Chapter 834: The Cloud Beast First Appears, One Sword Comes from the East

The next day at noon.

A day and a half had passed since the Yunlun Shanmai trial began.

Xu Xiaoshou's "Xu Bang" led the way, continuing their advance into the inner regions of the mountains after a full night of rest.

However, this eastern area seemed unbelievably barren.

The number of yunzhu had plummeted, as if they had been completely stripped away. The idea of leaving no stone unturned was appealing, but with even the basics hard to find, what was there to take?

The three leaders, including Xu Shaosan, flew at the front, with the Five Tigers Generals following behind.

Tai Xing looked expressionless as he glanced at the other four grandmasters, hesitating slightly before saying,

“You all came up empty-handed too?”

After breaking through to grandmaster the previous night, he had resumed his task that morning, searching for yunzhu.

But after half a day, he hadn't even caught a glimpse of one.

“I found three.” Zhu Dong said with a bitter smile.

“Hey, then I'm even better—I found six.” Zhao Xiu chuckled.

“None.”

“None.”

Xi Guanghan and Mo Beibei, each with over a hundred followers, wore complicated expressions, indicating they had found nothing at all.

“Xu Shao has dropped from ninth on the jifen bang to twenty-seventh, and that's just this morning.” Zhu Dong looked at the trial jade pendant, his tone full of regret. “Is it that this area really lacks yunzhu, or are other places just too abundant?”

“I don't know...” Mo Beibei said with a bitter laugh. “This doesn't feel right. If it keeps up like this, in less than a day, even Xu Shao will fall off the top thirty-six of the jifen bang. We...”

“Do not doubt Xu Shao's abilities!” Tai Xing turned to Mo Beibei, cutting him off. “You seem to have forgotten that these past two days, we've only been focused on building our forces, searching for yunzhu as a side task. But Xu Shao hasn't even started his real offensive, plundering others' points yet.”

“Exactly.” Xi Guanghan nodded and smiled. “As long as Xu Shao wants to act, there aren't many in the entire Yunlun Shanmai who can withstand even one of his strikes.”

The group nodded to each other, finding some comfort in the thought.

As new grandmasters, their biggest fear was not making the top thirty-six on the jifen bang and getting eliminated.

Now that even Xu Shao had slipped to twenty-seventh, it was natural for some to feel anxious.

Still, deep down, everyone was willing to trust in Xu Shao's capabilities.

“Report!”

Just then, a Xu Bang member flew in quickly from a distance, shouting mid-air.

“What is it?” Zhu Dong turned and recognized this as one of his subordinates.

“About seven hundred li to the west, we found a special valley shrouded in clouds and mist. There are corpses of grandmaster spirit beasts around, and strange beast roars. We suspect...”

Before he could finish, the Five Tigers Generals' eyes lit up in unison.

“Yunshou?”

“Don't say more—report to Xu Shao immediately and let's head over to check it out!”

“The jifen bang has dropped again.”

Xu Xiaoshou, still staring at the trial jade pendant, shook his head repeatedly.

His advertising campaign had only lasted one night, and by morning, he had been pushed out of the top spots.

It was clear just how fiercely the trial participants were competing in this Yunlun Shanmai trial.

In just one night, they had knocked him down to the twenties!

“The outermost areas of Yunlun Shanmai probably don't have that many yunzhu—maybe some people have already pushed deeper in. The closer we get to the core, the more resources there should be.” Liu Changqing speculated.

“Don't they need to rest?” Xin Gugu asked, puzzled.

Had these trial participants gone mad with killing?

If they didn't rest now, during the big battles in the inner regions in a few days, those who exhausted themselves first would surely fall.

Thinking about it, he couldn't help but admire Xu Xiaoshou's methods.

With nearly nine hundred members in Xu Bang, Xu Xiaoshou didn't even need to lift a finger—people were delivering yunzhu right to him.

Such ability was probably unmatched in Yunlun Shanmai.

To subdue trial participants through force while also winning their loyalty with pills...

“Tsk tsk!” Xin Gugu marveled. It was a perfect mix of the stick and the carrot—one half threat, one half reward!

As he pondered, Xu Xiaoshou ahead stopped in his tracks.

“We might be ready to cast the net.”

“Hmm?” Xin Gugu looked over.

Xu Xiaoshou said, “Xu Bang now has nearly nine hundred members. I plan to cap it at exactly nine hundred and stop recruiting. Too many people are hard to manage and risk rebellions. Once we hit that number, we'll push full speed toward the inner regions.”

“Start killing?” Xin Gugu perked up excitedly.

