Leng Zhuxin looked up once again. The towering three-zhang-high gates of the Qingxuan Sect stood firmly in place, consisting only of frame pillars. Inlaid in gold upon the lintel were the three characters for "Qingxuan Sect," written in a bold, sweeping, and masterfully Daoist calligraphy.
Beyond the gates lay a sprawling plaza of seemingly boundless width. The plaza was densely packed with children under the age of fourteen, alongside a few older outer disciples responsible for receiving guests.
They all stood facing a flight of white jade stairs. The white jade stairs looked no different from ordinary stone steps, save for being broader and longer, yet their dizzying height inspired awe, with the entire staircase seemingly wreathed in layers of cloud and mist as it ascended into the heavens.
Cao Zhi led them into the plaza, pointed ahead toward the white jade stone steps, and said, "That is the Ascension Ladder. Only disciples with dual Spiritual Roots or better who pass the Ascension Ladder may enter the inner sect to cultivate. Since you all hail from the Mortal Realm and carry many impurities within your bodies, dual Spiritual Roots holders must rank within the top one hundred to qualify."
"What about single Spiritual Roots?"
Chen Ergo stared straight at the Ascension Ladder and pressed on.
Cao Zhi cast a sideways glance at him, perceiving his fear, and replied, "Holders of single Spiritual Roots only need to climb the Ascension Ladder; regardless of their ranking, they may enter the inner sect. However, not every single Spiritual Root disciple can become an elder's personal disciple. A single Spiritual Root may be a one-in-a-million find in the Mortal Realm, but in the Immortal Cultivation World, it is merely one in ten thousand.
As for the two of you, Xuanyuan Zi and Xuanyuan Cheng, although you are children of the Human Sovereign and may pass directly into the inner sect, there is still a vast distinction between ordinary inner disciples and elders' disciples. In the Immortal Cultivation World, dual Spiritual Roots are merely one in a thousand. The inner sect only admits dual Spiritual Root disciples who place within the top one thousand of the Ascension Ladder trial. If you wish to avoid accusations of relying on royal shade, you would do well to take the trial seriously."
Cao Zhi offered these words of counsel to the proud Xuanyuan siblings, while pointedly omitting Leng Zhuxin. Mutated Spiritual Roots were the darlings of the heavens, destined to become direct disciples.
……
After Cao Zhi led Leng Zhuxin and the others to register with the outer sect steward and collect their identity tokens, he handed them over to the welcoming outer disciples and departed with his task successfully accomplished.
Because the new disciples from the Mortal Realm had arrived last, all the candidates for the Ascension Ladder trial were now gathered across the plaza.
The outer sect steward stood at the very front, sweeping his gaze over the throngs of new disciples filling the plaza. "Silence, everyone. The Ascension Ladder trial is about to begin. Excluding Mortal Realm disciples, the top five hundred may enter the inner sect regardless of spiritual root aptitude. The top one thousand, provided they possess dual Spiritual Roots or higher, may enter the inner sect, while the rest may enter the service of the outer sect elders. Anyone beyond the one-thousandth rank, except for those with single and mutated Spiritual Roots, will join the outer sect."
As the outer sect steward finished his loud announcement, a flash of white light crossed the identity token in Leng Zhuxin's hand, and when she opened her eyes again, she was already standing upon the Ascension Ladder.
She looked ahead. The clouds and mist on the Ascension Ladder had dissipated, leaving only tier upon tier of white jade steps. The disciples around her were already scrambling upward, while she alone climbed unhurriedly, taking ages to clear just a few steps.
The first five hundred steps presented no real difficulty, and all the new disciples managed to climb them. But from the five hundredth step onward, disciples sat down to rest at intervals.
Leng Zhuxin was among them, though not from fatigue, but rather to control her ranking.
Seeing that she had fallen to the very back, she resumed her climb, proceeding in this stop-and-go fashion until she reached the final two hundred steps. There, Leng Zhuxin noticed something amiss.
