Chapter 88

As night fell, the towering Lingyun Mountain stood like a massive stone pillar piercing the clouds, majestic and awe-inspiring.

At the foot of the mountain, Nie Tian looked up at Lingyun Mountain, took a deep breath, and felt his heart race.

"Lingzhu, you go up the mountain first," Li Fan said calmly.

Jiang Lingzhu turned to look at Nie Tian, her eyes filled with a complex expression. "What about him?"

Li Fan replied, "The master instructed us to take him directly to the back mountain."

Jiang Lingzhu was taken aback. "Is that true?"

Li Fan smiled bitterly. "I wish it weren't. Sigh, the thought of having a new junior uncle from now on is hard to accept."

"You lucky dog!" Jiang Lingzhu glared at Nie Tian and said resentfully, "I don't care. I won't call you junior uncle; you're not even older than me."

With that, she stomped off, her face flushed with anger, and started climbing the narrow stone steps up Lingyun Mountain.

Nie Tian scratched his head, puzzled. "Uncle Li, what's going on?"

"You can still call me Uncle Li today, but from tomorrow on, I'll be your junior," Li Fan said with a helpless expression, but didn't elaborate. "Let's go to the back mountain."

Nie Tian followed, full of doubts.

Half an hour later, the sky was completely dark, and a full moon gradually appeared in the night sky.

At the base of a mountain slightly shorter than Lingyun Mountain, Nie Tian and Li Fan appeared.

Li Fan pointed to a stone path leading to the summit and said to Nie Tian, "I'll see you off here. Follow this stone path to the end. When you reach the top, someone will be waiting for you. That person will be your master in Lingyun Sect from now on."

"Ah, why the back mountain and not Lingyun Mountain?" Nie Tian was surprised. "As far as I know, new disciples should participate in a ceremony, right?"

"You're different," Li Fan shook his head and explained. "You'll understand later that the rules of Lingyun Sect don't apply to you."

Nie Tian was thoroughly confused.

"Go on, follow the stone path up the mountain. In time, you'll realize how lucky you are." With that, Li Fan left without another word.

Under the moonlight, Nie Tian looked at the long, winding stone path and the mountain slightly shorter than Lingyun Mountain, his heart full of doubts.

After thinking for a while and coming up with no answers, he could only follow Li Fan's instructions and climb the mountain in the dead of night.

The stone path to the summit was rugged and long. It took him the entire night to reach the end, exhausted and weak, just as the sky was beginning to lighten.

At the end of the stone path was a smooth stone ground with a few thatched huts.

Exhausted, he took deep breaths to calm himself. Before he could take a closer look, a voice came from one of the huts, "You've arrived?"

"Who are you?" Nie Tian was startled.

"Come in," the voice inside the hut said calmly, as if just waking up. "Watch your step."

Nie Tian instinctively looked down.

The smooth stone ground was glowing with strange light, which quickly formed a grid.

A powerful energy surge erupted from the grid, making Nie Tian's face change.

In the next moment, he noticed that the clouds around the summit were being drawn to the stone ground beneath his feet.

Soon, the clouds formed a grayish-white carpet on the stone ground.

The stone ground was now invisible, covered by the clouds.

It felt as if he had fallen into the clouds, standing on a cluster of grayish-white clouds in the vast sky.

"Take it slow, step by step," the voice from the thatched hut, now sounding distant, said.

Nie Tian looked around and saw only thick clouds. He couldn't see the mountain or the ground; all he could see were the thatched huts floating in the clouds.

This was a situation he had never experienced, and he became extremely cautious.

Unable to see the stone ground, he feared that one misstep would send him plummeting into the abyss, to a certain death.

He stared intently at the thatched hut, squinted, and carefully considered the path before taking a tentative step.

As his foot touched the ground, a powerful energy surge rose from his sole, spreading through his body like countless threads.

He suddenly felt a tingling sensation all over, and when he tried to focus his mind, the threads seemed to find an outlet and rushed into his brain.

His mind became hazy, his head heavy, and his body swayed.

Every part of his body, every muscle and tendon, was penetrated by the strange threads, making him feel increasingly hot.

"Take the second step," the voice from the hut said again.

Dizzy and disoriented, Nie Tian took the second step, slowly moving forward.

"Boom!"

Another powerful energy surge rushed from his sole, spreading through his limbs and flesh, as if filling his body.

His body, like when he had absorbed blood in the Qinghuan Realm, suddenly swelled.

Excruciating pain shot through every pore, making him scream.

"Ahh!"

As he screamed, sweat mixed with impurities began to pour from his body.

"Continue!" the voice said again.

Nie Tian gritted his teeth and forced himself to take another step.

With each step, a shocking amount of energy burst from the cloud cluster beneath his feet, surging into his body, coursing through his flesh and bones, and stimulating him.

By the time he took seven steps, the pain had almost made him lose consciousness.

He felt his body as heavy as a mountain, unable to take another step.

He stopped there.

The voice that had been urging him also fell silent, as if waiting for something.

"Breath, breath, breath!"

Nie Tian took deep breaths, even this simple act feeling like it drained him of all his strength.

At this moment, he felt as if his body was no longer his own, his mind unable to sense its existence.

"Thump, thump! Thump, thump, thump!"

At this moment, he heard an abnormal heartbeat in his chest, growing louder and faster!

"Oh no!"

In the cloud cluster, he felt a sense of foreboding, fearing that his secret was about to be exposed.

His abnormal heartbeat only occurred when he was in dire straits.

Each time his heartbeat became abnormal, it could turn the tide, allowing him to fight with a power he didn't understand.

This time was no different!

As his heartbeat accelerated, he, who was on the verge of passing out, suddenly felt a renewed sense of self.

His body, which had been unable to move, was reactivated by a new force!

"Continue!!"

The voice from the hut, which had been silent for a moment, suddenly spoke again, this time with excitement and enthusiasm.

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