Li Mu looked at Elder Xu, and Elder Xu also looked at him. The situation was very awkward.
In the end, it was Elder Xu who broke the awkwardness. He coughed lightly and walked into the courtyard. He said, "I have brought Lord Li's trial letter."
Since he did not mention what happened just now, Li Mu naturally would not mention it either. He accepted the trial letter and said, "Thank you, Elder Xu."
Taoist priest Xu Chang said, "In five days, when the trial begins, I will inform Lord Li again."
Li Mu nodded and said, "Okay."
Elder Xu cupped his hands and said, "I will take my leave first."
Li Mu cupped his hands and returned the greeting. "Take care, Elder Xu."
After a polite exchange, Elder Xu turned and left.
In the spiritual snail, the Empress thought for a while and said, "Why don't you capture him and I will teach you how to erase his memory?"
Li Mu hurriedly said, "No need, no need …"
Li Mu represented the Empress in the cooperation with the Fu-lu School. He could sit down and talk with the Fu-lu School's headmaster. There was no need to erase Elder Xu's memory. Moreover, no one would believe him if he said that he wanted to become the headmaster or headmaster of the Fu-lu School with just a little Theurgy.
In fact, Elder Xu who walked out of the small hut really scoffed at Li Mu's words just now.
To become the headmaster of the Fu-lu School, he first had to become a core disciple of the Fu-lu School. Just this alone was enough to completely block him out.
The fastest way to become a core disciple of the Fu-lu School was to participate in the trial of the Dao of Talismans. He had to defeat thousands of cultivators who were proficient in the Dao of Talismans and win first place in the trial.
This was only the first step of his plan.
The second step was to cultivate hard and break through to the Creation Realm. Only then could he become an elder.
The third step was to break through to the Dongxuan Realm from the Creation Realm. Only then could he become the headmaster.
It was easy to go from divine ability to creation. At most, it would take a few decades. Once the magic power was enough, success would follow naturally.
However, when the Creation realm came to Dongxuan, what was tested was one's talent and comprehension. The Fu-lu School had more than a hundred Creation Elders, but only a few First Seats.
As for the fourth step, becoming the Sect Master, he still had to break through to the seventh realm and wait for the current Sect Master to abdicate before he could succeed the position of Sect Master.
Even if there was such a day, it would be decades or centuries later. By then, the Great Zhou might have had several emperors.
Elder Xu just smiled lightly before tossing this matter to the back of his mind, and then he flew towards the main peak. The Dao of Talismans trial this time was presided over by him, and he still had many things to do.
Inside the small building.
The Empress was silent for a while, then said, "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you just now."
Although Li Mu was disappointed by the Empress's lack of trust, he did not show it. He said, "It is okay. I can understand, Your Majesty."
As a man, he should be more magnanimous.
If he was petty and got angry with the Empress, wouldn't he be like some unreasonable woman?
Li Mu tried not to let himself be in the position of a barbaric boyfriend.
He was already so magnanimous. He wouldn't have those strange dreams of lying in the Empress's arms at night, right?
The next morning, Li Mu sat up from the bed with an expression of doubt on his face.
Last night, he was not in the Empress's arms.
But the Empress was in his arms.
These days, the number of times he dreamed of the Empress was more than the number of times he dreamed of Liu Hanyan.
It must be because they talked too often. Li Si said that between men and women, only by maintaining a distance could there be pure friendship. Once the contact became frequent or the distance between them became close, the pure feelings would often become no longer pure.
Li Mu decided to reduce the frequency of contact with the Empress, from once a day to once every two days.
Now that he was far away in the North County, the Empress could not see him.
When he returned to Shen Du, if he had such strange dreams again and was caught by the Empress — Li Mu could not even imagine the consequences.
There were still a few days before the trial. He borrowed a few talisman books from Elder Xu and prepared to make a breakthrough.
