In the night, a crescent moon hung in the sky and it was curved like the arched eyebrow of a beautiful woman. In the courtyard, the wind blew the leaves and they rustled across the floor. Xiao Chen was bathing in the house. After going through Body Refining Realm today, he felt very tired, as if his True Energy had not been fully restored yet.

No, in truth, it was not because his True Energy was not completely restored. Rather, his body had become stronger and was able to store even more and purer True Energy. Just like the bathtub that he was currently bathing in. If the bathtub had been double its size, then the water inside would only fill half of it, and that would not be enough for him to bathe in.

Xiao Chen took a deep breath. He knew that he had to refine his cultivation level as soon as possible, otherwise, he would be in such an inoperative state. He could not even make use of the strength that was available before. It was supposed to be a good thing, but it became a bad thing instead.

Moreover, if this continued for a long time, his body would then adapt to the empty True Energy, and would slowly return to its previous state. If so, today’s Body Refining Realm would have been in vain.

Frowning, he thought, “If only Bai Ying was here. She would surely think of a way to help me and even use all kinds of herbs to give me a medicated bath. But now…” Xiao Chen looked at the meagre amount of herbs floating in the water. These had been hastily picked by him on the island of Wind-heeding Pavilion on the way back this afternoon, while enduring the pain.

“Alas… changing a master is like changing from a biological mother to a stepmother…”

Xiao Chen sighed. In the past, when he was in Three Pure Sect, Bai Ying had always been there for him. Now in the Cloud Mist Academy, he had created such a hoo-ha in the newcomer area and almost lost his life. However, after returning in the afternoon, Shui Yue did not even come to look in on him. To think that he was so angry, when she had been mocked by others.

For some reasons, Xiao Chen felt a little aggrieved. If it had been any of the other three grandmasters, if their disciples made such a big hoo-ha in the newcomers’ district, they might turn up at the newcomers’ district in person. As for Shui Yue… why was she like this?

“Sigh…”

Xiao Chen sighed again. Now, he finally knew how great Bai Ying was. But back then, he did not even address her as master… and did not even address her nicely.

While he was sighing, there were light footsteps in the corridor outside the house. The footsteps stopped at the door. Xiao Chen picked up the towel on the bathtub and covered his body. He said, “Come in, Chu Qi.”

“Creak!” The door opened and Chu Qi came in with a stack of clean clothes. After putting them on the table next to the bathtub, she turned around and wanted to leave. Xiao Chen called to her. “Wait, you stay here first.”

Chu Qi stopped in her tracks and turned around again. She said placidly, “I can kill someone on behalf of you, Lord, but I won’t…” In the end, her voice gradually tapered off.

Xiao Chen turned his head and looked at her in a strange manner. “I did not ask you to kill anyone. I am just saying that I was not the one who induced the Li Fire Formation today. Did you see who did it? I bet that Beigong Qin did not even have the guts to do that.”

“Oh.” Chu Qi pursed her lips and said, “I saw Baili Xiaohualuo.”

“Baili Xiaohualuo?” Xiao Chen frowned. Then he hit the edge of the bathtub with his palm, which almost cracked it. He said resentfully, “He wanted to kill me. I knew that bastard had no good intentions from the start!”

“If there is nothing else, I will take my leave first.”

“Wait!” Xiao Chen stopped her and said, “Be careful these few days. Also, I am going to enter into cultivating mode completely. I will leave Yang Qing to you.”

After that, Xiao Chen took out a few jade notes from his Divine Vessel and said, “This is a Spiritual message jade note. If Yang Qing and the others have any news, they will send a message through the jade note from their side.”

“Oh.” Chu Qi took the jade note and was about to leave, when Xiao Chen stopped her again and said, “Wait!”

“Do you have any other orders, Lord?”

“Well…” Xiao Chen touched his head and said bashfully, “Well… can you, can you, um…”

“No.” Chu Qi said coldly. Then she immediately turned around and left.

“Ah! Chu Qi, wait! Don’t get me wrong!” Xiao Chen immediately stopped her and said with a smile, “I just want to say, can you… lend me your ten Mystic Stones first?”

