Chapter 482

"Just a stroke of luck," Zhang Yong said with a smile.

Although everyone had managed to retreat unscathed in the end, that mission to capture the Phantom Leopard cub had been a brush with death.

"Only you could face such a situation with a smile; if it were me, I'm afraid I couldn't bear it," Zhang Yong said, smiling, though he also felt sorry for Xu Yang.

Back then, because a share of one tael of silver had been allocated to Xu Yang, he had harbored resentment toward him for a long time. It was hard to imagine that Xu Yang could miss out on so many resources and not have any reaction at all.

"What is yours is yours. If I had made the list, would there be others who felt they were just a little short and that I shouldn't have appeared?"

Xu Yang smiled. He had intentionally been hiding his true strength all along, so naturally, he had nothing to be upset about.

"Look, that's Young Master Jiang Fan, the number one of the Ten Elites."

Jiang Fan and Jiang Yan arrived together, causing a stir. With the status of a Young Master combined with being the top of the Ten Elites, Jiang Fan had instantly become the most prominent figure in the Profound Heaven Sect, even if he did have a slight blemish on his reputation.

"The Young Master is truly handsome and extraordinary. I wonder if that outer sect female disciple was blind."

As soon as these words were spoken, the corner of Jiang Fan's mouth twitched noticeably, and his smile became somewhat forced.

Beside him, Jiang Yan glared fiercely in that direction. The person who had spoken turned pale with fright and hurriedly covered their mouth.

Jiang Fan scanned the crowd, saw Xu Yang standing with Zhang Yong, and strode over.

Zhang Yong cupped his hands: "Greetings, Brother Jiang, Senior Brother Jiang."

Jiang Yan nodded slightly. He didn't have much of a friendship with Zhang Yong, but knowing that Zhang Yong and Jiang Fan were close, he didn't put on airs.

"Congratulations to Brother Zhang on entering the inner sect."

Jiang Fan looked at Xu Yang with a smile and said, "Brother Xu!"

Xu Yang cupped his hands: "Congratulations to Brother Jiang for reaching Minor Success in Marrow Cleansing and capturing the number one spot on the Ten Elites List!"

Jiang Fan laughed: "Brother Xu, hearing that from your mouth, why does it sound like you're mocking me?"

"How could that be? I am sincerely congratulating you, Brother Jiang." Xu Yang let out a dry laugh.

He was basically certain that Jiang Fan must have seen through his true cultivation base.

Even with Elder Huoyun and the others failing to see his true cultivation, he didn't know how Jiang Fan had figured it out, but Jiang Fan definitely knew he had long since reached Minor Success in Marrow Cleansing.

"It must be the methods of the Marquis's estate!" Xu Yang thought to himself.

Previously, he hadn't had much awareness of Jiang Fan's status as a Young Master, or rather, he didn't know the depth of the foundation that the title represented.

Ever since he learned that Yunzhou alone had a population of hundreds of millions, he understood the weight behind the title of Young Master.

In a world where hereditary titles existed, the ancestors must have had earth-shattering origins, and the foundation was unfathomable.

"Li Chuyang is here!" someone suddenly said.

Everyone turned to look and saw Li Chuyang still carrying that air of a spoiled playboy, striding over with his two guards.

The clothes on the two of them had also changed from those of outer sect disciples to inner sect disciples.

Xu Yang had always been curious about Li Chuyang's background.

He had heard people say that Du Chuan was the young master of the Du family, one of the ten great families of Qingyang City, but as for Li Chuyang's origins, no one had ever mentioned them.

For this person to be able to make both of his subordinates inner sect disciples, his background was likely not small, though it shouldn't be a force from Qingyang City, as there was no Li family among the ten great families there.

Moreover, this guy had always been at odds with Jiang Fan; without a certain family backing, he would never dare to act this way.

"I didn't expect that I only delayed for a few days and let you pick up the scraps. In a year, I will let you know who the real number one is." Li Chuyang strode up to Jiang Fan, staring him down.

"If you want the number one spot, I'll let you have it. It doesn't matter to me." Jiang Fan smiled.

He had no intention of being number one, and he also knew who the real number one was.

"I will take the number one spot with my own hands; I don't need you to let me have it." Li Chuyang snorted coldly.

Jiang Fan couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Li Chuyang, but Li Chuyang's gaze turned toward Xu Yang, who was beside Jiang Fan: "What cultivation method do you practice? The Diamond Body Technique or the Indestructible Diamond Body?"

Xu Yang hadn't expected this guy to target him, so he shook his head and said, "A family-inherited technique; I cannot disclose it."

He had always been worried about the Diamond Body Technique causing issues, and since he hadn't found the origin of this technique, he naturally didn't dare to speak of it. If these people didn't know what technique he practiced, no one would come looking for trouble.

"You come from a farming background; where would you get a family-inherited technique? You won't say? Then I'll just have to test it myself. It just so happens I can see how your Jin Gang Qi compares to the silver Gang Qi cultivated by my Three Yin Silver Palace Profound Gang True Art."

Silver Gang Qi flickered on Li Chuyang's body, his aura erupted, and he slapped his palm toward Xu Yang's chest. Since Xu Yang wouldn't say what technique he practiced, he could only force it out.

Everyone's eyelids jumped. They hadn't expected Li Chuyang to be so arrogant and domineering even after entering the inner sect. Because someone wouldn't disclose their cultivation method, he actually moved to force it out.

"Boom!"

The force of the wind surged, and the silver palm was like a bolt of lightning.

Xu Yang's eyes turned cold, his whole body tensed, his muscles and bones emitted a crackling sound, and his dormant Gang Qi was about to circulate.

