Ru Lan was accustomed to Yan Tianjiao's disregard for anyone, so nothing that had happened was particularly surprising to her.
She wasn't the only one thinking this way, judging by Lu Ziyin, who used the finely-edged tip of his fan to tap his chin, a mocking smile curving his lips as he shook his head in feigned helplessness.
However, Gu Ru's gaze remained fixed on the direction Yan Tianjiao had left. The moment she moved, Ru Lan's quick hand grabbed her: "Gu Ru!"
Gu Ru bit her lower lip and murmured, "Senior Sister, I want to..."
"Don't even think about it," Ru Lan interrupted her unfinished sentence with a glare.
She felt like shouting "Little Ancestor!" at her. She was in a competition, and Gu Ru was going to cause trouble?
Gu Ru was particularly petite. Even though Ru Lan wasn't particularly tall or athletic, Gu Ru still appeared a size smaller when she stood beside her, shoulders hunched and head lowered.
She tilted her face and raised her eyes, a lock of hair by her temples drifting across her lips. Seeing Ru Lan staring at her so intensely, Gu Ru knew her senior sister was determined to interfere.
For this reason, she lowered her gaze and pondered for a moment, finally giving up on her plan with a hint of regret.
Lu Ziyin paid no mind to this peculiar pair of senior and junior sisters from the Peerless Realm. Instead, his amorous eyes fell gently upon Fang Rui. While he could be sharp-tongued and flirtatious, he wasn't a lecher and understood the importance of occasion.
Fang Rui was wearing a pear blossom-patterned ruqun with goose-yellow trim today. Her features were elegant and ethereal, her posture graceful and poised, like a secluded orchid in a deep valley, standing tall and serene.
In terms of features and overall aura, Zi Ying was slightly inferior. Fang Rui, being the likely female second lead in a Dragon King story, was naturally more striking.
It was only when dealing with situations involving Liu Jiang Fusheng that she lost her composure. Otherwise, she always maintained an elegant demeanor in her interactions.
She noticed Lu Ziyin's "eager" gaze. This kind of look was nothing new to her. She gracefully nodded slightly, "Dayan Sect, Fang Rui."
Since most of the people present had introduced themselves, Fang Rui didn't want to create unnecessary tension by insisting on her individuality.
Firstly, she lacked Yan Tianjiao's confidence for such independence. Secondly, it was related to her usual approach to dealing with people. Juniors from prominent families always understood the importance of assessing the situation before acting rashly.
After she finished speaking, she waited for her junior brother Fusheng to say something, but there was a long silence. She paused, sensing the sudden tension in the air, as all three others turned their attention to him.
She turned to glance at her junior brother Fusheng. Snowflakes, like soaring Prajnaparamita, fluttered down like silk threads, like goose feathers, one by one from the sky. He seemed like an ethereal figure, detached from the mundane world. She suddenly felt a pang of emotion, thinking that perhaps he disliked interacting with outsiders. She casually added, "This is my junior brother, Liu Jiang Fusheng."
Dayan Sect?
They had some impression of them. After all, in this "minor competition," aside from the sects they were already familiar with, the "Dayan Sect" was mentioned the most frequently, even by their own sect members in private conversations.
Lu Ziyin smiled as he appraised Liu Jiang Fusheng.
Although rumors outside claimed he was a womanizer who showed no preference for gender, Lu Ziyin was actually not very interested in men. He simply appreciated all beautiful appearances in the world.
For example, the young man before him named Liu Jiang Fusheng.
He had never seen anyone possess such an ethereal, celestial aura. With a face that flowed with the splendor of moonlight and heavenly light, he was like an unattainable, illusory existence, as if veiled in the distant heavens.
He was also like a captivating siren, gathering the colors of heaven and earth, his complexion veiled in a light mist, making one unable to resist his charm. No wonder his senior sister, a beauty as rare as a chance encounter, was so infatuated with him.
Such beauty that transcended gender even made him feel a stir of emotion after looking at him for a while.
Alas, what a pity.
He truly had little interest in male beauty, sigh.
"There are six of us in this peak, and ten qualification spots. As long as we reach the summit quickly, even if all six of us qualify, there will still be extra spaces. There's no need to rush into internal conflict. What do you say?"
This statement carried a hint of a suggestion for cooperation.
Lu Ziyin always preferred the simplest and most convenient way to get what he wanted. In short, although he was not weak in strength, he was a pacifist. If he could avoid fighting, he would not want to exhaust himself by struggling with others to solve problems. He preferred to rely on his wit.
Currently, he was interested in this pair of senior and junior disciples from the Dayan Sect and wanted to observe them closely. Therefore, he was thinking of ways to ease the competitive animosity between them.
