The arch-shaped doorways disappeared as all the cultivators who passed the preliminary round vanished behind them.
In their places, were hundreds of transparent crystal windows, continuously scrolling through the situations of the little cultivators after entering their respective trial gates. The display was usually random, unless one of the Zhenjun asked to view a specific disciple.
"In these once-in-six-years recruitment meets, it's already been many years since such amazing cultivators as Li Wei Zhenjun and Fu Sheng Zhenjun have appeared. I've sounded out the other sects, most are already sparse in number, and the sect elders are all unhappy about it. "
"Do you think such talents are easy to come by? It's only been a few years... But, what I'm more curious about is, why would such talented disciples as Li Wei Zhenjun, Fu Sheng Zhenjun and Ming Yu Zhenjun appear in that remote little city?"
"I heard that the third reincarnation Fu Sheng Zhenjun has been searching for years unsuccessfully has been found! They've probably come with Fu Sheng Zhenjun? But that year, when Li Wei Zhenjun first appeared, all the elders of the seven sects, three schools and two academies battled over him. That grand scene..."
"Li Wei Zhenjun has an immaculate glazed body, and even possesses immortal-grade lightning vital roots-he's a genius that comes by only once in ten thousand years. Compared with him, Fu Sheng Zhenjun doesn't quite match up..."
"But I have heard of a strange thing. On the day of the initial selections, an enlightened person who went against the will of the Heavens appeared. She possesses top-grade ice vital roots. If her nature passes the assessment, I'm afraid the various sects will start fighting over her again!"
"Which one is she?"
"Hmm, it's that young female cultivator wearing a white dress and white ribbons. She's very beautiful, but her cultivation level is relatively low..."
In recent years, the orthodox sects have been flourishing, and the disciples of all sects stress harmony. Unlike a thousand years ago, they didn't just blindly kill and plunder treasures while exploring the universe's mysteries. There were occasional disagreements between sects, but most of which didn't hurt the harmony. Therefore, the disciples of all sects could chat with each other very well. As they gossiped, they recounted all sorts of poppycock.
Therefore, when Zheng Wan made her way towards the "Frankness" doorway, most of the expectant cultivators shook their heads in unison.
Even the major sect leaders who were watching in secret as they heard about the arrival of a fate-defying enlightened person in Chiyou City expressed their disapproval in unison.
Jing Su Daojun sighed.
"A greed for ease and an aversion for labour. I'm afraid... she will not go far."
Cultivation relied on courage. Those who picked easy jobs and shirked hard ones were too encumbered with mortal sentiments, and most didn't go far.
"What a waste of such good innate qualities." A distant female cultivator began walking away, "You lot can continue watching if you wish."
"This old man still wants to watch some more."
A charming male cultivator with deep pupils wearing a goose-yellow lifted the corners of his lips. "Tian He, I heard that when your Li Wei made his way to Chiyou, he let that little darling get on his sword?"
The man's voice was seductive, and when he said "get on his sword", it was like saying "get on her bed", making Tian He so angry that he drew his sword and lashed out at him, "Old man, already so old and yet still making jokes about my sect's baby!"
While the two of them fought, in the main hall, Fu Sheng Zhenjun walked straight to a crystal window and pointed, fixing the picture on Zheng Wan, and even invited others to watch along with him.
Ming Yu Zhenjun went over curiously, but Cui Wang remained motionless, his eyes slightly closed.
Fu Sheng Zhenjun was not annoyed, and simply twirled his Buddhist beads and said with a smile, "This little cultivator is very much to my liking."
They saw Zheng Wan walk along the wide avenue behind the "Frankness" doorway, looking very much at ease.
And Zheng Wan was truly at ease. The breeze was gentle, the sky was clear, and even the little flowers beside the road looked particularly pleasant. She has already been walking for four hours. The advantage of becoming a Gateway stage cultivator to a mortal woman was that no matter how long she had to walk, she wouldn't be as wretched as she was back then in the transient realm.
The unchanging, repetitive scenery did not make her impatient.
Granny Jin had told her to follow her heart, so she followed her heart.
She did not like the idea of her white dress getting dirty, nor did she like to dwell in regret, just like back then when she schemed against Liu Yi--she never regretted the decisions she made.
Therefore, she readily accepted everything that appeared behind the "Frankness" doorway.
Six hours.
Eight hours.
Ten hours passed.
There was no night, only day, and only the never-ending road. Zheng Wan was still smiling. She even went to the roadside to pick a small flower and made a flower wreath for herself to put on. She seemed to be on a spring holiday, but it was a pity that she was the only one in this tour--
"Hey, that thing... is about to appear, right?"
Fu Sheng Zhenjun put his palms together and recited "Amitabha".
Ming Yu Zhenjun and the others had become impatient long ago. Compared to the unchanging and monotonous "Frankness" doorway, the "Rugged" and "Danger" doorways were much more interesting and thrilling. There were narrow and curved mountain paths, the occasional demonic beasts, cut-off roads, snow avalanches, mountain rivers......
No one answered him; instead, it was Cui Wang who looked up.
"It's about time."
Zheng Wan stopped in her tracks.
The smell of the wind had changed. The sky... she looked up; the sun was setting in the west, releasing a beautiful red halo as it intersected with the horizon. At the same time, the few little cultivators who had entered the "Frankness" doorway suddenly appeared beside her.
"Heavenly Dog swallowing the sun! It's the Heavenly Dog swallowing the sun!"
