Guan Ling sounded like something from a bandit stronghold. **Chen Xiao didn't object.

Following behind the soldier, he casually asked, "Which checkpoints do I have to pass through?" "You'll know when we get there!" The soldier's voice was harsh, as if someone owed him two gold coins. He followed the soldier through a side door of the Imperial Library.

"The Imperial Library is not open to just anyone. Only nobles of the Empire, upon approval from His Majesty and after paying a certain sum of funds, are permitted entry!

Alternatively, one can enter by relying on one's own strength to pass all the checkpoints!" The soldier spoke as if to explain, seeing that Chen Feng had fallen silent. "Oh," Chen Feng replied, considering whether he should just charge through everything.

"Go in!" But before he could fully decide, he arrived at the location. Entering the side door, Chen Feng saw a person standing in the open room not far ahead.

This person was middle-aged, standing as straight as a javelin. His back was ramrod straight, and his eyes were filled with martial vigor.

"Heh heh, it's been ages since we had a challenger. Finally, one has come today.

This will cure my loneliness!" The middle-aged man's voice held a hint of excitement. "Go easy on him, don't always cause fatalities.

It makes things difficult for us," the soldier said, glancing back at Chen Feng. However, the young man showed no expression at all, appearing completely unconcerned, which struck the soldier as very odd.

In reality, the exchange between him and the middle-aged man was itself a test—a trial of the challenger's willpower. The first-time challenger, upon hearing such words that treated lives so casually, would invariably show surprise, and in more severe cases, be so frightened they would retreat immediately, daring not to proceed.

Yet, the youth before them seemed utterly unmoved, acting as if he hadn't heard their conversation at all. "Boy, don't pretend you don't care!" The middle-aged man cracked his knuckles with a domineering air.

"Many like you come in smiling and leave crying." Chen Feng sighed, shook his head, and asked, "Are you finished talking?" "Finished..." The middle-aged man was taken aback by the response, finding it quite perplexing. "If you're done talking, then hurry up and tell me how to pass the checkpoints.

I need to go inside and read," Chen Feng stated calmly. "Hahahaha," the middle-aged man laughed as if he'd heard the best joke.

"Do you think passing the trials is like children playing house? I'm telling you, this is the Imperial Library; anyone without a certain level of strength and potential is simply not qualified to enter!" "How do I pass the trial?" Chen Feng was growing impatient.

He was already annoyed from being toyed with by the gatekeepers. If it weren't for his desire to read some ancient texts and understand at least the basic power system, he wouldn't have come here.

Hearing this, the middle-aged man looked at him as if he were an idiot and loudly declared, "First, you must defeat me. Of course..." Before he could finish his sentence, the youth before him suddenly charged forward, leaving streaks of afterimages behind him.

An intense pain instantly flashed across the middle-aged man's face, his mind blurring as he was thrown backward like a sandbag, crashing heavily! "Is that enough?" Chen Feng stood where he was, seemingly not having moved, looking down at the bloodied middle-aged man lying on the ground.

"You... Ah..." The middle-aged man's mind couldn't process what had happened.

The fiery pain on his face was driving him to madness. The nearby guard was also stunned, looking at Chen Feng as if seeing him for the first time.

After a moment, he swallowed hard, forcing a sound from his throat: "Fighting is not allowed to use Dou Qi..." "Not allowed to use Dou Qi?" Chen Feng looked back at the guard and confirmed the rule. The guard nodded.

"Oh," Chen Feng acknowledged and walked toward the middle-aged man. By then, the man had struggled to his feet, clutching his bloodied face, his voice thick with rage: "No using Dou Qi.

The test is a physical duel to test reaction time. What you just did was cheating..." "Are you ready for this next one then?" Chen Feng asked with a touch of impatience.

"Ready!" The middle-aged man wiped the blood from his face. "No Dou Qi allowed!" Seeing the other nod in agreement, he smirked, "Without Dou Qi, I will make you fall miserably, crying for your mother and father..." Before the threat finished leaving his lips, the air flickered again.

Immediately, another inexplicable blow struck his face, and once more, he slammed heavily onto the ground! "Can I pass now?" Chen Feng looked down at the middle-aged man writhing in pain and asked with a helpless tone.

"Yes... you can pass..." The middle-aged man, unable to bear the mental and physical strain any longer, hurriedly yelled out.

Chen Feng glanced at the guard, shrugged, "Seemed quite simple!" Then he walked forward. Only the guard remained, standing dumbfounded, still unable to quite believe his own eyes.

Passing these trials was a joke in Chen Feng's eyes. Having advanced to the Dou Shi level, his physical mass had increased under the nourishment of the liquid vortex.

His pure physical strength now was easily more than double what it had been when he first emerged from the Tenfold Gravity Domain. For this middle-aged man to demand a fight without Dou Qi—wasn't that courting death?

