After a while, Jing finally found what he was looking for. The wall went down after a turn, not as erect and vertical as it was in the opening of the gorge.

With a jump, he rose several meters into the air before he latched into one of the jutted rocks and held himself there. His strength was impressive, and his grip was even more so. When the two monsters finally arrived, he had already reached the top of the wall and disappeared beyond it.

Jing found himself overlooking a colossal mountain range, both its end and peak were something that he was incapable of seeing from his position. Where he stood could be described as a relatively ant-sized hill beside a godly mountain that penetrated into the heavens above. However, aware of his pursuers, he continued running.

The place was filled with gorges as the rocky walls created a natural maze where nothing existed. As he looked ahead, Jing could see a multitude of caves and openings around the bottom of the first mountain, and that was where he was planning to go.

However, behind him, the tall monster had already climbed and was slowly closing in on him. When Jing turned around and didn't see the four-legged monster, he smirked. He knew that with how high the wall was, only the tall one would be able to make it.

Changing his plans, he jumped down to one of the gorges, just like the one he had emerged from, and awaited the monster's arrival with tightly clenched ready fists as he leaned against the wall in a bid to obscure his presence.

When the monster jumped in pursuit in front of him, Jing immediately moved to attack. He first used his spiritual Qi to wreak havoc inside the monster's mind and make it difficult for him to follow, and he coated his right fist with his inner gold and summoned every bit of strength in his leg, shoulders, and arm muscles and punched the monster's back.

The force of the attack sent the unsuspecting monster forward, its body uncontrollably tilting in an awkward direction before it collided with the rocky wall in front of it.

Jing who always felt embarrassed to yell in front of others, found the courage in this desolate place to do it. He screamed as loudly as he could to psych himself and jumped after the monster with more punches and a frenzied demeanor.

Facing the barrage of attacks both physical and spiritual, the monster was overwhelmed, and though it had indeed retaliated and stabbed Jing in several places, its strength was growing weaker by the second as punch after the other rained upon it like an incessant hellish drizzle.

When the monster's rocky form crumbled into solitary unintelligent rocks, Jing was injured all the over place. The biggest injury was a long gnash from his collarbone to his waist from the monster's claws, and though it flowed with blood, he knew that it wasn't particularly deep. His cheeks were scarred, and his robes and undergarments had all but disappeared. He stood there, as proud and naked as they come with a wide smile and a body riddled with bloody injuries.

However, before he could relish in his victory a frightening roar woke him up. After the end of the battle and its loud noise, he could finally hear the four-legged monster slowly closing in from above. But he couldn't move yet, he was still waiting for the precious white energy to come out of the dead monster.

"Quick, quick," Jing impatiently whispered at the lump of rocks in front of him. Through his spiritual sense, he knew that a strange process was happening. The abundant Qi inside the monster's body followed the flow of foreign energy that made it gather at the center, and that was why the transfer wasn't immediate.

Unfortunately, the four-legged monster proved to be too fast, and too fierce, and it lunged at Jing from above with vengeance. Its black eyes pulsed with a white hue as it opened its mouth that teemed with razor-sharp fangs. Its rocky claws were both astonishingly powerful and quick with its swipe.

For some strange reason, the sounds of the monster's claws, as it tore through the hill above, echoed in a way that made Jing believe that the monster was still a distance away. Thus, when he finally noticed an abrupt darkness descending upon him, it was already too late.

The monster jumped, all of its claws dancing with Jing's head as their main target. Jing only felt an impressive weight on top of him, making his Qi-supported knees feel weak, and then fangs and claws made a mess of his head before he opened his eyes on his dorm room with a terrified look.

As he gazed at the room with a loudly beating heart he thought, 'That was unexpected... The four-legged one is stronger, second Qi Condensation I think...' He shuddered as the pain from the last attack was still vivid in his mind.

After a while, a wide smile tugged at his lips after readjusting his chaotic state of mind. 'I guess death isn't too bad...' He thought. He had already died two times now, and strangely they emboldened him even more. It was common knowledge that humans mostly feared what they didn't understand, and now that he faced the process of death, at least from a physical perspective, he could feel himself less afraid of it.

Of course, that was just the pain equation of the question. If actual death found him in real life, he would be terrified, that much he was certain of. He still hadn't even begun his life, and for everything to be taken away from him just as he was gradually building himself would be dreadful.

For some reason his mind made him recall how much Aukhman had been stressing over the fact that humans as a race were very weak compared to the other races in the competition. If he was this strong right now as a human, how strong would they be?

