The stone temple was quiet, with only the coughing sounds of Lin Xi on the earth floor and Jiang Xiaoyi’s heavy breathing present.

Jiang Xiaoyi wanted to see how Lin Xi cultivated, yet what he experienced was shock and utter disbelief.

The ruthlessness of the Direct Spear Strikes Trial was something that he and the other Natural Arts Department good friends understood extremely clearly. After entering a few times, not a single one of them could endure for more than eighty steps, which was why they decided to temporarily stop this training, choosing to challenge other students instead.

If they couldn’t even win one on one, then they could forget about slaughtering their way out from an army. Their way of thinking was extremely simple, and also extremely reasonable.

However, Lin Xi’s performance completely toppled his imagination. The distance between Lin Xi and that bronze great door seemed to be almost within reach… moreover, Lin Xi didn’t exhaust all of his strength at all, or else he definitely wouldn’t be able to enter this stone temple to train every day.

While watching Lin Xi slowly wriggle his way back, he couldn’t help but cry out, “Just how did you manage to do this?”

“Silly child… I already did it twice before your very eyes, just that you don’t know it.”

Under the silver mask, the face of Lin Xi who actually experienced two torture sessions was extremely pale, but he naturally couldn’t voice his thoughts to Jiang Xiaoyi. After lightly coughing a few times, waiting for the pain between his chest and abdomen to ease a bit, he only said, “Perhaps… it’s best if no one knows about this.”

The breathing of Jiang Xiaoyi who was standing at the temple entrance paused, and then immediately afterwards, his solemn and respectful voice rang through the great hall. “I understand… I swear on my life.”

…

Wen Xuanyu walked into the yellow perimeter wall. Because the training he endured yesterday in the Direct Spear Strikes Trial left him with quite the injuries, his steps were a bit unsteady as he entered, extremely difficult.

As a cultivation genius who was destined to come into contact with the true facets of politics, as Wen Family’s sole heir, his time was much more tense than anyone else’s. However, because of the spear marks yesterday, even though he understood that with his body’s present condition, he couldn’t enter this stone temple to train at all, he still wasted a lot of time to hurry here.

The stone temple was a bit dark. Wen Xuanyu narrowed his eyes, trying his best to see more clearly.

What made his pupils contract, was that he clearly saw spear traces not far from the bronze rear gate.

After remaining silent for more than ten halts, Wen Xuanyu made the decision to bend down, slowly crawl towards that bronze gate.

Suddenly, his body shook intensely, releasing a voice filled with anger and disbelief. “How could this be possible? Who exactly is it?! How can his rate of improvement be this fast? He clearly came here yesterday, so how could he cultivate here again today?!”

This arrogant golden spoon youngster whose eyes were normally on his head, this rare cultivation genius in Yunqin Empire, was filled with anger and unwillingness.

He already crawled to where he collapsed yesterday. There were clearly new spear marks today, and compared to yesterday’s traces, already improved by another dozen or so steps. There was only less than thirty steps from where the bronze gate was!

…

The next day, Wen Xuanyu came to the Direct Spear Strikes Trial again, wriggling his way over to where he previously collapsed again. Then, he silently left.

Another day passed. Wen Xuanyu entered the Direct Spear Strikes Trial with a black longsword in hand, collapsing, exhausted both physically and spiritually.

A few days later, Wen Xuanyu entered this stone temple again with unsteady steps. When he crawled his way over to the bronze rear door, examined the traces nearby, the intangible pressure he felt from Wen Family, as well as the pressure this unknown opponent gave him simply drove him mad. He roared with incomparable fury in this spacious stone temple, “Since you can do this much, why haven’t you returned? Why aren’t you coming anymore!”

There were no new traces on the earth around him.

This meant that the other party, during these past few days, didn’t enter this stone temple to cultivate. However, despite this being the case, even though Wen Xuanyu did everything he could, there was still quite a bit of distance from himself and the traces left back then.

He wasn’t only purely a genius with five levels of soul force aptitude, in reality, ever since he was ten, Wen Family already discovered that he had talent in martial skill, easily picking up anything he learned. The Wen Family didn’t pass any martial skill onto him ahead of time, because they felt that not even the best teachers they could find could compare to the academy’s lecturers. Wen Family was worried that they might instead impart some incorrect guidance, leaving behind unfavorable effects on his future cultivation.

He was a genius who was destined to be remarkable even in Green Luan Academy, which was why he had reason enough to be arrogant. He personally believed that if anyone could break the record here, then he would definitely be the first. However, even when the other party gave him a few days of handicap, he still couldn’t surpass them at all! How could this not leave him feeling wounded and furious?

Those traces ahead of them that were clearly not new, for his arrogant self, were simply silent mockery.

However, Lin Xi’s reasoning for his actions during the past few days was also rather simple.

It was because these past few days was when Self Defense Department’s Wilderness Survival practical was held… which was why during these few days, Lin Xi and the other Self Defense Department new students were tossed into Heaven Ascension Mountain Range, into the mountain forest at least a day’s journey away from Green Luan Academy.

While Wen Xuanyu was roaring furiously in the spacious great hall, Lin Xi, who was so hungry he was seeing golden stars, continuously stared at a black furred mountain rat, debating whether he should cook and eat this black furred mountain rat like the teacher taught him.

This was indeed a difficult choice.

