Chapter 408: Choice

Without any hesitation, Shen Daoxing reached out and lightly tossed his Identity Jade Token into the massive censer in front of the Divine Altar.

It seemed, however, that his outer sect Identity Jade Token did not meet the requirements. Suddenly, flames surged within the censer, and Shen Daoxing's Identity Jade Token was ejected with a SWISH.

Seeing this, Shen Daoxing frowned, picked up the Identity Jade Token, and tossed it into the censer again. But it wasn't long before the Jade Token was flung out once more.

Suddenly, Shen Daoxing's expression darkened. He picked up the Identity Jade Token and tossed it into the censer yet again.

At the same time, with a THUD, he slammed one hand heavily onto the censer's rim.

Immediately, flames surged within the censer, and Shen Daoxing's Identity Jade Token was slowly pushed up again.

Seeing this, Shen Daoxing's hand, still on the censer's rim, suddenly squeezed with a bit more force.

"CRACK!"

With a crisp sound, a crack instantly appeared on the wall of the censer.

Suddenly, the censer stopped its motion of pushing out Shen Daoxing's Identity Jade Token.

Then, Shen Daoxing's hand on the rim squeezed again.

For no apparent reason, the censer trembled.

"SHHH!"

It suddenly dropped Shen Daoxing's Identity Jade Token.

At that moment, the Celestial Mirror Order on the Divine Altar suddenly began to flash brightly. Then, as if it had received a command, the censer before the altar immediately fell still.

Seeing this, Shen Daoxing finally nodded in satisfaction and released his grip on the censer.

The Five Great Immortal Islands of the Cyan Nether Sword Sect concealed the power left behind in the mortal world by a past Venerable Supreme. To obtain it, one had to enter an Immortal Island. 'How could I possibly miss such a great opportunity as the Immortal Island trial?'

Afterward, Shen Daoxing prepared to leave, but as he was turning to go, he saw a Jade Token engraved with the name Wan Hai lying in a corner of the censer, disdainfully cast aside. He then glanced at the pile of glittering Identity Jade Tokens in the center of the censer.

Evidently, those like Wan Hai, whose tokens were discarded in the corners, had already been eliminated.

Shen Daoxing paused, thinking, 'Senior Brother Wan Hai has actually taken good care of me since I joined the sect.'

So, Shen Daoxing picked up Senior Brother Wan Hai's Identity Jade Token and placed it in the middle of the censer.

When the censer showed signs of pushing Wan Hai's Identity Jade Token away, Shen Daoxing simply rested a hand lightly on its rim.

The censer immediately stilled and accepted Wan Hai's Identity Jade Token.

Silently, Shen Daoxing glanced at the censer one last time, then rose into the air with Sword Control and returned to his residence.

After Shen Daoxing left, on the training grounds, now silent and deep in the night, a ripple suddenly spread through the air. An elegant figure then appeared noiselessly on the main island's training grounds.

The woman was stunningly beautiful, with a graceful and slender figure. A long, flowing gown wrapped her body snugly, perfectly accentuating her curvaceous physique.

This person was none other than the yellow-robed woman Shen Daoxing had been tracking.

After arriving at the training grounds, the yellow-robed woman approached the Divine Altar. With a flick of her hand, she too summoned her Identity Jade Token and tossed it into the censer.

Then, the yellow-robed woman couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle. "Hehehe, my, my... it seems my little junior brother is not simple at all!"

As she spoke, the yellow-robed woman let out another soft laugh. A torrent of pink light surged from within her body, then transformed into a swarm of colorful butterflies that flew into the distance and vanished into the sky.

「Five days passed in the blink of an eye.」

Bright morning sunlight streamed through the window, shining on Shen Daoxing's face.

Shen Daoxing's eyes snapped open, and a flash of black-gold light flickered within them before vanishing.

Faintly, mysterious black patterns surfaced on Shen Daoxing's arms and legs, only to vanish completely in an instant.

Before him, the exquisite and translucent Venerable Dharma Seal was still slowly rotating in the air, emitting a vast white light. Shen Daoxing could feel that the connection between them had grown even stronger.

With a mere thought from Shen Daoxing, the Venerable Dharma Seal suddenly flew up, entered his forehead, and passed into his Venerable Domain.

At the same time, a clamor of voices rose from outside his room.

Shen Daoxing pushed the door open and stepped out. A large crowd of outer sect disciples had already gathered outside.

They were all chattering excitedly:

"The trial for Pengze Immortal Island is starting! Let's go watch!"

"It's a shame we outer sect disciples aren't qualified to participate!"

"Don't even think about it. Even if we could participate, we'd never be able to compete with those Inner Sect Disciples!"

"Yeah! That's right!"

"Still, if we get to see Fairy Muyun and Jun Wushuang in action this time, it could be a fortunate opportunity for us."

At this, the crowd grew excited. The Immortal Island trial was a rare grand event for the Cyan Nether Sword Sect, as both Inner Sect Disciples and the Four Vein Disciples of the Immortal Islands would participate together. Everyone, from Gu Muyun to Jun Wushuang, would be there.

For these outer sect disciples, just being able to witness the masterful techniques of those two geniuses would be an incredibly rewarding experience.

Naturally, none of the outer sect disciples would miss such a grand occasion.

When they saw Shen Daoxing emerge, a few disciples immediately invited him to go with them.

Of course, Shen Daoxing didn't refuse.

The group then rose into the air using Sword Control and arrived at the main island a short while later.

By this time, the main island's training grounds were already packed with numerous Inner Sect Disciples. In front of the Divine Altar at the center of the grounds, the massive censer burned with raging flames, ready to select the disciples who would enter the trial on Pengze Immortal Island.

Shen Daoxing glanced around and saw that their Senior Brother Wan Hai was also among them.

As a disciple of the Cyan Nether Sword Sect, Wan Hai had joined the sect long before Jun Wushuang and Gu Muyun. Unfortunately, his cultivation had only reached the Fourth Layer of the Earth Profound Realm, and he had never been chosen by the Four Veins.

This was a rare, excellent opportunity for him—and possibly his last. Compared to the other disciples of the younger generation, he was truly getting old.

But precisely because of his age, it was uncertain whether he would be chosen by the Celestial Mirror Order this time. He might not even get the chance to participate in the trial at all.

Because of this, Wan Hai couldn't help but feel nervous.

Seeing this, Shen Daoxing stepped forward to Wan Hai's side. "Senior Brother, rest assured. Your name will definitely be among those chosen for the Immortal Island trial this time."

Wan Hai gave Shen Daoxing a faint smile, thinking he was just trying to comfort him.

The other Inner Sect Disciples were also craning their necks, looking expectantly toward the center of the training grounds.

As for Jun Wushuang, Gu Muyun, and Ouyang Cheng, they hadn't come to the training grounds, seemingly unconcerned about the Celestial Mirror Order's selection.

It wasn't just Jun Wushuang, Gu Muyun, and Ouyang Cheng; none of the Four Vein Disciples from the Immortal Islands had come either.

"BOOM!"

Just then, the flames in the massive censer before the Divine Altar suddenly flared.

A white light flashed from within, and an Identity Jade Token flew out.

Immediately, a Steward Elder stepped forward, picked up the Jade Token, glanced at it, and slowly read the name on it: "Jun Wushuang!"

No one was surprised by this.