Faced with Hazing at the Immortal Gathering, Shen Yi Outwits the Adversaries to Overcome the Ordeal

The golden-nanmu archway of the Immortal Flora Gathering loomed indistinctly in the morning mist, as Shen Yi walked through the crowd clutching half a blood-stained bamboo slip.

Tens of thousands of spiritual plant seeds floated in the air, circling like constellations outside the barrier, while the mandarin-duck jade pendant at his waist suddenly emitted a faint hum.

"Loose cultivators must pay three hundred superior-grade spirit stones to register." The gate-guarding boy didn't even lift his eyelids, his fingertip tracing a dazzling red cross across the Profound Light Mirror.

Yet inside Shen Yi's cosmos sack clearly lay the immortal gathering's special ice-crystal badge, which at this moment appeared as dull and lifeless as ordinary iron.

Catching a glimpse of Ouyang Yu's robe hem embroidered with golden cloud patterns drifting past from the second floor, he immediately understood that fellow was stirring up trouble—young masters of immortal clans were always most adept at tampering with rules using array formations.

"If this fellow Daoist is reluctant to part with wealth..." Ouyang Yu leaned against the carved railing and chuckled, three bicephalous lotus flowers suddenly blooming in his palm, "...why not cultivate a third-grade spiritual plant on the spot as a token of greeting?"

An outburst of laughter erupted from the onlookers.

Shen Yi's sleeve trembled slightly, and a bright green warning suddenly popped up on the system interface: Restricted spirit barrier detected, current spiritual power upper limit suppressed to the Qi Refining stage.

Lowering his head to feign examining the bamboo slip, he instead used the toe of his shoe to crush a moon-grass seed hidden within the folds of his garment.

Pale silver juice seeped into the crevices of the blue stone slabs, instantly transforming into dense vines that wrapped around the gate-boy's ankles.

Taking advantage of the other's stumble, Shen Yi suddenly raised the withered bamboo slip and shouted: "May I ask if the third article of the gathering's code reads 'Those holding the Azure Underworld Slip are granted special passage'?"

A crisp crash of a cup shattering came from the second floor.

Just as Fairy Lingxuan's snow-white skirt brushed against the golden-nanmu railing, Shen Yi had already used the bamboo slip to brand the mark of a three-petaled golden lotus onto the Profound Light Mirror.

The pattern from the system's activation last night turned out to be completely identical to the gathering's secret runes, and the silver-spike pattern at the back of his neck suddenly burned hot like fire.

"The Azure Underworld Slip is an ancient spirit-farmer's token." Lingxuan's voice, laced with spring-like spiritual power, resonated across the entire venue. Her fingertip touched the charred spot on the bamboo slip, "However, this fellow Daoist needs to explain why this item is stained with the juice of the Demon Realm's bone-corroding flower."

Shen Yi felt eight hundred acres of spiritual fields vibrate simultaneously in his sea of consciousness, and a dust-covered bronze farming tool in the system warehouse suddenly emitted a dragon's roar.

Meeting Ouyang Yu's malevolent gaze, he stepped half a step forward, quietly shaking a few withered tea leaves from his sleeve—none other than the remnants of the Enlightenment Tea gifted by the guiding emissary three years ago.

"Does the Fairy recognize this scent?" The moment the tea fragrance diffused, Elder Xuanfeng's horsetail whisk suddenly slipped from his hand, freezing into a giant dandelion shape in mid-air.

The silver-spike patterns behind Shen Yi's ears suddenly spread to the side of his neck, sketching out half a totem of Shennong tasting a hundred herbs amidst the exclamations of the crowd.

Lingxuan's pupils contracted slightly.

Waving her wide sleeve to sweep away the tea fragrance, she turned around only for two of the five-colored tassels hanging from her jade hairpin to snap off suddenly: "Verifying true identity will take three hours. Would the fellow Daoist be willing..."

A deafening dragon's roar interrupted her words.

***

Watching the emerald-green light flickering frantically on the system interface, Shen Yi suddenly realized that those things breaking through the soil in his eight hundred acres of spiritual fields were not spiritual plants he had planted with his own hands at all.

The tingling sensation in his palm was identical to the burning pain when the guiding emissary patted his shoulder three years ago, and the mandarin-duck jade pendant was now as hot as a burning coal.

Twirling the residual tea fragrance at his fingertips, the silver-spike patterns circulated a shimmering halo along the side of his neck.

Elder Xuanfeng's whisk-dandelion suddenly burst into tens of thousands of silver threads, shredding the restriction array disk hidden within Ouyang Yu's sleeve into powder.

Amidst the clattering of jade stones falling to the ground, the youth crooked the corner of his mouth with rakish charm: "May I ask if the fifth article of the gathering's code states 'Prohibiting the private alteration of entry regulations'?"

Lingxuan flipped her wide sleeves, and the Profound Light Mirror suddenly reflected the damaged cloud-patterned pouch at Ouyang Yu's waist.

Three spirit stones contaminated with demonic energy tumbled to the ground, and a sharp intake of breath immediately sounded from the surrounding crowd.

From within the carved window on the second floor came the crisp sound of shattering porcelain as Ouyang Yu's boots, embroidered with golden threads, fiercely ground over the spirit stone debris: "It was merely for the sake of the trial..."

"The trial requires Demon Realm black obsidian?" Shen Yi raised his foot to hook up a half-fragment, and the bronze plow in the system warehouse suddenly vibrated with a clear chime.

