Three youngsters step out of the tornado in the middle of the stage. They all had different clothing, but the three of them coincided with what the 3 great sects wore.

After announcing the start of the Jade Province competition, the audience all screamed with excitement at the top of their lungs. The youngsters below the tournament platform were all staring at the three people above them.

Everybody's eyes were full of fervor and the urge to fight. The three people on the tournament platform were the previous top three from the last Jade Province competition.

Dongfang Qianyin, the man standing in the middle of the two people behind him, was the champion of last year's competition. Upon stepping out of the tornado, he already attracted the eyes of men and women alike.

He had a handsome face that could make any woman fall for him, he was wearing clean yellow robes, his pair of black eyes were piercing as if it could see through everything in the world, his eyebrows were like a sword, and his skin looked so white and smooth that it can bring shame to most girls, he seems genuinely perfect.

He was only 18 years old this year, but he was already a level 9 Jade Palace realm; he also came from the prestigious Dongfang family, and being the only son of the patriarch, he was given the best resources to be used in cultivation, Dongfang Qianyin was a true genius that stood above his peers.

The two people who stood behind were the second and third placer of the previous Jade Province Competition.

The lady who stood on the right was a disciple from the Nine Flower Valley; Si Niang. Her facial features were stunning, wearing a thin and almost transparent skirt, the eyes of the men in the square went bloodshot from looking. Her curves and sexy bodies could easily be seen; she had many exposed body parts.

As for the man on the right, his name was Lian Dong. He was from the Heavenly Sword Sect and came in second last year; he was like the sword he was carrying by his waist, sharp and clean.

The two of them were level 9 Jade Palace realm, just like Dongfang Qianyin. Unlike Dongfang Qianyin, however, they were older than him by two years.

The two of them were undeniably geniuses, but they simply lacked something compared to the one in front of them.

"Oh my god, senior disciple Dongfang Qianyin is too handsome and awesome; I can die happy if I can be just like him."

"Stop dreaming, look at your reflection in your piss. You are disgracing yourself; you're too shameless."

"Shut up, will you? That is just Dongfang Qianyin isn't it? He only got lucky last year when he beat our senior disciple Lian Dong."

"That's right! If not for senior disciple Lian Dong doing terrible, Dongfang Qianyin wouldn't even be standing up there and should've died last year."

"Bastards, I dare you to say that again! Showing disrespect to senior disciple Dongfang like that just because Lian Dong got himself beaten is too petty even for you people at the Heavenly Sword Sect; go away and take your rusty swords out of here."

The people from the Boulder Sect and the Heavenly Sword Sect were at each other's throats. The two great sects held enormous enmities with one another, and for the past decade, their fights were becoming fiercer and bloody.

The scene immediately became intense. The two Sects looked like they were prepared to attack each other and start a brawl then and there. Zi Shuang and Wu Feng reacted indifferently to their quarrel, though. They were both geniuses that would enter the inner circle of their respective sects shortly. But the way they looked at Liang Dong and Dongfang Qianyin was still full of admiration.

The disciples from the two great sects were about to fight, but the Nine Flower Valley disciples didn't give them much attention as they were a neutral faction and didn't favor any of the two Great Sects. They only gave Si Niang revering gazes. The way they looked at Si Niang was full of awe and admiration, wishing that they could be there on top of the platform by her side. The hearts of the Nine Flower Valley disciples were set ablaze by the thought alone.

Wang Xue was the calmest of all the people present; he looked at the three people up the tournament platform, assessing them with the world's values he currently inhabits.

'Not bad for a lowly world.' Wang Xue thought to himself, 'Hmm?'

Suddenly, Wang Xue met Dongfang Qiayin's eyes, and almost immediately, at the sight of a no-name hopeful bastard leeching off the Sects, a disgusted look appeared on his face.

Wang Xue did not react much; he only smiled in response.

'For a spoonfed asshole, he has a lot of pride.' there was no need to incite conflict with useless creatures.

