Chapter 500: Chapter 282: Three Months

The next day, Liu Qingyuan was buried. It was only then that Xu Yang learned from Gao Lin about Huo Xiaochen’s threat to prevent him from attempting the Secondary Dragon Ascension.

"The Sect Leader suppressed the matter, but Huo Xiaochen is young and arrogant. He probably only yielded because his cultivation is no match for the Sect Leader’s. Master told me to warn you: be extremely careful of that man during the Secondary Dragon Ascension.

Master said that Liu Qingyuan once saved Jiang Wang’s life. What happened yesterday was likely just an excuse Jiang Wang came up with to target you and Master. You must not let your guard down." Gao Lin’s expression was grave.

A genius with Root Bone Perfection was a headache just to think about. Even if they didn’t kill Xu Yang, simply ruining his future during the Secondary Dragon Ascension would have consequences just as difficult to bear.

Originally, Xu Yang had a high chance of succeeding in the Dragon Ascension, but now, his prospects seemed bleak.

If Huo Xiaochen were to suppress Xu Yang during the Secondary Dragon Ascension, Xu Yang would have almost no chance of succeeding and entering the Celestial Strategy Academy. This would be true even if he knew Xu Yang was hiding some of his strength.

This was because Huo Xiaochen had broken through to the Celestial Essence Realm months ago, while the current Xu Yang had not even reached Marrow Cleansing Perfection.

"Thank you for telling me, Senior Brother Gao!"

Xu Yang clasped his hands, not overly concerned about Huo Xiaochen.

’Of course, I can’t tell Gao Lin that, or I’ll just get a lecture and another round of warnings.’

Time passed slowly. Half a month went by in the blink of an eye. This year’s batch of Dragon Ascending Disciples had arrived at the Purple Sun Sect seven days ago.

In this batch, three disciples from Weiyuan Hall had successfully completed the Dragon Ascension. Someone had approached Xu Qing and Qiu Wenjie, wanting to pay a visit to Xu Yang, but he had refused.

Although he and the Weiyuan Hall disciples shared the same master, they weren’t close, so he naturally wasn’t going to become their backer.

He hadn’t even given much help to Qiu Wenjie and Tian Li, let alone people he had no connection with.

It wasn’t just those two disciples from Weiyuan Hall. Several people from Qingyuan County had sent messages requesting a visit, trying to dredge up any connection they could. One of them even tried to link himself through Xu Yang’s maternal uncle, Zhou Wenli, but Xu Yang still didn’t see him.

He couldn’t care less about such a distant family tie. ’I don’t even care whether my own father lives or dies, so why would I care about a relative I’ve never even met?’

Today was the annual Outer Sect Grand Competition.

This competition should have started over half a month ago but was delayed because of Liu Qingyuan’s murder.

Early in the morning, Xu Yang descended from Li Fire Peak.

Unknowingly, Xu Qing had already been at the Purple Sun Sect for a full three years. She would also be participating in this Outer Sect Grand Competition, hoping to fight for a top-three spot and be exempted from the assessment mission.

"Brother!"

Xu Qing walked over with Qiu Wenjie and Tian Li, her face full of excitement.

She had already reached the Marrow Cleansing realm, but at Xu Yang’s request, she had kept her cultivation level hidden. Today was finally the day she would make a stunning debut. How could she not be excited?

"Brother Xu!" Tian Li and Qiu Wenjie greeted him with clasped hands.

"Junior Brother Qiu, Junior Brother Tian," Xu Yang nodded at them.

The two of them had always stayed within the Purple Sun Sect and never ventured out, so their cultivation was still at Gang Qi Minor Achievement. They were not participating in this competition.

Of course, although their cultivation was low, no one dared to bully them because of their connection to Xu Yang. They were quite content with this, just waiting to complete their ten years of service at the Purple Sun Sect and return to Qingyuan County to become local bigwigs.

He then looked at Xu Qing. "If you can’t win, just concede. It’s no big deal if you don’t get into the top three. I can do the assessment mission for you."

The young woman lifted her snowy-white neck and said proudly, "Don’t worry. I guarantee I’ll place in the top three."

After taking the Eight Treasure Lotus Seeds to improve her Root Bone, her talent had improved significantly. On top of that, for over a year, Xu Yang had occasionally given her Dragon Tiger Great Golden Pills or Leopard Embryo Muscle-Toning Pills. Although she hadn’t reached Marrow Cleansing Minor Achievement yet, she wasn’t far off.

