Xian Bu Yu's mood turned worse when he imagined the derisive smile behind Snowy's veil. On a normal occasion, he might appreciate if a beauty smiled at him to satisfy his vanity.

But the only feeling he got from this smiling face was insult and mockery.

Seeing the three girls that had worse talent than him were doing better than him was also adding blow to his pride, like smearing salt over the wound on his rotten heart.

'F*ck! What gives those bitches the right to mock me?!' the rage in his heart was brewing like an ocean on a stormy day. 'I'll show them who is superior between us!'

Xian Bu Yu glared coldly at Snowy for one last time before moving his feet to climb onto the next stair.

He didn't have the mood to continue to comprehend the sword intents in this gate anymore and only wanted to quickly leave Snowy and other examinees in the dust.

Snowy didn't bother to put her attention on Xian Bu Yu anymore because she knew that they'll meet each other again soon.

She focused her mind to comprehend the sword intents in this gate and smoothly integrated them into her own sword intent.

After 10 minutes, the sword intent that emitted from her body was completely blending with the sword intents in the surrounding, achieving the state of resonance.

Snowy could sense that with a little bit more accumulation her <Sword Intent> proficiency would be able to level up to the next level. This progress made Snowy nodded in satisfaction.

She looked around to search for the three girls and found that they were extremely focused to improve their swordsmanship.

Snowy couldn't help but admit that despite their mediocre talent, their will and persistence in the path of Sword Dao were really admirable.

Although they were still far from manifesting their own sword intent, the improvement in their Sword Qi was quite large.

As she observed, Snowy found that their swordsmanship style to be very distinct.

Meng Qi's swordsmanship was methodical and precise. It showed that her foundation in Sword Dao was very solid. Her movement was very stable like a mountain.

Qi Ying'er's swordsmanship was similar to her temper, free and unfettered. There was a trace of naivety but also fiery and vigorous. Her sword Qi was burning like a fire, fiercely destroyed all obstacles in front of her.

On the contrary, Qi Ning'er's swordsmanship was the exact opposite of Qi Ying'er's, it was gentle and fluid. Her movement was like water flowing down the river.

'No wonder they could make a combination attack. Their style of swordsmanship perfectly complement each other," Snowy thought.

Unwilling to disturb them, Snowy silently continued her way to the next gate.

'It's time to catch up with that guy,' A cold smile rose on the corner of her lips.

***

Xian Bu Yu felt very vexed by the lack of progress in his way to the fourth gate.

Before he only needed 10 minutes to climb from the bottom to the third gate, yet now with the same amount of time, he could only reach halfway through the fourth stairs set.

The suppression finally taking a toll on him.

Perhaps due to the state of his mind which was currently in distraught or the injuries that slowly accumulated on his body, he felt that the hike to the fourth gate was unpleasantly taxing.

He was forced to use his spiritual qi to lessen the pressure on his body. He somehow underestimated the difficulty of this second round of the examination.

His clothes gradually drenched in his sweat and the pain in his body slowly getting into his mind.

He became irritable and impatient.

Furthermore, he felt the anxiety in his heart grew bigger and bigger.

At the beginning of his way past the third gate, Xian Bu Yu occasionally turned his head around to glance at Snowy.

He couldn't put in the finger the source of his uneasiness.

He, again and again, tried to convince himself that there was no way that wrench could catch up with him or—even more preposterously—overtake him.

But his heart seemed to refuse to calm down.

Unknowingly, Snowy had already left her shadow in Xian Bu Yu's dao heart.

Along the way, he tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in his heart by putting his focus on the climb.

As he was struggling to move forward, a stepping sound made his heart tighten.

The possibility that he never dared to admit was now knocking on his door. The fear deep within his heart slowly surged into the surface.

'No way, no way! It can't be real!'

The face that he didn't want to see the most entered his sight as he turned around and looked downward.

The cold yet clear black eyes looked at him like a predator looking at its prey.

Although he stood in the higher ground, he felt like the owner of those despicable eyes was the one who looked down at him from the summit.

This feeling of suppression was even more suffocating than the pressure he felt from the spiritual pressure coming from the ascension path.

'F*ck you! How dare you to look down on me!'

His pride was telling him to fight it out, but his gut feeling urged him to run away!

'Damn it! I'm the genius from the Qian Family! Don't mess up with my mind!' roared Qian Bu Yu inwardly as he forced himself to move forward.

Each of his steps became heavier and heavier.

The sound of a footstep behind him became closer and closer!

'Bastard! She is haunting me like an evil spirit!' cursed Xian Bu Yu in his heart.

33rd step, 34th step, 35th step..

Bam!

Xian Bu Yu leaned on his knees and his face contorted because of the pain. He felt like his body was wrecked by a hammer.

The pressure only amounts to the 5th level of Qi Transformation stage but his weary body was unable to stand it.

Blood seeping from the corner of his mouth and his breathing became heavier.

The only consolation for him was the fact that the footstep behind him had disappeared.

'Hehe, that bitch must be suffering right now.'

The smug smile on his face disappeared and his complexion, which was already pale, lost even more color as he turned back and saw..

Snowy was standing one step behind him while looking at him with indifferent eyes.

"Not climbing anymore?"

"You!!"

Xian Bu Yu's words couldn't contain his anger anymore and blood spouting from his mouth.

He gritted his teeth and glared at Snowy with killing intent.. and fear.

'Unforgivable, unforgivable!'

'I must kill her, kill her!'

He wanted to strike Snowy down here and now, but his reason stopped him from acting rashly.

'I'll be disqualified if I attack her now. I won't fall to this bitch scheme!'

All of sudden, his eyes regained their clarity. Xian Bu Yu ignored Snowy for now and took one step forward to enter the fourth gate's platform.

"Aargh!!"

As his foot stepped into the platform, the sword intents of the fourth gate swiftly assaulted him, lacerating his body.

He didn't expect that the might of the sword intents in this level was this fierce. He once again felt down on his knees and coughed more blood.

His consciousness was barely hung on.

It was the voice beside him that deliver him the final blow.

"Are you done? So weak."

A cold feminine voice entered his ear and he suddenly fainted.