Yun Ruoyan’s group guessed that the two corpses had either been eaten by the mystic-eyed lions or dealt with by Pei Ziao’s group, so they didn’t think too much of it.

Without staying any longer, they ignored their exertion and hunger and left the valley. If they’d dallied until nightfall, they might have been trapped for another day.

Because Lin Qingxue was a little heavier than Zhuo Lin’er, Zhuo Yifeng was assigned to carry her on his back, whereas Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen would take turns carrying Zhuo Lin’er. When it was Yun Ruoyan’s turn, she was still utterly shocked by her unusually light body.

Yun Ruoyan had always thought that the reason Zhuo Yifeng seemed as if he could fly even while carrying Zhuo Lin’er was because of his exceptional physique, but this wasn’t the case.

Carrying Zhuo Lin’er felt like nothing more than carrying an empty sack on your back, and was wholly effortless!

There were fewer beast carcasses in the valley than there were yesterday, but no one wanted to dig out any more beast cores as they passed by the low-tier beasts’ bodies.

After all, they were rushing to meet a deadline, and they’d already gotten much better treasure, to the point that what was left behind didn’t seem like all that much.

By the afternoon, the group finally made its way out of the valley and found a small stream along which to set up camp.

These few days of ceaseless battling had left everyone tired and weary, but they were all buoyed by the treasure that they’d collected.

Of course, the one who’d gained the most was Yun Ruoyan, having finally broken through the restrictions placed on her by the poison and becoming a fourth-rank blademaster.

She believed that, having passed through this obstacle, and being furnished by the abundant spiritual energy in the pocket dimension, her subsequent cultivation would be far smoother.

They’d actually been in the territory for a whole week now, and it was time to turn back starting tomorrow. If they were able to avoid any battles, three days would be enough for them to find the exit.

Everyone felt that the ten-day expedition was far too short, and they’d gladly have stayed another ten days if they could. But given the rules of the trial, they had no other choice.

After making sure that Zhuo Lin’er and Lin Qingxue were settled in, Zhuo Yifeng took responsibility for hunting and cooking, whereas Lin Qingchen and Yun Ruoyan got water from the riverside to make soup.

They’d had roasted meat all week, and although Zhuo Yifeng’s roasting skills were incredible, they got tired of eating the same thing over and over again, and wanted to switch things up.

After filling up their canteens, the two of them looked at the cool, clear stream, suddenly feeling uncomfortable all over.

After fighting and running nonstop for the last few days, who knew how many layers of sweat and grime had settled on their body? Their clothes were full of stains, and they began to squirm as soon as they thought about their skin.

“Ruoyan,” Lin Qingchen looked at Yun Ruoyan as she stated earnestly, “I want to take a bath.”

Yun Ruoyan looked back at her and said, equally earnestly, “Me too!”

The two cousins shared a smile.

To get it over with quickly, they decided to take a bath at the same time, with no one standing guard. Afraid that Zhuo Yifeng would suddenly show up, the two girls went upstream a little.

After they’d found a quiet location, they immediately took off their dirty clothes and got into the water.

As Lin Qingchen helped wash Yun Ruoyan’s back, her hands touched the skin on her back. It was white and tender, as smooth and glossy as silk, and she couldn’t help but comment, “Ruoyan, you’re beautiful.”

Yun Ruoyan hesitated for a moment before she smiled bitterly. “Sister, you’re just consoling me, aren’t you?”

“No, no!” Lin Qingchen elaborated, “It’s true, your back and shoulders and neck are all so pretty. If only you didn’t have a birthmark on your face…!”

Yun Ruoyan’s appearance was all but ruined by her birthmark, but this hadn’t affected the rest of her development. Although she looked rather thin, even her breasts were slowly filling out.

Furthermore, because she had been focused on her training and diet, she’d done a remarkably thorough job on her originally undernourished body.

Yun Ruoyan patted Lin Qingchen’s hand and sighed, “Actually, this birthmark isn’t all bad.”

“Really? What’s good about it?” Lin Qingchen asked skeptically.

Yun Ruoyan lowered her head and looked at her reflection in the water. The scarring on the birthmark, red and puffy, had caused half her face to look somewhat distorted.

She looked at her ugly reflection and continued slowly, “It helped me see some people, some things, more clearly. It told me whom and what I should trust or give up on.”

“Sister Ruoyan, I don’t understand what you mean.” Lin Qingchen was still a little skeptical. Although she was intelligent, some things really had to be experienced before they could be understood.

“Don’t worry about it.” Yun Ruoyan rotated Lin Qingchen’s body around and helped her wash her back. “I hope you’ll never understand what I mean, that you and Qingxue will always be able to live without any worries, that the Lins will grow and flourish.”

While the two of them were talking, a shadow suddenly sneaked by the shore. Yun Ruoyan seemed to feel something, because she stopped scrubbing Lin Qingxue’s back.

“What’s the matter, Ruoyan?” Lin Qingxue had also detected Yun Ruoyan’s pause, and turned to ask why.

