The Footprint on His Chest Was Too Eye-Catching

Lin Xiuya amused and exasperated. "This junior is quite interesting."

Liu Qing coldly replied, "Coward."

Lin Xiuya: "What are you saying? If I asked you to fight Great Elder Su Qian to the death, would you fight or run away?"

The presence of Lin Xiuya and Liu Qing here is actually against the rules.

The Inner Courtyard has set up a "Strong Ranking" to identify the strongest person in the Inner Courtyard at any given time and to award them a prize.

Regardless of age, only strength matters! Putting a group of Outer Courtyard students against the strongest Inner Courtyard students—it would be a miracle if they could win!

To be honest, this whole thing is the fault of Hu Qian, the dean of the Outer Courtyard.

After "deploying" Yang Shan and the others to the designated location, Hu Qian rushed to the Inner Courtyard without stopping.

After finding Great Elder Su Qian of the Inner Courtyard, he launched into a tirade of boasting! "I have recently nurtured two extraordinary talents, and even my granddaughter is far inferior to them!"

"I believe that the trials you arranged, old man, are no different from simply giving them Fire Energy Points!"

Despite Hu Qian's irritating face, Great Elder Su Qian remained calm.

"Hu Qian, I naturally know your eye for talent, you old rascal."

"These senior students in the Inner Courtyard have always had a smooth run in every Fire Energy Hunting Competition. It's time to teach them a lesson they won't have to suffer too, but..."

As soon as the word "however" came out, Hu Qian felt something was wrong.

Great Elder Su Qian said with a playful expression, "The senior students of the Inner Courtyard should suffer, but the prestige of the Inner Courtyard cannot be lost! I will arrange for Lin Xiuya and Liu Qing to keep watch in a bit."

Hu Qian glared and puffed out his beard. "Old man, you're playing dirty tricks?"

Great Elder Su Qian: "What do you mean by playing dirty tricks? You specially applied for this trial, so naturally I can make special arrangements!"

Yang Shan, who was running through the mountains, couldn't help but complain, "The Inner Courtyard is getting more and more shameless. They're letting the top three on the Strong Ranking bully the freshmen, huh? You wait until I Dou Ling Peak, I'll beat those two shit out of their wits!"

"Junior, what did you say you wanted to type out? I didn't hear you clearly."

The voice coming from behind was relaxed and pleasant.

Yang Shan turned around and saw Lin Xiuya coming on a gentle breeze, his feet barely touching the ground.

He was even faster than Yang Shan! "Junior brother! Don't run, junior brother!"

Yang Shan used to shout the same thing when he chased after the senior students to swipe their cards!

As the saying goes, good deeds are rewarded and evil deeds are punished.

The cycle of karma is inescapable; retribution will surely come.

Yang Shan stopped, while Lin Xiuya stopped three zhang away from Yang Shan, smiling and saying, "Junior brother, not running anymore?"

Yang Shan: "As expected of a senior, I probably don't have much of a chance to escape."

"So, the only option is to fight back?"

Lin Xiuya was very friendly to Yang Shan: "Junior brother, don't blame me. This matter was ordered by the Great Elder of the Inner Courtyard."

Yang Shan: "What orders?"

Lin Xiuya: "You teach the other senior students a lesson, and Liu Qing and I will teach you a lesson."

Yang Shan: "There can't be any troublemakers in the Inner Courtyard, right?"

Lin Xiuya: "No, everyone in the Inner Courtyard is a troublemaker, but you need to understand that you don't always need to show your toughness."

Lin Xiuya and Yang Shan discussed:

"Junior, we'll likely have many opportunities to interact in the Inner Courtyard in the future. As your senior, I certainly won't make things difficult for you. Three hundred Fire Energy Points?"

Yang Shan shouted "Don't run away, senior!" at least forty times, his throat was practically steaming from the shouting. Despite the relentless pursuit, he only had six hundred Fire Energy Points points left in his card.

Lin Xiuya wants half right off the bat? How can I possibly agree to that?

