Challenge

"Boss, you're back!"

As soon as Lin Ming returned to the Medicine Gang, a member of the Lin Ming Medicine Gang saw him and spoke up.

"Hmm! During the two weeks I was in seclusion, nothing happened to the Medicine Gang, right?" Lin Ming asked casually, thinking about how he had dealt with Xu Ke during his seclusion.

"Boss, we've all heard that you seriously injured Xu Ke of the White Dragon Gang with one punch. Although the White Dragon Gang has been causing some trouble lately, it's nothing serious to our Medicine Gang," the Medicine Gang member said excitedly.

After the original leader, Xu Shilin, graduated and left the school, the Medicine Gang suffered a significant loss of top-tier combat power, making it the weakest of the Inner Academy's dominant forces in terms of combat strength.

Now, their leader has only just advanced to the Dou Ling level, yet he can severely injure Xu Ke is at the Three Star Dou Spirit, with a single punch. With such astonishing combat power, it probably won't be long before the Medicine Gang returns to the era when its former Gang Leader, Xu Shilin, was in charge, a top-tier hegemonic force that could be established solely based on combat strength.

Seeing that the member of the Medicine Gang still looked excited, it seemed that nothing serious had happened to the Medicine Gang, and Lin Ming's slight worry was relieved.

Back at the Medicine Gang, Lin Ming ran into Wang Sheng again. As the vice Gang Leader of the Medicine Gang, Wang Sheng handled almost all the affairs of the Medicine Gang, while Lin Ming was just a figurehead.

So after meeting Wang Sheng, Lin Ming asked again if anything important had happened to the Medicine Gang during his seclusion.

Although he had already questioned the member of the Medicine Gang and learned that nothing major had happened to the Medicine Gang recently, that Medicine Gang's position was limited, and he probably didn't know as much about things as Wang Sheng did.

"Gang Leader, it was truly gratifying that you taught Xu Ke a lesson! Everything has been normal for the Medicine Gang lately; we even received a quest for a Tier 4 Medicinal Pill a couple of days ago... As for the White Dragon Gang, there haven't been any unusual developments either." Wang Sheng recounted the situation of the Medicine Gang and the White Dragon Gang over the past two weeks.

"Alright, fine. You handle the Tier 4 Medicinal Pill you received. If you can't refine them, come find me. Keep an eye on the White Dragon Gang; this matter is probably not that simple," Lin Ming instructed.

Upon hearing Lin Ming's instructions, Wang Sheng nodded in response.

"Alright, go ahead and get busy! I'm going into seclusion for half a month, so I'm going to rest now." After saying that, Lin Ming went upstairs and returned to his room a short while later.

While practicing in a state of stillness can also help to conserve energy, such prolonged practice can still lead to physical fatigue.

Now that he was back in his room and knew that the Medicine Gang was alright, Lin Ming naturally needed to recover from his fatigue. So after washing up, he lay down on the bed, and soon began to snore.

Lin Ming always slept exceptionally well after each period of seclusion.

After waking up, Lin Ming went to the lobby and enjoyed breakfast.

"Lin Ming! Lin Ming!" a clear voice called out, calling out to Lin Ming.

Upon hearing that voice, Lin Ming knew it was Zi Yan.

Almost as soon as the words fell, Zi Yan arrived in the lobby. Seeing Lin Ming eating breakfast, Zi Yan, who was already used to it, sat down next to Lin Ming and began to eat without any hesitation.

Lin Ming had already guessed about Zi Yan's arrival. Furthermore, Lin Ming and Zi Yan were old friends, so Lin Ming was already used to Zi Yan coming.

Zi Yan finished breakfast with a satisfied burp. Seeing that Zi Yan was full, Lin Ming said, "Let's go, I'll go upstairs and help you make some Medicinal Pill."

"Mmm." Zi Yan pecked her head like a chick pecking at rice, following Lin Ming with an excited expression on her face.

"Boss, the White Dragon Gang has sent a challenge letter." A voice came from outside the hall, causing Lin Ming had just started walking, to stop in his tracks.

After stopping, a member of the Medicine Gang hurriedly came to the lobby, and soon after, Wang Sheng and the others also arrived at the lobby.

Lin Ming took the challenge letter, took out the letter inside, and read it on the spot.

"Hmph, outrageous! Lin Ming, you wait, I'm going to beat all those guys from the White Dragon Gang to a pulp." Zi Yan said angrily after seeing the challenge on the letter.

The letter of challenge was essentially a challenge between the White Dragon Gang and the Medicine Gang to a duel at noon the next day, between Lei Qian and Lin Ming, both from the White Dragon Gang and both possessing the cultivation level of Five-Star Dou Spirit.

In this challenge letter, he wrote a lot of provocative words in order to get Lin Ming to accept the challenge.

For example, if Lin Ming is afraid, all he needs to do is acknowledge the Medicine Gang as the Turtle Gang and surrender by hanging a white flag in front of the Medicine Gang's gate. The White Dragon Gang is quite magnanimous towards those cowards who dare not fight and will not hold it against them.

"Zi Yan, leave this matter to me. I've been wanting to get a ranking on the Strong Ranking anyway, and now that the White Dragon Gang has delivered themselves to our doorstep, wouldn't it be a laughing stock for our Medicine Gang if we didn't grant their wish?" Lin Ming said, pulling the angry Zi Yan aside.