’Forget the top three; I’m confident I could even take first place.’ But she planned to follow Xu Yang’s example and just aim for third.

Besides, in her batch of disciples, several of the most talented ones were already dead. Now, besides her, only two others had successfully reached Marrow Cleansing. Getting into the top three would be a cinch.

"So impressive!" Xu Yang gave her a thumbs-up.

The three of them quickly arrived at the Martial Arts Arena, which was already teeming with people.

"Brother Xu!"

"Greetings, Brother Xu!"

"Hello, Brother Xu!"

Wherever Xu Yang passed, the older disciples all greeted him and voluntarily made way.

"Who is that? Why are so many older disciples actively greeting him?" A new disciple asked in surprise.

These older disciples were extremely arrogant. Ever since the new disciples had arrived, the older ones had looked down their noses at them, never giving them a proper glance. Yet now, they were bowing and scraping before this handsome young man like fawning pugs, their postures incredibly humble.

"That’s Brother Xu Yang, a disciple of Li Fire Peak and the number one on the Purple Sun Sect’s Ten Heroes List. He has a very high chance of succeeding in the Secondary Dragon Ascension. When you see him in the future, make sure you don’t offend him," an older disciple whispered a warning.

Upon hearing this, the surrounding new disciples were all shocked. He was the number one of the Ten Heroes! No wonder these older disciples were fawning over him like dogs.

Liu Qian stood in the crowd, a complicated expression on her face as she watched the scene. Several scars, like centipedes, ran across her face, looking extremely frightening.

Once upon a time, Xu Yang would have had to greet her respectfully with a bow and call her "Fifth Miss." Now, she didn’t even have the right to approach and speak to him.

He had suppressed a host of geniuses like Li Chuyang and Jiang Fan to claim the top spot on the Ten Heroes List. Who could have imagined that the young man who once worked as a guard for her Liu Family for a few taels of silver could have come this far?

And this step was likely just the beginning. The real stage was the Celestial Strategy Academy.

In decades, Xu Yang was arguably the most dazzling talent to come out of Qingyuan County.

’Where’s Qin Ze?’ Xu Yang had also spotted Liu Qian in the crowd.

But he noticed that Qin Ze, who was usually inseparable from Liu Qian, was not by her side this time.

Seemingly noticing Xu Yang’s confusion, Qiu Wenjie stepped forward and whispered, "A few months ago, Qin Ze and Liu Qian teamed up to search for treasure in the Yunling Mountain Range. They encountered a powerful Exotic Beast, and Qin Ze was killed by it."

’Qin Ze is dead!’

Xu Yang was a bit dazed. Of the disciples from their Dragon Ascension batch, he feared few were left. For those who hadn’t entered the Inner Sect but still wanted to advance further, most had probably died in the Yunling Mountain Range.

He even noticed that many people from Xu Qing’s batch were also gone.

The competition began quickly!

When it was Xu Qing’s turn to take the stage, she directly revealed her Marrow Cleansing Cultivation, blasting her opponent off the platform with a single palm strike and stunning many onlookers.

This unknown young woman had actually reached Marrow Cleansing in secret.

"Who is this young woman? How come I’ve never heard of her? She doesn’t seem to be one of the geniuses on the Ten Heroes List," Ding Yuan said, puzzled.

Du Qingpu laughed. "Didn’t you hear the people below? That’s Xu Yang’s sister. Old Ghost Li not only misjudged Xu Yang, but he misjudged his sister as well.

You should stop being an Outer Elder. You’re holding the disciples back. You don’t even know when one of your own breaks through to Marrow Cleansing."

Li Songhe’s eyes widened in disbelief. With Xu Qing’s level of talent, how could she possibly have reached Marrow Cleansing Minor Achievement so quickly?

’This pair of siblings has embarrassed me time and time again.’

"If she’s Xu Yang’s sister, then it’s understandable."

"Oh, so she’s Xu Yang’s sister. In that case, she’s not a disgrace to him."

Hearing that Xu Qing was Xu Yang’s sister, many people were no longer so surprised. They felt it was only natural for her to have reached Marrow Cleansing Minor Achievement.

After all, with such a genius for a brother, she wouldn’t be lacking resources. As long as she wasn’t an idiot, it would be abnormal *not* to reach Marrow Cleansing after three years in the Outer Sect.

By revealing her Marrow Cleansing Cultivation, Xu Qing secured third place without any surprises, not even attempting to fight for first.

She had long decided to study under Elder Chang Chun, so when the time came, she submitted a formal request to become his disciple at Medicine King Peak.