Yang Shan drew his Thunderbolt Blade:

"Then you'll probably have to put in a lot more effort, senior."

"I knew you wouldn't agree."

In front of Yang Shan, Lin Xiuya put on a pair of white gloves woven with silver thread.

"Come on, let's spar before we decide. I'll try my best not to hurt you, after all, you're quite strong, and I'm worried I might lose control."

Yang Shan took a deep breath, trying his best to get himself into the best possible state.

Lin Xiuya and Liu Qing were dominant forces in the Inner Courtyard in the previous version 1.2. No male player could defeat them, including Xiao Aotian!

The reason I didn't mention female players is because most of them are there to flirt with these two.

So Lin Xiuya and Liu Qing were chased and forced to flee. Right now, even Yang Shan is under a lot of pressure when facing Lin Xiuya.

Judging from the panel comparison alone, Yang Shan is at a complete disadvantage! Even his most prized speed advantage seems somewhat powerless in front of Lin Xiuya.

The Golden Word Seal already represents the best panel among NPCs of the same level, and Lin Xiuya is also Nine Star Dou Ling.

Moreover, Lin Xiuya and Liu Qing each possess two top-tier Mystic Rank Advanced Dou Skills they hold as their trump cards.

Lin Xiuya's Dou Technique is "One Entanglement and One Gang". Entanglement is "Entangling Snake Hand" and Gang is "Azure Annihilation Sword Qi".

The latter, in particular, is absolutely no weaker than "Tyrant Blade - Seven Kills".

Since Yang Shan's stats are completely inferior, if they were to fight head-on against "Azure Annihilation Sword Qi", Yang Shan would only lose! If the stats of the two were posted on the forum for a poll, probably 99.99% of the players would vote for Lin Xiuya.

Yang Shan's three loyal employees would probably vote for Yang Shan against their conscience. Mei Yangyang... Oh, Mei Yangyang came to the Jia Nan Academy just to woo Lin Xiuya, so even though she's always talking about Great God Great God, if it's a real vote, she'll vote for Lin Xiuya.

It's been a long time since I've encountered such a challenging match.

Yang Shan said that he was also a little itchy to try it himself.

He is invincible among players, and can only find some pressure from NPCs.

He's killed even Dou Wang, so what about Nine Star Dou Ling?

If it weren't for the competition rules prohibiting the use of external forces like poison unless one's own poison attribute is present, Yang Shan would have immediately shown Lin Xiuya what "overwhelming poison" meant! Yang Shan roughly estimated that with his current abilities, he should have a 20% chance of winning a one-on-one fight against Lin Xiuya.

If it's one against two, then there's probably no chance of winning at all.

Lin Xiuya was fast, so he chased after them first.

Liu Qing should arrive soon.

Surrender is out of the question. Even if we lose, at least we can make sure Lin Xiuya can no longer maintain his image as Young Master gentleman! Yang Shan tiptoed, and the "Tyrant Blade" sword technique began to intensify.

Looking at the purple lightning flashing on Yang Shan's Thunderbolt Blade, Lin Xiuya was slightly surprised. "Junior brother actually managed to get Fifth-Order Beast Lightning, impressive."

Lin Xiuya conjured up azure-blue gusts of wind with both hands, and his silver-white gloves were undoubtedly top-grade equipment, which gave Lin Xiuya the confidence to catch the knife with his bare hands.

Ding! Lin Xiuya Yang Shan's sword strike and intercepted it with his right hand.

The Ape King Violet Lightning came into contact with the azure-colored gale.

The Ape King Violet Lightning, which should have unleashed tremendous power, seemed hesitant and even appeared to be detaching from the blade!

Lin Xiuya possesses a fifth-tier beast wind! This fifth-tier beast wind was obtained by him recruiting many friends in the Inner Courtyard to hunt down a fifth-tier King of Beasts together!

However, Yang Shan's Ape King Violet Lightning is a product of the fifth-order Thousand Beast King, so it is even stronger than Lin Xiuya's Beast Wind.

