As I cultivated calmly within my small dorm given by the sect, I occasionally checked up on the elders of the Purple Cloud Sect.
They seemed to have found life far better than in the depth of the tormenting volcano. After all, the Qi in this place was enough to help them recover along with my constant supply of pills. Though some of them were still acting like complete jerks since I was of a lower cultivation level than them. A single word from Elder Yun put them all in place.
I also found out more about the incident regarding the Sect Master.
Apparently, there was a spy within the Purple Cloud sect, and the day that she walked out of her palace, was the same day that spy went and reported the situation to Chuzi Yan. The one who lusted after the sect master and when he couldn't get her or overpower her, he waited and sabotaged her ascension. Causing her to suffer one of the Five Destructions of the body, the Ice Destruction.
The Sect Master withdrew and that was when Chuzi Yan decided to give up on her, since she was inflicted with the Ice Destruction, he couldn't dual cultivate with her lest he will be also inflicted. But when he heard she was well again, well, he stopped thinking with his head and started thinking with his lower half.
The idiot was too stupid to understand that she wasn't actually cured, she had barely improved, and all the work I've done for her had probably been thrown down the drains. Because I only removed the external ice and allowed her mobility, that was all I could do with my Qi Condensation stage back then.
Still, I assume that Chuzi Yan could have a method to remove the rest of the Ice Destruction. But besides the one I used, anything else would drastically reduce the life of the person.
After giving Elder Yun a bit of pill and playing a game of Go with him, and in which I completely destroyed him in it, I left.
Back in my dorm room, I continuously refined pills using the Heart Flame, though the success rate was far lower than when I used to do alchemy with cauldrons, the purity was unparalleled.
Of the few pills I ate, my cultivation level slowly increased until it was at the bottleneck of breaking from the sixth level to the seventh. And once I'm on the seventh level I'll be on the higher realm of the Core Formation. But the amount of Poison Qi I needed was astonishingly high.
It seems that the quality of poisons I have is slightly less than what I need. No wonder my cultivation level was increasing so rapidly as I've consumed poisons that were really rare and would take other cultivators of the same path if there ever was a few, many, many years to achieve what I have done. But now, I'll be needing some potent poisons to increase my cultivation level furthermore.
I continued eating the pills I had, and made even more, while my savings of poison dwindled I felt that my cultivation was still increasing rather slowly, though I know I can make it to the seventh level before I'm out of poison spiritual herbs, I won't be able to progress further if I don't resupply.
This method of cultivation is pretty expensive and costly. But it has its advantages since it allows me to fight others at higher realms. Poison is sinister and doesn't care for the strength of a person, for there are poisons that even a drop of, can kill a dragon.
A few days later, I heard some not-so-good news. It seemed that one of the inner sect disciples had made a great achievement. He managed to crack through one of the formations surrounding the Purple Cloud palace and received generous rewards from the sect. This boosted the morale of the rest of the Inner Disciples that were constantly assaulting the Purple Cloud Palace, and now the place would seem to have even less time before it'll break open and all the people inside it, captured.
I don't have much time. Shit.
I cursed as I resumed eating the pills I made.
A day later, and on the breaking of dawn, as the day just started, energy swirled around me as I broke through, but this didn't come with a feeling of elation, the pressure, and worry that the Purple Cloud Sect was going to be eradicated were too much for me to be happy about this slight and small success.
I immediately took the token and headed to the inner sect's gates. Presenting the token allowed me entry and I moved directly to where I'll be doing the trial. A trail that I knew would be rigged since that elder that came and saved Yu Bai was definitely waiting for me to enter it.
And he was right in front of me, I could even see the slight sniggering and evil smile he tried to hide.
"So you've come to take the Inner Sect trial?" the elder said.
"Yes," I replied.
"Good, now, the trial is simple, you'll have to do battle in a mirror world. Survive for six waves at least and you'll be given the Inner Sect clothes and be an official member of the Purple Cloud sect," he said.
"Okay, I'm down for that, where do we begin?" I asked.
"If you wish right now, follow me," he said and flew up.
"Wait, I can't fly yet," I replied.
"Don't you have a flying sword, you're a core cultivation how did you travel around?" the elder asked clearly annoyed.
"I do, but I can't use them well, I have bad balance problems," I replied. Which was a lie obviously.
I originally could only use the Poison God's own flying treasure, since it was the only thing that could use poison Qi to move.
I haven't had the time to make a flying sword that can function with spirit stones, and normal flying swords are impossible for me to operate.
"No matter," he said as he used a telekinetic ability to carry me alongside him.
This reminded me of the day I was caught and sent to the Poison God's cave, though the danger is probably the same, the fact that he is not squeezing me to half suffocated death was an improvement.
As we flew over the sect, my eyes wandered until I managed to see the massive Purple Cloud palace that had a massive formation that was riddled with cracks. There were thousands of disciples taking turns in attacking the formation, and within the formation, there were thousands more, of the Purple Cloud Sect, wounded and battered, bloodied yet still vehemently fighting back against the incessant assault.
"What's going on there?" I asked.
"Oh, training ground, once you're an inner sect, you'll be able to join and receive rewards." He said.
"Right, looks interesting," I said and ignored the incident, there was no need for me to affix myself on the palace, otherwise I'll become suspicious.
Soon we arrived on top of a large plaza that had a circular mirror on it. There were many disciples sitting in front of the mirror, and many of them entered healthily and left the mirror world bloodied, yellow-faced and riddled with wounds.
The elder placed me down and said, "Xiao Meng, you'll have to prove yourself, enter and get to the sixth level, once you're out, you'll be an official inner disciple."
Almost immediately, the group began whispering. Something along the line of Core Formation Disciple, and not being adequate or strong enough to clear something that's already difficult for Nascent Soul Cultivators.
A few even tried to use their divine sense to scry and put their noses where it doesn't belong, but the reaction from the Sky Pearl Eye immediately rebuked them, causing them to recoin in terror, disgust, and utter hopelessness as they saw their bodies being dissected, ravaged by beasts and tortured in that mere second.
A few were pretty angry at me, but it was their own fault.
"Go ahead!" the elder said as he pointed at the mirror.
I nodded and went towards the mirror, I placed my hand on it and it felt like a water surface. Then I took a step inside, finding another world within the mirror that was completely upside down. No, I was upside down?
It was a weird world, there were stairs going up, down sideways and from every place and corner. Gravity seemed pretty weird here, and it only applied to the stairs. As I jumped up, my body immediately switched direction and my feet planted themselves on the other set of stairs that was above my head earlier.
I looked around and saw a door nearby, it wasn't that far away, but it will take some twists and turns to get there.
Jumping from stair to stair, and walking on upside-down paths, I managed to find myself in front of the door. And when I placed my hand on it, I was sucked into another room.
I was inside a massive hall that had a couple of cultivators sitting in the lotus position, they didn't seem to notice my presence. The three of them were eight-stage level Core Formation cultivators. And that was not good.
I'm slightly below any of them and there were three. This will get problematic, especially since the moment they opened their red crimson eyes, they coordinately stood up, pulled their weapons, and moved towards me.
I pulled Creeping Demise and readied for battle, this trial so far seems slightly straightforward, and that's the catch, the more normal this thing feels, the more uneasy I get. It's like there is an ominous and foreboding fate awaiting me, and I can't succumb or waste energy here, lest I doom myself.
What a nice start of the day