The Demon Lord of All Forms

Chapter 59 Yellow Heaven Divine Mountain

The towering mountain is so high that its summit is nowhere to be seen. Layers of cascading light waterfalls cover its body, their brilliance resembling an inverted Milky Way. At the mountainside, four interconnected palaces can be vaguely seen encircling the mountain: one meanders like a coiled dragon, another spreads out like a vermilion bird spreading its wings, one scatters like a white tiger roaring to the sky, and the last intertwines like a black tortoise suppressing the sea.

At the foot of the giant mountain, the forces of the other three giant cities had already gathered. The token holders from Phoenix Feather City, Tiger Eye City, and Tortoise Shell City arrived one after another, totaling nearly four hundred people from the four giant cities. These people were all lucky ones who had obtained the Four Symbols Tokens through their respective channels in the past three years. Some came from noble families, while others came from humble backgrounds. At this moment, they gathered together and stared intently at the legendary immortal mountain in front of them.

Gu Changyuan remained calm as he mingled in the crowd. He noticed that the men and women around him were all excited and had burning eyes. Some were praying softly, some were talking loudly, and some were straightening their clothes, trying to make themselves look more presentable. Gu Changyuan wasn't too surprised. After all, he had seen the Ninefold Netherworld Prison before. Although the ancestral court of the Nine Nether Sect had a different style, its grandeur was no less than this. Although this giant mountain was majestic and vast, it was nothing special after a few glances.

The giant mountain is called Huangtian Divine Mountain, the ancestral temple of the Huangtian Sect, a major heretical sect. Today is the Huangtian Sect's once-every-ten-year opening ceremony.

At noon, the moment the ceremony began, a long, resonant bell rang out from the mountainside. The deep, lingering sound echoed through the valley for a long time before slowly dissipating. Immediately afterwards, countless stone steps extended down from the clouds on the mountainside, like white ribbons hanging down to the foot of the mountain.

The stone steps were formed entirely of spiritual light, and each step created faint ripples.

Atop the stone steps, an old Taoist priest in a green robe emerged, standing in mid-air, looking down at the crowd. His voice boomed, "Those who carry tokens may enter the mountain." As soon as the old priest finished speaking, the crowd perked up and took out their tokens, filing in one after another.

Gu Changyuan followed the crowd up the stone steps. The moment his foot landed, the Dragon Fang Token in his hand emitted a soft hum, then turned into a ray of light and dissipated into the air.

The mist on the stone steps swirled around Gu Changyuan, a gentle breeze was blowing, and all around him were the sounds of conversation. Some whispered excitedly, some loudly proclaimed their ambitions, and some were already planning which palace's cultivation method they would choose after entering the sect.

Gu Changyuan ignored the people around him and slowly walked up with the flow of people. An hour later, a huge square appeared in front of them.

The entire plaza is made of topaz, and the smooth surface reflects the sunlight like a mirror, making it look extremely luxurious and magnificent. Four huge stone pillars stand around the plaza, with the four mythical beasts of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise carved on their bodies. They are so lifelike that they seem to be about to leap out of the stone pillars at any moment.

In the center of the square stood ten outer disciples dressed in yellow robes. These disciples looked relaxed, chatting and laughing with each other. They showed no tension as they watched the crowd surging down the stone steps, clearly having seen such scenes before.

The leading outer disciple stepped forward, surveyed the nearly four hundred people present, cleared his throat, and said, "Our Yellow Heaven Sect takes the Way of Heaven and Earth as its foundation and incorporates the Four Symbols: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise. Only those who are destined to be with the Four Symbols can enter the sect. Next, we will examine everyone's compatibility with the Way of the Four Symbols to judge each person's aptitude."

As he spoke, the outer disciple divided the crowd into ten rows, with one outer disciple in each row. Then, he took out a silver-white star bead from his sleeve. The star bead shimmered like a star, with spiritual light flowing across its surface, making it mysterious and unpredictable.

Everyone stepped forward one by one to undergo the test, and the first one to go up was a young man in white.

The outer disciple placed the star bead three inches above the white-robed youth's head. The star bead trembled slightly, and a blurry light and shadow appeared on its surface. After a moment, the outer disciple read out the hexagram: "Azure Dragon Seven Mansions, Kang Jinlong changing line, neutral."

The boy looked bewildered, clearly unaware of what this meant. The outer disciple recorded the result expressionlessly, then waved for the white-robed boy to step aside.

The test continued. Some people were found to have a high compatibility with the Vermilion Bird constellation, with the hexagram "Winged Fire Serpent - Vermilion Bird Holding a Pearl," indicating they were of above-average aptitude and were selected. Others were found to have an excellent compatibility with the White Tiger constellation, with the hexagram "Three Water Ape - White Tiger Roaring at the Moon," indicating they were of superior aptitude and were also selected. Still others were found to have a mediocre compatibility with the Black Tortoise constellation, with the hexagram "Wall Water Owl - Black Tortoise Subduing Waves," indicating they were of average aptitude and were eliminated.

Nearly four hundred people took turns stepping forward. The light of the star beads was sometimes bright and sometimes dim, and the divination results were sometimes auspicious and sometimes inauspicious. The vast majority of people did not have the qualifications to enter the Yellow Heaven Sect. In the end, only about twenty people were selected. As for the compatibility with the Qiankun Main Lineage, not a single one of them was qualified. The outer disciple in charge of the test shook his head repeatedly, obviously not surprised by this.

Finally, it was Gu Changyuan's turn.

Stepping forward, Gu Changyuan remained calm. The outer disciple in charge of the test gestured for Gu Changyuan to stand still, and then raised the star bead to three inches above Gu Changyuan's head.

The moment the star bead settled, it suddenly burst forth with dazzling light. The surface of the star bead was filled with spiritual light as if it were alive. One, two, three, four... a total of twenty-five stars lit up at the same time in the star bead, outlining a complete picture of a tortoise and snake coiled together.

The seven constellations of Xuanwu are Dou, Niu, Nu, Xu, Wei, Shi, and Bi. The twenty-five stars shine together, their brilliance as dazzling as the bright moon in the sky, illuminating the entire square.

The outer disciple stared at the scene within the star bead, his hand holding it trembling. His eyes widened, his mouth agape, unable to utter a word for a long time. After a while, he finally recovered from his shock, his voice trembling noticeably: "The Seven Mansions of Xuanwu resonate in unison, the Dipper and Orion traverse the Heavenly Market Wall—this is a supreme treasure!"

The outer disciples put away the star beads and became much more polite, even looking at Gu Changyuan with a hint of respect, asking Gu Changyuan to rest aside first.

After everyone had finished their tests, the ten outer disciples put away their star beads. Ten beams of spiritual light flew out from the star beads, converging into ten streams of light that shot toward the higher Yellow Heaven Divine Mountain and disappeared into the clouds on the mountainside.

Then the outer disciples led the more than 300 who had failed the selection down the mountain, leaving only 23 disciples who had passed the initial selection.

Before leaving, the leading outer disciple turned to the group and said, "Next, true disciples from the four palaces will come to recruit disciples. Whether you can become outer disciples will depend on further testing by these true disciples."

Gu Changyuan found a clean corner to sit down and close his eyes to rest. The other twenty-odd selected people either excitedly gathered together to chat, nervously paced back and forth, or boldly came over to talk to him. Gu Changyuan ignored them all and didn't even open his eyes. These people, having been rebuffed, could only walk away awkwardly.

Not long after, four streaks of light fell from the sky and transformed into three men and one woman standing in mid-air above the square.