Chapter 54

When the news first spread, almost everyone scoffed at it and dismissed it with disdain!

However, as time passed, this disdain and contempt gradually faded, and more and more people began to doubt and believe it.

This was because there were simply too many people who had watched that battle at the Extreme Combat Association.

It's common for one person to talk nonsense, and it's normal for two or three people to spout lies, but could it be that thousands of people were all lying?

The name "Jing Yan" was once again on the lips of the martial artists in Donglin City.

Regardless of what realm Jing Yan was currently at, being able to defeat a martial artist like Li Tianfu, who was at the Ninth Heaven level, was enough to make over 99% of the martial artists in Donglin City look up to him in admiration.

At this time, Jing Yan had already returned to his family with a backpack.

The first thing he did was to go see the Fourth Elder, Jing Tianying, to whom he still owed about 2,700 spirit stones.

"Jing Yan! Come in quickly!"

"You kid, you're really amazing, aren't you?"

Just as he arrived at Jing Tianying's courtyard, Jing Yan saw that Jing Tianying seemed to be about to go out.

However, when Jing Tianying saw Jing Yan, he immediately waved him in with an excited expression.

Jing Yan, carrying his large backpack, walked in under the surprised gazes of two Jing family guards.

"Fourth Elder, here are the spirit stones I borrowed from you." Jing Yan opened his backpack and poured a pile of milky white spirit stones onto the stone table in the courtyard.

This pile of spirit stones numbered over ten thousand, the exact number being 10,200.

In addition, Jing Yan had five spirit stone gold cards, each with a limit of ten thousand.

"This..."

Jing Tianying's eyes widened.

After a brief moment of shock, Jing Tianying's expression changed, and he asked in astonishment, "Jing Yan, did you use the spirit stones you borrowed from me to place a bet at the Extreme Combat Association? Did you plan this all along?"

Jing Tianying had already received the news that Jing Yan had fought and defeated Li Tianfu at the Extreme Combat Association.

When he first heard this news, Jing Tianying was extremely shocked. He also found it hard to believe. So, he quickly sent people to confirm the news. After confirmation, Jing Tianying knew that everything was true.

Therefore, when he saw Jing Yan, he excitedly invited him into the courtyard.

Now, seeing Jing Yan take out so many spirit stones, he naturally associated it with the fact that there was a mysterious person who had placed a heavy bet on Jing Yan at the Extreme Combat Association, a bet of 5,000 spirit stones. This person was likely Jing Yan himself.

The return on a 5,000 spirit stone bet was a staggering 110,000 spirit stones.

"Yes!" Jing Yan nodded with a smile.

Hearing Jing Yan's confirmation, Jing Tianying's breath caught again. Now he knew what Jing Yan had borrowed the spirit stones for.

This Jing Yan truly had the courage to bet 5,000 spirit stones on himself.

"Jing Yan, have you already reached the Seventh Heaven level of martial arts?" After taking a deep breath, Jing Tianying looked at Jing Yan with shining eyes.

"Um, I just advanced to the Seventh Heaven level recently." Jing Yan nodded again.

"You... you..." Jing Tianying even held his breath.

After all, just last month, during the Jing family's strength test, Jing Yan was still at the Sixth Heaven level of martial arts.

This meant that in less than a month, Jing Yan had advanced from the Sixth Heaven level to the Seventh Heaven level. This was an almost abnormal rate of improvement.

Jing Tianying was even more shocked by this than when he learned that Jing Yan had advanced from the Third Heaven level to the Sixth Heaven level in a month.

Why?

Because advancing from the Sixth Heaven level to the Seventh Heaven level was extremely difficult.

How many martial artists in the Jing family were stuck at the Sixth Heaven level?

Otherwise, why would the Jing family give 20 spirit stones per month to martial artists at the Sixth Heaven level, while those at the Seventh Heaven level received 100 spirit stones?

There weren't many high-level martial artists in the entire family.

Of course, this wasn't the most unbelievable thing for Jing Tianying. What made him even more emotional was that Jing Yan, with his Seventh Heaven level cultivation, had actually defeated a Ninth Heaven level powerhouse like Li Tianfu.

Who was Li Tianfu?

Even Jing Tianying had long heard of Li Tianfu's name.

Although Li Tianfu wasn't a先天 (innate) level powerhouse, he was definitely one of the top martial artists below the innate level. One could say that Li Tianfu was very, very close to the innate realm.

And Jing Yan had defeated him.

After a moment of thought, Jing Tianying took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

"Good! Good! Good!" Jing Tianying said the word "good" three times, and his face broke into a smile.

Even the wrinkles on his face seemed to smooth out.

"Fourth Elder, take these spirit stones." Jing Yan pointed to the spirit stones on the table.

Although he had only borrowed about 2,700 spirit stones from the Fourth Elder, without these spirit stones, he wouldn't have been able to gain such a large profit at the Extreme Combat Association.

It was only right to return more spirit stones to the Fourth Elder.

"Jing Yan, you kid, can I really take your spirit stones?" Jing Tianying shook his head.

However, although he wouldn't take the extra spirit stones, Jing Yan's attitude made him very pleased.

"Alright, keep the rest of the spirit stones. You'll need them in the future." Jing Tianying reached out and took about 2,000 spirit stones from the pile, then pointed to the remaining stones and said to Jing Yan.

"This..." Jing Yan looked at Jing Tianying.

"Ha ha, don't look at me like that. Although you made a lot, it belongs to you. I won't take it. Of course, if you reach the Dao Ling realm in the future and get something rare that can help innate martial artists, you can give me some." Jing Tianying said jokingly.

Jing Yan paused for a moment, then put away the remaining spirit stones. He knew that since Jing Tianying had said this, he definitely wouldn't take them.

After all, for Jing Tianying, who was at the innate realm, 10,000 spirit stones, while not insignificant, couldn't accomplish much. The resources that innate realm martial artists truly needed were often very difficult to obtain with just 10,000 spirit stones.

After chatting with Jing Tianying for a few more minutes, Jing Yan took his leave and returned to his room in the small courtyard where he lived.

...

Carefully taking out the gold card and the Nine Yin Fruit from his backpack, Jing Yan suppressed his excitement.

Today's gains were truly enormous. Since the end of his battle with Li Tianfu at the Extreme Combat Association, Jing Yan had been trying to remain calm. But once he returned to his living quarters, his excitement began to spread.

Anyone would find it hard to control their emotions in the face of such a large sum of money.

"However, I still need to be careful. It will be difficult to earn spirit stones like this in the future." Jing Yan took a few deep breaths, adjusted his emotions, and thought to himself.

He then carefully put away the remaining spirit stones.