Jing sighed again before he swiftly dismissed such worries, 'It's not the time to worry about that...' He slid into the edge of his top bunk bed, and jumped, alerting the two guys who had been waiting for him.

"So, should we go?" He asked somewhat hesitantly.

"Of course," Shen Yun stood up with a grin. "You'll get your revenge, I'll get my resources, Wang Fei will get some guts, and everyone wins."

Jing glanced at Wang Fei who seemed very afraid and he couldn't help but agree with Shen Yun's assessment with a faint smile. "What," He said in surprise, "Wang Fei, you broke through too?"

Wang Fei flashed his signature embarrassed smile and said, "Yes, just a while ago." He raised his right palm and Jing could see a chicken-egg-sized layer of gold armor there.

'Shit,' Jing thought. 'Now that I think about it, how should I explain the reason mine is so big?' Relative to Wang Fei, his was bigger. It could envelop his whole right fist completely, and even protect most of his wrist and some of his forearm.

"Looks cool!" He praised. "Although it's small now, you need to learn how to use it." He turned to Shen Yun and asked, "You know where they live, correct?"

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"Yes," Shen Yun impatiently said walking to the door, "Let's just go, I want to break through too."

Jing stole a quick glance at the top of his bed, and once he saw that everything was in order, the trio left.

The male living quarters were laid out like a residential neighborhood. Rows of wooden houses separated by small spaces where trees and shrubbery grew. Jing and company's dorm was the second house of the very outermost row, and they were following that deserted path into the very edge of that row as that was where Shen Yun had told them one of them lived.

It was already late into the night, way past midnight Jing reasoned from how quiet everything was. This in turn made him feel even more of an outlaw, something that excited him to no end.

"Are you sure nothing will happen to us?" He asked Shen Yun.

"Nothing happened to them," Shen Yun said, "So, nothing will happen to us."

"I don't know," mumbled Wang Fei. "If they report, it'll be tricky. We might find ourselves in the prison deserted Qi."

"What's that?" Jing whispered afraid they might attract some attention as he looked around the desolate sect.

"It's a prison in the disciplinary hall where Qi can't pass through." Wang Fei said. "So, you just stay there and you can't even get stronger. It's a very good deterrent because most disciples know that if they were left behind, things will be difficult for them."

"Ah, I see..." Jing said with a wince imagining that happening to him. "It would indeed be terrible."

'Especially for me,' He thought. 'There is still an event tomorrow. I need to wake up early, go to the scripture hall, get some new cultivation techniques, and start learning them on the battle stimulation. Though I only have two tries left. Fuck.'

"Shut up," Shen Yun snarled at them. "We need to go now."

"You shut up," Jing yelled back. "Don't talk to me like that." He then smiled, approached Shen Yun, and threatened with a tease, "Or I'll beat you up. Don't forget who's stronger now buddy boy."

Shen Yun's eyes narrowed, "Wait until I break through and I'll show you a thing or two about respect."

'Bitch...' Jing thought incredulously. "You're going to teach me about respect?" He questioned with a smile.

Shen Yun acted as if he didn't hear what he said and walked toward the wide open door. The duo followed after him, and they soon found themselves in the familiar wooden hallway that had four rooms and a flight of stairs leading to the first level.

Coincidentally, Shen Yun stood in the very first room, just like theirs, and pointed inside.

Jing made a gesture for him to stop and approached the closed thick wooden door. He pushed his ears against it, but he wasn't able to hear anything. Closing his eyes, he paid attention to his unfocused spiritual domain. Unfortunately, in a three-meter radius, he was only able to sense the two boys behind him and a procession of ants in the ground carrying a long thick cockroach.

Using the Spiritual Qi inside of his body, he began navigating one meter beyond his spiritual domain as that was his limit for now. Whenever his Qi passes through something, a tremendous amount of information will be relayed to him. Wood, wood, wood, leather. Studying the shapes he knew that he was feeling the ground, chairs, and finally the empty shoes of someone.

*Knock-Knock*

He knocked on the door and waited with his spiritual Qi ready before the door. He turned to look at the two, indicating for them to ready themselves. They nodded back solemnly.

After a few seconds, Jing could feel that the wood he was sensing began to slightly tremble.

Someone was coming!

He moved his spiritual Qi upward, and true enough, he sensed the approach of a person. His eyes widened, '1st stage Qi Condensation,' He thought. 'Shit.'

He swiftly left the door and began signaling for the two to cancel the mission for now as they were wholly unprepared for that. They needed to regroup and talk about this change. However, it was already too late, the door creaked open and an enraged voice echoed, "You!!"

