Chapter 181: Paying a Visit

In the following days, Xu Yang took time every day to cultivate the Raging Waves Fist. In just five or six days, the Raging Waves Fist had reached the sixth level, getting stuck at the seventh level of force stacking.

Stacking the seventh level of force was more than ten times more difficult than stacking six levels. If one was not careful, the previously stacked force would all dissipate.

For several days, everyone was adapting to life in the Profound Heaven Sect. Lu Ren, Zhang Yong, Zhao Zhifei, and others would occasionally come to visit and chat.

Some impatient people had already started doing tasks to earn contribution points.

This day, he returned from practicing the Raging Waves Fist outside, and Sun Tao and Lin Wei found him, stating directly that they had found Xiao Hua's residence and were going to pay a visit.

"Senior Brother and Senior Sister, wait for me a moment!"

Xu Yang washed off the foul sweat from his body, changed into another set of clothes, and then went out with Sun Tao and Lin Wei to rush to Xiao Hua's residence.

Lin Wei held a sandalwood box in her hand, which contained the gift prepared by Lin Cheng: a wild ginseng with thirty years of medicinal age, worth one hundred taels.

The residence of the outer sect deacon was in another place, and the environment was much better than the living quarters of the outer sect disciples. The courtyard was also more exquisite and grand, planted with strange flowers and trees everywhere.

Lin Wei led the two to the front of a courtyard and stepped forward to gently knock on the door latch. After a short while, there was movement inside, and a young man opened the door and walked out.

Looking at the outer sect disciple attire of Xu Yang and Sun Tao, this person first frowned slightly, but when he saw Lin Wei, who had exquisite features and a heroic spirit, he immediately showed a smile.

"May I ask if this is the residence of Deacon Xiao Hua?" Lin Wei said.

The man nodded, his gaze falling on Lin Wei's face, and said: "What business does this Junior Sister have looking for my father?"

Lin Wei's eyes lit up and she said: "So it is Senior Brother Xiao Chen. I am Lin Wei, the daughter of Lin Cheng of the Weiyuan Hall in Qingyuan County. I am here with two Senior Brothers under orders to visit Uncle Xiao. Please, Senior Brother, help us announce our arrival."

As she spoke, she handed over the letter written by Lin Cheng.

"So it is Junior Sister Lin Wei from Uncle Lin Cheng's family. Junior Sister, wait a moment; I will go and report to my father."

Xiao Chen took the letter and turned to walk into the courtyard. Soon, he met his father, Xiao Hua, in the study and informed him that Lin Cheng's daughter and two disciples were here to visit.

"Lin Cheng? I haven't had any correspondence with him for several years. Does he still not understand that I don't want to pay attention to him? A loser also wants to be friends with me forever."

Xiao Hua raised his eyebrows, took the letter from Xiao Chen's hand, and opened it.

"Xu Yang, Lin Wei, Sun Tao... wanting me to help take care of his daughter and two disciples, Lin Cheng really has a beautiful thought."

If he remembered correctly, these three names were not in the top three of this year's Qingyuan County Martial Arts Examination. If they were the top three, he wouldn't mind giving Lin Cheng some face.

After reading the letter roughly, Xiao Hua said: "Tell them I am practicing martial arts and don't have time to see them."

"They brought gifts!" Xiao Chen reminded.

Xiao Hua glanced at his son and said lightly: "Lin Cheng's daughter looks good?"

Xiao Chen chuckled.

"Then let's see them."

Xu Yang and the others were soon invited into the courtyard and met Xiao Hua in a side hall.

The three of them cupped their fists in unison and said: "Disciples Xu Yang (Lin Wei, Sun Tao) pay respects to Senior Uncle Xiao."

Xiao Hua's gaze swept over them. Lin Cheng's daughter was indeed exquisite, with a heroic spirit not possessed by ordinary women. As for Xu Yang and Sun Tao, his gaze just swept over them.

"In the past, Brother Lin and I were not under the same master. You should call me Deacon Xiao."

Xiao Hua spoke lightly, and the sense of alienation in his words was obvious: it meant that his relationship with their master was not as good as they thought, and they shouldn't try to climb the relationship.

Sun Tao felt bitter in his heart. He didn't expect Lin Cheng's words to be a prophecy; human hearts are easily changed, and his best friend in the past no longer treated Lin Cheng as a friend.

However, at this moment, Xiao Hua changed his tone and said: "However, Niece Lin Wei, you can call me Uncle Lin in private."

A look of joy appeared on Lin Wei's face, and she stepped forward and said: "Uncle Lin, this is the gift my father asked me to pass on to you."

Xiao Chen stepped forward to take the sandalwood box and handed it to Xiao Hua. Xiao Hua opened it, took a look, and then calmly placed it aside, obviously looking down on this wild ginseng worth only one hundred taels.

"Thank Brother Lin for his generous gift for me. Niece Lin Wei, you should get closer to your Senior Brother Xiao Chen in the future. If you have any trouble, you can also find him for help. I still need to practice martial arts, so let your Senior Brother Xiao Chen entertain you."

Lin Wei still wanted to speak, but seeing this, she had to cup her fists and say: "We won't disturb Uncle and Senior Brother Xiao Chen. It's getting late, so Niece and the two Senior Brothers will take their leave."

Xiao Hua nodded and said: "Xiao Chen, send Niece Lin Wei and your Uncle Lin's two disciples off for your father."

After speaking, he stood up and left directly.