Dongfang Qianyin steps forward, and with a loud voice, he announced the start of the competition for everyone in the square to hear, "Activate the formation! Step forth and challenge the Trial of the Heaven and join the rank of the geniuses."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The beats of the war drums were then heard once again. The participating disciples of the 3 great sects started approaching the stairway that led up the tournament platform.

This stairway had another name, Trial of the Heaven. There were 30 stone steps on the Trial of the Heaven; each step was one meter tall. Any Jade Palace warrior could easily climb such stairways; it was nothing in their eyes.

Every disciple leaped forward, instantly climbing two steps. All of them were full of momentum. But when the disciples stepped onto the third stone step, heavy pressure started to bore down upon them, slowing them down. This was the pressure coming from the formation placed on these stone steps.

The Trial of the Heavens used a formation placed by the joint cooperation of the 3 Great Sects. The formation will simulate the force of a Spirit Condensation Realm Cultivator and pressure down upon the participants. However, this was only the beginning because every time a person goes higher, the stronger the pressure.

Not only that, but the formation will seal the Martial Spirits so they won't be able to summon them.

"Hey, that one isn't moving. Do you think he has a plan or something?" one of the Boulder Sect Disciple noticed Wang Xue.

"Bah, plan my ass? He must be scared and is rethinking his life right now. He's only a Level 1 Jade Palace Realm Cultivator, and he thinks he can stand with us?" another from the Boulder Sect snorted.

"Hey! Get out of there if you're too scared to move!! GAHAHAHA!"

Laughter and derisive looks started from the Boulder Sect. But eventually, the majority of the Square laughed as well.

Wang Xue chose to ignore them.

Wang Xue didn't move from where he stood; he was left to watch the competition just a few steps away from the stairs. The three non-disciple competitors that were with him earlier had already gone to participate.

They fought back the pressure just like any other participant. However, the hopeful outsiders could not even advance past the fifth step.

"Didn't think I'd see this here; it brings back memories." Wang Xue couldn't help but feel nostalgic all of a sudden. He had seen the same structure before; however, unlike the one used before him, the one in the higher realm was truly meant to be a "Trial of the Heavens."

Wang Xue stretched his body and took a step forward towards the stairway; his plan was to win this competition and take the prize money and the Jade Lotus, and to do so, he had to at the very least go up to reach the twentieth place.

"Hey, that one is finally moving. Hey coward! Finally found the Balls to take fail!?"

"GAHAHAHA! Don't piss on the Stairs now, okay!?"

They all laughed, and as Wang Xue stopped advancing at the third step, everyone laughed, and eventually, they lost interest in him. The top runners were much more amusing to them than a no-named coward.

'Finally, they stopped looking.' Wang Ling thought to himself.

The spectators laughed at the Boulder Sect disciples' remarks. Not even the other two Great Sects were above their laughter as even they laughed.

Wang Xue still chose to ignore them with a pleasant smile.

The Trial of the Heavens lasts for an hour, and 45 minutes had already passed by. Wang Xue stepped onto the first step and breezed through it with his hands behind his back, while the other disciples from the great sects were all fighting amongst each other as they climbed step by step on the stone steps, Wang Xue was calm and patient, trying to make his movements as little as possible so he wouldn't draw any attention to himself.

"Such strong pressure, my legs feel like they are made out of Jelly and had been injected by lead. This formation is too much to handle. I can't go any further than 7 steps… this is too shameful!"

Someone from the Trial of the Heavens said while wiping off the sweat from his forehead. All of the disciples from the three Great Sects participating were all level 2 of the Jade Palace realm warrior, and the strongest out of them was a peak level 2 Jade Palace Realm.

The competition lets people up to level 5 Jade Palace realm warrior, until the last competition, but to find talents at an earlier age, the competition limitation was lowered a bit, and the limit now was peak level 2 Jade Palace realm warrior.

Zi Shuang, Wu Feng, and Yu Da-Xia were all geniuses, so they were all at the exact standing of peak level 2 Jade Palace realm and were only half a step away from becoming a level 3 Jade Palace realm warrior.

