‘It’s been awhile since I’ve left home… Uncle’s probably worried like crazy. I’ll send a letter after I try out the trial.’

Li Jian walked towards the mountain casually, enjoying the walk.

The dirt road ran straight through to the mountain and was surrounded by a path of trees. Many disciples of the sect would clutter this road every day. Both outer and inner sect disciples walked the same road to take part in the trials.

Li Jian couldn’t help but overhear two disciples in front of him talking about the trial.

“I didn’t get that far last time, but this time for sure!”

“Yeah, you work on that. I’m gonna look for treasure!”

“Treasure? What treasure?”

“I don’t know, but my older brother found a medium grade spirit weapon last time!”

“Medium grade?! What the hell! The shop only sells low grade!”

“Exactly! Maybe I’ll find a high grade weapon haha.”

“Well shit! I’m going to look for treasure too then!”

‘Interesting… So this trial also has hidden treasures? Maybe I’ll look for some too.’

A loud explosion shook the trees and the road.

Li Jian turned his head towards the direction of the explosion and looked passed the trees to his left.

‘A fire?’

Creeping closer, Li Jian peeked behind a tree and saw a fight going on between a girl with jade-green robes and a group of outer disciples.

This girl had azure colored hair, the same girl who had ranked 2nd in the recruitment exam.

Surrounding the girl, the gang of outer disciples began preparing to unleash another attack.

‘She’s a 5th level and these guys are in the 3rd level… Are they stupid?’

The girl’s robe had been damaged slightly, but she looked as if she hadn’t been troubled at all.

“Flame Barrage!”

“Boulder Punch!”

“Fierce Wind!”

The three skills had supported and fused with each other causing the boulders to envelope in flames while flying towards the girl at extreme speed.

“You can’t beat our three family synergy you slut!”

The girl who had seemed calm slightly twitched.

“You dare call me, Yu Yan, a slut?”

Her calmness and tranquility had snapped.

“Water Geyser!”

Multiple geysers exploded out from underneath destroying the boulders that had come towards her. More geyers had also gushed out, hitting the three outer disciples, wiping them out unconscious.

“Hmph!”

Without wasting any more time, Yu Yan walked towards the road.

“You can come out from behind the tree now.”

Li Jian had been spotted and was now in an awkward position.

‘This girl is crazy.’

Li Jian put on a smile and walked out.

“Greetings sister, I just happened to be walking by…”

“I remember you. You’re the disciple with no affinity.”

Scratching his head with a dumb smile, Li Jian just laughed.

“Haha.. Yeah that’s me, Li Jian…”

“If you don’t want to end up like these idiots, you better watch your mouth.”

“Um… I didn’t say anything though…”

“I’ll be leaving then.”

Yu Yan walked passed Li Jian and left towards the trial. Her azure hair flowed gently through the wind.

‘She’s strong, beautiful, but crazy… Her personality doesn’t match her appearance at all. I’ll have to be careful around her.’

Li Jian stood there for a moment before turning around and continuing on the road.

The walk didn’t take any longer and Li Jian was standing in front of the cave; the entrance to the Jade Moon Trial.

Looking up at the rankings, the names and ranks were still changing, except the top 100.

‘This trial by fire ranks you based on how deep you can go within this mountain. Guess I shouldn’t waste any more time!’

Li Jian walked forward and as he stepped into the cave, his badge had lit up for a second.

A wave of heavy spiritual energy permeated the cave, bombarding Li Jian.

‘So much spiritual energy!’

The cave had an abundant amount of spiritual energy, and was very dark. Li Jian could only see a few meters around him before being unable to see any farther.

‘I could probably just cultivate here for awhile and I’ll have already gained a lot from just entering!’

Before being able to settle down, Li Jian heard some scuttling nearby.

‘What was that? Disciples?’

Looking in the general direction of the sound, Li Jian squinted his eyes trying to focus.

A small, rocky creature was crawling around. It had made eye contact with Li Jian before burrowing into the ground. The hole that the creature created, closed instantly.

‘I think that was a Rock Lizard? 3rd level Spirit realm beasts nesting by the entrance. No wonder Lee Gang thought it was dangerous. I guess I can’t really sit down and cultivate. I almost forgot about the ‘dangers’ of the trial.’

Li Jian decided to not idle around any longer and moved on. Some Rock Lizards would jump out from below and lunge at him, but would all be defeated in one strike.

The mountain wasn’t too big, but Li Jian had already been walking around for about two hours.

‘I think I’m going in circles… I’ve walked around the whole cave already and I haven’t seen any other disciples… Where the hell am I supposed to go.’

Li Jian sat on the ground brainstorming, trying to figure out a way.

‘Lee Gang said this was a trial by fire… He also said it tests how far I can travel…’

Another Rock Lizard was scuttling around Li Jian before burrowing into the ground.

