After leaving the Rule Cave, Fifth Lingyu glanced at the leaderboard and noticed that Qin Ruqing was no longer in the source realm.

Meanwhile, Fifth Youlin was still inside.

This meant that Qin Ruqing, who had entered later, managed to exit earlier than Fifth Youlin, who had entered first.

With a mocking curl at the corner of his mouth, Fifth Lingyu commented coldly, “My useless brother is indeed of no use.”

His second choice for the Rule Cave was the Five Elements.

The Five Elements are divided into five major categories, each with different tests.

Fifth Lingyu casually picked a color from the five glowing orbs before him and entered.

At the same time, Tang Zifeng in the Metal Attribute Rule Cave seemed to sense something and suddenly opened his eyes.

His gaze was calm, and his long, raven-black eyelashes cast a shadow under his eyes.

Tang Zifeng had already passed the Metal Attribute Rule Cave, but he hadn’t chosen to leave.

He was deeply immersed in comprehending and gaining insight from this cave, and he felt he was benefiting greatly.

Of course, the most important reason was that Qin Ruqing, for some unknown reason, was still circulating in various Rule Caves.

Since she was still inside, waiting outside would be boring, so he might as well stay and digest the gains from this journey.

Tang Zifeng’s cultivation state was interrupted just now because the person who entered the Rule Cave disturbed him.

This person barged in recklessly, aggressively sweeping through the rule power like a bandit, even affecting the space he was in.

Tang Zifeng’s eyes moved slightly, and the surrounding rule power began to take form, turning into a large bell.

Once the bell covered all the rule power in the space, making it immovable, Tang Zifeng closed his eyes again.

Regardless of who the newcomer was, as long as they did not affect him, Tang Zifeng did not care.

Shortly afterward, a figure flew into the space.

The figure was tall and slender, dressed in a dark-colored robe with wide sleeves, and was coldly gazing at Tang Zifeng’s position.

The newcomer was Fifth Lingyu.

He scrutinized for a moment and finally noticed the issue—apparently, the rule power in this space was being artificially sealed.

Initially, Fifth Lingyu did not pay much attention to it. Being sealed meant it could be opened.

A huge spear with a cold, gleaming tip appeared behind him.

The spear aimed at the sealed space, and after gathering strength, it pierced through with a thunderous impact.

Despite being a virtual creation, it still conveyed boundless killing intent.

The spear quickly pierced halfway through but suddenly stopped, as if it had touched something solid.

The spear’s body vibrated with a buzzing sound due to the recoil.

Fifth Lingyu’s eyebrows twitched slightly, and only then did he cast a serious glance in that direction.

As a result of the spear attack, the person hidden behind the space finally revealed himself.

It turned out to be someone he knew—Tang Zifeng, the top young blacksmith from Xiling, whose reputation even surpassed the older generation of master smiths.

Though Fifth Lingyu had been the director of Xiling for several years, he had not had much interaction with this talented young man from a local silver-grade family.

His deepest impression of Tang Zifeng was that he was a small follower who liked to stick to Qin Ruqing’s side and obey her every word.

Of course, though he referred to him as a small follower, he knew that Qin Ruqing regarded him as a valued and trusted team member.

For some reason, seeing Tang Zifeng’s composed and handsome face, it seemed like several years had passed.

He had grown from a callow youth into a true man.

…Suddenly, a strange thought arose in his mind—he wanted to have a showdown with Tang Zifeng.

This thought seemed to come out of nowhere and had no apparent reason, as he had never taken Tang Zifeng seriously before.

But Fifth Lingyu was always true to his feelings, and once he thought of it, he decided to act on it.

The two figures locked eyes from a distance.

The spear suspended in mid-air suddenly began to spin on its own, as if undergoing some secret transformation. It gained a formidable, overwhelming force.

Tang Zifeng’s expression remained unchanged, but the bell-shaped object in front of him grew even larger, taking on an imposing, sky-covering stance.

After charging up, the spear emitted a buzzing sound as it pierced towards the bell.

The bronze bell didn’t move, but its walls rang out with a clear, resonant sound.

“Ding!”

“Ding!”

“Ding!”

The space twisted momentarily, without any grand spectacle.