Although Li Mu had already thoroughly grasped nearly 100 types of basic talismans in the past half a month, among the thousands of cultivators that had participated in the trial, besides a small portion that had come to make up the numbers and gain experience, all of them had absolute confidence in their own Dao of Talismans, so Li Mu had no choice but to treat his opponent as a human.
…
Five days later, on Mount Baiyun, the Talisman Dao trial that was held once every four years was about to begin.
The Talisman Dao trial was not only a big deal for Mount Baiyun, but also for the entire North County and the surrounding counties.
Before and after the Talisman Dao trial, thousands of cultivators gathered near Mount Baiyun. The demons around the North County had to stay in their nests obediently to avoid unexpected disasters.
During this period, even demons and ghosts who had not done anything evil could be killed by the cultivators.
The Fu-lu School's Talisman Dao trial was even crueler than the Great Zhou court's Imperial Examinations.
The Imperial Examinations selected a hundred out of thousands of people. The Talisman Dao trial often had tens of thousands of participants, but in the end, only less than fifty people could pass the trial. It was difficult to select one out of a hundred people.
Even so, there were still countless cultivators who took part in the trial.
There was no other reason. The Fu-lu School was one of the six Daoist sects. The sect was rich in resources and had many powerful cultivators. Joining the Fu-lu School meant that one would take a supreme shortcut on the path of cultivation in the future.
The path of cultivation was a competition of resources. All cultivators wanted to rely on a big tree.
The Fu-lu School was a big tree that attracted not only the 36 counties of the Great Zhou, but also cultivators from other countries.
There were more than six thousand cultivators participating in the Talisman Dao trial this time, more than the Imperial Examinations in the Great Zhou. It was also the first time that Li Mu saw the foundation of one of the six Daoist sects.
It was the first time that he saw more than six thousand cultivators gathered together.
In front of a cliff on a mountain peak in the Baiyun Mountain range.
Li Mu stood in the crowd. In front of the crowd was a cliff. In front of the cliff, clouds curled more than a hundred feet. Behind the cliff was another cliff.
He could vaguely see Fu-lu papers fluttering in the wind under the opposite cliff.
With the sound of a bell, everyone walked towards the opposite cliff.
Most people stepped on the clouds and walked through the cliff safely. There were also a few who stepped into the air and fell off the cliff. Then, they were wrapped in a white cloud and sent down the mountain.
Li Mu had a detailed understanding of the Talisman Dao trial and knew that this was the preparation before the trial.
The Fu-lu School had an age requirement for the cultivators who participated in the trial.
Only cultivators below the age of thirty were qualified to participate in the trial.
There were many cultivators who participated in the trial every time. Naturally, there would be some who tried to take advantage of the situation by lying about their age to obtain the trial invitation. The Talisman Puppet Sect would not spend the effort to check if they were lying before the trial. As long as they walked through this cliff once, it would be obvious who was lying about their age in an attempt to get through.
There were Fu-lu papers on both sides of the cliff. If one's bone age was below the age of thirty, they could walk through the cliff safely as if it was flat ground.
If one's bone age was above the age of thirty, they would fall down as soon as they stepped on the cliff. Then, they would be wrapped in a white cloud and sent down the mountain.
Most of the people who participated in the trial walked through safely. Only a few screamed and fell off the cliff.
When another group of people saw this, they stood in front of the cliff and began to watch anxiously.
Beside the cliff, a young man looked at a muscular man with a big beard and mocked, "Do you think others are blind? You didn't even shave your beard and you want to take advantage of the situation?"
The muscular man glanced at him and said in a hoarse voice, "Can't I look old? I'm only eighteen today!"
He snorted coldly and strode into the cliff. Stepping on the white cloud, he safely walked to the other side.
The young man's eyes widened. He wondered if the cliff really judged one's bone age. He tentatively took a step forward and after letting out a scream, he fell straight down …
These shrill cries caused some people to completely panic, and they didn't dare take another step forward. They turned back along the path they came from with dejection.
Li Mu took a step forward and stepped on the white cloud. It was as if he had stepped on solid ground. He easily walked to the other side of the cliff.