Dark red patterns surfaced on the fragment, unmistakably the residual runes of a Demon Realm teleportation array.

The silver-spike pattern behind his ear suddenly spread to his collarbone, condensing into the shape of half an ear of rice in the sunlight.

Lingxuan pointed her jade finger lightly into the void, and the five-colored tassels re-condensed into a crystal-clear chain: "Young Master Ouyang, would you care to accompany me to the Hall of Discipline for a cup of tea?" As she turned, her skirt brushed against Shen Yi's wrist, and an ice-crystal badge quietly dropped into his palm.

The system interface suddenly popped up a prompt: Obtained Spirit Flora Gathering Pass x1, unlocked rare seed exchange permissions.

Shen Yi raised an eyebrow and smiled at the residual cloud-patterned sleeve hem at the second-floor window, deliberately rustling the withered bamboo slip loudly as he turned around.

The gate-boy flushed red and yielded the path, while the silver threads of Elder Xuanfeng's whisk suddenly wrapped around the jade pendant at his waist: "This mandarin-duck pendant of young friend..."

"Given by an old friend from the mortal world." Shen Yi lightly stroked the bone-corroding flower juice staining the jade pendant, and the dust-covered bronze farming tool in the system warehouse suddenly sounded a dragon's roar.

The eight hundred acres of spiritual fields stirred up turquoise waves in his sea of consciousness, and the moon-grass planted last night had actually borne fruit resembling starlight.

The moment he crossed the golden-nanmu archway, thousands of spiritual plant seeds poured down like the Milky Way.

The silver-spike pattern on the back of Shen Yi's neck suddenly burned hot, and the system interface popped up a warning: Seventeen tracking imprints detected.

Feigning the adjustment of his collar, the Enlightenment Tea remnants shaken from his sleeve condensed into a bluebird in mid-air, fluttering to scatter the peeping spiritual runes hidden in the shadows.

"Will this fellow Daoist please stay." A crisp female voice laden with the fragrance of pear blossoms drifted over, Gao Yao's moon-white skirt brushing against the glazed bricks.

She brushed past him holding a jade box filled with starlight grass, and a crimson seed rolled out from the bottom of the box, landing precisely inside Shen Yi's spirit-soil-stained boot shaft.

***

Bending down, Shen Yi caught a familiar scent of cedar—the very scent clinging to Gao Yao's hair when they shared strong liquor in the ancient battlefield three years ago.

The moment the seed touched his skin, the system warehouse suddenly popped open a light screen: Ancient phoenix-wood embryo detected, requires nurturing with heart-blood.

Feigning the action of rising, he pressed his hand against his heart, and a bead of golden-red blood seeped out from between his fingers.

The viewing platform on the second floor emitted the clear chime of jade chimes, and Gao Yao's flowing cloud bun suddenly gained an unfamiliar emerald hairpin.

Shen Yi narrowed his eyes, watching that hairpin reflect the cloud patterns of the Ouyang clan in the sunlight, while a barely audible cold laugh escaped his throat.

The system interface suddenly flashed red: Warning!

Love-gu fluctuation detected, distance 3.2 meters.

"Has this loose cultivator fellow Daoist lost his way?" Fairy Lingxuan appeared out of nowhere at the corridor corner, the five-colored tassels on her wrist entangling a broken piece of emerald.

Catching sight of Elder Xuanfeng taking Gao Yao's pulse in the distance, Shen Yi clenched his fists within his sleeves, the unhealed wound in his palm once again oozing blood and dyeing the phoenix-wood seed even more vividly bright.

An exclamation suddenly erupted from the gathering's core exhibition area, and seventy-two glazed lamps simultaneously projected the phantom image of a certain region.

Shen Yi looked at the bicephalous lotus shrouded in nine-layer restrictions within the light screen, and the bronze farming tool in the system warehouse suddenly emitted a yearning tremor.

The silver-spike pattern behind his ear spread to his shoulder blade, outlining half an incomplete farming diagram beneath his clothing.

"That is the heavenly secret seed left behind by the ancient Shennong." Lingxuan's voice transmission blended into the wind, "Unnable to unlock the Mysterious Heaven Lock, unable to touch the seed box..." Before she finished speaking, Shen Yi had already turned into the dark alley following the system's guidance.

The withered vines at the base of the wall suddenly grew wildly, spelling out an arrow-shaped pattern on the blue bricks.

Shen Yi's mandarin-duck pendant suddenly emitted a scorching fluctuation, and as he turned around, he caught sight of Gao Yao's moon-white skirt disappearing around the corner.

The silver threads of Elder Xuanfeng's whisk dragged long shadows across the glazed tiles, while inside the carved window of the third-floor viewing platform, Ouyang Yu was using blood-stained fingertips to draw some ancient array on the lattice.

A new prompt popped up on the system interface: The Heavenly Secret Seed exhibition area will open for bidding in half a quarter of an hour, remaining preparation time: 899 seconds...

On the stone wall at the end of the dark alley, moon-grass juice was slowly seeping into the brick crevices.

Shen Yi looked at the star chart suddenly projected by the system onto the wall, discovering that the positions of three of the stars matched precisely with the spirit stones inlaid in the emerald hairpin Gao Yao wore today.

The moon-grass fruits in the eight hundred acres of spiritual fields burst open simultaneously, and the silver powder condensed into the shape of half a bronze key in his sea of consciousness.