The hours turned to days and the days turned to weeks, Li Yang practically taking up residence within the training array. Were it not for the times he left to visit his mother or to get some food then some people in the sect might finally have gotten to breathe a sigh of relief that they got some peace for a change. He only had a month before they were going to head over to the World-rending Behemoth sect, and since his plan was to get the high ground over Mei Kongxu, he couldn't really afford to waste much time.

Of course, Ting Miu didn't spend every day with Li Yang just to assist him in his cultivation. She couldn't neglect her own cultivation or the classes she taught, so the best she could do was pop in once every five days to give Li Yang a helping hand. And just like that, the days and weeks quickly passed, the day that they would head to the World-rending Behemoth sect arriving in a flash.

Li Yang was sitting within the training array, fist-sized rocks bombarding him from practically all directions without pause. His eyes were closed, but his brows were slightly furrowed while his flesh trembled from all the attacks pelting him. His interspatial ring vibrated softly and drew his attention, his eyes popping open and the never-ending flow of attacks halting.

"About time to leave, huh? Time's really flown while I wasn't paying attention, gotta make sure to spank her a few times for making me cultivate this seriously."

Li Yang hopped up from his seated position, but he couldn't help but cringe slightly as he moved his body. His mouth curved somewhat bitterly, one hand rubbing his shoulders and neck while his other hand rubbed his thighs and waist while he cursed softly.

"Damn Heavenly Queen, what's the point in coming up with a cultivation technique as sadistic as this? I'd say that I'll have to smack you if I ever meet you, but looking at what you've created I fear that you would just end up enjoying it."

Li Yang's entire body felt sore after getting pelted with such constant attacks, the need for a strong outside force to cultivate the technique made it far from pleasant. And what's worse was that it was ludicrously thorough, requiring extensive cultivation and pain for even the smallest advance, something Li Yang was more than familiar with now.

The Heavenly Queen's 1st Star actually had what could be considered three stages, each one based on how much force you had merged into your bones and how deeply the two were merged, going from an initial merging with a weak force, to a moderate merging with a strong force, and a complete merging down to the very core with a tremendous force. The three stages were called Small Success, Large Sucess, and Perfection, and after this month of intense cultivation, Li Yang had only managed to reach Small Success with both his hands and both his feet.

He didn't even want to think about how much time and force would be needed to reach Small Success with his entire body, much less how much he would need to reach Large Success or Perfection, it was practically headache-inducing. He finished rubbing the sorest parts of his body and then gave it a few stretches, casually heading for the exit of the training array.

"Alright, let's pop home for a second and then head out, should still have time for a nice shower."

Li Yang left the array and once again arrived on the branch of the large tree, his gaze sweeping across the surrounding ocean as he walked over and stepped onto the spatial array. He arrived back on the main island of the Deepsea King sect and then took a few more spatial arrays to reach his house. He took a good and long shower to dispel any lingering soreness, packing his interspatial ring with a few items that he might need, and some that he only brought along because he thought he might be able to use them for some funny tricks.

With everything taken care of, he finally headed over to the plaza that was set to be their meeting point, once again taking his time by sauntering over leisurely. With his casual gait, it was inevitable that he ended up as one of the last people to arrive, the plaza already packed with disciples and a few elders. Li Yang swept his gaze over the crowd of excited disciples, his thoughts starting to move when he realized that about 90% of the people heading out were the same disciples that had taken part in the sparring matches when the World-rending Behemoth sect came to visit.

Li Yang's hands were resting behind his head in a nonchalant manner, but his gaze was slightly narrowed while the corner of his lips curved up faintly, a fun idea rearing its head inside his mind. He didn't bother telling anyone about his idea, doing so would just ruin the fun of it, so he proceeded to just quietly wait. Two or three others arrived after Li Yang, an hour after his arrival, the final member to head out arrived, Li Yang's father, Li Tian.

"Good, I'm glad that no one has decided to stay here out of laziness."

Li Tian's gaze swept over Li Yang for a short second as he spoke, making it perfectly clear exactly who it was that he was talking about. Li Yang simply shrugged his shoulders without caring too much, his father turning to look at the accompanying elders and making sure that everything was ready. Once everything was confirmed to be in order, Li Tian took out a handful of grape-sized brown orbs and started placing them around the spatial array they were going to use, altering it so that they could take it directly to the World-rending Behemoth sect.

The array was activated and the crowd buzzing with excitement was blinded by a bright light that washed over them for a short instance. When the light vanished, they had finished the transfer and had arrived in a completely different place, a large and imposing stone city surrounding them. The sharp tips of several mountains were barely visible in the distance, forming a circle that seemed to surround the entire city, telling them that they had indeed arrived at the main city of the World-rending Behemoth sect.

This was Li Yang's first time visiting the World-rending Behemoth sect, but his gaze was drawn towards a large crowd standing not too far away from them before he could inspect his surrounding. He recognized quite a few faces in the crowd so he knew that they were the disciples that had taken part in the previous sparring, so they were likely to be their enemies this time as well. He hadn't expected them to meet them here when they arrived, but that fit his plans so the corner of his lips tugged up slightly.

He also spotted the black-eyed and white-haired Mei Kongxu, a delicate silver dress adorning her body and enhancing her curves and her enchanting features. Her eyes still looked somewhat forlorn and distant but there was an added touch of confusion in them, almost giving her the air of a damsel in distress. Li Yang ignored the people who were clearly ogling her, his own gaze focusing on the middle-aged and graceful woman standing a few steps ahead of Mei Kongxu.

