Along the way, the stone characters carved on the shore wall turned the surrounding environment into a waterfall with thousands of needles and leaves, which caused great harm to Ning Que's body and spirit. In this kind of simulated natural confrontation, the tougher he was, the more terrifying the power of the stone characters would be. Although he had not fallen down at this point, his body was already extremely weak.
He raised his arm, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and walked towards the bridge. After crossing the small bridge, the invisible but omnipresent pressure suddenly disappeared. Knowing that he had finally passed the first test, he subconsciously looked back at the long mountain road and sighed with lingering fear.
Two young cultivators sat on the mountain path at the end of the bridge. Their expressions were dim, even in despair. Even when they heard Ning Que's footsteps, they did not look up at him. It was as though this world had no meaning to them.
Ning Que walked up to them and looked at their expressions. He suddenly said seriously, "It's not shameful to give up when you should."
When passing by Xie Chengyun, he didn't stop and didn't talk to the Academy's favorite scholar.
Xie Chengyun's eyes moved from the pair of feet on the mountain road to the back of the figure that continued to move forward. A faint perplexed color appeared in his eyes. He felt that the figure was somewhat familiar, but there were some things that he could not understand.
Ning Que knew that the mountain road behind the bridge was still weird. Otherwise, the three climbers, including Xie Chengyun, would not sit on the bridgehead and lean against the tree in despair. But he did not stop to observe or do anything else, but went straight up.
The winding mountain path was difficult to see the end. He lowered his head and walked in silence, following the green stone path that divided the spring flower forest into two halves. He made several turns, passed several lakes, crossed several flower fields, and climbed over a precipitous stone cliff. The mountain path that slanted upwards suddenly slanted downwards. He passed several flower fields, passed several lakes, and made several turns.
Then he looked up and saw the wooden bridge, the tree at its end, and the three gloomy climbers.
…
…
The winding mountain path was clearly heading up the mountain, but in the end, it turned back to the original point. It was somewhat like the legendary Ghost Wall in the forest. A cool breeze gradually rose in the forest at the end of the bridge. The twilight was getting colder, and there was an inexplicable sense of eeriness.
There was neither shock nor fear on Ning Que's face. He just stared blankly at the tree at the end of the bridge and the person under the tree for a while. Then he turned around and looked at the mountain path that he had already walked through and closed his eyes silently.
After seeing the scene at the bridgehead, he thought of a certain possibility: this mountain path would bring people back.
The reason was very simple. Even if there was a bottomless abyss or a soul-devouring evil beast in front of the mountain road, the three climbers, including Xie Chengyun, might not be able to climb up, but there was no reason for the three of them to give up climbing at the bridgehead. Moreover, the expressions on their faces did not seem to be tragic after some kind of torment, but more like a kind of futility of being lost.
The question was, why would the mountain path behind the bridge bring people back to the original spot? This was the problem that Ning Que needed to solve now. He closed his eyes and stood silently under the mountain path behind the bridge. His hands stretched out of his sleeves and gently felt the aura in the wind.
…
…
The seemingly forward mountain path could only bring people back to the original spot. If the secret could not be solved, then the climbers could only walk up the mountain path again and again in vain, and then walk back to the original spot again and again in despair.
The three low-spirited climbers at the bridgehead finally gave up in such a boring and desperate cycle. At this time, they saw Ning Que, their companion, standing in front of the mountain path and thinking that he would try to walk up the mountain path again like they did before, and then walk back a moment later with a perplexed look. They could not help showing sympathy and some sarcasm on their faces.
There was no sympathy, pity or sarcasm on Xie Chengyun's face. Ning Que was not shocked by this magical mountain path, but when he saw clearly the appearance of Ning Que walking back from the mountain path, he was suddenly shocked speechless.
After the entrance exam of the Academy, Xie Chengyun had always regarded Ning Que as his strongest opponent in the days of continuous climbing. However, after the semester exam, he confirmed that he had overestimated this young soldier from the border town. In the following time, Ning Que was excluded and neglected by the Academy students. Although he did not add insult to injury, he had indeed forgotten this former opponent.
When the Second floor of the Academy opened, his goal was Prince Long Qing. He even thought that there would be many other strong opponents in the course of the exam, but he just did not think of Ning Que. Because he thought that he had defeated Ning Que, then why should he pay more attention to him? What qualifications did a defeated opponent who had fallen in front of him have to distract him?
Until today at the bridgehead, when he saw the figure on the mountain path and Ning Que walking down the mountain path, his heart suddenly tightened. Only then did he realize that he had not defeated Ning Que at all, and even maybe he had never seen this classmate clearly.
