His family expelled him from the clan, his fellow villagers stabbed him in the back, his once good friends were ashamed to associate with him, and everyone behind his back cursed him as disgusting and perverted. Not only that, but some people deliberately teased him, forcing him to wear women’s clothes in broad daylight for others’ amusement. Eventually, somehow, this cultivator’s face was destroyed.
Filled with resentment, the disfigured cultivator, at the end of his rope, accidentally fell into the demonic path, becoming a demon cultivator.
Before his fall into darkness, the cultivator’s heart was divided between two faces, so after becoming a demon, he also developed two faces. One was grotesque, resembling a demon, while the other was beautiful and gentle, beloved by all. He used the beautiful face to seduce people and the demonic face to harm them.
When Zanxing first read this page, she thought it was probably just a fabrication by the author, too melodramatic to be true. However, as she watched the demonic cultivator carefully tuck a flower into its chest, she suddenly felt that perhaps the accounts in the book were not entirely false.
Once its ‘faces’ were exposed, the Two-Headed Asura no longer disguised itself. The more gentle and charming its beautiful face appeared, the more terrifyingly grotesque the expression on its demonic face became. Its robe was torn apart by the wind during the battle, revealing its original body, which was different from ordinary humans — a monstrous, green-colored body with veins protruding from the surface of the skin, as if it were about to burst open at any moment.
Zanxing exerted force in her hand, and the flowers blooming on the iron staff quickly formed into a string of flower garlands. With some more force, the string of flower garlands flew into the air, lighting up the dim sky, instantly attracting the gaze of the Two-Headed Asura.
The demon cultivator’s gaze followed the rainbow, and its claws instinctively caught the flower garlands. It seemed like it couldn’t control itself, wanting to put the flower garlands on its head.
And it did just that.
The pink flower garland was gently placed on the head of the handsome man. In an instant, whether it was Zanxing’s illusion or not, its other demonic face seemed to soften. As for the handsome man’s face, it suddenly seemed to melt like water, becoming blurry and then gradually clear, revealing a strange, neither overly handsome nor terrifyingly frightening, but gentle and refined face of a young man.
He seemed very satisfied with the flower garland on his head, and a smile slowly formed on his lips. Unlike the false shell of a mask from before, this smile seemed to convey genuine contentment, as if a small wish had been fulfilled.
Then, a strong golden light suddenly burst from the flower garland on his head, engulfing the demon cultivator.
At the same time, a surge of qi flowed into Zanxing’s body. On the ranking stone in front of the competition stage, Zanxing’s name seemed to soar like a spiritual boat, swiftly racing to the top.
Xuan Lingzi rubbed his eyes. “What did she do? How did the Two-Headed Asura lose?”
Gu Baiying raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at the figure in the Clear Heart Mirror, and snorted, “Hmph, she’s just taking advantage of the situation again.”
1
The arena was deserted, with nothing in sight. On the land tinged with a hint of blood, only the lone, excessively brilliant flower garland remained. Zanxing walked over and bent down to pick up the flower garland.
Within the flower garland, she had concealed the Evil-Purging Technique. The Evil-Purging Technique was incredibly powerful, and if placed above a demon cultivator’s head, it would undoubtedly exterminate the evil spirits. However, few people were able to directly imprint the Evil-Purging Technique onto a demon cultivator’s head.
Zanxing was merely taking a gamble, betting that the cultivator who had fallen into the demonic path due to slander would still, like many years ago, be moved by a flower.
He did indeed succumb to the temptation, putting the flower garland on his head, and Zanxing did indeed defeat him. However… as she looked at the flower garland in her hand, she did not feel particularly joyful. Instead, she felt an inexplicable heaviness.
The wind blew through the dense forest, and the flower that had originally bloomed because of the “Mirror Flower And Water Moon” quickly dissipated into smoke. Zanxing watched for a while, then shouldered her iron staff and continued forward.
*
On the first day, a large number of disciples crushed their Departure Talismans and left the Mustard Seed Painting early. The rankings on the blue stone tablet changed time and time again.
For those with bad luck, they encountered high-level demon cultivators as soon as they entered, and without even fighting, they exited, not gaining any qi and naturally ending up at the bottom. Those with better luck consistently encountered low to mid-level demon cultivators, so although they accumulated qi more slowly, it added up over time.
Of course, there were disciples like Zanxing who calmly participated in the competition with just a single Torch Eye Talisman, taking their time to select their opponents. While it seemed unfair, it left others with no choice but to accept it.
New disciples participating in the inner sect assessment for the first time naturally attracted attention if they performed exceptionally well. Among them, Tian Fangfang and Mu Cengxiao were considered dark horses. They didn’t seem to come from major clans, but their natural aptitude suited cultivation well. Tian Fangfang had immense strength and abundant qi. Mu Cengxiao was adept at manipulating the Five Elements’ powers and seemed to have completed a partial technique all on his own, showing true genius.
They encountered quite a few mid-level demon cultivators and even defeated one or two high-level ones. Although the process was arduous, they emerged victorious. Their names now sat at the top of the ranking stone, and considering Xuan Lingzi’s intentions, they might just secure one of the three spots for direct disciples.
Among the new disciples, Hua Yue still held the top position in the rankings.
For Hua Yue, low-level demon cultivators were no match for him at all, and he handled mid-level ones with ease. It was the high-level demon cultivators who posed a challenge, and he relied on defeating both mid-level and high-level opponents to firmly maintain his first-place position.
Honestly, even among the older disciples, Hua Yue’s potential was noteworthy. Yue Qin and Zhao Mayi both believed that if Xuan Lingzi were to select direct disciples, Hua Yue would be the best candidate. However, Cui Yufu didn’t share this opinion. He had high hopes for Zanxing, perhaps because she had read some of his obscure books and even mastered the Torch Eye Talisman. Cui Yufu said to Xuan Lingzi, “If you don’t want her, I’ll take her! Make her my direct disciple, I like her!”
“Well, that’s unfortunate because I want her too,” Li Danshu said with a smile, “She’s so talented in alchemy. If we have her in our alchemy room, how many spiritual herbs can be saved? She’s really great, much better than those young people who don’t know anything about managing a household. I like her too.”
Gu Baiying gave them a disdainful glance but didn’t bother to speak up.
T/N: At least the author’s self-aware lol. Just once, I want Zanxing to face an actual challenge, win a life-threatening battle without using shortcuts or relying on luck