The speed of the Mystic Iron’s descent suddenly slowed, almost stalling in mid-air.
Then, countless cracks appeared on the surface of the Mystic Iron, crisscrossing each other.
Finally, it shook continuously before suddenly exploding with a bang!
Two days later, Ning Zhuo completed the seven small Bamboo Puppets, initially meeting Qing Huangzi’s requirements.
"Next, it’s time for constant practice."
Ning Zhuo trained for another day.
With his abundant training experience, mastering these seven small Bamboo Puppets was not difficult. He quickly got the hang of it and practiced proficiently.
"However, according to what I’ve learned, I can already foresee a certain direction in Qing Huangzi’s trial."
"He controls the Bamboo Puppets primarily with music, supplemented by Hanging Thread."
"To avoid running out of time in the future, I might as well start putting more effort into music and achieve success first."
Thunder Sound Peak.
Silence Pond is embedded at the mountain’s peak, like a piece of Moyu Mirror shattered by the Heavenly God’s hand.
The edges of the pond are covered with jagged Thunderstruck Rocks. Many dark rocks, tempered by heavenly fire, have developed a glazed sheen.
The surface is calm year-round, reflecting the flowing clouds’ assembly and dispersal, the stars’ bright and dim changes, yet it swallows all sounds— even if a giant rock collapses, it only causes a circle of silent ripples, soon engulfed by the deep pond, as if falling into a bottomless abyss.
In the center of the pond, there is a small sandbank with a Lonely Tears Pine standing on it.
The trunk is not more than three girths, twisted like a dying dragon.
Each crack on the bark is filled with resin, amber-like tears.
The pine tree has branches but no leaves, the branches are dense, entangled to form a hollow nest.
In the past, the pond was silent, and the mountain wind crashing against the branches and hollow nest was shredded into strands by the sharp loneliness. Frequent lightning strikes shattered into wailing astral energy, and remaining heavenly fire quenched into stones, like a lonely display of fireworks.
Every time the Feiyun Conference is held, it becomes lively here.
Arrays on Thunder Strike Peak are activated, isolating the lightning descending from the sky.
A large number of cultivators gather by Silence Pond, eagerly participating in the Xingyun Trial associated with the Lonely Tears Pine.
When Ning Zhuo arrived here, the Lonely Tears Pine was gently swaying without wind, about to begin imparting the Green Wind Spring Rain Score.
A large number of cultivators were already seated or standing at the pond’s edge, fully prepared.
Ning Zhuo quickly found an empty spot and sat cross-legged on a rock.
Initially, he did not stand out.
But when he took out a hemp rope and wooden cone, he began to attract attention.
Hanging by the beam, stabbing oneself in the thigh!
Without hesitation, Ning Zhuo tied his hair, simultaneously stabbing his thigh with the wooden cone.
"Is this a Confucian Cultivation Technique?"
"Using a Confucian Cultivation Technique before even starting?"
Yes.
Ning Zhuo decided to prick himself, find the feeling of pain, and enter the state sooner.
The Lonely Tears Pine began to produce sound, performing the Green Wind Spring Rain Score.
Hanging by the beam cleared Ning Zhuo’s distracting thoughts, while the cone in the thigh brought him penetrating thoughts.
He poured all his heart into "listening."
He heard the sound of trees growing and extending, and being immersed in the Green Wind Spring Rain Score, he also felt a slight tingling, a subtle "sense of growth."
Ning Zhuo sighed in his heart, "This is what growth is all about!"
With the first round, he gained a comprehensive and shallow understanding of the entire Green Wind Spring Rain Score.
In the second round, the hemp rope tightened against his hair roots, bringing continuous, dull pain. His right leg was mangled, and Ning Zhuo had to switch to his left leg.
Prick, prick, prick!
He relentlessly jabbed with the wooden cone in his hand, each movement without the slightest hesitation.
Some people watched Ning Zhuo, their eyelids twitching in response, sighing in their hearts, "This big-headed young man can be so ruthless to himself!"
The sound of growth and extension that he heard earlier seemed to be amplified over and over again, and Ning Zhuo discerned countless details within.
They were different rhythms, different tempos of growth extension sounds; he even heard each note.
"The Green Wind Spring Rain Score uses music to awaken the innate life force of trees, granting power and accelerating their growth."
By the third round.
Blood had pooled into a small puddle beneath Ning Zhuo.