According to the course lecturer, the fat under this type of mountain rat’s skin is a bit thicker, so a good way to eat it is to not even skin it, not remove its internal organs, just directly roast it over a fire, and then when the skin has been roasted well, the fat entering its meat, that is when it's the best time to remove the skin and inner organs. According to what the lecturer taught, under extreme circumstances, when the mountain rat is eaten like this, the nutrients in the fat can allow one to continue for a half day further… however, to roast it without even skinning it or removing its inner organs, it really was a bit too gross.

While staring at how Lin Xi was acting next to the bonfire, Hua Jiyue who caught some small fish from a distant creek with great difficulty immediately shouted in irritation, “Lin Xi… do you have strong feelings for this black mountain rat or something? You already stared at it for five halts of time already! Even though the lecturer has said that each person can only eat the things they gather and hunt themselves, if you really don’t want to eat it, then just let it go, I will go catch it and eat it!”

When he heard Hua Jiyue’s words, Lin Xi sighed. With a bitter expression he finally propped the entire fat black mountain rat over the flame, starting to roast it.

The amount of prey that could be caught and the amount of edible plants in this half frozen wasteland within Heaven Ascension Mountain Range really was too few, and they still had a day’s worth of traveling left. The amount of food cultivators consumed was also great, so his stomach was already beyond empty, which was why he really had to eat this black mountain rat like this. However… as he watched the sizzling bonfire, looking at the mountain rat that was starting to swell, Lin Xi still couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “But this really is a bit gross…”

…

Lin Xi was indeed quite busy. By relying on a black mountain rat and some plant stem tubers and branches he dug out, he had finally just made it back to Self Defense Freshman Dormitory, yet Lecturer Mu Qing already had two pieces of information for him. The first was that the training valley’s Luo Houyuan sent a message, the lecturer who guided Lin Xi out already clearly passed on his intentions. Luo Houyuan was going to personally meet with Lin Xi the next time Lin Xi entered the training valley. Meanwhile, the other piece of information, was that An Keyi wanted him to immediately head to her medicine room.

Luo Houyuan’s matter wasn’t pressing, because the shaking in his arms and veins from time to time hadn’t brought any clear changes yet. However, An Keyi’s matter was extremely pressing, because Lin Xi clearly understood that, for a bookworm like An Keyi, unless it was urgent, she would only remember the things she read, and not seek him out.

As such, before he even ate his fill, Lin Xi already grabbed some food and took it with him, hurrying along while he ate, doing his best to quickly arrive at An Keyi’s medicine room.

The moment he pushed open An Keyi’s medicine room’s door, Lin Xi was already a bit stunned.

An Keiyi was actually not doing anything, her brows furrowed, in a daze as she stared into the medicinal furnace. She wasn’t reading any books, just quietly staring blankly.

Associate Professor An who always buried her head in books and scrolls was actually not reading anything, just what happened? This type of situation, for Lin Xi who was already quite familiar with her, was too strange.

“Teacher An, what are you doing?” This made Lin Xi couldn’t help but ask this.

An Keyi gave Lin Xi a look, still using her calm reading voice to say, “I was waiting for you.”

“You aren’t doing anything, just sitting there and waiting for me, did your nature suddenly change?” Lin Xi felt like it was even more strange. When he realized he didn’t show an act of respect, he customarily bowed towards the female associate professor, asking, “Then, teacher, why were you in such a rush to see me?”

An Keyi looked at Lin Xi, starting to explain, “My project, everything has already been in order a day ago. Now that you returned, I can begin.”

Lin Xi stared blankly for a moment. “This soon?”

An Keyi nodded. “Originally, there was one item that might have taken a few more days to arrive, but it was delivered yesterday.”

“Then, what does teacher need me to do?” Lin Xi closed the medicine room’s door behind him, immediately asking.

“Sit on the other side of me.” An Keyi pointed to the other side of her own bamboo woven mat. When she saw Lin Xi sit down, she first produced a small sheepskin scroll, and then a white jade case, carefully opening it in front of Lin Xi.

Inside the jade case was a transparent ceramic glaze bottle, about the same size as a medium-sized medicine bottle in this room. The opening of the bottle was sealed with a layer of wax, the inside filled with a black viscous substance, within it soaked a pearl the size of a pigeon egg. The outside of the pearl looked just like a solid stone, but it flickered with a faint yellow radiance.

“Teacher, you only needed me to help with this?” When he carefully read through the contents of the small sheepskin scroll, Lin Xi became even more stunned. He looked at An Keyi and the item in the white jade case, asking, “Since there is only this type of final step, then Teacher An, why didn’t you find someone else to help you, even waiting a whole day for me… don’t tell me you really didn’t do anything, just waiting an entire day for me just like that?”

The procedure recorded on this small sheepskin scroll was extremely simple, just two medicinal elixir compounding instructions. One was for An Keyi to complete, while the other was for Lin Xi to complete.

Meanwhile, these two medicinal elixir formulas weren’t difficult for An Keyi or Lin Xi to complete at all. They just had to gather some things they had already prepared beforehand, and then mix them in a set proportion and order, just like preparing a cocktail.

The only slightly more troublesome part was the strict timing requirement of the two medicinal elixirs. In the end, the two medicinal elixirs had to be completed at the same time, and then mixed together.

However, for students from the Medicine Department who were a bit more careful, there shouldn’t be any problems.

“I did wait for you for a whole day here. This matter, and the several types of ingredients used to prepare the medicinal liquid are all extremely rare. If there is a single mistake, it might take many even more years before they can be gathered. If it was someone else, it is a bit difficult for me to feel at ease.” An Keyi nodded, still saying with her calm reading voice. “I trust you.”