Celestial Refining Divine Scripture

"Huh, this guy actually managed to last till now."

Xu Yang looked in surprise at a youth in lavish robes in the distance.

It was the same guy he saw when he first entered Black Fire City, beating and humiliating someone on the street.

Early Stage of True Immortal, able to persist this long — clearly one of the outstanding ones.

"What are you looking at?"

The robed youth noticed Xu Yang, raised an eyebrow, his facial muscles twitching, and snapped at him with a hostile look.

Xu Yang was taken aback, then couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking his head, not taking it to heart.

The next moment.

The robed youth’s body began to tremble violently — he couldn’t hold on any longer.

Whoosh!

Just before being shifted away, he shot a shocked glance at Xu Yang, muttering a curse that no one could quite catch.

The eighth day.

Only Xu Yang remained.

Relying on his powerful foundation, he had even defeated some at the Middle Stage of True Immortal.

This result didn’t surprise Xu Yang.

After leaving Baimu Village, his progress had been significant.

If he couldn’t even do this much, that would be underestimating the Celestial Refining Divine Scripture.

Thus, the first trial no longer needed to continue.

Xu Yang was shifted away.

Standing outside, he was instantly the center of everyone’s attention.

"This guy’s a freak!"

"A top-level prodigy!"

"First place in the first trial of Black Fire Immortal Mountain, and with a first-grade immortal soldier — his future potential is limitless."

"He might even make it onto the Immortal Pride List one day."

"It’s actually him!"

"He’s still alive!"

Bai Yu finally noticed Xu Yang, shock filling his eyes.

When Xu Yang vanished from the courtyard, they hadn’t thought much of it. But after more than half a month had passed, with even Lu Chuan not reappearing, Bai Hua felt something was wrong and went searching, but got no response from Lu Chuan.

When they entered Lu Chuan’s cultivation cave, both Lu Chuan and Xu Yang had disappeared without a trace, causing a huge uproar.

At the time, they simply thought Lu Chuan had taken Xu Yang away for some business.

Until now.

Lu Chuan was nowhere to be seen, yet Xu Yang had shown up unharmed to participate in the Black Fire Immortal Mountain assessment—what that meant was obvious.

They found it hard to believe, but couldn’t deny it.

Bai Jie’s eyes flickered, but inside she was even more convinced.

Lu Chuan was definitely dead!

Just how did he manage it?

"Quiet!"

"First, congratulations on passing the first trial; but the second trial is the critical one."

"Second trial: fire seeds."

"This area contains over ten thousand immortal fire seeds, of all types. The strongest, naturally, is the Earth Flame Black Fire—there are one hundred in total!"

Chi Ning pointed to the area beside the Earth Fire Melting Furnace, shrouded in black fire, his voice booming across the land: "Refine a second-tier fire seed and you’ll be an outer sect disciple. Refine a third-tier or fourth-tier to enter the inner sect. Time limit: half an hour!"

"Of the one hundred Earth Flame Black Fire seeds, seventy are third-tier, thirty are fourth-tier!"

At this point, Chi Ning paused meaningfully: "The foundation of Black Fire Immortal Mountain as one of the three major sects of North State is the Earth Flame Black Fire. If you’re here for this assessment, you should know its power."

"These third and fourth-tier black fire seeds are just the beginning. If you manage to refine even stronger ones here, after entering the sect, your improvement will be twice as fast, and your combat power will far exceed those controlling other fire seeds."

"Begin."

Chi Ning flicked his sleeve, and the black fire leviathan, like a bridge, shifted to the side region.

But a wail rose from the crowd.

"There’s actually a time limit—there never was one before!"

"Half an hour isn’t enough!"

"Damn, every second counts now."

"With my strength, I might handle a third-tier fire seed, but black fire seeds are probably hopeless."

...

"Half an hour, huh?"

Xu Yang was surprised too—the booklet hadn’t mentioned any time limit.