Xie Chengyun had personally experienced what kind of pain the mountain path at the other end of the bridge would bring to the climbers. At this moment, he could naturally think that a person who could survive that part of the mountain path, how could he call himself sick and give up the exam just because of a bet? A more saddening inference appeared in his heart. In the past six months in the Academy, Ning Que did not make any excuses and did not try to challenge him again. Perhaps it was not because he was guilty, but because he did not pay attention to him at all.
Looking at Ning Que who bowed his head and pondered under the mountain path, Xie Chengyun struggled to stand up with the help of the tree. After a moment of hesitation, he looked at Ning Que and said, "The mountain path is fake. The primordial Qi is flowing naturally, and it is impossible to find the passage. You can't pass it."
Ning Que opened his eyes, but did not turn back or answer. He just stared at the mountain path in front of him.
In the past year, he had read too many books on cultivation in the old library. When it came to the breadth of vision, neither Xie Chengyun nor others could be compared with him. After walking around the mysterious mountain road just now, he judged that the mountain road had been set with a tactical formation, which was closely integrated with the cliff and road stones. Because of its harmony, it was powerful.
It was a pity that tactical arrays, like Talisman Taoism, were the most complicated and difficult skills to learn in the cultivation world. Even Chen Pipi did not know much about them. Ning Que had only read some books and knew some basic knowledge of tactical arrays. He had not even learned a little bit, let alone breaking an array.
Ning Que thought for a while and put his hands hanging outside his sleeves in front of his chest. His fingertips crossed each other to make a mind bridge. He urged his Psyche Power to output through the Snow Mountain and Ocean of Qi, feeling the fluctuation of the Qi of Heaven and Earth in the mountain path, and then slowly walked up.
…
…
After a long time, Ning Que's figure appeared on the mountain path again.
There was still no expression on his face. After walking to the bridgehead, he continued to look back at the sloping mountain path in a daze.
Previously, when he walked the mountain path, his main purpose was to feel the fluctuation of the Qi of Heaven and Earth in the mountain path and try to find a passage outside the tactical matrix. However, he found that the tactical matrix on the mountain path was really magical. When climbers tried to use their Psyche Power to control the Qi of Heaven and Earth to feel the passage outside the tactical matrix, once the Qi of Heaven and Earth moved by climbers came into contact with the tactical matrix, it would automatically cause some very subtle changes in the tactical matrix. These seemingly subtle changes were like cliffs to climbers.
What was more magical was that the more powerful the climbers' Psyche Power was, the more abundant the Qi of Heaven and Earth they could control. Once they touched the tactical array, the fluctuation of the Qi of Heaven and Earth covering the real mountain path would be more violent and directly destroy the passages the climbers had just touched.
That was to say, the more powerful the person's Psyche Power was, the more abundant the Qi of Heaven and Earth they could control, and the easier it was for them to find the real mountain path hidden in the tactical array. At the same time, they would quickly change the tactical array and cover the real mountain path again.
If a climber wanted to pass through the mountain path covered by the formation, there were only three ways. First, you had to be fast enough. When you found the real mountain path, you had to turn into a flash of lightning and fly over before the formation was triggered. Second, your state was high enough. You didn't need to use the Qi of Heaven and Earth to touch and feel. You only needed to use your psyche power to see through the tactical array and see the flow of the primordial Qi in the mountain path, and then find the road. Third, your psyche power was strong enough to control the Qi of Heaven and Earth to accurately feel the passages in the tactical array. But at the same time, you had to ensure that the Qi of Heaven and Earth could not be sensed by the tactical array and change it.
There must be cultivators who could trigger faster than the tactical array, such as those legendary sages who entered the Limitless State. But that person was definitely not Ning Que. There must be cultivators who had a high enough state to see through the tactical array, such as Prince Long Qing who had entered the fog on the mountainside. But that person was definitely not Ning Que.
For Ning Que and the cultivators at the bridgehead who were lost and desperate, they could only choose the third way. But if they analyzed it carefully, they would know that the third way was basically impossible.
They were like blind people who could not see. The primordial Qi that formed the tactical array on the mountain path was like a maze made of something softer than cream. A blind person could only use his hands to touch the cream walls. He had to touch them carefully and attentively to find the passage of the cream maze. At the same time, he could not let the cream walls change shape. Because once they changed shape, the maze would change again.
To do all this, the blind person had to have the most gentle hands in the world. This pair of gentle hands could catch the wind in the forest without the wind knowing, take off the clothes of a woman on the bed without the woman waking up, and brush the ink and sweat in the ink stone without a speck of black.