“It's plundering!” Xu Xiaoshou smacked him on the head in annoyance. “Relying on finding yunzhu worked for the early stages, but it's too slow now. We're not in a yunzhu-rich area of Yunlun Shanmai, so we have to start plundering and attacking early.”

“True.” Liu Changqing nodded in agreement, supporting the idea.

“In that case, I'll call the Five Tigers Generals over and issue the orders directly.” Xu Xiaoshou smirked. “From now on, it’ll be tough for other trial participants to join Xu Bang as members.”

That was exactly what Xu Xiaoshou intended.

He didn't want to take on too many people.

Because if Xu Bang grew too large, the title would lose its value.

By creating scarcity, he could later use the “Xu Bang member” label to attract even more talents.

“Let's go!”

As he turned to give the orders, he saw the Five Tigers Generals flying toward him from a distance.

“What's the matter?”

“Xu Shao, yunshou!” Zhao Xiu was quite excited.

Zhu Dong quickly added, “It's suspected to be a yunshou. Xu Shao, one of our Xu Bang members found a special secret realm about seven hundred li away. We should go check it out.”

A secret realm?

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes burned with eagerness.

They had already explored Yunlun Shanmai for a day and found several secret realms.

These places sometimes held clusters of yunzhu, or entire fields of high-quality medicinal herbs—always valuable.

For the Five Tigers Generals to report this one so urgently, it must be significant.

“Let's go!”

Xu Xiaoshou decided immediately, leading the group westward while relaying his earlier plans.

Seven hundred li away, at Luoyun Peak.

Rong Dahao, dressed in luxurious robes, led over a hundred people. They had slain more than a dozen grandmaster spirit beasts and climbed this majestic peak to reach the summit.

At the top, a massive yunshou, over a hundred zhang in size, floated in the air.

The beast blocked out the sky, with a ten-zhang lone horn on its head, seven-colored auspicious clouds under its feet, a body like a giant fish covered in cloud scales, and double wings on its back that could shade half the sky, resembling an ancient kunpeng.

Strangely, when probed with spiritual sense, the beast seemed nonexistent, as if what they saw was an illusion.

It appeared to have no physical form, carefree as it roamed the nine heavens, unaffected by the trial participants below on Luoyun Peak.

Its body shifted with the fierce winds—sometimes a kunpeng, sometimes a giant dragon, sometimes a phoenix...

“Big Brother Hao, look!”

One of his followers pointed at the yunshou in the sky, his face full of shock, like a child seeing something for the first time.

Rong Dahao was shocked too.

As a successor of Taixu, he had never encountered such a creature before.

It was too enormous, too bizarre.

“Yunshou!”

Almost instantly, Rong Dahao confirmed its origin.

In the Yunjing world, only this being matched the description of a yunshou with such special powers.

“Yunshou? That's ten thousand points!” His followers' eyes turned green with envy.

“Big Brother Hao, should we go for it? If we take it down, you could rush back into the top thirty-six on the jifen bang!” Someone tempted him.

Rong Dahao hesitated.

This yunshou was different from what he had expected.

It seemed strong.

How could they kill it?

The yunshou in the sky seemed to notice the commotion below. A gust of wind blew, and its rear end transformed into a ferocious tiger head, which it raised with a roar.

“Woo—”

A strange sound wave erupted, leaving everyone mentally dizzy and feeling a soul-shaking impact. It took them a while to recover.

Rong Dahao only paused for half a second before snapping back to clarity, his heart filled with dread.

“Mental attack!”

“This yunshou uses mental attacks.”

“Just that sound wave alone is at least at the Zongshi Xingsi realm level—maybe even tougher than a Zongshi peak in a fight.”

“This is way too strong!”

Rong Dahao was stunned.

How had others killed yunshou like this?

He had been keeping an eye on the jifen bang, and right after entering Yunlun Shanmai, within a day, many had already slain yunshou.

“They must have all broken through to grandmaster already?” Rong Dahao speculated.

Those who could slay yunshou must have reached grandmaster, otherwise they couldn't handle a Zongshi Xingsi realm creature with special mental attacks!

“I haven't broken through yet...”

Rong Dahao looked hesitant.

Breaking through to grandmaster meant he had to stay in the game and make the top thirty-six on the jifen bang, or he'd lose his qualification for the Shengong trial.

But without breaking through, that ten thousand points would be nearly impossible to claim...

“Big Brother Hao!”

His followers urged him on.

They followed Rong Dahao because he was a Taixu successor—they expected confidence from him. Why hesitate at this crucial moment?

“Big Brother Hao, make a decision! Even if you don't break through now, I dare say that once we reach the inner regions of Yunlun Shanmai, or even the core with the Nine Dragon Veins, only grandmasters will be left fighting. It's impossible to stay out of it.”

