Yu Zhao: This is too hard for me, I'm surrounded by wolves and tigers!

Yu Zhao strolled leisurely up the Heavenly Ladder, his mind filled with thoughts of: This is it? This is all the Heavenly Ladder is?

She had expected it to be something extraordinary, but it turned out to be just an old trick, nothing more than an illusion.

The illusion might be troublesome for others, but for Yu Zhao, it was practically a freebie.

She had already gotten used to it while she was at Qingfeng Temple.

Qingfeng Temple appears to be a legitimate sect to the outside world, but internally it is a genuine demonic sect. The old master of Qingfeng Temple uses a very simple and brutal method to train his disciples.

The first lesson is about tempering the physical body and the soul. How do we temper them?

This brings us to the most precious treasure of Qingfeng Temple: a blood pool on the back mountain of the temple. No one knows what materials Old Deng used to make it, but it is quite peculiar.

That pool of blood had the effect of nourishing the body and soul. After soaking in it, one felt as if their flesh and bones were being torn apart, and their soul was also ravaged by various illusions.

After soaking in this way for forty-nine times, both the physical body and the spirit will be significantly enhanced.

This wasn't Old Deng being kind to his apprentice; it was so that his disciple could enjoy the food even more deliciously in the future.

Yu Zhao often soaked in that blood pool. At first, it was excruciatingly painful, but gradually he became indifferent to it and even treated it like a hot spring.

Compared to the strange blood pool at Qingfeng Temple, Luoyue Sect's Heavenly Ladder is child's play.

Thinking of the past at Qingfeng Temple, Yu Zhao felt a slight sense of gratitude. If it weren't for Qingfeng Laodeng's simple and direct training, the ladder to heaven wouldn't have been so easy to climb.

My beloved master, to thank you for your guidance, I will come to you after I reach the Foundation Establishment stage and refine you into a pill as well, so that we, master and disciple, will never be separated for the rest of our lives.

Yu Zhao muttered to himself, but couldn't help but smile. He quickly realized that this was wrong; his smile looked like that of a villain. This wouldn't do, since he always prided himself on being a righteous person.

So he quickly suppressed his smile.

At this moment, the elders and deacons watching the disciple assessment at the sect's main square at the end of the Heavenly Ladder noticed Yu Zhao.

A beautiful elderly woman smiled when she saw Yu Zhao. Intrigued, she smiled and spoke to those around her:

"Senior brother, look at this little girl. She's climbing the Heavenly Ladder very quickly, and she can't help but smile. What did she see in the illusion? What an interesting little girl."

The man beside her was an old man with white hair, looking very old and sleepy. Hearing his junior sister's words, he looked in the direction she was pointing and smiled when he saw the people inside.

Kind smile:

"It's quite interesting, but let's not get our hands on this girl. The sect leader has already decided on her."

"To be able to traverse the Heavenly Ladder so easily, one must be a person with a firm Dao heart; it's normal that they have won the sect leader's favor."

The beautiful woman was quite disappointed; she had finally found a promising talent, only to have it snatched away by the sect leader.

So she stopped paying attention to Yu Zhao and instead turned her gaze to Shen Yunshu.

I think this girl is pretty good too.

She glanced at the list submitted by her disciples. "Shen Yunshu, her surname is Shen. Is she a member of the Shen family?"

"That's probably true. She has the bloodline of the Azure Dragon, which is the mark of the Shen family."

The white-haired old man continued, "This Azure Dragon bloodline is a very special bloodline, possessed only by the Shen family of Zhenbei."

Legend has it that one of the ancestors of the Shen family married a dragon maiden, and from then on, the descendants of the Shen family possessed the bloodline of the dragon maiden, and also the bloodline of the Azure Dragon, the emperor of dragons.

However, there is another rumor that the patriarch of the Shen family did not marry the Dragon Girl, but rather refined her bloodline and integrated it into the bodies of his own sons.

From then on, the Shen family descendants would have a thin bloodline.

This wasn't exactly a secret among the sect elders in Zhenbei City. Everyone knew that the Shen family possessed the Azure Dragon bloodline, but how they acquired it was uncertain.

Upon hearing the words "Azure Dragon Bloodline," the beautiful woman's eyes lit up, and she quickly said to the old man:

"Then this little girl, senior brother, don't try to take her from me. I'm going to accept her as my disciple!"

"I advise you to think carefully. The blood of the Azure Dragon in her body is very thin. She is probably just a collateral branch of the Shen family. This bloodline may not be of any help to her."

Besides, the Shen family is a very complicated place. A member of a collateral branch is living outside the family. Who knows what shady things are going on? If we take her in, it wouldn't be good if we got involved in the Shen family's messy affairs."

Yes, this is my senior brother; he would never say these things to someone who isn't close to me.

But the beautiful woman didn't take it seriously, waving her hand dismissively and saying, "The Shen family can control everything, but what right do they have to control me taking on disciples? They don't want their own descendants, so why can't others teach them?"

There's no such logic in the world. Others may fear the Shen family, but I'm not. Even if this goes all the way to the Prince of Zhenbei, I'll still be in the right.

"I'm afraid this girl has something to do with the Prince of Zhenbei," the old man said quietly, adding meaningfully.

These words made the beautiful woman frown and think. She was not afraid of the Shen family. The Shen family was no longer the number one family in Dayan. The Shen family's Nascent Soul expert had been missing for more than eight hundred years. He might have died on the battlefield outside the domain.

The beautiful woman was naturally not afraid of a fallen noble family, but the Prince of Zhenbei was different; the forces behind him were too complex.

Getting involved with this person is a huge problem.

It seems that this matter of taking on a disciple cannot be rushed. We must find out exactly who Shen Yunshu is.

……

About an incense stick later,

Yu Zhao arrived at the large square. She was the first to arrive. Seeing that no one was around, she looked around like a curious little girl.

She saw twelve people sitting on the high platform in front of her and guessed that these people were the stewards and elders of the Falling Moon Sect.

Although they were quite far away, each of them made Yu Zhao feel a sense of pressure. The lowest level among these twelve people was the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage!

As expected of one of the five major forces in Zhenbei City, they have many powerful individuals.

As Yu Zhao was pondering to herself, her gaze fell upon an elderly man with white hair, who happened to be looking at her as well.

When their eyes met, Yu Zhao quickly lowered her head, making it seem like an unintentional glance, but in reality, Yu Zhao was frightened.

She lowered her head, her pupils contracted, and she was covered in cold sweat.

It's him. What's he doing here?

This white-haired old man was none other than her master, Elder Qingfeng!

Although they look different, Yu Zhao would never mistake him. No one knows her master better than her, and she is certain that the white-haired old man is her master!

How could she possibly mistake the aura of the Blood Fiend Technique?

This sudden turn of events threw Yu Zhao into a state of confusion; she never dreamed she would see Lao Deng here.

Yu Zhao forced herself to calm down, her brain racing as she analyzed the series of events.

There is some kind of relationship between Luoyue Sect and Qingfeng Temple that she is unaware of. The abbot of Qingfeng Temple is actually an elder of Luoyue Sect... But that doesn't make sense. What is the relationship between Qingfeng Elder and Ziji Holy Sect?

Why does this old man seem not to recognize me?

Having been too nervous, Yu Zhao noticed something was off after calming down. The old man sitting on the platform didn't seem to recognize her; when they made eye contact, it was as if he were looking at a stranger.

She didn't understand what was going on, and she couldn't figure out what Old Deng was planning.