Shen Miaoyin returned to the crowd at Heavenly Melody Peak and instinctively glanced toward the location of Luofu Peak.
In her line of sight, she didn't see that familiar figure, which made her brows furrow slightly.
Over the years, the only man who had been close to her and even stole her first kiss was just that one.
Though she knew in her heart that there was no possibility of any connection or entanglement with him, seeing that he hadn't come out, a complex mix of emotions surged within her, indescribable.
At that moment, several beams of light lit up on the formation again.
Shen Miaoyin looked over instinctively, her pupils slightly contracting. But when she saw it was just named disciples from other peaks, a wave of disappointment washed over her.
As several more beams of light flashed by, the ancient formation began to dim, nearing the moment of closure.
Shen Miaoyin couldn't help but bite her lip, feeling an inexplicable tension.
"What's wrong? Are you looking for someone?" Beside her, an elder in palace attire noticed Shen Miaoyin's unusual expression and leaned in to ask softly.
"No... I'm fine!" A hint of panic flashed in Shen Miaoyin's eyes as she instinctively shook her head in denial.
Just as she finished speaking, two figures appeared on the formation.
She breathed a sigh of relief, her tense emotions finally easing.
This also drew the attention of the elder in palace attire to the formation.
On the teleportation array, two young figures, one plump and one thin, appeared.
These two were none other than Zhu Hanwei and Su Shi'er!
Whether it was because their location was too remote or because they were in a cave, Su Shi'er, after organizing his belongings, found that the teleportation talisman hadn't reacted for a long time.
It wasn't until much time had passed that he realized! Fortunately, they made it back to the sect just in time!
As soon as they emerged, the light of the formation completely dissipated, and with a rumbling sound, the formation sank into the ground and disappeared.
Because they were the last to come out, all eyes in the field focused on the two of them.
Seeing that it was just a disciple at the second level of Qi Refining and one at the third level, the crowd was only slightly surprised they made it back alive, then lost interest.
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Under the gaze of the crowd, Su Shi'er and Zhu Hanwei both shrank their necks and quickly moved to stand behind Lu Mingshi, at the end of the crowd.
"Senior Brother, your Luofu Peak disciples are really something, daring to participate in the trial at the second and third levels of Qi Refining and still managing to come back alive. Truly remarkable!"
Seeing Su Shi'er and Zhu Hanwei, and then looking at the seven people behind Lu Mingshi, Fu Boren immediately began to mock.
With so few people from Luofu Peak, even without that arrangement, he couldn't think of a reason why he would lose.
"Hmph!" Lu Mingshi's face was full of black lines, his expression clearly uncomfortable, and he snorted coldly without responding.
His gaze swept over Su Shi'er and Zhu Hanwei, revealing a trace of disdain and disappointment.
He had some impression of these two disciples, one with a mixed spirit root and one without a spirit root. The fact that they survived meant they must have hidden away as soon as they entered, waiting until now.
Such disciples couldn't possibly have any gains!
Already in a bad mood, seeing them only made him feel more stifled! If it weren't for so many people watching, he would have wanted to drive them away directly.
Fu Boren, full of smiles, pressed his advantage and continued to laugh, "Senior Brother, now that everyone is out, should we start tallying the gains? The sooner we finish, the sooner I can take the Hundred-Year Cold Jade back to cultivate."
As he spoke, it was supposed to be a time for each peak to tally their gains. But at this moment, the other five peaks couldn't focus on their own tallies, from the Peak Lords to the elders, along with the disciples, all turned their attention to Heavenly Splendor and Luofu Peaks.
Everyone was eager, ready to watch the show.
From the number of people on each side, everyone had already guessed the outcome.
No one thought Luofu Peak had any chance of winning!
Except for one person.
Shen Miaoyin glanced at Su Shi'er without showing any emotion, feeling a bit speechless.
Su Shi'er stood at the end of the crowd, neck shrunk, looking worried. Anyone who saw him would think he had gained nothing.
But she knew that in this trial, if anyone had the most, it was Su Shi'er.
"Hmph! Let's tally!" Lu Mingshi's expression was somewhat awkward, and he called out weakly.
At this moment, he couldn't help but feel a bit regretful.
He should have just admitted defeat earlier!
With such a disparity in numbers, it was like a public execution for him.
But with things at this point, admitting defeat now would be even more embarrassing, so he had to grit his teeth and continue.
"Haha, then we'll let Heavenly Splendor Peak go first!"
Fu Boren laughed heartily, full of smiles, and turned to look at the people behind him, calling out loudly:
"Alright, everyone, bring your storage bags here. Don't think about hiding anything; there's a spirit detection formation in this valley, and your storage bags should all have spiritual power marks."
"After handing over the spirit materials, the sect will deduct fifty percent, and the remaining fifty percent will be returned to you later."
As Fu Boren spoke, the disciples in front of him immediately began to move, taking out their storage bags and lining up to approach Fu Boren.
Su Shi'er only then noticed that all the storage bags had a small spiritual power symbol the size of a fingernail glowing on them.
His storage bag was no exception.
However, when his gaze fell on the storage ring on his finger, he felt a surge of joy.
This storage ring looked unremarkable, without the slightest fluctuation of spiritual power, let alone any spiritual power symbol.
"Could it be that the spirit detection formation can't detect this storage ring? Great, luckily I transferred all the good stuff into this storage ring in advance."
Su Shi'er secretly rejoiced, having made up his mind that unless the Peak Lord discovered it, he would never voluntarily hand over the storage ring.
Feeling assured, he continued to observe the situation at Heavenly Splendor Peak.
He saw each disciple taking out the items from their storage bags and placing them on the ground.
After Fu Boren nodded, they would put the items back and finally hand the storage bags to Fu Boren.
The disciples of Heavenly Splendor Peak were quite capable, and their gains were substantial.
Only a few disciples fell short, submitting only three to five spirit materials. Most disciples found a dozen or even dozens.
Among them, a small number of disciples even found hundreds or thousands of second-level spirit materials, causing a stir in the crowd.
Fu Boren stood at the front, grinning from ear to ear.
When he saw Ye Liangchuan step forward, he was even more invigorated. The spirit materials from the Spirit Plant Garden numbered in the thousands!
Ye Liangchuan, however, couldn't feel any joy. He had wanted to speak with Fu Boren for a while but hadn't had the chance. When it was his turn, he quickly lowered his head and took out over five hundred second-level spirit materials, placing them on the ground.
"Five hundred?! What's going on?" Fu Boren's smile froze, and he looked at him with a questioning gaze.
"Master! There was an accident at the Spirit Plant Garden this time..." Ye Liangchuan said dejectedly, quickly explaining what happened at the Spirit Plant Garden to Fu Boren.
After finishing, he handed over the Purple Thunder Sword as well. "Disciple failed to accomplish the task, please punish me, Master!"
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