Turning around, Jing saw the man Yu Yong who he had hit with the bag. His jaws were clenched shut, and when he spoke once again, he noticed the gap of a missing tooth.

Without saying anything, Yu Yong stomped in their direction with tightly clenched fists. Shen Yun unaware of what was happening walked forward, but a punch to the right shoulder sent him disorientedly flying back. Wang Fei realized what was happening and stepped back, letting the Qi Condensation cultivators fight amongst themselves.

Jing quickly left the hallway behind and ran outside of the dorm. When he turned around and saw Yu Yong following after him with an enraged expression, he felt both intimidated and overwhelmed.

Memories of the lowest moments of the past week flashed before his eyes. How he was always beaten down and humiliated in almost every fight, especially by the boy before him. Realizing that the both of them were in the same realm made his previous confidence crumble. The confidence that was built on his new strength, and the fact that he expected his enemy to be a mere Body Tempering.

As Jing stood there with a blank face processing a multitude of emotions, Yu Yong arrived and swung a masterful practiced kick that raced through their air aiming for Jing's face.

Jing's brain suddenly lit up with new waves of information as his spiritual domain processed the change in his three-meter radius. The vibrations of the wind as they were split by the approaching leg reminded him of the previous battle with the terrifying monsters. His left forearm swiftly moved and blocked its passage. Underneath the loose sleeve of his robe, his forearm flashed with a golden glow as his inner gold that was Qi-abundant coated it.

A dull sang rang out as Yo Yong's feet made contact with his forearm, followed by a wretched scream as the boy fell down, clutching his feet as he squirmed in the ground with a guttural pain.

Jing knew why he reacted in such an extreme manner, his sensitive senses were able to detect a crack once the two objects met one another. Even more strangely was that he was able to sense the impressive rebound properties his inner gold had. Other than its impressive and solid-state, it was able to push back most of the force that was put into it.

As he looked down at the disciple who was going through waves of pain, Jing felt astonished. His crumbling confidence jolted back up, and he slowly approached him with a stupefied face that was gradually shifting.

"You didn't expect that now, did you?" He questioned with a smug look that masked most of his nerves as he shook his head in mock disappointment. "You were too lucky to beat me there. But now," He said. "It's time to pay back what you did in that arena." He crouched down, and without even using his inner gold, he clenched his right fist until his knuckles turned white and punched Yu Yong in the nose.

A stream of blood immediately began to descend as Yo Yong's eyes watered, but Jing could still detect the relentless spirit that looked back at him with rage, something that deeply irked him.

"Do you know?!" He mumbled through closed teeth. "How humiliating that was for me? I did nothing wrong other than look at you wrong and yet you destroyed most of my mouth in front of hundreds of disciples." The more he talked the angrier he became as memories of that moment flashed through his mind once again. This time, his knuckles were painted gold, and his target was the disciple's mouth.

A bang echoed as a fountain of blood and saliva shot up into the air. Yo Yong's violent squirm on the ground lessened considerably and his eyes turned less focused after the punch.

Jing bit his lips as he was still lost in thoughts of that incident, and he sent another gold-coated punch to the disciple's mouth. The teeth that were previously unstable and shaky now fell down one after the other. Yet, the fury in Jing's heart wasn't soothed at all.

A sudden thought barged in, 'He's just a kid, and you're 23!' But he quickly squashed it down. 'Fuck him and his age.' What the disciple did to him was unforgivable. He could still remember his smug look before the fight, and how vicious he was as he mercilessly pummeled him in front of all of these people. If Teacher Li hadn't intervened, he would have been left much, much worse.

Jing's left hand coiled Yo Yong's collar robe into a firm grasp, and their eyes met. Jing's gaze was cold, uncaring, and held an intense urge to hurt, whereas the other had a more defeated look under his pain-filled eyes. He snapped his tongue in anger and punched him once again. He stood up and glanced down at his bloody efforts without the slightest shred of joy nor pride, just even more fury. If his self-control wasn't up to par he would have continued his beating, but he knew that that would have left him even more angry, and it risked killing the disciple. Something that he wasn't planning on doing.

Wang Fei had already walked out with Shen Yun's arms around his shoulders as he helped him walk out.

"You guys wait here," Jing said and entered inside. In the hallway, he was met with three other disciples, all of whom had participated in his and Wang Fei's ambush. "We met again," he coldly said, and when his spiritual sense glazed over them and noticed their lack of meridians, he grinned.