The Five Spirits Sect ushered in the "Chengguan Grace Test" once every ten years.

On this day, the Chengguan Building built on the shore of Tianshui Lake was lively early.

This Chengguan building is adjacent to the council hall, the building is vast and majestic, the back is the high mountain into the clouds, the front is the sparkling Tianshui Lake, the whole high-rise building is majestic and solemn in the lake and mountains, the building is four floors high, the eaves arch are warped layer by layer, each floor is the hall is bright, the layout is luxurious and dignified, the bearing is extraordinary, on weekdays here is the sect to receive the status of the noble foreign guests used, to the Chengguan Grace Test, the monks of the sect will gather upstairs to watch those disciples who participate in the Grace Test in the downstairs fighting the law.

At this time, the rows of hollow carved wooden windows on the upstairs of Chengguan are all open, and someone has already arranged the table in front of the window, and the table is placed with exquisite refreshments. According to the rules of the Five Spirits Sect, monks are not allowed to accept disciples unless they are not married, and monks are either busy with cultivation or things in the sect on weekdays, and rarely have the leisure to pay attention to the good and bad of many disciples in the sect.

There is a stone platform built with jade bluestone between Chengguan Tower and Tianshui Lake, and this stone platform is the place where the qi refining disciples who participated in the "Chengguan Grace Test" competed in the competition.

With this stone platform as the boundary, the left and right sides of the Chengguan Building are arranged,

On the side of the stone platform, a few futons have been arranged, but not everyone can sit here to watch this test, only the monks who have cultivated to achieve the foundation can, speaking of which, the monks who build the foundation are definitely not interested in the fighting method of the qi refining disciples, and the huge difference in cultivation makes the fighting method on the stage fierce and exciting in their eyes is like child's play. Their master was either in retreat, or traveling abroad, or because it was inconvenient for them to come on business, so they had to sit here and see which of the Qi refining disciples who had participated in the Grace Test were expected to become their junior disciples or sisters.

On the other side of the stone platform, a large area extending along the lakeside is a place where the Qi refining disciples gather to watch the En Test, there is no table, only a few rows of futons are placed in front, and those who come later either bring their own futons or can only stand and watch, so this place is also the most extensive.

Under Tang Ping's encouragement in advance, the five of Qian Chao came early, so the five of them sat in a relatively high position, and each found a futon to sit together.

In fact, this "Chengguan Grace Test" also has another name in the Five Spirits Sect, in the mouth of those predecessors in the sect generally called the Chengguan Grace Test "Xiaobi", since there is a "small ratio" naturally there is a "big ratio", "Dabi" refers to the "Qiongcao Theory" once every sixty years, held in the Qiongcao Academy in the sect, the participants can only be the high-level monks who build the foundation in the sect, in general, the Chengguan Grace Test is to choose disciples for the monks of the Jiedan, and the law of the Qiongcao Theory is to see which of those monks who have the hope of the Dan, so the importance of the sect is judged, However, for those who participated, it was a major event related to their personal future and fate, so at least the Qi Refining disciples privately called this Chengguan Grace Test a "Great Qi Refining Competition".

The five of them sat relatively far forward, there was still a period of time before Kaibi, and when the other four partners were talking together, Qian Chao carefully observed the stone platform in front of them. The stone platform is round, the whole body is moist turquoise, about one zhang high, and there are stone steps on both sides for the disciples to participate in the competition. This Chengguan Building is an important place in the sect, there is a ban on flying through on weekdays, and when it comes to the time of the test, in order to show the solemnity, the predecessors of the Yudan have to walk up to the Chengguan Building, not to mention the disciples who participate in the fighting, and they can only walk up step by step to get on the stage. Of course, after taking the stage, when you fight the law, you can do whatever you want on the stage, but it is only on the stage, and when you get off the stage, you still have to walk down obediently regardless of whether you win or lose, which is also the rule of the Five Spirits Sect.

The stone wall of the stone platform is carved with intricate ornamentation, the bottom is the sea water wave, the top is the auspicious clouds, there are stars, strange beasts, swords, scrolls, spiritual grass, etc. in the middle are full of carving around the stone platform, these are not enough, what attracts the attention of Qian Chao is that there are five stone pillars that are more than two zhang higher than the stone platform around the stone platform, and the stone pillar that hugs the thick one is also full of complicated carvings, there is an unknown stone carving beast crouching at the top of the stone pillar, and the five stone carving beasts have different shapes, but the head and face are all facing the center of the stone platform.

