Chapter 94

Not long after the people from the Great River Gang left, Qiu Wenjie and his son also arrived with gifts. Besides the two of them, the eldest uncle and cousin Zhou Hui also came along to offer their congratulations.

Compared to the people from the Great River Gang, this time he did not dare to put on any airs at all; he respectfully invited Zhou Shunchang into his home and served him tea, melons, and fruits.

Xu Qing also left the others behind to start preparing a meal to entertain them.

Seeing all this, the second elder Xu felt another wave of discomfort in his heart.

One after another, more people sent congratulatory gifts—there were the Liu family, the Huang family, fellow disciples from the martial arts gym, and even some wealthy families in the city whom Xu Yang did not know at all.

He was not overly modest and accepted them all.

Later in the evening, the bustle finally died down, but then a few uninvited guests arrived.

Several disciples from the Fierce Wind Hall, led by Kong Yu—who was hailed as having the best bone structure among this year's examinees—sought him out.

"Junior Brother Kong, if you ask me, he is the one who killed Yang Jun. We should arrest him and hand him over to the Master."

When Jiang Yi saw Xu Yang, a look of hatred instantly appeared in his eyes.

This was an attempt to frame him for Yang Jun's death and use it as an excuse to avenge Zhu Yang.

Xu Yang glanced at Jiang Yi, then looked at Kong Yu.

Kong Yu said in a low voice, "Senior Brother Jiang, be rational. Senior Brother Yang Jun had his essence drained by someone using demonic arts; it could not have been Brother Xu."

He also wanted to avenge Zhu Yang, but he disdained using such framing tactics.

Moreover, Xu Yang had the Mighty Far Hall behind him, so he could not be framed with just a single sentence.

"Only he had a grudge against Yang Jun. Who else would kill Yang Jun besides him?" Jiang Yi said.

Xu Yang snorted coldly, "Idiot! If you want to frame me, use more clever methods. I could just as easily say that you killed Yang Jun to frame me."

Jiang Yi wanted to say more, but Kong Yu’s face darkened, and he had no choice but to shut his mouth resentfully.

Kong Yu cupped his hands and said, "Apologies. My Senior Brother Jiang was muddled by the death of Senior Brother Yang Jun and spoke nonsense. We came here to ask if Brother Xu has seen any suspicious people in the vicinity recently."

Xu Yang shook his head, "I have not."

Kong Yu left with his men, looking disappointed.

"Demonic arts... could it be Xue Hong?" Xu Yang pondered.

He had no intention of bringing up Xue Hong’s affairs and inviting trouble.

Xue Hong definitely wouldn't have only sought him out; if others weren't talking, he certainly wouldn't either. As long as it didn't affect him, whoever died had nothing to do with him.

However, he vaguely felt that the matter shouldn't have anything to do with Xue Hong. Xue Hong was originally planning for them—these "Dragon-Ascenders"—to go undercover in the Purple Sun Gate. Wouldn't killing people at this time be telling everyone that members of the Blood Lotus Sect had appeared in Qingyuan?

"It was done by people from the Burning Heaven Gate."

A few days later, Xu Yang learned from Lin Cheng that the matter really wasn't done by Xue Hong, but by a demonic sect called the Burning Heaven Gate that had killed Yang Jun.

Because in these past few days, more experts who had been injured during the martial arts examination had met with foul play. As the matter blew up, someone discovered that the method of Yang Jun and the others' deaths was related to a demonic sect called the Burning Heaven Gate.

Various major families and the imperial court took action, beginning to hunt down the people from the Burning Heaven Gate.

Xu Yang was completely unaffected.

According to what Lin Cheng said, these people who were killed had all been lured by the Burning Heaven Gate and had "blood seeds" planted in their bodies.

Now that the blood seeds had matured, the Burning Heaven Gate had come to harvest them.

"So that's why Yang Jun was able to reach Great Completion in Qi Gathering so quickly... because he had a blood seed planted in him..."

Only then did he understand the reason why Yang Jun had reached Great Completion in Qi Gathering in one year.

Time passed slowly, and the injured disciples of the Mighty Far Hall gradually recovered and returned to the hall.

Sun Tao had already returned, but he was busy contemplating the Mountain-Bearing Bear Scripture, so Xu Yang continued to teach the outer court disciples.

Zhang Hong also returned, but his mood was a bit low. Having failed to ascend the dragon, he had been squeezed out of the circle by Jiang Ping and the others. Only Zhang Yong, because he had successfully ascended the dragon, was becoming increasingly comfortable in Jiang Ping’s circle.

Soon, most people had returned, but only Lu Ren and Gu Fang had not appeared.

While listening to the inner court disciples chatting, Xu Yang vaguely heard that since the martial arts examination had ended, Gu Fang would not be coming to the Mighty Far Hall again.

Once Xu Yang thought about it, he understood the reason.

The Gu family no longer needed a genius to help Gu Haoming charge into battle, so naturally, they wouldn't waste money to win people over. Plus, since Gu Fang had failed to ascend the dragon, she had no face to come to the Mighty Far Hall again.

"That's not all!"

Zhang Hong said, "Qin Ze’s palm strike wasn't easy to take. Senior Sister Gu injured her heart meridian, and she won't be able to recover within a year or two."

Speaking of this, he glanced at Xu Yang before continuing, "On top of that, you defeated Lu Ren, but she failed to win you over. Gu Haoming pushed the blame for his failure to break into the top three onto her, and now the Gu family is very disappointed in her.

I heard the Gu family is already arranging a marriage for her, intending to use her for a political alliance to stabilize the family's status."

