Chapter 520: Chapter 302: Ling Yun

"I am Xu Yang!" Xu Yang calmly met Huo Xiaochen’s gaze across from him.

"So we’ve met before!"

Huo Xiaochen clearly still had an impression of Xu Yang. After all, the Purple Sun Sect had lost face.

"Don’t worry, I won’t make things difficult for you right now. I just wanted to put a face to the name. As for the Dragon Ascension Selection, we’ll see how good your luck is," Huo Xiaochen said expressionlessly.

"If you don’t have the guts to make a move here, just say so. Stop acting like the big bad wolf. Why don’t you try touching me and see what happens?" Xu Yang sneered.

Since the bad blood was already there, he naturally wouldn’t indulge Huo Xiaochen.

The surrounding crowd revealed looks of astonishment, clearly not expecting Xu Yang to be so bold as to mock Huo Xiaochen straight to his face.

Huo Xiaochen could no longer maintain his composure, his face instantly turning icy. "Sharp-tongued. You’re trying to provoke me into attacking, but unfortunately, you’re still a bit too green."

"Too scared to act? Then hurry up and roll out of the way. Stop blocking the path like a dog." Xu Yang’s face was full of disdain.

The onlookers’ eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as they watched Huo Xiaochen tremble all over, veins bulging on his forehead and his aura fluctuating wildly. He had the urge to strike, but forcefully restrained himself.

Dragon Ascending Street was no ordinary place; it was an area allocated by the Celestial Strategy Academy to all the Sects of Yun Province. A strict rule had been established here: no one was allowed to use force. Once someone resorted to martial force, their qualification for the Secondary Dragon Ascension Selection would be revoked on the spot.

Let alone him, a mere Root Bone Perfection genius, even a Spirit Bone Celestial Pride wouldn’t dare violate this rule.

It was said that a Spirit Bone Celestial Pride once relied on their talent to attack someone during the Dragon Ascension. The Celestial Strategy Academy directly canceled their Dragon Ascension qualification. Ever since then, no one dared to fight on Dragon Ascending Street.

"Huo Xiaochen is absolutely furious!"

"How could he not be? He swaggered over to cause trouble but doesn’t dare to actually do anything. He’s completely lost face."

"This is offending him to the bitter end."

"This Xu Yang is truly brave."

"Huo Xiaochen is thoroughly humiliated now. If I were a Root Bone Perfection genius, I wouldn’t care where we were—I’d just attack."

"A Root Bone Perfection genius being mocked like this, yet he doesn’t even have the courage to strike. What a piece of trash."

The bystanders, who never minded a bigger spectacle, joined in mocking Huo Xiaochen, further goading him to attack.

The Secondary Dragon Ascension Selection only had three hundred and sixty spots. One less genius meant one less competitor for them. They would be thrilled if Huo Xiaochen was disqualified.

"Just you wait!" Huo Xiaochen’s face flushed crimson, but in the end, he didn’t dare to strike. Leaving behind the harsh threat, he had no choice but to lead the members of the Iron Sword Sect away.

The farce concluded, and the surrounding crowd dispersed in disappointment.

"By offending Huo Xiaochen like this, he’ll likely fight you to the bitter end," Ye Qiuling said as she walked over, her face full of worry.

Xu Yang shot her a lukewarm glance. "And if I had swallowed my pride and kept quiet, would he have let me off?"

Ye Qiuling’s expression changed slightly, noticing the shift in Xu Yang’s tone. It no longer held the previous warmth reserved for a fellow disciple; instead, it was laced with alienation, coldness, and an almost imperceptible disgust.

"What kind of tone is that? Junior Sister Ye is just worried about you," Zhang Hanzhou barked, extremely dissatisfied with Xu Yang’s attitude toward his goddess. He felt Xu Yang didn’t know how to appreciate kindness.

"What’s wrong with my tone? Did I not state a fact?" Xu Yang remained expressionless.

This was the first time he truly saw Ye Qiuling’s true colors. She was absolutely an unscrupulous person, far from as simple as she appeared on the surface. When Huo Xiaochen appeared, she had hidden far away, afraid of being implicated. As soon as Huo Xiaochen left, she immediately stepped forward, putting on a worried expression and reminding him with a concerned tone.

