Chapter 21: Enlightenment and Cutting the Shackles
Across the valley, strong winds swept through, and yellow sand filled the sky.

Fang Wei was immersed in the grief of his lover's death and ignored the demon squad that was roaring towards him.

"Junior Brother Fang, wake up quickly, the demon is coming to kill us!" Hua Tiandu reminded.

Unfortunately, Fang Wei acted as if he didn't hear anything. He just held Song Fangfei's body in his arms and cried silently.

In desperation, Hua Tiandu could only fight alone.

"kill!"

The magic sword in his hand turned into a magic dragon, and he used the Moon-Yan sword technique to kill the demons in all directions.

Facing the mental attacks from many demons, Hua Tiandu used all his strength to stimulate his spirit, allowing it to cover his entire body and resist all evil thoughts.

The close coordination between Minglun's spiritual technique and Yanyue's sword technique greatly increases the lethality.

In just a moment, Hua Tiandu killed all the attacking demons one after another.

The remaining spirits and wills of dozens of demons were all absorbed by the Moon on the Sea in the Tianmen acupoint and turned into nutrients.

After the battle, he sheathed his magic sword and slowly walked to stand beside Fang Wei.

Hua Tiandu looked at the body of Junior Sister Song and the grief-stricken Junior Brother Fang, and scenes from the past flashed through his mind.

The three met during the outer sect disciple assessment... went to the underground abyss to train together... each of them divided the work and fought many underground monsters... they talked and laughed during the dinner together, imagining the future...

Unfortunately, at this moment, one person has already passed away forever, falling in this cruel trial field.

Hua Tiandu looked at Song Fangfei's body and couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "Life is so fragile, and fate is so unpredictable..."

Then, he looked at the absent-minded Fang Wei, and recalled the opponent's poor performance when the demon attacked just now, and he was immediately disappointed.

"She's just a woman, but she doesn't even care about her life!"

"With such a mentality, how can one cultivate immortality? How can one achieve enlightenment?"

After this series of changes, Hua Tian realized two facts.

On the path of cultivation, not everyone will accompany him to the end.

Moreover, not everyone is suitable for practicing Buddhism.

If you want to achieve great success in spiritual practice, great wisdom, great perseverance, great luck and great opportunity are all indispensable.

The two examples before us are just like this. Song Fangfei simply has bad luck, while Fang Wei lacks great wisdom and is unable to cut off the emotional ties with the sword of wisdom, which hinders his practice.

Standing in the valley, Hua Tiandu looked at Fang Wei, who looked lonely and depressed, and said to him, "Junior brother, please accept my condolences."

After a period of buffering, Fang Wei finally recovered a little. He whispered: "Brother, you don't need to say more, I understand in my heart."

Then, he said something else, "The inner sect assessment takes ten days, and seven days have passed. For the next three days, I hope you can help me so that Fangfei and I can return to our homeland safely."

Hearing his words showing his complete loss of fighting spirit, Hua Tian felt extremely disappointed.

He turned around and cut off all the emotions of regret, pity, etc. in his heart one by one, returning his mood to his previous peaceful state.

"Even if you don't mention it, I will do it for the sake of our past friendship."

"But I won't give up my training just because of this."

Hua Tiandu turned slightly to look at Junior Brother Fang who was somewhat stunned, and instructed: "Hold Junior Sister Song's body and follow behind me. When the demon attacks, I will protect you."

After saying that, he took a step forward and walked along the mountain path.

Just as Hua Tiandu cut off all emotions and strengthened his determination to practice, a series of changes occurred in his Tianmen acupoint.

I saw the bright moon in my mind vibrating rapidly, and the speed at which it absorbed the water from the sea below suddenly increased countless times.

This strange scene made Hua Tian feel very happy.

"Is this what the Taoist books call 'breaking the shackles'?"

"At this rate, in five days, my Minglun Spiritual Technique will be able to reach the state of great perfection, and the secret realm of magical powers will be just around the corner."

Behind, Fang Wei held his lover's body, stood up, and followed silently.

It was from this moment that an invisible barrier seemed to appear between the two of them.

Standing on the wasteland and walking through the wind and sand, Hua Tiandu was paying attention to the movements around him while thinking about the future.

Combining everything he had experienced, he had a vague intuition: Fang Wei was the founder of the Longyuan Fang family, and the ancestor of Fang Qingxue!
He lost his beloved in this trial, which caused a mental flaw. He might never be able to advance to the realm of magical powers in his lifetime.

Perhaps, this was the biggest reason why he chose to return to the secular world in the future.

A few decades later, he would help the princes rise up, overthrow Dayuan, establish the Dali Dynasty, establish the Fang family in Longyuan, and serve as the governor of Fang.

In more than a hundred years, Fang Qingxue will be born in the Fang family, and at that time, Fang Han will also appear.

This also means that it will take about two hundred years before Fang Han appears.

Thinking of the series of fateful trajectories in the future, Hua Tiandu instantly came up with a series of plans in his mind.

He wanted to take advantage of his familiarity with the plot and make some plans to gain an advantage for himself.

"Perhaps, I can make some attempts. Fang Han is definitely the enemy, but others may not be."

"How can you know the result if you don't try? If you succeed, you will definitely gain a lot!"

Fang Wei, who was following behind, was still immersed in sorrow, unaware that his senior brother was plotting against him.

In the next three days, Hua Tiandu fought a fierce battle with the demons scattered everywhere.

While destroying various demon teams, he also rescued seven disciples of Yuhua Sect, which earned him some reputation.

The inner gate assessment was over, and a huge stone gate appeared on the distant horizon.

Upon seeing this, the twenty or so surviving disciples cheered loudly, because it meant that they had passed the assessment, and after they got out, they would be promoted to inner disciples, enjoy more sect benefits, and have the hope of gaining supernatural powers in the future.

More than twenty outer disciples gathered at the stone gate, and Hua Tiandu was no exception.

The seven disciples he rescued surrounded him, expressing their gratitude and support.

Fang Wei was on the periphery of the crowd, with his head lowered. No one could see his expression clearly, and of course, no one cared.

The group passed through the ancient stone gate and, led by the deacon elder, went to the Inner Immortal Courtyard.

On a square in the Inner Immortal Academy, four elders who served as examiners awarded the standard items for inner disciples to the disciples who passed the assessment.

Soon, it was Hua Tiandu's turn.

He took over a top-grade magic sword and a series of magic talismans from the elder, including the divine travel talisman, the Vajra talisman, the diving talisman, etc., as well as a stack of paper cranes for delivering messages, all of which were items of great help to spiritual practice and life.

In addition, there is a bottle of elixir, a water and fire Taoist robe and a jade token.

After becoming an inner sect disciple, one needs to move to the inner fairy courtyard to live, and this jade token is the "key" for the inner sect disciples to enter and exit the residence.

(End of this chapter)