The people in the Dragon and Phoenix Hall gradually dispersed.
Each harboring their own thoughts, the thirty-one participants took different passageways back to their wooden lodgings in the bamboo grove.
The atmosphere in the passageways was utterly different from when they had arrived.
The prodigies who had scrambled to attempt the trial before the white cloth were now silent, their footsteps heavier than before.
Azure Dragon Cavern.
Life and death would each rest with the mandate of heaven.
Cave heavens and blessed lands were no kindly places. To call one a blessed land, you first had to come out alive.
Li Xiang walked in the middle of the group. Dijiang was already snoring in his arms, its round little head nestled in the crook of his elbow, utterly oblivious to the danger ahead.
"Brother Li."
A gentle voice sounded behind him.
Li Xiang briefly slowed and turned his head.
Miao Xiyue hurried up, the silver ornaments in her braids gleaming softly beneath the passageway's bronze lamps.
She reached Li Xiang's side, slowed her steps, and walked alongside him.
The Great Treasure Toad lay on her shoulder, blinking its bulging eyes at Dijiang in Li Xiang's arms. Its mouth opened and closed, muttering who knew what.
"Thank you for the second trial."
Miao Xiyue kept her voice so low that only the two of them could hear.
She turned her face slightly away, avoiding Li Xiang's gaze.
"After the nineteenth step, I followed your rhythm for every step. Otherwise, I never would have finished."
"It was no trouble."
Li Xiang's tone was calm, his gaze still fixed ahead.
"Your foundation is solid. You just needed the right angle of approach. A sense of rhythm is already one of your strengths as a Gu Cultivator. All I did was give you a