One hour later, the young warriors of the nine counties of Lingxi all entered a mountain range fraught with danger. Although it was only the outer periphery of the Tianmo Ridge, they could still hear the howling of ferocious beasts at any time.

  One thousand five hundred and thirty-seven young warriors were like a handful of sand thrown into the ocean, disappearing completely in an instant.

  "You are a cultivator of the Mystic Extreme Realms Lesser Extreme Stage, and you must hunt and kill forty Second-Grade Lower-Ranked Feral Beasts to pass the first round of the examination. Dont you feel even the slightest bit anxious?" Zhang Ruochen had his hands behind his back, stepped on fallen leaves, and glanced at Zi Yan who was walking in front of him.

  Zi Yans slender figure stood tall, her hands grasping an ancient sword, her gaze fixed on the towering ancient trees surrounding her. "Killing forty fierce beasts is exhausting," she said. "Those young warriors from the four corners of the land, who hunt and seize the beast eyes, arent they even more exhausted?"

  Zhang Ruochen stared deeply at Zi Qian and said, "You should know that this mountain range covers a vast area, all the warriors are scattered in all directions, its not easy to find the warriors from the four counties."

  Zi Yan said: "I have my own way"

  Suddenly, Zi Yans ears moved slightly.

  With a whoosh, she transformed into a purple afterimage and flew out, traversing over thirty feet in distance.

  "Whoosh"

  Her arm shook, a sword light flashed in her hand, and she stabbed fiercely into the ground.

  Underground, a savage beast let out a miserable howl.

  A spring of blood gushed up from the ground.

  Just as the blood was about to stain her arm, she turned her five fingers and moved her pace, with a speed like flowing clouds and water, and put the sword back into its scabbard.

  The whole process takes place between the spark and the flint.

  Draw sword, stab sword, sheathe sword, all in one breath, no fancy moves, not a single drag.

  Zhang Ruochens eyes narrowed, staring at Zi Cai, thinking to himself that she had already cultivated her sword intent to the realm of "Sword Following Heart Middle Stage", and seemed not far from reaching the realm of "Sword Following Heart High Stage".

  "Boom"

  Zhang Ruochen stomped one foot on the ground, channeling his true energy into the earth through the sole of his foot. With a loud rumble, the soil and rocks split open, and a corpse of an iron-armored man-eating rat, about the size of a washbasin, was shaken out of the ground.

  Iron-plated man-eating mouse, second-class inferior savage beast, its whole body is covered with scales, and its teeth are as long as three inches, sharp like a knife blade. Because of its huge appetite, it can eat a living person at once, so it is called the man-eating mouse.

  Generally speaking, a martial artist in the early stages of Xuanji Realm would likely be caught off guard and have their legs bitten off by an Iron Armor Corpse Mouse if they were to encounter one, before they even had time to react.

  A warrior, if both legs are bitten off, is basically a dead end, and theres no way to escape.

  Zi Yans sword pierced through the iron-plated cannibal rats carotid artery with precision.

  "Zi Gu Niang has incredibly keen hearing, the Iron Armor Cannibal Mouse over thirty zhang underground couldnt escape her ears." Zhang Ruo Chen indeed felt it was inconceivable, and secretly became vigilant in his heart. Zi Qians origins seemed to be not ordinary, absolutely not a loose cultivator.

  Without rigorous training, a martial artist at the Xuanji Boundarys Lower Extreme wouldnt possibly have such keen hearing.

  "Everyone has their own secrets, nothing to be surprised about. Ninth Prince, you can even catch a poisonous bee sting, surely you have some unknown secrets too?" Zi Yan asked with an imperceptible probing tone.

  Zhang Ruochen naturally couldnt reveal the secrets of the spatial domain, but instead gave a faint smile and nodded lightly.

  "Hiss"

  Zi Yan held the war sword in her hand, and with a swing of her arm, she dug out the two eyeballs of the iron-armored man-eating mouse. She put the two eyeballs into a half-foot-long box.

