Chapter 156 – Walker Trial Third Stage: Walking with a True Shanhai Walker

“You completed the second trial in just three days—half a day faster than Jiang Dongliu of the Qingzhou Shanhai Division did back in the day.”

Lu Chen had just removed his holographic helmet when he heard the words spoken by the examiner, Xu Yangyang, beside him.

“How did he clear it back then?”

Xu Yangyang thought for a moment and said, “Back then, as soon as he entered the apartment, he found the Old Cultivator. After spending two days gaining his trust, he obtained an Elixir to recover from his injuries.”

“Then he spent a day identifying the Black Lotus Cultist and another half-day teaming up with the Old Cultivator to eliminate him.”

Hearing this, Lu Chen roughly understood Jiang Dongliu’s clearing process.

And this method was likely the most orthodox way to clear the trial.

Although Lu Chen had taken three days to clear it, it was mainly because he had spent two extra days preparing for the sake of caution.

If he had wanted to, he could have gone straight to the 15th floor to confront the Black Lotus Cultist on the first day, after recovering some of his cultivation.

But taking risks wasn’t in Lu Chen’s nature. He preferred to act only after making thorough preparations, even in a simulated trial like this.

Seeing that the others were still undergoing their trials, Lu Chen decided to chat with Xu Yangyang.

“Can you tell me about the third trial? I heard the Agent Examination has only three trials, and passing all three grants a probationary Agent license.”

It seemed Xu Yangyang had high expectations for Lu Chen and was confident he would pass the examination.

So, without any hesitation, she directly explained the third trial to him.

“Yes, the process of the Agent Examination is pretty much as you described. You just need to complete three trials.”

“Generally, the first trial tests the examinee’s physical strength and willpower, the second trial tests their Heart-Nature, and the third trial tests their strength.”

“During this process, the first two trials’ content hardly ever changes. Only the third trial occasionally differs.”

“Oh?”

Hearing this, Lu Chen immediately grew interested.

“How so?”

“Generally, there are many ways to test an examinee’s strength. Some involve having examinees fight each other, some require hunting Demons, and others involve direct battles with our Bureau’s official Mountain and Sea Walkers.”

“I’m not sure about the specifics of this examination. It depends on how the Scripture Master presiding over it sees it, but I have a feeling it’ll be the third option this time.”

“Why?”

“Because, based on the information I’ve gathered, whenever exceptionally talented Geniuses appear among the examinees, the Scripture Masters always want to see more of their abilities.”

“In that case, neither pitting examinees against each other nor having them fight Demons in actual combat would be a good choice.”

“The former could easily lead to mismatches in strength, while the latter carries certain safety risks, which is quite troublesome.”

“I see.”

With this, Lu Chen had a rough idea of what to expect from the third trial.It’s likely that a few Mountain and Sea Walkers from the Linjiang Shanhai Bureau would serve as examiners, engaging in actual combat with the trial participants.

As long as one could defeat them or meet certain conditions, they would pass the assessment.

As for whether he could pass the assessment, Lu Chen wasn’t worried at all.

After all, not to mention ordinary Mountain and Sea Walkers, even a Scripture Master at the Golden Core Stage—

Lu Chen was fairly confident he could defeat them in a one-on-one situation.

Even if the opponent had the blessing of a Classic of Mountains and Seas Mythical Beast’s fate.

Before bringing Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye to the Linjiang Shanhai Bureau, Yu Tianqi had already explained most of the details about the Shanhai Bureau to them.

This naturally included the relationship between the Classic of Mountains and Seas Mythical Beasts and the Mountain and Sea Walkers within the Shanhai Bureau.

Fate—this was the greatest assistance a Classic of Mountains and Seas Mythical Beast could provide to a Mountain and Sea Walker.

The more powerful the Classic of Mountains and Seas Mythical Beast, the stronger its fate.

Helping Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye obtain a Classic of Mountains and Seas Mythical Beast, and then using the Qingzhou Shanhai Division’s Dragon Transformation Pool to assist Mu Xiaoye in her Foundation Establishment Stage breakthrough—

This was the main purpose of Yu Tianqi bringing them to the Qingzhou Shanhai Division this time.

As for what kind of mythical beast he could obtain from the Qingzhou Shanhai Division, Lu Chen was quite curious.

After all, he was also planning to see if he could bring a real-world Classic of Mountains and Seas Mythical Beast into the game through his special talent, the Fairy Lotus Womb.

Not long after Lu Chen completed the second trial, Mu Xiaoye also finished her trial quickly.

