Translator: Reverie_ Editor: Kurisu

“On your way here, did you guys encounter any danger?” Ling Han asked.

“It was alright, we encountered some beasts, which were all defeated by us, and also harvested a few stalks of spiritual medicine!” Zhu Wu Jiu said smilingly.

Liu Yu Tong pulled on Zhu Xuan Er’s hand, appearing very intimate as she said, “It’s all thanks to Xuan Er. If it hadn’t been for her intervention on several occasions, we would have been wounded at least.”

Ling Han nodded. Their entire party—except for Zhu Xuan Er who was at the Spiritual Pedestal Tier—had cultivation of the Spiritual Ocean Tier, and would naturally feel pressure encountering Spiritual Pedestal Tier beasts. If they encountered Flower Blossom Tier ones, even Zhu Xuan Er would only be able to run.

Moreover, Zhu Xuan Er’s master suffered a Dao injury and living was probably already quite difficult for him, so how could he possibly refine a law decree for her?

…There were definitely all sorts of internal strifes between various forces within a sect. Take as an example the Winter Moon Sect—if Yue Family’s elder died, would Ao Family’s elder grant Yue Kai Yu law decrees?

That was obviously a joke.

“Can this city gate still be passed through?” Ling Han asked.

“That’ll be hard!” Liu Yu Tong shook her head and said, “Amongst us, only Zhu Xuan Er and Hu Niu can easily pass through, but Can Ye and I fall a tiny bit behind, while Zhu Wu Jiu can only walk through two-thirds it seems.”

In other words, to pass through the city gates was more difficult than fighting into the prodigy roll!

Ling Han looked around and didn’t find Yu Kun Lun, Yang Jun Hao, and the others. Presumably, they all passed through the city gates.

“We’re in no rush, let’s first go to the side!” he said, smiling. After pulling everyone to the side, he took out the leg meat of a great beast, Absolute Cold Ice Heart Fish, and diluted spiritual liquid. “Here, nourish your bodies a bit and increase your strengths, then we’ll all be able to go in.”

Hu Niu instantly let go of Ling Han’s thigh and picked up the beast’s leg meat first, then grabbed the fish, and said hurriedly, “Don’t grab it, it’s all Niu’s!”

Everyone instantly laughed loudly. Once it had to do with food, the little girl showed her true colors, displaying her chowhound nature.

Ling Han began boiling. Only he could control Strange Fire to boil out the essence from a great beast’s meat. He added in all sorts of medicinal ingredients; shortly, the fragrance assailed people’s noses, making everyone drool.

“Fairy Zhu, you really have fallen into Young Master Han’s devilish clutch!” Yue Kai Yu said torn by grief and anger—this was the perfect goddess in his eyes.

Zhu Xuan Er instantly rolled her eyes, and her pretty face blushed from embarrassment—she’d never seen anyone who was so straightforward. Fortunately, she wore a white veil, and other people couldn’t see her blush.

“Don’t you try to fathom my noble moral character with your small puny heart!” Ling Han said in a justified manner.

“Tsk!” Yue Kai Yu immediately sneered. After battling shoulder to shoulder with Ling Han for a few days, he naturally became a lot more courageous, and seemed to forget that Ling Han still had the title of a Heaven Grade alchemist, treating Ling Han truly like a person of the same age.

That was mainly because his personality was this way to begin with—forthright and not manipulative.

“Ling Han is Niu’s!” Hu Niu instantly became protective, grabbing onto Ling Han’s neck to declare her ownership.

Ling Han grimaced and said, “You squeeze any harder, and I’ll become a dead Ling Han!”

Hu Niu hurriedly let go, kissed Ling Han on the check, and then pouted at Zhu Xuan Er—a great show of dominance.

“Alright, let’s eat!” Ling Han fetched everyone a bowl of soup and then gave each person a jade bottle with diluted spiritual liquid.

Everyone took the spiritual liquid as wine, and as they ate meat and drank soup, multicolored light soon rose from their bodies. As their blood and Qi surged, they all began to adjust one after another.

From the order, everyone’s cultivation and martial arts talent could be seen. Li Si Chan was obviously the weakest, and although she was better than the previous two times, she only ate a bite of meat and two sips of soup before she began to adjust. Zhu Wu Jiu followed, then Can Ye, and then Liu Yu Tong, Guang Yuan, and Zhu Xuan Er.

However, Ling Han and Hu Hiu were still eating, a bite here and a bite there, snatching happily and showing their monstrous nature.

Only when all the food within pill furnace was eaten clean—even the soup was without a single drop left—did Ling Han activated arts to refine and absorb these medicines, while Hu Niu even omitted this step; whatever went into her stomach would be perfectly converted into her spiritual power accumulation.

After a few hours, everyone made rapid progress, all itching to try to charge past the city gate.

Ling Han didn’t care. Even if some people couldn’t go through, it didn’t matter, since they could all enter Black Tower and be brought in by him. However, other than Li Si Chan who was devoted heart and soul on alchemy, the others all treaded the path of martial arts, so Ling Han naturally hoped they could get through with their own strength.

This was not only an affirmation of their talent and strength, it could also increase their confidence greatly.

After all, Liu Yu Tong and the others all came from a small place like Rain Country, and inevitably had a weaker mentality when faced with the disciples of north region’s large sects.

“Let’s try again.” They walked to the city gates, and began to try to pass through.

Weng , a terrifying obstructive force instantly stormed over. They were as if a normal person walking in mire, each step taking a great deal of effort. Moreover, the further they advanced, the greater the obstructive force.

No wonder even Liu Yu Tong and Can Ye could barely make it. This certainly wasn’t very ordinary.

“There certainly is a knack to it,” Ling Han said.

“Young Master Han, are you mocking us?” Zhu Wu Jiu was almost about to cry because though Ling Han said there was a knack to it, he crossed his hands behind his back and looked relaxed.

“Hahahaha!” Hu Niu laughed loudly, ran with large strides to the front, and then ran back with large strides extremely effortlessly as well.

Ling Han nodded inwardly, this test varied with the individual. The higher one’s tier, the greater the corresponding obstructive force was; otherwise, Spiritual Ocean Tier warriors couldn’t possibly pass, and all Spiritual Pedestal Tiers would pass.

Liu Yu Tong and Can Ye were fierce as their strength improved greatly. They originally only lacked a bit to go through, so this time they were walking a lot more relaxed.

It was hard for Zhu Wu Jiu. After a dozen steps, he was sweating from his head, and his face began to contort, appearing really strained.

Ling Han and Hu Niu passed through test at the city gates without any pressure. When they had walked through the city gates by a hundred meters, the obstructive force automatically disappeared and returned to normal, while Yue Kai Yu, Liu Yu Tong, and Can Ye walked over one after another.

Guang Yuan and Zhu Wu Jiu could only walk three-fourth of the way.

“Young Master Han, we plan on just cultivating here,” the two of them said, appearing very resolute.

Ling Han thought about it, and said, “Alright, this may be a test, but it’s also a good place to cultivate. Every time you guys push yourselves to the limit, not only can that polish Origin Power, but also speed up cultivation.”

“Yes!” The two nodded. Even if they went further, there was nothing they could help Ling Han with and were better off cultivating here, increasing their tier so that they could help Ling Han in the future.

Ling Han still put Li Si Chan into the Black Tower. Such a sweet beauty left outside would attract a lot of disturbances, plus she didn’t strive for martial arts and had no need to cultivate here.

Thus, Ling Han, Hu Niu, Li Si Chan, Zhu Xuan Er, Can Ye, and Yue Kai Yu—the six of them—continued onwards.