Chapter 6

Long Chen looked in the direction of the approaching people, his eyes turning cold. A group of people, like stars surrounding the moon, escorted a man inside.

That man had a face as fair as jade, tall and handsome, and extremely good-looking. The person who had come was none other than Zhou Yaoyang, the son of the Marquis of the Wilderness, who had once beaten Long Chen to near death on the arena and thrown him off.

Zhou Yaoyang was the eldest legitimate son of the Marquis of the Wilderness, and his cultivation was among the best of all the young lords, making him very popular among them.

As soon as Zhou Yaoyang entered, he saw Long Chen and his group, smiled slightly, and walked over. Looking at Long Chen, he said, "I'm very sorry about what happened last time. I beat you so badly that even your mother wouldn't recognize you."

Though he said he was apologizing, there was not a trace of remorse on his face, and his words were full of disdain, as if he were a high emperor looking down on Long Chen.

"It's fine. Soon, I'll beat you so badly that even your grandmother won't recognize you," Long Chen said with a faint smile, though he was inwardly furious.

When he woke up that day, only his mother and the old pharmacist were there. Those words must have been spread by that old man.

Zhou Yaoyang's words were telling Long Chen that the old man was one of them. Although Long Chen's injuries looked severe, none of them were life-threatening, and even the wound on the back of his head, though bloody, was not serious.

There was no need to use such high-grade pills to treat him. These people were clearly trying to scare his mother and drain all her savings.

By not killing him but weakening his family's finances, they were making their lives even harder, and there must be a conspiracy behind it.

"Long Chen, you're asking for death. I see you've forgotten your lesson. Do you want Brother Yaoyang to beat you half to death again?"

"Exactly, a useless person who can't cultivate, daring to speak so arrogantly, you're asking for death."

"Idiot, letting such an idiot be a young lord is an insult to us."

Before Zhou Yaoyang could speak, the people around him had already started shouting at Long Chen, spitting out their insults.

"Long Chen, though we are both young lords, one is in the sky, and the other is on the ground. You are just a tiny ant, only able to look up to me.

So, even if I bully you, you can only endure it. Otherwise, the consequences will be the same as last time, being beaten like a dead dog," Zhou Yaoyang said, pointing at Long Chen's nose.

"Slap."

Long Chen smiled slightly, then suddenly reached out and tightly grabbed Zhou Yaoyang's finger before anyone could react. With a slight force, there was a crisp sound.

Zhou Yaoyang let out a惨call, a sharp pain sweeping through his body. The pain from his finger, connected to his heart, made him involuntarily bend down.

Although he was a Seventh Stage Qi Condensation expert, as long as he hadn't reached the Blood Coagulation stage, his physical strength was only slightly stronger than an ordinary person.

Moreover, the incident was sudden, and he had no time to gather his energy to resist. Once his vital points were controlled, he was no different from an ordinary person.

Long Chen looked down at Zhou Yaoyang, whose face was contorted in pain, and said with some confusion, "High and mighty? Looking down? Are you talking about yourself?"

The sudden turn of events shocked everyone. Zhou Yaoyang was in too much pain to speak, and only then did the others react, rushing towards Long Chen.

"Damn it, let go of Brother Yaoyang!"

"Whoever comes near, I'll kill them."

Seeing Zhou Yaoyang being attacked, the people around him shouted and were about to rush over. Just as Long Chen was about to act, a tall figure appeared beside him, roaring at the group like a thunderclap, making everyone's ears ring.

Seeing the newcomer, a smile appeared on Long Chen's lips. The person was none other than Shi Feng.

The few young lords who had wanted to rush over stopped in their tracks because of Shi Feng's appearance.

Shi Feng was proud and didn't like forming cliques, but his cultivation was the highest among all the young lords. His tall and imposing figure immediately intimidated them.

For a moment, everyone fell silent, and the only sound in the Literary Hall was Zhou Yaoyang's groans of pain.

"What are you doing?"

Suddenly, an angry voice came, and an old man walked in. Everyone's faces turned serious, and they all looked at the old man.

The old man was the lecturer of the Literary Hall, a scholar known for his integrity and sternness.

"Engaging in a fight in the Literary Hall, according to the rules, will result in a month's detention. Do you want to try it?" the old man said coldly.

Long Chen's eyes flickered, and he quickly released Zhou Yaoyang's twisted finger, smiling at the old man. "Sir, you misunderstood. We weren't fighting; we were just doing a test."

"Oh? A test? What kind of test?" The old man clearly wasn't easily fooled, looking at Long Chen coldly.

"We were testing the strength of a single finger against the attack of five fingers. Through this test, we concluded that the power of unity is invincible.

A single finger, no matter how strong, is isolated and will eventually run out of strength. Only with the support of companions can it continuously gain energy, becoming stronger and more enduring.

