Leaving the Pass to Accept the Challenge!

Yan Hao and Lin Xiuya were walking toward the Heavenly Burning Qi Refining Tower. Yan Hao looked furious as he said, "Damn it, when have the two of us ever had to swallow such insults?"

Lin Xiuya smiled and tried to console him, "Isn't he just second on the Strong Ranking? Sooner or later, we will replace him."

Both Lin Xiuya and Yan Hao were three-star Dou Ling. Originally, they were both experts on the Strong Ranking and were qualified to cultivate on the sixth floor.

However, because they had offended the person ranked second on the Strong Ranking, they were now forced to find a place to cultivate on the fourth floor.

Xiao Yan had never expected that Lin Xiuya had suffered so many grievances before becoming the second-ranked expert on the Strong Ranking.

When the two arrived at the fourth floor, they suddenly discovered that their usual spot was already occupied.

Lin Xiuya froze in his tracks, while Yan Hao clenched his fists and said angrily, "Don't tell me it's that guy from second place again? Does he really think our brothers are easy to bully?"

Just as Yan Hao was about to smash the door open, Lin Xiuya stopped him.

"If it were them, they wouldn't do this. They would definitely be standing at the door mocking us," Lin Xiuya analyzed calmly.

Yan Hao let out a sigh of relief, then asked in confusion, "Then who could have taken our spot?"

"There are rules here that forbid occupying rooms. No one came before because they were wary of us. But now that someone is actually inside cultivating, we can't force them out."

After Lin Xiuya finished speaking, he pulled Yan Hao away to find another place to cultivate.

After the two had left, Yan Hao said, "Lin Xiuya, it seems a new elder has arrived at our courtyard. He's quite young, probably around our age, but he is a genuine Dou Wang powerhouse."

Lin Xiuya paused, nodded, and said, "I think I heard about that. That elder also uses a sword, and like me, he has a wind attribute."

Yan Hao added, "In my opinion, why don't you go ask that elder for advice? Perhaps with his guidance, your strength will reach the peak of Dou Ling much faster. Then we can take our revenge."

Lin Xiuya laughed self-deprecatingly, "I heard that elder is also a cultivation fanatic and is currently training on the seventh floor. With our strength, we aren't qualified to enter the seventh floor."

"Fine, if that's the case, we'll just have to wait for an opportunity," Yan Hao sighed.

The two finally found an intermediate cultivation room and began their training.

Xiao Yan could feel that Yun Potian was cultivating in this tower, and it seemed he was on the verge of a breakthrough.

With that, Xiao Yan did not disturb Yun Potian; the current situation required both of them to constantly improve their strength.

In the original story, after the Three-Year Agreement, Xiao Yan came to Canaan Academy and cultivated for another year before participating in the Strong Ranking competition.

It was only then that Han Feng brought people to snatch the Exotic Fire, which meant there were still three years left before the Exotic Fire erupted completely.

Logically speaking, there was still plenty of time.

Xiao Yan shook his head and began to enter his cultivation state.

Because Xiao Yan had prepared a large amount of medicinal pills before this seclusion, he planned to cultivate for a longer period before heading out.

He had even prepared a portion for Xun Er. To his surprise, after only two weeks of seclusion, Xun Er had broken through to a nine-star Dou Shi. This speed left Xiao Yan feeling astonished.

The two of them cultivated on the fourth floor for a total of two months, and Xiao Yan finally felt that the bottleneck of his current level was about to break.

He quickly bought a Star-Adding Card, spending another 500 Summoning Points.

Finally, at noon one day, Xiao Yan successfully broke through to an eight-star Da Dou Shi. With the enhancement of the Star-Adding Card, Xiao Yan reached the realm of a nine-star Da Dou Shi in one go.

Name: Xiao Yan
Age: 16 years and 4 months
Strength: Nine-star Da Dou Shi
Alchemist Level: Tier 3 Alchemist
Cultivation Method: Burning Decision (Xuan-tier High-grade)
Dou Techniques: Eight Extremities Collapse (Xuan-tier High-grade), Mystic Divination Palm (Xuan-tier Low-grade), Heaven Collapsing Technique (Xuan-tier High-grade), Flame Splitting Wave-Devouring Ruler (Di-tier Low-grade), Flame Cloud Fist (Di-tier Low-grade)
Summoned Powerhouses: Hai Bodong (Seven-star Dou Huang), Eight-Winged Black Emperor Snake (Peak Dou Huang), Yun Potian (Four-star Dou Wang)
Summoned Count: 3/4
Exotic Fire: Myriad Beast Spirit Fire, Green Lotus Core Flame
Items: Mysterious Heavy Ruler
Summoning Talisman: One Intermediate Summoning Talisman
Summoning Points: 4000 (Can be used to exchange for various items in the System Mall)

When Xiao Yan looked at the panel, he didn't expect that Yun Potian had also broken through by one star.

"It seems I was a bit too anxious about refining the Dou Ling Pill for Yun Potian. I shouldn't wait until he reaches Dou Huang and I still haven't learned how to refine it," Xiao Yan muttered to himself with a self-deprecating smile.

Unexpectedly, Xun Er beside him also exited her cultivation state. Xiao Yan was stunned after simply sensing the aura on her.

"Xun Er, you've actually reached Da Dou Shi! Is the improvement between these major realms really this simple?" Xiao Yan gave a wry smile.

For Xun Er, advancing between major realms was just like how others advanced between minor realms—it was effortless.

Xun Er smiled and said, "Brother Xiao Yan, you need to cultivate faster, otherwise I will catch up to you sooner or later."

Xiao Yan nodded with a smile.

The speed at which Xun Er improved her rank was practically like Xiao Yan playing with a cheat code enabled. Was this what they called an official hack?

"Xun Er, you're putting a lot of pressure on me," Xiao Yan said with a laugh.

"Xiao Yan-gege, you've already reached the nine-star Great Dou Shi yourself; your speed isn't slow at all. Besides, I've noticed that your cultivation level always seems to jump forward." Xun Er looked at Xiao Yan with a puzzled expression; even with all her experience, she had never seen such a way of advancing.

Xiao Yan could only shake his head awkwardly and force an explanation, "It's a bit complicated to explain. It might be because I possess two types of Exotic Fire, so I advance two stars at once."

"Oh, is that so?" Xun Er replied, half-believing him.

Only then did Xiao Yan heave a sigh of relief.

"Alright, we've been in seclusion for two months now. We should head out; staying here to cultivate indefinitely isn't very efficient anyway." After saying this, Xiao Yan opened the door to leave.

The two of them walked out hand-in-hand, drawing the attention of a large crowd.

As soon as Xiao Yan stepped outside and took a breath of fresh air, a large group of people swarmed over. Someone in the crowd shouted, "This is the Freshman King, Xiao Yan! He's also ranked forty-fifth on the Strong Ranking. Who wants to take his spot? Come on over!"

Xiao Yan finally realized that being an expert on the Strong Ranking meant having to accept challenges from others at any time and place.

Xiao Yan had no choice but to ask Xun Er to head back first, while he followed the large crowd toward the Inner Academy's arena.

Xiao Yan did a rough count and realized there were actually dozens of people who wanted to challenge him.

Perhaps it was because he had secured a spot on the Strong Ranking despite only being a Great Dou Shi, which made others less wary of him.

Xiao Yan sighed; it seemed he would have to prove himself with his strength.