Wait a minute, where is my master?

This Immortal Wood has shed its layers.

It is not only the passage linking the first and second layers of the Qingmu Secret Realm but also the source of strength for the two internal trials.

No flying is allowed within this tree. Any cultivator who comes here and wishes to ascend to the second layer either has to steps up the "Qingmu Steps" one at a time,

or they must dive into the pool and swim upstream against the "Heavy Waterfall".

According to the Old Dean of the academy, the "Heavy Waterfall" will increase its pressure multiples times based on the entering cultivator's strength.

The higher one goes, the greater the pressure, and it doubles, making it impossible to overcome by human force.

It is rumored that since the emergence of the Qingmu Secret Realm, there has never been a report of any cultivator successfully resisting that terrifying pressure and swimming up to the second layer.

Thus, cultivators from ancient times to the present have all believed that this is an impossible challenge to complete.

Once, a disciple from Pan Shi Valley, claiming to possess an ancient bloodline for Body Cultivation, refused to believe this curse and tried to swim up against the force of the Heavy Water. In the end, he nearly perished within this Immortal Wood.

Since then, very few stubborn cultivators in the Nine Provinces Cultivation World have fantasized about successfully swimming up the waterfall.

However, whenever the Qingmu Secret Realm opens, quite a number of cultivators skilled in body cultivation gather here to compete with one another, to see who can swim higher.

The "Stairway to Heaven" beside it, by contrast, is much easier to traverse.

After stepping onto it, cultivators only need to endure an insignificant "noise" and climb up the nine hundred and ninety-nine steps to successfully enter the second layer of the Secret Realm.

Assuredly, there is not the slightest pressure or obstacle all the way.

Jin Xu, the little Taoist, stood in front of the steps, flicked his Taoist robe, lightly tapped with the tip of his foot, and stepped onto the first step.

"Cultivation carries risks, and treasure-hunting requires caution. After entering the second layer of the Qingmu Secret Realm, the 'non-death' rule will disappear. It's not too late to turn back now. Consider this a friendly reminder, going up could lead to death, going up could lead to death..."

A familiar voice rang directly in Jin Xu's mind. It sounded like that overseer?

The little Taoist's gaze passed over the two females who were still playing with a water orb at the edge of the pool, topping up their game, and he looked at the Nine Death Soul Flower in the center of the pool with puzzlement.

"The other party hasn't spoken, right? And I didn't detect the unique fluctuation of Spiritual Sense with the transmission of this voice. Where is it coming from?"

Doubts surfaced in Jin Xu's mind.

He hadn't even opened his mouth yet.

The Nine Death Soul Flower in the pool, as if understanding his thoughts, admitted it.

"The voice you heard is indeed mine, but it was pre-recorded in the 'Stairway to Heaven,' not transmitted directly."

As the most compassionate overseer of the first layer, the Nine Death Soul Flower could not contravene the rules to prevent cultivators from advancing to the second layer, yet her kind heart could not bear to see anyone get hurt or die.

After all, the second layer no longer had the protection of the "non-death" rule.

Thus, the Nine Death Soul Flower came up with an alternative method. On these nine hundred and ninety-nine Stairway to Heaven steps, she recorded messages urging people to treasure life and not to go to the second layer.

She hoped to "save" at least one person.

And truth be told, ever since she set up this test, she has indeed dissuaded a sizable number of cultivators from proceeding.

Of course, whether those cultivators were truly persuaded, whether their spiritual resolve was weakened by what was said, or if they simply could not bear the annoyance of the noise,

nobody knows.

When Jin Xu heard the explanation from the Nine Death Soul Flower and recalled the Old Dean's peculiar expression when mentioning the need to endure a "little noise" on the "Stairway to Heaven,"

he couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth.

The little Taoist took another step up the stairs.

A long string of dissuasive words resounded in his mind once again, this time twice as long as before.

Jin Xu looked up at the remaining nine hundred and ninety-seven steps winding upwards and furrowed his brow, thinking this was not a solution.

