"So this is the summit?"

Gu Ming gazed at the empty mountaintop as the wind howled in his ears.

The two turned to look down the mountain at the same time. A dense, dark mass of people was clustered below the halfway point, especially around the four-hundred-meter line.

The Beastmasters were all trapped there, walking in circles, unable to break through the illusionary barrier.

Only from the mountaintop could Gu Ming see the full picture below. Watching them get repeatedly trapped and pace back and forth, he secretly contemplated the various intricate designs of this hidden Array.

He knew a method to calculate the correct path out, but it required a great deal of time to constantly verify the details.

If Gu Ming were to do the calculations himself, it would fry quite a few of his brain cells.

However, if he left it to Ah Kun and Mouse Treasure, letting them use the new computational Array inscribed in their minds, they could save three to four days and probably get the result in just one.

Of course, this was just Gu Ming’s mental estimate.

If the system hadn’t helped Ah Kun master the new Breathing Technique, he would have had no choice but to use this method to calculate a way out of the Array himself.

After some thought, he figured this was likely the intended solution the officials had prepared for everyone.

But he knew that competition problems never had just one solution.

There had to be another way.

As he had made his way up, he’d observed the various layouts of the high and low-temperature zones. An inspiration struck him: he could use the temperature variations on the mountain to find the core Array Points.

Ascending the mountain by cracking the Array Points would also require significant calculation and observation skills, and the difficulty meant it would take at least a day to execute.

These inspirations were all ideas Gu Ming had only after breaking through to the summit.

’If I were back in that trapped state, I wonder how long it would’ve taken me to figure out the right solution.’

Gu Ming let out a long breath.

For him, the difficulty of this round of the provincial tournament was just right. It was challenging enough to be a real brain-teaser, but not so hard that he was completely stumped.

’I wonder how much the difficulty will increase at the national competition?’

Fortunately, he had reached the summit early. He didn’t have to face a situation where there was no room left, forcing his Pet Beast to battle others for a spot.

’The fighting, it seems, will have to wait for the national competition in a few days.’

Gu Ming sat down cross-legged on the summit. The Thousand-eyed Wind Bird above his head swayed with the breeze and condensed a flag made of Wind Spiritual Qi.

He planted the flag on the summit, letting it flutter in the wind.

Then, the Thousand-eyed Wind Bird announced that Gu Ming had earned the honor of being the first in the entire field to reach the summit.

「After countless hardships, you have relied on superhuman luck to ascend the summit and become the twenty-fifth person to reach the top!」

「On the path of Old Deng’s comeback, you have taken another firm and powerful step. Achievement Points +1...」

In the system’s eyes, the successful climbers had already descended, making Gu Ming the twenty-fifth person to successfully ascend and plant a flag. His luck was off the charts.

Gu Ming saw this but didn’t bother correcting the system’s nonsense.

’If the system says I’m twenty-fifth, then I’m twenty-fifth.’

’As for the twenty-four people ahead of me, they’re still struggling down below.’

This made Gu Ming pay attention, wondering if twenty-four students would actually manage to crack the Array and make it up the mountain later.

So, he took out the special paper for writing Cultivation Techniques and began working on his technique’s thesis while watching the people below attempt their Array-Breaking.

He watched for an entire day.

Every few minutes, something would change down below.

He watched with great interest, finding it rather amusing to see them repeatedly getting stuck in the illusionary barrier.

On the morning of the seventh day of the exam, a Hall of the Great Dao appeared above the summit.

At that moment, Gu Ming was putting the finishing touches on his Cultivation Technique thesis. He and Lu You had swapped papers to check for errors and omissions.

One thing was certain: the Hall of the Great Dao above was not for either of their Cultivation Techniques.

After all, their two Pet Beasts hadn’t even announced the names of their techniques yet.

The two looked up at the Holy Light that shot down from the sky, landing directly in the mid-mountain region, five hundred meters below.

This was the latest progress of the genius students, still five hundred meters short of truly summiting the mountain.

Gu Ming had sharp eyes and caught a glimpse of the person illuminated by the Holy Light. They were wearing a Forest Valley High School uniform, and their Pet Beast looked like a Grass Spirit. It was most likely Jiang Jinling.

"Looks like her thesis is finished."

Gu Ming carefully examined the descending Holy Light. It appeared to be of a single color, yet for some reason, something about it seemed incomplete.

Suddenly, cries of surprise erupted from below.

The Hall of the Great Dao actually cast down a second beam of Holy Light, which poured into the Grass Spirit below.