For cultivators, this pair of gentle hands was the Qi of Heaven and Earth that their psyche power could mobilize.
They had to ensure that the Qi of Heaven and Earth they mobilized was accurate and gentle enough to control the fine needles to embroider, to make the flowers stick to the bees, and to make the bees dance on the tips of the needles. Only in this way could they try to do what they wanted.
However, which cultivator in the world would be so bored to the point that he had to forcefully mobilize the Qi of Heaven and Earth to make the Qi of Heaven and Earth weak and gentle, and then spend so much effort to practice embroidery that was not beneficial to cultivation?
"The person who set up the tactical array on the mountain path must be an old pervert."
Ning Que looked at the winding mountain path in front of him and made a judgment of the tactical array master of the Academy in his heart. Then he put his hand into his bosom and touched the extremely thin and cool pile of things. He thought silently, "But I seem to be a pervert too."
…
…
Just like when he was on the mountain path on the other side of the bridge, he sighed when he looked at the sky with slightly wet eyes. These years of hardship seemed to have become a gift from Lord Haotian today. Normal cultivators absolutely could not use the third method to pass the mountain path, but Ning Que seemed to be able to use it. Although he might not be able to pass, at least he maintained that wonderful possibility.
Since he was very young, Ning Que would constantly meditate whether he was eating, sleeping, in a daze, or writing, as long as he had time. However, he did not open the acupoints of Snow Mountain and Ocean of Qi, and the Psyche Power obtained from meditation had been accumulated in his sense of perception. As time went by, it accumulated into a vast lake. Until last year, he finally opened the acupoints, and it became his biggest support.
With such a strong psyche power, only an idiot would deliberately make the Qi of Heaven and Earth that he could mobilize weak and gentle. Ning Que did not want to, but he was different from other ordinary cultivators. He could not cultivate, but his fate was changed by several adventures. In the end, the Ocean of Qi and Mountain of Snow in his body only barely opened ten acupoints, and the Qi of Heaven and Earth that he could perceive was pitifully little.
Because it was little, it was gentle.
As for manipulating the Qi of Heaven and Earth to do embroidery, this seemingly perverted and boring action was in fact what Ning Que had been doing every night in Lin 47th Street for the past six months. The Qi of Heaven and Earth that he could manipulate was too little. He knew that it was extremely difficult to win in a battle with this, so he increasingly wanted to control it more meticulously.
Under the candlelight every night, under the curious gaze of Sangsang, the lad who had finally stepped into the cultivation world kept meditating and sensing the Qi of Heaven and Earth in the room. He controlled the leaves, the wooden basin, the candlestick, the brush, the black, the paper, the inkstone, the toilet, and everything else.
Until today, he had always been stuck in the No Doubts State and had not yet found his Natal Item. He still could not control the flying sword to fly randomly like those Sword Masters and kill people invisibly in the air.
But he could control the hundreds of fallen leaves under the tree in the courtyard to fly to the stove and pile up into a hill. He could control the wooden basin to move from one end of the bed to the other end of the bed like a fat doll, which made Sangsang applaud excitedly. He could control the brush to fall slowly into the inkstone and then lift it up to write clumsily on the paper like a beginner.
Ning Que practiced silently and painstakingly just like when he learned to kill beasts and people in Min Mountain. He practiced controlling the Qi of Heaven and Earth as if he had waved the knife tens of thousands of times. The fallen leaves flying in the courtyard, the water flowing in the room, the ink spilling on the desk and the white wall, the stench of the overturned toilet, and the sweat of Sangsang when she cleaned up the mess were all his proofs.
This method was very bitter, which was the meaning of painstaking practice. This method was very clumsy, which was the meaning of hard work to make up for. This method was very perverted, which ordinary people could not think of, let alone do.
That was why even God was moved by it.
…
…
Xie Chengyun leaned against the tree and looked at Ning Que under the mountain road. He said bitterly, "Ning Que, I don't know why you have been hiding your strength. Maybe you look down on me, but I can see that you are the same as me, in the No Doubts State."
"Only those in the Seethrough State can master the law of the fluctuation of the Qi of Heaven and Earth. You want to walk through this mountain road, unless there is a miracle."
"Before entering the Academy, Mistress Jian once told me that the Academy is a place to create miracles."
Ning Que took out a thin layer of silver foil from his arms, tore it into countless pieces with his palms, and then sprinkled them in front of him. The mountain wind blew from the valley under the bridge and whistled through the mountain path, blowing those thin and seemingly weightless pieces of silver foil in all directions. They fluttered like countless silver leaves and then fell silently on the mountain path.