Xiao Chen stepped forward and enthusiastically tried to keep them: "Why is Junior Sister Lin leaving so soon? Let Senior Brother fulfill the duties of a host before you go."

Xu Yang looked at his hand, wishing he could grab onto Lin Wei.

Lin Wei smiled: "We won't trouble Senior Brother."

Xiao Chen sighed and said: "Very well, it is indeed getting late. When I have time, I will come to find you and fulfill the duties of a host then."

Under Xiao Chen's guidance, the three soon left the courtyard.

Xiao Chen added: "Junior Sister Lin Wei, if you are bullied in the outer sect, you can report my name. I still have some face in the outer sect. If there are still those who don't know what's good for them, you can come to me, and I will stand up for you."

"Thank you, Senior Brother!" Lin Wei's eyes narrowed into crescent shapes.

"This is really too much. It's in vain that Master treated him as his best friend and prepared a thirty-year-old wild ginseng as a gift." After walking in silence for a while, Sun Tao spoke indignantly.

Xu Yang shook his head: "Master hasn't seen him for many years, and now they are not people on the same level. This is normal. Didn't Master also foresee this long ago?"

Lin Wei said: "Senior Brother Xiao is quite enthusiastic."

Xiao Chen and his father's attitude toward her and Xu Yang and Sun Tao were completely different. Her feelings were not the same as Xu Yang's and Sun Tao's.

Xu Yang remembered Lin Cheng's request and reminded: "Senior Sister, be careful; that Xiao Chen has bad intentions."

Sun Tao also nodded gently. The way Xiao Chen looked at Lin Wei, he looked like he wanted to eat her, which even he could see.

Lin Wei raised her eyebrows and smiled: "Junior Brother Xu, a fair lady is a gentleman's good match."

It turned out she wasn't stupid and had also felt it.

Xu Yang was speechless. Since Lin Wei had said so, what could he say?

Xiao Chen was the son of an outer sect deacon of the Profound Heaven Sect and was also handsome. If Lin Wei was willing to let the other party pursue her, if he said more, it would only make him appear narrow-minded and petty.

It was just that he felt Xiao Hua was so snobbish and realistic, so Xiao Chen might not be a good person, which was why he spoke up to remind her.

It was just that he and Lin Wei were not the same person after all, so their thoughts were naturally different. For Lin Wei, if she could climb the big tree of Xiao Chen and his father, it would definitely be a good thing. Why refuse?

In the blink of an eye, a few more days passed, and all the candidates from the six counties had arrived at the Profound Heaven Sect. Some busybodies collected information and made a list of the Ten Elites and Ten Strongest.

The Ten Elites were the ten people with the best talent in this batch. Kong Yu from Qingyuan County was ranked among the Ten Elites, in third place. Lu Ren, relying on his Grade B-plus innate talent and having practiced martial arts for more than a year to comprehend Wind-Thunder Force, was ranked tenth.

The Ten Strongest were the ten people with the highest cultivation base. Only Cao Rong from Qingyuan County was on the list, and he was the last one.

"It's really terrifying. How many experts are there in this batch? Even a Marrow Cleansing expert like Yun Feng couldn't become one of the Ten Strongest." Sun Tao was shocked.

Jiang Ping said: "I heard that adding up the six counties, there are a full twenty people who have already cleansed their marrow. It is said that there are also Marrow Cleansing cultivation bases in the county seat who didn't even enter the top three."

Jiang Fan nodded: "That is indeed the case."

He was from the county seat and had a lot of say in this.

Zhang Yong lived next door and was visiting here, sighing: "I didn't expect Lu Ren to become one of the Ten Elites. His talent is even more powerful than I thought."

There were three hundred and sixty candidates from the six counties, and his talent was ranked tenth, so one could imagine.

He couldn't help but look at Xu Yang, but unfortunately, Xu Yang was not as amazing as everyone imagined and had not yet comprehended Wind-Thunder Force.

"Junior Brother Lu Ren is indeed extraordinary, and his future achievements will be higher than ours."

Jiang Ping said: "He has already reached Qi Gathering Perfection and is starting to impact Qi Refining into Gang."

As soon as these words came out, Sun Tao and Zhang Yong were both shocked. Lu Ren was actually impacting Qi Refining into Gang so quickly?

For a moment, everyone looked at Xu Yang.

Wan Hai showed an envious expression: "So you and Lu Ren are from the same master. With such a Senior Brother, no one will dare to bully you in the future."

There were also people in their generation who made such lists. These people had now become experts who dominated the outer sect. They only needed to wait for the three-year term to expire to enter the inner sect directly and pay respects under an Elder.

"The Ten Elites list is not accurate at all. Some people have never had their innate talent tested. Those on the list are all those who have had their innate talent tested."

Jiang Fan said: "At the very least, I know of one person with Grade A innate talent who did not enter the Ten Elites list."

Xu Yang's heart moved. Could Jiang Fan be talking about him? But he quickly denied it.

Although Jiang Fan often caught him to chat, he had never revealed the matter of his innate talent.

"Brother Jiang, who are you talking about?" Jiang Ping asked curiously.

Among the disciples of this batch, there was actually a hidden Grade A innate talent.

Jiang Fan shook his head: "This person is relatively low-key. Since he doesn't say, it's not convenient for me to reveal it."

Everyone couldn't help but feel disappointed.

"Xu Yang, come out for a chat."

Just at this moment, a voice came from outside the door.