Crown Axis

Zhang Mingfei landed outside the arena face-first. He wanted to change direction, but hanging in midair, he could not muster any strength at all.

He had originally thought Zhang Mingfei would yell and scream like Lin Shaokun.

Instead, after crawling to his feet, Zhang Mingfei did not even wipe the mud from his face. He sat there in a daze, still built like a hulking giant and not restored to his usual appearance.

The two instructors on the stage also showed brief surprise when they saw that move.

After kicking Zhang Mingfei flying, Gao Fei slapped the ground and swiftly rose to his feet.

He did not take the remaining two women seriously at all.

"Golden Silk Coiling Snake Hand."

Yue Qinghe called out the technique, and Zhang Xinyu followed in an instant.

The punch Gao Fei threw with his right hand was immediately entangled, its striking force completely drained away.

He was briefly surprised. He raised his left hand like a blade and chopped at the arm wrapped around his own, trying to free himself.

The moment he moved, the other woman wrapped around him as well.

Both hands trapped, he watched as the two women each threw a punch at his face.

Gao Fei hurriedly lowered his head without retreating in the slightest. He pulled his hands back, then drove forward two steps.

Under that tremendous force, the two women were instantly rammed flying and released their grip.

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

The two women clutched their chests, tears glimmering in their eyes.

In an instant, the crowd below the stage erupted.

"Pervert! Don't hold me back—I'm going up there to kill him!"

The curses beneath the stage merged into one roar. In an instant, he had stirred up public outrage.

Gao Fei patted his shoulder. Only when he looked up did he realize what had happened, and he hurriedly explained.

"I didn't do it on purpose..."

It would have been better if he had not explained. His explanation only enraged the two women further.

"Don't say another word."

"I'll kill you!"

Watching the two women charge at him recklessly, without any technique or pattern, Gao Fei shook his head.

"A woman's heart really is impossible to fathom!"

Sigh as he might, his hands showed no mercy. A punch to the lower belly, a grab of the collar, and he flung them off the stage.

When Yue Qinghe saw Zhang Xinyu take a punch and get thrown down, she instantly came to her senses and retreated again and again to widen the distance.

"Stop. I concede. I'll get down myself."

Seeing that Gao Fei was not chasing after her, she hurried beneath the stage and helped Zhang Xinyu up.

"When this man chased you, his mouth dripped honeyed words. But when he fought, he showed not the slightest tenderness for jade or pity for flowers..."

"You weren't any better..."

At this moment, no one was happier than Gao Linyue.

This was the first thing he had never dared imagine.

The others were all at Bone Forging completion or the Organ Refinement Realm, yet his nephew had somehow fought five alone.

Though he had relied on tricks throughout, it still proved that his martial techniques had at least reached major accomplishment, perhaps even perfection.

Perhaps it was true that his Four-Pillar Pure-Yang Body had been broken, but his comprehension was astonishing—he learned every cultivation method the moment he encountered it. Only that could explain it.

But none of that mattered. He had obtained what he wanted, and now he could recover his strength much sooner.

At that moment, a middle-aged woman in a brocade jacket and skirt, who had been standing below the stage all along, walked up.

Only after she had taken her place on the stage did she announce loudly.

"This year's arena competition has concluded. First place: Gao Fei. Second place: Yue Qinghe. Third place: Zhang Xinyu."

"The prizes will now be distributed."

"First place: five Five-Viscera Stabilizing Pills."

"Second place: three pills."

"Third place: one pill."

"Alright, come up and collect your rewards."

After speaking, she opened a small porcelain bottle and poured out five pills the size of little fingernails for everyone to see, then put them back inside.

Smiling, she offered it to him.

"Congratulations, Gao Fei!"

After Gao Fei accepted it, he studied the woman before him. Her face was slightly round, her voice gentle. Then he glanced at Yue Qinghe, who had yet to come onstage, and found the two women seven parts alike.

She had the mature air of a kindly woman next door.

Just as he realized it, his second uncle's voice rang out beside him.

