First Peak

"Fine." Qin Yuan finally nodded. "Take your people and leave the core area. Don't let me see you again before the secret realm ends."

Liu Han let out a breath of relief. "Thank you, Senior Brother Qin."

She turned to Lu Yun. "Senior Brother Lu, let's go."

Lu Yun gritted his teeth, but in the end, he still lowered his head and led the people of Third Peak out of the valley in a sorry state.

Before leaving, Liu Han looked back at Qin Yuan. Her gaze held gratitude, complexity, and a trace of indescribable desolation.

She knew that from this day onward, Qin Yuan had already reached a height she could only look up to.

After the people of Third Peak and Seventh Peak left, only the joint team from Fifth Peak and Tenth Peak remained in the valley.

After a brief silence, earthshaking cheers erupted!

"Senior Brother Qin is invincible!"

"He's too strong! He took down Xiong Li in three breaths!"

"The people of Third Peak were scared witless! Hahahaha, it's been years since we've seen them this miserable!"

Zhao Tiezhu was so excited that he danced with joy. "Senior Brother Qin, that move just now was too handsome! Catching a punch with one hand, crippling his arm with a backhand, then sending him flying with a palm strike! Satisfying! So satisfying!"

Zhou De was also brimming with excitement, but he quickly calmed down. "Senior Brother Qin, although Third Peak and Seventh Peak have withdrawn, the true opponents in the core area have yet to arrive."

"First Peak and Second Peak." Qin Yuan nodded. "I know."

No sooner had he spoken than a soft chuckle came from the valley entrance.

"Oh? It seems we arrived at just the right time."

Everyone turned and saw a group of people strolling into the valley.

At their head was a youth who looked only seventeen or eighteen. He wore thin white robes and went barefoot, with delicate features and a lazy smile between his brows. Behind him followed nine Inner Sect disciples, each with a deep and steady aura; the weakest among them was already at the seventh layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

"First Peak's Ye Qingchen," Zhou Ming said in a low, grave voice.

Qin Yuan's gaze settled on Ye Qingchen.

Peak tenth layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm. His aura was perfectly rounded and natural, without a single flaw. What concerned Qin Yuan even more was the faint air of detachment surrounding the youth, as though he did not particularly care about anything before him.

Ye Qingchen stopped thirty yards before Qin Yuan and looked him over, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes. "I didn't expect you to be the one standing here. I thought it would be Lu Yun of Third Peak, or Xiong Li of Seventh Peak."

"They left," Qin Yuan said indifferently.

"Oh?" Ye Qingchen raised a brow. "So Junior Brother Qin drove them away?"

Without waiting for Qin Yuan's reply, he smiled to himself. "Just as well. Lu Yun is too sinister, and Xiong Li is too reckless. There would be no fun in competing with either of them."

He swept his gaze across the valley, pausing briefly in the directions of Hundred Herbs Garden and Spirit Beast Valley before looking back at Qin Yuan. "Junior Brother Qin, what do you intend to do about the resources in this core area?"

"I'm taking them all," Qin Yuan said bluntly.

Ye Qingchen froze for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Junior Brother Qin truly speaks his mind. But good things belong only to those with the ability to claim them. How about this? Let's have a contest. Whoever wins gets the core area. What do you say?"

"Compete in what?" Qin Yuan asked.

A crafty glint flashed through Ye Qingchen's eyes. "Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators compete in spiritual power, physical strength, and techniques—same old tricks, all of it boring. Let's compete in something special—"

He paused, enunciating each word. "Spiritual Sense."

The moment those words fell, the faces of the Fifth Peak disciples changed.

"Spiritual Sense? Isn't that something only Golden Core Realm cultivators possess?!"

"How could Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators have Spiritual Sense? At most, their spiritual perception is a little sharper!"

"Ye Qingchen is cheating! He must have some special method!"

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Zhou Ming hurriedly said, "Senior Brother Qin, you must not agree! Ye Qingchen is the Sect Master's personal disciple. It is said that he condensed the rudiments of Spiritual Sense while still in the Foundation Establishment Realm, and its strength far surpasses others of the same realm! He is deliberately using his advantage to crush you!"

Listening to the surrounding discussion, Ye Qingchen's smile did not change. "If Junior Brother Qin is afraid, you need not compete. But in that case, we shall have to rely on our own abilities to fight over the resources in the core area."

He appeared to have given Qin Yuan a choice, but in truth, he had forced him into a corner.

If Qin Yuan refused, it would be a sign of weakness, and their morale would inevitably suffer in the coming battle for resources.

If he agreed, he would have to face his opponent in the field Ye Qingchen excelled at most, with little hope of victory.

Everyone looked toward Qin Yuan.

Yet Qin Yuan merely nodded. "Fine."

"Senior Brother Qin!" Zhou Ming and the others cried out.

Surprise also flashed through Ye Qingchen's eyes, but it was swiftly replaced by a smile. "Junior Brother Qin is forthright! Then let us set a rule: we will pit our Spiritual Senses against each other. Whoever fails to endure first loses. The losing side will take their people and withdraw from the core area. How about it?"

"Fine."

Having reached an agreement, the two each retreated ten steps and stood facing one another.

Ye Qingchen's smile vanished, his expression turning solemn. He slowly closed his eyes, and a faint glow circulated at his brow—the sign of the rudiments of Spiritual Sense manifesting outwardly.

The surrounding disciples held their breaths, watching the scene nervously.

"Begin."

As Ye Qingchen's voice fell, an invisible force spread outward with him at its center!

It was not the pressure of spiritual power, but a more mysterious, more direct force—Spiritual Sense impact!

The disciples of Fifth Peak and Tenth Peak felt a sharp pain in their heads, as if countless fine needles were piercing their souls. Those with weaker cultivation even groaned, their faces turning pale.

"What powerful Spiritual Sense!"

"This is already close to the Spiritual Sense of a true Golden Core Realm cultivator!"

"Senior Brother Qin is in danger!"

A smile curled at Ye Qingchen's lips. The rudiments of his Spiritual Sense had been personally guided into form by the Sect Master. Its strength was enough to crush every Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator. No matter how strong Qin Yuan was, he could never be his match in the realm of Spiritual Sense.

Yet in the next instant, his smile froze.

Because he sensed that on Qin Yuan's side, a force far more solid, vast, and terrifying than his own Spiritual Sense was slowly awakening!

Qin Yuan had not even closed his eyes.

He merely looked calmly at Ye Qingchen. Then a pale golden radiance lit up at his brow.

The radiance was not dazzling, yet it carried an indescribable majesty. Wherever it passed, Ye Qingchen's Spiritual Sense impact melted away in an instant like ice and snow meeting boiling water!

"Is that... true Spiritual Sense?!" Ye Qingchen cried out in shock.

Impossible!

How could someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm possess true Spiritual Sense?!

Yet he knew the essence of that power all too well—it was exactly the same as the Spiritual Sense of the Sect Master and the elders, only somewhat weaker in intensity!

In the instant Ye Qingchen was stunned, Qin Yuan's Spiritual Sense surged back.

It was not an impact, but a crushing force.

Like a towering mountain slowly pressing down.

Ye Qingchen let out a muffled groan, cold sweat instantly covering his forehead. He desperately urged the rudiments of his Spiritual Sense to resist, but before true Spiritual Sense, that tiny resistance appeared so pale and powerless.

Three breaths.

In merely three breaths, Ye Qingchen's Spiritual Sense defense completely collapsed!

He staggered back three steps, his face white as paper. The light at his brow dimmed, and a thread of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.