Passing the Preliminary Examination

Even though he had concealed all of his aura, Ji Shuanghua recognized him at a single glance.

It was that scarred face, that very back...

When that man looked at Lin Qingwan on the stage with a cold gaze, as if looking at a dead object, Ji Shuanghua felt a jolt of electricity instantly pierce through her spine.

It was him.

Only he would possess that kind of gaze that treated all living things as mere straw dogs.

The scene from the Biluo Secret Realm uncontrollably surfaced in her mind—

He had thrown her into the mud like trash, wiped his hands with her most cherished natal dharma robe, and left without even bothering to spare her a single glance.

Ji Shuanghua's hands, hidden in her sleeves, dug fiercely into her palms. The pain made her entire body tremble; her legs grew weak, and she could barely stand.

Gu Yang moved.

He pressed down the brim of his bamboo hat and, following the crowd, stepped onto the high platform step by step.

Every step was extremely steady, as if the surrounding clamor had nothing to do with him.

"Rogue cultivator, Li Feiyu."

Gu Yang's voice was hoarse as he opened his palm.

There was no earth-shattering display.

Only a wisp of flame, the size of a fingernail, quietly hovered over his palm.

The flame was incredibly bizarre. Its outer layer was a deep, ink-like black, while its core wrapped around an extremely faint yet blindingly bright golden gleam.

Yin and Yang, freezing cold and scorching heat, achieved a terrifying balance in this instant.

The black was the disguise of the Nine Nether Soul-Locking Flame, and the golden gleam was a trace of the Great Sun True Fire.

This was Gu Yang's new mutated fire, formed from the fusion of the Great Sun True Fire and the Nine Nether Soul-Locking Flame.

Below the stage, Zhu Lie, who was boredly playing with the Sun-Seeking Compass, suddenly lifted his head.

The needle of the compass in his hand trembled wildly, and finally, it bizarrely stopped in place, as if it had lost its direction.

"Hmm? What kind of fire is this?"

Zhu Lie narrowed his eyes, his crimson pupils reflecting the wisp of black-gold flame in Gu Yang's palm. "There's a trace of a familiar extreme Yang aura... but why does it also exude a nauseating aura of death?"

Beside him, Zhao Fen quickly leaned in. "Senior Brother, is this some kind of mutated ghost fire? This kid looks utterly ordinary, but this fire... is a bit wicked."

On the stage.

Gu Yang ignored the surrounding gazes and walked straight up to Lin Qingwan.

He didn't waste any words, not even sparing a second glance at that peerlessly beautiful face. He simply extended two rough fingers and placed them on Lin Qingwan's wrist, which felt like cold jade.

Boom!

The moment they made contact, the Yin-Yang Glazed Platform inside Gu Yang's body trembled slightly.

That wisp of flame, fusing extreme Yang and extreme Yin, followed his fingertips and domineeringly forced its way into Lin Qingwan's meridians.

The following scene made everyone present hold their breath.

They saw Lin Qingwan's originally deathly pale skin flush with a breathtaking rosy pink at a visible rate.

At that moment, it was as if the harsh winter had suddenly retreated, replaced by a surging spring tide.

Lin Qingwan only felt an unprecedented, scalding, and overbearing heat flow, like a savage fire dragon, violently tearing open the icy shackles that had accumulated in her body for eighteen years.

It wasn't just warmth.

It was an invasion.

It was conquest.

This heat flow ignored the fragility of her meridians, rampaging all the way through, striking directly at the source, and fiercely slamming into the fleshy tumor in her abdomen that was greedily devouring her life force.

The once arrogant and domineering Blood Demon Fetus, which constantly brought her agonizing pain, actually let out a shrill scream that only she could hear upon sensing this aura containing the majestic might of the Great Sun. Then, it curled up into a ball in terror, shivering uncontrollably, not daring to move an inch.

The pain vanished.

In its place came a near-overwhelming numbness born from the extreme alternation of cold and heat.

This sensation caused her originally hollow eyes to instantly lose focus, welling up with a hazy mist.

Sweat instantly soaked through her bridal dress, perfectly outlining her exquisite curves.

She gritted her teeth fiercely, her ten fingers tightly gripping the armrests of her chair, her knuckles turning white from the force, and her insteps taut like drawn bows.

But ultimately, she couldn't hold it in.

"Mmm..."

A heavily suppressed moan, yet enchanting to the bone, escaped from her throat.

The sound was not loud, but like a feather, it fiercely tickled the heartstrings of every man present.

Lin Qingwan felt so ashamed she wanted to die. Reason told her she should push away this lecher, but her body instinctively betrayed her.

She craved this heat flow, craved this unprecedented relief, and even subconsciously reached back to grab Gu Yang's wrist...

However.

Just at the very moment she was about to completely succumb to the lingering warmth of his fingers.

He pulled away without the slightest hesitation.

The warmth came to an abrupt end.

Endless emptiness and coldness surged back like a tide, a hundred times worse than before.

Lin Qingwan's hand froze in mid-air, her fingertips still trembling slightly. Her eyes, usually as placid as an ancient well, were now filled with astonishment, disappointment, and a trace of something even she found shameful... a lingering desire for more.

"You..."

Lin Qingwan looked up, feeling a sense of loss.

What she saw, however, was a pair of eyes as placid as an ancient well.

Gu Yang stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at her from above. His expression was so cold it was as if what he had just touched was not a peerless beauty, but a piece of dead wood.

This absolute ruthlessness formed a stark contrast with the previous cultivators who had shamelessly tried to grope her a bit longer.

"The cold poison has seeped into the marrow." Gu Yang's voice was hoarse, exuding a coldness that kept people thousands of miles away. "Although my strange fire can suppress it, it merely treats the symptoms, not the root cause."

"Good! What a 'merely treats the symptoms, not the root cause'!"

The eldest young master of the Lin family, Lin Junchang, who had been standing in the shadows, finally stepped out.

"Daoist Li is indeed a master." Lin Junchang walked up to Gu Yang and gave a deep bow, his voice high-pitched. "My younger sister's illness has been incurable for the past eighteen years. Yet, with just a single finger, Daoist has made her..."

He glanced at the flushed Lin Qingwan and cracked a smile. "...lose her composure to such an extent. It seems that the ideal son-in-law of Crimson Flame City can be none other than Daoist."

On the high platform, Lin Zhennan also stood up with a loud laugh.

He took a few strides to the front of the stage, unreservedly releasing the coercive aura of Foundation Establishment Perfection, intimidating the restless rogue cultivators below.

"Everyone!"

Lin Zhennan's face was glowing, his voice booming:

"In today's preliminary selection, Daoist Li Feiyu's skills have overpowered the rest! But this is, after all, my daughter's lifelong matter, and also the grand ceremony for my Lin family to choose a son-in-law. Merely suppressing the cold poison is not enough; I need to see everyone's control over their strange fires!"

"Tomorrow at sunset, I invite the talented youths who have passed the preliminary selection to enter my Lin family's forbidden grounds."

"At that time, whoever can help my daughter completely refine the cold energy within her body shall become the son-in-law of Lin Zhennan! My Lin family's Nine Nether Heaven-Burning Art and that Foundation Establishment spiritual item will be offered with both hands!"

The crowd below the stage instantly erupted into an uproar.

The Lin family's forbidden grounds!

That was the node of Crimson Flame City's fire vein!

Gu Yang pressed down the brim of his bamboo hat.

"If that is the case, we shall meet again tomorrow."

Gu Yang didn't waste any words and turned to leave.

He still maintained the solitary, aloof, and arrogant demeanor of a rogue cultivator.

As he passed by Lin Qingwan, a gust of night wind blew.

The hem of Gu Yang's clothes brushed against the back of Lin Qingwan's hand, which was resting towards the ground.

The rough fabric rubbed against her delicate skin.

Lin Qingwan's delicate body trembled violently.

She raised her head, gazing at the receding figure that walked away without a single shred of hesitation. Her teeth bit fiercely into her lower lip until the skin broke. Blood seeped out, adding a bewitching touch of crimson to her pale face.

...