A calm voice, yet carrying a hint of sharpness and a domineering aura, rang out. The speaker was a tall young man dressed in a cloth shirt. A sharp and commanding presence emanated from him.
"Brother Liu Qing, I… I just offended someone I shouldn't have."
Yao Sheng looked at the approaching man and said with a lowered head, somewhat embarrassed.
The person who had arrived was none other than the fourth-ranked "Overlord Spear" Liu Qing on the strong ranking.
"Who was it?" Liu Qing frowned slightly, standing in front of Yao Sheng. He could feel a powerful pressure bearing down on him.
"Demon King Xiao Tian!"
"How did you provoke him?"
"I ran my big mouth."
Liu Qing's expression didn't change when he heard Yao Sheng's words; it was as if he had expected it. He knew Yao Sheng's personality well — a troublemaker who loved to show off.
Liu Qing reached out, intending to break the pressure Xiao Tian had left on Yao Sheng. He gathered his strength and attacked, but the energy from above repelled him several steps.
The people around were astonished, their mouths agape, when they saw Liu Qing being repelled.
"Liu Qing was pushed back several steps just by attacking the pressure left by the Demon King. What kind of strength does he have? It's too terrifying!"
Liu Qing's expression also turned gloomy and solemn. Previously, he had heard rumors about Xiao Tian and thought the man had just broken through to Dou Wang. But from that pressure just now, he felt an incredibly powerful strength.
He gathered his strength and swung his fist again, attacking the oppressive force Xiao Tian had left behind. But then something unexpected happened. The aura Xiao Tian had left on Yao Sheng mysteriously disappeared.
Liu Qing's punch, already thrown, could not be retracted. So Liu Qing could only change the direction of his strike. In the end, his large, sandbag-like fist slammed into Yao Sheng's shoulder. Yao Sheng was sent flying by the punch, rolling several times on the ground.
The cause from before had now manifested as the consequence. He really did roll. If he hadn't quickly redirected his Dou Qi to defend, his shoulder would have been broken by Liu Qing's punch.
Liu Qing stood rooted to the spot with a complicated expression, lost in thought. "In the future, rein in your behavior a bit. The Inner Academy is getting deeper and deeper. You might as well use this time to cultivate properly."
Liu Qing did not look at Yao Sheng again. After leaving those words, he walked toward the direction of his cultivation room.
…
Xiao Tian, walking toward Cultivation Room Number One with Zi Yan, showed a smile at the corner of his mouth.
"Xiao Tian, why are you smiling so mischievously?"
Zi Yan, seeing Xiao Tian's crooked-mouthed dragon king-like expression, couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Nothing. Just thought of something interesting."
The two continued forward and arrived at a cultivation room that looked very spacious but unremarkable.
"The material of this cultivation room is specially made to prevent the powerful energy inside from leaking out and affecting other areas."
Zi Yan saw Xiao Tian's gaze scanning the cultivation room and began explaining it to him.
Xiao Tian's gaze shifted from the cultivation room to a dark iron door at the end of the corridor, thinking to himself, Is that where the Fallen Heart Flame is?
"You can't go near there. Even if I go near, I'll be put in solitary confinement."
Xiao Tian nodded. The Fallen Heart Flame was of no use to him; he'd let Xiao Yan worry about it. However, he could do Su Qian a favor when the time came.
"Then you go in and cultivate. I'm going out to play. Cultivating here for one day requires thirty Fire Energy. You have enough, right?"
Zi Yan was about to leave but turned back to remind Xiao Tian.
"Yes, I'm not short of that for now."
Xiao Tian also knew that Zi Yan was someone who ran out of Fire Energy quickly, only able to cultivate using the rewards issued by the strong ranking.
"That's good. I'm leaving. Be careful not to get any fire poison."
Zi Yan skipped out toward the exit of the Qi Refining Tower, not forgetting to pop a pill into her mouth along the way.
Xiao Tian pushed open the door of the cultivation room and walked in. As soon as he entered, he felt a rich energy, already condensed into a pale red mist.
"Not bad, not bad. Cultivating here yields twice the results with half the effort."
Xiao Tian directly inserted the Fire Crystal Card into the slot, then crossed his legs, formed a hand seal, and circulated his cultivation method.
