Long Chen turned toward the source of the voice. His eyes narrowed coldly as he saw a group of people walking in, surrounding a young man like stars crowding around the moon.
The young man had a handsome face like jade and a well-built body. He was none other than Zhou Yaoyang, the heir of the Barbarian Noble who had once beaten Long Chen half to death and thrown him out of the arena.
Zhou Yaoyang was the legitimate eldest son of the Barbarian Noble. His cultivation level ranked at the very top among all the noble heirs. Therefore, he was extremely popular among them.
Upon entering, Zhou Yaoyang immediately spotted Long Chen and his group. He smiled faintly and walked over. Looking at Long Chen, he said, “Regarding what happened last time, I am truly sorry. I didn’t expect to beat you until your own mother couldn’t recognize you.”
His mouth spoke of regret, but his face showed no remorse at all. Instead, his words were filled with a condescending tone, like a grand emperor looking down upon Long Chen.
“It’s fine. In a moment, I will beat you until your own grandmother cannot recognize you,” replied Long Chen with a faint smile, yet his heart was burning with anger.
When he woke up that day, only his mother and that old physician were present. These insulting words from Zhou Yaoyang must have been spread by that old geezer.
Zhou Yaoyang’s remark was tantamount to telling Long Chen that the old man was one of their people. Although Long Chen’s injuries looked horrific, none of them were fatal. Even the blood-soaked wound on the back of his head wasn’t actually that severe.
There was absolutely no need to use high-grade medicinal pills to heal it. It was glaringly obvious that these people were just frightening his mother so she would exhaust all her savings.
They didn’t kill him, but tried to cripple his family’s financial strength, making their lives even more miserable. There had to be a hidden conspiracy behind all this.
“Long Chen, you’re courting death! It seems you’ve forgotten what pain feels like; do you want to be beaten half to death again by Brother Yaoyang?”
“Right! A piece of trash who can’t cultivate actually dares to talk big. Truly courting death!”
“Idiot! Having this idiot be a noble heir like us is truly a massive insult to us.”
Before Zhou Yaoyang even had the chance to speak, the people around him had already started pointing fingers and cursing at Long Chen harshly, spitting everywhere.
“Long Chen, even though we are both noble heirs, one is in the heavens, and the other is on the earth. You are nothing more than a tiny ant, only fit to look up at me from below.”
“So, even if I bully you, you can only endure it. Otherwise, the outcome will be the same as last time: you will be beaten completely like a dead dog.” Zhou Yaoyang pointed at Long Chen’s nose and sneered.
Crack!
Long Chen smiled faintly, suddenly reaching out and tightly gripping Zhou Yaoyang’s finger before anyone could react. With a little pressure, a crisp cracking sound was heard.
Zhou Yaoyang screamed in agony. Excruciating pain spread throughout his body. The fingers are directly connected to the heart, and as Long Chen twisted it, his body involuntarily bent downward.
Even though he was an expert at the seventh layer of the Qi Gathering realm, as long as he had not stepped into the Blood Condensation realm, his physical strength was only slightly stronger than an ordinary person’s.
Furthermore, this attack happened so suddenly that he didn’t have time to circulate his Qi for defense. Once a vital point was struck, he was no different from an ordinary person.
Long Chen looked down at Zhou Yaoyang’s face, which was contorted in pain. He asked with a feigned tone of confusion, “Grand? Looking down? Are you talking about yourself?”
This sudden turn of events shocked everyone. At this moment, Zhou Yaoyang was in too much pain to speak, and the others finally reacted, immediately lunging toward Long Chen.
“Bastard! Let go of Brother Yaoyang right now!”
“Whoever dares to approach, I’ll finish him!”
Seeing Zhou Yaoyang attacked by Long Chen, the people around him shouted and were about to gang up on him together. Just as Long Chen was preparing to act, a large and heavily built figure suddenly appeared beside him, yelling at them like roaring thunder in their ears, making their eardrums ring.
The moment Long Chen saw who had arrived, a smile appeared on the corner of his lips. That person was none other than Shi Feng.
Several noble heirs who were about to charge forward instantly halted their steps upon seeing Shi Feng appear.
Shi Feng was arrogant and solitary, disliking forming gangs, but his cultivation level was the highest among all the noble heirs. Coupled with his tall and massive stature, his presence instantly intimidated them.
Instantly, everyone fell dead silent. In the entire Literature Hall, only the sound of Zhou Yaoyang’s agonizing groans could be heard.
“What are you doing?!”
Suddenly, a stern reprimand came from an old man stepping into the hall. Everyone’s expression turned tense, and they simultaneously turned their heads toward the old man.
The old man was the instructor of the Literature Hall, a Confucian scholar renowned for being honest, upright, a man of few words, and highly authoritative.
“Fighting in the Literature Hall is punishable by a one-month confinement according to the rules. Do you want to try it?” the old man reprimanded coldly.
Long Chen’s eyes rolled rapidly. He immediately released Zhou Yaoyang’s twisted and bent finger, then hurriedly smiled at the old man and said, “Teacher, you misunderstood. We weren’t fighting just now; we were just conducting a test.”
“Oh? A test? What test?” The old man was clearly not easily fooled. He stared at Long Chen with a cold gaze.
“We were testing how long a single finger could last under the assault of five fingers.”
“Through this test, we came to a conclusion: the power of unity is irresistible.”
“A single finger, no matter how strong it is, when alone, its strength surely has a limit. Only with the support of comrades can it gain an endless flow of power, become tougher, and last longer.”
“In this test, Zhou Yaoyang and I have gained a deeper understanding and enlightenment regarding strength. This will greatly help our cultivation in the future, from which we have benefited tremendously. Isn’t that right, Brother Zhou?” Long Chen gave Zhou Yaoyang a meaningful look.
