"Or… do you prefer wine?" Ezra Zephyr added.

Ella was immediately going to reject. She was someone who focused on martial prowess and had no interest in drinking.

However, before she could respond, Ezra toyed with his tea cup and lazily said, "Leave it, you will never handle the effect of the wine I possess."

"What a joke!" Ella Abella's eyes turned round. She refused to give even an inch in front of Ezra, so how could she possibly take this lying down? Ella immediately walked into the stone pavilion and looked at the prince. The latter took out a strange muddy bottle and filled another empty cup. Ella snatched up the cup on the table and poured it down her throat in a single gulp.

~COUGH~

Ella coughed when the alcohol hit her stomach. The prince didn't wait and quickly spoke "Quit it, I told you…"

However, Ella's cold gaze swiftly shot over, causing him to swallow the words that were at the tip of his tongue. Even so, Ella's gaze somehow appeared both embarrassed and angry. A flush rose on her pretty fair as a bright moon face.

~THUMP~

Ella slammed the cup onto the table as her icy gaze turned towards the prince.

Ezra's lips curled slightly, giving a light tap to the table as he said, "Good, you're finally beginning to resemble a ranker. However, you dare to sit at the same table as me with so little alcohol capacity?"

With a wave of his hand, jar after jar of alcohol appeared beside him. "I'll accompany you today."

The sight of this caused Ella's face to turn white, but it was impossible to make her lower her head and admit defeat in front of the prince. The former gritted her teeth and said, "Do you think that I'll lose to you!?!"

She grabbed one of the jars, breaking its seal as she heroically began to gulp it down.

Ezra naturally also took one of the jars, fiercely raising his neck as he too began to chug it down.

If a scene like this were to land in the eyes of the other disciples, their eyes would likely be shocked out of their sockets. Who could have imagined the normally cold-as-an-ice mountain senior sister Ella to have such a side to her?

After seeing Ella drunk, the prince shook his head, paying no more attention to the girl as he took a glimpse inside the bracelet. 3 different 1000-foot Duct Creation Energy crystals were finally in the bag.

A smile grew from the corners of Ezra Zephyr's mouth as anticipation flooded his eyes. The energy reservoir will close tomorrow, and the Divine Spirit Ablution will begin. "The 8 paths of ablution… maybe, 9 paths. Haha, I'm looking forward to it."

<The Next Day>

The fiery-red sun seemed to slowly rise from the surface of the reservoir. As its rays shined down, the mist covering the reservoir seemed to retreat slightly.

~GONG - GONG~

The loud sound of a bell rang across the area, echoing in every corner of the energy reservoir.

The entire reservoir seemed to come alive the instant it was heard, as countless glowing figures rose into the air and began leaving the reservoir.

Ten days had passed. The disciples that had entered the energy reservoir to search for Duct Creation Energy were naturally itching to leave and enjoy the effects of the Divine Spirit Ablution. After all, their ten days of hard work were all for this moment.

In the stone pavilion, Ezra's scarlet eyes slowly cracked open, only to be greeted by the sight of two little figures lying on the left and right sides of the table. And in front of him was a sleeping lady. Her fine black hair hung from her head, the outline of her enchanting curves was visible by her clothes.

Her face was like warm jade, and currently appeared slightly flushed due to drinking too much. The usual coldness and indifference were no longer present, making them appear extremely adorable.

However, while Ezra was watching her with interest, Ella's eyes suddenly opened. The dazed look in the depths of her eyes lasted for several seconds, before she abruptly sat up straight, iciness returning to her eyes as she glared at the prince.

"Haha, you're awake?" Ezra chuckled. "You were actually quite cute earlier."

The pretty face that had just regained its frosty look immediately blushed as Ella Abella sent a vicious glare at the prince. "If you dare to speak of what happened last night, I'll kill you!"

The prince smiled wickedly. She was acting as if they had done something unspeakable last night.

