Chapter 13: Where Do You Think You’re Going?

Xu Qingxue walked behind Xu Ziyan, glancing from time to time at Xu Ziyan’s back. She couldn’t stop thinking; in fact, she hardly slept well last night. Over and over, she thought about her fight with Xu Ziyan, replaying the scenes again and again in her mind.

Since she was young, her family saw her as a genius girl. She started cultivation at three years old and reached the Sixth Level of Houtian by thirteen. This wasn’t unheard of in the Xu Family Clan, and there were quite a few who achieved this. But what made her rare was that she had never taken a single elixir pill, relying entirely on her own hard work to reach the Sixth Level of Houtian.

In the Xu Family Clan—and actually, in every clan on this continent—there was a difference between main bloodline disciples and ordinary disciples from birth. They might not be able to eat elixirs like candy like Xu Ziyan could now, but they still had plenty of pills to take. So, many so-called genius youths in the clans were pretty much “elixir-made.”

But Xu Qingxue was different. Coming from a poor family, she relied solely on her talent and effort in cultivation. So, deep in her young heart, she was always very proud. Yesterday, when Xu Ziyan came to visit her, she understood Xu Ziyan’s intention after just a few words. With her naturally cool and proud personality, she thought Xu Ziyan had heard of her reputation and came to seek advice. So, she couldn’t help but act a bit arrogant.

And she deeply believed that there wasn’t much to talk about in cultivation. If you wanted to exchange ideas, you had to fight to truly understand. Just as she was about to say this to Xu Ziyan, she didn’t expect Xu Ziyan to misunderstand that she didn’t want to communicate and then said goodbye.

After Xu Ziyan left, Xu Qingxue felt a bit sorry because she had accepted the other’s gift and could tell Xu Ziyan clearly misunderstood her. She decided that when Xu Ziyan came back, she would visit her and maybe spar with her, giving some pointers during the fight.

But the result of the fight left her very embarrassed and frustrated. At first, she had a slight advantage, but after just a dozen rounds, she lost it completely. In the end, she was even knocked back by Xu Ziyan’s punch, and Xu Qingxue could tell Xu Ziyan clearly hadn’t used her full strength.

Once again, Xu Qingxue looked up at Xu Ziyan’s back, and a thought suddenly crossed her mind: this Xu Ziyan in front of her was definitely no ordinary person; she might soar high in the future. If she befriended her now, it could be a big help later. But did that mean she had to submit to her? Proud Xu Qingxue felt unwilling in her heart, so she followed Xu Ziyan and the others to the teaching hall in a daze.

Everyone picked a spot, sat on the floor, and chatted softly while waiting for the teacher. In less than a quarter of an hour, the hall suddenly became quiet. Xu Ziyan and the others quickly stopped talking and looked up toward the front. They saw a middle-aged man walking casually onto the platform at the front. Xu Ziyan used her spirit eye and saw that he was at the First Level of Qi Refining Stage.

The middle-aged man stepped onto the platform and, without looking at anyone, started the lesson directly. Everyone below was silent, listening attentively. Today was the first lesson for the new outer hall disciples, covering the basics from the Fifth Layer of Houtian to the twelfth. This was exactly what the new disciples lacked, so they listened extremely carefully, completely absorbed.

At this time, the hall was filled with new disciples, just a few dozen people. The senior disciples from the outer hall knew this was the newcomers’ first lesson, covering the most basic stuff, so they didn’t come at all.

Xu Ziyan listened very seriously below. Her cultivation level was naturally different from the other new disciples, and she had a very complete cultivation method in her inheritance. So, she understood every word the teacher said immediately, connected it to other things, and gained a lot of insight. Quickly, Xu Ziyan fully grasped what the teacher taught.

After the teacher finished, he looked over the disciples below and saw that their eyes were all blank. He chuckled to himself. Today, he only talked about the general outline of cultivation from the Sixth Level of Houtian to the twelfth. He knew these disciples, new to this level, couldn’t possibly understand; getting one or two layers of it would be good enough. When he first entered the outer hall for a lesson, wasn’t he just as confused? Anyway, they would explain it step by step later; whether they could understand then would depend on their personal insight.

Feeling a bit emotional, he didn’t want to disturb the disciples’ reflection and was about to leave. But then his gaze fixed—he saw Xu Ziyan sitting among the crowd. Xu Ziyan sat there with clear eyes, not a trace of confusion.

