Chapter 3507 — Meeting Tianchan Again

Song Lingwei arrived, but pretended not to know Wei Zhao and did not greet him.

Tor Riyue of the Paoli clan came as well. He did greet Wei Zhao, but at Wei Zhao's subtle signal he did not act too close to him.

After all, Wei Zhao did not want to draw too much attention this time. He had been measured even in dealing with Zhong Yongliang; in truth, from first to last, Wei Zhao had not lifted a hand.

The rest of the sect people who had successors did not show up, presumably because they were no longer traveling with the ordinary trial participants.

A few others were disciples of small foreign sects whom he did not know. They did not speak to Wei Zhao, and Wei Zhao could not be bothered to greet them either.

All told, there really were not many people in the whole Heaven-Tier trial. Even though Wei Zhao had reached the ancient level, Heaven-Tier experts were still pitifully few, and those at the peak of late Heaven-Tier and at Heaven-Tier Great Perfection were fewer still.

On the last day of trial registration, nothing happened all day, and no more trial participants came to sign up.

It was not until evening that a voice suddenly rang out over the open ground behind the inn. The voice was not loud, but it carried far, bearing an air of forceful authority that made every trial participant in the inn tremble in spirit.

"Attention, all trial participants entered for the Heaven-Tier trial: registration is now closed! Registration and enrollment will begin at once. All trial participants in the inn are to assemble on the open ground behind the inn within five minutes to undergo registration and inspection by the Five Luminaries Sect. Latecomers will not be admitted!" The voice belonged to Ancestor Xuanchen. Wei Zhao knew it well, and the old man made no effort to conceal his strength, laying bare the full Great Perfection of late Heaven-Tier peak power.

Ancestor Xuanchen had come in person! Wei Zhao was stirred. It seemed the Five Luminaries Sect set great store by this trial. Yet unlike other trials, no deposit was required, which struck Wei Zhao as odd. By rights, after Kang Jingming had lost so much money before, why not seize this chance to rake in a fortune?

But on reflection, anyone who could enter the Five Luminaries Sect's trial was an elite of some sect, and all were preparing for the Heaven-Tier Assembly and the qualification to land on Cloud-Tier Island. To collect money at such a time would seem rather inappropriate.

Besides, Ancestor Xuanchen's mind was probably no longer on money. They were about to go to Cloud-Tier Island—what use was so much mundane coin? Once on Cloud-Tier Island, it was not even certain what currency would be used.

After all, the higher the cultivation level, the smaller the role of money. Those precious natural treasures could not be measured in coin; barter was the more common practice.

Still, he recalled that at other trials, sect masters rarely raised their voices to summon people themselves. Wei Zhao thought, with a touch of malice, that perhaps the Five Luminaries Sect had run out of people—perhaps he had beaten all the disciples to death—and so Ancestor Xuanchen had no choice but to take the field himself.

Think as he might, Wei Zhao still quickly brought Wang Xinyan and Han Jingyi to the open ground behind the inn.

In less than a minute, nearly all the trial participants had filed out of the inn and gathered in the square behind it. They were all Heaven-Tier experts, after all, and none of them was slow.

Wei Zhao, Han Jingyi, and Wang Xinyan found a relatively clean spot and sat cross-legged on the ground. The other trial participants came over and, following Wei Zhao's example, found places of their own and sat down.

Nearly everyone had taken part in a trial before and knew the rules. They understood that they had been summoned to have the trial rules explained to them.

In the square behind the inn, on a temporary raised platform, Ancestor Xuanchen stood with his hands behind his back in a Eight-Trigram Robe, and behind him, astonishingly, stood three people.

Wei Zhao knew all three well, and one of them set his heart pounding. It was none other than Tianchan, whom he had not seen for so long!

Since the Xuandan Sect trial, Wei Zhao had not seen Tianchan again. He had never imagined she would be standing behind Ancestor Xuanchen. Could she too be a disciple of the Five Luminaries Sect?

Yet Tianchan gazed straight ahead, as though she had not noticed Wei Zhao at all, which left him faintly disappointed. Tianchan was a girl who had moved his heart, but perhaps their connection had ended with that last Xuandan Sect trial.

The other two were Kang Jingming and Little Eleven. None of the three concealed their strength, and the full Great Perfection of late Heaven-Tier peak power was on display.

That Tianchan was at Great Perfection did not surprise Wei Zhao in the least. But Kang Jingming and Little Eleven—was their rate of advancement not a little too fast? Could Kang Jingming have refined Qi-Gathering Pills for the couple to swallow himself?

The Five Luminaries Sect surely still kept many white energy stones for its own use, so it was hardly surprising that Kang Jingming could refine Qi-Gathering Pills quickly. So long as an alchemist could swiftly recover his physical strength and true qi, refining any number of pills was possible.

Still, Ancestor Xuanchen was truly willing to spend his capital! White energy stones were a resource that dwindled with every one used; in the past they had been employed only to assist cultivation, and now they were actually being used for pill refining.

Then again, with Cloud-Tier Island close at hand, Ancestor Xuanchen probably no longer cared about such things.

Little Eleven, though—she had clearly been injured, crippled by Wei Zhao, and yet she had still managed to raise her strength? How had she done it? Wei Zhao was utterly astonished. It seemed the Five Luminaries Sect's foundations ran deep, deeper than he could fathom.

Kang Jingming's eyes swept across the trial participants below, as though searching for something. When he spotted Wei Zhao, a flash of excited, bloodthirsty light darted through his eyes.

That set Wei Zhao's heart tightening. The way the man looked at him was not right at all. Surely he was not plotting some dirty trick to use against him during the trial?

Kang Jingming had always been like this. Were it not for his status as Ancestor Xuanchen's son-in-law, which set him apart from the ordinary disciples, Wei Zhao truly could not have let him live this long. But Wei Zhao did not want to fall out with Ancestor Xuanchen before landing on Cloud-Tier Island. Without Ancestor Xuanchen, Wei Zhao did not know how to reach Cloud-Tier Island, so for the time being he had left Kang Jingming alone.

Little Eleven, beside Kang Jingming, swept her eyes toward Wei Zhao, and her gaze lingered on Han Jingyi and Wang Xinyan too. Plainly she bore a grudge as well.

Still, Wei Zhao had heard that this Heaven-Tier trial was a matter of great importance before landing on Cloud-Tier Island. Kang Jingming surely would not go so far as to sabotage him, would he? The business of Cloud-Tier Island ought to outweigh everything else.

Soon all the disciples who had come for the trial were present. They all sat cross-legged now, gazing up at Ancestor Xuanchen on the platform with reverence.