Chapter 517: Rising Fame

Chapter 517: Rising Fame

Dust filled the air, like a grand curtain slowly parting to reveal a majestic sight. Shen Yi stood with his hands hanging by his sides, his gaze fixed on the towering mountain before him. It loomed large, a formidable gorge standing tall and endless, making the Nameless Mountain outside seem like a mere anthill in comparison.

As the true visage of the mountain unveiled itself, a chilling sense of oppression weighed down on Shen Yi, causing his entire body to tremble.

Boom!

As the divine soul had entered the Nameless Mountain, there was no possibility of bones being crushed.

Yet, Shen Yi felt as if his entire body was about to be pulverized.

His body bowed forward, his knees shaking uncontrollably, barely stopping himself from kneeling.

Instinctively, Shen Yi wanted to summon the Gui Xu Xian Jia (Ruin World Immortal Armor) for protection, and his fingers moved to his brow, intending to activate the Bai Yu Jing Xian Cheng (White Jade Capital Immortal City).

However, his attempts were in vain.

At this moment, he was merely a divine soul, and all his usual trump cards were useless here. He could only rely on himself.

Shen Yi finally understood why only tempering body cultivators had a chance to approach this opportunity.

Only those like him, who had experienced the tempering of the demon core, the scorching of demon blood, and the refining of phoenix fire, had a slim chance of straightening their backs under this oppressive pressure.

"Hu," Shen Yi closed his eyes, his face contorting with a fierce determination.

The palm that had torn through the White Jade Capital's demons clenched tightly, causing no disturbance to the heavens and the earth. Its only effect was to allow him to take an extremely difficult step forward.

In front of this treasure mountain, the figure in the ink-colored robe appeared minuscule, their steps slow and even unsteady. Yet, they did not stop.

Compared to the trials endured by other cultivators, Shen Yi's mere few years of cultivation experience were insignificant.

However, when it came to the hardships endured for cultivation, even though the feedback from the panel simulations resulted in torture that was a hundred times worse, the accumulated pain from the extremely long simulation time had also reached a horrifying level.

Enduring hardship was not something to boast about, especially since the main reason for this pain was mostly due to Shen Yi's reckless modification of cultivation techniques, random consumption of pills, and treating demon cores and demon blood as daily meals.

Nevertheless, these experiences had truly helped him reach the foot of the mountain.

Shen Yi lowered his gaze slightly, looking at the winding mountain path beneath his feet. After a moment's hesitation, he took a step onto the gravel path.

As his soles made contact with the mountain path, his divine soul seemed to take on a physical form.

Shen Yi heard his entire body creaking, and with a boom, he was pressed onto the ground by a vast force, without the slightest room for resistance.

The elbows he used to support his body were almost shattered, and the ink-colored robe was quickly soaked with scarlet blood.

However, under this immense force, not even the tiniest stone on the mountain path stirred.

After a moment of rest, Shen Yi glanced at his elbow, his expression calm to the extreme.

Even if his physical body had completely split open or melted away, leaving only his bones, he had experienced it all before. Moreover, this was just an illusion created by the Nameless Mountain.

However, the sensation felt so real.

It was evident that this mountain indeed held something extraordinary.

With this thought, Shen Yi raised his head to look up at the mountain peak, but his vision was obstructed by the mountain walls and the greenery, preventing him from seeing the top.

He clenched his fists again, wanting to stand up once more.

At that moment, the thick force pressed down on him again, and before Shen Yi could get up, he felt a repulsive force trying to push him out of this space.

"..."

He suddenly remembered the words of the Ban Shan Zong Daoist from earlier. If one couldn't withstand the pressure, the Nameless Mountain would forcibly expel their divine soul.

In other words, if he tried to stand up, his divine soul would collapse?

Shen Yi pondered for a moment and suddenly realized that the force enveloping him seemed to have softened slightly, as if giving him a chance to carefully comprehend it.

His face twitched slightly.

This wasn't a test of endurance; it was a test of his comprehension.

If this mountain path was a trial, it was likely not meant for cultivators to brute force their way through this pressure but to understand and assimilate the true meaning within it.

Shen Yi wasn't lacking in confidence.

However, he didn't have the luxury of time to slowly comprehend it here. What if it took him thousands or even tens of thousands of years? Even if the Ban Shan Zong agreed, by the time he left, the entire Nanyang treasure land might have been trampled flat, and Senior Xuan Qing might have been captured and burned as firewood.

