As peace returned to Kunlun and Ji Wuye quarreled with Song Jia, birds chirped melodiously and soared across the clear azure morning sky, leaving the misty peaks of Qinghai Province behind.

One bird journeyed, following the wind, its wings slicing through the crisp mountain air, until it encountered Mount Hua—a towering peak rivaling the majestic height of Mount Kunlun.

From above, the bird surveyed the ground below. Unlike Kunlun, shrouded in mystical auras, Mount Hua appeared more grounded, with a renowned sect established on its slopes and gatherings of disciples visible from the sky.

The Mount Hua sect.

"Look, that pretty boy is finally in the arena!" a shrill voice rang out, laced with mockery.

"How many moves can the pretty face withstand?" another sneered derisively.

"Bah! With those delicate looks? Maybe he can charm that vicious creature with his beauty!" A raucous laughter erupted, filling the air with jeers from the crowded stands.

This grand arena, surrounded by towering craggy stones, provided a high vantage point for spectators to enjoy the spectacle unfolding below.

This was the Central Courtyard of the renowned Mount Hua sect, known for its ruthless and treacherous training regimen.

The disciples observing, resembling unruly bandits in their looseness of speech and uncouth mannerisms, were a stark contrast to their counterparts in the ethereal Kunlun.

Most wore gray martial robes with light purple stripes reminiscent of cherry plum blossoms in full bloom, signifying their status as Outer Disciples.

"Hmph! Watch how easily I defeat this pathetic opponent!" declared a disciple standing proud in the center of the arena, his voice carrying clearly over the mockery, instantly commanding everyone's rapt attention.

The stripes on his robe matched those of the jeering audience. His eyes narrowed with ill-concealed contempt as he took in the mocking taunts, his jaw clenching briefly.

However, his gaze lingered only fleetingly before he was bolstered by soft, encouraging voices coming from the other sides of the stands.

"Go, go Brother Du! You can do it!" A chorus of feminine voices called out fervently, ringing with admiration.

"Kyaaa! Brother Du is so devastatingly handsome! Please marry me!" The female disciples cried out dreamily from the sides, fawning over the man in the arena.

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This man, Du, Du Chen, stood tall at an impressive six chi, the same towering height as Ji Wuye himself.

With flowing raven black hair framing his chiseled, aristocratic features, he was no less breathtakingly handsome than Ji Wuye—a fine specimen that drew admiring gazes like moths to a flame.

The corners of his mouth twitched upwards ever so slightly, hinting at quiet confidence beneath his stoic exterior.

"Rest assured, Sisters. After this, shall we watch the moon together?" Du Chen grinned widely, his expression brimming with charming bravado as he flirted shamelessly with the swooning female disciples.

His brazen words elicited a chorus of dreamy sighs and giggles from the smitten young women, while drawing loud snorts of disdain from the male disciples.

"Say that if you can get out of there in one piece!" a mocking voice jeered from the stands.

"He's only at the 2nd realm. How high are his chances of winning against that beast?" another scoffed doubtfully.

"Shut up, all of you! Just because you failed doesn't mean this Father would also fail!" Du Chen retorted hotly, his handsome features contorting into a sneer as he fueled the crowd's rising rage with his arrogant words.

"Good, good! Do you take this test lightly? Elder, Elder! Look, this arrogant pup dare underestimate the test!" A shrill voice rang out, calling for the sect's revered Elder like a tattling child.

Hearing this, Du Chen's ears burned crimson with fury as his heart fumed with unbridled rage.

He glared daggers at the disciples who were behaving like petulant children running to their parent when they couldn't win an argument, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"Heaven! Brothers, you are grown men, hairy all over, yet you still rely on the Elder?! Your bodies are grown but your minds are comparable to pathetic shrimps!" Du Chen snapped, his rich baritone laced with biting contempt.

"W-What! How dare you look down on your Senior Brothers?!" came the outraged cries.

"Your pathetic skills cannot compare to ours! How dare you liken our intellect to mere shrimps?!"

After flinging these scathing insults, Du Chen shifted his attention away, ignoring the curses and rage spewing forth from his fellow sect brothers.

Instead, his gaze focused ahead at the caged beast before him - a gigantic snarling hound the size of twice as a full-grown tiger, held by thick chains as it glared menacingly at Du Chen, its feral eyes glinting with barely restrained savagery.

"Done with your...preparation?" Another disciple, donned in a gray martial robe with darker purple stripes denoting higher rank, asked dryly with eyes narrowed and forehead wrinkled in disapproval.

His disdainful gaze betrayed his annoyance at witnessing Du Chen's so-called "preparation" consisting only of flirting and cursing the other disciples.

"Yes, Senior. Go ahead," Du Chen replied curtly, oblivious to his lack of proper seniority etiquette. This prompted the Senior disciple to shoot him a withering frown of displeasure.

SNAP!

With a flick of his hand, the Senior disciple released the chains restraining the savage creature, and in a blur of motion, it disappeared from the arena, leaving only the metallic jingle of broken chains in its wake.

One should keep their distance before a fight with a beast begins, as their physical power differs greatly from a frail human.

Yet Du Chen didn't even have time to react before the gigantic dog charged at him with astonishing speed, showing its putrid, fetid breath and enormous razor-sharp fangs, twice the size of Du Chen's head.

SWOOSH!

To the utter disbelief of the onlookers, Du Chen's entire body was swallowed whole by the monstrous hound in one fluid motion, causing a roar of raucous laughter to erupt across the arena at his seeming demise.

“Bwahaha! Didn’t even withstand one move! What a pathetic sight!”

“This pretty boy truly lives up to his name—pretty on the inside and thorny on the outside! An eyesore to the heavens, even fate cannot withstand his arrogance!”

But in the next heart-stopping moment, the dog beast suddenly froze in place, its muscular form going unnaturally stiff as it teetered rigidly before falling heavily to the side, as if frozen solid in the bitter cold of winter.

THUD!

The impact of the massive creature's dead weight hitting the ground reverberated like thunder.

Then, to everyone's astonishment, Du Chen emerged casually from the motionless beast's gaping maw, his handsome features set in a smug, self-satisfied expression as he glanced around at the shocked reactions of the stunned crowd.

His gaze then lifted defiantly towards the examiner's platform. "Announce the results! And bear witness to the true might of my capabilities!" he declared arrogantly.

Yet no cries of joy or praise showered over him. Instead, an eerie silence blanketed the arena as Du Chen realized something was terribly amiss.

All eyes, including those of the smitten female disciples, looked upon him with naked suspicion and doubt etched on their faces.

Before he could react, an iron grip clamped down on the back of his neck, a powerful hand pressing his head down, forcing his face towards the ground as his entire body was pinned ruthlessly beneath an overwhelming weight.

"Catch him!" A commanding voice bellowed, shattering the tense stillness.