Chapter 53: Love at First Sight

Bai Hu still maintained its arrogant demeanor, disdainfully looking at the surrounding group of insignificant brats who lacked any real power.

“Big Brother Bai Hu, thanks for your hard work.” However, when it heard Ye Wenxin’s voice, the arrogant Bai Hu could not help but shudder, with a look of fear in its eyes, and it muttered a few words, as if it did not dare to accept the title ‘Big Brother’.

But as if not noticing Bai Hu’s reaction, Ye Wenxin raised a bottle of medicine with her trembling hand.

“This…this is what we agreed on.” What she took out was a bottle of first-grade Recovery Pill, which also had a certain effect on demonic beasts like Bai Hu.

“I told you so, how could a little girl like that be able to tame a demonic beast?”

“Yeah, turns out she made a deal with the demonic beast after all.”

After hearing this exchange, everyone’s whispers no longer bore any scruples. From this angle, they could not see the fear on Bai Hu’s face at all.

“Take it, it’s your reward for being my quilt.” Ye Wenxin lowered her voice and gave the bottle of medicine to Bai Hu. At Ye Wenxin’s tone, Bai Hu naturally did not dare to refuse, so it held the bottle in its mouth and left promptly.

The scene began to return to calm upon Bai Hu’s departure, but after witnessing Ye Wenxin bribing the demonic beast Bai Hu, no one took the initiative to make friends with her.

Ye Wenxin did not seem to care. She found a stone to sit on and waited for the other assembly participants to arrive.

“This girl is so beautiful.”

“Yeah, look at that buxom one.”

In contrast to the deserted Ye Wenxin, other people gathered in twos and threes, discussing the beauties present. Listening to this bored Ye Wenxin even more, she was so sleepy that she wished she could have a good sleep, with the sky as her blanket and the earth as her bed.

Ye Wenxin became increasingly lost in a daze the more she mused.

“Whoa, that beauty is walking towards us.”

“Must be here to find me.”

“Oh heavens, could this be the end of my single life?”

The man next to her was still chattering, excitedly voicing his own feelings. Ye Wenxin could no longer keep her eyes open, and just as she leaned back softly against the stone, she heard a voice.

“Big Sis! It’s really you!” The familiar voice made Ye Wenxin’s heart shudder in her sleep. She snapped her eyes open, only to see Gu Xiangsi.

“Oh, it’s Xiangsi.” Ye Wenxin greeted Gu Xiangsi, as if she had forgotten her previous abandonment of the team.

However, it had only been a few days, and Gu Xiangsi had already reached fourth-stage Qi Refining.

“Miss Wenxin, haven’t seen you for a few days. Fortunately, you’re fine.” Not only that, Gu Aotian had also reached fifth-stage Qi Refining. Ye Wenxin could not help but take a few more glances, sensing that Gu Aotian seemed a little different.

“Big Sis, you’re so mean, you actually left us and ran away alone.” Noticing Ye Wenxin’s gaze falling on Gu Aotian, Gu Xiangsi blocked Ye Wenxin’s sight discontentedly, forcing Ye Wenxin’s attention to focus entirely on her.

“Hehe, after all, I’m used to being alone. But it seems like you guys have been doing pretty well these few days,” Ye Wenxin said weakly, her gaze shifting to the other tag-along teammates. They had all made significant progress during these few days as well.

Even Fatty had reached second-stage Qi Refining.

“We encountered a lot of dangers after you left.” Gu Xiangsi began to recount what happened in the past few days after Ye Wenxin left. Everyone seemed to empathize with her, it was also because of the progress they made in the face of death that they finally made it to the end.

Strangely, everyone had made a breakthrough except for Su Mei, who remained at first-stage Qi Refining. When she met Ye Wenxin’s eyes, she just smiled lightly and did not show any unnecessary emotions.

Ye Wenxin did not take the initiative to talk to Su Mei, and Gu Xiangsi clung to her, asking about Ye Wenxin’s situation these past few days.

“I met a big cat in the mountains, and then acknowledged it as ‘Big Brother’…” Ye Wenxin also began to make up stories about what happened in the past few days.

“So that’s why it was so lively just now.”

“Right, that white tiger looked super strong, worthy of Miss Wenxin.”

And Ye Wenxin’s words coincided perfectly with what happened just now, without any loopholes. Naturally, Ye Wenxin would not say too much lest there be too many lies, making it difficult for her to cover up.

They chatted with increasing enthusiasm for about an hour, until the earth suddenly began to vibrate.

Following the vibration, the stone monument before them suddenly began to glow, and immediately after, stairs stretched out from it. Each section was made of white jade, all identical in length and size. These white jade stairs extended upwards into the sky, connecting with air.

“This staircase is called the Heavenly Stairs, used to test one’s aptitude. The higher your aptitude, the higher you’ll climb.” A deep male voice suddenly resonated in the air, explaining the purpose of this celestial monument.

The crowd was startled at first, but soon their eyes involuntarily revealed fervent expressions.

The appearance of the Heavenly Stairs in front of them meant that this was already the final test.

Once their aptitude was determined, they could become disciples of the Azure Wings Sect. If they were fortunate enough to catch the attention of one of the twelve school masters, they might even be selected as inner disciples, or even true disciples.

Naturally, the chance of becoming a true disciple was extremely slim, as most masters only had one true disciple. However, even becoming an inner disciple could bring many benefits from the school masters, making it something to aspire to.

