While Zhou Xinqi was staring in dismay, a piercing wind could once again be heard from behind her. With large strides, Elder Zhou approached with a smile on his face and even nodded to her while pa.s.sing by.

Despite that smile, however, only horrifying words left his mouth.

“Bai Xiaochun, this Elder has changed his mind again. After catching you, I will first starve you for a month and then lock you up with a bunch of phoenixes and monstrous beasts!”

Zhou Xinqi was flabbergasted, but realisation hit her as a blood-curdling scream arrived from Bai Xiaochun’s direction.

“Uncle Li, save me! Senior Brother Sect Head, save me! Teacher, save me. I don’t want to starve, I don’t want to be locked up with the phoenixes and monstrous beasts…” Bai Xiaochun was trembling, his fear had reached its peak. His mind was filled with the image painted by Elder Zhou’s words. The more he thought about it, the more he trembled. His speed accelerated once again amidst his blood-curdling screams, and with a bang, a blink of an eye pa.s.sed, and only an afterimage was left of his silhouette.

Ahead of Bai Xiaochun, Lu Tianlei’s speeding figure seemed like a bolt of lightning. At the beginning, the trial was fairly easy, but it gradually got more and more challenging. The zone he was currently in was filled with wind blades. These wind blades were all extremely sharp, and if one moved quickly, they would attract the wind blades like a magnet.

He had tested that out personally. He threw a puppet only for it to be cut to pieces in an instant by the various wind blades due to its fast speed. That scene caused him to pale and he found himself forced to slow down. After a long while, he finally managed to balance his speed and maintain it as he proceeded forward.

He could no longer see Shangguan Tianyou’s figure in front of him. That Shangguan Tianyou had exceptional resources, and when he walked past this region, it had actually turned into void. Shangguan Tianyou had shuffled past this region without attracting the attention of any of the wind blades. This caused Lu Tianlei, whose abilities were originally not that much weaker than Shangguan Tianyou’s, to harbour hatred for him in the depths of his heart.

“Isn’t it just because of his technique of the void? What is so impressive about him without it? Just wait until I pa.s.s this area, the first place… will definitely be mine!” Lu Tianlei heaved a deep breath. He no longer placed even Zhou Xinqi in his eyes, believing that the only person who could contend for the first place with him was Shangguan Tianyou.

However, before he could even exhale, while carefully traversing this zone filled with wind blades and preparing himself charge forward after it, a sudden a gust appeared behind him in an instant.

This roar of the wind was too strong, causing all the wind blades to tremble. Lu Tianlei’s mind shuddered when he noticed it, only to be pleasantly surprised immediately after.

“Haha, that Zhou Xinqi must have caught up. That foolish girl, the faster the speed you enter this place with, the more wind blades one would attract to themselves and I can also use this opportunity to sprint out!” Lu Tianlei quickly turned his head around. He saw a small figure sprinting behind him that quickly entered the zone. That figure had actually burst through a 30% of the zone, leaving less than a thousand zhang between that figure and Lu Tianlei.

Due to its fast speed, the surrounding wind blades cl.u.s.tered together in the blink of an eye and whistled straight at the figure. There were countless of wind blades. Within a radius of thousands of zhang, all wind blades swarmed together, practically forming a hurricane in but an instant.

“It’s not Zhou Xinqi? This speed is too fast, but they are similarly a fool courting death!” Lu Tianlei noticed that it was Bai Xiaochun, causing him to be shocked and making him suck in a deep breath, but shortly after, he chuckled.

“One has to cultivate with their head!” Lu Tianlei laughed loudly when he saw most of the wind blades zoom in on Bai Xiaochun. The lightning inside Lu Tianlei’s body spread out, and his speed suddenly exploded as he headed straight for the exit in front of him.

However, just as he increased his speed, a monstrous roar sounded from behind him along with Bai Xiaochun’s screams. Bai Xiaochun didn’t pause even for a second as he accelerated faster and faster and collided with the wind blades.

The amount of wind blades surrounding him were already too many to count, but when they met Bai Xiaochun, the silver light around his whole body flashed, and all those wind blades that had frightened Lu Tianlei immediately shattered to pieces.

After the countless wind blades shattered, they quickly reformed again. A loud sound reverberated as Bai Xiaochun’s body whooshed past Lu Tianlei’s side in the blink of an eye.