Seeing the teacher stop and clearly about to leave, Xu Ziyan thought maybe they should leave too. But when she looked at Xu Li and Xu Ling beside her, she found them sitting there in a daze. Surprised, Xu Ziyan looked around and saw all the dozens of people in the hall were the same, their eyes full of bewilderment.

While she was puzzled, the teacher on the platform grew unhappy. Seeing Xu Ziyan looking around, he decided she was daydreaming and hadn’t listened to his lecture at all. He absolutely refused to believe a new disciple could grasp these cultivation basics after just one lesson. So, her clear eyes could only mean one thing: she hadn’t paid attention.

He gave a cold snort, thinking, such a hopeless thing, wait till you suffer later. Even if you die, people like you aren’t worth pitying. He flicked his sleeve, glared fiercely at Xu Ziyan, and turned to leave the hall.

Xu Ziyan happened to catch the teacher’s glare. She felt very discouraged, not knowing how she had offended him or why he glared at her so harshly as he left.

At that moment, the disciples were startled awake by the teacher’s cold snort as he left. Seeing his retreating back, they stood up together and bowed respectfully, saying,

“Thank you, teacher.”

After the teacher left, Xu Ziyan noticed no one was leaving; instead, they were whispering to each other quietly. Affected by this, Xu Ziyan gently tugged Xu Li’s sleeve and whispered,

“Xu Li, why isn’t everyone leaving? What are they whispering about?”

Xu Li looked very uneasy. She leaned close to Xu Ziyan and said softly, “Everyone is afraid to go out!”

“Why?” Xu Ziyan asked, confused.

“It’s a rule in the outer hall. After the new disciples finish their first lesson, the senior disciples wait for us outside the hall.”

“What are they waiting for us for?” Xu Ziyan started to feel something was wrong.

“To beat us up! Every new disciple gets beaten by the senior ones. Then, every month, they demand we give them some gold and silver as protection money. If we don’t, they’ll hit us, and even if they kill us, the clan won’t care.”

Here, Xu Li sighed lightly and said, “If it were just a beating and some money, it might be tolerable. But what’s even worse is that every month, the clan gives us outer hall disciples one Spirit Nurturing Pill, and they come to steal that too. We can’t fight them, and without the Spirit Nurturing Pill, our cultivation progress falls further behind, so they keep bullying us.”

“Is there no way to solve this?” Xu Ziyan frowned and asked.

“There is, but only if you join their gang and become their dog. Then you’ll get bullied less.”

“Then… doesn’t the clan do anything? Is this rule set by the clan?” Xu Ziyan asked, a bit angry.

“No, it’s not a clan rule; it’s something the senior disciples came up with themselves. But the clan knows about it, and they don’t intervene. They say competition leads to improvement. Only through cruelty can true talent emerge.”

Hearing this, Xu Ziyan couldn’t help but sigh too. Though this method was harsh, anyone who could survive in such an environment would surely be the strongest of their generation. It wasn’t a bad way for the clan to nurture talent, just too brutal. Thinking it over, she shook her head troubled and said,

“But we can’t stay in this hall forever, right?”

“Yeah!” Xu Li said worriedly, looking blankly at the people whispering around them.

“What’s so hard about this? If we have to fight, then let’s fight. Ziyan Sister, let’s fight our way out.” Without looking back, Xu Ziyan knew it was Xu Qingxue, that battle-loving girl. But after thinking it over, it seemed like the only way. Besides, Xu Ziyan had already benefited from her fight with Xu Qingxue; she had thought that after getting familiar with the outer hall and finding out who the experts were, she would go challenge them one by one. Now that they were coming to her, having a fight earlier didn’t seem so bad.

Just as she was about to suggest to her companions to go out and see, she noticed the other disciples in the hall seemed to have made a decision too, all slowly heading toward the hall’s exit. So, Xu Ziyan didn’t say anything more and followed the crowd outside.

As they stepped out of the hall, they saw many people standing outside. Xu Ziyan gave a quick glance—there were easily over a hundred people, divided into four groups standing not far from the hall’s entrance, all smiling as they watched the new disciples come out. Their smiles and gazes were like a pack of wolves spotting sheep.

There were thirty-six new disciples this time. About a dozen of them walked up to the senior disciples, each taking out a pouch from their person and handing it over with both hands. The senior disciples took the pouches, weighed them in their hands, and tucked them into their robes. Seeing their money pouches taken, the new disciples who had paid all looked happy and bowed respectfully, saying,

“Senior Brothers, may we leave now?”

Slap!

A series of slapping sounds sent the new disciples stumbling back. A loud, arrogant voice came from the crowd:

“You worthless scum, where do you think you’re going!”