It was likely that Black Fire Immortal Mountain changed the rules for this round.

But that was a good thing.

There were still plenty of people left at this point.

With only half an hour, many will be eliminated at this stage. It’s likely they won’t even fill all four thousand seats.

The crowd surged forward, forced to accept the time constraint.

Chi Ning narrowed her eyes, her attention fixed completely on Xu Yang.

"Xu Yang, where’s Mr. Lu?"

Bai Yu rushed over, glaring intently at Xu Yang.

Xu Yang replied coolly, "What’s it got to do with you?"

"You..." Bai Yu clenched his fist, his face darkening, but he still feared Xu Yang’s strength.

"Congratulations, Mr. Xu."

Bai Jie stepped forward to congratulate him, her smile radiant, drawing lots of attention.

Xu Yang nodded slightly.

Seeing this, Bai Yu’s expression became even uglier.

He clearly had feelings for Bai Jie.

"Hmph."

Bai Yu snorted coldly, suppressed his jealousy, and dashed into the second trial area.

The assessment was most important now.

Among the Baimu Village group, only he and Bai Jie had reached the second trial.

And both were at Early Stage of True Immortal.

Becoming inner sect disciples might be tough, but outer sect should be no problem.

"Mr. Xu, be wary of Bai Yu," Bai Jie softly warned.

"Thanks for the reminder!"

Xu Yang smiled faintly.

Be wary of Bai Yu?

That guy didn’t even deserve to be his opponent.

He said no more and stepped into the trial area.

Countless fire seeds of various colors floated in the air, radiating terrifying might.

First, second, third, and fourth tiers—clearly separated.

The most eye-catching were, without question, the one hundred black fire seeds in the third and fourth-tier sections.

Pitch-black as ink, indistinguishable from the mountain’s wild flames, like fist-sized black, burning mini-stars, utterly furious in power.

No doubt, the black fire seeds were the strongest, and the hardest to refine.

Xu Yang didn’t hesitate, and flashed straight toward the innermost area.

"He’s headed straight for the fourth-tier section."

Chi Ning was startled by Xu Yang’s move.

"This guy’s aiming for the fourth tier—is he that confident? Refining fire seeds isn’t like the first trial; you could use all sorts of tricks then, but for this, if you don’t have talent with flame, you’re doomed!"

The other inner sect candidates were shocked as well.

"He’s going for fourth tier? Impressive!" Bai Jie’s beautiful eyes brimmed with wonder, her initial suspicions confirmed.

Bai Yu saw this, jealousy raging in his gaze.

"It’s him!"

"Damn, he actually dares go for fourth-tier—must be pretty confident."

"He hogged the spotlight in the first round, but no way I’ll let him this time!"

"He didn’t show even a hint of flame power in the first round. Refining fourth-tier seeds isn’t that simple!"

"Maybe he just wants a common fourth-tier seed, but my target is a black fire seed!"

...

Close to a hundred people charged into the fourth-tier zone alongside Xu Yang.

Right now, they all radiated a measure of hostility toward Xu Yang.

But more than that, competition!

Each one wanting to put Xu Yang beneath them.

Xu Yang sensed it all, but wasn’t rattled in the slightest.

There were thirty black fire seeds in the fourth-tier section.

Xu Yang’s goal was naturally one of them.

But he realized he’d underestimated these people.

The nearly hundred contenders—more than half were aiming for the black fire seeds.

In a blink, most were already claimed.

"Kid, this black fire seed is mine."

The familiar robed youth grinned at Xu Yang.

"Get out of my way."

Xu Yang didn’t pause at all, surging forward like a wild beast, suddenly unleashing a savage, violent aura.

Boom!

Blades filled the air, crisscrossing and clashing, stirring up a song of metal upon metal, soul-stirring.

It was exactly the Immortal Technique—Ten Thousand Blades Melody—he’d taken from Lu Chuan!