A few months later, the contest on Golden Clouds Mountain finally came to an end. Everyone left.

Liao Kong had been responsible for taking them here, but definitely did not have the leisure and time to take them all back.

In any case, it was just a few years’ journey, so they could just travel at their own pace.

Ling Han was in no rush to leave, but rather decided to stay for a while longer.

He was extremely curious about this mountain. What exactly was that gray substance that it could drive living beings mad, and even the precious Tool of a Heavenly Venerate would be wary of it?

Was it also at the Heavenly Venerable Tier?

The gray substance inside his body had already dispersed completely. Thus, he went into the mountainous area again, and only left when he felt that he was close to madness.

Another five months later, Ling Han returned to normal.

“You are playing with fire,” Wally said. “Though this kind of mysterious substance would disperse, its effects on you are permanent. I can be certain that you will not be able to come back out again if you enter a few more times.”

Only now did Ling Han get a terrifying shock. He had not thought it would actually be so dangerous.

He thought for a while, and decided that he should set this matter aside first. After he had advanced into the Celestial King Tier, he would take another look at the summit.

He was a curious person. Without getting to the bottom of this, he would not be able to rest easy.

Ling Han, Hu Niu, and the Empress embarked on a journey to return to Divine Desolate Mountain. On their way, the two women would occasionally cultivate with the Chaos Source Rocks in their arms. They had both cultivated the Greatest Eternity Everlasting Physique. They themselves could turn into the flow of time, and there was no need at all for them to use the Time Cultivation Chamber.

But even if they were all monarch stars, and had already reached the peak stage of the Immortal Palace Tier at that, converting and forming the first bit of Source Power was as difficult as ascending the heavens.

It was the same even for Ling Han.

This required accumulation of energy over an extended period of time, but just how long had they been at this level?

Cultivating to the late stage would require accumulation of energy over a long time, especially when it was advancing to the next major tier. That could not be rushed at all.

However, the three of them, including Bewitching Maiden Rou, had cultivated a Time Celestial Physique, though Bewitching Maiden Rou’s was slightly weaker. A year passed in the outside world, but they had already been cultivating for 100, even 1,000 years.

Four years later, they returned to Divine Desolate Mountain. It had taken a year longer than they had planned. That was because they made several stops on the way, which affected their speed.

This time, because Ling Han had cultivated the secret technique of the Heavenly Venerate Desolate Eternity, he was no longer affected by the mist, and easily ascended the mountain.

They had not thought that they were actually not the last batch to return. Xue Ge, Jing Zhongyue, Huai Jian, and the others were still on their way. Out of the five newly joined disciples, only Ling Han and Xu Xing had returned.

Ling Han was not concerned about the matters of others. He continued to cultivate while he looked for a chance to save another batch of humans.

Nine days later, Xue Ge returned, but it caused a considerable commotion.

…Not only had he advanced into the Ninth Lotus, he had even reached the height of Second Leaf at that.

This was too shocking. How could it possibly be so fast? Wasn’t cultivation level slowly tempered bit by bit?

Only afterwards did Ling Han find out that Xue Ge’s race enjoyed devouring the blood essence of living creatures, which they would usually store up in their bodies, and after breaking through to the Ninth Lotus, that blood essence would be dissolved, turning into waves of energy, and helping them to spike their cultivation levels.

There was only a one-time opportunity. However, those with weaker natural talent would only be able to advance from the early stage of the Ninth Lotus First Leaf to the middle stage at most, but Xue Ge was much more impressive. In a single stroke, he had charged up to Second Leaf, which was chillingly powerful.

As expected of a supreme monarch star whose Evolution Index was close to or had even reached 11. This burst was really too terrifying.

The first thing that Xue Ge did upon his return was to issue a challenge to Ling Han.

He had held back for too long. Previously, Ling Han had punched him in the face for no rhyme or reason, yet no one had stood up for him, so he had repressed his anger. The fact that he was able to rush up to such a high cultivation level was because he really held too much resentment in his heart, which turned into powerful motivation for him.

Otherwise, the explosion of blood essence was extremely painful, so he would have long since given up.

Ling Han considered for a while, and agreed to a spar with him, setting the time for 10 days later.