Ru Lan had also heard of Lu Ziyin's reputation. Seeing his eyes constantly lingering on the senior and junior disciples, she felt a chill.
But as the saying goes, it's better for a fellow Taoist to die than for oneself. As long as that "playboy" didn't bother her junior sister Gu Ru, she was too lazy to interfere in his affairs.
"Let's go our separate ways."
Ru Lan pulled Gu Ru along and gave them a perfunctory nod: "My junior sister and I are leaving. We'll be on our way."
Lu Ziyin raised an eyebrow at this, his gaze involuntarily falling on Gu Ru's delicate, slightly hunched back.
At this moment, Liu Jiang Fusheng's sleeves fluttered. Amidst the fine, cold snow, his eyes were as clear and vast as ice crystals. He spoke, "Since we're not familiar, why travel together?"
This remark was truly double-edged. They were not familiar with each other, nor with the path. Since they couldn't confide in each other, nor help each other, it was better to rely on fate and compete.
Since Liu Jiang Fusheng had already made his decision, Fang Rui naturally followed his lead.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, farewell."
Fang Rui did not wish to offend anyone. She knew who Lu Ziyin was and knew that the "Southern Sea Lu Mansion" he hailed from was not a place to be easily provoked. Since Liu Jiang Fusheng had rejected his proposal, she decided to make the parting less awkward.
Even though no one seconded his proposal, Lu Ziyin remained smiling. He seemed to have a good temper, but Fang Rui had seen someone else who was better at concealing their true emotions behind a harmless smile. Therefore, she now tended to keep her distance from such people.
"This is the base of the Illusionary Peak. Reaching the summit requires traversing eight realms. There's no need to jump to conclusions so quickly."
With that, Lu Ziyin did not linger and left with great demeanor.
Fang Rui thought about the Illusionary Peak and frowned slightly with worry, "Junior Brother, what do you think will happen in the first realm of the Illusionary Peak?"
Liu Jiang Fusheng's gaze pierced directly through the dense, scattered snowflakes. The path ahead was woven into a vast, blurry white net. He said, "We first need to find the entrance to the first realm."
As cultivators, even in cold, snowy weather, they wouldn't be immobilized by the cold. However, it had to be said that such harsh weather would somewhat affect them.
Among the eight peaks, because flight was prohibited, each dangerous peak had to be crossed step by step.
Everywhere they looked was a vast expanse of white snow. As time passed, the wind and snow changed from a gentle drift to a fierce swirling storm. Although there were icy trees and snow-covered rocks along the path, they were gradually submerged by the heavy snow, making it impossible to even discern the cardinal directions.
This was clearly unnatural, but it was consistent with the dangers they were expected to face after entering the Illusionary Peak.
Fang Rui felt a chill.
How strange.
Since she began cultivating, how many years had it been since she had felt a shiver from the cold?
She couldn't remember.
"Junior Brother..."
Liu Jiang Fusheng was a few steps ahead, his robes fluttering in the wind. Snowflakes also drifted onto him. This chill could not be resisted by spiritual energy, so his brows were dusted with frost, turning white. His slender eyelashes were adorned with glistening ice beads. When he stood silently, he resembled a pure snow demon born from the frost and purity of this world, unmarred by any flaw.
"If we delay further, I fear all living creatures in this place will freeze to death here," he said calmly.
The snow accumulated on the ground was now nearly knee-deep. Moving forward was difficult, and standing still was also difficult.
"But where is the path?" Fang Rui's lips were purple from the cold, and her gaze was as lost as the snowy landscape.
Liu Jiang Fusheng did not reply, because he didn't know either.
Logically, they should have been placed at the bottom of the peak. After passing through the dark green snow pine forest, they should have found a path upwards by walking towards higher ground. However, the deeper the snow buried the path, the less sure their footing became, and it seemed they were simply going in circles.
At this moment, Liu Jiang Fusheng felt a movement from the "storage ring" in his hand. His expression shifted slightly, and then he released the treasure-hunting mouse that had been clamoring to come out.
"Swish—" A clear sweep of a snow fan, and a white figure landed on the snowy ground.
It was a fluffy ball of fur, light in form. It stepped on the snow-covered ground without leaving any trace of sinking.
Fang Rui, upon seeing this small creature that almost blended into the snow, resembling both a mouse and a fox, showed a fleeting look of surprise in her eyes.
"Junior Brother, this is..."
"A Yi's spirit beast," Liu Jiang Fusheng said.
He always wanted to give Gu Yi the best, even if she didn't want it, he remained insistent.
