Chapter 223: Surviving in the Cracks, Revealing One's Edge

"Many thanks to Senior Bian for the kind offer, but I would like to consider it."

Li Fei said the same excuse to Bian Songnian.

A flash of displeasure crossed Bian Songnian's eyes, but he quickly concealed it.

He nodded at Li Fei:

"It is indeed worth careful consideration; I will await your reply."

After saying this, he also turned and left.

After Bian Songnian left, the third person to come and recruit Li Fei was Tang Lun, the president of the "Feng Society."

Tang Lun was tall and sturdy, his presence like a raging flame; one look and it was clear he was a martial artist with immense explosive power!

He was the only son of the Chief of the Feng Province Martial Suppression Department.

The Great Lan Dynasty divides its administrative regions into "Province—Prefecture—City—Town." The lowest level, the town, does not have a complete administrative structure. The city level's administrative structure consists of the "Six Academies." By the prefecture level, these become General Academies, such as the Martial Suppression General Academy, the Inspection General Academy, and the Supervisory General Academy.

Further up is the province level, where "Academy" changes to "Department," namely the Martial Suppression Department, Inspection Department, Supervisory Department, and so on, responsible for all relevant matters within a province.

Above the "Department" is the Central Cabinet, composed of the six cabinets: the Interior Cabinet, Judicial Cabinet, Supervisory Cabinet, Inspection Cabinet, Legal Cabinet, and Martial Suppression Cabinet, which together form the "Cabinet."

The Feng Province Martial Suppression Department oversees all Martial Suppression Academies in the province; all matters related to martial artists in the entire Feng Province fall under its jurisdiction.

As the only son of the Chief of the Martial Suppression Department, Tang Lun's father held a higher official rank than Bian Songnian's father!

However, since this was at the Martial University within the borders of Datong Prefecture, the "Feng Society," which he founded with a group of children of powerful provincial families, was actually weaker than Bian Songnian's "Heart Martial Society."

"Junior Li, I, Tang Lun, am a blunt man, so I won't beat around the bush with you; I'll just say it straight."

Tang Lun walked up to Li Fei and said in a muffled voice:

"That Bian Songnian only has influence within Datong Prefecture; his words don't carry weight once you leave it. A heaven-gifted talent like you, Junior Li, shouldn't limit your future stage to just a tiny Datong Prefecture; you should set your sights further. I won't say much else, but as long as you are willing to come to my side, you will be my, Tang Lun's, brother from now on! You can go ask around about how I, Tang Lun, treat my own brothers."

"Alright, I will consider it."

Li Fei nodded at Tang Lun.

After Tang Lun left, the remaining seven major societies also sent people to recruit Li Fei, though none of the presidents came themselves.

These seven societies were well aware that, whether in terms of wealth or power, what they could offer Li Fei at this stage was inferior to the previous three societies, so they did not hold high hopes.

After the people from the top ten societies had all left, the surrounding crowd slowly dispersed.

Li Tianyu walked up to Li Fei with a helpless expression.

"Sister, you aren't here to recruit me too, are you?"

Li Fei asked with a smile.

Li Tianyu sighed and nodded:

"Yes, I'm here as a lobbyist for our Heroine Society."

As she spoke, she told Li Fei the conditions Du Ya had offered.

"Xiaofei, based on my understanding of Du Ya, she is a very sincere person. If she says she can give the position of president to you, she isn't just making empty promises. If you go to other societies, you will ultimately just be a subordinate, but if you come to the Heroine Society, you will be the one in charge. That is a significant difference, and I think you should consider it. As for the rest, you don't need to worry; even if I fail to recruit you in the end, Du Ya won't have a negative opinion of me."

Li Tianyu said to Li Fei earnestly.

Li Fei looked at his sister, somewhat surprised: "I didn't expect you to be able to think this much?"

"Damn it!"

Li Tianyu kicked Li Fei without hesitation, "What's that supposed to mean? Your sister can't use her brain?"

"Hahaha, I didn't mean that at all."

Li Fei laughed as he walked along the tree-lined path with Li Tianyu, talking as they went.

"You became an peerless genius overnight; I'm still not quite used to it."