A Dual-Colored Holy Light Technique!

This already matched the Daoist Skill potential of the Green Treasure Breathing Technique. Jiang Jinling must have used some method on the spot to have her Pet Beast modify the details of its Cultivating Technique, thereby improving the quality of the Breathing Technique.

"We should check ours as quickly as possible," Gu Ming said to Lu You upon seeing this.

"Okay." Lu You nodded, her eyes filled with anticipation.

When they first came up the mountain, their Pet Beasts’ Breathing Techniques had already been developed enough to be finalized and named. However, Gu Ming wanted to refine the techniques even further, so he hadn’t rashly submitted the thesis.

The two immediately buried their heads in revisions, and time quietly slipped by again.

SWOOSH!

An hour later, another Hall of the Great Dao appeared and cast down its Holy Light.

This time, it was for a Monochromatic Holy Light Breathing Technique.

Gu Ming glanced down briefly before turning his attention back to checking the thesis.

By noon, the appearances of the Halls of the Great Dao had reached their peak.

Almost every few minutes, another one would materialize in the sky and cast down its Holy Light.

However, all the ones that appeared during this period were for Monochromatic Holy Light. It was as if the earlier Dual-Colored Holy Light was the limit for third-year high school students.

Gu Ming finished with a final stroke and blew on the ink on the golden-edged paper.

This ink was the expensive Two-star Wenquxing Ink, and paired with the Dao Guang Holy Paper, both items exuded a potent Daoist Skill aura.

As Gu Ming’s thesis took shape, the weight of the paper in his hands had multiplied countless times.

Just holding it felt like he was holding an iron discus that weighed fifty or sixty jin.

At that moment, Gu Ming made a soft sound of affirmation, drawing the attention of Ah Kun and Lu You beside him.

"Let’s begin. We’re not waiting any longer. It’s already noon on the seventh day."

Still, no one else had made it up the mountain. It seemed the outcome of the second problem was already decided.

His Cultivation Technique thesis might not have been the first to be completed, but good things take time. He didn’t care about being first; what mattered most was that Ah Kun constructed the Breathing Technique in its optimal state.

Ah Kun and Mouse Treasure nodded simultaneously and, in the language of Pet Beasts, cried out the names of their Cultivation Techniques:

"Kunpeng Breathing Technique!"

"Earth Dragon Breathing Technique!"

As the two voices rang out, the breathing rhythms of the two Pet Beasts instantly connected with nature.

A Hall of the Great Dao that was just about to fade away reappeared among the clouds. Its form was striking and brilliant, its surface shimmering with a mysterious Dao light. As the light flickered, a sound like celestial music descended.

Gu Ming saw a Tri-Colored Holy Light pour into Ah Kun’s body. Beside them, the associated Cultivation Technique thesis paper was affected by the Holy Light and burst forth with an even more intense radiance. Its patterns became suffused with the Tri-Colored Holy Light, growing incredibly profound, and every word glinted like gold.

The weight of the paper in his hands shot up from dozens of jin to over a hundred, making it difficult for him to even hold it.

Down below, the students who were still rushing to create their techniques, or who had already finished their Breathing Techniques, looked up in astonishment.

That was a Tri-Colored Holy Light!

The Green Treasure Breathing Technique was only Dual-Colored, yet Gu Ming had actually broken the limit and achieved Tri-Colored!

The technique instantly became a hot commodity.

The Earth Dragon Breathing Technique next to it was just as extraordinary, also producing a Tri-Colored Holy Light.

Cyan Treasure watched the Great Dao Holy Light manifest from the two Pet Beasts’ Breathing Techniques, and its heart soured with a hint of jealousy.

’Why isn’t my Cultivation Technique a Tri-Colored Holy Light?’

It had been with them the whole way and could sense that the Divine Charm of the Great Dao absorbed by the two Pet Beasts was completely different from its own.

They had started on a much higher level, and their subsequent use of the Array and other elements far surpassed the level Cyan Treasure had been at when its own technique was first established.

It was a difference in their starting lines, which made the techniques themselves different.

Beyond envy, Cyan Treasure didn’t know what to think.

Just then, Gu Ming reached out and patted Cyan Treasure. "Cyan Treasure, you’ll always be the strongest."

Thinking that this praise wasn’t quite good enough, he added, "Your Breathing Technique is still improving. It will eventually level up."

Cyan Treasure’s small, snake-like tail wagged back and forth as it looked forward to that day.