Practicing Archery, Heading to the Northern Cang Realm!

This arrow was formed entirely from compressed, deep-blue spiritual energy, and its tip glinted with a chilling radiance that made one's heart tremble.

"Go!"

Bing Tianxiao gave a low shout and loosened his fingers.

Whoosh!

The deep-blue arrow transformed into a streak of light and shot forward, but before it had flown fifty meters, its shaft began to tremble violently.

"Not good!"

Bing Tianxiao's expression changed. Tread Snow Without Trace instantly activated beneath his feet, and his figure shifted sideways like a ghost.

Boom!

The arrow exploded on its own in midair. Shattered ice instantly swept outward, turning several enormous chunks of floating ice nearby into sieves.

"Cough, cough..."

Bing Tianxiao emerged from the icy mist and complained with a foul look on his face:

"Good grief, this Divine Technique really isn't easy to practice. If the spiritual energy compression is even a little off, it turns into a self-destructing infantryman."

Unwilling to accept defeat, he raised his bow again.

The second time, the arrow did fly to the ice mountain before its target.

But before it could pierce through, the force of its "internal explosion" erupted prematurely, merely leaving a layer clinging to the mountain's surface.

The third time, he compressed the spiritual energy too fiercely in pursuit of stability, and it could not explode...

"Again! I refuse to believe this. I could perform all kinds of tricks without spiritual energy on the Spirit Road. Now that I have spiritual energy, am I really going to be stumped by this?"

Bing Tianxiao's stubbornness flared up.

Over the next three days, screams and explosions rose one after another throughout the Cold Ice Secluded Valley.

On the third day.

Bing Tianxiao stood quietly in the center of a floating chunk of ice, his eyes slightly closed. The great bow in his hands was drawn into a full moon.

Hum—

An arrow even deeper in color than before, with a hint of black-blue, slowly condensed.

Within the arrow, countless tiny ice crystals spun at a terrifying speed.

"Extreme Ice, Star Breaker."

Bing Tianxiao suddenly opened his eyes, and a faint, ghostly light swept across them.

Bang!

The instant the arrow left the string, it actually carved a faint white mark through the void.

A hundred meters away stood a towering mountain of profound ice.

The arrow soundlessly sank into it without making any impact, as if it had always grown there.

One second, two seconds.

"Explode."

Bing Tianxiao softly uttered a single word.

Rumble!

More than a hundred holes suddenly appeared deep within the originally indestructible mountain of profound ice.

It was clear that the edge of these shattered ice crystals was sharp enough to cut through the defenses of a Heaven Integration Realm expert.

"Whew..."

Bing Tianxiao let out a long breath, dropped onto the floating ice, and gasped heavily.

Looking at the mountain peak that had completely vanished, he chuckled smugly.

"This is what 'Star Breaker' is supposed to be."

Bing Tianxiao was just about to strike while the iron was hot and figure out the move Annihilation Halberd as well.

The setting sun gradually sinking on the horizon suddenly caught the corner of his eye, jolting his entire body.

"Good grief! I got too engrossed in practicing!"

He slapped his thigh and calculated the time.

Six whole days had already passed since he entered the valley!

"Dean Tai Cang said the token would remain effective for seven days. If I arrive too late, that girl might..."

At the thought of Luo Li, how could Bing Tianxiao remain seated?

He hurriedly put away Ice Crystal Annihilation, transformed into a deep-blue afterimage, and used his newly mastered Tread Snow Without Trace.

Before long, he had returned to the main hall of the Bing Family.

Inside the main hall, Bing Xuanming was discussing family affairs with Elder Bai and Elder Hei.

When Bing Tianxiao burst in, Bing Xuanming frowned and was just about to reprimand him.

But when he sensed the much more refined and domineering chill around his grandson, a trace of astonishment flashed through his eyes.

"This boy... He figured out the basics of those two Divine Techniques in just six days?"

"Grandfather! Elder Bai, Elder Hei!"

