Huang Ning took it worse than Zhan Hu because he actually liked her. Everyone in the sect knew this. Moreover, he was confident that no one else was more brilliant than him so he had the best chance of winning her hand.

Though their relationship has been strictly limited to being fellow disciples in Divine Black, he wasn’t the one treated this way. Qianyue has always been distant to everyone, until now.

She was extremely close with Li Qiye but worst of all, she didn’t mind shouting and wanting to fight them to defend him.

“Junior Sister, it’s one thing that you are always on his side but rules are rules. He deserves heavy punishment for breaking them. I hope you will reconsider.” Huang Ning uttered, implying that she would be dragged down with Li Qiye as well.

“None of your business. Just worry about yourself and stop being blinded by your own stupidity.” She didn’t accept his goodwill.

“You!” Huang Ning trembled with rage since Qianyue didn’t hold back in the slightest.

No one else dared to interject and only stared around to see others’ reactions. They naturally wanted to teach Li Qiye a lesson too but that would be reckless since Qianyue has made her stance clear.

“The peak lords will decide whether this is a violation of the sect’s rules or not.” One elder joined in while staring at Li Qiye.

He wondered where the hell did Li Qiye come from and how was he so devilish?

“It still hasn’t started yet?” Li Qiye suddenly woke up and yawned before asking.

“It will be soon, the third trial.” She answered.

“Okay, let’s go.” He lazily stood up, not making a big deal of sleeping on her thighs.

“The third trial is starting soon, only those with twenty points or more are eligible.” An elder announced to the rest.

Those who didn’t make the requirement became dejected and exasperated right away.

“Come, let’s go to the third gate, there will be merit laws available.” On the contrary, the ones with twenty points immediately moved upward.

Since the beginning of the second trial, many began feeling the pressure from the ancestral peak. This would only increase during the climb.

“Creak…” The iron door of another hall opened.

This one was heavily guarded by the elite disciples of Divine Black. One elder would always be here to keep watch.

“The Dao Bone Warehouse.” The examinees became serious and put on their best act.

As they entered the building in a line, they felt majestic beasts aura coming from inside - some ferocious, others cold, and dark ones…

It was as if they were surrounded by beasts from all sides after entering a primal forest.

Of course, there were no beasts here, only dao bones placed on many shelves.

The place resembled a massive library with meticulous arrangements. Each dao bone was unique in terms of shape and aura.

“Dao bones from the legends.” The new recruits were in awe at both the auras and the sheer numbers of bones.

“So many!” One shouted.

“That one is huge!” Another became frightened by a large bone.

The first-time visitors couldn’t believe it and were completely immersed by the bones.

One of them looked like a cliff with a convex surface in the middle, looking like a polished piece of jade. It was different in that it had tiny runes, seemingly having been combed over before.

“What is that bone?” One disciple became curious.

“That’s the dao bone of a White Tyrant Dragon located around the forehead, it was killed by an ancestor of ours.” An elder elaborated.

“A forehead bone?” The listeners were amazed because just one bone was the size of a cliff. They could imagine how large the dragon was when it was alive.

“This is a dao bone too?” Another saw a palm-sized bone on a special shelf with a golden glow. Strangely enough, it was in liquid form. If it wasn’t for the special seal, this liquid bone might have started flowing.

“Dao bones aren’t just bones, they are the essences of the grand dao from chaos primal beasts. They take all shapes, whether it be liquid or solid. The bones’ physical appearance is a manifestation of their dao.” The elder went on.

Each type of chaos primal beast had a unique dao bone. This contained the original essences of their grand dao as well as their innate abilities.

Thus, these dao bones were extremely precious to cultivators. The latter could derive merit laws or create weapons from these bones.

“This one is really beautiful.” One more disciple was attracted by a different dao bone. It looked like an eye made of glass with a blue shade, something akin to the eye of the sky. People couldn’t turn away after seeing it.

Sure enough, this disciple began staring at it, completely immersed.

“Pop!” The elder smacked the disciple to wake him up: “This is a high-level black dao bone named Bewildering Phoenix Eye. Your cultivation isn’t enough to stare at it since it can make you lose your mind.”

The disciple had cold sweat all over after hearing this, especially his palms.

“Alright, the third trial is about comprehension.” The elder said: “As you may know, each dao bone contains a primal dao essence. In other words, one might derive a merit law out of them. Today, you’re here to research these dao bones. You may pick one suitable dao bone while adhering to the cultivation limit. For example, if you’re a Bronze Tendon cultivator, you can only pick a yellow dao bone, not black. Otherwise, the same thing will happen to you as it did to our friend right here, being completely mesmerized by the phoenix eye. The consequences will be dire.” He warned them all.

Some became afraid because, in the beginning, they wanted to pick the higher-level dao bones.

“So we need to figure out a merit law?” One of them asked.

“Congratulations. If you have this ability, that means you either have an inborn true fate or an inborn fate palace.” The elder glanced at him.

He didn’t quite get it and stood there looking silly.

“Basically, only one needs to be at the sacred level before creating a grand dao or a complete merit law.” An older disciple told him: “The exception is those with innate comprehension and talents.”

The guy understood right away after hearing this.