The excitement among the crowd was indescribable. Then, they heard the deep male voice continue, “The Twelve School Masters have arrived.”

In the midst of the conversation, eleven beams of light broke through the sky, with eleven school masters riding their swords through the air, exuding an aura of grace and dignity. The crowd began to look up at the sky, but no matter how they counted, they only found eleven school masters.

“School Master Fengya didn’t come.”

“Yeah, I thought we could at least catch a glimpse of School Master Fengya.”

Everyone noticed the eleven school masters standing conspicuously before them, but Fairy Fengya was nowhere to be seen. Ye Wenxin felt even more speechless. She had hoped to at least see Fairy Fengya at this recruitment assembly, but it turned out that Fairy Fengya had dared to skip out even on this.

This behavior from Fairy Fengya fueled Ye Wenxin’s ire even more, making her gnash her teeth in frustration, wishing she could fly into the sky and challenge Fairy Fengya directly.

She had these thoughts, but could only leave it at that.

“School Master Fengya has been delayed due to some matters, everyone, please don’t worry.” The Sect Master’s expression looked very unpleasant; he both loved and hated Fairy Fengya.

He loved her for her stunning beauty, which had propelled the Azure Feather Sect to become the top sect among the immortal sects. However, he also harbored resentment towards her. If Fairy Fengya were to attend, the other Sect Masters would hardly have any students to recruit.

Therefore, the Sect Master simply did not call Fairy Fengya this time to avoid creating an extreme imbalance of disciples among the twelve sects.

Naturally, the Sect Master could not reveal this truth, so he comforted everyone in this manner. Despite saying this, everyone became even more eager to see Fairy Fengya.

“Alright, now we can test your aptitude. The higher you climb, the higher your aptitude, and the stronger your mental and physical strength will be.” The Heavenly Stairs were meant to test one’s limits. Stepping onto the stone, one could feel the intense pressure emanating from the Heavenly Stairs.

The Heavenly Stairs consisted of 999 levels, and most people could only reach a few hundred levels at most. Since the founding of the Azure Wings Sect, only two people had ever reached the 999th level.

One was the sect’s founder, and the other was Fairy Fengya.

Ye Wenxin did not know these things, but learned about them from Fatty beside her.

“Fairy Fengya truly deserves to be the only one in the world worthy of the title ‘Fairy’!” Fatty exclaimed excitedly, his face flushed. He even nervously started tidying his hair, making Ye Wenxin wonder if this was a blind date or an inspection of attributes.

But looking around, it seemed that all the men’s goals were Fairy Fengya, and all the women’s goals had become wanting to become women like Fairy Fengya.

“Do you also like Fairy Fengya, Xiangsi?” Gu Xiangsi by Ye Wenxin’s side was also particularly excited, such a situation felt more like an idol meeting event. Since Ye Wenxin disliked Fairy Fengya, she naturally felt particularly annoyed by the blind admiration from the people around her towards Fairy Fengya.

“Yeah. Big Sister, don’t you like Fairy Fengya?” Gu Xiangsi asked Ye Wenxin, puzzled by her reaction.

“I don’t.” Ye Wenxin expressed her opinion directly, and Gu Xiangsi just smiled at her.

“Since Big Sister doesn’t like Fairy Fengya, then I won’t like her either,” Gu Xiangsi replied with a smile, leaning affectionately against Ye Wenxin’s arm. Ye Wenxin was not sure if Gu Xiangsi’s words were sincere or just to make her happy, but it made her feel much better.

They stopped talking as the first brave soul had appeared, but unfortunately, before reaching even ten levels, he was already too exhausted to move.

There had been a total of one hundred and thirty-five people at the scene, eventually only fifty people remained. If the ladder they climbed was too low, they would only be ruthlessly eliminated. People climbed up desperately and were reduced to crawling pathetically in the end. It was an extremely humiliating sight.

One after another, then, as if feeling this pace was too slow, it finally turned into a mass advancement competition for one hundred people at once. Although Ye Wenxin did not want to get involved in this chaotic situation, Gu Xiangsi pulled her arm forward.

“Big Sis, I’m so scared I won’t survive.”

“It will be alright, Xiangsi, you have to believe in yourself.” Ye Wenxin felt that Gu Xiangsi was thinking too much. As one of the male protagonist’s harem members, she naturally had excellent aptitude and would undoubtedly stand out among the rest in time.

“Mmhm, Big Sister must do your best too.” Gu Xiangsi felt a little better. Seeing that her brother Gu Aotian had already climbed up the Heavenly Stairs, she too, stepped up without hesitation.

Ye Wenxin followed behind, and as soon as she took the first step, she felt a hundred catties (50kg/110lbs) of pressure on her body. But for Ye Wenxin, the weight was as easy as lifting a finger.

She continued to follow Gu Xiangsi, who was struggling to move forward, and decided where to stop when Gu Xiangsi stopped.

During that climb, more and more people flew through the air on their swords. Various senior sisters and brothers came to join in the fun, while various elders and school masters were selecting talents. Ye Wenxin also saw Ling Jue, whom she had not seen for a long time, standing on the Heavenly Stairs, smiling softly at her.

Ling Jue seemed to sense Ye Wenxin’s gaze, the corners of her mouth raised slightly, the anxiety in her heart finally quieted down, replaced by a tenderness that filled her eyes.

People of all ages, men and women alike, were captivated by Ling Jue’s charm, willing to give up everything for just one glance from her. However, they knew not that the gentleness of the Peerless Gentleman before them only blossomed unconditionally for one person.