With a shout, Dai Xiaolou took a step forward.
Huang Xie's face also darkened as he stared at Deng Qing and said, "You injured someone and then chased them all the way here. Isn't that going too far?"
"Brother Dai! Brother Huang!"
Feng Lin quickly grabbed Dai Xiaolou's arm and winked at Huang Xie Xielian, "Tell me what you have to say slowly."
Dai Xiaolou frowned. Who was it that was just now, gritting their teeth and shouting that they were mortal enemies?
Deng Qing smiled and said, "Brother Feng is right. I've come here for no other reason than to say hello to everyone."
These next few days, I don't want to accompany anyone to practice swordsmanship anymore. Brother Feng, I'll leave this matter to you."
Dai Xiaolou angrily retorted, "What arrogance! You, a mere Bone Tempering Fourth Layer, dare to come here and give orders!"
Feng Lin held Dai Xiaolou down and said to Deng Qing, "I understand what you mean. No one will bother you again in the next few days."
Deng Qing cupped his hands in greeting, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Brother Feng."
"You're welcome."
Feng Lin spoke in a deep, muffled voice, and the movement of his mouth caused half of his swollen face to ache.
Deng Qing cupped his hands in a respectful greeting to the group, then turned and left.
Feng Lin only let go of Dai Xiaolou's hand after Deng Qing's figure disappeared.
Dai Xiaolou flicked his sleeves, his face turning ashen, and said, "Brother Feng, what's wrong with you? What exactly has he got in his hands on? Look at how arrogant he is."
Feng Lin snorted coldly and stared straight at Dai Xiaolou.
Dai Xiaolou was baffled. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
Feng Lin said in a deep voice, "If I hadn't stopped you just now, what were your chances of taking him down?"
Dai Xiaolou grunted, but did not answer.
The situation is obvious: among them, Shao Yong has the deepest cultivation and the strongest combat power.
Even Shao Yong was beaten so badly by Deng Qing, if it were me in his shoes, would I fare any better?
Feng Lin sneered, "Silence means you're not confident. Since you can't handle him, why bother getting worked up?"
Dai Xiaolou's face flushed. "Are we just going to let him be so arrogant?"
"If you're so capable, go ahead and call him back."
Feng Lin pointed towards the door, "However, allow me to walk a little further away first."
Dai Xiaolou was taken aback.
Feng Lin gritted his teeth and said, "If we really fight, your cultivation levels are all higher than mine. If things go wrong, you can all run away. What am I supposed to do? Stay here and let him beat me up again?"
Shao Yong's face flushed. He picked up his teacup and took a sip of the now-cold tea.
Huang Xie let out a long sigh and waved his hand, saying, "That's enough, let's not say anything more. What's the use of arguing about this now?"
In my opinion, the best course of action now is to push towards the Furnace Second Layer if we can't firmly suppress him at the Furnace First Layer. Then we can crush him to death with our superior cultivation, and see how arrogant he can be then!
Dai Xiaolou said in a muffled voice, "That's the only way."
"Not enough."
Shao Yong put down his teacup. "Using cultivation level to suppress Deng Qing is naturally the right way. But there is one condition: we must never let Deng Qing climb the Increase Ranking again."
Only after sparring with him today did I realize how incredibly strong his foundation is.
Just think about it, he doesn't even have True Qi yet, but he can already withstand my Air-Splitting Palm. What would happen if he were to advance to the Furnace Realm?
Everyone's expressions turned serious.
Shao Yong said solemnly, "By then, this person will likely have transformed from a carp into a dragon, his potential limitless. Even if we truly reach the Furnace Second Layer, who dares to say that we can definitely suppress him?"
Dai Xiaolou frowned, and after a long while said, "What should we do? This fellow has already obtained the authority to purchase True Condensation Pill. As long as he gathers three thousand Merit Voucher, he can buy the Medicinal Pills."
Shao Yong said, "As I just said, this person's strength and physical abilities far surpass those of ordinary Bone Bone-Forging Realm."
In my opinion, he has most likely used exotic objects from the Desolate Soil to strengthen his physical body, and the benefits he gained were considerable.
Huang Xie seemed to be deep in thought, "Brother Shao means..."
