***
The next day.
The air outside the wooden cabin was still filled with bone-piercing cold.
Yin energy hung thick in the atmosphere, seeping mercilessly into the skin, freezing meridians, making every breath feel short and heavy.
The Yin-gathering formation remained active without pause, forcibly turning this region into a silent, lethal snowfield.
Aside from Gu Qinghe, the other cultivators had no choice but to continuously circulate their qi to protect their bodies.
The slightest lapse in focus would allow the Yin energy to invade from within, causing qi stagnation or even meridian injuries.
For Gu Qinghe, however, the situation was different.
The Silent Yin Extraction method he cultivated made his body far more adaptable to Yin energy.
Instead of rejecting it, his body had grown accustomed to accepting, filtering, and extracting Yin into a purer form of qi.
What was hell for other cultivators had become an ideal training ground for him.
Gu Qinghe slowly opened his eyes.
A loud explosion shook the air outside the cabin. Even the wooden floor beneath his crossed legs trembled faintly.
Gu Qinghe stopped circulating his qi, stood up, and stepped outside.
The explosion came from Li Xiaoman.
The girl was training alone in the distance, qi surging violently around her body as technique after technique was unleashed without pause.
Two other cultivators were also training nearby, though their intensity was far inferior to Li Xiaoman's.
Gu Qinghe did not approach them. He merely glanced at the sky, raised his palm, and caught several snowflakes drifting down slowly.
The snowflakes shimmered faintly, reflecting an abnormal Yin aura.
He channeled a trace of qi.
Qi-flame appeared, enveloping the snowflakes—yet none of them melted.
They remained intact.
"Not natural snow," he murmured softly.
The Yin energy here was already too dense. Even natural phenomena were being distorted by it.
Gu Qinghe clenched his fist.
The Talent Evaluation Trial was only several days away.
He could not stay here with them any longer. Li Xiaoman clearly regarded him as an enemy.
She had targeted him since the first day.
Revealing his techniques in front of her would be no different from laying his cards on the table before the battle even began.
Gu Qinghe summoned his flying sword.
Cold light flashed, and in the next moment, his figure shot away from the wooden-cabin hill.
His departure drew the attention of the other two cultivators, but not Li Xiaoman.
Her focus was entirely on her own training, on increasing her strength and cultivation.
One of the cultivators mentioned Gu Qinghe's departure to her.
Li Xiaoman did not even turn her head.
Gu Qinghe flew deeper, entering a forest of dead trees. The place was silent, nearly devoid of life.
There were no monsters, no other cultivators—only withered trees with blackened branches buried beneath heavy snow.
This was the place he was looking for.
Gu Qinghe landed calmly. He had no doubts about any technique he planned to use.
Every technique he possessed had already been studied, understood, and mastered in theory.
But understanding alone was not enough.
Efficiency.
That was what he wanted to improve.
He formed a hand seal.
Glowing runes appeared behind his back, rotating slowly as they formed a complex, stable pattern. His qi aura surged instantly.
A massive golden palm materialized in the air and slammed forward.
BOOM!
A rocky cliff in the distance shattered instantly. Large boulders were flung outward as cracks spread like a spiderweb.
Gu Qinghe stood upright.
His hands did not tremble. His breathing remained steady. His focus did not waver in the slightest.
That technique was one of the moves he had used to defeat Li Xiaoman before.
But it was not the only one.
Due to his cultivation level, he could not yet use higher-tier techniques.
His options were limited to Spirit-grade techniques and a few relatively simple Earth-grade ones.
Yet Gu Qinghe never underestimated simple techniques.
He trained them one by one—long-range attacks, body-reinforcement techniques, qi manipulation methods.
Every release was measured with precision: qi consumption, activation speed, rune stability.
Not a single bit was wasted.
He was far enough from the wooden-cabin hill. Li Xiaoman did not follow him. No one was watching.
After finishing his technique training, Gu Qinghe sat cross-legged on the thin layer of snow.
The Silent Yin Extraction method activated.
Yin energy in the surroundings moved slowly, drawn toward his body, entering through his pores before being extracted and refined.
The process was silent, nearly impossible to detect from the outside.
***
Days passed.
Gu Qinghe remained in the same place.
He trained, then cultivated. Trained, then cultivated.
The intensity was high, but the rhythm was stable. There was no reckless forcing, no careless steps. Gradually, he began to sense change.
The efficiency of his qi usage increased dramatically.
Each technique now required less qi yet produced greater impact. His control grew finer, sharper.
Gu Qinghe carefully tracked the passage of time, observing the cycles of day and night.
Nineteen days passed.
Yet despite the leap in technique efficiency, his cultivation level remained stagnant.
Late Foundation Establishment.
He was still stuck there when the day of the Talent Evaluation Trial arrived.
Maybe after the trial is over.
He stopped his training routine and flew back to the wooden-cabin hill.
From afar, he saw that Senior Ya Fei had already arrived. Li Xiaoman and the other two cultivators were dressed neatly, standing at attention.
Gu Qinghe landed.
Senior Ya Fei turned—and her expression changed instantly.
The aura radiating from Gu Qinghe was clearly different.
She was shocked.
She had not expected Gu Qinghe to reach the Late Foundation Establishment.
Three months. Only three months since his arrival.
For ordinary cultivators, advancing from Mid to Late Foundation Establishment took at least six months.
Gu Qinghe had done it in half the time.
"Sorry for being late, Senior Ya Fei," Gu Qinghe said politely.
"It's fine," Ya Fei replied, steadying herself.
Gu Qinghe nodded, then glanced at Li Xiaoman. The girl stared back at him with a cold, sharp expression.
Ya Fei explained that the Talent Evaluation Trial would be held in the sect's main courtyard.
She also added that many envoys from major clans and mid-tier sects had come to observe.
"Those who place in the top three will be accepted as Core Disciples under the Sect Master," Ya Fei said.
"The first-place winner may choose one Earth-grade item."
Both Gu Qinghe and Li Xiaoman narrowed their eyes.
Top three.
Their target was the same.
Which meant a clash was only a matter of time.
"Let's go," Ya Fei said.
They flew toward the Spring Region.
The crowd was visible immediately. Decorations had been set up everywhere, and the main courtyard was filled with trial participants.
Strange looks were directed at Gu Qinghe and his group.
"Look at that. The discarded disciples."
"I wonder if they actually have any ability."
"No way they're strong. No sane person would train in the Yin region."
Gu Qinghe heard everything.
He did not react.
The Yin-Yang Sect Master appeared—an elderly man with a deep, steady aura.
He took the main seat, accompanied by representatives from clans and mid-tier sects.
Gu Qinghe narrowed his eyes.
There was not a single representative from the Gu Clan.
That alone was enough to raise suspicion.
A sect elder flew into the air and explained the tournament rules. A circular bracket appeared, narrowing toward the center.
"Participants may injure," he stated firmly, "but killing is forbidden."
White tokens were distributed.
Gu Qinghe channeled qi into his token.
[Congratulations. You have joined the Talent Evaluation Trial.]
[Number: 35]
The tokens were collected and thrown into the bracket. Gu Qinghe found his position.
His first opponent was number 77.
He glanced around.
No idea who it was yet.
"The draw is complete," the elder said, "The Talent Evaluation Trial… begins!"