Chapter 80: Help from the Compass

　　“Look at elder An’s snow lion! How beautiful it is!”

　　“I still feel that the mystic wolf of Shi Zhang Yuan is better.”

　　“No! Our sect leader’s Jade Crowned Eagle is obviously the best!”

　　The disciples were already busy discussing the various mounts owned by the different leaders.

　　In the eyes of the disciples, nothing else other than experts’ mounts turned their eyes green with envy. Abilities won’t strengthen within a day, but having a good mount depends on luck. As experts, they did not compare whose clothes are better than the other. The thing that mattered the most was still the steed. With just one look, one could tell who had a better one.

　　Fu Shangqing’s jade crowned eagle was at the front. It circled above the stage for a while before finally descending. As soon as he landed, disciples immediately lead him to his seat. The Jade Crowned Eagle let out a loud cry, fluttered its wing and elegantly soared high into the sky.

　　As Lu Mingshu watched the Jade Crowned Eagle take its leave, a handsome youngster and a beautiful young lady appeared on the platform, lead by Fu Shangqing. They immediately attracted the eyes of the crowd. They were Fu Mingtang and Fu Mingxi, both fourteen this year — a year younger than Lu Mingshu.

　　Fu Mingtang had grown taller now, and he resembled his father, Fu Shangqing. On the other hand, Fu Mingxi resembled both her parents, but the aura she gave out made her feels a lot like her mother, Zhou Yinru.

　　“Ignore them.” Gao Xiang whispered. “What’s the use of being in the limelight?”

　　Lu Mingshu smiled at Gao Xiang. ” It’s okay. I don’t mind them.”

　　Unfairness? Indeed, it was unfair to her.

　　However, starting from that moment, she had let go of all the grudges. Her master had told Fu Shangqing that he shouldn’t impose his status of “father” on her when he hasn’t taken up the responsibility of being her father in the first place.

　　She had someone who cared for her and pitied her.

　　Even though her father did not love her, it was okay — at least she had her master, who gave her all, or even more than what a father would.

　　After four years, she felt calm seeing the Fu family once again.

　　The other mounts landed shortly after Fu Shangqing.

　　The elders in the crowd started animatedly discussing with one another. Suddenly, Fu Shangqing stood up and summoned all the disciples in a loud and clear voice.

　　“The Heavenly Door competition is organized by our sect triannually to determine the candidates for the positions of genuine successor disciple. You have all trained hard for the past years, and now is the chance for you to shine!”

　　Gao Rang hinted Lu Mingshu to slowly move towards the entrance. As they reached the queue, Fu Shangqing was just about to finish his speech.

　　“… The disciples spectating, please move to the side. Those participating please queue up,” The guards at the entrance, who were in charge of the identity check, shouted.

　　Lu Mingshu counted the number of participants. There only about two hundred people — not a lot. But, considering that most participants were extremely confident, they should’ve been pretty skilled. Thus, the competition was still quite difficult.

　　After having their seal tablet examined and their names checked, the disciple queued up and were waiting for the competition to start.

　　On the other side, Fu Shangqing and the other elders gathered. Together. The mystic force on their hands soon surrounded the platform and condensed into an imaginary mirror.

　　When they stopped casting, the clouds started to fade and the mirror showed what happened on the mountain.

　　“Wow, it’s so clear!”

　　“What spell is this? It’s so powerful!”

　　“Unexpected, right? They use mystic forces to project the scene on the mountain here.”

　　The disciples, especially the newbies, were in awe. So mystic force could be used in such ways too!

　　“Start,” Fu Shangqing instructed an elder.

　　The elder went down the platform and headed towards the entrance. He raised his sleeves; mystic light enshrouded the mirror and it turned into an entrance. “Enter.”

　　As soon as he said that, the disciples at the front rushed into the mountain.

　　“Let’s go!” Gao Xiang pulled Lu Mingshu towards the entrance.

　　Mist filled the White Magnificent Peak, as they entered. More than two hundred disciples disappeared in the mist shortly after they entered.

　　“Left, or right?” Gao Xiang stood in front of two small alleys, contemplating. At last, he took out a coin and flipped it. “Left side, that’s it!”

　　After two steps, all that was left was silence. Gao Xiang turned back just to realize there was no one behind him. For a moment, he was dumbfounded. He scratched his head. “What master said was right. Even for joining forces, you need luck. I can’t believe I lost her so fast! But it’s okay, I will just continue moving forward.” The road in front was still quite easy.

　　The key to the Heavenly Door competition were the three meeting points. Even though there were a lot of trails on the White Magnificent Peak, they would all still lead to the three meeting points.

　　Thus, the meeting points were the place to block someone’s journey or join forces.

　　The meetings points were situated at the lower door, the middle door, and the high door. Once the disciple got past the high door, it would open a path that leads to the heavenly door.

　　Beasts and traps were placed all around the trails to eliminate the weaker disciples.

　　At that moment, Lu Mingshu had also arrived at a fork.

　　After entering the mist, Gao Xiang could not be seen anywhere. That was all because of the thick mist, traps and her intention.

　　As Gao Xiang was skilled and well prepared, she would have only brought him trouble if she followed suit — he would be safer on his own. Thus, Lu Mingshu lost him on purpose.

　　Fishing out her compass, she looked at it for a while and then chose one of the trails.

　　It was impossible not to get lost as the mist was so thick; however, until then, the chances of not finding the way out were close to none. All the trails lead to the final destinations — they only differed in the amount of time required to reach the endpoint.

　　Lu Mingshu walked slowly as there are many crossings on the way.

　　The road to the heavenly door started easy, but the intensity increased as the disciples advanced. From the foot of the mountain to the lower door, there were so many trails that it was almost impossible to bump into anybody, and there were not many beasts on the way — the main test was to deal with the traps.

　　After observing for a moment, Lu Mingshu got the hang of it.

　　The standard of the traps here was average, as Nine Jade Palace did not have many high-standard traps. However, the traps still possessed difficulty to them. For example, some used mystic force to thicken the mist and confuse the disciple’s five senses — similar to the illusion formation she had learned.

　　Lu Mingshu smiled after she looked at her compass.

　　Surprisingly, the traps didn’t affect the magnetic force of the place. After entering White Magnificent Peak, the compass on her hand remained accurate. Does it mean that with my compass, I won’t be confused by the trap? That is no different from cheating!

　　But who wouldn’t make use of the advantage given? Lu Mingshu was not stupid either — with her compass, regardless of how confusing the trails was, she could still find her way to the north.

　　The beasts she met on the way were mostly used to test her stamina and for body tempering. She could easily settle any such encounters. Until now, she had only met one beast that was in the Harmonization Realm, so it was not difficult for her to advance.

　　After killing that Harmonization Realm flaming red beast, Lu Ming Shu rested for a while to recover her mystic force.

　　Suddenly, she opened her eyes in shock. “Who’s there? Come out!”

　　A disciple appeared from behind the tree with a smile on his face. He looked like he was around twenty. ” I’m so sorry, senior. I just happened to pass by and I did not intend to spy on you.”

　　Although he was older than her, he addressed her as a senior. It was obvious that he was trying to boot-lick her.

　　Lu Mingshu could feel that the mystic force on him was complicated — one hundred and eight closed apertures. He had only unlocked the main closed aperture and he had minimal mystic force.

　　After eyeing him for a while, she closed her eyes again and continued recovering her mystic force.

　　However, instead of leaving, the disciple walked towards her and asked,” How should I address you, senior? My surname is Liang, and my name is Zongping.”