Even if he truly comprehended the immortal technique, he couldn't turn back time.

With this thought, Shen Yi summoned the panel. He wasn't sure if the mountain in front of him could be considered a cultivation technique, but logically, it should be. It just didn't have any specific text or instructions.

[Mountain Technique: Uninitiated]



A prompt flashed across his vision, similar to the small chants, but without any specific word divisions.

Such a profound treasure mountain must contain more than just a small chant.

Most likely, he hadn't fully grasped the essence of this technique yet.

Shen Yi glanced at the remaining million years of his demon lifespan and raised his eyes once more. This time, his gaze seemed to penetrate the stone walls and greenery, looking straight at the mountain peak.

The only regret was that he couldn't summon the demon soul to assist him in this Nameless Mountain.

Relying solely on himself, he would probably waste a lot of his demon lifespan.

...

Inside the Ban Shan Zong, at the foot of the Nameless Mountain.

Yang Yunheng had retrieved the treasure pill and returned through the air. As he landed, he noticed something amiss.

Their Daoist disciple was not observing the mountain as he usually did.

Instead, he was standing silently, staring at the ink-robed figure seated on the ground.

"Disciple, I've brought back the treasure pill."

Yang Yunheng spread out his palm, confused as he looked at Shen Yi.

He hadn't been present earlier and hadn't seen the drop of sweat that had shocked Yan Chongzheng. Thus, he didn't understand the reason for his astonishment.

"Good."

He was just grumbling about the Great Elder's roundabout way of speaking, not giving him prior notice, which had almost caused him to lose face.

He had thought that Shen Yi's talent was decent, but he never expected it to be so astonishing.

At least, from the current progress, it seemed even slightly better than his own in his younger days.

He had spent so many years, and yet he had not touched the second milestone on the mountain path, which was equivalent to only partially understanding the first technique of the art.

If it were this Shen Yi, he would have probably already fully comprehended the second technique.

It was truly a pity that he was from Nan Hong.

"Ahem."

Yang Yunheng suddenly coughed lightly.

As if guessing what the Daoist was thinking, he gave a subtle signal as he handed over the treasure pill.

It wasn't too late to make up for it now.

If they could recruit Shen Yi into the Ban Shan Zong and give him a proper chance to observe the mountain, then tens of thousands of years later, even if they no longer had the opportunity to cultivate, they could at least leave behind a new and powerful spiritual art for their sect, one that was extremely compatible with body tempering warriors, which would be of far greater significance to them than other spiritual arts.

"..."

Yan Chongzheng frowned and took the treasure pill, standing there in thought.

He wasn't worried about Shen Yi affecting him in any way. The vast age difference aside, given his status in the Ban Shan Zong, he didn't need to consider such trivial matters.

The main issue was that, in front of the Daoists of Nan Hong, he was plotting to recruit one of their sect's disciples, which was not a very honorable act.

It would be embarrassing if word got out.

As Yan Chongzheng hesitated, his gaze fell on Yang Yunheng's face, wanting to discuss it further with him.

At that moment, however, the usually vigorous face of the Great Elder began to twitch uncontrollably, and his pupils instinctively contracted, revealing an unseemly expression of gritted teeth.

"He... he..."

"Elder Yan!"

Wei Yuanzhou suddenly called out in a low voice.

Yan Chongzheng hurriedly turned to look, seeing that Wei Yuanzhou and Su Hongxiao had already subtly blocked his way, while Bai Wu had taken the last position, protecting the seated Shen Yi by his side.

The reason for this sudden change was that the usually quiet and meditating Shen Yi's ink-colored robe had suddenly become drenched in sweat, as if he had just been soaked in water.

Beneath his black hair, his already pale face took on an even more sickly appearance, as if his oil lamp was about to burn out.

Even his lips had lost their color.

"..."

Yan Chongzheng stared intently at Shen Yi, opening and closing his mouth as if he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words.

He swallowed, and after an unknown amount of time, he finally came back to his senses. Facing the slightly unfriendly gazes of the three Daoists, he suddenly lost the desire to explain and simply handed over the treasure pill, saying, "This is a normal occurrence. Give it to him to ingest... My master is still in seclusion in the sect. If he really wanted to make a move, he wouldn't need to resort to such underhanded means."

Su Hongxiao observed the change in Yan Chongzheng's expression.

Suddenly, she felt a strange sense of familiarity.

Back when she was in Tian Jianzong, whenever she occasionally gave guidance to the other personal disciples, they would sometimes display similar expressions.