After experiencing the incident of the Little Lotus Lake in Youming Valley, Qian Chao couldn't help but feel a sudden jump in his heart when he saw the stone pillars, especially the five stone pillars that were piled up, and then naturally put all his mind on those stone pillars.

Sitting in the position of Qian Chao, he can only see three of the five stone pillars, and the other two are blocked by the stone platform, the intricate carvings on the three stone pillars are different, Qian Chao tried to distinguish, trying to find a clue from those carvings, but after looking at them for a long time, he found that those carvings were like the carvings on the stone wall of the stone platform, which seemed to be only for decoration. Qian Chao didn't give up, so he closed his eyes and opened them again when the blue light flashed under his eyes, and the scene in front of him surprised him: the intricate carvings on the stone pillar were really as he expected, just decoration, but the stone pillar was full of runes he had never seen from top to bottom shining with a glimmer of light, those runes not only did not know, but it was difficult to even count the number, because the predecessors who left these runes were almost all in one go and waved when they wrote, and the runes left behind were wild and straightforward, and it was not easy to identify, Just like the calligraphy master's wild grass handwriting, the same is true on the other two pillars, although he doesn't know those runes, but Qian Chao also vaguely concluded that the runes on these three pillars are different.

Seeing this, Qian Chao can conclude that the five stone pillars around the stone platform form a formation together, as for the usefulness of the formation, it is easy to judge, there is a saying about Chengguan Entry called "There is no blood on the stage, and Enxuan does not hurt people", the role of this formation is probably to ensure that even if the two disciples on the stage are red-eyed, they leave no room for starting, and in the end they can only divide the victory and defeat.

In addition, the biggest gain of Qian Chao is that it turns out that runes can also be written like this!

Because of the spiritual root, Qian Chao is not good at the five elements of spells, and has put a lot of effort into refining, runes and formations, refining, runes and formations are all for the different applications of runes in the final analysis, so it can be classified as "rune science", Qian Chao since he met Mr. Zhuang has had the opportunity to enter the house in the study of runes, from Mr. Zhuang's mouth, he knows that this rune science has a "simplification" saying, he can barely understand the truth, but he has just touched a "complex" The edge of the edge is just the edge, and it is far from "simple", and more importantly, the most important thing is how to simplify the complex, mastering the word "transformation", not only can the complex be simplified, but also can be simplified into complexity or even made out of nothing, but unfortunately with his current cultivation knowledge, those are too ethereal and distant. Usually, when Qian Chao refines the vessel, the runes engraved on the spirit weapon are respectful and cautious, and he does not dare to make the slightest mistake, and the engraved runes are also neat and abnormal, arranged in an orderly manner and extremely ingenious, which has also achieved his reputation as a "money system" spirit weapon. It can be said that whether it is refining, talisman making or arrangement, the runes left by Qian Chao are like those of Meng Tong who has just learned to learn words, one horizontal and one vertical, how could he have expected such a wild and uninhibited and majestic rune to appear in front of his eyes like a tiger descending a mountain and a golden snake dancing wildly......

There were a few runes in a row, and he couldn't tell them apart; What is the solution of the vertical twists and turns, he doesn't understand, with his knowledge far beyond that of ordinary disciples, he can only barely recognize three or two runes in it, but how these three or two runes work in the entire formation, how to ensure that the disciples of the fighting method on the stage have no worries about their lives, he can't think of it, but the more he can't understand it, the more fascinated he becomes, the more he is like a treasure, and he stares at those zigzag and plausible runes and immerses his whole mind into it. It wasn't until a slender hand reached out and dunkled in front of his eyes, covering his eyes, that he came back to his senses.

Tang Ping withdrew her arm, looked at Qian Chao in a daze curiously and asked, "Hey! What do you think, are you afraid that you will be beaten down as soon as you come to power? ”

Qian Chao retracted his gaze, and his heart was not in a hurry, anyway, this Chengguanlou has always been here, and he will come over another day to study it carefully.

"Of course not," Qian Chao replied, "but you, it seems that you really want to participate in this test like Brother Lu?" ”

When the five of them got together today, Tang Ping said it listlessly, Tang Bonian and her master, Gu Huoxian, also let her participate in this Chengguan Grace Exam and registered for her, and coincidentally, Lu Pingchuan was the same.