The three of them were in the lead, with Zi Shuang holding first at the twenty-fifth step, Wu Feng second at the twenty-fourth step, and Yu Da-Xia at third place at the twenty-third step; they weren't allowed to physically attack each other, but they were still fighting with their words as they moved up.

"Wu Feng, you look pathetic! Just give up already; I will be taking the first place like senior disciple Dongfang. Stop your futile and meaningless struggle and just give up already!"

Wu Feng took a step forward while resisting the pressure of the formation of the Trial of the Heavens.

HA!

With a shout, he grits his teeth and finally goes up to the twenty-fifth step.

"I don't care what you plan to do; I will attain first place to regain the name of the Heavenly Sword Sect and prove to everyone that you people from the Boulder Sect just got lucky."

Yu Da-Xia had also gone up from the twenty-third to the twenty-fourth step; she didn't care what kind of animosity the other two sects held, so she just focused.

The leading three were too far from the others. The closest to them was someone from the Nine Flower Valley who was at the twentieth stone step; she was sweating all over her body as she attempted to go up; however, she didn't have enough to push further.

She wanted to summon her Martial Spirit, but because of the unique formation, she could not call upon it. They were all struggling to catch up to the people at the top. They couldn't go on any further than the twentieth step.

Time was running out; many tried to advance forward further but was left to despair upon knowing their limits, only those who were a part of the three great sects could enter the top 20, and this was proved by the fact that everyone who was currently at the top 20 was all disciples from the three Great Sects.

Lian Dong watched the disciples climb the stone steps, then he noticed someone from below the steps.

A young man wearing all white but not at all affiliated with the Heavenly Sword Sect. Wang Xue climbed up the stone steps, drenched in sweat.

'Where did he come from?'

Lian Dong's eyes were drawn to him; he was currently on the fifteenth step, one stone step away from entering the top 20.

Not standing out from the rest, acting inconspicuous, was the trait that he saw from the mysterious unaffiliated competitor. He was average from the way he looked, and his strength was also only at the first level of the Jade Palace Realm. He was average through and through, but he looked honest and straightforward.

This was the impression of Lian Dong to Wang Xue when he first saw him.

Then he saw when the time was about to finish, and the Trial of the Heavens was about to stop; Lian Dong saw him take another step up, reaching the sixteenth stone step ranking him up to the top 20 let him advance through the next and final stage of the competition.

Lian Dong was the only one who saw this; Dongfang Qianyin, Si Niang, and the audience seemed to have not noticed that someone from outside the Three Great Sects could reach the top 20. The formation was then stopped letting the pressure over the disciples dissipate in the air.

"Hey! I think someone from out of the three great sects was able to enter the top 20 and move up to the second round."

"Huh? That guy seems familiar... hey! That's the coward! What's he doing over there!? Wasn't he at the bottom of the stairs?"

Someone was surprised when he noticed this fact.

"That is ridiculous; no one other than the three great sects disciple had entered the final round since this tournament had started. Go and check again. You may find out that you were wrong."

Someone shouted back.

"Y—you're right, wait a minute, let me check. Number one is Zi Shuang from the Boulder Sect and Wu Feng Heavenly Sword Sect, both of them tied, with Yu Da-Xia close behind them."

That man recited everyone until he finally reached the person who was at the top 20. He was still doubtful at first, but after checking it a couple of times, he clearly saw it; someone who wasn't wearing the uniform of the three great sects could reach the top 20.

Other people from the audience also saw this causing turmoil in the crowd. Somebody besides the disciples from the three great sects reached the top 20 and moved forward.

Then as the people were talking about it, a loud voice was heard.

"You cheated! I saw you move up after the formation ended, passing me; we were both at the fifteenth stone step; you better admit your mistakes and quit now, or else!"

A disciple from the Boulder Sect was screaming at Wang Xue's face accusing him of cheating in the competition.