Lin Xiuya immediately used his signature move, "Entangling Snake Hand".

This Dou Technique is not about large, sweeping movements; it emphasizes using softness to overcome hardness. The gale force gathered by the hands has a strong pulling force, which can easily pull away the opponent's attack.

If the Ape King Violet Lightning were a product of a fifth-order King of Beasts, it would probably have been completely torn from the blade by Lin Xiuya's "Entangling Snake Hand" by now.

But the instant Lin Xiuya gripped the blade, Yang Shan raised his leg and kicked Lin Xiuya in the chin! "Huh?"

Lin Xiuya felt that the angle of that kick was extremely tricky.

Lin Xiuya still harbored some pride.

Seeing that Yang Shan wasn't using his Dou Qi Armor, he knew he would never use his Dou Qi Armor first.

Actually, Lin Xiuya misunderstood.

Yang Shan's Dou Qi Armor wasn't because he wanted to show off, but because he highly recognized Lin Xiuya's abilities.

Moreover, Lin Xiuya was even faster than him.

If Lin Xiuya finds an opportunity to unleash two powerful attacks, that would be disastrous.

Therefore, Yang Shan kept the Dou Qi Armor.

After all, the Dou Qi Armor has a cooldown period, and when it is used, you only have one chance to choose how much Dou Qi to convert into Vitality Shield.

The most awkward thing about having Dou Qi Armor is that you activate it but still can't defend against the opponent's attack.

In his previous life, Yang Shan may not have excelled in other areas, but he certainly had top-notch skills and experience.

He was confident that he could activate his Dou Qi Armor in any situation and ensure that the Dou Qi Armor's Vitality Shield could withstand the opponent's attacks.

Of course, if the level difference is too large, that's another matter.

Even if Yang Shan used all his Dou Qi to convert into Vitality Shield, he would still be slapped to death by a Dou Zun expert using a Di-rank Dou Technique.

Without the protection of his Dou Qi Armor, Lin Xiuya would have to take Yang Shan's attack head-on!

So if this kick lands, Lin Xiuya's jaw might dislocate!

Lin Xiuya still values his image.

If his chin were crooked, Lin Xiuya wouldn't dare go back to the Inner Courtyard.

Lin Xiuya could have taken advantage of the opportunity to seize the Thunderbolt Blade and used the pulling force of the "Entangling Snake Hand" to manipulate Yang Shan at will.

But this kick interrupted Lin Xiuya's plan.

Lin Xiuya had no choice but to temporarily avoid the situation.

Lin Xiuya's white robe fluttered as he dodged with remarkable grace.

"Um?"

This was the second time Lin Xiuya had expressed his doubts.

Because Yang Shan seemed to have seen through his movements, he forcibly changed the trajectory of his kick midway, turning it into a front kick.

Under Lin Xiuya's astonished gaze, the kick landed squarely on Lin Xiuya's chest. -217 Lin Xiuya was dressed in a long, snow-white robe, making the footprint on his chest all the more conspicuous.

It wasn't very harmful, but it was extremely insulting! Lin Xiuya was somewhat annoyed.

He was indeed careless.

If he had taken it seriously, he could have easily used a fifth-tier beast wind to forcefully blow his opponent away before the kick landed.

After the attack, Yang Shan chose to retreat.

In the previous exchange, Lin Xiuya did not lose because of Dou Technique, but because of "practical combat techniques".

Dou Technique are techniques, but techniques are not just Dou Technique.

Sometimes, it's not only through Dou Technique that you can achieve sufficient results.

In combat, many details need to be carefully studied.

Unfortunately, many players are still at a very basic level when it comes to using Dou Technique.

Even three years from now, Yang Shan will still be top-notch in terms of skill alone.

There was no other way; with third-rate luck, second-rate equipment, and Dou Technique, Yang Shan had to work hard to improve his skills in order to maintain his first-rate combat power.

Although Lin Xiuya maintained his composure, he was clearly serious:

"Come on, let's continue!"

But before the two could clash again, a loud boom resounded.