Shao Yong said, "Ordinary people at the Bone Tempering Fourth Layer can break through with just one True Condensation Pill. But for him, it's probably not something a single Medicinal Pills can accomplish."
Huang Xie slapped his thigh, "That's good! In that case, we absolutely cannot let him be on the Increase Ranking again."
Dai Xiaolou nodded and said, "We should also find a way to communicate with those powerful figures on the list. In particular, we should reach out to those who have connections with us."
We must make sure they give their all to compete for the top spot, and we can't let Deng Qing have any loopholes like last time."
Feng Lin said in a deep voice, "What you all have said is very insightful. But conventional methods alone are not enough; we must also employ some unconventional methods."
This person is despicable and utterly shameless. Relying on his limited strength, he assaults and humiliates his colleagues; his actions are hardly those of a righteous person!
In my opinion, this is not the first time he has done such a despicable thing. Why don't we make up some excuses to ruin his reputation?
"When his reputation is ruined, let's see who dares to use him for missions."
Dai Xiaolou and Huang Xie both gave it a thumbs up, thinking it was a profound insight.
To everyone's surprise, Shao Yong shook his head and said, "No, we absolutely cannot do that."
The methods Brother Feng mentioned might work for others, but they might not work for Deng Qing. You've forgotten that last year the academy showed a video to educate the students; the person in that video was Deng Qing."
Huang Xie was taken aback, and Dai Xiaolou also fell silent.
Shao Yong continued, "To put it bluntly, Deng Qing is a role model set up in the institute; even the institute's head knows him. Now you want to spread rumors everywhere, saying that he is of low character and utterly despicable. Have you thought about the consequences?"
Feng Lin asked angrily, "What will be the consequences?"
Shao Yong looked at him and said, "If you spread the word, will the courtyard not care?"
"When it's confirmed that these words originated from us, do you think the hospital will take action against us to protect someone's illustrious image?"
Feng Lin was speechless.
Dai Xiaolou said in a muffled voice, "So, with this new identity, Deng Qing is untouchable?"
"Of course not."
Shao Yong said, "Fight for what you should fight for. If you can get him off the list by your own ability, no one can say anything. But it's best not to use these underhanded methods."
Otherwise, we might go to all that trouble and not even hurt him; we might even get ourselves into trouble. What's the point?
Huang Xie nodded, "Brother Shao has thought things through thoroughly; this path is indeed unacceptable."
Seeing that the others had taken his advice, Shao Yong said in a deep voice, "Actually, things aren't as difficult as you think. We didn't take him seriously before, which allowed him to take advantage of the situation and get on the Increase Ranking. Now that we're on our guard, can we let him succeed again?"
Huang Xie said, "That's exactly right."
Shao Yong added, "Moreover, he has another unavoidable weakness: his cultivation level is insufficient."
No matter how skilled he is, he's only at the Bone Tempering Fourth Layer. Many Merit Points missions require reaching the Furnace Realm, and Deng Qing doesn't even qualify for them.
Dai Xiaolou slammed his hand on the table. "Excellent! This is exactly where we can gain an advantage."
Huang Xie perked up as well, "In that case, as long as we put in the effort and join forces with those powerful figures, keeping him out of the list shouldn't be too difficult."
Feng Lin said with a stern face, "Then let's do it that way."
Shao Yong added, "However, even so, we must still be cautious in our future actions. We should learn from this mistake once."
Deng Qing is no simple character. Since we must compete with him, intelligence is key. I think our top priority is to obtain as much information as possible about this guy.
Just as Huang Xie was about to reply, the bracelet on his wrist suddenly vibrated.
He lowered his head, probed his mind into the bracelet, and frowned.
Feng Lin sensed something was wrong. "What news?"
Huang Xie said, "Before you came back, we went to see Steward Song."
Feng Lin was startled, "Are you asking him to suppress Deng Qing?"
Steward Song was their key contact at the Martial Dao Institute, and this wasn't the first time they'd used Steward Song authority to suppress their colleagues.
Therefore, as soon as Huang Xie started talking, Feng Lin knew what was going on.
Huang Xie nodded.
Feng Lin immediately perked up, "What did Steward Song say?"
Huang Xie said in a low voice, " Steward Song said he can't get involved in this matter."
