After months of training, it was finally time for The Great Trial of Water Crest to open up.

Throughout this time, Li Lang, Wei Ping, and Long Yi had each made great strides in their training. They had focused entirely on their respective crafts, but that didn’t mean they had neglected their cultivation.

On this very important day, the trio got up early, before dawn. They headed straight for the headquarters of The Orchid Covenant. When they arrived, they could spot a small gathering of people just outside.

Many of them were adults, so it was apparent they weren’t the main characters for today. The Great Trial of Water Crest only allowed cultivators under the bone age of fifteen to enter. That was why the main characters of the day were all those who secured a spot in the pocket realm.

That meant all the adults nearby were here as spectators. They merrily discussed the upcoming event together as Li Lang’s group approached.

“I wonder how long members of our Orchid Covenant will be able to stay this time? In the previous decade, Jin Ting managed to stay there for a full three years. It put him in a respectable eighth place overall among all the organizations within the Luminescent Domain.”

“Hmm, I think it should be at least two years. None of our members had made waves as big as Jin Ting did back in the day.”

“That’s only because the other organizations have had a bumper harvest these past few years.”

“Yeah, no kidding. It isn’t easy to stand out when there is the young princess from the Nightmoon Valley, the Qi arts prodigy Tang Yulian from the Eternal Wave sect, and that Liang Po from the Myriad Bones Pavilion around in the same generation.”

Each person there was well-informed. It wasn’t surprising that someone in the crowd soon recognized Li Lang and his group.

Almost half a year had passed since their appearance in the annual tournament. Li Lang and his companions had grown even more. While the size ratio of Li Lang’s head to his body had reduced, their group still drew a lot of attention.

Wei Ping was wearing his eye-catching mask, while Long Yi had grown even taller than six feet. His youthful face remained, but one would be hard-pressed to tell if he was an adult or not. As for Li Lang, the young teenager was carrying a bulky pill-furnace on his back. It was hard to miss him.

One of the cultivators from the crowd immediately leaped out to greet them.

“Li Lang, Wei Ping, Long Yi, correct?”

The trio nodded.

“Good, follow me. There is still some time until we depart, but the Head Councilman wants everyone to gather first.”

The crowd quickly parted ways for the group to pass, and they soon entered into one of the large halls within the headquarters.

Inside, several other teenagers were already there. They had already formed cliques, making them hard to approach. Some of them were familiar faces, having participated in the same tournament to secure their spot.

Li Lang led his friends toward an open area and kept to his own group as well.

“These will be our allies, right? Shouldn’t we go get to know them?” Long Yi suggested.

“There are no allies this time around. Weren’t you listening when the Head Councilman explained it to us?”

“Umm…that was quite a long time ago. I don’t remember.”

Li Lang sighed at the response.

“The trials within the pocket realm are taken alone. No one will be able to help you but yourself.”

“S-still, it doesn’t h-hurt to greet them,” Wei Ping interjected. “We w-will still share living space w-with them. It’ll be u-useful to share our e-experiences.”

“You are right. Let’s see who we have here…”

Li Lang began analyzing those around him.

Right off the bat, he could tell two of the groups in the back were elitists. They seemed to have an arrogant air around them, and their cultivation was also the highest. Li Lang suspected they were the group that had secured their spots from the auction.

Li Lang knew better than to try to get friendly with them, so he searched among the familiar faces.

As he expected, Liang Po wasn’t here as he returned to his own organization. However, all his other competitors were present. The only person whose name he recognized was the one who had tried to ambush him.

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“There’s Sheng Haoran. I doubt he’ll want to be friendly with us, though.”

“Yeah, no kidding. You beat his friend to secure your spot here. It’d be a miracle if he was friendly with you.”

After taking another look, Li Lang finally decided to chat with a lanky boy standing alone in the corner.

Unfortunately for him, he had taken too long to decide. Before he made it over to the boy, the doors slammed open, and an imposing figure walked in.

The current Head Councilman of The Orchid Conclave, Liu Haiping, had arrived.

“Good morning everyone, and welcome. I’m happy you all seemed to have made it.”

“Greetings, Head Councilman Liu!” various voices resounded throughout the room.

“Good, good. Now, before we head off, I wanted to say a few things. I’m sure you’ve all done your preparations and are excited, but let this old man have his moment.”

No one made a sound, so the Head Councilman continued.