He himself was alright, but what about his two demon pets?

Being subjected to such mind-polluting dissuasive messages over nine hundred times was a threat. What if the two females' spiritual fortitude was unstable and they entered a demonic state?

The little Taoist stood still and pondered for a moment, then took several steps in succession, crossing two levels of the Stairway to Heaven.

He was trying to see if the voice that entered his mind would disappear once he left one step.

In that case, he could use speed to avoid the noise.

But obviously, the rules of the Secret Realm were not so easily bypassed. After Jin Xu took two continuous steps, the dissuasive words on both steps mingled together and simultaneously resounded in his mind!!!

"Hiss~ The noise seems even worse now."

The little Taoist drew in a breath of cold air, murmuring quietly to himself.

With a leap, he jumped back from the ascension steps to the moss-covered, damp ground.

"Young Master."

"Temple Master."

Seeing Jin Xu descend, the two women approached him from the edge of the pool.

Little White had finally learned its lesson and didn't speak, instead using telepathy.

"Young Master, didn't that white-faced scholar say that these ascension steps were easy to walk? Why did you come down?"

Yu Yaoer blinked her eyes, her left hand conjuring the water orb in advance to supplement Little White, although this time it seemed unnecessary.

"Those steps... Hmm, let's go up via this waterfall instead."

After responding through telepathy, the little Taoist shook his head as if to shake off the discomfort from the words he had just heard.

Nobody had successfully ascended it since the Qingmu Secret Realm had appeared.

An utterly impossible trial to complete.

Since Jin Xu had embarked on his path, except for that brief moment when he was trapped by an old hag from the White Emperor Pavilion with a blue pearl, he had never been outdone in terms of strength!

So the little Taoist resolutely decided to act rashly once more!

But rash as he was, Jin Xu still proceeded with caution in his actions.

There was once a great man who said, "Strategically disdain the enemy, but tactically regard them highly."

Therefore, before taking action, the little Taoist fortified himself with a layer of golden spiritual power over his skin and infused his limbs and bones with it as well.

After completing these preparations, he telepathically instructed the two women to wait there for him. Jin Xu intended to try the "Heavy Waterfall" himself first to test its mettle and, once assured of its safety, would then return to escort his two demon pets up.

The Nine Death Soul Flower perched on a stone in the center of the pool looked at the little Taoist before her, clueless.

It was only when he stepped into the pool and made his way towards the plunging waterfall that she realized what was happening.

This powerful little Taoist was actually challenging the "Heavy Waterfall!"

"Hey, you..."

Before the Nine Death Soul Flower could finish, she saw the glittering Jin Xu bursting upward from beneath the waterfall, shooting straight up and disappearing from view!

...

The second layer of the Qingmu Secret Realm.

Within a frigid pool, there was a thunderous boom!

The golden little Taoist burst forth from the water's surface, soaring into the skies with a towering column of water and creating countless ripples upon impact.

Jin Xu knew that a man casts a shadow as a tree; that's why when he executed his leap from within the waterfall, he hadn't held back at all, accidentally overshooting it.

Mid-air, the little Taoist glanced around briefly.

"Hiss, seems like I flew over."

He muttered softly to himself and then plunged back into the deep pool!

Leaving behind only a disturbed pool of water and a stunned second-layer overseer who had stood watch over this place early on.

...

The first layer of the Qingmu Secret Realm, within the Immortal Wood's remnants.

As Jin Xu, the little Taoist, successfully passed through the "Heavy Waterfall," the millennia-old sacred tree began to shake violently.

The boulder on which the Nine Death Soul Flower stood was flipped over, the calm waters of the pool started to quiver, and then parted down the middle.

An elderly figure with the air of an immortal, a crown of white hair on a youthful face, wearing a brownish-green robe, and holding a green branch slowly emerged from the water.

As this elder flew out, a grand voice echoed throughout the remnants of the Immortal Wood.

"Hahaha... Aha, after thirty thousand years, someone has finally succeeded in the trial I left behind!"