Chapter 300: Fortifications and Defenses
"If we saw the wood into a ladder, we will soon have enough to build a bridge over the steps."
Bai Huanxi continued.
"Standing on the wooden ladder, you can ignore the gravity of the formation."
"Then we can bypass these stone steps and reach the top directly!"
"Is this really possible?"
The boy wondered.
"The previous Wu Xiu De was directly disqualified by the young Taoist priest."
"What we do is no different from him."
"If we just compete in strength, we are definitely no match for those people at the front."
Bai Huanxi said.
"Why not give it a try my way?"
"We won't hide anything. We'll do it right under the nose of that young Taoist priest. If it doesn't work, we'll just stop."
After Bai Huanxi's strong persuasion, the young man hesitated for a while, but was finally attracted by the temptation of reaching the summit. He nodded and agreed.
Walking back to the foot of the mountain, the two men took out their magic weapons, used local materials, and cut down trees.
With the help of the sharp magic weapon, the trees were easily cut into long strips.
The thumping sound of woodcutting attracted Jin Renfeng's attention.
Seeing the two people's actions, he thought about it for a moment and understood their purpose.
A strange look appeared on his face.
The two of them worked quickly and built a simple wooden ladder in no time.
During the time they were building the wooden ladder, the people climbing ahead couldn't hold on and were defeated one by one.
Even Guan Pengyun, who was at the top, was sent down the stone steps due to exhaustion.
The entire mountain road was empty and there was no one there.
Seeing that the road was clear, Bai Huanxi was delighted.
This is a good time to place the wooden ladder.
He dug a hole in the ground, inserted one end of the wooden ladder into the ground, and raised the other end high, hanging it down toward the top of the mountain.
boom--
With a dull thud, the other end of the wooden ladder landed on the top of the mountain.
A triangular frame was erected on the mountain road.
Due to the tight time schedule, the shelf is not very high, only about one meter from the ground.
Bai Huanxi tentatively stood on the wooden aisle. Although the ladder was a little shaky, it firmly supported his weight.
He walked tentatively up the steps.
First order, second order, third order.
Take three steps and there is no gravity.
He raised his legs alternately and walked several steps, still looking very relaxed.
It's no different from walking normally.
"It worked! It really works!"
Bai Huanxi showed a look of surprise, and then he waved to another young man.
"Chengkong, come up and try it too."
The other young man glanced warily at the golden man-phoenix not far away, and when he saw that he had no intention of stopping him, he stepped onto the wooden ladder.
As soon as he took a step, he noticed the effect of the wooden ladder.
My steps became lighter and I no longer felt the difficulty I had before.
Realizing that there was no gravity up there, he took a few steps and caught up with Bai Huanxi in front of him.
"With this wooden ladder, we can now reach the top of the mountain."
Bai Huanxi glanced at the mountain road, feeling very confident.
Cheng Kong frowned and said in a deep voice,
"Although the Taoist priest did not stop me, I still don't agree with this."
"What? Don't you want to climb to the top and become my disciple?"
Bai Huanxi asked back.
Cheng Kong remained silent.
He came here just to become a disciple. How could he give up the opportunity?
"Let's go! Let's head to the top of the mountain before anyone notices our intentions."
Bai Huanxi urged.
At the moment, the others have not yet understood the effect of the formation, so they are allowed to act as they please.
If we wait until other people notice it, someone might come and fight for the ladder.
With so many people present, the two of them alone cannot maintain this achievement.
With this thought in mind, the two of them took a step forward and ran towards the top of the mountain.
Because there was no influence of gravity, the two soon reached the top of the mountain.
Seeing the two people running so fast, the many people who were climbing the ladder with great effort below were stunned.
"These two guys are really smart!"
Seeing the two people's actions, Huaizhu chuckled.
"It's just that the cleverness is used in the wrong place."
Jin Renfeng shook his head.
After successfully climbing to the top of the mountain, the two cheered.
The joyful shouts echoed among the mountains.
"Can this still happen?"
At the foot of the mountain, Zhong Dachui was stunned.
Shu Xiaoxiao was also dumbfounded.
"Master! This is a foul!"
Guan Pengyun, who was ranked first, complained unwillingly.
If people could bypass the test so easily, then what was the point of all his previous hard climbing?
"Don't be impatient."
Jin Renfeng said lightly.
"I will take care of this myself."
After hearing this, Guan Pengyun forced himself to suppress the anger in his heart.
