The Romantic Cultivator

After leaving the Hundred Eyes Weavers behind, Ji Yuan and his party quickly ran after the rest of the cultivators.

Luckily for Ji Yuan and his party, they were all sixth realm and above cultivators. Therefore they just need to muster a little of their profound strength and soon they had caught up with the rest of the cultivators in front of them, including the dark robe ferryman.

The dark robe ferryman was now climbing up a steep mountain and the slope of this mountain was not only steep but was also inclining in an awkward manner, which made following him difficult and exhausting.

All these cultivators were all mountain climbers but there were also many cultivators had not been in the rugged mountains for a long time and they could not catch up anymore.

After some time, more than thirty cultivators were lagging behind and they soon gave up on following the dark robe ferryman.

These cultivators were all cursing breathlessly. “How did this trial end up to be a stamina trial?!”

Ji Yuan was frowning. “What the heck? He keeps going up and we have not even reached the mountain top yet…”

As a matter of fact, the mountain top was covered by a thick canopy and no one could see the mountain top.

Ji Yuan had purposely slowed himself down so that Mu Wan’Er could keep up her pace with him.

For Ji Yuan, he could catch up with the dark robe ferryman anytime as long so far as the dark robe ferryman continued to maintain at his current pace.

He was actually thinking. “I don’t think he will run or increase his current pace or else this won’t be the first level of the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth.”

All of a sudden the dark robe ferryman had turned around there was an eerie grin on his skeleton face as he pointed his finger at the cultivators that were behind him.

To the utter shock of all the cultivators, the entire mountains were now shaking as though there was an earthquake and the earth was splitting right in front of them!

Ji Yuan immediately displayed his lightless profound skill as he shouted. “Everyone, leap forward as fast as you can!”

Ling Feiyue, Little Princess, Shui Xisi, Bai Qianfeng, Feng Minyue and Mu Wan’Er had all displayed their lightless profound skills as they quickly leapt over the ground which was now riddled with deep holes.

Many of the cultivators were caught in the many deep holes that had appeared all of sudden, including several saints.

Some others were pushed into the deep holes by the others as everyone was competing against each other for spaces.

The only party that had space to leap forward and to evade the deep holes that were ushered apart by the earthquake were Ji Yuan and his party; it was because everyone seemed to have a grudging respect for Ji Yuan and his party. Therefore they had purposely tried not to move into their way.

Ji Yuan was actually grateful as he sighed softly.

When the earthquake had ceased after some time, more than half of the cultivators had disappeared into the deep holes.

The dark robe ferryman laughed coldly. “Don’t worry. They are not dead but are taken elsewhere in the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth. But they won’t be taking this trial anymore.”

When he had finished speaking, he had turned around to continue to the mountain top.

The rest of the cultivators numbering some fifty now were all staring with an exhausted look at the dark ferryman. Many of them had exhausted their profound strength trying to catch up with the dark ferryman and many more had exhausted their profound strength trying to evade the multiple holes that had split up.

After the dark ferryman had run for some time, around ten more cultivators had chosen to give up as they collapsed exhausted on the ground.

Mu Wan’Er was also extremely exhausted and she knew that she was at her limits.

Lately she had been failing all her trials…

As her head wobbled, she was suddenly seized up by Ji Yuan who said to her. “Let me carry you first. You may rest on my arms first.”

Ji Yuan had seized her and was now carrying her with his strong arms.

Mu Wan’Er gasped softly as she stared blankly at Ji Yuan. “You will only exhaust yourself by carrying me and you may even fail your trial because of me…”

“Haha. You’re not so heavy. I can manage it.” Ji Yuan interrupted her with a soft chuckle.

Bai Qianfeng hummed softly as she sped ahead, slightly angry that Ji Yuan was not holding her in his arms and instead he was holding another maiden in his arms now.

For as long as she remembered, she had always been in Ji Yuan’s arms. At least while she was in her nine-tail spirit fox form.

Little Princess laughed softly. “Ji Yuan, why don’t you piggyback me?”