When he reached the other side, Li Mu realized that this was a huge platform.
The platform covered an unknown amount of land. He could not see the end of it. It was as if someone had used great magic to flatten the entire mountain from the mountainside and carve out a platform.
On the platform, there were countless stone platforms that were half the height of a person. On the stone platforms, there were writing brushes, yellow paper, cinnabar, and other items.
Li Mu walked to the front and found a stone platform. He stood behind the stone platform.
The cultivators who passed the cliff quickly found a stone platform and stood still. They were ready to take the first stage of the Talisman Dao Trial.
At first, there were more than six thousand people who had a Trial Letter. Among them, there were only about a hundred people who were over the age and wanted to take advantage of the situation. They had already been eliminated at the cliff.
There were still nearly six thousand people who participated in the first stage of the trial.
After everyone who passed the cliff found a stone platform and stood still, three shining golden words suddenly appeared in the sky in front of the platform.
Exorcism Talisman.
There was no explanation for this stage. However, from the words in the sky and the items on the stone platforms, it was not difficult to guess that the first stage of the trial was for everyone to draw an Exorcism Talisman.
The Exorcism Talisman was a yellow-grade Fu-lu. It was also one of the most basic Fu-lu.
It had many uses. When ordinary people carried it on their bodies, low-level ghosts and monsters would not dare to come close. When the Exorcism Talisman was turned into talisman water and drank it, it could cure common colds and various diseases.
Almost all cultivators who had learned Fu-lu knew how to draw an Exorcism Talisman. For many people, this was the first Fu-lu that they had learned.
Fu-lu School was quite friendly to these cultivators. They did not make things difficult for them in the first stage.
However, this did not mean that this stage was not difficult at all.
There were only three sheets of yellow paper on the stone platform. The amount of cinnabar was only enough to draw three Fu-lu.
There was an incense stick on the stone platform. At a certain moment, it lit itself.
This meant that all the cultivators had to successfully draw an Exorcism Talisman within the time it took for an incense stick to burn. Moreover, they only had three chances. After failing three times, they would not have the materials to draw a talisman …
Cultivators being able to draw a Fu-lu and cultivators being able to draw a Fu-lu in one try were two completely different concepts.
Some people could draw an Exorcism Talisman, but they had to fail multiple times and waste many sets of materials before succeeding. Such a person could not be considered to have Fu-lu talent.
White Cloud Mountain.
Main Peak.
There was a huge screen in the sky above the square. On the screen was the situation on the platform.
The elders chatted and laughed as they watched the situation on the screen.
"How long do you think it will take for these people to successfully draw an Exorcism Talisman?"
"Those who pass will be able to draw it in half an incense stick's time. After that, even if they can draw it, they will not be able to pass the subsequent trials."
"I remember that in the past trials, the fastest person to draw this talisman took twenty breaths."
"It was twelve years ago, right? I still remember that Li Er. He was a true Talisman Dao genius. Twenty breaths. Many elders in the sect can't do it that fast."
…
As the elders were discussing, a beam of light suddenly lit up on the screen.
The square fell silent for a moment before an uproar broke out.
"Someone finished drawing so quickly?"
"How many breaths have passed this time?"
"Less than ten breaths."
"That's way too fast!"
"How is that possible? Could there be a Sixth Realm cultivator among the cultivators? Is that a senior joking?"
…
Everyone looked at the screen, which quickly zoomed in on a certain spot on the platform. The elders widened their eyes, wanting to see who could draw an Exorcism Talisman in such a short time. However, all they saw was a cloud of fog.
Everyone could not help but be stunned.
"What's going on?"
"Why is there fog on the trial platform?"
"Who can go and see what's happening on the trial platform …"
Someone reacted quickly and said, "That's not fog on the trial platform. He has a Dharma treasure on him that conceals heavenly secrets …"
Elder Xu stood up abruptly with a stunned expression. "It's him!"
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