Longevity starts from having a daughter in old age

“The Tianhe Sect indeed has a Heart Refining Formation!”

Facing the hellish scene before him, Xu Mu felt excitement instead of fear.

He had always wanted to set up a Heart Refining Formation in the White River marketplace to temper his children’s mental fortitude, but such formations were top secret to any sect, and so, his wish had never been fulfilled.

Seeing hope now naturally delighted him.

“Looks like I now have another reason to join the Tianhe Sect.”

Xu Mu thought to himself.

He stomped forcefully on the skeletal remains beneath his feet. Crack! The bones shattered, rotting into mud, while a faint chill enveloped him. The sky was covered in blood-red clouds, confusing reality and illusion.

“This Heart Refining Formation is indeed extraordinary!”

Xu Mu, who could find no flaws upon looking around, couldn’t help but admire inwardly.

He left his original position, starting to wander around, wanting to see if it was a simple illusion.

As a result, after walking a circle within a hundred-meter radius, he was still in a world filled with mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

“Looks likely my soul has been drawn in, unable to connect with my physical body!”

If his body was real, then wandering that far should have caused him to tumble off the steps. After all, the steps were only ten meters long, and three inches wide, and couldn’t possibly accommodate his movements.

Just as Xu Mu was about to explore the space further, low growls came. The decaying bones on the ground rattled to their feet.

Some skeletons wore rust-streaked armor, others were in tattered Taoist robes, as though dead for centuries, reeking of decay.

Faced with such a horrifying sight, Xu Mu didn’t have a significant reaction.

After all, he was someone who had seen grand spectacles and wouldn’t be scared by this small spectacle. More than that, these skeletons, though terrifying to look at, didn’t carry any sense of danger.

What puzzled Xu Mu was why these creatures didn’t revive as soon as he arrived, and chose to do so now.

“Could it be that the difficulty level of this space increases over time?”

Xu Mu’s eyes brightened, finding the situation increasingly interesting.

Before the skeletons could attack, Xu Mu took a step forward and lashed out with his leg.

Although his clone had no cultivation base whatsoever, it was grown directly from his gourd and naturally possessed a superior physique. His kick carried at least two to three hundred pounds of force, capable of kicking an adult flying. Crack!

As expected, a skeleton was kicked into dust, just like if it were made out of mud.

Groan!

Xu Mu’s action seemed to be a signal or an offense to them, as a group of skeletons roared and rushed towards him.

“Weak! Too weak! I alone can take on a hundred!”

Crack! Crack!

Without exerting much effort, resurrected skeletons fell in swathes, even more fragile than Lin Daiyu.

However, these skeletons seemed endless. Despite how fast Xu Mu could kill them, they kept flooding in like a tide, and with time, their bodies significantly strengthened.

Where one kick could have initially crushed them to dust, it now only managed to scatter their bones.

This then extended to two kicks, three kicks, four kicks!

It was over!

With two skeletons grabbing him tightly, Xu Mu realized he was in danger. The next moment, an inexhaustible army of skeletons completely buried him.

This time, in order to avoid detection by the Tianhe Sect, he didn’t carry any life-saving measures. Of course, even if he did, he might not be able to use them in this Heart Refining Formation.

In the end, despite his struggles, he was overwhelmed by the skeletons and lost his ability to resist.

However, he wasn’t worried about his safety.

This was a Heart Refining Formation, not a death trap formation. Even if he was torn apart by these skeletons, he would only face minor mental harm.

As he expected, as his body was torn apart, he woke up in reality.

Xu Mu opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by a group of Tianhe Sect elders. Their gazes were peculiar, which made Xu Mu somewhat uncomfortable.

Could it be they thought his clone was too handsome, and had ill intentions?

“Such a pity! It’s truly a pity!”

The elders shook their heads and sighed, making Xu Mu realize he had overthought things.

“Elders, what do you mean? And why am I here?”

Xu Mu asked, rising with confusion.

By rights, even if he failed the trial, he should still be at the trial site. Looking around now, he was clearly in a closed room.

He couldn’t resist contracting his muscles, relieved to find no pain.

Elders, unaware of his thoughts, didn’t hide anything and said, “You fainted during the trial. We brought you here to let Master Yin of the Medicine Hall examine you and figure out what happened.”

“Huh?”

Xu Mu was taken aback, different theories racing in his mind.

From his words, he analyzed three key facts. One, he was currently in the Medicine Hall of the Tianhe Sect. Two, he fainted during the trial. Three, his fainting incident was unusual, or else they wouldn’t have brought him to the Medicine Hall and surrounded him with so many elders.

“May I ask the elders, was I the only one who fainted?”

“Indeed!”

Xu Mu faintly guessed the reason but acted clueless on the surface.

“Could there be an issue with my body?”