Disdain

Lin Yi continued staying in the secret passage for six or seven days.

Along the way, he also practiced the two martial techniques, Vast Step and Wind Forest Fire Mountain, a little.

Thanks to his intuitive experience with Vast Step and Mountain Opening Fist, he had already reached minor mastery in the former.

He had only reached the beginner level in Wind Forest Fire Mountain.

Then he returned to the martial hall.

Long Rainbow Technique was a breakthrough technique. Once he successfully broke through, he had mastered it completely.

If Lin Yi wanted to keep cultivating and advance further, he would need to obtain a new technique suited to Post-Heaven Realm martial artists from the martial hall.

Although Lin Yi had Hu Ma's sixth-grade martial artist technique, Elixir Release Scripture, in his mind, it was also a technique belonging to the Rainbow Martial Hall. If Lin Yi wanted to practice it openly, he still needed to go through the proper instruction process.

Lin Yi returned to the communal dormitory.

Xiao Dong, who had been there before, had already moved out.

Instead, three new boys had moved in. They looked a little younger than Lin Yi.

When they saw Lin Yi, the three hurried over to greet him, bowing as they addressed him. "Senior Brother."

Lin Yi nodded lightly. After tidying up his things, he left the room.

When he reached the inner courtyard entrance, he was stopped at the gate.

"Master Yuan is instructing the disciples inside today. No one is allowed in."

Lin Yi regretfully turned to leave.

But as soon as he turned around, he saw a tall, handsome figure striding toward him.

"Senior Brother Liu!" Lin Yi smiled and cupped his hands toward him.

Liu Lie came up and lightly punched Lin Yi's shoulder. "Where have you been? You haven't come to the martial hall for nearly half a month."

"There were things to take care of at home," Lin Yi replied. "I was delayed for a little while."

Liu Lie didn't doubt him. Instead, a trace of worry crossed his face. "Was it something serious? If you need my help, don't hesitate to ask!"

Lin Yi waved his hand. "It's fine. Everything's taken care of!"

"That's good!" Liu Lie's expression brightened, and he smiled. "Lin Yi, I've got some good news for you!"

"Master saw you before and was very pleased with you, so he's allowing you to start training in the inner courtyard early!"

Lin Yi froze, warmth rising in his heart.

He knew exactly what had happened.

He had seen Master Yuan's attitude toward him that day. The man had barely paid him any mind. How could he have allowed Lin Yi to train in the inner courtyard early just because he admired him?

Surely Senior Brother Liu had pulled strings behind the scenes and put in a lot of effort to persuade him.

"Senior Brother Liu, you don't have to..." Lin Yi said.

Liu Lie looked puzzled. "Is there something you're worried about?"

Lin Yi shook his head and smiled openly. At the same time, he released the aura he had been keeping concealed.

His abundant, surging blood and qi rose in an instant.

His True Qi burst forth without restraint, sending fallen leaves and dust whirling wildly around them.

Liu Lie froze, then stared at him in shock and delight. "You've broken through!"

"Just got lucky," Lin Yi said with a smile.

"Hahahaha! No wonder you don't need to enter the inner courtyard early. You can walk in through the front door now!" Liu Lie was overjoyed. He grabbed Lin Yi by the robe. "Come on, I'll take you to see Master!"

The inner courtyard of the martial hall.

On the upper floor of a pavilion.

Two figures watched Master Yuan instruct Xiao Dong in his cultivation on the Martial Practice Platform below. Master Yuan looked at him as though he were a fine piece of uncut jade.

The two figures were Master Yuan's two direct disciples.

His fourth disciple, Bai Qiqi.

And his eldest disciple, Su Ji, a handsome, refined-looking man in his thirties.

"Master really is biased."

Su Ji smiled at the younger sister beside him. "Junior Brother is still new here. He needs extra resources to build a solid foundation and keep all that talent from going to waste."

Bai Qiqi snorted. "What do you mean, he's still new here and needs a solid foundation? Biased is biased. When I first joined, Master never treated me this well."

"It's just that he has a Destiny, [Blood Sable Drinks Poison], so his potential is greater than ours."

You know that, and you're still saying it?

Su Ji found the thought amusing, but said no more.

His junior sister was childish by nature, and as a woman, she was even more prone to sulking and jealousy.

Su Ji saw things more clearly.

Master had no children of his own.

Of Master's four direct disciples,

Su Ji's family had served in the Peace Guard for generations, and he might have to take over his father's position one day.

His second junior brother, Bai Suo, came from a family of nobles.

