Chapter 14 (2/2)

His eyes got moist because this was exactly the Violet-night Peak where he and his master lived back in those days. There were seven peaks in the Mystic Cyan Sect, and the Violet-night Peak was one of them.

All of a sudden, a zither sound rose. Xiao Chen looked in the direction it came from and found a youth that looked exactly like him sitting on the ground. The youth wore pure white clothes with a red jade badge hanging on his waist. In front of him was the Jade Zither, which glowed colorful lights and had complicated carvings such as roaring dragons and phoenixes. The seven strings seemed to be both virtual and real just like illusions.

All of a sudden, the sea of clouds churned up and rushed to opposite sides. A figure appeared in a beautiful stance. It was a fairy in teal clothes riding on a sword.

“Master, you are here,” said the youth in white.

The teal-clothed fairy nodded slightly and said, “Your destiny is riddled with puzzles that I cannot solve. Have you made any progress these days?”

The youth shook his head and smiled bitterly. “The Zither Spirit of this Fuxi Zither was born conceited. He said that I’m too weak… He was so angry and he hasn’t said anything to me over the past days.”

The teal-clothed fairy nodded and said, “Chen’er, don’t be discouraged. Evernight is an ancient spirit. It’s really hard to be approved by him. Play another song for me.”

“Okay!” As his voice fell, he reached out his hands as the wind blew into his sleeves and made his hair dance. His fingers then moved miraculously as the music floated to the end of heaven and earth. The zither sound was long-standing and resounded for a long time.

This song seemed to have lasted for thousands of years.

Xiao Chen’s eyes gradually turned red. He wanted to scream but he could not make a sound at all. At this moment, he was so close to his master, but it seemed that they were so far away and couldn’t reach each other.

All of a sudden, the Jade Zither appeared in front of him. Although he knew that he just needed to casually play some notes to pass this round, he just wanted to look at his master, even only for 30 minutes.

Finally, time was up, and he was teleported out of the dreamland.

Many participants had already come out. Xiao Wan’er picked the painting dreamland and narrowly scored five points. Xiao Han met his luck and scored seven points. As for Xiao Chen, he lingered in the zither dreamland and was counted as fail with zero points.

Xiao Wan’er saw Xiao Chen’s red eyelids and asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you good at zither?”

Xiao Chen didn’t say anything. Xiao Han smiled coldly and said, “The illusions in there were generated from people’s hearts. Maybe he has seen something that he wants to see forever.”

A disciple in charge of the test said loudly, “Okay. Quiet. You’ve done well in this round about the burden within. It seems that you haven’t carried many burdens in your hearts. In the next round, please be careful because you might get hurt. The next round has 30 points in total.” He waved his arm, and then eight dark caves appeared on the cliff.

“You have to go through the cave in 90 minutes. You can enter the caves at the same time, but you’re not able to see or listen from each other inside the caves. One more thing. If you fail this round, you’re out, and you have to wait for the next entrance test.”

The crowd immediately started to chatter upon hearing this. The disciple’s words meant that they either pass the caves or go home. After 90 minutes, half of them might get eliminated. Many participants rushed into the caves.

Xiao Wan’er clenched her fists and said anxiously, “What now? If we fail this round, we won’t have another chance!”

Xiao Han snorted coldly and walked to the third cave, when Xiao Chen said, “That one is a dead-end. I recommend the fifth cave.”

The disciples looked a bit shocked upon hearing this.

Xiao Chen collected himself and then walked to the fifth cave with a smile. Xiao Wan’er said, “Wait!” And she caught up with him. Xiao Han hesitated for a while and also walked to the fifth cave.

The rest of the participants hesitated for a while and rushed to the fifth cave.

After everyone had entered the caves, a disciple shook his head and said with a smile, “Running fast won’t help. This Qimen Dunjia Formation is not about the speed you’re at.”

Another disciple said with a smile, “Speaking of which, you narrowly passed the cave when the three incense sticks almost burned out.”

“Humph! You’re no better than me last time. Shall we have a race riding the sword? Let’s see who gets to the other side first?”

“Why not? The loser will serve the winner for three months!”

As his voice fell, they rode on two rows of sword radiance, one went to the left and one went to the right, heading to the other side of this mountain.