Chapter 72: Return to the Academy

Chu Tiange's heart began to race as he listened to Yun Hailan's plan. If he could obtain the cultivation method of "that person," after some time, he might be able to rival some of the core students in the academy. Although the elite students of the academy were at the upper echelons and considered "nobles," to truly rise to the top, one had to become a core student, or even a "Saint Disciple."

At that point, one would truly hold great power, utilizing all the resources of the academy and even potentially extending one's lifespan for thousands of years. Chu Tiange was very envious of this.

However, if he could obtain the cultivation secrets of the "Imperial Qi Art," his strength would surge, and within a few decades, he could rise to the core level. If he obtained the "Saint Qi Art," which was even higher than the "Imperial Qi Art," he would advance rapidly in just a few years, becoming the most brilliant and outstanding genius in the entire academy. That kind of glory was far beyond what the current elite students could achieve.

Yun Hailan's mind was also churning. "Who could that person be? Even Chu Tiange couldn't deal with him. This time, he emerged from underground with a lot of treasure, made a fortune, and even stole the Holy Demon Map that Jing Wuxue refined. He also has a deep-seated hatred for me. Could it be...?" Many people's images flashed through her mind, finally settling on one.

Then she shook her head. "Impossible. He's just a petty playboy, easily manipulated by me. How could he have such cultivation? And when he defeated Song Haishan, he was clearly at the Eighth Stage of Qi. But last night, that person was at the peak of the Qi Master level, a hundred times stronger."

After some thought, Yun Hailan's expression calmed down. "It seems I need to quickly enhance my strength and reach the Life Seizing Realm. I'll go into seclusion as soon as I return..."

"Let's go, Senior Brother. Since Jing Wuxue wasn't killed this time, you can't possibly owe me a favor. I wonder who will kill Jing Wuxue this time? All the members of the Gentlemen's Party have appeared. According to reason, even if Jing Wuxue had three heads and six arms, he would still die without a trace." Yun Hailan suddenly said to Chu Tiange.

"I don't care about that at all." Chu Tiange's expression was grim.

Suddenly, his eyes flickered, and he looked toward the sky, seeing several streaks of light flying over. These were people using their Qi to fly through the air. The aura they emitted was not that of Qi Masters but of Life Seizing Realm experts.

"More Life Seizing Realm experts have appeared!"

Chu Tiange was startled but quickly regained his composure when he realized the newcomers were also students of the Tianwei Academy.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...

Three powerful auras descended from the streaks of light, their footsteps landing on the snow. Three elite students appeared, two men and one woman, all at the Life Seizing Realm.

"Long Tai, Ying Ling, Luo Tian."

Chu Tiange looked at the three. "One of you is a high-ranking member of the Gentlemen's Party, one is from the Divine Ability Party, and one is from the Five Thunder Party. Why are you working together today?"

"We put aside our party differences when dealing with external enemies." The female student spoke, then sized up Yun Hailan. "This is the genius with the Sea God's bloodline, Yun Hailan, right?"

"Indeed, it's me." Yun Hailan bowed. "Senior Brothers and Sister, what brings you here?"

"Nothing much. We are here to give you something." The three Life Seizing Realm elite students exchanged glances, and the woman waved her hand, producing a fist-sized blood-red bead.

As soon as the bead appeared, it stunned everyone, filling the air with a bloody aura.

"A Life Seizing Realm Blood Demon's core!" Chu Tiange was shocked. "You...?"

"That's right. The three of us joined forces to kill Jing Wuxue and extracted this Blood Demon core from his body." The three spoke in unison. "We are now giving it to Junior Sister Yun Hailan. Don't ask why. This is the Crown Prince's order. Although we are not members of his inner circle, we all respect him and will follow his commands. Junior Sister Yun Hailan, if you see the Crown Prince, we hope you will speak well of us to him. We will be very grateful."

"Of course, thank you, Senior Brothers and Sister." Yun Hailan took the Blood Demon core, her expression unchanged.

Chu Tiange, seeing this, was already deeply shocked. He had thought the mysterious Crown Prince was merely interested in Yun Hailan, but now it seemed much more than that. The Crown Prince had personally ordered the experts besieging Loulan Ancient City to kill Jing Wuxue and give the core to Yun Hailan. This was not just favor but cultivation.