Had he not seen her avoiding the situation like the plague earlier, he might have genuinely believed she was a good senior sister concerned for her junior brother’s safety.

He was truly disgusted by this woman!

He didn’t harbor such feelings toward Qi Xuancheng or Zhang Hanzhou. At the very least, after making it clear they wouldn’t help him resist Huo Xiaochen, those two didn’t come forward to play the good guys. Ye Qiuling, on the other hand, was trying to have her cake and eat it too. She didn’t want to provoke Huo Xiaochen for his sake, yet simultaneously wanted to maintain their previous relationship.

"Exactly. Huo Xiaochen will make a move against Junior Brother Xu either way, so there’s no need to leave him any face," Sun Tao said.

For a domineering person like Huo Xiaochen, unless you were willing to bow your head and apologize, he wouldn’t let you go just because you swallowed your pride. Since they were destined to clash, it was better to vent some frustration first.

Huo Xiaochen was a genius, but wasn’t Xu Yang one as well? Moreover, during the Secondary Dragon Ascension Selection, it was still up in the air whether Huo Xiaochen would even have the chance to snipe Xu Yang. Everything depended on the rules of the Celestial Strategy Academy.

"Brother Xu faced Huo Xiaochen without a shred of fear. Such courage is truly astonishing." Lin Jingyu and his group walked over, their faces filled with admiration.

They had all assumed Xu Yang would tuck his tail between his legs and let Huo Xiaochen bully him. To their surprise, Xu Yang showed no fear, and with just a few words, he angered Huo Xiaochen to the point of trembling, forcing him to leave in a sorry state. That was a Root Bone Perfection genius; an ordinary person wouldn’t even have the courage to look him in the eye.

"It was merely out of necessity!" Xu Yang laughed.

He didn’t dislike this group, knowing full well they had been standing in the distance watching the show. They had no prior relationship, and it was only human nature for them not to want to invite trouble on his behalf. If the roles were reversed and it was someone from the Yellow Maple Valley being targeted by Huo Xiaochen, he wouldn’t have stepped forward either.

The only one he loathed was Ye Qiuling. He didn’t blame her for not standing with him against Huo Xiaochen; after all, Huo Xiaochen wasn’t someone to be trifled with. Furthermore, his relationship with Ye Qiuling wasn’t deep enough to warrant them advancing and retreating together. It was mainly her hypocritical attitude of trying to have it both ways that was truly nauseating.

After a rather disharmonious meal, everyone returned to the courtyard. Xu Yang went back to his own room and continued absorbing Spiritual Qi to cultivate.

"Junior Brother Xu, Peak Master Yue has asked you to go over."

When night fell, a Purple Sun Sect disciple stationed there came looking for him, stating that Yue Zhong wanted to see him.

"Understood!" Xu Yang’s voice rang out from within the room before he quickly pushed open the door and stepped out.

Led by the disciple, he arrived at a side hall where he found Yue Zhong drinking tea. Yue Zhong’s face was ruddy, likely from drinking alcohol.

"This disciple greets the Peak Master!" Xu Yang cupped his hands.

"No need for formalities. Have a seat!" Yue Zhong pointed to the chair beside him and even picked up the teapot to pour Xu Yang a cup of tea.

"Thank you, Peak Master." Xu Yang sat down, picked up the teacup, and took a small sip.

"I heard you ran into Huo Xiaochen on the street today, got into an altercation, and left him with no way to step down gracefully?" Yue Zhong asked.

So it was about this. Xu Yang hadn’t expected the news to spread so quickly, even reaching Yue Zhong’s ears.

"That did happen!" Xu Yang nodded.

Yue Zhong sighed. "Why bother? A great man knows when to yield and when to stand tall. What’s wrong with bowing your head temporarily? Once you enter the Celestial Strategy Academy, there will be plenty of opportunities for revenge in the future. By directly embarrassing him like this, I’m afraid he’ll use every trick in the book to deal with you during the Secondary Dragon Ascension."