Ji Yuan laughed. “If you’re without any shame then I can piggyback you.”

Little Princess took a seductive look at Ji Yuan as she smiled quietly. “I am afraid that you will be the one that is going to be awkward, especially with a lovely maiden like me on your back.”

​ “Don’t bet on it.” Ji Yuan chuckled.

Ling Feiyue hummed softly to Little Princess. “He is too shameless already. He doesn’t even have an extra pair of hands to carry you.”

“Indeed, he is too shameless.” Little Princess laughed.

Ji Yuan: …

As the other maidens teased Ji Yuan, Mu Wan’Er was the one feeling awkward as she was in Ji Yuan’s arms…

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Three hours later, the dark robe ferryman had reached to the very top of the mountain as a flat platform lay in front of them.

By now, only around thirty cultivators had reached to the very top.

There were another ten plus cultivators that had dropped off, from the earlier forty plus cultivators that had survived the earthquake.

Everyone including Ji Yuan was looking exhausted and tired; they had been running nonstop for many hours now and even the constant smiles that were on Shui Xisi had vanished.

The only person that was not tired was the dark robe ferryman.

Shui Xisi was cursing behind Ji Yuan, “If he continues to make me run like this, I swear that I will unsheathe my immortal sword and send him directly to the depths of hell.”

Ling Feiyue rolled her eyes before she said sheepishly. “Count me in too.”

Ji Yuan immediately frowned with displeasure. “He is the trial master. You can’t kill a trial master…”

Bai Qianfeng hummed. “You will never know unless you try. Celestial-step and Immortal-step divine swords can hurt the soul force of the trial master. Therefore we can kill him if we want to.”

Ji Yuan: …

Ji Yuan: …

Ji Yuan: …

The dark robe ferryman hissed. “Good. The thirty of you are the survivors so far. Now it is time for the final trial.”

“Final trial? You mean this is not over yet?” One cultivator gasped with shock.

Many of the cultivators were now muttering.

The dark robe ferryman laughed eerily. “Of course not. This trial does not require you to use your brains and instead depend on your brawn. Therefore this trial will be slightly harder.”

Ji Yuan rubbed his chin. “Slightly harder?”

Feng Minyue sighed softly. “Actually it is already way harder than many of the third level trials in the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth.”

Ji Yuan: …𝐎𝚟𝐋xt.𝗇𝓔t

“You’re sure?”

Feng Minyue nodded quietly.

All of a sudden the dark robe ferryman had become a gigantic dark sword in the middle of the platform.

His voice began to resonate throughout the vicinity. “It isn’t easy for you to reach to the very top of the mountains. Therefore I shall give you an hour to gain an insight from this sword here. Remember you have only an hour and it starts now!”

“What is this dark sword?”

“Is this part of the trial?”

“This dark sword seems to be wrapped around in a formidable darkness profound animus…”

“I’ve never seen anything like this before…”

“If we extend our divine sense into this sword then we may gain an insight…”

“What are we waiting for? We only got an hour to meditate in front of this profound treasure!…”

Ji Yuan was also looking intently at this gigantic sword and he was in awe; it was because he could sense numerous sword energies that were coursing through it. The pureness of this sword energies was something that he had never encountered before.

But at the same time he was a little anxious because this gigantic dark sword was wrapped in a desolate profound aura. Although its sword energies were pure but it was also highly erratic and looked untamed.

Bai Qianfeng whispered to Ji Yuan as she gasped softly. “My lord, this sword is a spirit embodiment of a destroyed saint sword. If you can gain an insight from it, it will be beneficial to your sword art and even profound strength.”

Ji Yuan smiled weakly. “I can see it but it is also difficult to gain control over the insight. It has its benefits but it also has its bad side effects.”

He was a sword saint and with a single look, he could tell that this gigantic sword had a chaotic origin. Even as the others had begun to meditate in front of the gigantic black sword, he was hesitant.

Ji Yuan rubbed his chin and rolled his eyes as he began to think…