Dai Xiaolou frowned and said, "What does Steward Song mean by this? We've been very good to him. Right now, we're just asking him to help manage an assistant; we haven't asked him to do anything out of line. Why can't he get involved?"
Huang Xie said, " Steward Song word that Elder Han has already inquired about this matter."
Xiao Jinglin of the Xiao Family Maoling also spread the word that Deng Qing was his good brother.
The group looked at each other, speechless.
Shao Yong snorted, "I knew Deng Qing was no simple man. He must have made preparations long ago, anticipating that we would go to the higher-ups at the Martial Dao Institute and try to control him through orders and rules. He's truly a formidable figure, always thinking ahead."
"So what if you're good?"
Feng Lin gritted his teeth and said, "He's still only in the Bone-Forging Realm! Since other paths are blocked, we'll focus on the Merit Points path. No matter what, we must keep him stuck in the Bone-Forging Realm and never let him cross it!"
"Let's do it this way!"
Inside the cave, Deng Qing was hunched over a table, with a thick book on Numerical Arts spread out in front of him.
The stone door to his cave was wide open, letting in a cool mountain breeze and unparalleled scenery.
However, Deng Qing had no interest in appreciating the texts; his attention was entirely focused on the Numerical Arts books that Old Han had given him.
He had already skimmed through the books Elder Han had sent, and this one was the easiest to understand among them.
Even so, half an hour passed, and he still hadn't turned two pages.
Deng Qing's math foundation wasn't bad, but it was limited to the college entrance exam.
The Numerical Arts texts that Old Han gave us were clearly much more profound than high school mathematics, even though Elder Han had left annotations in the margins.
It was quite difficult for Deng Qing to start chewing.
Tired of gnawing, Deng Qing put down his pen, got up and walked to the Cultivation Room. He spread his feet apart, lowered his waist and hips, and assumed the stance of the Tiger-Subduing Fist.
As he unleashed his fist techniques, his muscles gradually tensed, and his Qi-Blood became more vibrant.
After practicing the Tiger-Subduing Fist more than a dozen times, Deng Qing rubbed his neck, returned to the table, sat down, poured some water into his mouth, and continued to work on his calculations.
Thus, Deng Qing entered another cycle: reading, practicing boxing, then reading again, then practicing boxing again...
Deng Qing was holding back a lot of anger, a desire to perfect the Tiger-Subduing Fist.
What frustrated him was that, at present, the progress of the Tiger-Subduing Fist was about the same as the turning of the gears in Gugor.
The further you go, the more effort you need to put in for every one percent improvement compared to before.
But he was determined to prove himself and continued down this path.
Finally, Deng Qing got tired of practicing again. He shook his sore arms and sat down on the ground. With a thought, the panel appeared.
This time, he didn't look at the other sections, but focused only on the opening remarks. "Heaven Helps Those Who Help Themselves; No Effort Is Wasted."
Deng Qing silently recited it once, gritting his teeth inwardly: The panel can't be wrong. If the panel says that my efforts won't be in vain, then they definitely won't be in vain.
Looking at the control panel, he gave himself a pep talk, then picked up his manuscript again and continued studying.
Right now, he's engrossed in these Numerical Arts books not to prove anything, but simply because his body is tired from physical training, and he chooses to continue exercising his mind.
As the calculations progressed, Deng Qing seemed to forget his physical fatigue. He was concentrating on the calculations when suddenly, the bracelet on his wrist began to vibrate.
He focused his mind on it, and a message came from Cloud and Water Residence, inviting him to come and work.
Deng Qing took a bath, changed out of his sweat-soaked clothes, tidied himself up, and left the cave.
As evening fell, Deng Qing emerged from Cloud and Water Residence.
A mountain breeze blew in my face, and it felt as if there were still wisps of alluring fragrance in the air wafting into my nose.
He completed the task, received the Merit Points, and even got to watch an extremely erotic performance for free. Unfortunately, Mr. Deng didn't seem happy at all.
It turned out that while he was resisting the allure of seduction at work that day, his bracelet suddenly received a message.
The message came from a research group studying lightning, informing him that the project had been temporarily canceled and he no longer needed to go.
Another job that was supposed to earn Merit Points is gone.