What Am I Supposed to Steal from You?

The Basic Stance Cultivation had already reached initial mastery, so there was no point in staying outside any longer.

Li Yun decisively turned back.

Before long, he passed the hillside where those two young men had been sparring earlier.

He found that the two youths who had been sparring were already gone, and he could not help feeling slightly disappointed. He had originally wanted to find another excuse to sidle over and pick up some Cognition Points, but there was not even a hair left.

He could only head back first.

He had just returned to the courtyard.

Before he could enter his room, someone called out to him.

"Li Yun!"

"You're finally back. Come on, hurry and come with me to see the Martial Arts Deacon."

It was Gu Yunzheng again.

That guy had actually brought more than a dozen people to block his path again.

Li Yun did not like trouble, but he was not afraid of it either.

A sect like the Celestial Martial Sect, one of the Four Great Sects in Eastern Cloud Prefecture, was extremely strict about rules.

No one could stir up trouble at will.

Disciples could spar with one another, but beyond that, anyone who dared to strike without cause would be sent to the Punishment Hall in minutes.

"Heh, why is it you again?"

"Are you so full you've got nothing better to do? Why are you making trouble for no reason?"

"And who the hell do you think you are? You tell me to go see the Martial Arts Deacon, and I have to go? You think your face is that big?"

In just a few words, Gu Yunzheng was once again flushed bright red with rage.

"You... How outrageous! You dare speak to me like that?"

"I'm the chief of Rank 95 Academy!"

Li Yun had been fine before hearing that, but the moment he did, he laughed even more wantonly. "So what if you're the chief? Being chief means I have to listen to you?"

"Which sect rule says that?"

"You... you..."

Gu Yunzheng was choked up again, unable to think of any retort.

In truth.

The chief of an academy was merely a nominal title.

It held no real authority at all; the sect rules did not even formally establish such a position.

How was Gu Yunzheng supposed to argue back?

He could not!

"Move aside..."

"This young master is tired. I'm going back to my room. A good dog doesn't block the road."

Taking advantage of the moment.

Li Yun simply shoved Gu Yunzheng aside and walked straight toward his door.

Gu Yunzheng and the others were so furious their eyes practically spat fire, yet they only looked at one another, unsure of what to do.

But just then—

A young man in his twenties walked into the courtyard.

The moment Gu Yunzheng and the others saw him, their faces lit up with wild delight, and they all ran toward him.

"Deacon Xu..."

"You've finally come. We told Li Yun to come see you, but he refused to go, and his attitude was extremely arrogant."

The Martial Arts Deacon, Xu Qing?

Li Yun was briefly taken aback, but his thoughts raced, and he still took the initiative to walk over.

Here, each academy had only one Martial Arts Deacon, much like a homeroom teacher in his previous life. They might not possess much authority, but if they wanted to make trouble for someone, it would be quite easy.

Li Yun was no fool. Unless necessary, he naturally did not want to offend Xu Qing.

"Deacon Xu, you're here?"

Xu Qing nodded faintly. "Li Yun, I had Gu Yunzheng call for you. Why didn't you come?"

"Deacon Xu, this disciple has been wronged."

"This disciple took a walk outside and had only just returned when more than a dozen of them blocked me. Each one looked fiercer than the last. This disciple thought they wanted to find an excuse to bully me... I never expected that you had truly summoned me, Deacon Xu!"

"May I ask what instructions you have for this disciple, Deacon Xu?"

Seeing Li Yun's wronged expression, Xu Qing could not help shooting Gu Yunzheng and the others a fierce glare. Honestly, with this formation... Li Yun was alone, while Gu Yunzheng had more than a dozen people surrounding him. Who would not be scared?

"Gu Yunzheng, what is this?"

"I only told you to notify Li Yun. Why did you bring so many people?"

"What kind of spectacle is this?"

"Those with nothing to do, disperse immediately. Go do whatever you should be doing. Don't let the Punishment Hall patrol see you and mistake you for plotting something, then haul all of you off to the Punishment Hall. I won't be able to put in a good word for you."

Everyone's expressions changed sharply at once.

Other than Gu Yunzheng, the dozen or so others scattered as if fleeing for their lives.

In the blink of an eye, Gu Yunzheng had become a lone man.

The hatred in his heart was overwhelming.

"Deacon Xu... Li Yun is slandering me. We weren't fierce toward him at all. Besides, he was clearly the one deliberately circling around me."

"He was stealing my Zhuang Gong and disrupting my cultivation."

"And he refuses to admit it..."

Gu Yunzheng's eyes had turned slightly red, and he felt more aggrieved than ever before.

If Li Yun was not reprimanded today.

He would lose all his face. Who would take him, the chief, seriously in the future?

As for Xu Qing, he had always thought highly of Gu Yunzheng.

The fellow came from a good family and had a solid foundation. More importantly, he possessed First Grade aptitude—he was a natural Martial Dao genius.

Within three years, his chances of achieving an Acquired to Innate Reversal and advancing to become an Inner Sect Disciple were quite high.

That was why Xu Qing had appointed Gu Yunzheng chief of Rank 95 Academy, hoping to spur him on.

Now, seeing Gu Yunzheng look as though he had suffered a tremendous injustice, Xu Qing could not help softening somewhat and turned to look at Li Yun.

"Li Yun, you heard him too."

"How do you explain this?"

Li Yun had long been prepared for this.

He smiled faintly.

"Deacon Xu, Gu Yunzheng's words are utter nonsense."

"This disciple was tired from cultivation and simply walked around the courtyard. I did not say more than half a sentence. How did that become disrupting someone else's cultivation?"

"As for stealing his Zhuang Gong, that is even more... sigh!"

Li Yun glanced at Gu Yunzheng, then suddenly walked to one side and, without another word, began performing the Basic Stance Cultivation.

Xu Qing and Gu Yunzheng were instantly dumbfounded by Li Yun's action.

They had no idea what he meant by it.

But as Li Yun assumed the stances, moving from the first stance to the second... seamlessly linking them one after another as he shifted through them.

Xu Qing's expression changed.

And he jolted sharply.

He suddenly discovered that Li Yun's Zhuang Gong had been exceedingly precise from the very first stance, not inferior to Gu Yunzheng's in the slightest.

Such standard Zhuang Gong swiftly reached the seventh stance, which he completed smoothly, followed immediately by the eighth stance...

"Impossible!"

Gu Yunzheng blurted out at once when he saw this.

But Li Yun paid him no heed whatsoever, wholly immersed in his own Zhuang Gong. He discovered that as he performed his stances, new insights surfaced in his mind.

The system actually reacted as well.

Cultivating Basic Stance Cultivation, Cognition Points +1

Cultivating Basic Stance Cultivation, Cognition Points +1

...

After all Twelve Stances had been completed, his Cognition Points had increased by a full 5 points.

It was not much, but it was still a bright and tangible gain.

It put Li Yun at ease. If he could not find anyone worth observing in the future, he would not be left unable to gain even a single Cognition Point by cultivating on his own.

But at this moment, he paid no attention to that.

After completing the Twelve Stances, he turned to Gu Yunzheng.

"Gu Yunzheng!"

"My Basic Stance Cultivation has already reached initial mastery, while you have not even completed the seventh stance. Tell me, what exactly am I supposed to steal from you?"

"Steal your self-importance?"

"Or steal how you swagger through the streets like a dog dressed as a man, surrounded by your lackeys?"