Chapter 20: Sparring

"Pretty impressive! How about I join you for some sparring?" A voice devoid of any emotion sounded, and then a young inner disciple dressed in a white robe walked over.

The young disciple looked to be no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, with a simple bun on his head, secured by an ordinary wooden hairpin. The white robe he wore was very plain, and he had no valuable ornaments on him. His appearance was also very ordinary, like many common rural teenagers.

Moreover, the young man's face always carried a hint of indifference, as if nothing could arouse his interest or stir his emotions.

Indifferent, calm, and detached, he would surely become a great talent given time!

This was also the unanimous evaluation of the inner sect elders regarding this young man in white.

"Senior Brother Lin Hai? How could we have even alarmed Senior Brother Lin Hai?"

"Senior Brother Lin Hai must be well-intentioned, wanting to guide these two new inner disciples, right?"

"Senior Brother Lin Hai is such a good person!"

...

The surrounding inner disciples whispered to each other, their eyes filled with admiration and enthusiasm as they looked at the young man in white.

Lin Hai, among the nearly two hundred inner disciples of the Flowing Cloud Sect, ranked in the top five in both strength and talent. Two years ago, he became the personal disciple of Blood Hand Mad Slaughter Xiao Zhenhai, one of the five elders of the Flowing Cloud Sect. This meant that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Lin Hai would become a new inner sect elder in ten years or even less.

An inner sect elder was the most powerful position in the Flowing Cloud Sect after the sect leader. Even the appointment of a new sect leader required the agreement of the five inner sect elders.

Therefore, Lin Hai's status and prestige in the Flowing Cloud Sect were extremely high. Most inner disciples, even those who had been in the inner sect for several years or even a decade, would respectfully call him "Senior Brother Lin Hai," and no one dared to oppose him.

Lin Hai was also very good at winning people's hearts. He had many loyal supporters and followers, and Liu Yong was one of the most important among them.

Saying that Liu Yong was important was not because of his strength; on the contrary, Liu Yong was the weakest among all the inner disciples who followed Lin Hai.

Generally, the weakest inner disciple that Lin Hai would take under his wing would at least be at the Fourth Level of the Blood Fusion Realm, but Liu Yong was the only one at the Third Level.

However, among Lin Hai's many followers, Liu Yong was an indispensable and important figure.

The reason why all of Lin Hai's followers were willing to follow him was not only because of Lin Hai's formidable strength but also because following him could provide them with more cultivation resources, allowing them to quickly enhance their strength.

But getting more cultivation resources was not easy!

However, ever since Lin Hai took Liu Yong as a follower, Liu Yong led a group of outer disciples to bully newly admitted outer disciples under the guise of sparring, seizing the Body Tempering Pills allocated by the Flowing Cloud Sect. Almost every month, he could seize hundreds of Body Tempering Pills and hand them over to Lin Hai.

Lin Hai relied on these Body Tempering Pills to win over and stabilize his followers, making them loyal to him, supporting him, and cheering for him.

Lin Hai also needed these followers to enhance his status in the Flowing Cloud Sect.

Therefore, Liu Yong, who could obtain a large number of Body Tempering Pills, although the weakest in strength, became an indispensable and most important follower of Lin Hai.

However, this important follower was defeated and humiliated by Shen Chen and Wang Yue, forcing Liu Yong to retreat to the outer sect. As a result, it would no longer be as convenient for Lin Hai to obtain more Body Tempering Pills from Liu Yong.

Moreover, knowing that Liu Yong was Lin Hai's follower, Shen Chen and Wang Yue still dared to openly oppose him. This was a blatant slap in the face for Lin Hai!

How could Lin Hai tolerate this?

Previously, Lin Hai had wanted to find an opportunity to teach Shen Chen and Wang Yue a harsh lesson, but he had been unable to find the right moment.

Just now, when he saw Shen Chen and Wang Yue planning to challenge the top hundred inner disciples, and Wang Yue even fought to a draw with Leopard-Eyed Zhang Lin, who ranked ninety-eighth, the inner disciples began to look at Shen Chen and Wang Yue with new respect, giving them a lot of attention. This was not what Lin Hai wanted to see!

Shen Chen, standing to the side, had been closely watching Lin Hai, his face filled with a serious expression.

Shen Chen had long heard of Lin Hai's reputation and knew that Liu Yong and others were Lin Hai's lackeys, who had been bullying the outer disciples and seizing Body Tempering Pills, relying on Lin Hai's influence.

Shen Chen had initially thought that, given Lin Hai's reputation in the Flowing Cloud Sect, he might not have directly instructed Liu Yong to bully the outer disciples. However, after meeting Lin Hai, Shen Chen realized he was wrong.

Although Lin Hai looked plain and simple, and appeared to be detached and content, a closer look revealed that the cuffs of his sleeves were embroidered with six golden smoke patterns.

This showed that, despite his outward appearance of being detached and content, Lin Hai actually placed great importance on his status and position. Otherwise, why would he bother to embroider the six golden smoke patterns, which symbolized his status, on such a plain robe?

"What a pretentious show! He's clearly not a good person!" Shen Chen thought disdainfully.

"Senior Brother Lin Hai!"

"Meeting Senior Brother Lin Hai!"

The surrounding inner disciples bowed respectfully.

Most inner disciples still held Lin Hai in high regard.

"Meeting Senior Brother Lin Hai!" Shen Chen said with neither humility nor arrogance, clasping his hands in greeting.

"You must be Shen Chen, right? Very good, I've heard a lot about you, Junior Brother Shen. You defeated one of the Four Young Tigers of the inner sect, Lang Zheng, at the Second Level of the Blood Fusion Realm. Truly, heroes emerge from the young! I'm feeling a bit itchy, how about we spar?" Lin Hai smiled, his demeanor lofty, as if sparring with Shen Chen was a favor he was doing for him.

"Senior Brother Lin Hai is truly a great teacher! What good fortune for Shen Chen to be noticed by Senior Brother Lin Hai and personally guided by him right after entering the inner sect!"

"Indeed! If only we had such good luck!"

...

The surrounding inner disciples looked at Shen Chen enviously, their eyes filled with jealousy.

"What a good act! Humph!" Shen Chen cursed inwardly, but a smile appeared on his face.

"Thank you for your regard, Senior Brother Lin Hai. I would be honored! Please..." Shen Chen said, walking to the side of the square.

Lin Hai gave Shen Chen a deep look, a cold glint of killing intent flashing in his eyes, but then his face broke into a warm, spring-like smile as he also walked towards the square.

"Hurry up! Senior Brother Lin Hai hasn't shown his skills for a long time! This is a rare chance to see his prowess!"

"Indeed! Getting guidance from Senior Brother Lin Hai is not easy! Hurry up!"

...

Soon, dozens or even hundreds of inner disciples gathered on the square in front of the Inner Sect Lecture Hall.