Yun Ruoyan continued scrubbing her back as she slowly put her mouth to Lin Qingchen’s ear. “There’s someone by the shore.”

Lin Qingchen nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Hold your breath with me.” Saying that, Yun Ruoyan suddenly shouted “Oh!” before pulling Lin Qingchen into the water, pretending to have slipped all of a sudden.

“Help, help!” They pretended to call out, and then the two of them splashed in the water before sinking in.

Dou Yue had been downstream collecting water for his party, and Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen were bathing upstream. Although they didn’t make much noise, Dou Yao’s hearing was excellent, and he could faintly hear something from upstream.

After turning a corner, the scene of two beautiful girls bathing was enough to give him a nosebleed that wouldn’t stop.

Two bodies, fair-skinned under the bright sun, adorned with beautiful black hair. Even from afar, he could almost smell the fragrant scent of female bodies.

Dou Yao plugged up his nose as he hid in the bushes, finding their clothes strewn about nearby. He planned on stealing them so that he’d be able to watch the two beauties run around naked, and if their cultivations were fortunately below his, then… there were bushes nearby to act as cover.

As he thought this, his body went towards Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingxue’s discarded clothes, but Yun Ruoyan managed to pick up on the faint rustling sound he made as he dove into the bushes.

I’ll dig out your eyeballs once I catch you, just you wait!

Dou Yao was just about to pick up the clothes when he heard the two beauties floundering in the water, screaming for help.

Dou Yao smirked: a most convenient excuse for entering the scene had just presented itself without any effort on his part, and he immediately stood up from the brush.

Suddenly, a beam of light flew by his scalp. Dou Yao felt the back of his neck go numb as the hair that he’d grown for seventeen long years fell from his head.

“Ahh!” He was so scared that he screamed loudly before turning tail and rushing away.

“Hmph, he ran away faster than a rabbit!” By the time Yun Ruoyan poked her head out of the water, there was no trace of Dou Yao left. She reclaimed the Feilai Blade, her revenge temporarily stalled.

“Sister Ruoyan, let’s go back ashore.” Lin Qingchen’s face was somewhat distorted; although females on the Chenyuan continent weren’t particularly conservative, it was still unnerving and frightening to be spied on while bathing.

As the two of them got on shore and put on their clothes, they walked back towards camp, coincidentally finding Zhuo Yifeng rushing back on the other side. In his hands were two wild ducks, freshly caught.

“I heard you guys scream for help just now! What happened?” He asked anxiously.

“Nothing.” Yun Ruoyan clasped her hands, her face stormy. “We saw a big rat and were about to catch it to dump in the stew, but he ran off. I’m so angry!”

“Ah?” Zhuo Yifeng was a little dazed, and he turned to Lin Qingchen questioningly.

“That’s right, a big rat.” Lin Qingchen’s face was equally sullen. She responded curtly before following at Yun Ruoyan’s back.

“Stewing rats?” Zhuo Yifeng looked back at the wild ducks in his hands.

Naturally, they didn’t have rat soup that night, but Zhuo Yifeng managed to supplement the ducks with two fish from the stream, along with duck eggs from the forest. The end result was a fragrant, fresh egg drop soup with fish, coupled with roasted duck.

Everyone had an incomparably satisfying meal.

After the meal, Lin Qingxue raised her hands and called out, “I’m alive again!” Then she went back for seconds, and everyone laughed heartily.

The next day, as they continued heading back, they found several other groups of people here for the selection. Luckily, none of them tried to start a fight or steal their treasures.

But there was a group of disciples from the Dou family who asked Yun Ruoyan if she had seen a youth named Dou Yao, about sixteen or seventeen years of age, slender and with large ears.

Yun Ruoyan claimed she hadn’t seen him, but memorized his name in her heart.

Because of Zhuo Lin’er and Qiuqiu, the group was even able to avoid several beast ambushes. Two days later, they finally arrived at the entrance of the trial.

As they handed their tokens to the guards, they were told that they had passed the second trial, and to await a notice of admissions to Kongming Academy to be sent to their houses.

The group was still a little dazed: they’d passed the trial so easily! The beastkin siblings were especially concerned that they might have been discriminated against due to their identity, but everything seemed to have progressed far more successfully than anticipated.

Kongming Academy, which had once seemed so distant, was now almost within reach.

Of course, what made them happiest was not only the fact that they had passed, but also that they had met Yun Ruoyan and her two cousins. After all this time, they finally had friends from outside their clan!

Of course, the trial hadn’t been easy at all; at least half the cultivators who had gone in had dropped out halfway, and a considerable number had lost their lives. No more than a hundred people had actually passed.

But, having overcome their struggles, their group naturally felt that what they’d experienced wasn’t much in hindsight.

“Young misses, you’re finally out!” Lin Bo looked at Yun Ruoyan’s group from afar and quickly jumped off his carriage to welcome them. “I’ve been waiting here for all of you for three days!”