"Legend has it that when the Heavenly Dog swallows the sun, dramatic changes will occur to heaven and earth..."
Zheng Wan couldn't hear the chattering of the group of children. She had discovered that Liu Yi had also appeared in the crowd, and was currently looking at Zheng Wan with those dark eyes.
Zheng Wan's eyes curved into a smile, "It's been a while."
Liu Yi lowered her eyelids, and Zheng Wan could only see her ceaselessly trembling eyelashes. She only raised her head after a long time. "I thought you were in the Lower realm, and wouldn't be able to come up here."
"Mhm, I thought so too at first."
"Wow--"
Just then, the little cultivators let out a cry in unison. The sky was now completely dark, and a village appeared in front of the crowd, lighting up the entire space.
A narrow, windy path appeared out of nowhere beneath everyone's feet. The paths criss crossed here and there, and the other end stretched out in the darkness-no one was able to make anything out.
Zheng Wan threw a flower into the darkness next to the pathway experimentally, and the flower was rapidly crushed into fine powder.
Instantly, no one dared to move anymore. They looked at each other wordlessly, all waiting for someone else to take the first step.
Liu Yi was also waiting.
She would like to see just what sort of virtue and ability this person possessed, and also, how she was able to get that lord to pay special attention to her after she stole the destiny that should have been hers. In her memory, Zheng Wan had always been a noble lady who preferred ease and comfort and shirked from hard tasks, a dainty and delicate good-for-nothing.
Zheng Wan blinked, did not bother to say anything to anyone, lifted her foot and began on the windy path.
Since it was a trial, naturally, it wouldn't cost anyone their lives. At the most, one would just get seriously injured. After Zheng Wan took ten or so steps forward, the others followed one after another.
However, each of them had their own little path. Some of these paths intersected, while some of them ran parallel; no one knew where in the village the other end would lead them to.
Zheng Wan was reminded of a game in the mortal world, called 'Bored blind man'-"Bored blind man, bored blind man, I caught a big blind man. Pushing the blind man's hair aside, there is no eye, no skin, no shadow".
Just then, her fingertips touched something like soft human skin. It was wet and slippery, as if just fished out of the water. Zheng Wan's scalp grew numb; she hastily retracted her hand and covered her mouth, almost screaming out loud.
Her eyes stared wide and round; the lights in the village suddenly lit up, and she could see in front-two black skeletons were embedded in a blur of flesh and blood, and the mass of flesh and blood was smiling open-mouthed at her!
Bits of flesh were embedded in its teeth; it was a disgusting and hideous sight.
A chill abruptly ran up Zheng Wan's spine. Even after becoming a cultivator, she was-she was still afraid of ghosts.
"Don't, don't come here."
"If you come any closer, I'll really hit you."
Of course, the big blind man wouldn't obey, and pounced at her. Zheng Wan screamed in fright, took her Puppet Mirror reflexively and cried as she hit thrashed. "I told you not to come over, I told you not to come over..."
"Interesting." Fu Sheng Zhenjun looked at the scene in the crystal window, turned his head, seemingly looking for someone to agree with him. "Her crying face, isn't it very cute?"
The onlookers looked at him and only thought that this was probably what was called "love is blind"- -
In this universe, which female cultivator was so cowardly that she would actually cry upon seeing a ghost?
Cui Wang had also come over at some point and was watching on without saying a word. A swath of sunlight came through the eaves of the hall, filling his eyes with softness.
Zheng Wan did not know that her crying face was being seen.
She left the big blind man behind her. On the path ahead, another person-no, a couple appeared.
She automatically grabbed her Puppet Mirror and was about to begin hitting, but saw that the couple were supporting each other as they looked at her. The man was thin and clean-cut, and the woman was gentle and frail. "Wanwan."
"Father? Mother?!"
Zheng Wan was shocked.
She rubbed her eyes, only to see a golden word suddenly emerge in her pitch-black vision: "Obsession."
Granny Jin had said to "follow your heart". If she was to follow her heart, there was absolutely no way she would be willing to hit her own parents, not even fake versions. Zheng Wan put away the Puppet Mirror and gradually approached them.
Her parents watched her walk past them, and slowly followed behind her.
After walking one stretch after another, countless pairs of her parents appeared. Zheng Wan didn't hit any of them. Four hours later, her narrow windy path began to get congested.
The little path became more and more crowded, but Zheng Wan refused to even touch any of them.
She already understood a little; this was her obsession, and the pairs of shadows in the darkness were all created from her obsession. She was afraid of ghosts as ghosts devoured humans, but the parents borne out of her obsession would not harm her, and so they didn't harm her. But the path was getting increasingly congested, and she might very well be squeezed off the side onto the "dead end" that crushed the little flower into fine powder.
Liu Yi had already killed many Cui Wangs.
Her path was utterly empty, and up ahead was the end of the road. She glanced back, then suddenly went back swiftly and stepped on the path that intersected with Zheng Wan's.
"Zheng Wan, why don't you kill them?"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the crystal glass windows in the main hall, more and more people had noticed this scene.
Everyone else's paths were all empty, only Zheng Wan's path was cramped with shadows, making the viewers goosebumps rise when they saw it, becoming tingly all over.
"Why is she not killing them?"
"Precisely. She'll pass once she kills them."
Fu Sheng Zhenjun placed his palms together, closed his eyes, and recited, "Amitabha".
"Li Wei, do you think she will kill them?"
Cui Wang was watched quietly; there was a hidden trace of regret in those resplendent starry eyes.
"No," he said.