His third junior brother, Liu Lie, was too flighty, always thinking about going out to travel and seek adventure.

His fourth junior sister, Bai Qiqi, was a woman, and immature in temperament.

By contrast, Xiao Dong had been born into poverty. His father had been absent since he was little, and his mother had raised him alone. Combined with his outstanding talent, he truly was an excellent heir to Master's legacy.

In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed. Master Yuan had truly been treating Xiao Dong like his own son, raising him.

He poured in a vast supply of precious medicines and materials, feeding them to Xiao Dong without restraint.

Because Xiao Dong's Destiny, [Blood Sable Drinks Poison], required the blood and flesh of powerful, rare creatures to achieve the greatest effect in cultivation,

seven days ago,

Master Yuan had even gone into the forest himself and hunted down a Seven Realm Tiger Demon.

A Seven Realm Demonic Beast was comparable in strength to an Eighth-grade martial artist.

Seven Realm Demonic Beasts were powerful, and their bodies far surpassed those of martial artists. Even an expert at the Qi Entry Realm would have to spend quite some time dealing with one.

Even so, Master Yuan had slain it with ease and fed its precious blood to Xiao Dong to help him break through.

He had even taken the tiger demon's heart blood to an alchemist to refine into pills.

Tiger demons were born with pure yang bodies, and their precious blood was a powerful tonic for the yang.

After being fed it, Xiao Dong's progress had been astonishingly fast.

In just half a month, he had already reached the fourth Martial Pass of the Martial Way.

He was a whole month faster than ordinary geniuses with Grade A Bone Structure.

Master Yuan was more than pleased.

A loud crash rang out.

The inner courtyard gate was suddenly flung open.

Xiao Dong was distracted for a moment and failed to notice. As he concentrated on circulating his technique, he accidentally went into qi deviation. His blood and qi stagnated, and he let out a muffled groan.

Master Yuan's expression changed. He hurried over and sent True Qi into Xiao Dong to help him regulate his breathing.

"Master!" Liu Lie had not noticed anything amiss. He cheerfully pulled Lin Yi forward and bowed first in greeting.

Lin Yi furrowed his brow. He was always more observant, and quickly began piecing together what was happening.

After coming out of seclusion, he had also heard about Xiao Dong's situation.

Breaking through four Martial Passes in half a month was astonishingly fast. Xiao Dong must have devoured a great deal of blood and qi.

But [Blood Sable Drinks Poison] had its limitations. Absorbing too much blood and qi could easily cloud the mind.

Xiao Dong must have been deeply focused on his cultivation just now, and his mind had already been muddled lately.

Liu Lie's sudden arrival had caused him to go into qi deviation.

But right now, Xiao Dong was Master Yuan's most prized possession...

Master Yuan was probably not in the best of moods...

Lin Yi could only sigh helplessly, silently blaming himself for not checking the divination verse that morning. He'd walked straight into trouble.

But since things had come to this, Lin Yi could only take what was coming.

A moment later,

Xiao Dong recovered from his qi deviation. After half a month apart, his eyes had grown more sinister.

When he saw Lin Yi, Xiao Dong paused, then knitted his brows slightly. He merely stepped forward, cupped his hands toward Liu Lie, and addressed him as Senior Brother.

"Junior Brother."

Liu Lie waved his hand, then looked straight at Master Yuan.

"Master!"

Master Yuan stood up, his expression cold. He glanced at Liu Lie, then at Lin Yi, struggling to rein in his temper.

"What is it?"

Liu Lie didn't realize Master Yuan was angry. He still smiled as he answered,

"Master, Junior Brother Lin has broken through the Martial Pass and become a martial artist. He can train in the inner courtyard now."

Master Yuan glanced at Lin Yi and said coldly,

"And?"

"Is this little matter worth coming to tell me in person?"

Liu Lie froze, realizing something seemed wrong.

"Master... disciples need you to pass on the techniques when they enter the inner courtyard..."

Master Yuan frowned. "They're only techniques and martial skills. You can teach him. It amounts to the same thing. I have to supervise your junior brother's cultivation, so you can leave for now!"

Liu Lie's expression shifted. He was about to say something more,

but Lin Yi stopped him.

Lin Yi bowed. "Thank you, Master Yuan!"

With that, he pulled Liu Lie along to leave.

Master Yuan was already in a foul mood. There was no good to come from pressing the matter.

Lin Yi had never been close to Master Yuan in the first place.

If Liu Lie kept pushing, it would only drive a wedge between him and Master Yuan.

Lin Yi didn't want to drag Liu Lie into trouble for nothing.