Chapter 146

Time passed.

Ning Chen poured three more rounds into her before finally calling it quits—what a generous man.

By the numbers, Luo Fanshuang had won big.

But judging by her condition…

Ning Chen rose, glancing at the woman sprawled on the bed, still babbling incoherently, her hips twitching.

Well. Hard to say.

He considerately arranged her in the classic “fully bloomed” position before leaving with a flourish, not taking so much as a cloud with him.

The next six trials each had their own charms, but none posed any real challenge.

At last, Ning Chen reached what had originally been the second-to-last stage—now the final one.

Pushing the door open, he found Chu Ning lying in wait, her body adorned with dazzling flames at three key points.

But there was also someone unexpected—Tantai Yuruo.

“You’re here?” He didn’t bother hiding his confusion.

Tantai Yuruo giggled, gazing at the man who, despite countless battles, still stood strong.

“A-Yao and I had an agreement. I supported her in the tournament, and in return, she’d give me thirty percent of her reward time.”

Originally, she had planned to team up with her daughter—after all, they had always fought together.

But when she arrived, she found A-Yao had already been knocked out.

After learning the day’s theme from Attendant Mei, she decided to hitch a ride through the trials.

She wasn’t shameless enough to leech off ordinary disciples, so she set her sights on Chu Ning, a fellow elite.

Though they had never teamed up before and their interactions had been minimal, Chu Ning didn’t reject her.

After all, Chu Ning had a fixed reward—only direct contact counted toward her time, so sharing didn’t affect her.

Plus, she knew her own limits. An extra ally was always welcome.

“I see.” Ning Chen nodded slightly.

Was it the clash of fire spirits and water spirits?

Interesting.

With a light chuckle, Ning Chen stepped forward.

Hah, what did he have to fear?

They always said fire and water were incompatible, but today, he was determined to challenge that elemental reaction.

The two peerless beauties didn’t even need any backstory—their contrasting styles alone spoke volumes just by standing there.

Ning Chen embraced them both.

With one hand, he playfully flicked the twin flames dancing on Chu Ning’s body, while with the other, he greedily drank down Tantai Yuruo’s AD Calcium.

Ah, such was the dull and tedious life of an immortal.

After indulging himself, Ning Chen, driven by curiosity, didn’t jump straight into battle.

Instead, he began studying the mysteries between water and fire.

As an awakened wielder of the Five Elements’ spirits, he discovered that water truly did suppress flames.

When he dripped water from Tantai Yuruo’s bottle onto Chu Ning’s burning belt below, it extinguished the flames instantly.

Even more fascinating, it temporarily suppressed her ability to reignite them naturally.

However, Chu Ning’s “doorbell” had its own unique effect.

If pressed repeatedly—quickly and persistently—it drastically reduced the cooldown of her flames, much like continuously triggering a lighter’s switch.

Tantai Yuruo, on the other hand, wasn’t just useful below—her AD Calcium could also douse fires.

So Ning Chen amused himself, alternating between igniting flames and using her “snowy peaks” as a fire extinguisher.

He repeated the experiment many times.

There’s an old saying: “Play with fire, and you’ll wet the bed.”

But Ning Chen didn’t have that problem—because he simply doused the “jade pot” instead.

……

Stacking the two women together—Chu Ning below, Tantai Yuruo on top—to avoid burns, Ning Chen unleashed his signature technique: Twin Steeds in Tandem.

As Chu Ning’s inner flames grew hotter and more intense, Tantai Yuruo, feeling discomfort, began circulating her spiritual energy, summoning more water elements.

And then—Hiss!

A thick mist erupted between them.

It actually formed steam!!

……

This grand and vigorous trial lasted a full month and a half before finally concluding.

The results were quite satisfying.

Duanmu Yao’s true cultivation had reached the ninth layer of Nascent Soul.

Chu Ning, previously at Golden Core perfection, smoothly broke through to the third layer of Nascent Soul. She could have reached it much earlier, but Liu Ruyan had initially wanted her to shoulder greater responsibilities, so she had deliberately suppressed her progress.

Aside from these two direct disciples—and Tantai Yuruo, who had joined in for fun—the remaining thirty-four female cultivators had also made significant strides.

Luo Fanshuang and Jiang Yan, relying on “gifts” and “stick-assisted cultivation,” not only greatly enhanced their aptitudes but also reached the second layer of Nascent Soul. Their progress now rivaled that of the direct disciples.

They were the dark horses of the group.

Lin Chun and He Xiaoxiao, though more conventional, leveraged their earlier “more food, more gains” advantage to forcefully push themselves to the third and second layers of Nascent Soul, respectively.

In total, eighteen of them successfully broke through to the Nascent Soul realm, while the rest, even if they didn’t fully ascend, reached at least the ninth layer of Golden Core.

In terms of ability inheritance, only Luo Fanshuang and Jiang Yan produced miracles. Later, two more golden-tier talents emerged:

One was Zhou Qin’s Innate Alchemy Soul.

The other was Duanmu Yao’s Peerless Iron Body.

But both were innate talents, not something that could be directly exchanged for cultivation or combat power.

Later, Ning Chen shared his vision of creating a special sect organization with Liu Ruyan.

Within days, a group called “The Thirty-Six Heavenly Stars” was established among the inner sect’s female disciples, quickly gaining fame.

Without exception, this organization only accepted inner disciples who had undergone trials in the sacred land.

Rankings were based on post-trial combat strength.

Luo Fanshuang was named Heavenly Chief Star.

Jiang Yan was Heavenly Might Star.

Next were Lin Chun, He Xiaoxiao, and so on.

Since the two direct disciples were excluded, the group currently had only thirty-four members.

The organization planned to expand to one hundred and eight members.

Rankings were fluid—strength determined position, with the strongest at the top.

Correspondingly, Ning Chen also provided benefits.

Those in the Heavenly Stars division would receive two hours of sacred land trial time per month.

Every six ranks higher, rewards would increase by an additional quarter-hour.

Thus, the top six could enjoy three and a half hours per month, with the chief and deputy leaders receiving an extra quarter-hour each—up to four hours maximum.

The future Earthly Fiends division would have trials once every two months, with similar reward scaling.

Once admitted into Heavenly Stars or Earthly Fiends, disciples would no longer participate in inner sect rankings. New members would be selected in groups of three until all spots were filled—first come, first served.

Once the rules were announced, Qinglian Sect disciples—especially those in the inner sect—were swept up in a new wave of cultivation fervor.

After all, the senior sisters who had undergone the sacred land trials had shown undeniable progress, with over thirty success cases at once. It was impossible not to believe.

Many disciples quietly inquired about the Locked Demon Tower, but the oath-bound trial participants remained tight-lipped.

This only deepened the curiosity of the entire sect.

Just what kind of great opportunity lay within the Locked Demon Tower’s sacred land?