The bell’s ringing stopped, and the space became quiet for a moment before a cracking sound was heard.

The spear began to shatter from its tip, eventually turning into dust and then reconstituting as rule power.

Tang Zifeng waved his hand to absorb the rule power, covering it under the bell.

As Qingqing had said, good things should not be wasted.

After securing the rule power, he looked back at Fifth Lingyu and furrowed his brow slightly.

Tang Zifeng was evaluating and assessing.

Fifth Lingyu, the former Director of the West Ridge, was actually a core member of the Fifth Celestial Family, with a secret transaction involving Qingqing, who seemed to be more passive.

Qingqing had gone to Penglai for further training and had repeatedly expressed caution about this person.

From this, Tang Zifeng easily concluded: A threat to Qingqing = an enemy.

He waved his hand again, and the bell dissipated, transforming into a spear identical to the one Fifth Lingyu had previously manifested.

Tang Zifeng said to Fifth Lin Yu, “Your strength is considerable. But you know nothing about weaponry.”

“Here’s your weapon back.”

Unlike the previous grand display, the spear flew towards Fifth Lingyu in an unremarkable manner.

Since there was no visible threat, Fifth Lingyu scrutinized the spear coldly, only to see it pierce through… the space he was in.

Fifth Lingyu disappeared from his location.

As the spear vanished, Tang Zifeng withdrew his gaze, which finally showed a hint of emotion.

“He seems to be like Qingqing, wandering through various rule caves for some unknown reason… It doesn’t seem like a good thing. Let’s send him out for now.”

On the other side, five light orbs reappeared in front of Fifth Lingyu, indicating that he had failed the golden attribute rule cave.

Tang Zifeng used absolute rule suppression to expel him.

As long as Tang Zifeng remained inside, Fifth Lingyu would not be able to re-enter.

Fifth Lingyu’s expression showed no sign of anger; instead, his narrow, beautiful eyes even held a trace of interest.

“…Interesting.”

Qin Ruqing received her second task from the armor.

[Task 2: Endure pain beyond the limits of your body and soul for at least ten breaths.]

Qin Ruqing’s first reaction upon seeing the task was: Is there really something wrong with the style of this trial tower?

The Ultimate Pain Beyond Physical and Spiritual Limits

“Ugh, who would be foolish enough to torture themselves like this? What’s the point?”

Qin Ruqing said, “Alright, I’ll take on this task.”

Although the first two tasks had been a bit strange and troublesome, the second task seemed simpler to Qin Ruqing.

The reason was simple: she had faced a lot of danger and pain in the past, which made her pain tolerance stronger than others.

Coupled with her enhanced recovery ability, Qin Ruqing confidently rolled up her sleeves and thought, “Bring it on, whatever you’ve got!”

However, when the so-called ultimate pain beyond physical limits actually hit her, Qin Ruqing’s first reaction was:

“Sorry, I spoke too soon…”

It was really painful!

Soon after taking on the task, Qin Ruqing heard a rumbling thunder from the Trial Tower.

At first, she was relaxed, thinking:

“Oh, it’s just some lightning. That’s nothing. I’ve dealt with lightning tribulations before during my Core Formation, and they were far more intense than this. I survived those.”

But as soon as the lightning tribulation struck her, she was immediately knocked to the ground.

She managed to let out a cry of pain before she started convulsing uncontrollably, unable even to scream from the agony.

The sensation was as if all her cells and spiritual energy were dedicated to resisting and feeling the pain, leaving her no strength even to utter a simple cry of discomfort.

Qin Ruqing’s mouth opened involuntarily, her throat producing a dry, almost silent, hoarse sound due to the pain.

The eerie blue ghostly flame in the eye sockets of the armor watched calmly as Qin Ruqing lay still on the ground.

The lightning that struck her did not dissipate.

She had to endure the pain from the ongoing lightning strike for at least ten breaths.

Time seemed to stretch infinitely.

After ten breaths, the armor’s head turned, and its gaze fell upon Qin Ruqing.

She had not yet risen, but the armor’s sensing indicated she was neither unconscious nor dead.

Ten breaths.

Eleven breaths.

Twelve breaths.