The woman had a tall and majestic stature, her black eyes containing and unquestionable authority while her bronze hair was cut so short that it stopped just above her ears. She had several traits that matched Mei Kongxu, and sensing the pressure she unleashed, Li Yang could easily guess that this was Mei Kongxu's mother, the Second Elder of the World-reading Behemoth sect.

The buzzing excitement running through the two crowds died down now that they were facing an exalted elder from the other sect, Li Yang's father and Mei Kongxu's mother stepping forward. The two stopped a short distance from each other, cupping their hands in greeting while Mei Kongxu's mother took the lead in speaking.

"Greetings, we are pleased that you could make the trip. From the looks of it, you've managed to bring along all the disciples that will take part in the sparring, so shall we get the usual duels underway immediately?"

This sparring was a fairly regular occurrence for the two sects, it had practically become standard fare for them now. So the words spoken by Mei Kongxu's mother were just a formality, both she and Li Tian knew that things would just start straight away like they always did. Or at least so they thought, but this one time there was an unknown element that had mixed in.

"Sorry, but would it be possible for me to speak up and come with a suggestion?"

The unexpected voice caught everyone's attention, all the gazes focusing on Li Yang, who had raised one of his hands slightly. There was a short moment of silence, one of Li Tian's, Mei Kongxu, and Mei Kongxu's mother's eyebrows raising in surprise, partly due to the unexpected action and due to Li Yang's guts to speak up in front of two exalted elders. Li Tian glanced at Mei Kongxu's mother, who nodded her head and gestured for Li Yang to continue talking.

"Thank you for allowing me to speak. My suggestion is simple, aren't you all tired of these sparring matches? I won't deny that they help a bit with increasing our skills, but that is only when there is some variety in when it takes place and who takes part. We only just had a round of sparring matches a month ago, and about 90% or more of the people who fought then are going to fight now, the results simply aren't going to be that different, are they? So rather than just repeated sparring matches where the results are pre-determined, why don't we mix things up?"

Li Yang wore a charming smile as he spoke in a casual and carefree manner, his elegant appearance and guts sufficient to cause some of the girls to take a second look at him. His words also caught the attention of the disciples, especially those who had lost previously and were certain that they would just lose here as well.

Li Tian and Li Jueyong couldn't help but narrow their eyes slightly, wondering exactly what Li Yang was planning this time around. Li Tian didn't make a comment, glancing at Mei Kongxu's mother and leaving the final decision in her hands. Mei Kongxu's mother swept her gaze across the crowd of disciples behind her for a short second, her gaze eventually landing on Li Yang.

"you're Li Yang, correct? The lad who's going to marry me, Mei Cuixue's daughter, Mei Kongxu? I'll give you this, you certainly have great guts to be able to speak so carefreely in front of elders like us. Very well, you've caught my interest, what's your idea?"

Li Yang smiled politely in the face of Mei Cuixue's praise, making sure to give her a polite bow and introducing himself while heaping some praise onto her.

"Indeed, this little one is Li Yang, the son of Li Tian. And it is indeed I that have been blessed with the privilege of marrying your daughter. And I must say, I can see where she gets her great looks and aura from."

He was eloquent and charming, but his words caused Li Tian to nearly roll his eyes while Mei Kongxu's lips twitched slightly. He didn't bother with their reactions, straightening his back and pointing at one of the distant mountain peaks.

"My suggestion is fairly simple actually, why don't you send us into one of the training grounds where you allow Demonic beasts to roam freely? Like this, we can show off our actual fighting skills by fighting proper battles, it's much better than sparring matches where everyone constantly has to hold back. We can also rank people based on how strong the Demonic beast corpse that they leave the training grounds with is, that way it will be a bit easier to hand out the rewards from the sparring matches. What do you think?"

Just like the Deepsea King sect, the World-rending Behemoth sect had several training grounds where they allowed Demonic beasts to roam. These training grounds allowed the disciples to properly test themselves in bloody combat, it was a much better forge than some standard sparring matches. Mei Cuixue didn't say anything straight away, allowing her gaze to sweep over the clearly excited disciples.

Wherever there were Demonic beasts there would be Qi, and thus there would be plants and other resources that they could use for cultivation, not including the Demonic beasts themselves. Seeing their expressions, Mei Cuixue ended up nodding her head, pointing at Li Yang and Mei Kongxu.

"Seeing as you've already convinced the disciples, me saying anything else will just disappoint them. Very well, we'll change it up this once to see how it goes. But you will have to enter along with everyone else, and the two of you will travel together."

He was supposed to marry Mei Kongxu so that the two sects could foster a closer relationship so she might as well take this chance to push them a bit closer to smoothen the process. The disciples from both sides immediately started buzzing with excitement at the prospects, Mei Kongxu getting sent over to Li Yang's side and whispering to him suspiciously.

"What are you planning?"

He clearly had some plan behind changing the usual sparring matches, it might just be to get his hands on some resources, but it might also be something else. But facing her suspicion, Li Yang simply feigned innocence, acting as if he had just thought of something as he swiped his interspatial ring.

"Planning, me? I just want to encourage some friendly competition. How about you and I have a little competition? The one who bags the strongest beast gets a reward, separate from the usual rewards of course. Hmm, if you win, I'll give you this, how about it?"

The thing he took out from his interspatial ring was a box that seemed to be made from burnt wood, traces of lightning still visible at the edges of the box. This was the box that was meant to hide the Heavenly Queen's 1st star, it was one of the few things capable of properly hiding the energy coming from the bone. Mei Kongxus' gaze narrowed faintly when she saw the box, a soft light flashing through her pupils as she responded without hesitation.

"Deal"