"You brat, why aren't you thanking the hall master's wife?"

Gao Fei accepted the porcelain bottle with both hands and tucked it into his clothes.

"Thank you, Madam!"

"No need to stand on ceremony. You earned this. Your master merely hates iron for not becoming steel; it does not mean he dislikes you. Come practice in the rear courtyard when you have time, and while you are at it, give my girl some guidance in martial techniques."

After the hall master's wife finished speaking, she looked at the two who had yet to come up and scolded them.

"You two still aren't coming up? Must I come down and invite you myself?"

Hearing that, Zhang Xinyu hurriedly dragged Yue Qinghe, who was still sulking, onto the stage.

"You two should learn your martial techniques properly from Gao Fei. With only the strength of the Middle Skin Tempering Realm, he defeated all five of you. I truly do not know how you usually cultivate."

Zhang Xinyu accepted the porcelain bottle, softly said thank you, then stepped back several paces and fell silent.

Yue Qinghe, however, remained unconvinced.

"Physical martial techniques are useless. Once I reach the Spirit-Absorption Realm, I'll learn spirit-grade martial techniques that use spiritual energy."

The hall master's wife shook her head.

"Only after you open the eight extraordinary meridians and enter the Middle Spirit-Absorption Realm, with true qi circulating through the Lesser Celestial Circuit, will the spirit-grade martial techniques you learn have a place to be used. I fear you may not even reach the Spirit-Absorption Realm."

"Mother, how can you say that about me? If we save these pills, won't I have enough?"

As Yue Qinghe spoke, she glanced at the porcelain bottle in Gao Fei's hand as though he had stolen it from her.

"If you want our entire family to be executed, then go ahead and try embezzling them."

The competition was over.

Though the martial hall competitions in the county town were not formal, among the top three selected every year—

there was always one who became a Spirit-Absorption Realm martial artist. It had been so every year.

Before the Martial Suppression Guard and Spirit-Absorption Realm martial artists were transferred away, Yueyang County governed an area stretching a hundred li in every direction.

This showed just how powerful it had been then. The surrounding demons and monsters all kept far away.

Now Yueyang County's martial strength had weakened greatly, but the value of the martial hall's top three had not diminished. On the contrary, because there were fewer experts, the people in the city currying favor with them had only grown more numerous.

Yet it was only empty flattery. No one spoke of anything tangible; they would not even mention silver.

But on second thought, that made sense. Anyone with a bit of aptitude could be piled into the Spirit-Absorption Realm with medicinal resources.

Who would have nothing better to do than support an outsider?

Gao Linyue responded to them one by one. After the crowd dispersed, the Zhang siblings came over.

After offering congratulations and exchanging a few polite words, they left behind one sentence.

"When there is time, let's spar in the inner courtyard," then departed the martial hall.

From leaving the martial hall gates all the way home—

Gao Fei kept wondering whether the Five-Viscera Stabilizing Pills would have a poor effect on him. After all, his Organ Refinement was completely different from everyone else's.

Meanwhile, Gao Linyue was thinking about how to ask for the Five-Viscera Stabilizing Pills.

Only Gao Yan kept chattering away without pause, talking first about the stage, then about below it, about how those people had looked down on them, as though he himself had taken first place.

They returned early that day, only just past lunchtime, and the three women were not home.

"Gao Yan, go help your mother carry things. She may have gone out to buy grain again today."

Watching Gao Yan leave through the door—

Gao Linyue finally rubbed his nose.

"Ah Fei, look, the Five-Viscera Stabilizing Pills are of no use to you right now. How about giving some to your second uncle so I can break through to the Spirit-Absorption Realm? Three pills should be enough."

"What?"

Gao Fei had still been thinking about how to obtain demon beast inner cores and had not heard clearly.

Gao Linyue straightened himself and repeated it.

Only this time, he said four pills.

"Didn't you just say three pills?"

"You heard me and still asked? Are you refusing to give me face?"

Gao Fei considered it for a moment. "Are you sure four pills are enough? You won't add more?"

"Sure!"