by the power of lightning, making it difficult to move.

Upon seeing this, the sharp-clawed owl in the sky was eager to swoop down and pounce.

Zhou Tai hurriedly called out to stop this fool.

"Laifu, don't move!"

While calling out to the Clawed Wind Owl, which was awakening its hunter instincts, Zhou Tai activated the Silver Star Sword on his back and thrust it towards the head of the strange fish.

The flying sword emitted a silver light that easily pierced through the monster fish's head, disappearing all the way to the hilt.

Worried that the strange fish was still not dead, Zhou Tai manipulated the Silver Star Sword to stir it inside the fish's head.

Only after seeing the strange fish remain still did he breathe a sigh of relief and recall his flying sword.

"So, is this considered a demonic beast, or a demonic beast that has been corrupted?"

After washing the dirt off his flying sword in the water, Zhou Tai frowned as he looked at the strange fish corpse not far away.

Monsters are a specialty of the Demon Abyss Mountains; they are the product of some monsters being mutated by powerful demonic forces.

It is said that when a monster transforms into a demonic beast, its intelligence will greatly decrease, but its vitality and physical body will be greatly enhanced, and both magical and physical attacks will be imbued with demonic energy.

For cultivators, demonic beasts are valuable resources that can be utilized from head to toe, but magical beasts are simply worthless trash.

Therefore, after examining the strange fish's corpse for a moment, Zhou Tai abandoned the idea of ​​going forward to check it. He praised the Thunder-Patterned Frog Yuanbao and continued on his way.

He is now more cautious than before.

Soon after, Zhou Tai saw the distant land and mountains in the distance.

He perked up and immediately urged the Thunder Frog Yuanbao to speed up the rushing to the beach. He had had enough of this stinking swamp and couldn't wait to get his feet on solid ground.