Witnessing the two being welcomed into the valley by disciples, the onlookers naturally felt a deep envy. There were hardly any displeased grumblings, after all, their prowess was undeniable.

Among the crowd, a woman addressed the man beside her with a hint of bitterness: "Look at them, a wife’s status rises with her husband’s. If you had worked harder, I wouldn’t be standing outside watching helplessly."

The man felt awkward and had to soothe his partner, promising to buy her new magical treasures and jewelry when they returned.

The pale-faced young master nodded at this sight and said to his companions, "My family ancestor has some connections with Fire Dragon Zhenren."

His friends immediately showered him with praises, making him feel somewhat conceited.

Then Zhao Daniu, with a hint of meaning, smiled at Chu Xuan:

"Some people, trying to curry favor here and there, yet somehow end up standing outside watching with the likes of us paupers, isn’t that strange?"

Although Chu Xuan had bought medicine from Zhao Daniu before, what he bought was just average quality, along with a cultivation technique, and didn’t appear to be wealthy or influential.

Moreover, in Zhao Daniu’s view, if Chu Xuan truly had the qualifications to enter, he would have gone in long ago, instead of staying here and listening to his idle talk.

Naturally, Zhao’s comment left the pale-faced young master’s group displeased, casting hostile glances over, almost seeing Chu Xuan as one of them.

If it weren’t at the entrance of Wuyou Valley, they might have shown the two a thing or two.

Initially, the pale-faced young master looked grim, but not long after, he leisurely said, "Don’t bother with the lowly bugs; soon, we’ll let him witness something that’ll make his eyes pop out."

Zhao Daniu felt uncertain and suspicious, hearing the tone implying this guy had qualifications to enter Wuyou Valley?

No, if he could get in, he would have done so long ago, why stand here for half a day?

Zhao Daniu scanned over the hanging threshold one by one, quickly guessing a possibility:

Buying qualifications!

Among all conditions, it’s evident that relying on "connections" was the lowest threshold.

After all, not all female cultivators have the need to bring companions, some might even receive invitations but aren’t very wealthy, selling a qualification secretly is understandable.

The reason why the pale-faced young master hadn’t entered yet was clearly because the female cultivator who could take him inside hadn’t arrived.

At this moment, someone with good intentions secretly transmitted information to Zhao Daniu, exposing the pale-faced young master’s background, Du Liangyou, son of the sect leader from a small sect, Xuanhu Sect.

Because Bai Xiaosheng once commented on their Nascent Soul Ancestor: "Fled before battle, afraid of death, not a hero," thus their sect bore a grudge against Bai Xiaosheng.

Only then did Zhao Daniu realize, he secretly shared this with Chu Xuan, looking at the young master Du with even more disdain.

Chu Xuan merely smiled, not taking it to heart.

...

Subsequently, guests arrived one after another, some stepped forward attempting a test of strength.

For most bottom-tier cultivators, relying on connections and networks was still too extravagant; they could only try their luck with years of arduous cultivation.

Regrettably, most returned in defeat.

The first criterion – age – weeded out countless people; those achieving Golden Core formation before fifty were mostly disciples of major sects or hail from powerful medium-sized sects, something not achievable for small sects and loose cultivators.

No matter how good your aptitude is, if your sect lacks a grotto heaven blessed land, your cultivation speed is vastly inferior, compensating only through spirit stones for insufficient spiritual qi density.

However, the total amount of spirit stone circulation is monopolized by major sects at the source, since only grotto heaven blessed lands can mass-produce spirit stones.

Otherwise, even if you acquire the extremely valuable spirit stones to create an array, placed outside in remote areas, absorbing spiritual qi for a hundred years may not produce a single top-tier spirit stone.

The efficiency gap between grotto heaven and blessed land is immeasurable.

Some sects even fight fiercely over a small spirit vein, while with Wuyou Valley’s strength, without any backing, it couldn’t preserve this ancestral blessed land.

Even if among bottom-tier cultivators someone miraculously forms a core before fifty, the remaining two assessments are true obstacles.

Take the robust young man in a red robe upfront: observing numerous failures, he gained some understanding before stepping up encouraged by his fellow disciples.

First, a disciple of Wuyou Valley used a mirror-like magical treasure to measure his bone age, approved.

Then, the red-robed man approached a smooth jade stone over one person high, amassed the entirety of his magical power, vigorously operated his cultivation technique, carried the force of Golden Core, delivering a punch onto the Tiangang Stone!

This punch carried a sound of dragon’s roar and tiger’s growl, hitting the Tiangang Stone, it showed no reaction.

But the red-robed man remained undaunted; this stage allowed ten breaths of time, without borrowing magical treasures or consuming elixirs, any form of attack was allowed, as long as the Tiangang Stone changed color, it passed.

In the remaining nine and a half breaths, the red-robed man madly unleashed one hundred and seven punches, his body steaming, countless remnants of dragon and tiger shadows emerging with each fist wind, roaring and colliding into the Tiangang Stone, creating a stunning spectacle.

The onlookers couldn’t help but hold their breath; as the final punch landed, the surface of the Tiangang Stone finally issued a faint red glow.

This incited fervent discussions among the crowd, and those fellow disciples were so excited their faces reddened, vigorously clapping and cheering, as if they themselves had succeeded.