Bing Tianxiao had no time to catch his breath. He cupped his fists and said, "Time is pressing. Your grandson is about to set off for the Northern Cang Spirit Academy."

Bing Xuanming set down his teacup and fell silent for a moment, a complicated emotion surfacing in his eyes.

There was gratification, but also worry...

"The Northern Cang Spirit Academy is nothing like home. You must be careful."

"Heh heh, Grandfather, don't worry. I'm most afraid of dying. If I can't win, I'll definitely run faster than anyone else."

Bing Tianxiao returned to his usual mischievous grin. "As for you, take your cultivation slowly. Don't suffer cultivation deviation. Your grandson still has to take you back to the Ice Spirit Clan!"

"Get lost! You impudent brat!"

Bing Xuanming cursed with a smile, then waved his hand. "Go. A fledgling eagle must eventually leave its nest. Remember, you are the hope of the Cold Abyss Branch. If you suffer any grievances, don't keep them bottled up. Our family may have declined, but this old man's bones are still strong!"

"Got it!"

Bing Tianxiao nodded heavily and said no more.

He took from his robes an ancient-looking token radiating a faint fluorescence. The words "Northern Cang" were engraved on it, and faint spatial fluctuations emanated from within.

It was the Special Recruitment Token personally bestowed by Dean Tai Cang of the Northern Cang Spirit Academy.

He took one last look at his snow-covered homeland, which remained buried in snow all year round, inhaled deeply, and suddenly exerted force with all five fingers.

Crack!

The token shattered instantly. A dazzling silver radiance shot into the sky, directly enveloping Bing Tianxiao's body.

Space violently twisted at that moment, transforming into a gigantic vortex.

"Northern Cang Spirit Academy, here I come!"

Following his somewhat excited shout, the silver light contracted, and Bing Tianxiao's figure vanished from where he stood, leaving behind only a string of laughter echoing through the cold wind.

Elder Hei looked at the empty main hall and snorted. "That brat."

Elder Bai stroked his beard and laughed heartily. "That boy... He's always been like this, from childhood to adulthood..."

At the same time, Mu Chen, who had helped his father unify the Northern Spirit Realm and destroy the Willow Domain, also crushed his token.

Moreover, since the Willow Domain had still entered the Black Nether Abyss just as in the original story and brought out the remnant soul of the Nine Nether Sparrow,

Mu Chen still gained an additional Trump Card!

A dizzying sensation of spatial compression swept over him. Even Bing Tianxiao, with his current strength, felt his head grow faint.

"This space-transmission experience gets a bad review! An absolute bad review!"

Bing Tianxiao grumbled as he felt the sensation of emptiness beneath his feet disappear.

Hum—

The silver light before his eyes faded, and the roaring tide of voices surged into his ears.

Bing Tianxiao steadied himself and looked around, discovering that he was standing on an incomparably magnificent bluestone platform.

Before he knew it, several hundred people had already gathered around him...

Moreover, pillars of light representing new arrivals continued to appear.

Suddenly, a soft murmur rang out from the center of the platform.

Bing Tianxiao raised his eyes.

He saw a radiance condense above a stone tablet before transforming into the hazy image of an elderly man.

"Little fellows, I am one of the Monitors of the Northern Cang Spirit Academy's Trial Ground..."

The elderly light-shadow looked kindly at the many young men and women on the platform. "Next, I will tell you the rules here..."

Bing Tianxiao picked at his ear.

The old man's explanation was roughly this: because there were so many participants in the trial, numbering more than a hundred thousand,

there were four similar Northern Cang Realms.

Each Northern Cang Realm had more than a hundred Reception Platforms, the initial stations where the students were transported in.

The goal was to reach the Northern Cang Hall located at the center of the Northern Cang Realm...

Of course, there were additional requirements.

That was the Rank System: touch the stone tablet to undergo an initial assessment.

The ranks were divided into nine levels.

Someone like Bing Tianxiao, a champion of the Spirit Road and a King Slayer, received a Level Five Core Quota.

The rest were divided into Level Three Seed Quotas and Level One ordinary quotas.