Collecting Interest

Long Chen looked in the direction of the newcomers, his eyes chilling. A group of people, like stars surrounding the moon, escorted a man in.

The man had a face like jade, stood tall and elegant, and was extremely handsome. The person who arrived was none other than the heir of the Marquis of the Savage Lands, Zhou Yaoyang, who had once beaten Long Chen severely on the stage, nearly killing him, and then thrown him off.

Zhou Yaoyang was the legitimate eldest son of the Marquis of the Savage Lands. His cultivation was also at the peak among all the heirs, hence his high popularity.

As soon as Zhou Yaoyang entered, he saw Long Chen and his group. He smiled slightly and walked over, looking at Long Chen and saying, "I'm very sorry about what happened last time. I beat you so badly you didn't even recognize your own mother."

He said he was apologizing, but there wasn't a trace of apology on his face. His words were filled with disdain, as if a supreme emperor looking down on Long Chen.

"It's fine. Soon, I'll beat you so badly you won't recognize your grandmother either," Long Chen said with a faint smile, inwardly furious.

When he woke up that day, only his mother and that old pharmacist were there. This sentence must have been spread by that old scoundrel.

Zhou Yaoyang's words were equivalent to telling Long Chen that the old man was working for them. Although Long Chen's injuries looked terrifying, none were fatal. Even the wound on the back of his head, though bloody, was not serious.

There was no need to use such high-grade pills to treat him. These guys clearly intended to scare his mother and drain all of her savings.

They didn't kill him but wanted to weaken his family's finances and make their lives even more miserable. There was definitely a conspiracy hidden behind this.

"Long Chen, you're asking for death! I think you've forgotten your pain now that your wounds have healed. Do you want Brother Yaoyang to beat you half to death again?"

"Exactly! A cripple who can't cultivate dares to speak so arrogantly. He's truly asking for death."

"Idiot! To think we have such an idiot as one of our heirs is an insult to us."

Before Zhou Yaoyang could speak, the people around him started pointing at Long Chen and yelling, spitting everywhere.

"Long Chen, although we are both heirs, you are in the heavens and I am on the ground. You are just a tiny ant who can only look up to me.

So, even if I bully you, you can only endure it. Otherwise, the consequences will be like last time, being beaten into a dead dog," Zhou Yaoyang said, pointing a finger at Long Chen's nose.

"Slap!"

Long Chen smiled faintly. Suddenly, he reached out and, before anyone could react, tightly grabbed Zhou Yaoyang's finger. With a slight twist, a crisp sound was heard.

Zhou Yaoyang cried out in pain, a searing agony sweeping through his entire body. With a twist of his finger, he involuntarily lowered his head.

Although he was a cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Condensation, as long as he hadn't reached the Blood Condensation Realm, his physical strength was only slightly greater than that of an ordinary person.

Moreover, the incident happened so suddenly that he had no time to channel his energy to resist. Once a vital point was restrained, he was no different from an ordinary person.

Long Chen looked down at Zhou Yaoyang, whose face was contorted in pain, and asked with some confusion, "Looking down? Looking down? Are you talking about yourself?"

The sudden turn of events shocked everyone. Zhou Yaoyang was in too much pain to speak, and the others finally reacted and lunged at Long Chen.

"Bastard, let go of Brother Yaoyang!"

"Anyone who dares to come over, I'll kill them!"

The people around Zhou Yaoyang, seeing him attacked by Long Chen, shouted and were about to swarm him. Just as Long Chen was about to make a move, a tall figure suddenly appeared beside him and roared at the group, like thunder, making their ears ring.

Upon seeing who it was, a smile appeared on Long Chen's lips. The person who arrived was none other than Shi Feng.

The few heirs who were about to charge forward stopped in their tracks because of Shi Feng's appearance.

Shi Feng was arrogant and disliked forming factions, but his cultivation was the highest among all the heirs. Coupled with his tall and imposing figure, he immediately intimidated them.

For a moment, everyone fell silent. The only sound in the entire Hall of Literature was Zhou Yaoyang's pained groans.

"What are you doing?"

Suddenly, an angry shout echoed, and an old man walked in. Everyone's expression stiffened, and they turned to look at the old man.

The old man was a lecturer in the Hall of Literature, a scholar. He was said to be incorruptible, upright, stern, and quite authoritative.

"Fighting within the Hall of Literature is punishable by a month's detention according to the law. Do you want to try?" the old man snorted coldly.

Long Chen's eyes darted around. He let go of Zhou Yaoyang's twisted and deformed finger and quickly said to the old man with a smile, "Sir, you've misunderstood. We weren't fighting just now; we were conducting a test."

"Oh? A test? What kind of test?" The old man was clearly not easily fooled and looked at Long Chen coldly.

"We were testing how long a single finger could withstand the siege of five fingers.

Through this test, we reached a conclusion: the power of unity is irresistible.

No matter how strong a single finger is, it is isolated. Strength has its limits. Only with the support of companions can one continuously gain energy, becoming stronger and more enduring.