However, if it were any other Dou Zhe fighting without Dou Qi, passing the middle-aged man's test would indeed be difficult, as the opponent's body was clearly very robust. Chen Feng could tell just by looking that this man specialized in body refinement.

Body refinement was the key to cultivating Dou Qi. The royal family of the Luo Qi Empire had a faint, fundamental understanding of this, otherwise, they wouldn't have set up such a checkpoint.

The second trial tested courage. Inside, magic created a bizarre and shifting world, filled with all manner of powerful magical beasts.

However, illusions were useless against someone like Chen Feng. The appearance of magical beasts was already alien to him; seeing them was like watching a film.

Consequently, this stage posed no threat whatsoever. Entering the Imperial Library required passing three trials.

Chen Feng felt a faint surge of anger; he almost turned around and left, but he stopped himself after a moment's thought. The most pressing matter was to improve and consolidate his current cultivation, to gain a clear assessment of his own strength, and then depart.

Although life here offered security in food and shelter, an innate sense of crisis lingered in his heart. Fortunately, the trials were simple enough that he wouldn't cause a major falling out with the Gatekeeper Majesty right away.

However, he had secretly noted this debt. Once his strength increased, he would certainly return to claim it.

"You're the challenger?" a rough voice said. Chen Feng looked up to see a hulking man, gripping a thick iron rod.

The rod looked as if it weighed well over a hundred catties. "You're already at the ninth-level Dou Zhe rank?" The giant was momentarily surprised upon sensing Chen Feng's rank, then grinned widely.

"Well, no wonder you passed the first two. But passing my test might be a bit harder!" "What does your trial test?" Chen Feng asked.

Judging by the giant's imposing physique and the iron club he wielded, it was likely another test of combat. "Mine tests wisdom!" the giant declared.

"Wisdom?" Chen Feng looked curiously at the nearly two-meter-tall man, unable to connect him with anything wise. The big man held up the iron rod and stated, "My question is this: without any measuring tools, tell me the weight of this iron rod just by looking at it!" "How much does it weigh?" Chen Feng guessed casually.

He knew this was a question designed to sound plausible but was inherently deceptive. He blurted out, "Zero..." "Hahahaha, wrong!

It's actually 100 catties. You should just go back..." The giant burst into laughter.

"...Zero is impossible. It's 100!" Chen Feng said slowly.

"It is very impolite to interrupt someone before they finish speaking!" The giant hadn't expected the other party to trap him with just a slip of the tongue over a single word. His face flushed, and he raised the iron rod, assuming a posture ready for battle.

"If this trial is still about fighting, I am prepared to oblige," Chen Feng asked calmly. Hearing this, the giant instantly relaxed his grip as if a load had been lifted, making a gesture that allowed Chen Feng to pass.

Successfully entering the Library, Chen Feng was filled with confusion. If the Gatekeeper Majesty truly wanted him inside, why make him pass through trials?

But these trials were far too simple; anyone with a little strength and a non-idiotic brain could pass them. What was his true purpose in doing this?

Chen Feng absolutely did not believe the Gatekeeper Majesty was someone who enjoyed pranks; there had to be a special motive. "What could the purpose be?" Chen Feng pondered quietly.

He couldn't figure it out after much thought. Seeing the vast expanse of books before him, he walked in with excitement.

……………… "For the first trial, he almost didn't see him before he knocked Luo Che to the ground!" A guard stood before His Majesty the Gatekeeper, answering cautiously. If Chen Feng were present, he would surely recognize this as the guard who had escorted him to the checkpoints.

"Mmm. For the second trial, did he show any surprise seeing those magical beasts that went extinct on our continent so many years ago?" His Majesty the Gatekeeper continued to inquire.

"Your subordinate didn't notice. He walked right past them, seemingly not even looking at the beasts!" The guard was puzzled why His Majesty cared so much about these things.

"He didn't look?" The Gatekeeper Majesty's powerful, sword-like eyebrows furrowed into a deep knot. He habitually tapped his fingers on the desk, murmuring, "Seeing magical beasts unique only to the overseas continent without the slightest shock.

Could he truly be someone from there..." "For the third trial, he seemed to state the exact weight of Luo Fu's iron rod. Luo Fu didn't say whether he was right or not, but judging by his expression, he must have been correct!" the guard continued his report.

"Oh, I see. You may leave now," His Majesty the Gatekeeper waved his hand.

The guard acknowledged and left. His Majesty the Gatekeeper paced the room, his brow deeply furrowed.

"Formidable physical strength, no surprise at beasts unique to the overseas continent, and very accurate judgment of an object's weight. Every detail matches the profile of someone arriving from the overseas continent!" The Gatekeeper Majesty paced back and forth in the room, his hands sometimes clenched, sometimes relaxed.

After a while, he could no longer contain himself and muttered, "It is best to proceed with caution. We will execute the original plan!"