The reformed wind blades behind him quickly chased and attacked him as if unwilling to admit defeat.

Lu Tianlei froze for a moment as he stared, his eyes felt as if they would pop out of their sockets. His scalp numbed and his mind was in a daze.

“Impossible!” He was shocked. He had personally witnessed the innumerable wind blades chasing after Bai Xiaochun, but they had actually… not caught up with him. In the blink of an eye, Bai Xiaochun had already dashed out of the zone filled with the wind blades.

The wind blades couldn’t chase after Bai Xiaochun outside and raged on the boundary when they suddenly seemed to notice Lu Tianlei…

“No… No!” Lu Tianlei’s heart thumped loudly. Even if he wanted to decrease his speed and his lightning-like figure immediately halted, those wind blades that were left behind by Bai Xiaochun would still throw themselves at Lu Tianlei.

Soon, a horrified scream rang out.

Bai Xiaochun could vaguely hear this scream as he ran ahead. He was very surprised, but had no time to even turn his head around as Elder Zhou’s furious howls seemed to be right behind him. Bai Xiaochun had a sullen look as he bitterly clenched his teeth and once again focused on running.

Fortunately, Elder Zhou pa.s.sed through the wind blade zone while in pursuit of Bai Xiaochun. He rescued Lu Tianlei who was left in an extremely miserable state after being encircled by the countless wind blades and had had his clothes torn to shreds. If he hadn’t been rescued, Lu Tianlei would have likely been forced to give up on the trial.

“Bai Xiaochun!” Lu Tianlei’s eyes were red. He had recognised Bai Xiaochun and bellowed out.

Bai Xiaochun was completely unaware that he had caused a person to hate him down to the bone and continued running with lightning speed, pa.s.sing one deserted zone after the other. Half an incense stick worth of time pa.s.sed before the end of the bridge finally appeared in the distance.

“I am finally about to escape!” Bai Xiaochun was getting excited as he didn’t even notice the figure near the bridge’s end. That figure was struggling forward step by step.

Shangguan Tianyou was breathing heavily. The whole way up to the last zone had been very easy for him. Only now did he experience difficulties.

“This zone is actually suppressing my spiritual energy!” There was a fierce look in his eyes. Spiritual energy was shackled in this area and an immense pressure weighed down upon him as if he was carrying a mountain on his back. What was even more shocking was that with every step he took, it was as if an additional mountain was placed on his body. It seemed like a walk through a mere hundred steps, yet the difficulty made his whole body shudder as he was quickly reaching his limit.

The pressure increased as the mountains that weighed down on him increased even more, especially near the end. Currently, he seemed to be only eleven steps away from the exit, but he knew that the difficulty of these eleven steps was something that had surpa.s.sed everything that he had previously experienced in his life.

Shangguan Tianyou took a deep breath as a firm look surfaced in his eyes.

“The first place in the qualification battle originally already belongs to me. My goal lies within the Heaven’s Chosen War between the South and the North Bank. I will step into the inner sect with the status of the first in the Heaven’s Chosen War, and years later, I will step into the Spirit River Sect’s Legacy Order!” Shangguan Tianyou gritted his teeth and prepared to take a step forward when he suddenly sensed something. He turned his head around and took a glance behind him, immediately spotting Bai Xiaochun.

“It is him…” There was almost no one who did not recognise Bai Xiaochun in the South Bank. Even if they had not seen him before, they had attended his funeral and seen his portrait. Shangguan Tianyou was slightly astonished because he originally a.s.sumed that it was only natural that the person behind him would be Lu Tianlei.

“It seems like my expectations for Lu Tianlei might have been too high. He too is trash.” Shangguan Tianyou retracted his gaze. He was only slightly surprised and decided to disregard Bai Xiaochun. In his heart, Bai Xiaochun and him were not people of the same level. After taking another step forward, Shangguan Tianyou’s whole body shuddered. He clenched his teeth as all the bones in his body creaked.

Almost in the same moment when Shangguan Tianyou took this step, Bai Xiaochun entered the zone. He didn’t really feel anything when he took the first, second, third, fourth…

Only after he had taken the fiftieth step in a row did his body pause all of a sudden. He raised his head in surprise and glanced towards the sky.

“What is going on? I feel as though my body is slightly heavier.”