Judging by the time, it seemed she had resolved the Black Lotus Cultists in the trial in just four days.

“Little Lu, how did you finish so quickly?”

Hearing Mu Xiaoye’s question, Lu Chen, who was resting under a tree, casually replied, “It wasn’t particularly difficult to begin with, so I finished early.”

Mu Xiaoye nodded, taking it for granted. “True, this trial really wasn’t challenging at all. Too easy.”

Lu Chen asked curiously, “How did you clear it?”

After thinking for a moment, Mu Xiaoye said, “Nothing much, really. As soon as I entered, the landlady auntie told me there were all sorts of people in the apartment and to be careful.”

“After that, when I went out to buy snacks, I met an old grandpa. I could tell at a glance that he was a cultivator, so I directly asked him if he had any healing elixirs, promising to pay him back when I had the money.”

“The old grandpa was really nice; he didn’t ask for money and just gave it to me.”

“Later, when I felt mostly recovered, I went to the 14th and 15th floors of the apartment. On the 14th floor, I met a ghost sister who warned me not to go near the middle room on the 15th floor, saying it was unsafe.”

“But you know me—I’m a bit too curious. As soon as I heard that, I immediately went to the 15th floor and ran into that old woman who was raising Blood Corpses.”

“In the end, I barely had to do anything. The old grandpa and the ghost sister from the 14th floor showed up and helped me take care of her, and then I was out.”

Hearing this, Lu Chen didn’t know what to say.

Because he could tell that Mu Xiaoye hadn’t really made a deliberate effort to clear the trial.

Yet, it was as if she had a natural intuition or was blessed by fate.

She always managed to meet the right people at the right time.

Even without intentionally doing much, she effortlessly gathered all the necessary conditions to clear every stage.While it’s often said that those who rely on luck won’t get far, Mu Xiaoye had always been exceptionally fortunate since childhood. She had made it this far on luck alone, so going a little further in the future probably wouldn’t be too difficult for her. If luck had ranks, Mu Xiaoye’s would undoubtedly be top-tier.

After Mu Xiaoye cleared the trial, many others successively removed their helmets. Most of these later participants, however, had failed the assessment after being killed by Black Lotus Cultists during the trial. Out of the initial hundred trial-takers, only seven ultimately succeeded.

The rest either mistakenly identified the female ghost on the fourteenth floor as an enemy or failed to recognize the disguised Black Lotus Cultists, leaving them unprepared and eliminated by the cultists’ preemptive strikes. It could be said that the vast majority of trial-takers weren’t lacking in the strength to defeat the Black Lotus Cultists—they lost primarily due to inexperience.

Yet, this was precisely the crux of the second trial. After all, Shanhai Bureau Agents most frequently dealt with cunning and treacherous Demonic Path Cultivators. Against such foes, cultivation level alone was far from sufficient. In reality, anything could happen, and situations as perfectly fair as arena competitions rarely occurred. Striking when one’s opponent was vulnerable was the norm in the real world.

Excluding Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye, the remaining five who passed the assessment included three Dao Academy students. Two of them were even sophomores or juniors from the prestigious Shangqing Dao Academy in Qingzhou. Among these three, one had already reached the Entering Dao Realm—a seemingly ordinary-looking girl who was also the strongest of the five aside from Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye. She was the fastest to clear the trial, taking only four and a half days. Had it not been for Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye, she might have been the most powerful participant in this trial.

“Alright, congratulations to all seven of you for making it this far. You’re now just one step away from completing the Agent trial. Follow me,” Xu Yangyang said. Under her guidance, the group soon arrived at a clearing in the forest where three people were already waiting for them.

One was Yan Lei, the flamboyant-looking examiner from the first trial. The other two were elderly men: Yu Tianqi and Zhong Yaojun, one of the six Scripture Masters of the Linjiang Shanhai Bureau.

Upon seeing Yu Tianqi, Mu Xiaoye couldn’t resist waving at him. Yu Tianqi responded by awkwardly scratching his cheek and shooting her a stern look, silently urging her not to act familiar in such a setting to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. Catching his hint, Mu Xiaoye quickly lowered her hand and averted her gaze, pretending not to know him—a perfect display of “covering one’s ears while stealing a bell.”

Ahem, ahem. “Very well, I will now explain the rules of the next trial to you seven. Xiao Xu, come over here,” Zhong Yaojun said. At his words, Xu Yangyang nodded and joined the group.