Li Tianyu looked at Li Fei, her expression complex.

Li Fei smiled: "Talent is just talent; it doesn't represent the future. Having less talent now doesn't mean your future achievements will be inferior to others. Sister, don't be discouraged."

In the enrollment aptitude test, Li Tianyu ultimately received a comprehensive evaluation of Grade A-Middle, earning 18 credits.

This evaluation was actually better than the results she had tested in middle school, but compared to Li Fei, it was far behind.

In the past, Li Tianyu was better than Li Fei in everything, but now that she suddenly discovered her younger brother was much, much stronger than her, although she wasn't jealous, her mindset was inevitably a bit unbalanced.

"Of course I won't be discouraged!"

Li Tianyu broke into a confident smile again and tilted her head at Li Fei:

"Your sister will become a female general sooner or later!"

"Mm."

Li Fei nodded heavily.

"Then, regarding joining a society, what are your thoughts, Xiaofei?"

Li Tianyu asked.

Li Fei looked ahead and said calmly:

"Sister, look at how everyone was so polite when they came to recruit me today, and the conditions they promised were better than the last. But believe me, once I choose to join one society, the people from the other societies will definitely do everything in their power to eliminate me!"

"Ah?"

Li Tianyu was startled and quickly looked around. Seeing that no one was nearby, she lowered her voice and said:

"It wouldn't go that far, would it? This is the Martial University after all; would they dare to act recklessly in school?"

Li Fei shook his head: "Perhaps they won't act recklessly in school, but it's hard to say once we leave. After all, I will have to go out to complete missions in the future."

"To the point of killing?"

"Sister, why do so many people want to come to this university? Because it has resources that cannot be obtained outside. People outside will fight until they bleed for a little bit of money, let alone more precious cultivation resources?"

"."

"It's fine if I don't join a society, but once I join one side, I become a competitor to the others. Because the cake that is the Martial University is only so big; if someone gets more, someone else must get less. If it were you, and you had to deal with a competitor with huge potential, what would you do?"

". would find a way to eliminate them before they could grow up."

"Exactly. No one is stupid enough to wait for a competitor to grow up and eventually step on them."

"No wonder Senior Wang Fengqing didn't join any society; it turns out she had already seen through it."

"Actually, while joining a society has risks, there are also many benefits. The reason I don't want to join isn't because I'm afraid of those people targeting me; I'm mainly afraid they will target you and Uncle Li."

"Ah?"

"Do you think the only way to deal with someone is to attack them directly? There are plenty of dirty tricks in this world! For example, if I chose to join Duanmu Weicai's Weicai Society today, believe me, Bian Songnian could ensure that Uncle Li's acting Chief Inspector position wouldn't be made permanent for ten years, and he might even be demoted in the end!"

"."

Li Fei's words completely tore away the veil of warmth and harmony on the surface of the campus, making Li Tianyu realize that she had still been thinking too simply. The struggle for interests within the Martial University was more naked, bloody, and cruel than she had imagined!

"So, as long as I keep to myself, every faction will give me some face and be willing to form a good relationship with me."

Li Fei said calmly.

"I understand."

Li Tianyu nodded and looked at Li Fei solemnly, "Xiaofei, you see things more clearly than I do. Just follow your own path; if you need my help in the future, just say so. I will also work hard not to hold you back!"

Li Fei turned to look at her and smiled: "Sister, you and Uncle Li will never be a burden to me; you are the motivation for me to move forward."

A smile bloomed on Li Tianyu's face as well, and she nodded heavily.

Afterward, the two parted ways. Li Tianyu went to find Du Ya to explain that Li Fei would not be joining the Heroine Society, while Li Fei walked in another direction.

He looked back at Li Tianyu's retreating figure, his eyes firm.

Although he had displayed astonishing talent, this only added a layer of protection for himself. He still had to carefully survive in the cracks between the major factions and grow slowly.

To completely master his own destiny and live according to his own will, his current strength was still far, far too weak.

"I won't let you wait too long."

Li Fei smiled and muttered to himself.

Then, he walked all the way toward the southwest.

Soon, a city wall appeared ahead.

The city wall, built of black stone bricks, formed a circle, looking like a "city within a city."

