Chapter 3660 — A Rich Reward

This meant that anyone who sought to trespass into the back mountain would not only have to face the layered prohibitions of the place, but would also have to stay ever wary of a siege by three or more elders at any given moment—a matter of no small consequence.

Since the very foundation and accumulated heritage of the entire Tri-Stack Pavilion were at stake, the back mountain could not be allowed to suffer the slightest mishap, and so it was only reasonable that such a formidable array stood ready in strict formation.

Under the watchful eyes of that layered guard, Hu Yunfeng led all the newcomers onto the plaza of the Back Mountain Hall, where they came to a halt and waited for the stationed elders to address them.

Because the trial site lay in the back mountain, the newcomers' trial was no longer solely a matter for the Welcome Pavilion; the Back Mountain Hall, too, needed to take part in coordinating it. And compared with Hu Yunfeng, master of the Welcome Pavilion, the stationed elders of the Back Mountain Hall clearly held the greater authority—so naturally their words carried more weight as well.

The newcomers held their breath and stilled their minds, every one of them gazing with reverence at the three stationed elders seated upright in the three open-air chairs before them.

This time was different from the last open-instruction day. Xu Yuanzheng and the others had also been elders, but to them a visit to the Welcome Pavilion was essentially the equivalent of a trip down to the grassroots; thus they had deliberately suppressed their auras in front of the newcomers, who could only sense that they held high rank and great authority, though not necessarily how terrifying they were.

But the three now facing the newcomers were elders in very truth, poised at all times for battle, and they had not suppressed their auras in the slightest.

Beneath the oppressive weight of those three vast and surging presences, the newcomers—though all of them had already advanced to the peak of the late Heaven Rank, masters of consummate strength—still found it hard even to breathe, their knees beginning to tremble beyond their control, and the weaker among them simply dropping to their knees in public on the spot.

Over this near month of cultivation, those newcomers who had not originally possessed consummate Heaven Rank strength had, thanks to the effects of their caves and spirit jade, all broken through to the consummate realm as well.

This was the difference between Cloud Terrace Island and the mundane world of cultivation. Spirit jade and cultivation caves—these were resources of the very highest order!

These three were indeed formidable. As a master of the early Foundation Establishment stage, Wei Zhao was not about to be frightened to his knees on the spot like the others, yet even he now faced enormous pressure.

It had been nearly a month since he came to Cloud Terrace Island, and this was the first time he had ever witnessed masters so powerful and so utterly unguarded—terrifying beings truly far, far beyond his own level!

From the depths of his heart, Wei Zhao at last felt once more that long-absent excitement, and with it came a yearning to grow stronger!

His early Foundation Establishment strength could sweep all before him in the mundane cultivation world, and that had begun to make Wei Zhao rather smug. Even after reaching Cloud Terrace Island, because he dwelled in the comparatively mild environment of the Welcome Pavilion, he still felt that everything was within his grasp, and he harbored no sense of crisis at all.

But now Wei Zhao knew he had been wrong—wrong beyond all reckoning! Here on Cloud Terrace Island, early Foundation Establishment was nothing but the most basic starting stage, no different from a Yellow Rank master in the mundane cultivation world. If he could not grow stronger quickly, he would have no possibility of mastering his own fate, and at any moment he might become an ant crushed beneath another's heel!

"The newcomers these days grow weaker and weaker." The bald elder seated at the center of the three open-air chairs glanced at those newcomers who had been frightened to their knees. His voice was not loud, yet every word struck deep into the minds of the crowd like a heavy hammer, filling them with involuntary dread.

After a pause, this bald elder began to announce the rules of the trial.

The rules were simple. The newcomers would be randomly dispatched to the outer perimeter of the back mountain, and the principal trial task was to seek out medicinal herbs. The specially made baskets of the Back Mountain Hall would assign points according to the value of the herbs, and the final results would be ranked from highest to lowest, with specific rewards granted according to rank.

These trial rules could not help but remind Wei Zhao of the Ice Palace trial in the mundane world long ago. The two were quite similar—one might even say cut from the same cloth. Of course, though the rules were somewhat alike, both the environment and the competition were entirely different from before, so they were not to be taken lightly.

One point in the rules, however, took all the newcomers somewhat by surprise: this trial would not pit all the newcomers of the Welcome Pavilion against one another, but would instead be evaluated separately according to their respective pavilions within the Tri-Stack Pavilion, and even the trial zones for each were clearly demarcated. This point delighted the newcomers of the Azure Cloud Pavilion beyond measure.

After all, if they were truly to be placed together with the newcomers of the Skyward Pavilion and the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion, they would almost certainly end up at the very bottom, and this trial would then be utterly meaningless to them. But now that the newcomers of the three pavilions were to be evaluated separately, they saw hope—and the bald elder's very next sentence set every newcomer instantly ablaze with excitement.

"The top three in this trial shall each receive a Foundation Establishment Pill as reward, and the first place may additionally receive ten pieces of spirit jade! Fourth through tenth place shall each be rewarded three pieces of spirit jade; as for those beyond tenth, think of nothing at all. Of course, these rewards are only to be honored once the most basic threshold score has been met."

The top three could obtain Foundation Establishment Pills!

The whole gathering erupted in an instant. However ill-informed these newcomers might be, how could they possibly not know of the Foundation Establishment Pill, that elixir for which countless cultivators dreamed and yearned! For any consummate Heaven Rank master, so long as their aptitude was passable, a single Foundation Establishment Pill would immediately enable them to succeed in establishing their foundation!

After all, these newcomers had gathered at the Welcome Pavilion with the ultimate goal of succeeding in Foundation Establishment within a year, and a single Foundation Establishment Pill might very well accomplish it in one direct step—how could they not be thrilled!

Of course, the Foundation Establishment Pill was not the same as the Foundation Establishment Golden Pill. The Foundation Establishment Pill worked only when a consummate Heaven Rank master broke through to the early Foundation Establishment stage; once one had set foot in Foundation Establishment, it was useless, and a Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pill would be needed instead!

The Foundation Establishment Golden Pill, however, had no such drawback: it could serve as a Foundation Establishment Pill, as a Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pill, and even as an experience pill!