Zhong Yaojun stepped forward, surveying the seven trial-takers before finally settling his gaze on Lu Chen, his expression brimming with curiosity.Lu Chen, however, showed little reaction to this.

Although he had already deduced the other party’s identity as the Scripture Master of the Linjiang Shanhai Bureau from the token at their waist, this trial was not a life-or-death battle, nor did he sense any malice from the other party.

He surmised that the other’s curiosity about him likely stemmed either from Yu Tianqi sharing details about his situation or from the Sword Intent he had displayed during the first trial, which had caught their attention.

In either case, it would have little impact on the trials that lay ahead, so he naturally remained unfazed.

After all, the other party was merely observing him briefly, with no ill intent.

After briefly observing Lu Chen, Zhong Yaojun began explaining the content of this final trial.

“First, let me congratulate all of you on passing the second trial. Reaching this stage indicates that your Physique and Heart-Nature already meet the standards required to become Mountain and Sea Walkers.”

“However, to truly become Mountain and Sea Walkers, possessing a decent Physique and Heart-Nature is not enough—you must also have sufficient strength.”

“Once you become true Mountain and Sea Walkers, you will inevitably confront the dark side of the Immortal Alliance. Those individuals are not only exceptionally powerful but also employ every conceivable means to achieve their goals.”

“I assume that during the second trial, you have already experienced the methods of those Demonic Path Cultivators.”

“Although I do not know whose memories you experienced, I must inform you that these memory fragments are special scenarios extracted by our Shanhai Bureau from the memories of deceased Agents.”

“In other words, what you just experienced were the most vivid fragments of a certain Agent’s final moments.”

“Perhaps you felt that the enemies encountered in the trial were too weak and assumed that the Agent who died at their hands must have been careless.”

“Let me be clear: that is indeed the case.”

“However, the reason you perceived that Demonic Path Cultivator as weak is because you knew in advance that it was a trial, allowing you to treat every situation in the trial with utmost seriousness.”

“In reality, Demonic Path villains will not give you such forewarning.”

“Over the thousands of years since the Shanhai Bureau was established, the vast majority of our Agents did not fall on the battlefield but perished due to the schemes of Demonic Path villains.”

“Many of them may have simply stepped out to buy a bottle of water or meet a friend when they were suddenly ambushed by Demonic Path Cultivators.”

“In such situations, how many of you can guarantee that you would emerge unscathed? How many can ensure that you would fully utilize your strength in a sudden crisis?”

Upon hearing Zhong Yaojun’s words, the candidates exchanged glances and shook their heads one after another.

After all, humans are not machines—no one can remain perpetually hyper-vigilant.

When caught off guard by a premeditated attack, they would be fortunate to exert even half of their full strength, let alone all of it.

At this point, everyone began to grasp the dangers inherent in the role of Mountain and Sea Walkers.

In a nutshell: the enemy operates in the shadows, while we are exposed in the light.

Admittedly, most Demonic Path Cultivators would never dare to attack Mountain and Sea Walkers in public, as doing so would expose them to the light of day and subject them to the Shanhai Bureau’s relentless pursuit.But this world is never short of those willing to take desperate risks.

While Mountain and Sea Walkers receive abundant resources from the Immortal Alliance, they naturally also face dangers that most within the Alliance would never encounter.

Seeing the contemplative expressions on everyone’s faces, Zhong Yaojun did not rush to interrupt their thoughts.

Instead, he let them carefully consider whether they truly wished to become Mountain and Sea Walkers.

After all, being a Mountain and Sea Walker represents not only honor and special power but also significant danger.

No one knows whether accident or tomorrow will come first.

And Mountain and Sea Walkers encounter far more accidents than others.

However, those who have made it this far generally have some psychological preparation for this.

Thus, after only brief consideration, their eyes grew resolute.

As for Lu Chen, he didn’t dwell on it too much.

After all, the real-world situation was far better than what he faced in the game.

In reality, whether it was the Black Lotus Sect or other Demonic Path Cultivators, they were all firmly suppressed by the Immortal Alliance, not daring to show themselves easily.

They only dared to engage in minor, covert actions.

But the Immortal Fiends in the game were different.

From what Lu Chen knew, many Immortal Fiends in the game had already infiltrated the Schools of the Central Province.

He himself wasn’t even sure who was an enemy and who was a friend.

Therefore, compared to the dangers he might face by joining the Shanhai Bureau,

Lu Chen was more concerned with the power he could gain through it.