The discussion among the crowd became louder and louder. Many people were dissatisfied with the two people's behavior of building the wooden ladder.
Some of the more clever ones, seeing that Jin Renfeng did not stop them, began to follow their example and climb up the wooden ladder.
"Bai Huanxi, look! Another person is coming up this wooden ladder!"
At the top of the mountain, Cheng Kong pointed at the figure walking on the wooden ladder and spoke.
"No! We can't let them come over!"
Seeing this, Bai Huanxi's face changed.
"Cut the ladder quickly."
"We've already reached the top, and this wooden ladder is useless anyway, so it doesn't matter if we give it to them!"
Cheng Kong was a little confused.
"If everyone can pass this third test, what's the point of our results?"
Bai Huanxi shouted anxiously.
Cheng Kong realized that if everyone had the same score, there would be no way to tell who was better in the third assessment.
Thus, even if they reach the summit, they will have no advantage over others and will not be able to make up for the shortcomings of previous tests.
After figuring out the reason, the two of them quickly took out their magic weapons and began to cut down the wooden ladder under their feet.
thump—
The wooden ladder collapsed, and the three or four casual cultivators who were standing on it fell headfirst.
Coupled with the gravity of the formation, one person fell unconscious.
"These two guys are really not human beings!"
"It seems like those two bastards don't want us to pass!"
"These two bastards!"
The casual cultivator was cursing.
They also didn't expect that these two guys passed the test themselves, but ended up blocking the way for those who came after them.
"Let's go! Let's go back and build another wooden ladder."
After looking at the top of the mountain unwillingly, they turned and walked towards the foot of the mountain.
. . . . . . .
At the top of the mountain, Cheng Kong looked worried.
“There are lots of trees on this mountain!”
"Even if we cut down the ladder, others can rebuild it!"
"By then, we still won't be able to stop it!"
"I'm afraid it won't be long before many people will climb to the top of this mountain."
Bai Huanxi didn't care at all.
"We are at the top of the mountain now! We are the two who hold the initiative."
"If someone wants to bring a wooden ladder built by themselves over here, one end must be placed on the top of the mountain."
"We can just cut down their ladder as well." "Isn't that too immoral?"
Cheng Kong hesitated.
"Who cares? Passing the test is the most important thing."
Bai Huanxi spoke.
. . . . . .
boom--
Another wooden ladder was pushed to the ground.
"Boy, if you have the guts, just hide on the top of the mountain forever!"
A group of independent cultivators were so angry that they started cursing.
Three wooden ladders were sawed off in succession. Even a god would be so angry that he would get sick.
Watching the scene in front of him, Jin Renfeng shook his head helplessly.
It was supposed to be a physical test, but it turned into an attack and defense of fortifications. He really didn't know what to say.
Seeing that everyone was confused, Jin Renfeng flew up and went straight to the top of the mountain.
"Master, is the test over?"
Seeing him appear, Bai Huanxi asked anxiously.
Jin Renfeng did not answer, but pointed his finger, and two ropes of fire flew out from his fingertips and were tied around the waists of the two men.
Then he flew into the air, carrying the two of them with him, and came to the foot of the mountain.
boom--
boom--
Jin Renfeng threw the two men to the ground with a casual throw.
They both breathed a sigh of relief when they found themselves back on solid ground.
"You are quite clever to think of such a method to avoid the effect of the formation."
Jin Renfeng walked up to the two of them and spoke.
The two boys' eyes lit up. Judging from what the Taoist said, they should not have violated the rules this time.
"Master, now that we have reached the top, should we just take the highest score?"
Bai Huanxi asked expectantly.
“If you reach the top normally, it will naturally be the highest score.”
Jin Renfeng said coldly.
"However, since you passed by building a wooden ladder, you bypassed the test, so your score can only be recorded as blank."
"Sora? Why?"
Bai Huanxi said unconvinced.
"Didn't the Taoist priest say that the higher the position you reach, the better your results will be?"
"We have reached the top of the mountain, so this should be the highest achievement."
"Besides, we just walked along the wooden ladder and didn't go around the mountain path."
"The villa set up this test to test talent."
Jin Renfeng's eyes narrowed.
"Do you think this is a game? Let you take advantage of the situation?"
"I punished someone before, and you still dare to do this. You are really a thief who has not changed."
"But we didn't break any of the rules we said before."
Bai Huanxi argued.