By now, thanks to Xu Yang spending tens of thousands of taels of silver, she had completely learned how to refine Qi Gathering Pills. Her Pill Formation Success Rate was stable at eight pills per furnace, and she was starting to earn money.

With this skill, there was almost no suspense. She became Elder Chang Chun’s disciple.

That same day, Xu Yang held a grand banquet at an Outer Sect restaurant to celebrate for Xu Qing. Firstly, he was happy for her, and secondly, it was a formal public announcement that Xu Qing was his sister.

He was bound to attempt the Secondary Dragon Ascension in the future and enter the Celestial Strategy Academy. When he was gone, he wanted everyone to know that this was his sister, Xu Qing. Anyone with ill intentions would have to consider whether they could withstand Xu Yang’s retaliation. It was a way of building up her prestige.

Xu Yang made the banquet a high-profile event. He sent invitations to the chief disciples of every peak’s elder and to the geniuses on the Ten Heroes List. As long as they were in the Purple Sun Sect, he invited them, and almost everyone who received an invitation attended.

Even Ye Qiuling, who had already broken through to the Celestial Essence Realm, came. The Young Master Marquis, Jiang Fan, also attended in person.

Finally, although Xu Yang hadn’t invited any of the great families from Cyan Yang City, they still sent people to deliver gifts.

Another half a month passed, and Sun Tao and the others who had gone to the Haisa Sect to celebrate a birthday returned.

It was said that they had benefited greatly from interacting with disciples from various sects during their trip. After returning, both Zhang Hanzhou and Qi Xuancheng announced they were entering seclusion to once again attempt to break through to the Celestial Essence Realm.

Xu Yang continued his cultivation routine, comprehending his cultivation techniques daily. He occasionally found time to visit Xu Qing at Medicine King Peak, and the siblings would eat together.

One day, Gao Lin came to find him.

With Liu Qingyuan and Song Yushao both dead, Elder Huoyun had noticed Xu Yang was just holing up in the Purple Sun Sect, neither venturing out to train nor accepting missions. Annoyed, the elder had him dispatched to Moon Lake as a garrison.

Xu Yang didn’t say much. ’Cultivating in the Celestial Essence Realm by just absorbing Spiritual Qi is too slow anyway.’ He happened to be thinking of taking some missions to earn contribution points and exchange them for the Celestial Essence Pill Formula.

「Three days later.」

Xu Yang arrived at Moon Lake and took over garrison duty from Du Changyong.

Xu Yang settled down at Moon Lake. In his spare time from cultivation, he would occasionally go into the mountains to hunt some Exotic Beasts to liven things up. His life was very fulfilling, and his cultivation progressed steadily.

Before he knew it, he had been garrisoned at Moon Lake for another three months.

On this day, Gao Lin once again arrived with a caravan to transport Profound Iron, bringing a piece of news: Zhang Hanzhou had broken through to the Celestial Essence Realm.

"What about Qi Xuancheng?" Xu Yang asked curiously.

Zhang Hanzhou was also a genius with a chance at the Dragon Ascension, so his breakthrough to the Celestial Essence Realm wasn’t surprising. Xu Yang was curious about Qi Xuancheng.

The grandson of Medicine King Peak’s Master had kept a low profile until it was time for the Secondary Dragon Ascension, at which point his identity was revealed. He had entered seclusion with Zhang Hanzhou. Now that Zhang Hanzhou had successfully broken through to the Celestial Essence Realm, what about Qi Xuancheng?

Gao Lin shook his head. "Qi Xuancheng is still in seclusion. Right now, Li Chuyang and the Young Master Marquis have both reached Marrow Cleansing Perfection and are starting to assault the Celestial Essence bottleneck. Master wants me to ask you, have you reached Marrow Cleansing Perfection yet?"

’So Li Chuyang and Jiang Fan are also starting to push for the Celestial Essence Realm?’

Xu Yang nodded. "Just about."

Hearing this, Gao Lin’s spirits lifted, and a smile spread across his face. "When I return this time, I’ll report to Master and have him send someone else to take over the garrison here. Then you can go back and focus on breaking through to the Celestial Essence Realm."

"Thank you, Senior Brother!" Xu Yang clasped his hands.

’It’s been three months, and I was thinking of going back for a look anyway.’ He would pretend to enter seclusion for a while and then announce his breakthrough to the Celestial Essence Realm. From then on, he could present himself to the world as a Celestial Essence Martial Artist.

Two hours later, Gao Lin left with the caravan, heading back to the Purple Sun Sect.

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