Wait a minute, where is my master?

Junior Master had practiced the ways of cultivation up to this point, learning many principles within the Blazing Sun Sword Sect.

His master, Zhu Yangzi, had also taught him numerous principles.

For example, one should not be impulsive, as impulsiveness is the devil. One must not be haughty, a disciple of a great sect should carry the bearing of one.

Moreover, Junior Master had himself read many cultivation classics and deeply understood the importance of the phrase "character determines fate".

However, at this moment, he was still overwhelmed!!!

I, an elite disciple of one of the Four Great Immortal Sects, speak to you and you ignore me, yet now this Taoist comes out and you suddenly become so proactive!

I really want to see what he has got!

"Dabao, come here. It looks like you and this fellow daoist are quite acquainted, why not introduce him to your Junior Master,"

Junior Master's tone was somewhat chilly.

Actually, he wasn't really looking to do anything to the young Taoist; it was just that he was feeling a bit unreconciled, or maybe... a bit wronged?

Ever since he was young, wherever he revealed his identity from the Four Great Immortal Sects, he was always regarded highly, but now in this Qingmu Secret Realm, it suddenly became ineffective.

And that newly admitted brother, who spoke pleasantly and handled matters efficiently, had suddenly run off to speak with the other side.

Junior Master's heart felt inexplicably unsettling.

Zhao Dabao was originally standing beside Jin Xu, listening to the amber-colored Ox Demon speak.

Suddenly, he heard the call of the red-browed sword cultivator.

He hurriedly turned his head, seeing the expression on the other's face, his heart skipped a beat!

Fatty Zhao felt things were going to go south.

His Junior Master was usually a good person, and he didn't have many of the luxurious and debauched habits typical of second-generation cultivators.

However, as long as one is human, one has flaws.

And according to Zhao Dabao's understanding, his Junior Master's biggest flaw was threefold; naivety, impulsiveness, and as for the last one.

Fatty Zhao also discovered, since arriving in Qingmu City, that his Junior Master seemed a bit fragile at heart, which is to say, sometimes he was somewhat overly sensitive.

"Junior Master, this is an old friend of mine from Gusu City, named Jin Xu, who once helped me obtain an Enlightenment Pill,"

Fatty Zhao quickly walked over to Junior Master's side, first clarifying his relationship with Jin Xu and then, without giving any opportunity for interruption, continued to communicate through spiritual sense.

"Also, this Taoist Jin Xu is the emperor's brother-in-law of the Great Xia. In Shangjing City, he alone defeated the Four Elders of the Demon Sect, Ye Wuyang hundreds of times, simultaneously crushing the Demon Sect's schemes against Great Xia. It was him."

After hearing Zhao Dabao's words, Junior Master first froze, then a layer of fine sweat appeared on his forehead.

He softly coughed to clear his throat, forcing himself to calm down and said, "Cough... cough, it's fine, Dabao you can go back."

"By the way, remember to give my regards to... to this senior,"

Junior Master added another sentence after finishing the first.

All that headstrong impulsiveness, all that sensitivity, instantly healed!

A Taoist who could defeat a Tribulation Crossing Realm cultivator without even allowing him to fight back stood before you and you just tried questioning why he received preferential treatment.

Junior Master thought about it and felt that all those cultivation classics he had read before were in vain!

But actually, he was indeed mistaken. The reason the amber-colored little ox treated Jin Xu and his two companions so specially was actually because they had passed the "Heavy Water Falls" test; it had nothing much to do with their past achievements.

Junior Master, feeling apprehensive, suddenly recalled.

It seems that in Qingmu City, the person who brutally thrashed Lan Junyan and then had the dean of Qingmu Academy, Qingyun, personally apologize, was this same Taoist!

He was not at the window to watch closely at that time; he just briefly scanned with his Spiritual Sense, so the impression was not very deep.

"No wonder I felt this person looked familiar just now."

Hong Mei, the Sword Cultivator, felt a shudder in his heart, followed by a surge of gratitude towards Zhao Dabao.

"If my nephew hadn't reminded me, who knows what I could have accidently done, hiss..."

Junior Master inhaled sharply.

This happened as Hong Mei, the Sword Cultivator, was trying to make a contribution to warming the Qingmu Secret Realm.

After saying those last two sentences, Zhao Dabao, upon seeing his Junior Master's sudden change in tone, immediately felt the weight lift from his chest.

"Alright, Junior Master probably won't make trouble now."

With these thoughts, he quickly walked back to the Taoist's side.

Seeing Fatty Zhao return, Jin Xu gave him a curious look, whilst glancing in the direction of the Sword Cultivator.

When Junior Master saw Jin Xu looking over, he immediately clasped his hands together and showed a respectful and slightly ingratiating smile.

The Taoist had also heard the slightly cold tone of Junior Master just now.

However, seeing the other party's sudden change in reaction, he was a bit baffled.

Fatty Zhao then jovially explained, "That person is a disciple of the Blazing Sun Sword Sect, my master's disciple, and doesn't have much influence here. He just called me over to ask about your identity, so I just gave him a brief introduction."

Zhao Dabao said, pointing to the temple on his head.

Upon hearing that the person was related to Fatty Zhao and was not very smart, Jin Xu decided not to pay him any more attention and continued to listen to the amber-colored Ox Demon explaining the rules of the challenge.

This Ox Demon, supposedly transformed from some precious medicine, finished explaining the rules to the three Taoists and confirmed once again that everyone understood completely.

It then calmly spat out two black and white spheres of light from its mouth.

After being spat out, the two light spheres intertwined and flew above the strange chessboard.

Then they shot towards the two ends of the board, one to the north and the other to the south.

As the black and white light spheres entered the strange chessboard, the ground trembled slightly, and two black and white diamond-shaped Crystal Souls slowly rose from it.

The chessboard split into two, turning into black and white areas respectively.

A huge screen also unfolded above this several hundred kilometers spanning chessboard.

On the left side of the screen, numerous tiny characters appeared, with the top most part reading "Qingmu Secret Realm Second Layer Challenge Rules."

Meanwhile, the right side was divided into upper and lower parts, encased in black and white frames respectively.

At this moment, the black and white frames listed zeros.

Below the screen, on the outer edge of the chessboard, two racks made from intertwined vines grew on the spot, each rack hanging twenty black and white waist tags.

The tags were marked from one to four, labeled with the characters 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊.

Upon seeing this setup, the Taoist Jin Xu stepped up to the rack made of intertwined vines.

First he looked up briefly at the rules written on the screen above, finding them consistent with what the amber Ox Demon had said.

Then he reached out and took down the black waist tags labeled 甲一 to 甲四 from the rack.

"Brother Zhao, if you end up in our group for this challenge, it won't be difficult, will it?" Jin Xu asked Zhao Dabao, his fingers caressing the metallic texture of the waist tags.

Fatty Zhao, who was still looking up at the tiny characters on the screen, instantly showed joy on his chubby face upon hearing the Taoist's question.

He cheerily said, "Taoist Jin Xu, I couldn't ask for more!"

Hearing this, Jin Xu raised his hand and tossed the tag marked 甲四 over to him.