In this test, both Zhou Yaoyang and I gained a deeper understanding of strength, which will greatly benefit our future cultivation. It was truly enlightening, wasn't it, Brother Zhou?" Long Chen said, looking at Zhou Yaoyang with a meaningful glance.

Zhou Yaoyang was almost fainting with anger but had to swallow this silent defeat. If he denied it, both he and Long Chen would be detained, and even as young lords, they couldn't break the rules of the Literary Hall.

"Yes."

Zhou Yaoyang tried to keep his voice calm, but the pain made his voice hoarse, like scraping metal.

The old man looked at Long Chen, a hint of amusement in his eyes, and nodded. "If that's the case, I won't punish you. Remember, no more nonsense here."

Everyone sighed inwardly, thinking Long Chen was lucky. The old man clearly saw through Long Chen's lie but still let them off.

"You wait and see."

Zhou Yaoyang gritted his teeth, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear.

Long Chen's move was too harsh, not only twisting his finger but also using some technique to tangle the meridians inside, which was why Zhou Yaoyang was in such a miserable state, unable to resist.

"Anytime, Brother Zhou, I welcome you to continue the test."

Long Chen smiled politely, thinking to himself, "Today, I'm just settling a bit of interest. The real show is yet to come."

The two hundred or so young lords sat quietly, and the old man nodded in satisfaction, starting his lecture on history, statecraft, agriculture, forestry, and fishing, which made everyone drowsy but dared not fall asleep.

Although the old man had no cultivation, he was in charge of the entire Imperial Academy. If anyone angered him and was expelled, they would lose the chance to study the martial arts in the afternoon.

It was like two eggs, one rotten and one good. To get the good one, you had to eat the rotten one first.

The old man's lectures were all about historical anecdotes, statecraft, and practical knowledge, even making Long Chen almost doze off.

However, Yu Fatty and a few others listened intently, as they couldn't cultivate and hoped to secure a position through their knowledge.

Finally, after a painful wait, it was noon. After lunch, everyone rushed to the Martial Techniques Pavilion.

Even Yu Fatty and others who couldn't cultivate followed, hoping to find some luck among the countless martial techniques and cultivation methods in the pavilion.

The Martial Techniques Pavilion had three floors, but only the bottom floor was open to all the young lords.

Despite being only one floor, the seventeen bookshelves were filled with various martial techniques and cultivation methods, making it overwhelming to look at.

"Big Brother Yaoyang, I've already challenged Long Chen to a life-or-death duel. This time, I will definitely kill him to avenge you," Li Hao said, sneaking up to Zhou Yaoyang and bowing respectfully.

Zhou Yaoyang had already used his energy to stop the pain in his finger, but the dislocated joint and tangled meridians required a pharmacist to treat.

"It's not the right time to kill him yet. If it were, I would have done it last time," Zhou Yaoyang shook his head and suddenly asked, "By the way, how did you lose to him last time?"

"Well, sigh! I was careless, and Long Chen caught me off guard. Damn it, it really pissed me off. I was defeated by that waste," Li Hao said, still angry.

The loss had damaged his reputation, and some people were spreading rumors behind his back, driving him nearly mad. He believed it was just a small mistake, so this time, he had a strong desire to kill Long Chen.

"Long Chen must not die, at least not now. Don't ruin the big plan," Zhou Yaoyang repeated, fearing Li Hao didn't understand.

"What should we do? Just let him go?" Li Hao asked, somewhat unwillingly.

Zhou Yaoyang looked at his twisted finger, gritting his teeth. "We can't kill him, but we can take a few parts from him."

Li Hao's eyes lit up, excitedly saying, "Good, this time I'll kick his balls to pieces. Oh, and I'll take one of his eyes. Damn it, his eyes really annoy me."

Zhou Yaoyang and Li Hao exchanged a smile, but they didn't notice that Long Chen, pretending to browse the shelves, also smiled, a colder and more sinister smile, like a leopard eyeing two unsuspecting sheep.

From his position, Long Chen's soul power could detect their movements. Though he couldn't hear their words, he could guess most of what they were saying from their lip movements.

Seeing them casually flipping through the books, Long Chen ignored them and started looking for his target.

In his memory, almost everything was about alchemy, and he desperately needed to master a martial technique.

Long Chen had his eye on a martial technique and was about to reach for it when a dark-skinned man suddenly grabbed it first.

"Sorry, this young lord has chosen it."

The man didn't even look at Long Chen, casually flipping through the book.

Long Chen frowned slightly, knowing it was deliberate, but he didn't react, moving to another shelf.

Just as he found a palm technique and was about to take it, the dark-skinned man, who had been waiting, snatched it away.

"Sorry, this..."

"Slap."

A powerful slap struck the dark-skinned man's face, cutting off his words. The force sent him flying.