Ch 80 Part 3 – The Second Test (III)

 July 20, 2021September 19, 2021By koffeam

A sadness flashed through Meng Qi’s eyes, but soon was replaced by determination. Of course, she wouldn’t let Ji Wujiong see her weakness. She quickly turned her eyes away toward the horizon, looking at the countless ghost puppets running in all directions, sprinkling the antidote on their ways.

This Grand Tournament barrier was created as an arena to test the ability of medical cultivators, so although it shared the same characteristics as the real world, they were not exactly the same. For example, the soil poisoned by Qiwu powder. Although the poison mimicked the real thing, once the antidote was deemed to pass the test, its effect worked much faster.

Wherever the ghost puppet passed by, the soil underneath was instantly rejuvenated, as if spring returned. Small buds of greenery began to emerge from the ground, and in just a moment, the once barren land was dotted with young grasses. Further away, some of the ghost puppets turned around a group of dead, dying trees. The branches trembled slightly and new leaves grew, slowly regaining their vitality. Some half an hour later, the barren and dying land had become alive again.

Meng Qi looked around, full of amazement. The way this barrier worked was truly magical. On top of that, it was still functioning even after thousands of years, which was beyond incredible.

“This place…” As if guessing Meng Qi’s mind, Ji Wujiong walked to her and pointed to the ground, “Should be using an array spirit of protection.”

“Eh?” Meng Qi raised an eyebrow and looked at Ji Wujiong.

“You don’t know what an array spirit is?” Ji Wujiong snorted. “The per—…” He shut up suddenly. Seeing Meng Qi’s sunken face, he slowly said: “The person who was the grand ancestor of array cultivation possessed a great talent that was beyond genius. Anything on earth, from the landscape of mountain and river to the living beings…all could be used for their own use.”

Suddenly, in the middle of grassland that gradually regained its vitality, a vine grew out of nowhere. The vine grew faster and faster before interlacing into a shape of a door, adorned by a few blooming flowers.

“Let’s speak later.” Ji Wujiong said to Meng Qi.

When the two reached the vine door, seven flowers of different colors suddenly opened their petals. Each of the flowers held different things inside its petals. There were a bamboo slip, a jade slip, a porcelain bottle, something that looked like a small magic weapon, and three different rare medicinal ingredients.

“These should be the reward for passing the first test.” Ji Wujiong said.

“Yeah.” Meng Qi nodded. She knew about this, thanks to the bamboo slip Xue Jinwen gave her. It was said that those who could pass the Grand Tournament’s tests would be rewarded by the barrier itself. Even if they failed to gain the invitation from any of the great sects, the rewards were still very impressive.

Meng Qi carefully looked over the seven flowers. According to the rules, the seven best examinees could choose one reward every time they passed a test. This porcelain bottle should contain a very rare medicine, and the magic weapon should also be a divine object. The medicinal ingredients in the other three flowers were also extremely rare treasures that Meng Qi had only seen in books. Then, there were these bamboo slip and jade slip…

Meng Qi hesitated for a moment, but finally took the jade slip from one of the flowers and immediately poured a bit of aura into it. “Ah!” She exclaimed softly. This jade slip contained a very unusual medical spell. She had once read about this spell in a book, only to find out that the spell had been lost in the catastrophe more than two thousand years ago. Unexpectedly, she would get it in the Grand Tournament’s barrier.

Meng Qi happily put the jade slip into her storage space item. Seeing that extinct and forgotten spells could be found here, it seemed that this barrier was indeed created by an ancient great power. With this gain, she suddenly felt that it was not a bad thing to be unexpectedly sent into this place.

Even if Ji Wujiong probably would do as he said and would kill her as soon as they left the barrier, but as the great sage once said: if one could find the Dao in the morning, one would die with a smile in the evening!

Meng Qi was very satisfied, and her face was flushed with joy. There was an unconcealed smile on the corners of her eyes.

Ji Wujiong snorted softly, then he took out the bamboo slip from another flower. “Medicine formula.” He glanced at the bamboo slip and threw it to Meng Qi. “Take it. I am too impatient to refine medicine.”

“Huh?” When Meng Qi’s reacted, the slightly cool bamboo slip had been stuffed into her hand.

“But…”

“How troublesome!” Ji Wujiong snarled: “If you don’t want it, just throw it away.”

“No…” Meng Qi hesitantly took out the jade slip she had just gotten. She didn’t want to share this spell with Ji Wujiong, but since he had generously given her the medicine formula, she had to reciprocate.

“This is a medical spell.” Meng Qi put the jade slip into Ji Wujiong’s hands. “This particular spell had its inheritance cut off more than two thousand years ago, and had since been lost. I never expect to find it here. Since you gave me the formula, I will show you the spell I got, too.”

Ji Wujiong was about to refuse, saying that he was not interested. But when his eyes met Meng Qi’s solemn face, he understood that this girl probably wanted the medicine formula so badly.

“Alright.” He shook his hand casually, pouring a bit of aura into the jade slip. But in just a moment, he returned the jade slip back to Meng Qi: “I’ve seen it.”

“Okay.” Meng Qi took the jade slip back, together with the bamboo slip Ji Wujiong gave her. Inside her storage space item, she had a special brocade bag to store jade and bamboo slips, different than the one normally used to store spirit stones. Meng Qi spent quite a sum when buying this brocade bag at Cloud Immortal Pavilion. The bag was woven from celestial silk mixed with the powder of blazing grass and the fur of two types of celestial demons. It was immune from both water and fire, and had such a high defense that even if the storage space item was destroyed, the bag and its content would remain unscathed.

Meng Qi carefully put the two slips back into the brocade bag. She wanted to make sure that even if something unexpected happened to her, at least the knowledge she kept with her could be preserved.