Fang Rui heard him speak to her in a consistently lukewarm tone, but this time, when he inadvertently mentioned Gu Yi, he seemed to have suddenly "warmed up." Knowing that his heart belonged only to his mortal wife, Fang Rui still felt a pang of sadness.
She had thought about letting go and had tried to give up, but she still felt a sense of unwillingness.
Her junior brother Fusheng had always been devoted and unwavering towards Gu Yi, but what about that Gu Yi?
She so easily treated junior brother Fusheng as a transaction, deceiving him out of twenty high-grade spirit stones. After such malicious behavior, the most important thing was that she had also gone back on her word. This mortal was simply not worthy of junior brother Fusheng!
"Squeak squeak..."
After landing, the treasure-hunting mouse sniffed the air with its damp nose, then burrowed through the snow for a short distance. When it heard no movement from behind, it swept its fan-shaped tail, turned around, and looked back at Liu Jiang Fusheng. Its lively eyes held a question, as if asking – why aren't you following quickly?
Initially, Fang Rui didn't understand why her junior brother Fusheng would release a spirit beast at this time. But seeing the spirit beast's strange behavior, especially its action of running ahead and then looking back for them, her heart leaped.
"Is it... is it telling us to follow it? Does it know what we're looking for?" Fang Rui asked incredulously.
Liu Jiang Fusheng stared at the treasure-hunting mouse's two dark, intelligent eyes. For some reason, his frost-covered, icy brows softened slightly. "It might have found the entrance for us."
Fang Rui asked excitedly, "Really?"
"This place might be able to deceive human eyes, and even spiritual sense exploration, but it cannot conceal the senses of spirit beasts naturally favored by nature," he said. "Let's go."
Fang Rui would rather believe that this spirit beast could lead her out of this bone-chilling place than to doubt what might happen if they failed.
Seeing them follow, the treasure-hunting mouse led them forward. It was the same path, the same white expanse ahead, but it walked in a very irregular manner, as if the path in its eyes was not the same as the "path" in theirs.
Behind them, Yan Tianjiao, who had also not found the path, emerged from the darkness. He followed them slowly like a ghost.
Ru Lan and Gu Ru had managed to find the entrance to the realm with the help of their magical artifacts, and Lu Ziyin had also reaped a great benefit by following behind.
Thus, all six of them successfully found the entrance to the first realm of the Illusionary Peak.
Upon entering the first realm, instead of gathering together as they did when entering the Illusionary Peak, the six individuals were scattered.
When the entrance to the first realm was found, the treasure-hunting mouse leaped back and onto Liu Jiang Fusheng's shoulder. It insisted on not returning to the storage ring, and Liu Jiang Fusheng, who usually didn't take it with him, indulged it this time.
Perhaps it was because it had played to its strengths earlier, helping him find the entrance to the first realm.
The first realm was the Ice Peak.
Unlike the stormy weather at the base of the peak, it did not snow on the Ice Peak of this realm. However, everything in sight was eternally frozen crystal.
Cold mist swirled, and the shallow blue ice surface was like a mirror. The caves with cliffside fissures hundreds of meters deep presented various postures. Ahead, a forest of ice stalagmites and stalactites shone with a transparent, glass-like blue under the sunlight. Everything before them conveyed a sense of purified, sacred beauty to the eyes.
"Squeak squeak~"
The treasure-hunting mouse's furry body pressed against the hollow of Liu Jiang Fusheng's neck. Occasionally, its thick tail would brush against his cheek. He then picked it up from his shoulder: "We need to find the clues for passing."
The treasure-hunting mouse went from standing independently to being held by him like a beloved pet. It enjoyed this with a clear conscience.
"Squeak squeak~"
Although the two were not bound by a pact and could not achieve telepathic communication, unexpectedly, Liu Jiang Fusheng always seemed to be able to guess its intentions.
"Let's try walking first and see the situation of the Ice Peak."
The obstacles and difficulties within these eight peaks would not be revealed to them in advance. However, there would be a simple hint before the "grand competition." For example, the Fire Peak had high temperatures, no shade, no water or trees, and would encounter demon beast attacks along the way.
The Illusionary Peak's first realm, where Liu Jiang Fusheng was located, was a simulation of the Ice Peak. The sights and sensations were the same as the real Ice Peak. However, while others climbed to the summit by overcoming the obstacles created by the Ice Peak itself, they had to break through eight illusionary realms within the Illusionary Peak.
"Crack—"
Liu Jiang Fusheng's footsteps paused. He sharply heard the sound of porcelain cracking from the surrounding ice layer, as if something sealed within the ice had been disturbed and was gradually awakening.