The excruciating pain from his hair roots had numbed somewhat. Many strands of hair were directly torn off by the hemp rope.
Ning Zhuo’s eyes were shrouded in darkness, and his upper body swayed uncontrollably.
As he listened, all the sounds were mixed together, like torrential rain, frog croaks, thunder beating like drums, chaotic and dizzying.
"Biting off more than one can chew!"
"I wanted to achieve it all at once, but unfortunately, my learning ability falls short."
Life Hanging Thread!
Luoshu Book Pages!
In his daze, Ning Zhuo, on the outer fringe of the crowd, secretly steeled himself, activated Divine Skills, and brushed against the power of Taoist Artifacts.
Under the influence of the Luoshu Book Pages, Ning Zhuo suddenly became extremely organized. The sounds he heard were immediately categorized, sorted, and sized, no longer chaotic.
Moreover, the sounds of various growth extensions combined in a manner close to nature, flowing freely, performing harmoniously by Ning Zhuo’s ears.
In that instant, Ning Zhuo was somewhat enchanted.
He heard a rhythm of life, flowing, gushing.
From this, he perceived the core essence of the Green Wind Spring Rain Score.
Mastered in three rounds!
Ning Zhuo put away the hemp rope and wooden cone, healed himself, and quietly left the scene.
According to the pattern, the Lonely Tears Pine performs the same score at least twenty times.
Though some noticed the movement, they glanced at Ning Zhuo, seeing his pale face, with traces of blood, disheveled hair, looking somewhat battered, assumed he was defeated and discouraged, thus paying no further attention.
The Lonely Tears Pine was originally a Demon Cultivator, and to heal a Dao companion, also a lifelong confidant, exerted every effort, ultimately failing against the heavens, helplessly watching the confidant’s annihilation during the tribulation.
Both body and mind of the Lonely Tears Pine suffered severe trauma, and its Daoism was nearly shattered, ultimately reverting to its original form—a parasol tree, endlessly performing various scores in the ruins left by the tribulation.
This was a rather special participant in the Myriad Images Sect’s Xingyun Trial.
If a cultivator can respond to the Lonely Tears Pine with high-quality music, they might obtain its amber tears as a reward.
"I won’t get involved in this!" Ning Zhuo had already mastered it but still chose to keep a low profile, not wanting to stand out casually.
He rejoiced in his heart, "Among all the scores, this Green Wind Spring Rain Score suits Bamboo Puppets best."
"Although I’ve mastered it, I still need to practice this score."
"In the future, perhaps I can control a Bamboo Puppet squad through the Green Wind Spring Rain Score."
Thinking of this, Ning Zhuo couldn’t help but sigh again: This Feiyun Conference and Xingyun Trial are really great; you can learn all sorts of things freely, with few restrictions.
"I won’t join in the excitement here!" Having learned what he needed, Ning Zhuo still preferred to keep a low profile.
"There’s a mechanism trial here, should I give it a try?" Ning Zhuo thought with interest upon discovering a group of cultivators gathered discussing the Xingyun Trial as he flew over a mountain peak.
He decided on the spot to try it out.
He had recently acquired the Hanging Thread, wooden cone, as well as the Ideograph Brush, Bitter Ink, and Luoshu Book Pages— a collection of methods he had learned, fueling his eagerness to learn new things.
Ning Zhuo then descended from the cloud to the mountainside to compete with the other cultivators.
The stone door on the mountainside opened, revealing a burly man with wide shoulders and a broad waist, along with a huge bush of black whiskers encircling his face.
The burly, whiskered man grinned, exposing a white row of teeth: "I am Che Zhuzi. I guarantee that if you pass this, you can take a Magic Treasure or an equivalent treasure!"
"In that case, I’ll go first!" said one of the cultivators who had asked earlier, stepping forward assertively.
Once they realized, the other cultivators scrambled to be first in line.
Ning Zhuo observed from the outside and thought to himself, "The decoy for this trial is quite shoddy."
This time, however, he guessed wrong.
It truly wasn’t a setup.
Hidden deep inside the mountain’s Cave Mansion, Silk Lady was secretly thrilled: "It was worth having Che Zhuzi send out the message and tempting cultivators with lavish rewards to lure little brat Ning Zhuo in."
"It wasn’t in vain," she thought as she wickedly licked her red lips, her eyes glinting with malice.