Chapter 17

As soon as the words left his mouth, Jiang Yi felt a bit regretful. He had forgotten one thing: Jiang Henshui seemed to be inside the Martial Hall. If he were to run into Jiang Henshui, his identity would be exposed immediately. It wasn't a glorious thing for a Jiang family member to serve as a sparring partner inside the Martial Hall...

Before he could hesitate, a black-armored guard at the door immediately grabbed his arm and enthusiastically led him inside, reassuring him as they walked, "Don't worry, the Martial Hall absolutely does not allow anyone to be killed. Even if you get injured during sparring, there will be healing medicines available inside..."

Jiang Yi felt a sense of unease. How many young masters and misses were currently in the Martial Hall for closed-door cultivation? How desperate were they for sparring partners? They seemed to be so hungry that they would take anyone, even a mere First Rank Cauldron Formation practitioner like him, and be afraid he might refuse.

As he entered the Martial Hall, Jiang Yi clearly felt something was off. The air here was much fresher and more pleasant than outside. He didn't even need to meditate to know that the spiritual energy here was incredibly dense, and cultivation speed would definitely be much faster inside.

What slightly reassured him was that after he entered with the guard, he saw an empty grand hall with no one inside. He pulled his hood lower and silently prayed he wouldn't run into Jiang Henshui.

There were corridors on three sides of the grand hall. The black-armored guard led Jiang Yi to the left corridor and instructed, "Just follow this corridor to the inside, and find Manager Yang. He will arrange everything for you."

Jiang Yi paused and hesitantly asked, "Can I leave whenever I want?"

"Of course!" the black-armored guard replied affirmatively, "You can leave anytime, but you won't get paid if you don't spar until dusk."

"Alright!" Jiang Yi nodded, thinking that since he was here, he might as well make the best of it. He rarely had the chance to enter such a high-end place frequented by the wealthy and noble, so it was good to see the world.

As Jiang Yi strode down the corridor, the black-armored guard let out a sigh of relief, feeling a great weight lifted, "Finally, we've recruited another one. Sigh... Ever since the Spirit Beast Mountain Academy started admissions, the young masters and misses of Tianyu City have gone crazy, practicing and sparring day and night. Even a hundred sparring partners wouldn't be enough for them. This kid is only at the First Rank Cauldron Formation. I wonder how long he can last? Hopefully, he won't crawl out in less than half an hour..."

...

After passing through the corridor, Jiang Yi soon arrived at a grand hall. In the center of the hall, about seven or eight people were seated in a meditative posture, all wearing bronze beast masks. Many of them had obvious injuries on their arms and torn robes. There were many small rooms around the hall, and the sounds of combat could be heard from over a dozen of them.

"It seems this is the place for sparring. Are these small rooms practice rooms? There are at least twenty of them. No wonder there aren't enough sparring partners," Jiang Yi mused to himself. A black-robed manager approached, glanced at him, and handed him a bronze wolf mask, saying indifferently, "Put on the mask. Your code name is Gray Wolf. I'll call you to the stage later. You are a Bronze Rank sparring partner. If you spar until dusk, it counts as one day, and you get one tael of silver. If you quit halfway, you get nothing."

Jiang Yi curiously took the mask, thinking it was good that he wouldn't have to wear his hood anymore. He quickly put on the bronze mask and tied it with a rope. He wondered if the sparring partners had to wear beast masks to boost the morale of the young masters and misses, making them treat the sparring partners like beasts to beat up.

Just as he was about to ask about the rules of sparring, footsteps came from the corridor behind him. The manager immediately left him and smiled as he greeted the newcomer.

The newcomer was a girl in a fiery red martial robe, looking haughty and proud. Her appearance was average, a notch below Ji Tingyu, but her tight martial robe revealed her well-proportioned figure, which was quite alluring.

The girl's gaze swept over Jiang Yi and the others, and she said somewhat discontentedly, "Manager Yang, why are there no Silver Rank sparring partners? They're all Bronze Rank?"

The old manager quickly smiled and said, "Miss Yi, they are all sparring right now. Would you like to wait a bit?"

"No, I won't wait. I'll just spar a few rounds. It costs one tael of purple gold to stay in this Martial Hall for a day. I didn't come here to play," the girl coldly snorted and turned to enter a practice room. Manager Yang immediately called out to the group, "Boar! Go out and spar."

A martial practitioner wearing a boar mask immediately stood up and walked into the practice room. The door soon closed, and the sounds of combat and the girl's shouts could be heard from inside.

"Ah... Ah!"

Just a moment later, the door of the practice room opened, and the sparring partner stumbled out, his boar mask hanging around his neck, revealing a face covered in blood. The figure of Miss Yi appeared at the door, and she coldly said to Manager Yang, "Manager Yang, why is the Bronze Rank sparring partner so weak? Change him."

"Uh..."

Jiang Yi looked at the man who had been beaten into a pig's head with some pity. The man was only at the Second Rank Cauldron Formation, while Miss Yi was clearly at least at the Fourth Rank Cauldron Formation. Even with their yuan energy sealed, they were not on the same level.

"Red Bear, go out and spar!" Manager Yang sighed helplessly and had to call another sparring partner. All the Silver Rank sparring partners were in other practice rooms, so he could only use a Bronze Rank sparring partner for now.

"Bang!"

A short while later, the door opened again, and the martial practitioner wearing the red bear mask was kicked out. Miss Yi's cold voice followed, "Change him."