Liu Qing landed like a meteorite, leaving a deep crater in the ground.

Compared to Lin Xiuya, Liu Qing was much more domineering.

Liu Qing noticed the footprint on Lin Xiuya's chest.

He didn't utter a single word.

But a hint of mockery appeared on his face.

Second on the Strong Ranking, and you got kicked by a freshman from the Outer Courtyard? Lin Xiuya, you've finally met your match!

Lin Xiuya: "You're a little late."

Liu Qing: "I thought you could handle it, so I wasn't in a rush to pursue you."

Lin Xiuya and Liu Qing are old rivals. Liu Qing is actually a man of few words.

But now that he had the chance to mock Lin Xiuya, Liu Qing really didn't want to let it go.

Liu Qing flexed his wrists, preparing to make his move.

Lin Xiuya was getting a little anxious.

How could he not know Liu Qing's plans?

Liu Qing makes a move, and he makes a move in return, then it's a case of two senior students bullying a freshman, and he gets kicked by the freshman—that's the end of the story! If he doesn't make a move, and Liu Qing defeats the freshman, and the freshman kicks him in return, it indirectly proves that he's inferior to Liu Qing.

Who said Liu Qing only knows how to confront things head-on? This scheme is so damn insidious! Lin Xiuya quickly said, "I'll handle it."

Liu Qing: "We don't have that much time to waste. Don't forget, there are still two left! Let's deal with them quickly!"

To make Lin Xiuya suffer this injustice in silence, Liu Qing was willing to swallow his pride and abandon any notions of fair competition.

Seeing Liu Qing arrive, Yang Shan was no longer afraid.

With the knife in hand, my heart remains steadfast.

He held his head high and chest out.

Come on!

I, a Four-Star Dou Ling, was ganged up on by the second and third ranked players on the Strong Ranking.

I have every right to be proud of myself even if I lose!

But if either of you gets hurt, it'll be a huge loss of face!

Even Yang Shan was considering whether to talk to these two and make a bet.

For example, if you hit them with a knife, they lose 100 Fire Energy Points or something.

It's best to be a little arrogant when you speak, to make those two lose their temper.

If these two win the fight and lose the Fire Energy Points, it seems like they're not at a loss either way! Liu Qing didn't give Lin Xiuya any more chance to speak. He formed his right hand into a claw and attacked Yang Shan.

Yang Shan was prepared to make Liu Qing suffer a silent loss! Compared to Lin Xiuya, Liu Qing's attack and defense were both superior.

But he wasn't that fast! Before Liu Qing even reached Yang Shan, a golden Dou Qi slammed towards Liu Qing.

Liu Qing stopped in his tracks and used his fist, which was enveloped in Dou Qi, to shatter the golden Dou Qi with a single punch.

Liu Qing asked in a deep voice, "Who goes there?"

Not far away, Xiao Xun'er stood atop a tree, her beauty beyond compare.

Lin Xiuya was stunned.

It's been three years since I moved from the Outer Courtyard to the Inner Courtyard.

Countless women have expressed their affection for Lin Xiuya, and some have even actively pursued him.

But Lin Xiuya always simply replied, "Thank you, but I haven't considered that at the moment."

I remember half a year ago, when Lin Xiuya was drinking with his friends, Lin Xiuya said that he didn't even know what type of woman he liked.

At that time, his friend remarked, "Liking someone is an unexpected variable. Before she appears, all your imagination about her is vague, but the first time you see her, you feel your heart suddenly skip a beat—that's liking someone!"

Lin Xiuya didn't understand before.

But now he understands!

It was more than just a pause; Lin Xiuya felt he was having difficulty breathing.

The vague image in my mind gradually became clearer.

That's what Xiao Xun'er looks like.

Lin Xiuya hurriedly patted the footprints on his chest.

He didn't want to be so embarrassed on his first meeting with the woman he liked.

Why can't I get these damn footprints off?

Lin Xiuya was troubled when he heard the fairy on the treetop whisper, "Junior Brother Yang Shan, did they bully you?"