Chapter 1497 — The Beginning of the Trial

"Not bad! It seems everyone has been well-behaved today!" Xiao Qing swept her gaze over the crowd and the spirit beasts in their hands, then nodded.

The crowd could only smile bitterly. After the precedents already set, who would dare pull any little tricks right under the Ice Palace's nose? Would that not be courting death?

"Follow me, all of you. On the way to the trial there is to be no clamor and no fighting. Otherwise, don't blame me for being unpleasant!" With that, Xiao Qing turned around and walked forward at an unhurried pace.

No one dared to dawdle, and they hurried after her. Originally Yu Shan had meant to egg Feng Nitian on into making some small move against Yu Bing along the way, but now it seemed impossible. The Ice Palace people had already spoken their warning, and at such a time no one dared to defy them lightly.

The road at the beginning was flat and quite easy to walk, but once they entered the bounds of the Snow-Ice Spirit Mountain, the going grew harder and harder. Add to that the snow that swirled down without cease, and visibility along the way was very poor. Everyone circulated their own internal cultivation methods and kept themselves on guard.

Though Xiao Qing had said that fighting was not permitted on the road to the trial grounds, who could guarantee that no one would launch a sneak attack? In such poor visibility, if someone did ambush you, would you not be terribly unlucky?

They were all Profound Rank cultivators, and once they circulated their internal cultivation methods, their ears and eyes grew far sharper — just enough, in fact, to keep pace with Xiao Qing.

In truth, Xiao Qing had already deliberately held back her speed. Otherwise, with the strength of a Heaven Rank expert, it would be no exaggeration to say she could walk as swiftly as if she were flying.

"How is it? Holding up all right?" Yu Bing was somewhat worried about Wei Zhao. After all, walking like this was already hard enough for everyone. And Wei Zhao had a burden on his back — and it was plain to see that as he walked, he always turned his own body toward the wind, so that the wind and snow would not strike Feng Xiaoxiao's face.

Perhaps it made no difference at all to Feng Xiaoxiao, but it was merely an unconscious action on Wei Zhao's part.

"It's nothing!" Wei Zhao smiled. "She's actually very light... and besides, carrying her gives me even more drive..."

"Uh... I understand..." Yu Bing glanced at Wei Zhao, then at Feng Xiaoxiao's breasts pressed against Wei Zhao's back, and a look of "I get it" spread across his face.

"..." Seeing Yu Bing's lewd expression, Wei Zhao was momentarily at a loss for words. Where had this fellow's mind wandered off to? The drive he had meant was the thought of Feng Xiaoxiao's illness — that however bitter or exhausting it became, he had to keep going. What did that have to do with this?

Still, reminded by Yu Bing, Wei Zhao realized that it really was quite comfortable.

The group walked for a good hour and more before finally arriving at the foot of the Snow-Ice Spirit Mountain. There a line of Ice Palace disciples stood, all of them women dressed in white — though they did not look as young as the Ice Palace Mistress and Xiao Qing. Their features were quite ordinary as well, and they appeared to be thirty or forty years of age.

Their white garments differed from those of the Ice Palace Mistress. Hers was a flowing white gauze, while what these Ice Palace disciples wore was white cotton cloth, plain and unadorned.

What surprised Wei Zhao, however, was that every one of these Ice Palace disciples possessed strength at the Earth Rank or above, and the strongest among them had actually reached the peak of the late Earth Rank! Of course, there were no Heaven Rank experts among them.

To step into the Heaven Rank was probably no longer a matter of being an ordinary disciple.

"All right, the starting point of the trial is here!" Xiao Qing halted and turned to address the trial participants. "For the sake of fairness, in a moment Ice Palace disciples will send each of you to different locations on the Snow-Ice Spirit Mountain. Those locations are chosen at random! Now, form your own teams — but no team may exceed three people. If there are more than three, you must split into two groups, and afterward find each other on the mountain yourselves."

Naturally, no one had any objection to the Ice Palace's arrangement. If everyone stayed together, the trial might well descend into a chaotic free-for-all the moment it began, and that would rob the trial of its meaning.

It was only the three-person limit that left some people deeply disappointed. They had already made contact with quite a few people beforehand, precisely so that numbers would lend them strength and they would not be bullied while together. But now that teams were capped at three, all those people they had recruited beforehand meant nothing.

It was true that once on the mountain they could seek one another out and regroup, but apart from the question of whether that would be so easy to do, even if they found one another, the other group might not be willing to merge with theirs. They might well have already thrown in their lot with some other team.

Zhang Naipao naturally formed a team with the brothers Zhuang Niaopao and Zhuang Niaoqiang. Those two had been the first to know Zhang Naipao and were the most familiar to him; no one else could compare.

Feng Nitian, meanwhile, teamed up with Yu Shan. As for Zhao Qitan, he could only form a team with Zhao Qijiu alone. There was no help for it — with the three-person limit, he could hardly leave Zhao Qijiu to form a team by himself.

Wei Zhao naturally teamed up with Yu Bing — though he still had Feng Xiaoxiao on his back. Even so, he did not exceed the limit of three.

Soon, once the teams were settled, Xiao Qing gave a single command, and all the Ice Palace disciples sprang into motion. They walked over, each taking hold of one trial participant, and leapt into the air, racing off toward different directions of the Snow-Ice Spirit Mountain.

Naturally, those in the same team headed in the same direction.

The snow mountain was a vast expanse of white. These disciples were, of course, thoroughly familiar with the routes upon it, but the trial participants were not. Dropped off at different locations, they lost even their sense of direction.

"What do we do now?" Yu Bing and Wei Zhao had been left in a place with no other trial participants in sight, fore or aft. Gazing at the boundless white snow before him, Yu Bing could not help asking.

"We search for the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit, and for rare treasures of heaven and earth at the same time. That way you'll be able to pass the trial smoothly as well," Wei Zhao said.

"All right, we'll do as you say." With Yu Bing alongside Wei Zhao, everything was decided by Wei Zhao. He felt that set beside himself, Wei Zhao was far, far stronger.

Originally, Yu Bing had counted as one of the geniuses of his generation within the Yu family, but compared with Wei Zhao he truly amounted to nothing — in wit or in strength, he amounted to nothing.

"Thunder Pig, where is the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit? Can you sense it?" Wei Zhao turned and asked the Thunder Pig.

"Chi chi..." The Thunder Pig shook its head.

"What's that supposed to mean, you stupid pig? We're already here and you still can't sense it?" Wei Zhao said in anger, lifting his foot to kick the little creature. (To be continued)

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