Those words were rational and realistic, but they stung.

Rong Dahao wasn't foolish; he quickly grasped the logic.

If every trial participant held out until the end, no one would give up their chance.

And if no one wanted to give up, everyone would have to play their trump cards!

So, in this scenario, trial participants would eventually all break through to grandmaster.

Since that was the inevitable outcome, why hold back? Better to break through early and use the grandmaster level to gain advantages in the early trial stages.

“You all guard me. I'll break through and then take down this yunshou!” Rong Dahao gritted his teeth and said firmly.

“Good!”

“Go for it, Big Brother Hao!”

“Charge! Before the eastern Xu Bang people find this place, hurry up!”

His followers grew excited.

In their group, several had already broken through to grandmaster, including one at Yin Yang realm.

The reason everyone still listened to Rong Dahao was that even that Yin Yang realm grandmaster couldn't beat him at Xiantian peak.

Once such a leader broke through, he'd be unstoppable—god-slaying, Buddha-slaying!

The yunshou had a gentle temperament and seemed unwilling to attack unless provoked, but it drifted quickly with the winds, as if about to flee.

Rong Dahao sat cross-legged, forming seals and circulating his energy, his mind entering a state of clarity.

In an instant,

“Boom!”

A massive illusory gate appeared on Luoyun Peak, towering and ancient, as if it could pierce through time and space, suppressing the eight wastelands and four seas.

“Shikong Gate...”

Among his followers, the Yin Yang realm grandmaster Lei Ze showed shock in his eyes and murmured silently, “He really is a successor of the Taixu Clan!”

Rong Dahao's breakthrough created a huge phenomenon, far beyond what a typical grandmaster breakthrough should entail.

Yet, after breaking through, his cultivation stabilized firmly at Tianxiang realm initial stage, without any overflow.

“Is this the power of a great clan's heritage?” Lei Ze sighed.

It was well-known that breaking through after suppressing one's realm was like a tsunami or a bursting dam—most cultivators struggled to keep their level from surging higher.

Lei Ze had experienced that himself.

He knew the importance of a solid foundation, but after reaching grandmaster, no matter his efforts, he could only cap his realm at Yin Yang.

Rong Dahao had clearly suppressed his cultivation for years, yet he could forcefully stabilize it at Tianxiang realm initial stage after breaking through.

On the surface, his power might not seem overwhelming, but it gave him more time as a grandmaster to comprehend the Dao rhythm and solidify his foundation before reaching the throne.

In short, Lei Ze was strong for the present, but Rong Dahao had a brighter future.

“Did it work?”

As Rong Dahao opened his eyes, everyone looked over, including Lei Ze.

Rong Dahao smiled slightly, clenched his fist, and said with satisfaction, “Now, even a typical Xingsi realm opponent couldn't stop me!”

Everyone was astounded.

They had heard that top geniuses could fight above their level, even against peers, but for Rong Dahao to claim he could take on Xingsi at Tianxiang—it was unbelievable.

“What about this yunshou?” Lei Ze stepped forward, glancing at the yunshou in the sky, which was on the verge of escaping.

Rong Dahao chuckled, “A mere mental attack can't break my 'Shikong Gate' defense. Everyone else, stand by—this battle is just for me and Brother Lei Ze!”

The last part was directed at his followers.

Lei Ze nodded firmly.

He feared mental attacks, but with Rong Dahao unafraid, the fight would be much easier.

“Kill!”

“Go for it, Big Brother!”

“Brother Lei Ze, you too! Take down those ten thousand points and charge into the top thirty-six!”

The group was fired up, cheering for their leader and second-in-command.

Rong Dahao's blood boiled. He glanced at Lei Ze, and they both bent their knees, launching into the sky.

“Whish!”

At that moment, a black light streaked from the east.

In an instant, it pierced through countless spaces.

A black sword “dinged” as it embedded itself in the air above Luoyun Peak's summit, sealing and interrupting Rong Dahao and Lei Ze's movements.

“Shii—”

The sword's hum was long and eerie.

The black sword hung in the void, twisting into a bizarre, vibrant flower.

“What the hell is that?”

Everyone was startled.

This sudden black sword had disrupted their leader and second-in-command.

The sword intent raged, but no wielder was in sight, faintly evoking the legendary eastern domain style of “one sword from the east, one sword immortal.”

“Who is it?!”

Rong Dahao stared at the black sword before him, a sense of unease creeping into his heart.

At the same time, a loud voice echoed from the base of the mountain.

“To everyone on the mountain—you're surrounded by me, Xu someone! Surrender your weapons, come down and pay your respects, or you'll regret it.

“Otherwise, I'll draw my sword and turn all of Luoyun Peak red with blood!”