Chapter 522 – Returning to the Academy
A black-colored human figure flashed about, like rolling thunder on the mountain peak. A faint silver-colored lightning glow was partially visible under the human figure’s feet. The enormous black ruler in his hands carried the suppressing sound of cleaving wind. Although the black ruler was extremely big, it was just like a longsword when it was held in the human figure’s hand. As it waved and danced, there was an agility and trickiness within its overbearing body.
“Chi!”
Under the sudden hacking of the enormous ruler’s body, the sharp wind tore the air. A faint green glow shrouded its body, much like a cluster of green-colored flames. This caused the wind from the ruler to carry a hot feeling.
With the angry hacking of the black ruler, it finally carried a wild and incomparably ferocious force that violently hacked at a green rock by his side. The two came into contact, and a sudden explosion sound appeared. The tough green rock let out a ‘bang’ and was completely shattered under the ferocious force contained within the ruler’s body. Countless tiny rock fragments shot explosively all over the place. In merely an instant, only a small half of the green rock that was half the height of a person remained inserted on top of the mountain.
“Hu!”
Xiao Yan’s hands maintained the posture of having hacked with the heavy ruler. A sleek redness appeared on his face. After inhaling a breath of air, the sleek redness gradually became fainter as his breath once again returned to being long and smooth. Following the recovery of his breathing, one could see that the green veins that had bulged out on his hand had quietly returned to normal. The powerful strength on his tightly tensed muscles slowly became weaker until it finally disappeared.
Xiao Yan withdrew the heavy ruler. The silver-colored lightning under his feet also disappeared with it. He turned his head slightly as he gave his body a random shake. He could hear cracking sounds from his bones, and he involuntarily gave a satisfied smile.
The washing and refining of his bones back then had nearly caused Xiao Yan’s strength to soar to nearly twice what it was. Not only did the bones in his body become tougher, but Xiao Yan was also able to sense a powerful strength concealed under his skin when his muscles were tight. It was waiting to erupt and gush out.
The washing and refining of his bones had caused Xiao Yan to gain faster and more sensitive agility. It even increased his mental reaction on top of causing his flesh to become twice as strong as before. Moreover, now that he had broken through to the Dou Ling class, Xiao Yan was better able to sense the nearly complete transformation within his body.
If it was in the past, Xiao Yan could at the very most endure for over ten minutes when displaying the ‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement.’ Now that he had advanced his strength, the Dou Qi in his body had greatly increased and he was able to extend this time by over five times. From this, one could see the obvious gap between a Da Dou Shi and a Dou Ling.
“The feeling of a Dou Ling is not bad right?” Yao Lao’s body was suspended in mid-air. He smiled and spoke while eyeing the excited Xiao Yan.
“They are indeed two different classes. The gap between the two is indeed a large one.” Xiao Yan used his strength to nod his head. In the past, if it were not because he possessed the ‘Angry Buddha Lotus Flame’ as well as a kind of unique item like the ‘Green Lotus Core Flame,’ forget about defeating a three star Dou Ling, even a person who had just entered the Dou Ling class was likely to finish him off and turn him into a miserable state if he had just relied on his strength as a Da Dou Shi. Now that he had personally experienced the great strength of a Dou Ling, even Xiao Yan himself involuntarily felt an admiration for his previous self, who had challenged this stronger class.
“Now that I have advanced to a Dou Ling, it is likely that I will be able to face an ordinary two or three star Dou Ling head on in a fight by relying on the uniqueness of the ‘Flame Mantra’ Qi Method. If I were to also display the ‘Sky Fire Three Mysterious Change,’ I may perhaps be able to contend with a strong person of Bai Cheng’s level. Putting it this way, I am qualified to enter the ‘Strong Ranking’ with my strength.” Xiao Yan’s tightened fist relaxed. He sensed the powerful force brewing within it and the corner of his mouth involuntarily lifted into a smile. This kind of achievement was sufficient enough to cause Xiao Yan to be proud. After all, the training talent of those within this Inner Academy was ridiculous. They were called geniuses in the outside world without exception. The difficulty of rising within this place was quite large.
Xiao Yan used his strength to stretch his lazy waist. He took a step forward and overlooked the vast sea of trees below from high in the air. A frown suddenly appeared a long while later as he said, “I have trained for a total of more than two months within these deep mountains. It is time to return to the Inner Academy. The ‘Strong Ranking Competition’ that Lin Yan mentioned will perhaps be soon. As long as I can break into the top ten, I would have the qualification to enter the few lower levels of the ‘Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower.’ For some unknown reason, I keep feeling that the so-called ‘Refining the body with the Essence Heart Flame’ has some relationship with the ‘Fallen Heart Flame.’
“That ‘Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower’ is indeed quite mysterious. Even the strength of my Spiritual Strength could not be spread throughout that place. Therefore, my quiet probing did not have the slightest effect. Although I am unable to probe, I was still able to sense that there were quite a number of strong people guarding the lowest few levels. If one were to forcefully break in, it is likely that his or her efforts would be futile even if he or she was an elite Dou Zong. We do not know much about the situation of the ‘Fallen Heart Flame’ within the tower. If we are able to go deeper to the lower levels of the tower, we might be able to obtain some information related to the ‘Fallen Heart Flame.’” Yao Lao voiced his thoughts.
Xiao Yan sighed softly. He was a little vexed as he rubbed his temple. He muttered, “It really is troublesome.”
Yao Lao could only helplessly shake his head when he saw Xiao Yan’s bitter face. He said, “There is no other choice. The reputation of the Jia Nan Academy in the Dou Qi continent is very prominent. Usually even some first rate factions would not overly offend them, much less a person like me who is merely in a spiritual form. Even at my peak back then, I would have had to think trice and weigh things carefully in my heart before coming to the Jia Na Academy to snatch something.”