"Who is Yun Hailan? Why does the Crown Prince favor her so much?" Chu Tiange suppressed the desire deep in his heart.

Although he was talented and extraordinary, compared to the Crown Prince, he was like a speck of dust. The Crown Prince could crush him with a single word.

"Let's escort Junior Sister back to the academy. If anything happens to her, the Crown Prince's anger will be hard to bear." The three Life Seizing Realm elite students said.

"Thank you, then." Yun Hailan still had a calm expression and was about to fly away when she paused. "I have a favor to ask. Can you help me?"

"What is it?" Long Tai, the elite student from the Gentlemen's Party, asked.

"There is a student named Yang Qi, a servant student. He is Yang Susu's nephew and has just entered the Tianwei Academy. I hope you can help me check what he does every day." Yun Hailan said casually. "I will speak well of you to the Crown Prince."

"That's easy, just a servant student." The three exchanged glances and smiled. "We will take care of it. We will let you know everything he does, even which direction he sleeps."

"Since that's the case, let's go. I will go into seclusion as soon as I return, and when I advance to the Life Seizing Realm, I hope you will help me."

With that, Yun Hailan was truly satisfied and took flight.

Her current cultivation was at the Qi Master level, which normally wouldn't allow her to fly for long periods. However, with the mysterious power of the Dragon Pearl in her body, she could match the endurance of Life Seizing Realm experts.

Yang Qi, after a day and night of travel, crossed the snow-covered northwest region and arrived at the Tianwei Academy.

Although he didn't kill Jing Wuxue on this mission to slay the blood-sucking bandits, he gained more benefits than any small group from any party. Even if he had killed Jing Wuxue, it couldn't have been made public, as it would be impossible for servant students to kill a Life Seizing Realm expert. This would have led to a thorough investigation.

Now, he had quietly made a fortune, obtained treasure, and their small group had killed many blood-sucking bandits, with each member advancing to the Qi Master level.

After returning to the academy, the five of them counted and found they had killed over twenty to thirty Qi Master-level blood-sucking bandits, and hundreds of cores from Qi Eighth Stage and Qi Seventh Stage bandits.

If they exchanged these for merit points, each of them could get nearly a hundred points. These points were enough to advance to the outer academy. However, this meant they would have to contribute all the cores of the blood-sucking bandits to the academy to gain the title of outer academy student.

Of course, the treatment of outer academy students was much better than that of servant students. They could move freely within the academy, access some basic scripture halls to read martial arts and Qi cultivation texts, and even receive guidance from Life Seizing Realm experts.

After a brief rest, the five of them arrived at a deep part of the academy, an ancient stone hall.

The ancient stone hall had three large characters written on it: "Merit Hall."

This was the place where one could exchange various treasures for merit points. In the past, the Tianwei Academy's points were called "merit," but as other academies rose to challenge the Tianwei Academy, the term "merit" became taboo and was changed to "points."

However, the three ancient characters still remained on the hall.

Yang Qi looked at these three characters, especially the word "merit," which was grand and majestic, as if it were a law or command that one must follow.

After a moment, he entered the hall and saw an old man sitting deep inside. The old man held a scroll and was carefully reading it, his aura surpassing that of a Qi Master, clearly a Life Seizing Realm expert.

"Teacher, we are here to submit the cores from the blood-sucking bandits for this mission."

Li He, seeing the old man, immediately stepped forward and bowed respectfully.

"Oh? Then bring out your cores." The old man glanced at them. "You are all servant students, yet you have all cultivated to the Qi Master level. This is quite impressive. I assume you want to advance to the outer academy."

"Teacher's insight is sharp. That is indeed our goal."

As they spoke, Yang Qi and the others took out the cores of the blood-sucking bandits, large and small.

Seeing the many cores, including a few from peak Qi Masters with intense blood demon energy, the old man raised an eyebrow. "You managed to kill so many bandits? Your skills are remarkable. These cores can be exchanged for nearly six hundred merit points. You can divide them among yourselves."

As he spoke, the old man waved his hand.

A jade token flew to the five of them. Yang Qi reached out, and the token landed in his hand. Inside, he saw about five to six hundred star-like symbols, each representing one merit point.

These merit points were valuable, as they could be exchanged for any resources.