"This Qin Xin is going too far! Now that he has some strength, he doesn't even take the Sword Gang seriously!"

Inside the Martial Arts Academy, in a magnificent pavilion, several students dressed in academy robes were gathered together, speaking indignantly.

The room's chatter abruptly ceased as a man dressed in a white robe, around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with a thick beard and an ancient golden sword pattern painted on his chest, the blade gleaming with a chilling light, took his seat at the head of the table.

"Huan Hua, Qin Xin really said that!"

The man with the thick beard looked rather grim and asked with a hint of anger.

"Chief, I swear to God that everything I said is true. Originally, I and a few brothers from the Sword Clan went to Class 17 with good intentions to invite Qin Xin to join the Sword Clan. However, the people in Class 17 said that the Sword Clan members were a bunch of rabble. We wanted to teach them a lesson, but we were ambushed by Qin Xin on the arena."

"What's most hateful is that after Qin Xin defeated me, he actually called the Sword Clan members trash!"

Huan Hua, whose arm was still wrapped in bandages, angrily complained to the bearded man sitting in the first seat.

"Were you there at the time? Did Qin Xin say that?"

The man in the lead shifted his gaze to the two people behind Huan Hua, his eyes already blazing with anger.

"Yes, boss."

The two people behind Huan Hua exchanged a glance and then nodded in agreement.

"Bang!"

"Good! Good! Good! A new student who has just entered the academy actually doesn't take the Sword Clan seriously!"

The bearded man sitting at the head of the table slammed his hand on the round table, and the powerful sword energy tore the table apart. His angry voice echoed throughout the entire pavilion.

"However, Chief, I heard that a few days ago Qin Xin and those Three Precepts..." A person below the round table cautiously spoke.

"I know about this. Anyone who dares to insult the Sword Gang will pay the price!"

The bearded man sitting at the head of the table waved his hand to interrupt, his piercing gaze revealing a murderous intent.

Upon seeing this scene, Huan Hua's eyes flashed with a glint of light, and an imperceptible smile appeared on his lips.

~~~~~~

More than three days have passed since the battle with the Three Precepts.

In a small courtyard of the Weaponry Academy, decorated with a touch of antiquity, students would occasionally come to try and get closer to the students, but they were all turned away.

At this moment, in a somewhat dimly lit cultivation room, next to several stones emitting a faint light, a young man can be seen sitting cross-legged on a futon, breathing very smoothly, and exhaling a wisp of turbid air after each breath.

"As expected of my disciple, you have already grasped the basic Earth-rank martial art, the Wildfire Hundred Slashes, at the Innate Realm. I thought you would only be able to comprehend it when you reached the Enlightenment Realm."

A satisfied and approving voice resounded from the bottom of Qin Xin's heart.

The battle with Sanjie was very rewarding for Qin Xin. Under such intense pressure, he accidentally sensed that after using the Earth-rank beginner martial art, Wildfire Hundred Slashes, a trace of spiritual energy resonated between heaven and earth. With the help of this trace of sensing, he seemed to enter a very special state when using the martial art.

Through Danqing, Qin Xin realized that the state he had entered was just beginning to grasp the essence of martial arts. If he could comprehend this essence to its fullest extent, the power of this low-level Earth-rank martial art could be fully unleashed, and once unleashed, the wind and clouds would change color.

"Alas, I am still somewhat powerless in the face of true powerhouses."

Qin Xin didn't pay much attention to the praise. His battle with Sanjie made him realize that there was still a considerable gap between him and the top-ranked students on the Hidden Dragon List in the outer academy. Moreover, Sanjie hadn't gone all out, otherwise he would have undoubtedly lost.

"There are only a few days left before the passage to Mount Luoshen opens, so we need to make good preparations."

At this moment, Qin Xin became even more determined to enter Mount Luoshen. Now, his strength was already making it difficult to move forward in the outer courtyard of the Eastern Wilderness Academy, let alone the inner courtyard where there were many powerful people. There was also Qin Haotian, who was far away in the Central Continent. Whenever he thought of this person, he would feel a faint pain coming from the broken bones in his dantian.

"Don't worry, with your teacher here, you are destined to become a powerful figure."

Danqing looked at Qin Xin, who had been slightly downcast but then regained his composure, and said quite frankly.

"Ahem, alright, teacher, I believe you, okay? Please stop nagging. My body hasn't fully recovered yet."

Qin Xin rolled his eyes when he heard Dan Qing's words, because he had heard the same words countless times. People say that true strong people are taciturn, but his teacher would often talk to Qin Xin for a few minutes, as if he hadn't had anyone to talk to for a long time.

"Alright, brat, someone's come in. Looks like there's some trouble," Danqing said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Qin Xin stopped cultivating, stood up and stretched his muscles. After three days of rest, he had almost fully recovered.

After stepping out of the cultivation room, I saw a tall, slender girl with a slightly weak aura pacing anxiously in the courtyard.

"Ling Die? What happened?"

Looking at the somewhat flustered Shangguan Lingdie in front of him, Qin Xin felt a little uneasy and quickly asked.

"Boss, something's happened to Class 17, you'd better go check it out!" Shangguan Lingdie said anxiously.

"Alright, let's talk as we walk!"

Without hesitation, Qin Xin led Shangguan Lingdie towards Class 17.

Along the way, Shangguan Lingdie told them about some things that had happened to Class 17 in the past few days. It seemed that all of them were being monitored by a group of people. When they went to sell pills, there were always some people who would come and cause trouble, claiming that the pills were fake. They even made the people at the trading center prohibit the students of Class 17 from entering. Even when they entered the Spirit Forging Tower to cultivate, they were harassed by some people, which caused Mo Wen and the others to suffer a lot of injuries while cultivating.

Upon entering the building where Class 17 was located, Jin Yuanbao and his group were pacing anxiously. They appeared to have sustained minor injuries due to some friction with other students.

"Yuanbao, what's going on? Didn't they say that the sale of pills would be temporarily suspended?" Qin Xin asked, looking at Jin Yuanbao, who had lost a lot of weight.

"I'm sorry, boss. I was reluctant to stop because the profit from those pills was too high. But now we can't even enter the trading center, and we're even harassed when we try to cultivate in the Spirit Forging Tower."

Jin Yuanbao said with some self-reproach.

"No need to apologize. Those people were probably after me, it has nothing to do with you," Qin Xin said in a deep voice.

"Boss, from what I've heard, those people harassing us seem to be acting on orders from the Sword Gang," Jin Yuanbao said after thinking for a moment.

"The Sword Gang?"

Upon hearing this name, Qin Xin seemed to ponder, because many of the conflicts that had occurred since entering the outer courtyard were instigated by the Sword Gang.