"Sigh... This sparring job is indeed not for humans. No wonder it's so expensive and still lacks people. These young masters and misses don't treat sparring partners as humans at all."

Jiang Yi sighed to himself but suddenly heard a rustling sound behind him. He turned around and saw that the remaining sparring partners had all retreated several feet, clearly not wanting to go up and get beaten...

Manager Yang looked at the group of sparring partners, all of whom were covered in injuries, and scanned the other practice rooms. Seeing no Silver Rank sparring partners coming out, he had no choice but to point at Jiang Yi, "Gray Wolf, go out and spar."

"Me?"

Jiang Yi was taken aback and immediately realized he was wearing the Gray Wolf mask. He quickly stood up and walked toward the practice room but instinctively looked back and saw all the sparring partners giving him a look of mourning...

"Bang!"

As soon as Jiang Yi entered, the door closed automatically. He looked around and saw that the practice room was quite spacious, with night pearls hanging on the walls, making it a good place for sparring.

"Hum!"

Suddenly, the walls of the practice room flashed with light, and Jiang Yi felt a force restraining him. He hurriedly moved his body but found no effect. He instinctively tried to mobilize his yuan energy but found he couldn't move a single thread of blue yuan energy.

"Sure enough, it can seal yuan energy. How amazing!"

Jiang Yi marveled to himself. It seemed there was some kind of strange array in the practice room that could seal the yuan energy of all martial practitioners inside. Without yuan energy, martial practitioners could only rely on their combat instincts, reaction speed, and martial techniques. This kind of sparring could greatly enhance a martial practitioner's reaction speed and proficiency in martial techniques.

"Wait a minute!"

Jiang Yi suddenly remembered something and felt uneasy. His black yuan energy was also yuan energy, right? It was also stored in his dantian. If yuan energy was sealed, the black yuan energy would also be sealed. Without black yuan energy, his fate would be the same as the two people before him, being beaten to a pulp and kicked out...

"Hum! Rainstorm Fist, take this!"

Miss Yi, standing opposite, didn't care about that. She took a step forward and launched a barrage of punches like a rainstorm.

"Trouble!"

Although there was no yuan energy in Miss Yi's punches, the force was still immense. Jiang Yi was now more certain that she was at least at the Fourth Rank Cauldron Formation. Years of nurturing her yuan energy had made her physical strength exceed that of a horse, and her attack speed was as fast as a Second Rank Cauldron Formation martial practitioner. Without yuan energy, his fate would be very dire.

"Black yuan energy, come out!"

He inwardly shouted, instinctively trying to mobilize the black yuan energy. To his surprise, a thread of black yuan energy instantly flowed from his dantian into his meridians.

Jiang Yi was overjoyed and didn't hesitate. He quickly retreated while controlling the black yuan energy to flow to his left eye. Soon, a black light flashed in his eye, and the punches coming at him like a rainstorm became clear and slow.

"Hmm... All feints!"

Earlier, Jiang Yi had seen a flurry of punches, but now he could easily lock onto the two real punches. He slid his feet and used the Jiang family's Illusion Step to move to the side.

"Huh?"

Miss Yi's Rainstorm Fist missed? Her delicate face was full of surprise, and she quickly became angry and launched another flurry of punches to envelop Jiang Yi.

"Whoosh!"

Jiang Yi's eyes locked onto the two real punches, and his mind quickly calculated the trajectory and speed of the attack, allowing him to dodge in advance, making her miss again.

"This is strange, take this..."

Miss Yi was frustrated and quickly approached Jiang Yi, changing several martial techniques and relentlessly attacking him. But no matter how she attacked, Jiang Yi could always dodge in advance, moving with ease, as if he were strolling in his backyard.

"Phew, phew... No more!"

After a short while, Miss Yi stopped, panting heavily, drenched in sweat. Her tight red martial robe clung to her well-proportioned body, revealing her perfect curves.

Without the support of yuan energy, she had already fought two rounds and had been attacking for a long time. It was already remarkable. Each punch and move she made was with full force, and her stamina was greatly depleted.

She angrily walked to the door and hit a protruding stone brick on the side, and the practice room flashed with light, and the door opened.

Jiang Yi quietly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and found that he could mobilize the blue yuan energy in his dantian again, feeling amazed. Was black yuan energy not yuan energy? Why couldn't he mobilize the blue yuan energy, but he could mobilize the black yuan energy?

Checking his dantian, he found that only one thread of the ten threads of black yuan energy remained. Jiang Yi sighed, thinking that this sparring job was not suitable for him. If Miss Yi had persisted a bit longer, he would have been exposed and beaten up once his black yuan energy was depleted...

As he walked out of the practice room, he saw that all the sparring partners were looking at him as if he were a monster, clearly surprised that he had come out unscathed.

Miss Yi, on the other hand, looked very unhappy and was scolding Manager Yang, "Manager Yang, you're really something! Do you have a grudge against me, Yi Lingsnow? Arranging a Gold Rank sparring partner to pretend to be a Bronze Rank sparring partner... Is it fun to play tricks on me like this?"

"Gold Rank sparring partner?"

Manager Yang was dumbfounded, looking at Jiang Yi as if he had seen a ghost. How could a First Rank Cauldron Formation martial practitioner be a Gold Rank sparring partner? If everyone were Gold Rank sparring partners, the Martial Hall wouldn't be so desperate to recruit people...

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