He had the confidence that he could advance into the Ascending Origin Tier within 10 days’ time, but even if he had reached Small Accomplishment level of the Ascending Origin Tier, it would be very hard for him to match Xue Ge. Ascending Origin Tier aside, the latter was also a supreme monarch star, and his heaven-defying trait was not inferior to Ling Han in any way.

However, Ling Han could still extract Void Particle Energy. Once the upper limits to Ascending Origin Tier was lifted, just what kind of height would he be able to reach?

Consummate level of the Ascending Origin Tier? Or even stronger?

He was very expectant.

Xue Ge had no disagreement about this, either. 10 days’ time was too short. Even with time acceleration effects, it would be no more than some 30 years. At most, Ling Han would be able to complete the breakthrough to Ninth Lotus, but compared with him, there was still a very wide gap.

It should be known that the extreme burst after advancing into Ninth Lotus was the unique ability of their race.

He was certain and confident that he would cripple Ling Han.

Three days later, Jing Zhongyue also returned. She had successfully advanced into Ninth Lotus, and had reached the middle stage Ninth Lotus First Leaf at that. Though she could not compare to Xue Ge, it was still very shocking.

Clearly, she had also encoutnered an amazing fated opportunity.

Another two days later, Huai Jian reutrned. His cultivation level had also improved greatly, reaching the late stage of the Ninth Lotus First Leaf. Apparently, he had obtained a great fortune on Golden Clouds Mountain, and obtaineed a Chaos Source Rock with an astonishing purity level.

But neither of them could compare to Xue Ge. Previously, the five supreme monarch star were practically on equal levels with one another, yet now there was a clear difference among them. Xue Ge had left them all behind in the dust, and the cultivation level of Ling Han, who had previously been strongest, was now the lowest, but no one dared to underestimate him. After all, this guy’s Body Art was heaven-defyingly strong.

And Ling Han was still burying himself in cultivation. He left his quarters, but was still on the Divine Desolate Mountain. This mountain was really too extensive and wide.

An earthshaking change was presently happening inside his body.

He now knew why it was so difficult to condense Source Power.

To use an analogy, Origin Power was in gaseous form, while Source Power was in liquid form. What he had to do was to liquify Origin Power. In this process, the intensity of Origin Power would increase many times over, and a drop of Source Power would be able to explode with terrifying power.

However, it was similarly extraordinarily difficult to compress Origin Power. In a moment of carelessness, he could explode himself into bits first.

After thousands of failed attempts, Ling Han finally gained some certainty.

Hong, long, long, Origin Power roared. It naturally was not willing to be compressed and erased, and was filled with resistance.

Yet Ling Han ignored it. After strongly suppressing it, bit after bit of Origin Power was compressed together, reaching the extent of a hundred thousand bits.

Ordinarily speaking, 10,000 bits of Origin Power was enough to be compressed into a drop of Source Power, but Ling Han was ambitious. If 100,000 bits of Origin Power were compressed together, he would be able to take a very big step in the Ascending Origin Tier.

He compressed it to his best efforts. Originally, Origin Power had no form, but being compressed under a hundred thousand fold, it was forcefully turned into mist.

If he went another step further, the mist could condense into liquid.

Ling Han roared internally. Weng, the mist condensed completely, and a single drop of liquid as formed quietly.

Source Power was condensed.

The Ascending Origin Tier!

Ling Han’s eyes suddenly snapped open, instantly releasing an astonishing light, as if his gaze could penetrate thorugh the heaven and earth.

Kuang, thunderclouds gathered densely in the skies. The heavenly tribulation was here.

Though he had only condensed his first drop of Source Power, taking this step meant a qualitative change, allowing him to advance into a new level.

With a battle cry, he roared at the skies in fury, unafraid of the heavenly tribulation.

‘Come on then!’

He took out that scroll that could not be opened, and channeled Wally’s unique cultivation technique, extracting the power from within. Instantly, an even more frightening might of tribulation surged out.

Ling Han stopped while he was ahead, and extracted a bit of power to temper himself. He stopped immediately. Once his Ascending Origin Tier heavenly tribulation became a Heavenly Venerable Tier heavenly tribulation, he would definitely be dead.