Chapter 726: Rapid Progress

Chen Yan’s situation in the Kongshan Sect was far from ideal.

During the time since he had joined the Kongshan Sect’s outer court, Chen Yan had gained a rough understanding of the sect’s internal structure.

For example, the Kongshan Sect was divided into the Inner Court and the outer court.

Only the inner disciples counted as true disciples of the Kongshan Sect. The outer sect disciples, on the other hand, were mostly responsible for handling the sect’s various odd jobs.

The old man had gone to such lengths to bring him to the Kongshan Sect, only to have him do odd jobs for the sect?

Was he sick in the head?

Besides, Chen Yan had heard that the Kongshan Sect’s current Outer Court Elder was only a Qi Sea Realm cultivator.

The old man who had brought him back to the Kongshan Sect had claimed that his cultivation was far above the Qi Sea Realm.

If what he said was true, then arranging for Chen Yan to enter the Inner Court should have been an easy matter for him.

Therefore, Chen Yan had two guesses as to why he had been dumped in the Kongshan Sect’s outer court.

The first was that the old man disliked him and had deliberately screwed him over.

The second was that the old man wasn’t some powerful expert at all, but merely a swindler.

Chen Yan leaned more toward the latter.

After all, he could hardly imagine that a mighty cultivator capable of flying through the air would spend more than three months walking all the way from Suishuo City to the Kongshan Sect.

Besides, the white-robed old man had claimed to come from Wenyuan Mountain in the Kongshan Sect.

The Kongshan Sect’s Inner Court had seven major peaks in total, divided into Three Mountains and Four Peaks.

Yet Wenyuan Mountain wasn’t part of any of those Three Mountains and Four Peaks.

Only after asking around for quite a while did Chen Yan learn that the so-called Wenyuan Mountain was nothing more than a small hill, more than forty zhang tall, beside the woods west of the Kongshan Sect’s outer court.

As for why people called it Wenyuan Mountain, that was mainly because the outer court’s center of power had been named Fate Inquiry Hall.

Because of this, Chen Yan had even made a special trip to the woods west of the outer court.

As it turned out, Wenyuan Mountain was merely a desolate, uninhabited hill. There was no need to mention finding any trace of the old man there.

He really had been swindled.

The more Chen Yan thought about it, the more indignant he became.

But people still had to look ahead. Since he was here, he might as well make the best of it.

After all, gold would shine wherever it was.

Although the Kongshan Sect didn’t attach much importance to its outer sect disciples, it hadn’t shortchanged them on the basic benefits and cultivation resources they were entitled to.

Chen Yan began training alongside some other young outer sect disciples, following the Training Grounds manager disciple responsible for teaching them Body Forging.

As for the young girl named Cheng Ziying, who lived in the quarters beside his, the Training Grounds had assigned her to the same manager disciple as Chen Yan.

Cheng Ziying was a year younger than Chen Yan and quite adorable.

Though she had only just turned six, it was already clear she was a beauty in the making.

To Chen Yan, Cheng Ziying was simply a cute little sister. Nothing more.

Although Chen Yan currently looked to be only seven, his actual mental age was still that of a university student who had graduated not long ago in his previous life.

His thoughts were entirely occupied by the senior sister disciples in the outer court who were seventeen or eighteen, or in their early twenties.

And Chen Yan, with his own adorable and lovable appearance, was quite popular with those senior sisters.

Chen Yan’s cultivation advanced very quickly.

He began cultivating at seven and a half, reached Body Forging at eight, and successfully drew qi into his body at ten, attaining the Qi Circulation Realm.

In a year and a half, he had advanced from Body Forging to Energy Channeling.

In the history of the Kongshan Sect’s outer court, this sort of cultivation speed was practically unheard of.

It was already comparable to that of the heaven-chosen talents among the Chief Disciples of the Inner Court’s seven major peaks.

How had they managed to overlook such an uncut gem?

The outer court Supervisors all lamented as much.

Xue Xiu, the Supervisor of the outer court’s Training Grounds, was also astonished by Chen Yan’s talent. He reported the matter in particular to the current Outer Court Elder, Lin Qifeng, a personal disciple of Yun Yichen, the current Sect Leader of the Kongshan Sect.

Steward Xue hoped Elder Lin would inform the Inner Court about Chen Yan. With his talent, Chen Yan would surely develop even better there.

“Let’s wait and see.”

That was Lin Qifeng’s answer.

This Outer Court Elder of the Kongshan Sect hadn’t given Chen Yan’s situation a second thought.

A genius?

As one of the Five Great Sects of Chenping Continent, the Kongshan Sect had never been short of geniuses.

Taking a year and a half to advance from the Body Forging Realm to the Qi Circulation Realm was certainly impressive, but in any given decade, didn’t the Kongshan Sect produce a dozen or so geniuses of that caliber?

Most of them, in the end, only shone briefly before fading into the crowd.

Even a true dragon had to lie dormant in the depths first.

If you want to enter the Inner Court, don’t expect me to recommend you. Go on your own merits!

That was what Lin Qifeng thought.

Chen Yan knew nothing about the maneuvering that had taken place behind the scenes.

The outer sect disciples had all heard that there was a young disciple named Chen Yan with exceptional talent for cultivation, and that he was all but certain to enter the Inner Court in the future.

The outer court’s Scripture Hall was often packed. For a child like Chen Yan, who didn’t even reach other people’s chests, it was practically impossible to find a seat inside.

But one particularly savvy Scripture Hall manager disciple took the initiative to approach Chen Yan. He always saved a corner seat for him in the Scripture Hall, using the opportunity to build a closer relationship with the outer court genius.

Chen Yan accepted gladly.

He felt perfectly entitled to the treatment, since he was a genius.

One day, after the instructor had finished his lecture, Chen Yan remained in his corner of the Scripture Hall and overheard the manager disciples chatting about the new instructor who had recently arrived.

“Do you know where that new Instructor Lu comes from?”

“You mean the new instructor who’s very thin, always has a cold expression, but has such a gentle, refined voice?”

“That’s right, him. Lu Li, Instructor Lu!”

“What about him?”

“You don’t know? I hear Instructor Lu has quite an impressive background.”

“What background?”

“He used to be a disciple of Yuanhua Mountain. I don’t know why, but he came to teach in the outer court’s Scripture Hall... I heard from our Supervisor that although Lu Li only came here to teach in our Scripture Hall, his cultivation is quite a bit higher than our Supervisor’s!”

“That impressive?”

Someone exclaimed, then continued, “So why do you think he came to teach in the Scripture Hall?”

“Could it be that, like Elder Lin, Instructor Lu made some kind of mistake in the Inner Court and was kicked out...”

“Shh!”

Another disciple beside him quickly stopped him.

“What are you, saying whatever comes to mind? If the Supervisor hears what you just said, believe me, he’ll punish you by making you clean the latrines used by those Body Forging Realm disciples!”

“Fine, I’ll stop, I’ll stop. Those Body Forging Realm disciples really do... produce a lot, and it stinks!”

Chen Yan heard every word of the conversation.