Many disciples had halted on the topmost hundred steps. Some wore expressions of agony as they gripped imaginary objects and slashed about, while others beamed with joy, holding their arms in embraces or grasping unseen hands.
*This is an entry into the illusion trial!* Leng Zhuxin thought to herself, immediately resuming the appearance of someone too exhausted to climb, sitting sideways on the steps to watch the disciples ahead undergoing the illusion trials.
"1, 2, 3..."
Leng Zhuxin counted the disciples breaking free from the illusions, and only when she reached the five-hundredth did she rise and resume climbing.
With effortless ease, she ascended another hundred steps. The moment her feet touched the one-hundredth step, the Ascension Ladder vanished, replaced by the flashing neon lights of a modern city.
This was the world where she had truly lived once before.
Her tightly clutched phone rang three times, and, just as in her past life, Leng Zhuxin quickly pressed the answer button.
"The Ghost King's presence has been detected in the Dongcang District. Requesting backup!"
It was the voice of her subordinate, Qian Xuan. As it turned out, she had been sent back to the very day of her death. Keeping a cool head, Leng Zhuxin made the exact same decision as in her previous life.
"Received. Lure the Ghost King up Mount Dongcang first; I'll be right there."
Calmly hanging up the phone, Leng Zhuxin grabbed the car keys from the table and stepped outside, entirely alone once more.
The Ghost King's strength was not to be underestimated; large numbers of people would only result in needless casualties. Within the Special Bureau, apart from her master, she alone possessed the strength to do battle with it.
……
On Mount Dongcang, Qian Xuan and another colleague had already drawn the Ghost King up the slopes.
Leng Zhuxin, wielding the Ghost-Slaying Gun, struck the Ghost King squarely in the chest. The Ghost-Slaying Gun could only eliminate lesser spirits; against the Ghost King, it had little remaining effect and could only slightly restrict its movements.
Yet this was already enough for Leng Zhuxin. Instead of asking Qian Xuan and his companion to assist her as she had in her past life, she shouted to them, "Stop dragging your feet and get down the mountain!"
Knowing Leng Zhuxin's formidable strength and fearing they might be captured by the Ghost King and become liabilities, the two men spun around mid-stride and raced down the mountain.
While exchanging blows with the tall, hideous Ghost King, Leng Zhuxin kept a close eye on their positions. The moment she confirmed they had reached safety, she instantly activated the array she had laid out beforehand.
Starting over, she still had only one way to deal with this millennium-old Ghost King: mutual destruction. Yet this time, she could reduce the collateral damage to all living things to an absolute minimum.
In her past life, after being lured up Mount Dongcang, the Ghost King had concealed its true power, reining in its might to skirmish with the three of them until the bureau dispatched reinforcements. Only then had it suddenly unleashed its full strength, slaughtering the majority of the Special Bureau's members and even inflicting severe injuries upon Leng Zhuxin's master.
Left with no alternative, Leng Zhuxin had detonated her core to perish alongside it, engulfing the entire Dongcang District in the blast.
This time, having established a barrier early on with her own body as the array eye, the force of the self-detonation would affect only this barren tract of Mount Dongcang.
Leng Zhuxin cast a parting smile toward the bright lights gleaming at the foot of Mount Dongcang, her eyes filled with lingering affection for this world. Wielding her sword, she leaped forward, pierced the Ghost King's heart, twisted the blade through its scar-riddled neck, and once more detonated her spiritual core.
Layers of white light burst forth upon Mount Dongcang, and the scene shifted once again.
They were back on Changheng Mountain, inside that very hall where she had once been left entirely at the mercy of Immortal Lord Changheng.
This time, thoroughly familiar with the script, Leng Zhuxin did not hesitate for a fraction of a second before detonating her core. She gave neither Leng Yueyao nor Immortal Lord Changheng a chance to pollute her ears with their words, nor did she allow Immortal Lord Changheng to seize her by the throat.
In this lifetime, her Leng Zhuxin had returned. The Heavenly Dao, which could not distinguish right from wrong and failed all living things, deserved to be destroyed!