She had seen this look far too often.

But the problem was... the person before her was a Daoist of Ban Shan Zong, and his strength was definitely not inferior to hers. Why would he show such an expression towards Shen Yi?

What exactly had Shen Zongzhu done in this mountain?!

"Thank you, Daoist Yan."

Su Hongxiao nodded to Wei Yuanzhou, indicating for him to take the pill, but she did not give it to Shen Yi to ingest.

According to her intuition, Ban Shan Zong currently did not seem to have any malicious intentions towards Shen Yi.

However, Shen Zongzhu's status was too high. Unless they really had no other choice, they, as mere Daoists, did not have the qualification to feed him the pill without his knowledge.

"I suddenly feel a bit disappointed."

Yan Chongzheng turned around, as if he no longer cared about losing face. Only Elder Yang, who had also observed the mountain, could probably understand his current feelings.

"I can't quite understand it myself," Yang Yunheng said with a bitter smile, finally suppressing the shock in his heart.

Having witnessed Shen Yi's earlier display, his expectations of him were even higher than what Yan Chongzheng had guessed.

But even if he were to think in the most exaggerated direction, if Shen Yi had sat there for several months and could understand a bit of the true intent of Shen Yue, it would already be a very good harvest.

However, Shen Yi's previous reaction indicated that he had not only entered Wumeng Mountain but had also seen the mountain path and stepped onto it, and it was only after he stood up again that he showed such a reaction.

This meant that Shen Yi had not only enlightened the true intent of Shen Yue but had also most likely glimpsed a part of the Shen Yue Art!

This kid had taken away the true legacy of Ban Shan Zong!

And all of this had happened within less than an hour.

The fact that Elder Yan only felt a little disappointed was enough to show how stable Shen Yi's Dao heart was. If it had been someone else who was a little more arrogant, they would probably not be able to resist the urge to wake Shen Yi up and ask him what had happened.

"Wait."

Yang Yunheng snapped out of his shock and suddenly looked at the three Nan Hong Daoists.

Something was amiss... What kind of reaction was this? In the instant when Shen Yi showed signs of distress, these three people had unconsciously protected him with their physical bodies, and their subsequent actions after retrieving the pill were also very suspicious.

The identity of this young cultivator seemed rather unusual. But earlier, when Wei Yuanzhou paid respects to the mountain, he seemed to have overlooked this person and did not introduce him in detail.

No matter how curious Yang Yunheng was, he wouldn't dare to directly ask about it, as it would touch upon Nan Hong Qi Zi's taboo.

There was no need to rush. As for recruiting Shen Yi, he still needed to find out more before making a decision. To put it bluntly, if this young man happened to be the son of some sect master, then all the efforts of Ban Shan Zong would be in vain.

With this in mind, Yang Yunheng walked up and pulled Yan Chongzheng back, signaling for him to calm down first.

Based on Shen Yi's previous reaction, coupled with the fact that the Daoists did not want to feed him the pill, he would probably be expelled from Wumeng Mountain soon.

As time passed, the sun set in the west.

Shen Yi's stiffened figure began to tremble slightly, and his complexion, which had shown signs of improvement, turned deathly pale once more.

"Prepare to feed him the pill, or his divine soul will be damaged."

Yan Chongzheng heaved a sigh of relief and reminded them once more. This long duration was more than enough time for these Daoists to check if there was anything wrong with the pill.

Su Hongxiao took the pill and turned to kneel beside Shen Yi, gently resting her hands on his shoulders as she quietly waited for him to open his eyes.

And then... they waited for an entire incense stick's worth of time.

"..."

She looked at the two Ban Shan Zong Daoists with a puzzled expression, only to see that Yan Chongzheng and Yang Yunheng wore equally baffled looks on their faces, their astonishment seemingly even more evident than her own group's.

Shen Yi's eyelids twitched slightly, as if he was about to wake up at any moment, but his body didn't move at all.

"Did he pass out?"

Yang Yunheng couldn't help but ask. In fact, he wanted to say, "This fellow Shen, is he just putting on a show of having his soul separated from his body to save face?"

Could one really resist the repulsion of Wumeng Mountain with sheer willpower? That's preposterous! Who among us hasn't climbed that mountain?

...

Inside Wumeng Mountain.

Shen Yi sat with his legs crossed at the entrance of the mountain path, his pitch-black eyes fixed on the rugged trail before him.

He didn't even get up or take another step forward.