Xu Yang remained silent.

Yue Zhong changed the subject. "Forget it. What’s done is done, and blaming you won’t help. I’ve already made some inquiries for you. Xiong Wanhai is temporarily not in Yun Province, so don’t go looking for him yet. Wait until he returns. Next time you encounter Huo Xiaochen, try to walk the other way."

Xu Yang cupped his hands. "Yes!"

He had no intention of arguing with Yue Zhong. His attitude toward these Old Dengs had always been to just agree with whatever they said. He knew Yue Zhong meant well, but there were some things that simply couldn’t be said.

"Alright, you may go. I’ll keep an eye out for Xiong Wanhai’s whereabouts and notify you when he returns."

Yue Zhong waved his hand. Xu Yang downed the rest of his tea in one gulp before getting up and leaving.

For the next few days, Xu Yang continued to stay indoors, dedicating his time to comprehension and cultivation. However, as more and more Sects arrived, disciples from Sects with friendly ties to the Purple Sun Sect began to visit, forcing him to join Sun Tao and the others in hosting them.

During this process, he met quite a few people and gathered a lot of intelligence. Bai Shaoling and Yue Zhong spent their days visiting friends. Sometimes, upon returning, they would also take the disciples to visit other Sects. As their circle of acquaintances expanded, Zhang Hanzhou, Ye Qiuling, and the others seemingly couldn’t sit still, frequently going out for social engagements.

Due to the matter with Huo Xiaochen, Xu Yang wasn’t very well-received, so his days remained rather quiet. Implicated by him, Sun Tao was similarly given the cold shoulder.

Time slowly passed. On this day, the Celestial Strategy Academy finally announced the end of registration, filling the disciples of all Sects across Dragon Ascending Street with anticipation.

According to past conventions, once registration ended, the Celestial Strategy Academy would release the Lingyun List, ranking the top one hundred individuals with the strongest Dragon Ascension Talent this time around. Once on the Lingyun List, one would instantly gain both fame and fortune, becoming a prominent figure among the younger generation of Yun Province.

Xu Yang also harbored some expectations, curious if the talent he displayed outwardly was enough to earn a spot on the Lingyun List.

However, compiling this Lingyun List would likely take quite some time. Now that registration had closed, the Celestial Strategy Academy publicly announced the number of registrants for this year. Although it wasn’t as high as the previous time, there were still over two thousand three hundred people. Even with the Celestial Strategy Academy’s intelligence network spanning the entirety of Yun Province, selecting the top one hundred talents out of two thousand three hundred individuals couldn’t be accomplished in a day or two. It required careful comparison and screening.

Although this would only be the preliminary Lingyun List, it still couldn’t afford to be wildly inaccurate.

Sure enough, after waiting for several consecutive days with no sign of the Lingyun List being published, Xu Yang stopped anticipating it and calmed his mind to continue cultivating.

The Spiritual Qi in Yunzhou City was twice as rich as that of the Purple Sun Sect. Cultivating here was far more efficient than back at the Sect. However, since he now had the Vajra Glazed Body—which also required absorbing Spiritual Qi to cultivate—the growth rate of his Cultivation was actually slower than when he was at the Purple Sun Sect.

Of course, the enhancement of his strength was unaffected. It was mainly because the Spiritual Qi he absorbed was entirely used to temper his physical body. The only thing growing slowly was his Gang Yuan. His overall strength progression was unhindered; only the focus of his Cultivation had shifted from Gang Yuan to his physique.

This was also intentional on his part. After all, based on the timeline of his publicly known breakthrough, it had only been a little over four months since he reached the Celestial Essence realm. If he suddenly revealed a Cultivation base at the Celestial Essence Second Layer when the Secondary Dragon Ascension began in a few months, it would be impossible to explain.

Improving his physical body was still an improvement and didn’t hinder his progression in strength anyway. He was in no rush to break through to the Celestial Essence Second Layer, wishing to avoid stirring up any trouble. Moreover, a balanced improvement would make his Martial Dao foundation even more solid. He couldn’t afford to chase short-term Cultivation breakthroughs while neglecting what was truly important.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.