Li Jian tilted his head and wondered…

“Four Palm Strike!”

Li Jian striked the ground and created a large hole. Peering inside the hole, Li Jian just saw endless darkness and deepness.

‘It can’t be…’

The hole closed and Li Jian striked it again with another Four Palm Strike.

‘I hope I’m not wrong.’

Li Jian jumped into the newly created hole.

A flash of light wrapped around Li Jian and in half a breath, Li Jian was teleported into a new part of the trial. This area was scattered with many cyan-glowing rocks, illuminating the cave brightly.

Surveying his surroundings, Li Jian saw a couple of other disciples wandering around.

“Four Palm Strike!”

Li Jian punched the ground below, but no hole was made.

“Must be his first time in the trial.”

“What a monkey haha.”

Li Jian, feeling a little embarrassed, looked around and moved towards a path more quickly than usual.

‘I won’t be doing that again...’

Navigating his way through the tunnels and different paths, Li Jian made a mental map in his mind of everywhere he had been.

Li Jian went down a new path and continued to map out the area. However, ahead of him was a giant worm-like creature with rocky skin and sharp teeth.

This worm was in combat with another outer sect disciple who was in the 4th level of the Mortal realm.

The disciple was bleeding and struggling.

‘Giant Rock Worm. A 4th level Earthly realm beast.’

The worm moved side to side while using its head to launch rocks and boulders at the disciple.

Using Nimble Step, Li Jian moved through the attacks, weaving easily.

“Four Palm Strike!”

A boulder shattered in front of Li Jian.

Li Jian darted towards the worm. As he arrived into melee range, Li Jian gathered a large amount of spiritual energy into his fist.

The air around his fist began distorting.

Li Jian punched the worm right in its torso.

However, the punch backfired and hurt Li Jian slightly.

‘Damn it. This isn’t how it felt back then. But I think I’ve grasped how it works…’

“Four Palm Strike!”

With each strike, the worm crumbled and died.

‘Looks like a 4th level beast isn’t much to me anymore. My proficiency in Nimble Step and Four Palm Strike are reaching higher mastery. Although I can’t seem to figure out how to use that weird punch I used back then against the Blood Fanged Tiger…’

“Thank you brother, my name is Wang Jia. I owe you one!”

Wang Jia, bleeding, sat down and began relaxing and tended to his wounds.

“My name’s Li Jian, you don’t need to owe me anything. Just be more careful.”

“I’m surprised you were able to take it down in one move though!”

Wang Jia had been busy dodging the oncoming boulders and was only able to see Li Jian use his Four Palm Strike to defeat the worm.

“It was just luck. You weakened it allowing me to take it down easily!”

“I guess so haha. As a thank you, the entrance to the next area is up ahead. But you should be careful, the beasts there are considerably stronger so keep your badge in hand just in case you want to teleport out.”

“My badge?”

“Yeah, your sect badge. How else do you think we’d be able to get out of the trial? Many disciples have died in here you know. The badge is also how the sect monitors your ranking.”

“Good to know. I’ll be off then. Take care, Wang Jia.”

Li Jian pulled out his badge from his bag and placed it in his pocket.

Walking in the direction Wang Jia pointed out, Li Jian was able to find the entrance. It was another cave entrance on the side of a wall that led to a set of stairs.

Li Jian went down the stairs and half an hour passed by.

‘The next area is so far down. The first area had 3rd level beasts, the second had 4th level, so this next area should have beasts in the 5th level…’

‘I’ll need to be extra careful.’

At the end of the stairs was an open area with a large lake in the center bordered by large jagged rocks. In the middle of the lake was a doorway leading to the next area.

Around the edges of the lake were many disciples who were in the 5th and 6th level of the Mortal realm. They were all sitting down cultivating on their own respective rocks. All of the disciples in this area were wearing jade-green robes.

Li Jian walked to the outer edges and examined the lake.

‘There’s probably beasts in the water. Weird how the 6th level cultivators aren’t moving on…’

Li Jian was still in the 4th level of the Mortal realm and this area had a higher amount of spiritual energy compared to the areas before. He sat down and began absorbing the energy.

The small white crystal inside of Li Jian’s dantian glowed.

Li Jian’s rate of absorption instantly increased, funneling a large amount of energy towards him.

The shift in energy shocked the disciples in the area and became confused.

“Is it me or is the energy behaving oddly?”

“I feel it too.”

“What the hell is going on?”

Li Jian was slowly reaching the 5th level. Compared to the Midnight Fox Pill, the amount of energy in the area could not be looked down on.

Without paying any attention to the commotion, Li Jian continued to concentrate.

As time passed, a figure walked down the stairs from the previous area, followed by three more individuals.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding.”