Watching the nine men who emerged with him glaring like gamecocks at the other ten, Nie Kong felt speechless. He closed his eyes to himself, which frustrated one man who had been fiercely staring at Nie Kong, making him even more annoyed. He could only redirect his fierce gaze toward others.

On the high platform, Mu Qingyi swept her eyes over the twenty men in the center of the field below, then looked at the pink-clad girl beside her, a smile playing on her lips. "Qingying, the one you've been sneaking out to watch recently—is that the little fellow who just closed his eyes? What's his name?"

"Mu Kong!"

Mu Qingying said, her face bright with a smile, but she quickly shook her head. "No! No! Mother, I haven't gone out for a long time. If you don't believe me, you can ask Granny Jinzhu. 'Granny, I've been cultivating this whole month, I haven't gone out, right?'"

As she spoke, Mu Qingying sidled up to the white-robed woman on Mu Qingyi's right, ceaselessly batting her bright, watery eyes at her.

Mu Nianzhu chuckled helplessly. "Silly girl, your mother saw you go out several times with her own eyes."

"Ah?"

Mu Qingying was instantly stunned into silence, then her gaze began to dart away furtively, like a little girl afraid of being scolded by her parents for a misdeed.

Mu Qingyi smiled. "Qingying, the man you fancy isn't bad for now. At least he's not a flirt, he strives for progress, and he isn't as flighty as those others. However, he must last until the end; otherwise, no matter how much you like him, it’s useless. How could the son-in-law of Mu Qingyi be a good-for-nothing?"

"Oh."

Mu Qingying hung her head, then a smile resurfaced in her eyes, full of confidence. "Mother, he will definitely win. I'm staking my claim on this man!"

"Now that's the daughter of Mu Qingyi!"

Mu Qingyi let out a delicate laugh, her eyes turning to Mu Jinzhu. "'Nianzhu, you go ahead!"

"Understood!"

Mu Jinzhu descended from the high platform, and with a mere flicker, her figure appeared before the twenty young men. She dispensed with pleasantries, getting straight to the point: "Everyone, the final competition has three stages. This first stage is to endure within my Heart Manifestation. The ten who last until the end may proceed to the second stage..."

Mu Nianzhu’s crisp voice carried far, completely suppressing the surrounding murmurs. For a moment, the lingering echoes resonated throughout heaven and earth.

"Hiss!"

Sharp intakes of breath sounded one after another.

Nie Kong noticed that as soon as Mu Jinzhu's voice fell, several faces changed color, and waves of murmuring started up again around him. It seemed they had heard of what Mu Jinzhu's Heart Manifestation truly was. Nie Kong felt a slight surprise, and at the same time, grew secretly vigilant.

"Begin!"

Mu Jinzhu barely gave the twenty men time to figure out their countermeasures before spitting out two words. The instant her voice faded, a snow-white phantom shot out from her body, hovering high in the void, shooting dazzling light in all directions that was impossible to look at directly.

Nie Kong hurriedly looked up and saw that the white phantom was actually an incomparably massive leaf. The veins on the leaf faintly glowed with red light, and its edges were serrated.

"..."

"Jade Snow Emperor Flame Leaf! Mu Nianzhu’s Heart Manifestation is indeed the 'Jade Snow Emperor Flame Tree'! I’ve heard about it for so long, and today I finally see it!"

"This kind of Heart Manifestation is incredibly magical. Even just a single leaf, and those men might not last very long."

"Of course! Our Yin Ruins currently has seven Great Heavenly Spirit experts, and Mu Nianzhu is one of them."

"..."

Listening to the faint sounds from all around, Nie Kong was inwardly startled. He hadn't expected the phantom to be a single leaf from the 'Jade Snow Emperor Flame Tree,' nor did he realize that the person standing before him was a Heavenly Spirit expert.

Inside the giant tree's heart, Nie Kong had once heard Ancestor Mu casually mention that the 'Jade Snow Emperor Flame Tree,' though not as miraculous as Ancestor Mu's true form, the 'Ancestor Heavenly Divine Luo Tree,' was still an extremely precious species. One existed in the Yin Ruins, but it might have long since gone extinct on the outer Heavenly Spirit Continent.

"Whoosh!"

The void rippled slightly.

The phantom drifted down, and the 'Jade Snow Emperor Flame Tree' leaf moved closer and closer to the men's heads.

It stopped abruptly when it was about three meters above the ground, then began to spin rapidly. In an instant, billions of brilliant white rays poured down from the leaf, enveloping all twenty men within.

Immediately following this, an aura that chilled one to the bone descended.

"Ah! So cold!"

"Hiss, I'm freezing to death!"

"..."

Exclamations rose one after another, and many young men instinctively huddled their bodies. However, before they could process what was happening, brilliant red light bloomed from the veins between the leaf segments. Instantly, the coldness vanished, and a scorching aura descended upon them. Everyone felt as if they were trapped in a furnace, sweating profusely until their clothes clung wetly to their skin.

Another round of screams sounded.

Regrettably, before they could adapt to this heat, the red light receded, and the bone-chilling coldness attacked their minds once more, catching them completely off guard.