After Li Fei approached, he saw three large characters on the plaque at the city gate—Arena.

This "city within a city" was the unique arena of the Martial University's Martial Suppression Department, a place for students to spar and compete.

But while they called it sparring, people died here from time to time!

Because the step from the Body-Breaking Realm to the Qi-Transformation Realm requires life-and-death tempering to strengthen one's intent and power, students are required to sign a life-and-death waiver before entering the arena—life or death, no regrets.

Although there are instructors watching on the sidelines in the arena, there is still a possibility that rescue might not arrive in time.

Every year, no fewer than ten students from the Martial University's Martial Suppression Department die in the arena!

Even so, it remains widely popular; truly formidable students at the Martial University will all come here to walk a path, striving to leave their names on the Combat Power Ranking.

Li Fei passed through the city gate and walked into the arena.

The structure inside was very similar to the inner stronghold of the Qingyuan Fist Stronghold, all consisting of sparring grounds surrounded by wooden walls.

At the city gate, many students were looking up at the city wall above.

Li Fei also turned and looked up.

He saw three long banners hanging on the city wall, with names written on them in blood-red characters.

This was the Combat Power Ranking!

The list in the center was the Combat Power Ranking for Strength-Refining Martial Masters, the one on the left was the ranking for Martial Masters, and the one on the right was the ranking for Martial Artists.

On each list, there were only ten names from top to bottom.

Li Fei looked at the list in the center and saw that at the very top, the name ranked first was none other than Wang Fengqing—327 points.

The rules of the arena are that in a fight between martial artists, winning a match earns 1 point, and losing a match deducts 1 point.

Between martial masters, winning a match earns 5 points, and losing a match deducts 5 points.

Between Martial Masters of the Strength Refining realm, winning a match earns 10 points, and losing a match deducts 10 points.

Furthermore, the point gap between the two people competing cannot be too large, otherwise they cannot compete.

The point gap between Martial Artists cannot exceed 10 points, between Martial Masters it cannot exceed 50 points, and between Martial Masters of the Strength Refining realm it cannot exceed 100 points.

On the leaderboard, the person ranked first, Wang Fengqing, has 327 points, while the second place only has 205 points.

Therefore, Wang Fengqing currently cannot be matched with an opponent in the arena.

In fact, with her cultivation base at the Dao Foundation stage, she truly cannot find an opponent among the students at the Martial University.

She is far ahead of everyone else on the combat power leaderboard and has dominated the first-place spot for nearly half a year.

Li Fei came to the arena today to fight.

The realm he currently displays to the outside world is the late stage of Body Breaking; he actually wants to reveal his cultivation base of the Qi Transformation stage, but there is really no way to explain it clearly.

Breaking through from an ordinary person to the Qi Transformation stage in half a year is too shocking; even Wang Fengqing took nearly a year back then.

And precisely because his current cultivation base is only at the Body Breaking stage, the outside world has never suspected that he has any connection to the Green-Faced Ghost.

Once he exposes his cultivation base as the Qi Transformation stage, combined with the fact that he also uses Geng Metal True Qi, his identity as the Green-Faced Ghost would be at risk of being exposed.

Therefore, Li Fei's initial plan was to wait until he arrived at the Martial University to "openly and honestly" break through his realm.

And to break through to the Qi Transformation stage, one naturally must undergo some life-and-death tempering.

Thus, the arena is the most suitable place.

Only after he "openly and honestly" breaks through to the Qi Transformation stage will it be convenient for him to ask for advice on how to resolve his state-of-mind issues, so as to break through to the mid stage of Qi Transformation.

Besides this, Li Fei came to the arena to further reveal his brilliance and increase his weight in the minds of various factions.

Now everyone knows his potential is astonishing, even higher than Wang Fengqing's.

But potential is, after all, just potential; whether he can truly convert his potential into combat power remains to be further observed.

Back then, Wang Fengqing had already revealed her brilliance in the arena when she was a freshman.

Today, Li Fei naturally will not fall behind others!

Inside the arena, Li Fei strode forward.

The sunlight shone on him, stretching his shadow very, very long.

Requesting monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter)