He was naturally aware that Elder Lo's actions would easily draw out feelings of jealousy and envy in the other disciples. The bottom line was that these disciples felt that he did not deserve such attention and treatment

His eyes narrowed slightly. The current reason he had come to the Spirit Devouring Mountain was for the sake of growing stronger and eventually earning his kingdom the power to destroy the Brown Mane Empire. Since the Diamond Quarter would be very beneficial to him, he naturally also coveted it.

Hence, he did not intend to voluntarily give up just because other disciples felt it was unfair.

He had only tried to turn it down previously because he did not fully understand the situation, and did not wish to accept such kindness from others for no reason.

His eyes spun in thought. After some silence, he turned around and entered the quarter.

He did not wish to comment on Mubarak telling him to keep a low profile, because he understood that trying to be low-key alone would not be of any use in this situation.

If anyone was unable to accept it, he would beat them till they did. Thinking that, Ezra let out an evil grin.

***

In a certain quarter.

A dozen figures were seated here, unhappy voices sounding one after another.

"Elder Lo is being way too unfair. Even if that snot-nose brat Ezra managed to win the peak selection ceremony, he's only recently entered the outer mountains. To think that he would even be given a Gold Quarter."

"Agreed, that Gold Quarter was clearly being eyed by senior brother Pele, but has now ended up being taken away right under our noses."

"Most importantly, from the looks of it, Elder Lo will likely send us out in the quarter-match a month later, but if we win? The Diamond Quarter will probably end up in Ezra's hands."

"On what basis should he enjoy such treatment? Just because he's the champion? It's not like we've never seen one before!"

"..."

The numerous disciples shared their grievances, releasing all of the unhappiness in their hearts.

Amongst the crowd was a long-haired young man whose expression appeared exceptionally stormy. It was the disciple called Pele.

He had been eyeing that Gold Quarter for the longest time and had been saving Spirit Jades to trade for it. In the end, it had been so casually given to a new disciple by Elder Lo. How could he possibly accept this?

Pele icily chuckled and said, "It will not be so easy for a mere new disciple to step on me."

"What does senior brother Pele plan on doing?"

Pele's eyes narrowed as a faint smile appeared on his lips. "There are not many gold belt disciples amongst us who can still participate in the cave match. If nothing unexpected happens, I will likely be one of the choices."

"I will gather some of the other senior brothers who also feel that Elder Lo is showering that brat with too much attention. When the time comes, we will propose that if we were to take part in the cave match, the elder must first agree that the Diamond Quarter will not be given to that snot-nose kid."

These words immediately drew a series of approval from the group.

"Senior brother Pele is right. Ezra may have some talent, but he is ultimately only a new disciple. We must first make him understand his social standing. Before us, he's only an inexperienced and new disciple!"

"That's right!"

"..."

The sight of the crowd's indignant appearances caused a smile to rise on Pele's face. He raised his cup and downed it in a single go, before lifting his head and peering into the distance as an icy smile flashed in his eyes.

"New kid, I will let you know that even if Elder Lo thinks highly of you, you still have to abide by the rules here!"

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

After three days of acclimatisation, the prince had gradually familiarised himself with Alchemic Rune Peak's outer mountains. At the same time, he had also begun to realise the benefits of spiritual quarters.

In the outer mountains, every disciple possessed a quarter, the only difference being its rank.

Every quarter was connected to an Energy Mountain, and the higher-ranked spiritual quarter was linked to higher-ranked Energy Mountains.

At the deepest part of each spiritual quarter was a spring, which was also the connection point to its Energy Mountain.

Pure, boundless spiritual energy would endlessly gush out from spring, ultimately forming a faint mist that filled the quarter.

The effectiveness of training in such an environment was incomparable to the single Energy Mountain used by tens of thousands of people in the unofficial outer mountains.

Hence, the prince was already able to feel the spiritual energy in his body progress after the short three days he stayed in the Gold Quarter. This made him realise how huge of a gap there was between an unofficial and official outer mountain disciple.

However, although the spiritual quarter was pretty damn amazing, it did come at a cost.

It was said that one could exchange spirit jade for a spiritual quarter, and the price of a Gold Quarter was about ten thousand spirit jade pieces. In addition, a maintenance fee of several hundred spirit jade pieces had to be paid every month.

This was clearly not cheap at all. Fortunately, outer mountain disciples were treated better than unofficial outer mountain disciples and would receive over a thousand spirit jade pieces every month.

What's more, the missions given by the task pavilion in the outer mountains were much more rewarding. All these factors allowed the outer mountain disciples to upkeep their quarters 

In Ezra's case, there was no pressure with regard to this matter. His previous work as a spiritual technique instructor had already earned him a sizable fortune. In addition, his Gold Quarter was given to him by Elder Lo, saving him over ten thousand spirit jade pieces. The only thing he had to worry about was the routine maintenance cost.

In his opinion, things that could benefit his overall growth were more useful, while spirit jade was just a sort of means to an end.