However, he bore the full brunt of what one would experience when climbing the mountain, and perhaps due to his slow progress in comprehending the true intent while being down-to-earth, Shen Yi endured even more torment than other climbers.

Logically, he should have been expelled from the mountain long ago.

But the panel's simulation continued, and the mountain was powerless to stop Shen Yi from stubbornly persisting.

"Huh..."

Shen Yi exhaled, steadying his body to prevent it from tilting backwards.

Without the accompaniment of the demon soul, for a full 370,000 years, he had never set foot on this trail, but the scenery along this mountain path had long been imprinted in his heart.

In his gradually dispersing eyes, a plain-looking stele faintly appeared.

It was randomly placed by the roadside.

Yet, it seemed as if even immortals and gods couldn't move it an inch.

On the stele were two hastily written large characters, as if reminding climbers that they could take a temporary break here.

Godly Mountain!

Shen Yi used his last bit of consciousness to open the panel.

[Unity with the Divine. Godly Mountain Technique: Uninitiated]



There were no suffixes, but the description of the realm in front of him was startlingly impressive.

Shen Yi felt his brain go blank, and he sank back, staring blankly upwards at the Godly Mountain stele, which was only a third of the way up the entire mountain... What exactly was this complete mountain technique?

Until he felt a warmth.

When he opened his eyes again.

He was still sitting cross-legged, and in front of him was a low mound.

The few Nan Hong Daoists and the two Ban Shan Zong Daoists had once again silently waited for three whole days.

If Shen Yi didn't wake up.

Even the usually impatient Bai Wu would have almost lost her patience and reached out with her fingertip to touch his brow.

"..."

Yan Chongzheng glanced at Su Hongxiao, and seeing that she had finally lowered her hand, he finally relaxed.

It wasn't that he was afraid of this woman.

Even if his master wasn't present, in a one-on-one fight, he didn't think he would lose to this Tian Jianzong Daoist.

Yan Chongzheng's main concern was that he didn't want a misunderstanding to cause a complete rift between the Ban Shan Sect and the Nan Hong Seven.

Of course, the reason he hadn't spoken up until now.

Was because even he, as a Ban Shan Sect Daoist, had begun to suspect that something was wrong with Wumeng Mountain when it didn't expel Shen Yi even after he fell into such an emaciated state.

How could the mountain not expel him when a cultivator was in such a depleted condition?

"Fellow Shen, you've finally woken up." Yang Yunheng heaved a sigh of relief, wanting to break the stiff atmosphere. He forced a smile and asked, "Did you gain any insights?"

Upon hearing this, Yan Chongzheng also looked at Shen Yi intently, feigning calm, but his clenched fists revealed his solemnity.

What had Shen Yi achieved during these three days? Wei Yuanzhou and the others looked at him with concern, but they were also curious.

Who knew how they had endured these three days? Now that Shen Zongzhu had finally woken up, even Su Hongxiao couldn't contain her curiosity.

"Mhm."

Shen Yi calmed his weary divine soul and pondered for a moment before softly replying, "I've gained some insights."

Upon hearing these four words.

Yang Yunheng and Yan Chongzheng were stunned for a moment, and just as they were about to say something, they suddenly sensed a hint of energy inadvertently leaking out from Shen Yi.

It was a harmonious Godly Mountain true intent.

"..."

Shen Yi pursed his lips. Darn it, he had just freed himself from that oppressive pressure, and he had relaxed a little too much, accidentally letting some of it slip out.

He wasn't worried about the Ban Shan Sect being stingy; he just didn't want others to discover the panel.

"You—"

Yan Chongzheng suddenly took two steps back, cursing inwardly. What nonsense was this about gaining some insights? Since his true intent was harmonious, it meant that he had already memorized the entire Godly Mountain Technique!

It had taken him, Yan Chongzheng, a full 10,000 years of lifespan to achieve that!

And this fellow had done it in just three days?!

Yan Chongzheng steadied himself and didn't know what to think. Suddenly, he turned and strode towards the main hall!

To hell with being shameless! To hell with the Nan Hong Seven!

Damn the position of Daoist Master!

He, the Ban Shan Sect, wanted this disciple!

This person might be the only one since the birth of the Ban Shan Sect with the hope of comprehending the entire Great Mountain Technique.

Perhaps he could make the Ban Shan Sect soar to become a top-tier influence like the Wuliang Daohuang Sect.

In the face of such an opportunity.

To hell with the few Nan Hong Daoists! Even if the sect master himself came, he wouldn't give them face!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end