"If you want to fight, I'll accompany you!"

Jiang Fan was a step faster than him, stepping forward to block in front of him and striking out with a palm.

"Bang!"

The two palms collided, emitting a dull thud like iron being struck. Both Li Chuyang and Jiang Fan were shaken, their joints roared, and they couldn't help but retreat as the surging force swept outward.

Xu Yang and Jiang Yan's expressions changed drastically. Zhang Yong didn't even have the cultivation of Marrow Cleansing, and being so close, if he were caught in the aftermath, he would be severely injured if not shaken to death.

Zhang Yong's face was already pale, filled with despair. He could only watch helplessly as the surging force swept toward him, the terrifying pressure leaving him unable to even move.

Fortunately, Xu Yang and Jiang Yan both reacted, stepping forward to block him behind them while simultaneously waving a palm to shatter the aftermath.

"Hmph..."

Dull groans sounded one after another in the surroundings, and several disciples who were close by showed expressions of pain and retreated in a panic.

"You mad dog!"

This lunatic was actually playing for real!

Jiang Fan was furious, his body suddenly springing out to clash with Li Chuyang.

"Well come! Since my rebirth, I haven't fought anyone yet." Li Chuyang let out a long whistle, his fighting spirit erupting.

His whole body flashed with silver light, clashing with Jiang Fan with loud bangs, causing the earth and rocks outside Heavenly Wind Valley to collapse and dust to rise everywhere.

"Stop!"

Suddenly, a loud shout rang out, and a powerful force surged over. Li Chuyang and Jiang Fan, who were in the middle of fighting, trembled all over, and their Gang Qi disappeared into their bodies like a receding tide.

A middle-aged man with a majestic face appeared out of nowhere, standing beside the two: "This is Heavenly Wind Valley; who allowed you to fight here?"

Elder Liu Qingyuan of Heavenly Authority Peak!

Xu Yang heard someone whispering and learned the man's identity.

"Reporting to Elder Liu, he was the one who started it!" Jiang Fan said coldly.

Liu Qingyuan felt a headache coming on; both of these people had high statuses, and he couldn't afford to offend either of them.

But if he didn't intervene, the sect's dignity would be swept away.

Liu Qingyuan looked at Li Chuyang, wanting to hear how he would explain: "Why did you start fighting? Do you not know the sect's rules that one should not easily use force in the inner sect?"

"I didn't move against him; he was the one meddling in other people's business." Li Chuyang looked coldly at Xu Yang.

Liu Qingyuan's gaze also turned to Xu Yang: "You were the one who caused this?"

So he couldn't afford to offend Jiang Fan or Li Chuyang, and he was going to use him as a scapegoat?

He didn't believe Liu Qingyuan didn't know what kind of person Li Chuyang was; how could he, an ordinary disciple, take the initiative to provoke Li Chuyang?

"Reporting to Elder, this matter was not caused by this disciple; Li Chuyang moved against me for no reason." Xu Yang cupped his hands.

"I asked you a question, and you didn't answer; isn't that forcing me to take action?" Li Chuyang snorted coldly.

With his status, for Xu Yang to refuse to answer his question was something he couldn't tolerate. Moreover, he was indeed interested in the cultivation method Xu Yang practiced; the only thing he hadn't expected was for Jiang Fan to step in for Xu Yang and fight him.

"He asked you a question, why didn't you answer?" Liu Qingyuan shouted.

Li Chuyang asked him a question, and he had to answer? This was clearly not even pretending to be fair, just trying to cover for Li Chuyang and push the blame onto him.

In an instant, Xu Yang understood that Li Chuyang's status was likely higher than he had imagined; otherwise, a dignified Elder of Heavenly Authority Peak wouldn't be so biased.

"Who does he think he is? Just because he asks a question, others must answer him?"

Jiang Fan stared down Liu Qingyuan: "May I ask Elder Liu, which sect rule of the Profound Heaven Sect dictates that one must answer whenever someone asks a question? If you are afraid of Li Chuyang's status and dare not punish him, just say so; why make things difficult for an ordinary disciple?"

These words tore off Liu Qingyuan's hypocritical mask in one go. Liu Qingyuan's face turned visibly livid; everyone knew he was using Xu Yang to shift the conflict because of Li Chuyang's status.

But Jiang Fan had a status that didn't fear Liu Qingyuan at all, and he directly pointed out that he didn't dare to punish Li Chuyang.

"Li Chuyang acted against a fellow disciple in the sect without authorization. Considering there were no serious consequences, he is sentenced to three months of confinement as a warning to others."

Just as Liu Qingyuan's face was livid, a calm voice rang out.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a figure walking out of Heavenly Wind Valley, holding a cyan bead in their hand. The Heavenly Wind Valley, which had been normal, was now filled with a kind of cyan Gang wind.

Liu Qingyuan trembled all over and cupped his hands: "Greetings, Sect Master."

Only then did Xu Yang know that this person was actually the Sect Master of the Profound Heaven Sect, Zhang Jingyuan. In an instant, everyone also cupped their hands one after another.

Zhang Jingyuan nodded slightly, looked at Li Chuyang, and said: "After Heavenly Wind Valley closes, go to the Law Enforcement Hall yourself to receive your punishment."

"This disciple accepts the punishment!" Li Chuyang cupped his hands, his attitude no longer as arrogant as before.

Zhang Jingyuan nodded and said: "Elder Liu, proceed with presiding over the disciples entering Heavenly Wind Valley for cultivation." ===== CHAPTER 483 =====