“I’m sure all of you have ambitious goals in mind, heading off to the pocket realm today. That is good. Young men should be ambitious. However, I want to remind everyone that ambition is no excuse for impatience. Please remember your own limits.”

“Yes, Head Councilman!” several voices responded in unison while several others followed after a brief delay.

Liu Haiping had to hold out a hand to quiet them down.

“I want to remind you all that you will be representing The Orchid Covenant when you head out today. There will be other talented youngsters from other organizations. You may not be friends with all of them, but try your best not to make enemies. That is all. Does anyone have any questions?”

Silence filled the room for several seconds before the Head Councilman nodded.

“Very well, then. Let us head out. Follow me!”

Liu Haiping soon led them outside to their Skyberth, under the view of the onlookers.

Like Li Lang had come to expect, the man waved his hand to materialize their ride. However, it wasn’t the usual Skyrunner they were used to. Instead, it was a huge wooden ship. It almost took up the entire space of the Skyberth, as it was made specifically to fit.

Li Lang surmised it could easily hold over a hundred people, and he was right.

A dozen protectors of the organization accompanied the thirty or so adolescent cultivators. They quickly boarded the large boat at the behest of Liu Haiping, and it soon took to the skies.

“This… is a Skyrunner?” Li Lang couldn’t help but mutter.

“N-not exactly, boss,” Wei Ping answered. “Woodsmiths c-call this a Skyvessel. It’s much m-more complicated to produce, and…”

Contrary to his normal self, Wei Ping began babbling about the Skyvessel. It spoke to how passionate he had become about Woodsmithing. He normally only spoke a few lines before stopping because he was self-conscious about annoying the other party with his stutter.

Li Lang quickly jotted down another topic to research in the future. For the past few months, he had been compiling a list. He wanted to prepare ahead of time. The pocket realm he would be venturing into would be full of things to investigate. It was almost as if he had prepared for a long research session.

The large ship traveled as fast, if not faster than most Skyrunners. That was understandable given all the high-level experts on board.

The participants entering the pocket realm were quickly shown to their rooms, but most idled on the deck.

This inevitably led to Li Lang spotting the previous lanky boy he had been trying to talk to. The three of them walked over. The boy spotted them and watched them approach with a neutral expression.

“Hey, there. I’m Li Lang, and these two are Wei Ping and Long Yi.”

“I know who you three are,” the young man responded in a murmur.

“Hmm? What did you say?” Long Yi stepped forward, pointing his left ear at the boy.

“...What do you three want?”

“We wanted to see if you wanted to share information about the trials while we’re inside.”

The lone boy fell silent for a few moments before shaking his head.

“It won’t help. The records all say each trial is carefully attuned to each participant. The spiritual artifact inside won’t make it that easy for us.”

Having heard this young man seemed to be more knowledgeable about the pocket realm than they had thought, Wei Ping quickly stepped forth to pester him.

Like that, the lone boy was surrounded, forced to chat with the trio.

The saving grace was that it made the trip feel short. Before the sky even darkened, they had already arrived.

The place they hovered above was a simple plot of grassy plains. There were a few houses in the surroundings, but the most attention drawing structure was the giant rectangular blocks of stone. There were a total of four of them, and each of them was an equal distance apart.

Right beneath the stone pillars were numerous tiny dots. There was already a large crowd down there. Each group wore their uniform, which made it appear like neatly colored blocks from above.

The colossal Skyvessel landed just off to the side of this crowd. Several other similar vessels were already parked beside their respective organizations.

The participants were quickly ushered out, which included Li Lang. The trio looked around curiously and exchanged glances the moment they recognized the robes of the group adjacent to them.

Perhaps it was because they were from the same city. The Bloodwave Conclave were right next to them, as denoted by their red and black robes.

However, within all the red and black robes, there were two figures amongst them wearing grey robes.

As the trio followed along with the rest of the juniors from The Orchid Covenant, they couldn’t help but gasp when they recognized the two people there.

One of them was the man who had brought them into the Demonic Cultivator Territory from Polarity City, Jian Beiyun. He was someone who had helped them, so he could be referred to as a benefactor.

That couldn’t be said for the other person they spotted. It was a young girl who Li Lang recognized very well. She was Ling Xue, the girl who had colluded with the demonic cultivators who had assaulted Spirit Grove. She was also the reason why he had been banished from the sect.