When Lu Qing'er took the Golden Dragon Mountain Writ, the light on the peak faded away, indicating that the fight on this peak was over.

Of all five lit peaks, this was the first one to be claimed.

Which was why when the golden light faded away, it drew much surprise from the other participants. They all knew that the strongest individual present, Lin Suo, had staked his claim to that peak. As a Third Changing cultivator, he had taken down many teams single-handedly, inspiring fear in them all.

The other elite teams had avoided challenging his peak because of his strength.

When the light faded away, everyone naturally assumed that Lin Suo had done it as expected.

Soon enough, the light on the other peaks winked out one after another as their writs were also claimed.

Soon, all the peaks were dark again, the writs in the hands of new owners.

Suddenly, the five writs shone brightly like stars, drawing attention to their beholders.

Li Luo looked out to the other peaks, where he could make out a few familiar figures... Both Gu Ying and Zhao Ziyang seemed to have claimed one. He was not surprised—they were among the strongest teams here.

They, on the other hand, were extremely surprised to see Li Luo's trio with the writ.

"Them?! What about Lin Suo?!" They could not believe it. That was Lin Suo's peak... where was the man? There was only one explanation, an unthinkable explanation.

Lin Suo had been defeated.

"How could they have won?!" Zhao Ziyang stammered to his team.

He was well aware of how strong Lin Suo was. Third Changing was a notch above him, and even with his allies, the battle would be close. That was why he had been reluctant to challenge him, even when Lin Suo had destroyed the Golden Dragon Qi, killing off their golden goose.

But now the mighty Lin Suo had lost to the team of "Yu Lang?!”

How?! Lin Suo was as shrewd as he was strong. He would not underestimate his opponents.

Gu Ying was of the same mind. She did not think it possible that this was all part of Lin Suo's purpose. Not getting the writ was a failure, plain and simple. And it might even cost him his life... He had crossed the young mistress of the Xia Kingdom's Golden Dragon Bank in a vicious plot to steal her Golden Dragon Qi. Back at the Xia Kingdom, surely Lu Qing'er's parents would be furious.

His only chance to survive was to get the writ and immediately secure passage on to greener pastures.

Without the writ, he would be sent back the way he had come... to an ending that everyone could predict.

Yet with so much at stake, Lin Suo had lost.

Lin Suo had every incentive to do his best... which meant that his opponents had brought enough power to beat him at his best.

But Lu Qing'er's trio were only Pattern Genesis Tier cultivators!

Gu Ying's mind immediately jumped to "Yu Lang." He had struck her as a resourceful youth, one not only as pretty as a jewel, but as valuable as one too. He was the hardest to read... it had to be him. And her instincts told her that this "Yu Lang" had to be the largest factor in Lin Suo's downfall.

Dual resonances... it was as rare as a ninth-grade resonance.

"Yu Lang..."

Gu Ying and Zhao Ziyang both muttered the name to themselves with some wariness.

Yu Lang was from the Xia Kingdom's Astral Sage College. At year's end, he would almost definitely be at the Holy Grail Meet, where the best of the elite schools' talents would come together. Although Yu Lang was only a One Star student, from what he had shown, he would definitely be closely watched at the Holy Grail Meet. He would be a dangerous opponent then.

"Looks like we'll have to relay that information to our school once we get back. If we meet Yu Lang during the Holy Grail Meet, it'll be best to find a way to eliminate him as soon as possible. Before he causes any trouble."

Many of the students thought that way to themselves.

Which meant that in the near future, the name of Yu Lang would be spread far and wide across the schools of the East Divine Continent.

“Yu Lang—a formidable foe.” With this thought going through the minds of all the participants, energy vortexes began to form in the sky, sending down pillars of light.

Each pillar fell neatly around one team.

"That means we're going out," Lu Qing'er told Li Luo and Qin Zhulu.

"Which means it's time for the final step," Li Luo said eagerly.

The final step he referred to was the dao-gold cultivation breakthrough!

When they left the Golden Dragon Dao Fields, all the dao-gold they had remaining would be converted into energy that would help their cultivation.

Besides the Reservoir, this was one of the most prized components of being able to enter the Golden Dragon Dao Fields.

The unconscious Lin Suo still lay at Li Luo's feet, and the bugger still had some dao-gold on him. Unfortunately, the rules of the Dao Fields was that dao-gold could not be stolen. Lucky bugger. The energy column hummed, and Li Luo, Lu Qing'er, Qin Zhulu, and the unconscious Lin Suo all rose into the air.

They looked out at the light columns scattered all across the mountain range, people rising up like some sort of holy ascension. It was a splendid sight.

As they were lifted up, he could see dao-gold flying out of his pocket sphere.

Every piece of dao-gold was burning up into golden flames.

They scattered around him like a swarm of energetic fireflies, vibrating hard before they zoomed towards him as one.

Li Luo closed his eyes in anticipation.

Each little ball of fire entered his body smoothly and silently.

It was a vigorous and pure energy that spread within his body, going off like soda bubbles in a glass.

They bubbled out of him, and he glowed at odd spots with a fiery light even as he continued to rise through the air. All around him, the same phenomenon was happening to every other participant.

Higher and higher they rose, until they were sucked up by the energy vortex and taken away.

After less than ten minutes, the lively mountainside was quiet and dark.

The only thing that had changed was the destruction and damage that they had left behind.