"According to the rules, we didn't make any mistakes!"
"I said before that this selection was set up to allow you to showcase your talents."
Jin Renfeng said coldly,
"Whether you can successfully become my disciple depends on your own talent."
"You just did that. Although you reached the highest position, you avoided the entire test and did not go through the gravity test."
"It can be said that no physical talent was shown at all."
"Since you haven't shown any talent, how do you want me to give you a grade?"
"But building a wooden ladder is also a way to pass the test!"
Bai Huanxi argued.
“That’s wisdom.”
"Perhaps you have shown the talent to build wooden ladders, but we at Shenhuoshan Villa do not need anyone who can build wooden ladders at the moment."
Jin Renfeng glanced at him.
"If you don't want to accept it, you can withdraw on your own and find a sect that needs carpenters."
Bai Huanxi's face flushed red, and she didn't know how to explain for a moment.
"Master, we did take advantage of a loophole, and now we know we are wrong. Can you give us a chance?"
Chengkong spoke, his voice pleading.
Seeing his sincere attitude, Jin Renfeng continued
"Since you didn't deliberately conceal anything this time, I won't disqualify you from the competition."
"There is still time, just retest."
Upon hearing this, Bai Huanxi's face fell.
After all this effort, he had to start all over again. For a moment, it was hard for him to accept it.
Cheng Kong sighed, did not continue to argue, and started climbing again with his head down.
However, because I had participated in a test before and had consumed too much energy preparing the wooden ladder.
Their results this time were worse than before.
Seeing the two men's fate, the onlookers couldn't help but feel a little gloating.
Jin Renfeng shook his head helplessly.
He didn't know what these opportunists were thinking.
This selection was held by the villa, and the rules were set by the villa. The final right of interpretation lies in the hands of the villa.
In this situation, if you try to take advantage of loopholes, you are courting death!
. . . . . .
In the evening, in the main hall.
"How was the selection today?"
Dongfang Guyue asked leisurely after taking a sip of tea.
"There are a total of 106 people participating in the selection today."
"One person was disqualified for cheating, leaving one hundred and five."
"All results are recorded in this book, please have a look, Master."
Jin Renfeng handed the book to his master Dongfang Guyue.
Dongfang Gu Yue took the book and glanced at the list, feeling a little surprised.
"Why are there so many independent cultivators here this time?"
After a rough glance, more than half of the list are independent cultivators.
"During the conference, Senior Brother had specifically promoted the various advantages of the Divine Fire among the independent disciples."
"That's why so many independent cultivators come here to admire our reputation."
Huaizhu replied.
"Compared to young children, the plasticity of casual cultivators is still a little worse."
Dongfang Guyue frowned.
He is not inclined to recruit independent practitioners.
With the presence of other aristocratic families, these current independent cultivators are probably the ones left over from the selection of other aristocratic families.
The good ones were probably picked away, so he naturally looked down on the remaining ugly ones.
Seeing that the master was in a dilemma, Jin Renfeng said,
"I feel that the villa is in urgent need of manpower now. Recruiting independent cultivators can make up for the shortage of manpower and quickly form a fighting force. That's why we have this plan."
"Besides, other noble families do not value disciples from other families, so it is hard to guarantee that there will be pearls that are covered in dust among the independent cultivators."
“Compared to mortal disciples, these independent cultivators are able to cultivate on their own. I think they all have a certain talent and are easier to cultivate into talents.”
Hearing this, Dongfang Gu Yue flipped through a few pages of the book, glanced at the achievements of the casual cultivators, and nodded involuntarily.
Indeed, compared to the other mortal disciples, the independent cultivators who came to become disciples this time had even better talents.
"It seems that what you said is true. This batch of independent cultivators does have some merits."
Then he turned his attention to the list of independent cultivators.
"Guan Pengyun!"
"This person performed well in all three tests. He is a promising cultivator."
Seeing the top independent cultivator, Dongfang Guyue picked up the pen and made a stroke on his name.
As my eyes moved, names came into view one by one.
Six names were ticked off in succession.
Among the list, all the disciples with outstanding talents were directly selected.
"I never thought that there would be so many talented people among the independent cultivators."
Seeing so many talented independent cultivators, Dongfang Gu Yue couldn't help but sigh.
In just one day, they received seven independent disciples who met the requirements, including some with outstanding talents like Guan Pengyun. This was truly beyond imagination.
(End of this chapter)