"I'm so angry! Lin Ming, you have to give Lei Qian a good beating tomorrow!" Zi Yan said angrily after Lin Ming.

"Gang Leader, why don't you take on this challenge instead?" Wang Sheng said at this moment.

Although they knew that Lin Ming had severely injured Xu Ke of the White Dragon Gang with a single punch, Xu Ke wasn't even on the Strong Ranking, while Lei Qian was ranked thirtieth on the Strong Ranking, making him much stronger than Xu Ke.

Furthermore, Lei Qian's cultivation level is Five-Star Dou Spirit, which is Four Stars higher than Lin Ming's. These members of the Medicine Gang are unaware of Lin Ming's combat strength. Therefore, Wang Sheng is now making this suggestion.

"Don't worry! I'm determined to get Lei Qian's ranking on the Strong Ranking," Lin Ming said confidently.

"Alright, you can all go down now! My Medicine Gang will take on this challenge. Zi Yan, let's go, let's go refine Medicinal Pill for you first," Lin Ming, Wang Sheng, and the others said, before leading Zi Yan upstairs.

"Alright, since the Gang Leader has accepted the challenge, he must be confident of victory! So far, the Gang Leader has never done anything without being sure of success. Everyone, go about your business and wait until tomorrow to see the Gang Leader display his might." Wang Sheng said to the people present.

After the others left, Wang Sheng wore a somewhat melancholy expression. However, Lin Ming, who had already brought Zi Yan upstairs, was unaware of this.

"Give me the medicinal herbs," Lin Ming said after entering the room.

Taking the Storage Ring from Zi Yan, Lin Ming took out the Medicinal Cauldron and began to refine Medicinal Pill for Zi Yan.

As his cultivation level increased, the power of the Flame Gold Earth Heart Fire also increased significantly, so much so that Lin Ming only spent a little over an hour refining all the Medicinal Pill this time.

"Here, take this. There are two new flavors this time." Lin Ming put the refined Medicinal Pill into his Storage Ring and tossed them to Zi Yan.

Upon hearing about the new flavor, Zi Yan eagerly took the Storage Ring, found the new flavored Medicinal Pill, and immediately took out Medicinal Pill to eat.

"Wow! Delicious!" Zi Yan exclaimed happily as the Medicinal Pill entered her mouth.

"Lin Ming, do you really not want me to go and beat up that Lei Qian?" Zi Yan suddenly asked after taking the Medicinal Pill.

"Zi Yan, don't worry! Lei Qian is just a nobody. Have some faith in me, okay?" Lin Ming replied.

"Hehe! Alright then. We'll see how you beat Lei Qian tomorrow." Zi Yan said with a laugh, and left Lin Ming's place.

Lin Ming truly didn't take Lei Qian seriously. So, what Lin Ming was worried about in tomorrow's battle was whether Bai Wei of the White Dragon Gang would intervene after Lei Qian's defeat.

The Arena, in the Inner Academy, is the most popular place besides the Heavenly Flame Refining Qi Tower.

Aside from murder and serious injury, the Inner Academy's environment is not far removed from the wider society. Naturally, such an environment provides places for fighting and settling scores, hence the Arena.

Furthermore, Jia Nan Academy is located in the Black Corner Region. What is the Black Corner Region? It is synonymous with chaos, where anything can be done without restraint.

Jia Nan Academy, located in the Black Corner Region, is Inner Academy where only the most outstanding talents are selected each year.

Inner Academy Jia Nan Academy not only does not prevent its students from fighting, but also encourages them to do so.

Although fighting in the Inner Academy may result in injuries and bloodshed, those who emerge from this experience will be less likely to suffer unnecessary casualties when passing through the Black Corner Region after graduation and leaving the academy.

Therefore, the academy charges Fire Energy Points from those who fight in the Arena. The winner not only gets their own Fire Energy Points back but also receives the Fire Energy Points from the loser. In addition, the academy rewards participants with extra Fire Energy Points when they reach a certain number of battles per month.

The role of Fire Energy Points in the Inner Academy is self-evident; besides cultivation in the Heavenly Flame Refining Qi Tower, they can also be used as currency to purchase items.

In the Inner Academy, the Fire Energy Points is practically omnipotent.

The academy sets Fire Energy Points as rewards in the Arena, which clearly aims to encourage all students to utilize their skills in battle and achieve victory.

"Have you heard? Lei Qian of the White Dragon Gang is going to fight Lin Ming, the new Gang Leader of the Medicine Gang, today."

"Of course I've heard about that. Yesterday, the White Dragon Gang was spreading the word all over the Inner Academy."

"Lin Ming has only been in the Inner Academy for a little over a year, right? And he's already able to fight Lei Qian?"

"Brother, you just came out of seclusion? Half a month ago, Xu Ke White Dragon Gang went to provoke Lin Ming on the Fifth Floor of Heavenly Flame Refining Qi Tower, and ended up being seriously injured by Lin Ming with a single punch..."

"Look, the White Dragon Gang has arrived. Their leader, Bai Wei, is personally leading the way."

"Over there, the Medicine Gang has arrived. The one leading them is Lin Ming, the leader of the Medicine Gang."

After Lin Ming led the Medicine Gang members to the Arena, a cacophony of shouts and roars immediately greeted them.

If the environment inside the Heavenly Flame Refining Qi Tower could be described as deathly silent, then the Arena would have to be described as bustling with noise.