Xu Yang felt a bit of melancholy. Gu Fang had given up her chance to ascend the dragon for Gu Haoming, yet in the end, she was still blamed by him and ended up in a marriage alliance.

Of course, he was just sighing about it; he and Gu Fang had no friendship whatsoever, and the words they had exchanged added up to no more than ten sentences.

"What about Lu Ren?" Xu Yang asked curiously.

Although Lu Ren’s injuries were severe, with so many days having passed, given Lu Ren’s cultivation base, he should have been mostly healed.

Zhang Hong showed a somewhat strange expression, "He lost to you, so his standing in the Gu family has dropped quite a bit, and he himself has become very decadent.

Zhang Yong and I went to see him once; he seems to have no face to see anyone, and he didn't even see us."

Lu Ren had a high opinion of himself, always looking down on Xu Yang, belittling and targeting him at every turn, and every time his cultivation broke through, he had to show off in front of Xu Yang.

Now that he had lost to Xu Yang, he had become a clown; the blow was almost no different from being humiliated in public.

Days returned to calm.

The matter of the Burning Heaven Gate caused a stir for a few days, but no one was caught, and with no new victims appearing, it was gradually forgotten.

Every day, Xu Yang ran between the White Stone Workshop and the Mighty Far Hall—practicing martial arts in the morning and going to the outer court in the afternoon to guide the new disciples. Sometimes, he would also offer pointers on fist techniques to Qiu Wenjie and Tian Li.

The Qiu family’s tea business was growing larger and larger. With his reputation as a "Dragon-Ascending" genius, many teahouses and restaurants were cooperating with the Qiu family, sourcing their tea from them.

This day, Xu Yang’s mind felt clear and cool, as if a layer of mist had been brushed away. The contents of the Mountain-Bearing Bear Scripture flashed through his mind, and some problems he had struggled to understand were instantly resolved.

[Comprehension: 80]

With the accumulation of many days, his comprehension had also risen to eighty.

"It's a pity there's no room to apply this comprehension."

The improvement of a cultivation base mainly relied on resources and bone structure. He had 80 in comprehension, but no techniques to practice.

The only technique that hadn't reached Great Completion, the Diamond Technique, was a slow-grinding effort; its progress had little to do with bone structure or comprehension.

After practicing the Diamond Technique for a while, he got up and headed to the Mighty Far Hall.

In the afternoon, he walked out of the inner court and came to the outer court to guide the disciples in their cultivation.

Not long after, he saw Sun Tao and An Ye walking out of the inner court, coming to wait outside the Mighty Far Hall.

"Who is coming to the Mighty Far Hall that the Master would actually have Senior Brother Sun and An Ye come out together to welcome them?" many outer court disciples wondered.

This was a high level of etiquette. For someone of ordinary status, Lin Cheng would never have two personal disciples come out early to wait and welcome them.

Xu Yang soon knew who Sun Tao and An Ye were waiting for.

The Master of the Tiger Roar Fist Gym and the four disciples from the Tiger Roar Fist Gym who had successfully ascended the dragon.

Sun Tao and An Ye led the way, bringing the five of them into the Mighty Far Hall. Lin Cheng also walked out of the inner court, personally coming to the outer court to welcome them, and then led the five into the inner court, disappearing from Xu Yang’s sight.

"The Master of the Tiger Roar Fist Gym, bringing four Dragon-Ascending disciples to the Mighty Far Hall—what for?"

After being slightly curious, Xu Yang continued to guide the outer court disciples.

"Senior Brother Xu, the Master wants you to come over."

Unexpectedly, after a while, An Ye came to notify him that Lin Cheng was looking for him.

"Alright!"

Xu Yang wiped the sweat from his forehead, straightened his clothes, and walked all the way into Lin Cheng’s courtyard.

"Junior Brother Xu, over here!"

Sun Tao waved at Xu Yang in the reception hall.

He looked over and discovered that besides Sun Tao, Zhao Zhifei, Jiang Ping, and Zhang Yong were also there.

All the disciples from the Mighty Far Hall who had ascended the dragon, except for Lu Ren who had never appeared, were there. Besides them, Lin Wei was also present; looking heroic, she stood quietly behind Lin Cheng.

Seeing Xu Yang enter, she nodded gently at him.

During the martial arts examination, her luck had been quite good, and she had successfully ascended the dragon.

Xu Yang roughly knew in his heart that the people from the Tiger Roar Fist Gym were here because of the dragon ascension. He cupped his hands and said, "Disciple greets Master, greets Senior Tian!"

Senior Tian was the Master of the Tiger Roar Fist Gym, named Tian Wei.

After paying his respects, he sat down next to Zhang Yong.

"I had you come over because Master Tian is here, hoping that the Dragon-Ascending disciples of my Mighty Far Hall can form an offensive and defensive alliance with the Dragon-Ascending disciples of the Tiger Roar Fist Gym, so that after entering the Purple Sun Gate, you can support each other and progress together..."

While Lin Cheng spoke, his gaze swept over the faces of Xu Yang, Zhang Yong, and the others, taking in everyone’s reactions.

"The Purple Sun Gate is not a monolith; factions are everywhere, and disciples all have different backgrounds and origins. To gain a foothold in the Purple Sun Gate, it is very difficult to fight alone; you must have allies."

Lin Cheng said this, sipped his tea, and then continued, "Of course, although you are my disciples in name, entering the Purple Sun Gate is your own business, and my reach does not extend into the Purple Sun Gate. Whether you are willing to form an alliance with these geniuses from the Tiger Roar Fist Gym, I will not force you.