In this exact moment, Shangguan Tianyou’s body trembled. His foot finally landed, and he stood firmly on the ninetieth step. His whole being seemed to be on the verge of collapse as he gasped for breath, but satisfaction rose on his face. When he turned his head around and took a glance, he immediately noticed that Bai Xiaochun was already at his fiftieth step.

His eyes suddenly locked on Bai Xiaochun.

“He… How can he be this fast!” Shangguan Tianyou’s eyes revealed shock, but afterwards, he just gritted his teeth.

“It must be the body-cultivation technique allowing him to be slightly faster in the beginning. However, the further he progresses, the more difficult it will be. He…” Before Shangguan Tianyou could finish his thoughts, his whole body shuddered as he stared blankly at Bai Xiaochun. He watched Bai Xiaochun who was actually running toward him with lightning speed.

“Running… He… He’s running?” Shangguan Tianyou’s eyes widened as he stared dumbfounded at Bai Xiaochun who was rapidly approaching. Very soon, Bai Xiaochun stopped in front of him.

“Hey, why are you walking so slow?” Bai Xiaochun asked. He turned his head to look behind him, then he discovered that Elder Zhou hadn’t caught up to him yet. He relaxed and asked curiously.

“You… don’t you feel as though there are mountains weighing down on your body?” Shangguan Tianyou’s eyes blinked quickly and blurted out a question in confusion.

“Mountains? Eh, there’s a few but they are not much of a problem.” Bai Xiaochun paused for a moment and even hopped a few times. When Shangguan Tianyou saw this, his eyes opened wide as he took a deep breath, his face clearly expressing his disbelief.

Bai Xiaochun intended to continue jumping when he suddenly saw Elder Zhou’s figure approaching in the distance. Another scream left his mouth and his body quickly dashed ahead, moving across the last ten steps in a flash as he darted out of the ancient bridge… In the moment that he did, his speed skyrocketed, and in the blink of an eye, only an afterimage remained.

In the split second that Bai Xiaochun disappeared, Elder Zhou’s footsteps paused in shock and he laughed bitterly.

“This Bai Xiaochun, he… actually got the first place?”

At the same time, Zheng Yuandong, Li Qinghou and the others who were on the high platform had all stood up as well. Each and everyone of them had a strange expression on their faces. The Elders and the rest around them too were astonished even though they were somewhat mentally prepared when Bai Xiaochun surpa.s.sed Zhou Xinqi and Lu Tianlei. Having seen him take the first place with their own eyes, their minds were still shocked. Especially since Bai Xiaochun had actually pa.s.sed the last zone with such ease...

“He placed… first?” Li Qinghou murmured.

Soon after, those observing disciples standing on higher grounds nearby also noticed this scene and an uproar shook from the mountain valley.

“Bai Xiaochun… He surpa.s.sed Zhou Xinqi, Lu Tianlei, Shangguan Tianyou. He placed first!”

“Heavens, this Bai Xiaochun could actually compete to be first!”

“Elder Zhou played an extremely important role in Bai Xiaochun being able to get the first place though. If anyone else was chased in such a blood-chilling manner, I expect that they too would also be able to unleash such death-defying strength!”

Shangguan Tianyou’s face paled all of a sudden as a buzzing sound appeared in his mind. Everything before him turned black, and he felt as if he was struck by lightning.

Staring at the back of Bai Xiaochun’s figure as he crossed the stone bridge right in front of him, Shangguan Tianyou’s body started to tremble violently.

“Bai Xiaochun!” Shangguan Tianyou’s eyes were completely red. His pride, his ego, his everything felt like it had just been stepped on by Bai Xiaochun’s foot in this moment. Especially when he recalled how he had actually been asked by Bai Xiaochun why was he walking so slow just moments ago.

Shangguan Tianyou’s blood surged into his brain and sword Qi suddenly exploded out of his body. He recklessly walked forward with quick steps and blood sprayed out of his mouth after the tenth step.

“Bai Xiaochun, I, Shangguan Tianyou have never lost before. This time… I refuse to accept this. I will let you know in the Heaven’s Chosen War that from all of the outer sect disciples, there is no one that can… win against me!” He gritted his teeth as he stubbornly glared in the direction Bai Xiaochun disappeared in. Bloodl.u.s.t flickered in his eyes.

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ED Note (Arch): My laptop has just been repaired and I was unable to edit anything the past two days. Sorry!

Edited by: Crimsonguard, Arch
Translated by XianXiaWorld