From cold to hot, then from hot to cold, repeated several times, the young men enveloped by the 'Jade Snow Emperor Flame Tree' leaf suffered terribly. Several couldn't bear it any longer and sat down cross-legged, faint phantoms of their Heart Manifestations emerging above their heads, wrapping their bodies tightly.

Nie Kong also sat down. This sensation was somewhat similar to the 'Ice Flame Cave' in the Nie family of Jiyang City. In the Ice Flame Cave, one side was biting cold, while the other was intensely hot. But beneath this 'Jade Snow Emperor Flame Tree' leaf, the two sensations switched back and forth continuously.

Moreover, the transition was extremely rapid.

For the time being, Nie Kong's body could still endure it. After all, he had spent quite some time wandering in the 'Misty Ancient Cave' in Lingyu Inner City. But this was merely an appetizer; he foresaw that the cold and hot auras emanating from the leaf would only grow stronger.

With a thought, Nie Kong quietly circulated the "Yin-Yang Spirit Devouring Art." "Boom!"

Amidst the violent tremors of the Ling Shen One Aperture, Nie Kong soon discovered a strange phenomenon.

Every time the cold and hot auras alternated and seeped into his body, the rotational speed of the six pairs of minor apertures inside the Ling Shen Aperture would abruptly increase. Then, the spiritual energy, shaped like a 'Yin-Yang Diagram,' would explode outward, completely expelling the encroaching cold and scorching heat without leaving any trace within his body.

Could this be because the cold and hot auras were completely opposite?

Nie Kong pondered inwardly. The twenty pairs of minor apertures within the Ling Shen Aperture existed because they were mutually opposed: positive and negative, yin and yang, life and death opposing each other. 'Perhaps, opposing auras that can harmonize with the self can be absorbed by the minor apertures, while those that cannot will be expelled?'

Nie Kong thought carefully. The peculiar combination formed by the Ling Shen One Aperture and the twenty pairs of minor apertures was like a riddle, one that even Nie Kong, the master, found difficult to fathom. Whenever Nie Kong thought he had grasped the secret hidden within them, new doubts would surface.

He wondered what these forty-one apertures, large and small, would develop into in the future?

After a long while, Nie Kong still couldn't confirm the reason for this strange phenomenon. He could only steady his mind and quietly sense the rapid changes in the surrounding cold and heat. As Nie Kong had guessed, the intensity of these two auras was already several times greater than in the beginning.

"Thump!"

With a soft sound, a young man could no longer hold on, falling backward onto the ground. His Heart Manifestation immediately retracted into his body, and he passed out.

Mu Jinzhu raised her slender eyebrows slightly and swept her voluminous sleeve. A streak of white light flashed, and the young man's body was moved out of the range enveloped by the 'Jade Snow Emperor Flame Tree' leaf.

After lying quietly outside for just a short while, the young man awoke and sat up straight.

He glanced around before realizing he was out of the competition. He couldn't help but slap his head in annoyance, but he could only slump dejectedly and leave the center of the field to become a spectator on the edge.

"Thump!"

The sound occurred, and Nie Kong turned to look, finding another young man had fallen. Nie Kong glanced around again and saw that nearly all the remaining ten-plus individuals had manifested their Heart Manifestations, wrapping themselves into plump rice dumplings. The shapes and colors varied; some were trees, some were grass, and some were vines.

At this point, under the 'Jade Snow Emperor Flame Tree' leaf, Nie Kong was the only one who hadn't utilized his Heart Manifestation, and he still had the leisure to look around, because after activating the Ling Shen Apertures with the "Yin-Yang Spirit Devouring Art," they would operate autonomously, requiring no deliberate control from Nie Kong.

His overly relaxed demeanor had already attracted Mu Jinzhu's attention.

Her slender eyebrows furrowed slightly, and a hint of surprise flashed in Mu Jinzhu's eyes. With a thought, the massive 'Jade Snow Emperor Flame Tree' leaf began to fluctuate even more violently. Instantly, the intensity of the icy-cold and scorching heat auras increased another notch, and the speed of their alternation quickened.

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

In that instant, three people fell backward one after another, their Heart Manifestations retreating into their bodies. The bodies of the remaining dozen or so men swayed precariously, and their Heart Manifestations were on the verge of collapse.

Nie Kong finally felt a strain.

A Heavenly Spirit is a Heavenly Spirit! Although Nie Kong's "Yin-Yang Spirit Devouring Art" could expel the invasion of those two auras, he was still merely a Spirit Alchemist. Even having merged with Qingyue's soul, his cultivation was equivalent only to High-Grade Spirit Commander level; there was absolutely no way he could contend with a Heavenly Spirit expert.

Seeing this, a slight smile played on Mu Jinzhu's lips. After sending out the three men who collapsed simultaneously, the leaf returned to its original state.

"Thump!"

Another person couldn't endure the torment of the two auras, collapsed to the ground, and was then sent out by Mu Jinzhu. Meanwhile, the bodies of the other men stabilized significantly. Even Nie Kong couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, feeling the weight lift. If those two auras had maintained that intensity, even he would have found it difficult to sustain for long.

By this point, only fourteen men remained under the 'Jade Snow Emperor Flame Tree' leaf. Just four more needed to fall, and the first stage of the competition would be passed. . . . . .