As long as he was strong enough and sufficiently cautious,

then no matter what danger he encountered, Lu Chen would have the ability to handle it.

If he couldn’t handle it, then it wasn’t anyone else’s fault—it would only mean he was too weak.

Perhaps seeing that everyone had understood the pros and cons of becoming a Mountain and Sea Walker, Zhong Yaojun spoke up.

“Actually, the reason I’ve said all this is just to remind you that even in daily life, you must maintain a certain level of vigilance, and never become arrogant or complacent because of some achievements, thinking you’re invincible and can look down on others.”

As he spoke, Zhong Yaojun glanced toward Yan Lei beside him.

Seeing that look, Yan Lei knew perfectly well that Zhong Yaojun was deliberately admonishing him.

He immediately scratched the back of his head somewhat awkwardly.

Zhong Yaojun rolled his eyes at him, then turned back to the group.

“Alright, I won’t say more. After all, no matter how much I talk about some things, you might not take them to heart. But reality will teach you their importance—I just hope you can survive reality’s lessons.”

“Now, let me explain the content of this final Walker trial. Yan Lei, Yangyang.”

“Yes.”

Yan Lei and Xu Yangyang stepped forward, coming to stand before the seven candidates.

“The final trial is simple: as long as you can last five minutes in a one-on-one fight against either of them, you pass the assessment.”

“Yan Lei is a Body Cultivator, at the fifth layer of the Foundation Establishment Stage, contracted with the Mythical Beast Kuiniu of the ‘Nine Luminaries Destiny’.”

“Xu Yangyang is a Talisman Cultivator, at the sixth layer of the Foundation Establishment Stage, contracted with the Mythical Beast Botu of the ‘Ten Capitals Destiny’.”

“But don’t worry, neither of them will summon their Mythical Beasts during this assessment, so you’ll only be facing normal Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators.”

Hearing this, Zuo Qiuzi, the girl from the Supreme Purity Dao Palace among the seven, asked, “What if we win?”Zhong Yaojun glanced at her and said with a smile, “If you can win, then of course it counts as you passing the assessment.”

“However, even though you come from the Zuo family and are a third-year student at Shangqing Dao Academy, I still don’t think you can defeat either of them.”

“Even if they don’t release their Classic of Mountains and Seas Mythical Beasts.”

Hearing this, Zuo Qiuzi seemed somewhat unconvinced.

It appeared she felt Zhong Yaojun was underestimating her.

But Lu Chen knew Zhong Yaojun wasn’t joking.

Because Lu Chen could sense that whether it was the seemingly flamboyant Yan Lei or the intellectually calm Xu Yangyang,

they were both among the strongest Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators he had encountered.

Even if Lu Chen were to fight himself, without using his Sword Domain, defeating these two would be no easy task.

This was also why he had tried to stop Mu Xiaoye from sparring with Yan Lei earlier.

After all, the main reason Yan Lei had lost to them in the first stage’s long-distance run was largely due to the special Gravity Rings he was wearing.

Under equal conditions, Yan Lei faced much greater restrictions than him and Mu Xiaoye.

Without those restrictions, in a normal sparring match,

even with her Innate Divine Ability ‘Crimson Phoenix Calamity,’ Mu Xiaoye would find it difficult to defeat Yan Lei in a one-on-one fight.

After all, in the vast Immortal Alliance, he and Mu Xiaoye weren’t the only Geniuses.

Yan Lei and Xu Yangyang, who had become Mountain and Sea Walkers, were also hailed as Geniuses in their own era.

“Alright, which of you wants to challenge first?”

Hearing Zhong Yaojun’s words, Zuo Qiuzi immediately stepped forward.

“I’ll go first.”

“Fine, who do you want to challenge?”

Zuo Qiuzi’s gaze lingered on Yan Lei and Xu Yangyang for a moment before finally settling on Xu Yangyang.

“Her.”

Seeing that Zuo Qiuzi had chosen her, Xu Yangyang calmly nodded and stepped forward.

The surrounding crowd, seeing this, tactfully cleared a space for the two.

Lu Chen stood at a distance, his normal pupils gradually transforming into a lotus pattern.

From the time he began cultivating until now, he had only seen one Shanhai Bureau Agent fight seriously—Bailing from before.

Although he was quite familiar with Yu Tianqi, Lu Chen had yet to witness Yu Tianqi fight seriously.

Therefore, Lu Chen was very curious about the strength of Shanhai Bureau Agents.

This was a good opportunity to observe carefully.

(End of Chapter)