"Alas, yes!" Tang Ping sighed and said, "My sixth grandfather and my master teamed up to bully me, saying that they hadn't seen what we had done in the past, and now they want to take the opportunity to see what my years of cultivation are like, forcing me to participate, and I don't know what the two old guys think, they have a decent and quiet daughter's family, and they have to see me fight with others with a blue nose and swollen face to be happy." ”

Yan Xuan, who was beside Tang Ping, was amused and laughed out loud.

Qian Chao and the others were also amused by Tang Ping's remarks.

Among the five of them, only Qian Chao and Li Jian would participate in this Chengguan En test, because they expected that Bai Lin and Yun Xi would definitely challenge at this time, and now Tang Ping and Lu Pingchuan were both forced or coaxed by their respective masters and elders to participate, and now it seems that only Yan Xuan may be a complete spectator in this Chengguan En test.

There were more and more people present, and there were a large number of people waiting around the five of them and the deep black pressure.

Li Jian looked back at the seemingly boundless crowd behind him, and asked with some curiosity:

"So many people have to take the Chengguan Grace Exam, how long will it take for this to end?"

Tang Ping also looked back and said:

"Well, there are really a lot of people, but not all of them are going to compete on stage, among those people who have to be inherited by teachers, there are many who have not broken through the small five levels, and some people have little confidence in themselves and are unwilling to go on stage to show ugliness, and the rest are not particularly many, and the stage competition is also very fast, between the two people is to divide the victory and defeat, not to see life and death, basically a few faces can decide the advantages and disadvantages."

Li Jian listened and nodded.

Yan Xuan also looked back at the excitement behind him, as if he had found something, so he turned his head and asked:

"Those people over there, what are they doing?"

Tang Ping followed Yan Xuan's gaze, and Qian Chao, Li Jian and others also looked over.

At this time, the back of the five people was already overcrowded, many people came one step slower and could only stand far away, over a black and oppressive head, you can see that the lake has docked a few delicate painting boats at some point, close to the shore of the painting boat has been placed a few wooden tables, a bunch of people are crowded in front of the wooden table and don't know what to do, it looks very lively.

"That," Tang Ping glanced at it and said, "It should be a gambling on the opening plate, I heard the senior brothers say that there will be a good test every time, and the two people who use the fighting method on the stage win or lose to sit in the bank, there is nothing unusual." ”

Hearing Tang Ping's words, the other four were surprised, and Tang Ping saw the performance of the four and asked, "You don't know?" ”

"How to bet?" Qian Chao asked.

"Of course, it's gambling with spirit stones, the two people on the stage are fighting, they have already set the odds, the two people on this stage, each person has different odds, buy the right one to make a small profit, buy the wrong spirit stone is the dealer." Tang Ping replied.

"You just said that everyone's odds are different, how do those who sit in the bank and gamble know the size of each person's winning side, even if the cultivation on the stage is good, the winning side is not small, but what if you encounter a more powerful one, then his winning side will not become smaller again?" Qian Chao asked.

"That's right," without waiting for Tang Ping to answer, Yan Xuan also interjected and asked, "Where did they get so many spirit stones to gamble, you see there are so many people there, in case, I mean, if everyone wins more, then won't they lose everything, and even their family funds will be gone?" ”

"Do you understand this?" Tang Ping didn't answer, but looked at Qian Chao with a smile, and saw Qian Chao nodding slowly, before he continued, "I figured it out," and then turned to Yan Xuan and the rest and said, "It's not difficult to figure out the victory or defeat of the disciples on the stage, that is, to see who is sitting in the village, there must be people from the Jingshi Yuan participating in this village, and almost everyone in the Qi refining disciples has to go to the Jingshi Yuan to receive the dispatch, whether the dispatch is difficult or easy each time, whether it is completed, the length of time to complete, whether it is injured, etc., those who are in the Jingshi will make a note, In addition to keeping these records, they can also use them today to estimate the victory or defeat of the disciples who competed on the stage. However, the only people who are not easy to determine the odds are those who came from the family a year ago, and those people will not lack spirit stones at all, and it is impossible for them to go to the Shrine to receive the send, so it is not easy for them to find out the details of those people, and they can probably only rely on the reputation of those people from the family to determine the odds. ”

Seeing that Yan Xuan still had questions, Tang Ping continued: "There must be those in the sect who sit in the village with those people in the court, well, in fact, the main thing is them, the people in the house have to look at their faces, these people are also well-behaved, they only dare to sit in the village to earn some spirit stones, as for how to arrange the test, they don't dare to interfere, but through their elders to get the list of arrangements for the test in advance, it's no problem, knowing who compares with whom, plus the people in the house help set the odds, it's difficult to lose, besides, The elders of those people had spirit stones in their hands for them to squander, and even if they lost them all, they would not feel distressed. ”

Lu Pingchuan listened to it, but his hands were already itchy, he rubbed his hands and said excitedly:

"I didn't expect this good thing, after a while, we will also buy a few hands, Tang Meizi knows more, you say that whoever buys wins, we will buy whoever wins, and earn him a sum, hehe!"