"It is a miracle that I am alive, so I will make it a miracle every day I am alive."
After saying this, Ning Que looked at the clear silver road in his sense of perception and stepped up.
When he walked up the mountain road, he seemed to be in high spirits, but then his movements became strange and clumsy.
He lowered his body, squatted down very slowly against the tree, and then carefully moved two steps forward.
Then he put his right hand into the cliff, turned back with difficulty, and took another step forward.
…
…
People in the Academy looked at the sloping mountain road in the twilight, and suddenly someone exclaimed, "I see it, it is Ning Que!"
Someone sneered and said, "What is he doing? He lifts his leg. Is he going to lie on the ground and crawl through a dog hole? "
Zhong Dajun gently waved his folding fan and sneered, "He is really good at crawling through a dog hole to escape."
Ning Que was the last to climb the mountain, but he actually held on for such a long time, which had already exceeded most people's expectations, especially those Academy classmates who thought they knew him well. They were even more shocked, and inevitably envied and hated him.
Chang Zhengming frowned slightly, looking at Ning Que who was struggling to move forward on the mountain road. His movements seemed extremely ridiculous, and suddenly remembered his conversation with Ning Que in the Academy last year. He muttered to himself, "I don't know how long he can hold on."
"He is just a brute." Zhong Dajun snapped his folding fan and said bitterly.
Situ Yilan turned her head to look at him, and then coldly looked around at the classmates with complicated expressions. She sneered and said, "He has surpassed the six students in the course of magic skills, and is the rightful number one in the Academy. Are you still not convinced?"
The Academy students were silent.
…
…
On the sloping mountain road, Ning Que's Psyche Power spread out of his body, mobilizing the thin Qi of Heaven and Earth to sense the silver foil fragments scattered on the mountain road, and then used the silver foil to find the channel of the tactical array in the most gentle way.
Ning Que had not been able to determine his Natal Item, but there was no doubt that in this world, besides Sangsang, the thing that could resonate with his Psyche Power the most was still silver. Because exchanging gold required the official notarization, he had not tried gold yet.
With the help of the silver foil, he squatted down, got up, and climbed obliquely on the quiet mountain road clumsily and clumsily. However, at least he was not taken back to the bridgehead by the mountain road again.
Xie Chengyun stood at the bridgehead and looked at the mountain road with a perplexed expression. He could not figure out what method Ning Que had used to surpass him and walk on the mountain road that he could not pass no matter how hard he tried.
Looking at the comical figure that was getting farther and farther on the mountain road, he could not help but think of the lonely figure that he could occasionally see on the meadow in the past six months when he and Wucai walked by the lake, the figure that was forgotten by the Academy for half a year. He thought of his pride after the semester exam, and the figure that disappeared in the rain-shielding corridor.
He clutched his right chest tightly and looked at Ning Que at the end of the mountain road, shouting painfully and unwillingly, "Ning Que, you can't surpass Prince Long Qing. He has been in the fog for a long time."
Ning Que's figure disappeared at the turn of the mountain road.
Xie Chengyun stared at that place blankly.
A voice sounded at the turn.
"At least I have surpassed you."
Xie Chengyun clutched his chest and fell under the tree, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
…
…
Among the clouds on the top of the mountain.
"Second Brother, Ning Que is about to enter the fog."
"Has he passed the Wooden Door?"
"No."
"He has a hard time in the Wooden Door. He can't remember it unless he is in the upper state of Seethrough. This thing can't be done by luck."
"Ning Que has been reading books in the old library for a year, but he still can't remember it?"
"The words on the stone are deeper than the ink on the paper. One degree deeper means one more world. He can remember books in the old library, but he can't remember the stone."
"Ah … Second Brother, is there a back door in the Wooden Door?"
"Pipi."
"Yes, Second Brother, I know I was wrong."
"How many steps has Prince Long Qing walked in the fog?"
"He has walked through 4,102 stone steps."
"Didn't he rest?"
"No."
"He has walked to the age of 12 so quickly. It seems that those old Taoists in West-Hill really have some skills."
…
…
Ning Que walked through the winding mountain path and picked up a thin piece of silver foil that had flown the furthest. Then he looked up and saw that the mountain path in front of him was faintly hidden in the thick fog on the mountainside, with no end in sight.
And in front of the fog, there was a Wooden Door.
He walked in front of the wooden door and saw a wooden sign with three words written on it.
"A gentleman doesn't …"
Ning Que frowned slightly and looked at the blank space on the wooden plate. Then he looked at the powder stone under the wooden plate and guessed that it was for him to fill in the blank.
