Chapter 23: Progression Through Pill Consumption

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Qi Ying had defeated the Duan brothers before knocking down roughly twenty of their affiliated lackeys. The underprivileged disciples who had been bullied by those from the Duan family were quite excited to see this; cheers and applause began to erupt from the crowd.

“Nice!”

“Qi Ying is so strong!”

“Those guys were acting all cocky a moment ago, but now, they’re rolling around like dogs!”

Among those from the Duan family, Duan Renshan could be considered to be one of the more amicable ones. Those like Duan Tianshan, Duan Yuan, and Duan Jin often picked on other disciples, but no one could do anything about them. As such, it was extremely satisfying to many of their victims that Qi Ying had handed Duan Yuan and Duan Jin thorough beatings while also figuratively slapping Duan Tianshan in the face.

Duan Renshan’s expression darkened, and he didn’t say anything.

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The words of disdain being directed at the useless Duan Yuan and Duan Jin, as well as the desperate Duan Tianshan, were very disturbing for him to hear.

He cursed the Duan brothers in his heart for their incompetence, and began to despise his brother for his foolishness. At the same time, he developed resentment for Qi Ying.

‘Hadn’t he already beaten up Duan Tianshan last time? Why couldn’t he allow himself to be beaten this time so the Duan family could recover some semblance of dignity?!’ The Duan family was undoubtedly going to be the butt of countless jokes in the academy following the incident.

Qi Ying took a glance at Duan Renshan’s thunderous expression, before making his way over to him and delivering a menacing threat, “Feel free to start more trouble. I don’t care how many people you throw at me, as long as they don’t kill me, I’m going to leave all of you in the dust soon!”

Duan Renshan raised an eyebrow. “Is that a threat?”

Qi Ying chuckled with amusement. “Threat? No, it’s just a warning. Let me tell you something else while we’re here; the Duan family is nothing in my eyes!”

Qi Ying turned and left the drill grounds.

Duan Renshan stood rooted to the spot as his expression grew darker and darker.

“Big brother, what do we do?”

Duan Tianshan latched onto Duan Renshan’s sleeve, as he pointed at the twenty disciples rolling on the ground. “That Qi Ying… he’s gone too far! How dare he embarrass our Duan family like this?”

Duan Renshan grimaced as he cast his eyes around the drill ground. “What a disgrace! We’re all going to get into trouble for this… This is no longer something we can take care of. We have to ask Young Master Gucheng for help!”

…

A piece of news spread like wildfire through the Low and Intermediate Divisions, even in the High Division.

Following the brutal beating Duan Tianshan suffered at Qi Ying’s hands, the Duan family sought revenge by deploying over twenty people to attack him, all of whom were at or above the Eighth Strength Martial Stage. However, all of them were easily destroyed by Qi Ying, including the Third Energy Martial Stage Duan Yuan and the Second Energy Martial Stage Duan Jin!

The disciples who initially heard this news all had the same reaction: ‘What a joke! Who would believe such an absurd story?!’

But soon, dozens of witnesses began to step forward and gave detailed recounts of what had taken place on drill grounds. Those who were initially skeptical had no choice but to believe it!

As one of the four major families of the Celestial River County, all of its members swaggered around everywhere, as if they owned the entire county. Even the Young Masters and Young Mistresses of other smaller prominent families had to concede to them. However, they had just been slapped in the face by an underprivileged disciple!

Word of Qi Ying’s mastery in martial arts began to circulate within the academy, and at the same time, the Duan family entourage was collectively denounced as a useless bunch who couldn’t even take care of a disciple at the Eighth Strength Martial Stage.

Many people took the opportunity to insult the Duan family by fabricating tall tales such as how Duan Renshan was g*y and tried to subdue Qi Ying by force, in order to have his way with him… All of them spread these stories at the top of their lungs, as if they were worried that people wouldn’t be able to hear them. Soon, it became almost a fashionable trend to put down the Duan family.

The Young Masters and Young Mistresses of the Duan family that attended the academy were all very disgruntled to hear that. The event had even reached the ears of the Eldest Young Master of the Duan family, Duan Gucheng.

Within a lavish hall.

Duan Renshan stood with a respectful expression before a young man who appeared to be about twenty years of age. “That’s the situation we’re dealing with, Young Master. We’ve done some research on Qi Ying, but were unable to find out that much about him. It’s almost like he just appeared in the Celestial River County out of thin air… He has decent aptitude and is a martial arts master. However, I am sure that he has no powerful backers, and he lives only with his blind mother. I speculate that he’s most likely a member of a once-prestigious family from another city that has since fallen from grace.”

The young man’s expression remained unchanged, as if he were completely unperturbed by the report. He said in a slow voice. “As long as he’s not from some prominent family, none of his cultivation aptitude or martial arts skills really matter. The Duan family is nothing to him? He’s going to pay sorely for saying that!”

…

There were many rumors going around the academy, but Qi Ying didn’t care about all that. He had found a small cave on the mountain behind the academy, and he cleaned up a patch of space for him to sit down on. He slipped off his glove before taking two vials of pills out of his spatial ring.

He opened one of the jade vials, and the pleasant fragrance of medicine wafted from within. He closed his eyes, and inhaled the scent with enjoyment. “Not bad!”

He had to increase the speed of his cultivation now. Martial arts were useful, but only against lower-level opponents; they could not compare to the power of battle techniques. Furthermore, he was only a half-assed martial arts practitioner who was far from being a true master in the discipline. His skills were only effective against noob warriors who had never engaged in true battles.

From that point onward, his plan was to perfect his Dark Wolf Cultivation Method before moving onto the Purple Energy Cultivation Method, thereby allowing him to form an energy vortex and reach the Energy Martial Stage!

Qi Ying raised his head and murmured to himself as he looked up at the sun. “It’s not even noon yet, so I should be able to cultivate until the sun goes down. I haven’t attended any academy classes for half a month now, so ditching another day isn’t going to make a difference… If possible, I’m going to try and progress to the Energy Martial Stage today!”

It was often said that cultivation was like climbing a tall mountain. But in Qi Ying’s case, as long as he had enough pills, cultivation was like sprinting on flat ground!

Qi Ying brought a jade vial to his lips before tipping his head back, and pouring all ten Energy Containment Pills into his mouth. After some chewing, those pills were all swallowed into his stomach like candy.

He activated his Dark Wolf Cultivation Method, and the pill elixir that the Energy Containment Pills had transformed into was quickly digested. Pure pill power spread through his meridians, and was absorbed into his body as it circulated around his body. A grey light surfaced within his blood again, absorbing the power of the Energy Containment Pills in their entirety…