Chapter 235: Inner court [I]
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Enjoy your reading!
***
“Hmph!”
Someone among the elders let out a loud snort, in which contempt and hatred could be clearly heard. Xie Qing turned his attention to this man.
His name was Lin Fen. His disciple had been beaten by the young man several times because he was too arrogant. Therefore, there was enmity between them.
“Zhang Hong, I don’t see a single drop of talent in this guy. If it weren’t for his high cultivation level and wealth… pff, he wouldn’t even have a place in the outer court!”
“Hmm…”
The other elders responded weakly, but they did not say anything—neither denying nor confirming.
Zhang Hong frowned. Was this guy trying to throw a stone at him? Just a moment ago, he had reassured his “nephew” that there were no problems, and then this Lin Fen intervened. This… made him lose face.
“Lin Fen, restrain yourself. Have you fallen so low that you’re trying to use personal grudges to hinder a talented disciple? Don’t let hatred cloud your judgment!” Zhang Hong said with a dark expression, not caring about politeness.
“You!…” Lin Fen let out a loud cry, and his face contorted with anger, but in the end, he could only frown and snort, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair: “Pff, do as you please, I don’t care anymore!”
Xie Qing smiled secretly. In any case, his contribution was quite good. If the conflict had continued, the other elders would probably have tried to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.
In any case, the final assessment was…
“You have passed, Disciple Cheng E!”
The elders, except for Lin Fen, smiled and congratulated him as if they had been friends for ages.
Although Xie Qing despised their hypocrisy… well, he too was part of this little charade.
***
Entering the inner court turned out to be much easier, and it did not affect Xie Qing’s mood at all. He simply felt that it was natural.
“Of course, I shouldn’t behave so arrogantly in the inner court. There are already elders of my level, and some disciples have higher status and are difficult to offend…” the young man squinted and descended from the second floor.
As expected, the noise immediately stopped. Xie Qing glanced at the gathering of devilish cultivators and then looked away, finding nothing interesting.
Mainly, he was trying to find someone very talented who could cause trouble in the future, but… there was no one like that. So, he had no choice but to leave the pavilion.
And, as expected…
“Phew! I was incredibly nervous!”
“Ah, when will it be my turn…”
“I was so nervous… damn”
“Yeah, you can say that again… when he looked at us, I almost shit my pants…”
“Ew… brother, ew…”
***
Xie Qing achieved what he wanted—to become a disciple of the inner court. As expected… it felt too boring.
“Maybe it will be very difficult for me to enter the main court. Here, not only connections are needed… but also the practice of dark arts.” Xie Qing frowned.
This was a problem. He did not want to taint his Dao with dark arts, which could lead to Negative Karma that would become a problem for him in the future.
“Well, let’s not think about that for now. I need to first change into the new uniform and go to the inner court.”
At the exit, he was given a set of clothes and an updated token. Now he was officially a disciple of the inner court. With his cultivation level—the one he showed—it was probably not a problem to enter the Top-100 disciples.
However, for now, Xie Qing wanted to create the appearance of diligent cultivation. Therefore, he focused on behaving more modestly.
So, after an hour, he had already changed and headed towards the gates separating the outer court and the inner court.
There stood two elders who were at the late stage of Soul Integration. Their eyes instantly fixed on the young man approaching them. Despite the distance of three kilometers, these two clearly saw him.
“Hmm, so you’ve already become a disciple of the inner court? Impressive. A little more and you would have broken the record.”
One of the elders knew him. His name was Xu Long. Unlike his other colleagues, he was more indifferent in nature and rarely interfered in conflicts between disciples, nor did he engage in patronage.
“I’m not interested in records,” Xie Qing calmly replied, shrugging. “Such things don’t concern me.”
“It shows. Go on, then. From now on, the outer court will be quieter, pff. Finally, some peace.”
“Hahaha…”
Xie Qing laughed carelessly. Although he and Elder Xu Long couldn’t be called close, it could be said that he found common ground with him.
Of course, there could never be friendship between them. Xie Qing still did not trust the devilish cultivators.
The massive gates opened with a heavy clang. Soon, Xie Qing saw the inner court before him.
The differences… hmm, were significant. Starting from the luxurious pavilions to the devilish Qi, everything was of a higher order.
Nodding to the elders, Xie Qing walked inside, and the gates closed behind him.
Xu Long narrowed his eyes and shouted loudly, “Scram, you bastards!”
“!!!”
The disciples hiding on both sides of the gates began to flee in panic. Xu Long snorted but did not pursue them.
This was a common sight. When the gates of the inner court opened, quality devilish Qi seeped out, and for the disciples of the outer court, this was the best opportunity.
Therefore, after a few minutes, everything returned to its peaceful state.
***
Xie Qing raised an eyebrow. Although it was slight, his cultivation had improved since he stepped into the inner court. This… was great!
“My cultivation level will likely break through to the fourth stage very soon. About a week!” Xie Qing’s eyes widened at this realization.
Damn, he would have given anything if he had known he could raise his level so easily! But… why was this happening?
“Could the Golden Dragons have some connection to demons? But how could that be…”
Xie Qing couldn’t imagine such a thing. How could it be? The Golden Dragons were natural enemies of demons.
Therefore, he immediately dismissed these doubts. Moreover, it was clear that his cultivation technique did not absorb but purified the devilish Qi. Therefore, it could be assumed that… he could purify negative energy!
In the past, he had not even been harmed by using a spiritual item with the Yin attribute. This meant that his cultivation technique was sufficiently capable of resisting negative energy!
“This… is awesome!”
Xie Qing licked his lips.
***
The inner court was interested in the news. A newcomer at the Soul Nascent sixth stage had appeared.
It wasn’t that this level was considered anything special, but there were indeed few such people. Therefore, many paid attention to this newcomer.
Even more intriguing was the fact that he had offended the Fateful Maiden and the Fierce Fist, yet emerged unscathed! This piqued the interest of many disciples.
Some would come and challenge him. But every single one… suffered defeat! This only drew more attention to him.
However, Xie Qing himself was not particularly pleased with this. On the contrary, he was utterly exhausted. Every day, disciples would come to challenge him.
Of course, everything was within the realm of the Soul Nascent stage, but this could not help but irritate the young man. He had to restrain himself to avoid accidentally killing someone.
Because of this, even more disciples began to approach him. If he wasn’t killing anyone, then there was no need to be afraid—or so the disciples thought.
Compared to the past, the elders of the inner court paid no attention to him and made no attempt to help. Therefore, Xie Qing felt helpless.
Sitting on his bed, Xie Qing was engaged in meditation. Outside his door, there was a crowd—a whole line of people waiting. Usually, the young man would go out and beat them all up, but…
Now, he was focused on his own breakthrough. Closing his eyes, he began to condense his Qi.
At his cultivation level, a lot of time had to be spent on cultivation. Superior Qi was difficult to condense, so he was still not used to it.
However, after two hours…
BOOM!
“Ahhh!”
The people standing in line were shocked. They were calmly waiting and chatting when suddenly there was a loud noise. For a moment, a terrifying aura appeared, only to disappear almost instantly.
And although it was just a moment, it could not help but alarm the disciples.
Even though Xie Qing had not intended to do so, he was definitely pleased to sense that the aura of the disciples had vanished.
Finally, some peace… or so the young man thought.
For this situation…
Had caught the attention of the elders.