Without waiting for Tang Ping to answer, Li Jian opened his mouth and asked:

"Doesn't the sect care about this?"

Li Jian was born in Jiangmen, and in his grandfather's army before, his grandfather and second uncle governed the army very strictly, and gambling was strictly prohibited in the army.

"Brother Li!" Tang Ping said, "Don't say that there are people sitting in the village in this Chengguan En, even if it is Qiongcao Theory, once in sixty years, there are still people sitting in the village." ”

Li Jian was surprised, while Tang Ping gestured with his gaze to the foundation-building monks sitting on the opposite side of the stone platform and continued:

"Look over there, the foundation-building brothers sitting over there, you see that now they are sitting upright one by one, expressionless and very serious, but once you open the comparison, if you find that they will also gather together in groups of three or five sneaky, no need to ask, they must also have itchy hands, but they have a self-respecting identity, and they have no cheekiness to huddle together with the juniors and disciples who refine qi to buy and lose and win, so they have to bet a few with people who are equivalent to cultivation."

Saying that, Tang Ping looked at Chengguan Lou again, and saw that the upstairs window was already full of monks who were already sitting in front of the Yudan, and said again:

"And there, upstairs in Chengguan, those predecessors of the Jiedan, in front of the people one by one, immortal, solemn and majestic, that is all deliberately done in front of our juniors, really when their fellow monks get together and there are no outsiders, they are also like ordinary disciples, there is no proper shape in the gags, they must be unreasonable when they should be unreasonable, they must be played when they should play Laipi, and there will be people next to them every time they will follow and coax."

"I can't!" Yan Xuan was a little surprised when she heard this, she really couldn't imagine what those predecessors of Yudan were like to play Laipi.

"Alas! What's not to do! ”

When he said this, Tang Ping thought of his apprenticeship, Gu Hou Fairy once talked about how Tang Bonian was messing around, thinking of the second child, Tang Ping's anger in his heart did not fight, and said hatefully:

"Master, her old man may really want me to go on stage to practice, but my sixth grandfather has already told me that when I get on the stage, I can only win and not lose, hmph, I don't know which senior elder the old guy wants to bet with to win or lose."

"Ahh No way? Yan Xuan was even more surprised, "Could it be that Senior Tang is also ......?"

Li Jian looked at Tang Ping in disbelief.

"It's not unusual, Brother Lu," Tang Ping said and looked at Lu Pingchuan, "Your master and my sixth grandfather are good friends, and the two of them are really stinky...... Ahem, the temperament is similar," she originally wanted to say "the same smell", but after thinking about it, it seemed inappropriate to say this about the elders, so she hurriedly changed her words, but except for Lu Pingchuan, several people heard it, and they couldn't help but laugh secretly.

"Do you think your master let you participate in this Chengguan Grace Test, why did you let you practice? I must hope that you can help him kill all sides on the Chengguan Tower! ”

"That's the case," Lu Pingchuan was overjoyed when he heard it, "Then I have to win a few more games, and go back and let the master share some of me." ”

Hearing this, Li Jian sighed:

"Immortals, immortals, people with immortal arts, after all, they are still human!"

After a while, it seems that it is time for the Chengguan Grace Test to begin, and at this time it is already full of people, and the Qi refining disciples in the sect have gathered here regardless of whether they are on the stage to compete or not, if you look at it from the stone platform, it is really crowded with people, and the black pressure is not visible, at this time, even the most lively Jiuxuan on weekdays seems to be deserted, and the monks who fly back and forth in the air on weekdays are gone, and they all come here to see the excitement.

A bell rang out.

From the Chengguan Building, a thin old man walked out, the lock of goatee slightly upturned under the man's chin was very conspicuous, not a bystander, it was Li Yun, the chief elder of Qixia Mountain, he was followed by four disciples, carrying a big wooden card, what was not visible on the wooden card, because a red brocade covered the wooden card entirely.

"It's Uncle Li." Yan Xuan said.

This Li Li is the chief elder of Qixia Mountain, his status is not low, Yan Xuan's apprenticeship ceremony was presided over by him, and the Chengguan Grace Test of the Five Spirits Sect has always been presided over by the five sects in the sect in turn, and this time it seems to be the turn of Qixia Mountain.