A large ball of Heart Fire slowly rose in his heart. Xiao Tian controlled his Dou Qi to pass through the Heart Fire continuously, and the Dou Qi became incredibly pure and solid. As he cultivated, Xiao Tian's Dou Huang cultivation, which had just broken through, became more and more stable and solid.
…
When fully focused on something, time passes very quickly.
On this day, Xiao Tian, who had been cultivating with hand seals, opened his eyes, and a flash of lightning flickered within them.
"Although I've only cultivated for four days, the harvest is quite good."
At this moment, Xiao Tian's cultivation had reached the mid-to-late stage of a One-Star Dou Huang.
Of course, during this period, Xiao Tian did not cultivate constantly. He balanced work and rest, cultivating Dou Qi during the day and entering the Eternal Dream Realm at night to train his physical fitness. Fire poison posed no threat to Xiao Tian because he had many Heavenly Flames protecting him; the fire poison was directly annihilated.
During Xiao Tian's cultivation, Zi Yan had visited him once, but seeing that he was still cultivating, she chose not to disturb him and left directly. However, as she left, her eyes were filled with a resentful expression, and she bit hard into the medicinal herb she held.
Xiao Tian removed the Fire Crystal Card from the slot, stood up, opened the door, and walked out.
"This effect is really good. No wonder everyone wants to climb higher on the strong ranking. Although the Fire Energy collected is high, the returns outweigh the cost."
He walked out of the cultivation room and headed toward the exit of the Qi Refining Tower. On the way, he saw that most of the other cultivation rooms had people cultivating inside.
The incident of Xiao Tian teaching Yao Sheng a lesson in the Qi Refining Tower had spread, and everyone remembered Xiao Tian's appearance to avoid offending him. After all, kneeling there for so long, with so many people watching — if it were them one day, they would surely die of embarrassment. There was even a saying circulating in the Inner Academy: If you don't know who Demon King Xiao Tian is, just remember that if you see someone handsome, don't offend him.
Xiao Tian had no idea that the atmosphere in the Inner Academy had become a bit skewed because of him, turning into judging people by their appearance.
Stepping out of the Qi Refining Tower, Xiao Tian took a deep breath of the outside air. The air inside had been hot, and after breathing it for four days, he felt a bit murky himself.
…
"Greetings, Gate Master!"
"Greetings, comrades!"
Xiao Tian walked leisurely, relaxing his mind. Along the way, he saw many people wearing the Boundless Gate emblem. He remarked to himself that Xun'er and the others seemed to be managing Boundless Gate very well, and he was completely at ease having delegated the responsibility. When they saw Xiao Tian, they respectfully greeted him. Xiao Tian smiled and responded to each of them. Seeing their Gate Master so gentle, completely unlike the tyrant others spoke of, they all suddenly felt that their choice to join Boundless Gate was not wrong.
"Damn it, someone must be slandering the Gate Master. It's clearly malicious."
…
In a certain pavilion in the Inner Academy of Jia Nan Academy, the entire building was filled with the aroma of medicinal pills. Many people wearing Alchemist robes sat in the main hall. Most of them were Second-Rank and Third-Rank Alchemists. The person sitting in the head seat was a young man with a Rank 4 Alchemist badge on his chest. This young man was Han Xian, the leader of the Medicine Gang, the largest medicine-selling organization in the Inner Academy.
The atmosphere in the entire hall was very subdued. The Second-Rank and Third-Rank Alchemists inside were on pins and needles, not daring to breathe loudly.
"Are you just going to sit there? I'm asking you, how are we going to solve the Boundless Gate issue now?"
Han Xian asked coldly, his face gloomy, looking at the people below.
"Gang Leader, Boundless Gate's pills are simply too suited to the Inner Academy's environment, unless we can also produce pills that can rival them."
A Third-Rank Alchemist stood up, shaking his head and sighing.
Bang!
"You're all a bunch of good-for-nothings! So many of you, all Alchemists, and yet you have no solution against a newly established gang? What's the point of me nurturing you? Truly useless, a bunch of good-for-nothings."
Han Xian couldn't help but slam the table and shout in a fiery temper.