Novel Full Chapter 22: The Outer Court Competition
Chen Yan did not respond to Sun Lu’s flattery.
Firstly, he himself was not enthusiastic about becoming a disciple of Kongyuan Mountain. Secondly, Lin Qifeng had been expelled from Kongyuan Mountain by Yun Yichen.
If he wanted to return to Kongyuan Mountain, he would first need to make Lin Qifeng admit his mistakes.
But judging from their recent interactions, making this stubborn old man bow his head was no simple matter.
“Senior Brother Chen and Manager Cheng are both outstanding talents of our outer court. It’s only proper to greet each other and get acquainted.”
Sun Lu said this, and before Chen Yan could even speak, he took the initiative to call out to Cheng Ziying in front of the Training Grounds:
“Manager Cheng, Manager Cheng!”
Cheng Ziying in the distance raised her head, her gaze turning toward the direction of Chen Yan and Sun Lu. Her eyes swept over Chen Yan briefly.
“Come over here for a moment, Manager Cheng!”
Sun Lu continued shouting.
From Cheng Ziying’s body language, clear reluctance was evident, but she had no choice since standing there were the personal disciple of an outer court elder and the apprentice of the Spirit Plant Workshop steward.
“The outer court competition is about to begin. It must have been quite exhausting for you disciples on duty at the Training Grounds recently.”
Sun Lu made small talk with Cheng Ziying like this, then looked at Chen Yan beside him:
“Manager Cheng might already know him, but this is the personal disciple of our Kongshan Sect’s outer court elder, Senior Brother Chen Yan.”
“……”
Cheng Ziying’s gaze lingered on Chen Yan for another moment, but it was just a brief glance.
Neither of them said anything, creating an awkward atmosphere.
Chen Yan felt particularly puzzled because Cheng Ziying’s attitude toward him today was even more icy than last time when Lin Qifeng had sent her to deliver a message to him.
With the situation becoming so awkward, the most uncomfortable and anxious person was naturally Sun Lu, who knew nothing of their past.
But Sun Lu was a clever person.
He quickly realized that the relationship between these two might not be as completely unfamiliar as he had imagined, and might even involve some unknown connections.
“I just remembered, my master asked me to check on the growth of the spirit rice planted in the back mountain spirit fields the other day. You two, I’ll take my leave first…”
Then, without giving Cheng Ziying and Chen Yan any chance to react, Sun Lu immediately fled the scene.
This was completely messed up. As for Chen Yan, he’d figure out a way to send him more spirit plants as compensation later.
Sun Lu thought to himself like this.
Leaving only Chen Yan and Cheng Ziying standing awkwardly in place.
“Senior Brother Chen, what business do you have with me?”
Finally, Cheng Ziying spoke first.
“Zi… I want to give this to you.”
Chen Yan took out a wooden box from his pocket containing a complete Frost Soul Grass.
Originally, he wanted to call her Ziying directly as before, but given their current relationship, Chen Yan simply couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Cheng Ziying didn’t reach out her hand.
She just coldly watched the wooden box Chen Yan was offering, then curled her lips into a seemingly playful smile:
“Is it because the inner sect senior sister didn’t want this?”
“What?”
Chen Yan was slightly stunned.
“Senior Brother Chen, please return. I don’t need this thing.”
As she spoke, Cheng Ziying didn’t give Chen Yan any chance to continue speaking, turning her head and walking back toward the Training Grounds.
What nonsense was this, what inner sect senior sister…
Suddenly, Chen Yan remembered the scene not long ago when he was discussing the Demon Suppression Stone with Chu Xiyao nearby.
Although there were many outer court disciples, all outer court disciples had to wear uniform attire. Therefore, Chu Xiyao in her white clothes stood out conspicuously here, not to mention her cool and transcendent peerless beauty.
Did Cheng Ziying see everything?
And her reaction now – was she jealous?
Chen Yan couldn’t help but suspect this, but he wasn’t sure because he had had no contact with Cheng Ziying in recent years. Saying she was jealous over him might be a bit too self-important.
He withdrew the Frost Soul Grass in his hand and sighed.
Chen Yan had always wanted to find an opportunity to give Cheng Ziying some Energy Channeling Pills and Frost Soul Grass.
There was no other reason – he simply hoped Cheng Ziying could advance to the Martial Spring Realm as soon as possible, become an inner sect disciple, and thus escape the fate of dying in the outer court calamity.
…
Three days later.
The outer court Training Grounds were bustling with noise and excitement.
Eight circular blue-brick platforms were arranged in the Training Grounds, with “A, B, C, D” and “Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, Yellow” carved in the center of each platform respectively.
These eight blue-brick platforms were the arenas where disciples would soon compete.
In front of the stone platforms, some young newly-promoted disciples held basic sword manuals or other simple spell techniques, trying to imprint every movement and detail from the books into their minds.
There were also some experienced, slightly older outer court disciples who had secretly hidden Energy Gathering Pills in their sleeves to prevent defeat from exhaustion of true qi or physical strength during the competition.
“Chen Yan, come here.”
On the viewing platform, Lin Qifeng sat high in the center, overlooking the entire Training Grounds, and called Chen Yan to his side.
Below Lin Qifeng sat elders and disciples from the various peaks of the Three Mountains and Four Peaks.
“Your disciple is here.”
Chen Yan came to stand beside Lin Qifeng and said.
“Which group were you assigned to?”
Lin Qifeng asked.
“Xuan Group.”
“Good, Xuan Group…”
Lin Qifeng lightly closed his eyes, seemingly contemplating which skilled fighters were in the Xuan Group of this outer court competition, but soon shook his head and opened his eyes.
“Merely Body Forging Realm, what skilled fighters could there be!”
“……”
Chen Yan remained silent.
Because he thought the same.
The Chen Yan of now was completely different from before, because just two days ago, he had broken through and become a genuine Martial Spring Realm cultivator.
Forging the body to gather qi, when qi flows freely it forms a spring.
This was a small excerpt from the Kongshan Sect’s foundational mental cultivation method, the Kongshan Art.
Feeling the continuous flow of true qi from his martial spring into his meridians, Chen Yan experienced an unprecedented sense of fulfillment.
He finally understood why Lu Li back then could easily kill him with just one Kongshan Finger from dozens of meters away.
Now Chen Yan also had enough confidence to use one Kongshan Finger to kill any Energy Channeling Realm cultivator on the viewing platform before him from a distance.
But in the outer court competition, he still needed to suppress his cultivation to the peak Body Forging Realm level for the matches.
Unlike the inner sect competition, the outer court competition was only divided into two groups: Body Forging Group and Energy Channeling Group.
The inner sect competition, also known as the sect competition, included not only Body Forging Group and Energy Channeling Group, but also Martial Spring Group and Qi Sea Group competition segments.
The reason the inner sect competition was also called the sect competition was because outer court disciples could freely register to participate, but few outer court disciples would do so.
After all, who would willingly seek humiliation?