  To be aware of it, a martial artist in the Xuanji Boundarys Lesser Realm must hunt and kill forty Second-Order Lower Savage Beasts to pass the test.

  The warrior cannot take away the corpses of all forty fierce beasts, and can only dig out the iron armor of the man-eating mouses pair of eyes to prove that he has hunted down the fierce beast.

  Zi Yan dug out a small piece of spiritual meat, about the size of a walnut, from the body of the Iron Armor Cannibal Rat.

  That piece of spiritual meat was only one or two catties in weight, its entire body snow-white and crystal clear, without the slightest hint of bloodiness, but instead emitting a faint fragrance.

  She held the spiritual meat and glanced at Zhang Ruocheng, asking: "My cultivation has already reached the Small Extreme Realm of the Mysterious Extreme Boundary. Eating one or two more spiritual meats wont help me improve my cultivation much. You can have it."

  After she finished speaking, she threw the spiritual meat in her hand to Zhang Ruochen.

  Zhang Ruochen didnt hesitate, catching the spiritual meat and swallowing it directly.

  Swallowing the spiritual meat, it was quickly completely digested.

  Zhang Ruochen felt his spirit become extremely full, his whole body filled with power, the meridians in his body completely relaxed and open, even the flow of true energy accelerated by several degrees.

  Zi Yan walked ahead, saying as she went: "A martial artist who has just entered the early stages of Xuanji Realm, after consuming about three catties of Ling Rou, can break through to the middle stage of Xuanji Realm."

  "You can become the number one on the Yellow Rank in the Yellow Extreme Realm, and your martial body will definitely surpass that of others in the same realm. If you want to break through to the next realm, it will also consume more resources. I estimate that youll need to eat five kilograms of spiritual meat to break through to the middle stage of the Profound Extreme Realm."

  Zi Yan thought that Zhang Ruochen had just reached the initial stage of Xuanji Realm, but she didnt know that Zhang Ruochen had already reached the peak of the initial stage of Xuanji Realm.

  Zhang Ruochen estimated that even with his current cultivation level, he would need to consume at least ten kilograms of spiritual meat in order to have a chance of breaking through to the middle stage of the Xuanji Realm.

  His martial arts skills were even more powerful than what Zǐ Qiān had imagined.

  Suddenly, Zǐ Qiān stopped in her tracks, slightly crouched down, stretched out two slender jade fingers, picked up a fragmented leaf, put it to the tip of her nose and took a slight sniff. A look of joy appeared on her face as she said: "This is the aura of a warrior from the Four Sides County, he passed by here just a moment ago. This leaf was trampled by him."

  "Have you learned the tracking technique?"

  "Ive learned a bit," Zi Yan said.

  Zhang Ruochen said: "How did you know that was the aura of a warrior from the Four Sides State?"

  Zi Yan said, "Last night, while you were practicing in the martial arts arena, I snuck into the midst of the warriors from the four directions and recorded the auras of all 667 people from the four directions."

  "The breath of six hundred and sixty-seven people, you can all distinguish clearly. Even a warrior at the Tianji boundary doesnt have such ability." Zhang Ruochen said.

  Zi Yan said: "Dont you believe"

  "Unless you are a descendant of the saints, with the blood of the saints flowing through your veins, and have undergone rigorous training after birth, it is possible to possess such strong auditory and olfactory senses."

  Zi Yan said, "You really hit the nail on the head. One of my ancestors was indeed a saint. Unfortunately, after his death, our family declined rapidly, and now Im the only one left in the entire family."

  Zi Yan said with a half-true and half-false tone.

  "I see." Zhang Ruochen nodded lightly.

  If Zi Yan is indeed a descendant of the Saint, its possible that she has cultivated a special physique and possesses some powers beyond those of ordinary people.

  Zi Yan and Zhang Ruochen sped up towards the front, determined to catch up with that warrior from the four-cornered county.