Zhou Yaoyang almost fainted from anger, but clearly, he had to swallow this loss in silence. If he denied it, both he and Long Chen would be punished with confinement. Even though they were noble heirs, they still couldn’t violate the rules of the Literature Hall.
“T-That’s right.”
Zhou Yaoyang tried his hardest to keep his voice calm, but the excruciating pain made his voice hoarse, sounding like iron scraping against iron.
The old man looked at Long Chen, a glint of amusement flashing in his eyes. He nodded and said, “If that’s the case, I won’t fault you. Remember, do not cause any more trouble here.”
Hearing that, everyone secretly praised Long Chen’s luck. The old man obviously knew Long Chen was spouting nonsense, yet he still let him off.
“Just wait for my revenge!”
Zhou Yaoyang gritted his teeth and spoke in a voice that only the two of them could hear.
Long Chen’s actions just now were far too ruthless. Not only did he break the finger, but he also used some unknown technique to twist the meridians inside that single finger until they were like a braided rope. Otherwise, Zhou Yaoyang wouldn’t have felt such agony and been completely powerless to fight back.
“I am ready to welcome you whenever Brother Zhou wants to continue,” Long Chen smiled politely. Little bastard, today I merely collected a little interest; the main show is still waiting for you later.
Over two hundred noble heirs sat quietly. The old man nodded in satisfaction, then began to drone on at length, making everyone drowsy, yet they did not dare fall asleep.
Even though the old man had no cultivation whatsoever, he was the absolute ruler of the entire Imperial Academy. If they dared to anger him to the point of getting kicked out, they could forget about accessing the Martial Arts Pavilion in the afternoon.
It was like being faced with two eggs, one rotten and one good. But to be able to eat the good egg, they had to eat the rotten one first.
The old man told tales of ancient history, knowledge about state governance, agriculture, forestry, fishery, and animal husbandry. Even Long Chen almost fell asleep from it.
However, Fatty Yu and a few of his friends listened very attentively. Because they could not cultivate, they relied on the knowledge they gained to seek official positions in the future.
After enduring the agonizing torture, lunch time finally arrived. Following lunch, everyone hurried toward the Martial Arts Pavilion.
Even people who couldn’t cultivate like Fatty Yu also ran there. There were countless martial arts techniques and cultivation methods inside the pavilion, so there was no harm in trying their luck.
The Martial Arts Pavilion had three floors, but only the bottom floor was open to all noble heirs.
Despite there being only one floor, the seventeen bookshelves were filled with a wide variety of cultivation method books and martial arts techniques, dazzling the eyes of anyone who saw them.
“Brother Yaoyang, I have challenged Long Chen to a life and death duel. This time I will definitely kill him and avenge you, Brother Yaoyang.”
At some unknown point, Li Hao had secretly slipped to Zhou Yaoyang’s side and spoke with full respect.
At this moment, Zhou Yaoyang had suppressed the pain in his finger by circulating his Qi, but his finger joints were dislocated, and the meridians were still twisted. He would have to find a physician to treat it.
“Now is not the time to kill him. If it was, I would have killed him last time.” Zhou Yaoyang shook his head and suddenly asked, “By the way, how were you defeated by him last time?”
“That… sigh! The truth is I was careless, and as a result, Long Chen managed to find an opening. Damn it, I am really furious. I was actually defeated by that piece of trash once,” cursed Li Hao with full hatred.
His past defeat had ruined his reputation. Some people had even started spreading gossip behind his back, which drove him nearly crazy with anger. He always believed that his defeat yesterday was purely due to his slight carelessness; therefore, this time he intended to kill Long Chen.
“Long Chen must not die, at least not right now. Do not ruin this grand plan!” Zhou Yaoyang intentionally repeated himself, afraid Li Hao wouldn’t understand his meaning.
“Then what should we do? Do we just let him off?” Li Hao asked reluctantly.
Zhou Yaoyang stared at his mangled finger, gritted his teeth, and said, “Even if you can’t kill him, taking one or two ‘spare parts’ from him can still be done.”
Li Hao’s eyes lit up hearing that, and he said enthusiastically, “Excellent, this time I will kick his egg until it shatters. Oh right, I also want to gouge out one of his eyes; damn it, his gaze makes me totally sick.”
Zhou Yaoyang and Li Hao exchanged smiles. However, they didn’t realize that Long Chen, who was pretending to browse the bookshelves, was also smiling. Yet, his smile was far colder than theirs, like a leopard staring at two whispering sheep.
Long Chen’s position was within the range of his Soul Power, which could detect both of their movements. Even though he couldn’t hear what they were saying, he could guess most of it by reading their lip movements.
Seeing the two pretending to examine books on the shelf, Long Chen ignored them and began searching for his own target.
In his memories, aside from the Nine Star Tyrant Body Art, almost everything else was knowledge about alchemy. He desperately needed a combat technique right now.
Long Chen found a combat technique book. Just as he was about to reach out and grab it, suddenly a dark-skinned man snatched the technique book first.
“Sorry, I saw it first.”
The man didn’t even cast a single glance at Long Chen, then began flipping through the book as if no one else was there.
Long Chen frowned. The man clearly did it on purpose, but Long Chen didn’t explode in anger. He moved to another bookshelf.
Just as he spotted a palm technique book and was about to take it, that dark-faced man, who turned out to have been waiting on the side, swiftly snatched it again.
“Sorry, I…”
Slap!
A hard slap landed squarely on his dark face, cutting off his words instantly. The tremendous force of the slap immediately sent him flying through the air.
