"Not bad" - the elder remarked after assessing my fourth level of Qi Condensation. With that, he lost all interest in me and headed off to drown his sorrow at the memorial feast. I humbly stepped aside and returned to my teacher.

"The elder himself acknowledged your progress in cultivation!" - Chu Zhu Zhu exclaimed with delight. - "Usually, even the word 'trash' from him is a form of praise."

I could only offer a modest smile at his evaluation. Not bad? I’m a damn genius! At the fourth level of Qi Condensation, I had easily defeated a first-level Foundation Establishment cultivator. In the process, I "stole" two decent techniques just by observing them and invented a method for extracting Qi that was the "secret technique" of an entire sect.

Gradually, the commotion caused by the brutal, ruthless, and insidious murder subsided. However, the enhanced security remained. The camp was now under constant surveillance, and any violations of sect rules were swiftly punished. The guards were all at least fifth-level Foundation Establishment cultivators, with their leader at the first level of Core Crystallization—making them the camp’s strongest force. Chu Zhu Zhu himself was only at the sixth level of Foundation Establishment, and the camp’s official head, Xiao Xiao San, was at the eighth.

I decided to dedicate the remainder of my time in the camp to advancing my level. Even the Qi I had absorbed from the elder’s grandson hadn’t brought me closer to breaking through to the fifth level. The Qi Thread in my body was merely expanding "horizontally" showing no signs of evolution.

Studying the pill recipes in the library, I concluded that breaking through required a "seed" of denser Qi than my own, compatible with the qualities of my internal Qi. Usually, this energy came from consuming pills, but Chu Zhu Zhu’s Weak Qi Pills were subpar due to the mediocre quality of his cultivation.

Thus, I decided to use the Qi-charged stones I had found in Sun Zi Liang’s spatial ring. The largest stone, containing Qi with unusual characteristics, intrigued me most. While I couldn’t pinpoint the strangeness, I found its overall quality favorable. Moreover, its density was sufficient to almost guarantee a breakthrough.

One evening, I retrieved the desired stone from its hiding place and headed to my cultivation chamber. These chambers were designed to contain Qi fluctuations to some extent, preventing anyone from linking my energy surges to the contents of the deceased’s spatial ring.

Sitting in a lotus position, I calmed the Qi flows in my body and began absorbing the stone’s energy. Once unsealed, the stone couldn’t be resealed, so all its Qi had to be absorbed at once. The process had to be gradual, though, to avoid harming myself with a sudden influx of foreign energy. Thanks to psionics, I conducted the procedure safely. After absorbing the energy, I directed it toward my 22nd channel, simultaneously preparing my internal Qi for fusion.

Qi could exhibit various qualities and characteristics. I noticed that when concentrated outside my body, my Qi emitted a faint golden glow. I attempted to enhance this quality, imagining my Qi as a stream of liquid gold. With psionics, I had a precise sense of how real gold looked and "felt" and I used that as my reference.

As a result, my internal Qi, Golden Qi, and the Qi from the stone merged into a new type of Qi, its density matching the fifth level of Qi Condensation. I had broken through to the next level, but that wasn’t the most significant change. My energy acquired the qualities of golden light and authority. It could now be called the energy of the Golden King. Simply standing among others, I commanded respect and reverence, not because of my reputation as a genius but because of the aura of my Qi.

My breakthrough to the fifth level didn’t surprise anyone. The six-month training period was ending, and many students had already reached this level. I wasn’t the first or even among the first. However, after this breakthrough, I became the target of a pilgrimage by girls hoping to break through to the fifth level. Unfortunately, finding mature women of quality was difficult in the camp.

The camp currently housed about 700 students, 250 of whom were female. Only five had "mature" forms worth noting, and all five were part of my "official harem". These girls practically threw themselves at me, and none of the students dared criticize their choice. Criticizing me was incompatible with maintaining a healthy lifestyle — it often led to broken bones and other injuries.