Ella regained control of her feelings as she sent another vicious glare at Ezra. The former had no idea what kind of spell the latter had put her under, the slightest provocation would make her lose her usual cool, and become hell-bent on finding out who was better.

Spending the entire night drinking was something incomprehensible to the Ella Abella of the past.

In comparison, Ezra was well aware. It was mainly because this girl was proud and cold, possessed both beauty and presence that far exceeded the ordinary, and was also rather strong-willed and competitive.

Thus, she was willing to show any weakness in front of him and Ezra had made use of this to achieve the desired effect whenever she provoked Ella.

"You can leave the energy reservoir first." Ella rose to her feet, frowning when she realised she stank of alcohol, thoughts of taking a bath immediately rising within her.

Just as she was about to leave, she took another look at Ezra Zephyr, the iciness in her eyes no longer present as she said, "It's mostly thanks to you this time."

She was naturally referring to the Duct Creation Energy crystal she had obtained. Without Ezra Zephyr's help, she would have returned empty-handed

"We merely made use of each other. Without senior sister Ella, I would not have obtained these three 1000 feet duct beast crystals either." Prince smiled.

Ella knew that Ezra was just being polite. After all, he would also have been able to hunt those 1000 feet duct beast by borrowing those two cubs' power.

The initial bias she had against him due to their initial misunderstanding had already faded substantially over the past few days. If she were to be honest, she could feel that Ezra was indeed different from the rest.

"You should not undervalue yourself. You're only a gold belt disciple, but you've managed to reach the 8 paths of ablution on your first time entering the energy reservoir. No one in this generation of the Spirit Devouring Mountain has even done so."

Ella looked towards Ezra, her red lips parting slightly as she continued, "At the very least, even Sith Wiggins only had the chance to reach the 8 paths of ablution after becoming a ranker, his martial prowess was at the peak of Core Formation stage. In this aspect, you've already far surpassed him."

She turned around and left immediately before her last word faded.

The prince gazed in surprise at her leaving figure, clearly not expecting such words of consolation and encouragement from her, especially given how cold and unapproachable she was.

"It seems that she has high hopes for you. To think that she's even used Sith Wiggins to compliment you," said Fenrir

Ezra was not surprised at Fenrir's mocking "Is he better than Carlo Aur?" he asked.

Fenrir became silent for a while before saying. "Boy, you are boring as Gehenna"

The reason why he had been able to achieve an 8-path of ablution on his first time in the energy reservoir was due to the special characteristics of his spiritual energy. 

"At least that small compliment didn't fry your brain cells, and you still understand your worth." Fenrir's words resounded.

The prince nodded with grave. He rose to his feet, looked at the cubs and said, "We should get going."

Sköll and Hati nodded as they both jumped on his shoulders, the prince jumped as lightning flickered, bringing the three of them into the air and out of the energy reservoir.

He was already unable to wait for the start of the Divine Spirit Ablution

***

The area just outside the energy reservoir was already flooded with people, making the place extremely noisy.

Countless figures continued to arrive from the energy reservoir, landing on the mountains on the edge of the reservoir as they began to call out to their friends. It was quite a bustling sight.

Even more, disciples were doing an inventory of their crystals and estimating how many paths their ablution would have. Some wore joyful faces, while others sighed in disappointment.

Black lightning whizzed past in the air, ultimately landing on one of the peaks, revealing Ezra's figure.

"Hehe, junior brother Ezra is out at last." A voice was heard the moment Ezra appeared. He looked to the front, only to find that Mubarak, James Endoro and the other disciples were already here.

The prince cupped his fists and smiled at them.

"Junior brother Ezra, how did you fare over the past ten days?" A look of concern was revealed on Mubarak's face.

The prince could sense that the former's concern was not fake, he smiled inwardly. He knew that if he were to tell the truth, it would instead end up scaring the lot of them.

The 8-paths of ablution was something that only Sith Wiggins could achieve amongst this generation of disciples, and he had even done it after becoming a Ranker. How would anyone believe Ezra Zephyr if he told them he had done the same on his first time in the energy reservoir.