In this test, both Zhou Yaoyang and I gained insights and understanding of strength, which will be of great help to our future cultivation. It can be said that we have benefited greatly. Brother Zhou, wouldn't you agree?" Long Chen looked at Zhou Yaoyang with a meaningful gaze.

Zhou Yaoyang was so angry he almost fainted, but he could only swallow this bitter pill. If he denied it, both he and Long Chen would be detained. Even as heirs, they could not violate the rules of the Hall of Literature.

"Yes."

Zhou Yaoyang tried his best to keep his voice calm, but after the intense pain, even his voice was hoarse, sounding like metal scraping.

The old man looked at Long Chen, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes. He nodded and said, "Since that's the case, I won't hold you accountable. Remember, do not cause trouble here again."

Upon hearing this, everyone secretly sighed at Long Chen's good luck. The old man clearly saw that Long Chen was spouting nonsense but still let them off the hook.

"You wait and see."

Zhou Yaoyang gritted his teeth and said in a voice only the two of them could hear.

Long Chen's move was too ruthless. Not only did he twist his finger, but he also used some unknown technique to twist the meridians within the finger into a knot. Otherwise, Zhou Yaoyang wouldn't have been in so much pain and been unable to resist at all.

"Brother Zhou is always welcome to continue testing with me."

Long Chen smiled politely. You little brat, today was just collecting a little interest. The real show is yet to come.

Over two hundred young lords sat quietly. The old man nodded in satisfaction and began a lecture filled with classical phrases and mournful exclamations, making everyone drowsy, though no one dared to sleep.

Although the old man had no cultivation, he held absolute authority within the Imperial Academy. If anyone angered him and was expelled, they could forget about attending the martial arts archive that afternoon.

It was like having two eggs, one rotten and one good. To get the good egg, one had to eat the rotten one first.

The old man spoke of historical anecdotes, governance, and knowledge of agriculture, forestry, fishing, and animal husbandry. Even Long Chen almost dozed off.

However, Fatty Yu and the others listened intently. Since they couldn't cultivate, their future depended on their knowledge to secure official positions.

Enduring the painful ordeal, they finally reached noon. After lunch, everyone rushed towards the Battle Skill Pavilion.

Even those who couldn't cultivate, like Fatty Yu, hurried along. The Battle Skill Pavilion contained countless cultivation techniques and battle skills; it was worth a shot.

The Battle Skill Pavilion had three floors, but only the bottom floor was open to all the young lords.

Despite being only one floor, seventeen bookshelves were filled with various battle skills and cultivation techniques, creating a dazzling spectacle.

"Brother Yaoyang, I've already challenged Long Chen to a death match. This time, I will definitely kill him and avenge you, Brother Yaoyang," Li Hao said respectfully, having secretly approached Zhou Yaoyang.

Zhou Yaoyang had already circulated his energy to stop the pain in his fingers, but his joints were dislocated, and his meridians were twisted like a rope. He needed a pharmacist to treat him.

"It's not time to kill him yet. Otherwise, I would have done it last time," Zhou Yaoyang shook his head and suddenly asked, "By the way, how were you defeated by him last time?"

"This, sigh! It was actually my carelessness, and Long Chen seized the opportunity. Damn it, I'm so angry that I was defeated by this trash!" Li Hao said bitterly.

His previous defeat had greatly diminished his reputation, and some people gossiped behind his back, driving him mad. He had always believed that the last time was a minor oversight, which is why he now harbored murderous intent towards Long Chen.

"Long Chen absolutely cannot die, at least not now. Don't ruin my plans," Zhou Yaoyang repeated, fearing Li Hao wouldn't understand.

"Then what? We just let him go?" Li Hao asked, unwilling.

Zhou Yaoyang looked at his twisted fingers and gritted his teeth, "Although I can't kill him, I can take a part or two from him."

Li Hao's eyes lit up at this. "Great! This time I'll kick his balls until they burst. Oh, and I want one of his eyes too. Damn it, his gaze annoys me."

Zhou Yaoyang and Li Hao exchanged a smile. However, they didn't notice Long Chen, who was pretending to browse the bookshelves, also smiled. His smile was colder than theirs, like a leopard watching two whispering sheep.

Long Chen's position allowed his spiritual power to detect their movements. Although he couldn't hear their words, he could guess most of it from their lip movements.

Seeing them nonchalantly flipping through the books on the shelves, Long Chen couldn't be bothered to pay them any more attention and began to truly search for his target.

In his memory, besides alchemy knowledge, he had almost nothing else. He desperately needed to master a battle skill.

Long Chen spotted a battle skill and was about to reach for it when a dark-skinned man snatched it away first.

"Excuse me, this young lord has already chosen it."

The man didn't even glance at Long Chen and continued browsing as if he were alone.

Long Chen frowned slightly. This was clearly intentional, but he didn't react and moved to another bookshelf.

He had just found a palm technique and was about to grab it when the dark-skinned man, who had been waiting, snatched it away again.

"Excuse me, this..."

"Slap!"

A powerful slap landed squarely on the dark-skinned man's face, interrupting his words and sending him flying.