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Thus, the remainder of my time in the camp was spent as a decadent overlord. Further meditations at natural Qi sources yielded little benefit; I absorbed all the energy, but it no longer influenced the quality or quantity of my Qi. Chu Zhu Zhu eventually allowed us access to the alchemical furnace, where I demonstrated my skill in crafting basic pills. My pill quality even surpassed that of my teacher, which delighted him. Most importantly, I almost never failed in processing materials. Thanks to psionics, I could monitor the entire process and immediately detect any issues.

And so, the long-anticipated day finally arrived. A large contingent from the examination committee descended upon the camp, beginning the arduous process of evaluating each student individually. Those who had reached the fifth level of Qi Condensation were sent forward to the next stage. Those who hadn’t were divided into two groups: a small number would remain in the camp until the next "draft," while the majority of failures were unceremoniously… thrown into the ravine.

I found this fate for my former acquaintances somewhat unsettling. It was one thing to exile them into the forest with a sliver of hope for survival, and quite another to hurl them off a 300-meter cliff into the waiting maws of ravenous monsters. When the failures realized their imminent fate, they nearly rioted and tried to flee. However, the dissenters were swiftly caught and executed in a particularly gruesome manner. Over the past six months, the children had grown complacent, believing everything would work out. Now, they were brutally reminded that nothing would be fine, and the weak would perish — if not today, then tomorrow.

I was among the first to be evaluated for my cultivation level, enjoying certain privileges as the personal disciple of an alchemist. Chu Zhu Zhu had also promised to personally escort Dao Yu and me to the Valley of Trials. The evaluation and sorting process took the entire day. By the end, approximately 300 students were deemed fit to proceed, another 100 were left to "marinate" in the camp, and almost 300 failures were fed to the beasts. From the camp’s center, we could hear the feral growls and screeches of the creatures below as they feasted on the cultivators' "free meat."

That night, few of the successful candidates managed to sleep, as the beasts' howls and screams of their victims continued until dawn. At sunrise, the remaining students were organized into groups of twenty. As each group was formed, Core Crystallization cultivators carried them into the skies, heading toward the Valley of Trials. True to his word, Chu Zhu Zhu personally "levitated" Dao Yu and me to the valley and handed us over to one of his acquaintances.

We were herded into a damp, rotting shack and told to sit and wait. Fortunately, with psionics, I could scan the surroundings and get a sense of the chaos beyond our "hotel." Outside, it was utter bedlam. Students were being sorted into groups of ten, lined up in the square, given brief instructions, and then sent off along a path leading into the mountains. When the tenth group was formed, Dao Yu and I were included. Upon seeing me among them, the other candidates seemed to gain a glimmer of hope—perhaps they might survive until evening after all.

"And so, recruits," barked a man clad in ornate armor, his gaze sharp and intimidating, "your group will be called the Thunder Hawk. Each of you will receive a token inscribed with the words 'Thunder Hawk.'" He held up a small wooden plaque with crude characters before distributing these dubious trinkets. "Every other participant also has a similar token, but with a different name. Your task is to pass through the Valley of Trials and reach the outpost by sunset. By then, each of you must possess three tokens with different names. Now, move out."

"But where are we supposed to get two more tokens?" - asked the ever-naive Dao Yu.

The man glared at him even more ferociously but refrained from killing him, likely recognizing him as an alchemist’s disciple.

"From other candidates, of course" - he growled. - "And no more questions. Anyone who tries to flee should know this: tonight, disciples of the sect’s Inner Forest will hunt in this area. They’ll receive a Mortal Breakthrough Pill for every ‘failure’ they kill. Your only chance to survive is to pass the exam. Now move! If you dawdle, I’ll rip you to shreds right here. Do you see those guts over there? They belong to three idiots who dared to defy me."

He gestured toward the dust-covered remains of a few unfortunate souls, sending a visible shiver of fear through the group.

Without further delay, we began marching along the path into the forest. We hadn’t made it a hundred meters past the gates when the previous group of candidates ambushed us from the bushes. Clearly, they had decided no one would expect an attack so close to the base. And, in fairness, their plan wasn’t entirely without merit.

However, the moment they burst from the bushes with wild cries, the first of them caught sight of me. Their charge halted abruptly. They froze for a split second before changing direction and retreating back into the bushes, still screaming.