What was the fourth word?
Not far from the wooden door, he saw a stone. There were four deep words carved on it.
"A gentleman doesn't use tools."
"So simple?"
He shook his head in surprise and then turned back to the Wooden Door. However, when he picked up the powder stone and wanted to write the fourth word, he was shocked to find that he had forgotten what the word was.
Picking up the pen, he forgot the words.
His fingers holding the powder stone stiffened. He walked back to the stone with the words carved on it and looked at them quietly. He immediately guessed what the test of the Wooden Door was. In this world, it would be difficult to find someone who was more familiar with this kind of situation than him.
He had been fighting with the books on the second floor of the old library for a whole year since he entered the Academy.
"Look at my great Eight Strokes Calligraphy of Yong."
Ning Que picked some withered branches from the roadside and placed them according to the word on the stone. Then he slowly closed his eyes and began to decompose the memory in his sense of perception. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and smiled like an idiot.
"You are really an idiot."
After saying this sentence full of self-blame, his right hand reached for the stone.
…
…
In the fog on the top of the mountain.
"Second Brother, Ning Que passed the Wooden Door."
"How could it be? That idiot's Eight Strokes Calligraphy of Yong could solve the Wooden Door Reining Stone? "
"He didn't use that method."
"Then how did he remember that word?"
"First, he tried to dig out the stone directly."
"Idiot, the stone is connected with the mountain. How could he dig it out?"
"Ning Que found that he couldn't dig it out … so he directly pressed his palm on the stone and printed the word on his palm."
"What?"
"Then, he walked to the wooden door and copied the handprint on his palm."
"…"
There was silence in the mountain fog. Then someone sighed and said, "This method is really … ingenious."
"Second Brother, did you also do this when you walked on the mountain road?"
"What do you mean by originality? This is opportunistic! Do I look so shameless? "
"Is Ning Que the first person in the history of the Academy to open the Wooden Door in this way?"
Second Brother's voice sounded again after a long silence.
"No."
"Then who is it?"
"Eldest Brother."
"Eldest Brother was enlightened at the age of 13, and then entered the No Doubts State at the age of 30. Then he went straight to the Seethrough and Knowing Destiny State. Seventeen years were not enough for him to open the Wooden Door."
"During those seventeen years, Eldest Brother used this method every time he went up and down the mountain and passed by the Wooden Door."
…
…
Ning Que picked up the powder stone and opened his left hand. Looking at the red lines on his palm, he began to meticulously write on the wooden plate of the Wooden Door. Although the words on the stone became reversed on his palm, it was not a problem for him who was proficient in calligraphy.
The word "Tool" was neatly written on the wooden sign. Just as the small opening on the bottom right of the word was sealed by the powder, a wisp of green smoke instantly rose from the wooden sign that had the words "A gentleman is not a tool" written on it.
Ning Que took a step back and saw that the four words on the wooden plate became three again, and the last word "tool" disappeared.
With a squeak, the Wooden Door slowly opened in front of him.
The mountain road behind the Wooden Door rose straight into the thick fog on the mountainside. It was much steeper than the mountain road in front of it, and it was all composed of stone steps. It was unknown how many steps it would take to climb to the top of the mountain.
Ning Que should have walked directly to the back of the Wooden Door, but he could not suppress his curiosity. He looked back at the stone beside the road and saw that the words on the stone had changed. It was no longer "a gentleman is not a tool", but "a gentleman is not confused".
"I don't know what Prince Long Qing saw."
He curiously thought, walked through the Wooden Door, walked up the steps, and disappeared in the thick fog on the mountainside.
…
…
It was quiet in the Academy, not even a bird or a person.
An Academy student was slightly pale. He looked at the mountain and murmured, "Luck, it must be luck."
Zhong Dajun tightly held the handle of the folding fan and said in a hoarse voice, "This guy … how many things has he hidden … He is too insidious."
No one paid attention to them, including Situ Yilan.
Everyone in the Academy looked at the mountain and the mountain surrounded by clouds and mist.
Although they could not see the figure of the Academy student, they still looked over there.
The Academy student was the second one to walk into the mountain fog.
Some people even began to guess that maybe the guy could reach the top of the mountain before Prince Long Qing.
…
…
(Seven thousand words. Writing and reading should be relaxing and happy things. I'm having fun writing now. For example, the last three chapters, especially the part about opening the wooden door today, I'm having fun while writing. Haha, I hope everyone can have fun reading it. I'll work hard. Please give me your recommendation votes and monthly votes to encourage me.) (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian.Com to vote for me. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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