Xiao Yan nodded with a bitter smile. He had endured a great amount of hardship and spent a lot of effort in order to come to this Jia Nan Academy. His purpose was the ‘Fallen Heart Flame.’ Therefore, Xiao Yan’s heart had a feeling that he must have this thing. It was likely that he would not even care even if he ended up offending this Jia Nan Academy. If he truly wanted to become a strong person, the evolution of the ‘Flame Mantra’ played an extremely crucial role. In order to get the ‘Flame Mantra’ to evolve, the ‘Heavenly Flame’ was something that he must not lack!
Xiao Yan’s gaze turned toward the south. That place was where the ‘Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower’ stood within the Inner Academy. It was a long while later before the fiery heat within his eyes quietly withdrew. He let out a gentle smile before shaking his shoulders. The Purple Cloud Wings shot out. With a gentle flap, his body turned into a black shadow that hurriedly flew out of the mountain range. In an instant, he turned into a small, black dot that disappeared on the horizon.
Xiao Yan spent a total of nearly three hours traveling from the mountain range to the Inner Academy. If Xiao Yan had not advanced to a Dou Ling, it was likely that he would have difficulty flying for such a long time without stopping along the way to his destination.
When was was still a couple of hundred meters from the Inner Academy, Xiao Yan carefully withdrew his Purple Cloud Wings. His body landed in a dense forest. After seeing that there was no one around, he finally rushed toward the Inner Academy, whose outline was already visible.
Relying on the Inner Academy badge on his chest, Xiao Yan entered the Inner Academy without facing any resistance. He eyed the scattering human figures in his sight and involuntarily exhaled a long breath. During these two months, Xiao Yan had never met even the slightest human figure other than Lin Xiu Ya and the few others.
Xiao Yan’s tensed feeling quietly became much more comfortable after entering the Inner Academy. His swift footsteps gradually slowed, and turned into a leisurely pace as he slowly walked to the new student region where ‘Pan’s Gate’ was located.
Xiao Yan did not carry the enormous symbolic black ruler, so hardly anyone along the way who recognized him, he who had the name of the ‘Top Alchemist in the Inner Academy.’ Therefore, Xiao Yan did not face any resistance on his nearly half an hour walk to the new student region.
Xiao Yan’s brows were slightly knit without being noticed as he came increasingly closer to the new student region. Usually, this area ought to have members of the ‘Pan’s Gate’ guarding all the time. However, it was completely empty…
Xiao Yan’s footsteps walked into the new student area. The empty road caused Xiao Yan’s frown to deepen further. His originally leisurely footsteps suddenly became faster.
“Atai!”
Xiao Yan finally saw a large group of people, who were in a hurry, appear around a corner in front of him when he had reached the pavilion home in the middle. He immediately cried out when he saw the appearance of the leader of the group.
The originally hurried group of people were initially startled when they heard this familiar cry. Quickly following this, a wild joy immediately rushed onto the face of the leader, Atai. He raised his head and eyed the black-robed human figure before speaking in a joyous manner, “Chief? You are back?”
“Chief! Chief has returned!” A group of people behind Atai involuntarily cheered when they saw Xiao Yan’s appearance.
“Where are Xun Er and the rest?” Xiao Yan’s gaze swept across the faces of Atai and the others only to discover a faint fury. His expression sank slightly. A weak silver glow flashed under his feet. Immediately, his body suddenly appeared in front of Atai and the rest dozens of meters away from him before he asked in a low voice.
“Senior Xun Er and the rest have gone to the Fighting Arena.” The ghost-like figure that Xiao Yan had displayed shocked Atai and the rest before they immediately replied in a hurried manner.
“The fighting Arena? What happened?” Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes as he asked.
“Dammit. What else other than the group of bastards from the ‘White Gang.’” A fury suddenly swarmed onto the faces of Atai and the others when they mentioned this, “This morning, Senior Hu Jia led a group of members from the ‘Pan’s Gate’ to enter the ‘Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower’ to train. Originally, they had already found a place and had trained within it for a period of time. In the end, the members of the ‘White Gang’ suddenly forcefully pushed the door open and relied on their larger number of people to chase the members of our ‘Pan’s Gate’ out. Senior Hu Jia had argued with them, but the few bastards on the opposite side insulted her. Senior Hu Jia was infuriated and began fighting with them. However, who knew that the other party actually had two strong Dou Lings hiding at the side. Although Senior Hu Jia injured one of them in her furious attack, she herself also received a blow from the other party and was injured quite badly.”
“After the brothers of ‘Pan’s Gate’ brought Senior Hu Jia back, Senior Wu Hao immediately became furious upon hearing about this matter. He led people to run to the ‘White Gang.’ According to the brothers that had returned, Senior Wu Hao had issued a challenge letter to Bai Cheng. Currently, Senior Xun Er and the others led everyone to the Fighting Arena.”
“Chief, those bastards from the ‘White Gang’ are becoming increasingly arrogant. They used the fact that we don’t have any strong Dou Ling to repeated come and find trouble with us!”
“Chief, this time around, we must go all out against them! We cannot continue to endure it!” A large group of members from the ‘Pan’s Gate’ furiously cried out from behind Atai. Clearly, they had already reached the limit of their endurance of the provocation of the ‘White Gang.’
Xiao Yan waved his hand gently. All the furious curses stopped. Numerous gazes carried some anticipation as they eyed the former.
Xiao Yan’s face was gloomy. A faint furious glow flashed across his dark-black eyes. A moment later, he lifted the corner of his mouth before suddenly turning around and coldly saying, “Let’s go!”