After Charles Harper, Alice Harper, and Julia Harper, it was the collateral descendants of the Ji family. Most of these people had only cultivated to the point where their yuan power could circulate through their skin, muscles, meridians, and internal organs, but each of them was tall and sturdy, with broad waists and long arms. Under the effect of the yuan power in their bodies, they quickly kept up.

Compared to the four at the very front—Edward Harper, Charles Harper, Alice Harper, and Julia Harper—the others’ breathing was a bit unsteady as they moved, and some even began to sweat on their foreheads. This was a sign that their yuan power was not deep enough.

Obviously, the overall strength of the direct descendants of this generation of the Ji family was clearly much greater than that of the collateral branches.

At just fifteen years old and participating in the trial for the first time, Little Lily Harper also performed impressively. As she climbed, she kept giggling, seemingly finding the swaying backsides above her head quite amusing.

Even so, she didn’t fall far behind the others. Laughing sweetly all the way, she closely followed Julia Harper, with only a dozen or so zhang between them.

All the Ji family youths were giving it their all, desperately charging toward the summit of Qingyan Mountain. In order to spend three days in the Sutra Pavilion, their years of hard cultivation had now ignited all their passion, and they rushed upward, each striving to be first.

Among these people, the one lagging far behind at the end, William Harper, stood out as rather conspicuously out of place.

Compared to Edward Harper’s lightning-fast speed, his own could only be described as “turtle crawl”!

On the steep and treacherous sections, William Harper gripped a piece of green rock tightly with both hands, the veins bulging from the effort. He first steadied himself, then placed his foot on another protruding rock, took a deep breath, and carefully shifted his body, transferring his weight onto the foot on the rock, freeing his hands to reach for another protruding stone for support.

……

William Harper advanced up Qingyan Mountain in this cautious and steady manner, moving slowly, one step at a time.

Even the weakest of the Ji family youths was dozens of zhang ahead of him.

While William Harper was still inching along like a snail, the fastest, Edward Harper, was already about to reach the summit!

At the foot of the mountain, Richard Clark, Samuel Harper, Thomas Harper, Grace Harper, and others looked up, watching the Ji family youths charging up the mountain.

Seeing his own grandson Edward Harper taking the lead and about to reach the top, Samuel Harper’s lips curled into a satisfied smile. He glanced at William Harper, who was moving like a snail and already drenched in sweat after only a dozen or so zhang, still not far from where they stood. Samuel Harper frowned, feeling that William Harper was deliberately embarrassing the Ji family in front of Richard Clark.

After a moment’s thought, Samuel Harper said impatiently, “Chang Kong, if you really can’t do it, just come down early. You’ve been frail since childhood—this kind of intense trial really isn’t something you should be participating in!”

“I’m fine. Anyway, Uncle Nie is watching from the side.”

Not far above, William Harper managed to reply, ignoring the cold sweat pouring from his body, and continued to climb upward with both hands and feet, struggling bit by bit.

“Really doesn’t look like a man of the Ji family!”

Henry Harper muttered under his breath, talking to himself, “Ji family men are all burly, tall, and broad—every one of them a real man.

But he’s so skinny and pale, always sick with something minor every three days and something major every seven. I really wonder if Haotian picked him up from somewhere and tossed him into our Ji family…” “Haoguang!”

Thomas Harper shouted angrily, “What did you say?

Chang Kong was handed to me personally by Haotian. Would I not know if he’s my grandson?”

“Third Grandpa, please calm down, I was just joking.”

Seeing Thomas Harper’s fury, Henry Harper was startled and quickly tried to appease him with a smile, though he didn’t seem particularly afraid of Thomas Harper.

“If anyone dares to gossip again, I’ll be the first not to let them off!”

Thomas Harper snorted coldly, his eyes dark as he glared at Henry Harper, then swept a glance at the Luo and Zhao families not far away.

Beside him, the lord of Qingyan City, Richard Clark, couldn’t help but frown, clearly displeased by Henry Harper’s words. But since it seemed to be a family matter, he didn’t intervene.

“Grandpa, I’ve made it!”

At that moment, a loud, energetic shout came from the summit of Qingyan Mountain—it was Edward Harper. While Alice Harper and Charles Harper were only two-thirds of the way up, Edward Harper had already reached the top.

Upon hearing this, Samuel Harper stroked his beard with a smile and nodded in satisfaction, “Chang Xiao hasn’t slacked off these past three years. His skills are much more agile than three years ago, and his speed to the top is nearly twice as fast.”

“Yes, to compete with that girl from the Jiu family, Chang Xiao has been training to the point of forgetting to eat or sleep!”

George Harper said with a smile.

As a father, he was naturally pleased with his son’s achievements.

Seeing the father and son so satisfied with Edward Harper, Richard Clark curled his lips in slight disdain and said coolly, “Half a month ago, I was a guest at the Jiu family in Yin Mountain and saw that girl Jiu Lingxue. If my judgment is correct, Jiu Lingxue has probably already broken through to the Sancai Heaven realm!”