  Zi Yan is a cultivation of the Xuanji boundarys small extreme position, and its speed is naturally very fast, reaching 36 meters per second.

  What she didnt expect was that Zhang Ruochens speed wasnt much slower than hers, reaching around 34 meters per second, closely following behind her.

  "Awesome, with just the initial cultivation of the Xuanji Boundary, his speed is already so fast. If he reaches the Small Extreme Position of the Xuanji Boundary, his speed will definitely be faster than mine." Zi Qing thought to herself.

  The speed of a typical Xuanji Realm martial artist is about 36 meters per second. However, Zǐ Qiān was much faster than the average Xuanji Realm martial artist and only held back in front of Zhāng Ruò Chén, not using his full speed.

  They soon caught up with the young warrior.

  That young warrior is fighting a second-class inferior beast.

  Zhang Ruochen stopped in his tracks, gazing into the distance. "Indeed, he is a warrior from one of the four major states, and his cultivation should have reached the late stage of the Xuanji Realm. Hes definitely a powerful individual."

  Zhang Ruochen had some impression of that young martial artist, who was one of the young masters among the martial artists of the four-party county.

  Zi Yans five senses were indeed very powerful, far surpassing those of ordinary people.

  Zhang Ruochen could only utilize the power of his Martial Soul to deploy a spatial domain in order to compare with her.

  The battle ended quickly, and the young warrior from the four-sided county cut off the neck of the second-stage Silver Dragon Lion with one knife, dug out the two eyeballs of the Silver Dragon Lion.

  That young warrior from the four-sided county country pinched two eyeballs, his face filled with joy, and muttered to himself: "Ive collected two more eyes, plus this silver dragon lion head, Ive already killed three second-rate barbarian beasts."

  Suddenly, he seemed to have sensed something and quickly put away the two barbaric beast eyeballs. He picked up his three-piece true martial treasure-level battle knife and said in a deep voice: "Who else is not coming out immediately?"

  Zhang Ruochen walked out.

  That warrior from the four-sided county, upon seeing Zhang Ruochen, revealed a look of extreme joy on his face and laughed loudly: "The 9th prince of Yunwu County is really great, I didnt think my luck would be so good."

  Zhang Ruochen said: "Youre so happy to see me?"

  "Your Highness, the Ninth Prince, you dont know yet, do you? Hao Xing Prince has already set a price. As long as they kill you and bring your head to him, they can exchange it for a fifth-grade True Martial Treasure. Now you know how valuable your head is, right? Now you know why Im so excited?" The warrior from the Four Sides County laughed.

  Zhang Ruochen slightly furrowed his brow and said, "Youre so confident that you can kill me?"

  That warrior from the four-sided county laughed even louder and said, "You can defeat Shen Mengxi with one move, but I can kill Shen Mengxi with one move. You should know that I am a martial artist in the late stage of Xuanji."

  "Since its come to this, then lets fight!"

  "You actually dont run away. Since youre so confident, then Ill let you know the difference between the early stage of Xuanji and the later stage of Xuanji."

  That warrior from the four-sided county and state injected his true energy into the war knife in his hand, immediately activating the five inscriptions on the war knife. A layer of scarlet flames was emitted from the surface of the knife body.

  He swung his battle knife, a wave of heat burst out from the blade, and swept up the fallen leaves on the ground.

  "Hehe"

  Those fallen leaves suddenly ignited spontaneously, like a fire rain suspended in mid-air.

  A piece of flame leaves gathered together, forming a fire dragon, rushing towards Zhang Ruochen.

  Zhang Ruochen had one hand behind his back, and the palm of the other hand condensed a thick true energy, slapping out a palm to strike out an invisible air wave.

  "The barbarian elephant returns to its field"

  Dragon Elephant Palm, Third Palm.

  Affected by the palm power, the fallen leaves on the ground also flew up and swirled in the air. Hundreds of thousands of leaves gathered into a five-meter-high shape of a savage elephant, rushing towards the opposite side.