Seeing Li Yun come to the bottom of the stone platform, he climbed up the stone steps, and stood facing the black Qi refining disciples under the stage, and suddenly all the noise disappeared, and suddenly there was silence and silence.

"Disciples, this Chengguan Grace Test is about to begin, during the competition, everyone in the audience must abide by the rules, not to make mistakes, and not to allow the stage to fight angrily after the competition."

The voice was not loud, but everyone present heard it as if it was right on his side and said to his ear, then Li Yun said for a while, basically telling all the disciples who participated in the Chengguan Grace Test that the opportunity was rare, and they should show all their skills, and then handed over the matter of maintaining the order of the Grace Test to a few of his apprentices and walked down the stone platform and returned to Chengguan Tower.

After Li Yun left, one of his tall apprentices took the stage and explained in detail the rules of the test, in fact, it is necessary to say that many qi refining disciples under the stage already know the rules, and no one dares to make a fool of himself in front of many Jiedan seniors on the Chengguan Tower. What everyone is most concerned about is when the wooden plaque covered by red brocade will be displayed to everyone, especially those who are going to participate in this test, when they will take the stage, and who they will compete with.

Li Yun's tall disciple said in the end, ordered someone to uncover the red brocade on the wooden card that had been erected, and told everyone that the sign was the list of people who were going to participate in the competition today, and those whose names were not on it would participate in the competition in the next few days, and the list on the sign was changed every day, and told everyone that the names in front of them should be prepared in advance, so as not to delay.

All the disciples present, thousands of eyes brushed their eyes together, and they all looked at the big wooden plaque. The words on the wooden card are not big, densely written, fortunately, the people present are all cultivators, don't say that the words on the wooden card are not big, even if the words on the wooden card are written as small as a fly's head, even if they are hundreds of zhang away, these people can clearly distinguish the ink color of those words one by one.

Qian Chao and the others no longer cared about what the one on the stage was still saying, staring at the wooden card carefully, especially Tang Ping, she was told by Tang Bonian to participate in this test, always to see if there is himself today, if so, who is his opponent, well, Lu Pingchuan also wanted to know, but he could only urge Qian Chao to help him see.

"Huh!" Qian Chao let out a very surprised sound.

"What's wrong?"

I saw Qian Chao pointing to the wooden sign and saying, "The column on the left is down to the sixteenth row." ”

Tang Ping looked at him according to what he said, and couldn't help but be stunned, and muttered: "Liang Baike! ”

As soon as Li Jian heard that it was Liang Baike, he immediately looked over.

Yan Xuan was also a little puzzled, and said softly:

"The name in the third column in the middle is so familiar."

Tang Ping and Qian Chao all looked for it, and the name was indeed familiar.

"Wu Ruiyuan, in such a short period of time, she has even broken through the Xiaowu level!"

(The above two names may be unfamiliar to the officials, among which Liang Baike once appeared in the bronze carriage carrying Qian Chao into the cultivation world, because he wanted to bully Qian Chao, he was beaten by Qian Chaojie, and after entering the Five Spirits Sect, Liang Baike became a disciple of Mu Xiufeng.) And Wu Ruiyuan appeared in Youming Valley, the younger sister of the Wu sisters, and another sister named Wu Ruishan, the Wu family from which the sisters were born is still a rare family of women and men, and is famous for being good at refining various poisons. ）

……

Just when the bustle in the sect began to clear the grace test, outside the sect, there was a movement in the merchant who had been arranged by Qian Chao to monitor the movement of the cold water pool.

"Senior Brother Shang, here."

"How many?"

"Just one."

"Well, strange, why is it only alone this time?"

Yes, there is a beautiful man with picturesque eyebrows and eyes like a peerless beauty, Shang Jie has seen this person many times, but unlike the previous times, he seems to have come alone this time, and there doesn't seem to be the thin guy who followed him behind him, and unlike the previous ones who always wandered, this time the man actually entered the cold pool directly from a secret entrance!

"Look...... He...... It's in! ”

"Wait a little longer and see if there are any others." Shang Jie said with some excitement, he had been monitoring here for a long time according to Qian Chao's instructions, but he didn't want to be too anxious.

After waiting for a while, neither the man came out, nor did anyone come again, and Shang Jie finally found the talisman that Qian Chao had given him from his storage bag.

"Good! I can finally go back and talk to Senior Brother Qian. ”