“Don’t worry! I’ll definitely return it!” Xiao Chen immediately added. He had no choice now. He always felt that something big was about to happen in the future, but his 10 Mystic Stones were not enough. His position on the Earth Ranking had also been pushed down. The next time he would be receiving the Mystic Stones would be at least a month later, but he could not wait anymore.

“Oh.” Chu Qi moved her lips gently. She then took out eight Mystic Stones from her Divine Vessel and placed them on the table. She said, “I used two of them earlier.” After that, she walked out of the house.

“I will definitely return it to you!” Xiao Chen shouted from behind. However, Chu Qi had already left. He always felt that it was a little embarrassing to ask a girl for something.

The next morning, Xiao Chen regained some of his energy upon waking up, but he still felt a little tired. Probably because he had over exerted himself yesterday, but he still had to go to the training area in the back mountain today. Although the Spiritual Qi in the fourth district was not as good as the qi in the first and second district, it was still better than nothing.

Chu Qi had been waiting at the gate of the courtyard. Today, she was wearing a light purple dress. The sunlight seemed to cast a faint purple halo over her.

“Morning, Chu Qi.” Xiao Chen walked over and greeted her.

“Mm.” Chu Qi nodded slightly, without even looking back.

Xiao Chen smiled bitterly. Even though they had known each other for such a long time and were now living in the same courtyard, it seemed that the two of them did not have much to say to each other. If he had known earlier, he would have asked Ziyun’er to come with him. At least, the days would be more cheery.

When they were about to go out, there was a sudden rush of footsteps coming from outside. A man dressed in white, came running in hurriedly, with several bags of medicine in his hand.

“Morning, Junior Brother Xiao.” The man greeted him with a smile.

“Senior Brother… What is the matter?” As he spoke, Xiao Chen glanced at the bags filled with herbs in his hand, out of the corner of his eye.

“Oh, here’s the thing.” The man smiled and said, “Yesterday, the Third Grandmaster saw you picking herbs on the island. Those herbs are not mature yet. The Third Grandmaster asked me to give these to you.”

“If that is the case, thank you very much.” Xiao Chen smiled and took the man’s medicine bag. The man smiled and said, “Then I will not disturb you anymore, Junior Brother. Farewell.”

After the man left, Xiao Chen looked at the medicine bag in his hand and handed it to Chu Qi with a smile. “Put it in my room.”

Next, the two of them went to the newcomer area in the back mountain. There was a short delay as the courtyard on Xiao Chen’s side was some distance away from the living area of the others. Qin Tianyu and the other youths had already gone to the training area.

Strictly speaking, today was the first day for the freshmen to formally start their cultivation. Yesterday, all the old disciples had already left. Xiao Chen went to the island of the fourth zone and saw the worried faces of the boys and girls. He asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Brother Xiao Chen, you are here. See for yourself…” Xu Ling’er said, with a sad face.

Xiao Chen immediately felt that the Spiritual Qi here was not as abundant as yesterday. He frowned and saw that the faint white mist around the island was slowly drifting over to the other three islands. Obviously, some of the Spiritual Qi here, had been absorbed by the other three districts.

Qin Tianyu said, “I have asked the other Senior Brothers. They said that because the Spirit Qi Gathering Spiritual Formation on the other three islands is relatively strong, as long as they use a little of spirit energy, it will end up like this. There is nothing they can do about it…”

Xiao Chen clenched his fists and said, “Okay, I know. You can calm down and cultivate first.”

In the morning, Xiao Chen searched every corner of the island, but failed to find the location of the Spirit Qi-gathering Formation. It was useless, even if he was proficient in formations. The reason why the four islands had different effects was because the strength of the formations varied.

A few days later, because the other three districts continuously plundered the Spiritual Qi, the Spiritual Qi in the fourth district became thinner and thinner. The hundreds of freshmen of Wind-heeding Pavilion were worried all day long. If this continued, they could not keep up with the other three districts’ freshmen at all. It was undoubtedly more difficult for them to rush into the Mystic Sky Rankings.

And these days, many people in the second and third districts would go to the first district to cultivate every day. As long as they addressed Beigong Qin as Senior Brother, they could cultivate for 2-4 hours in the first district. Some people even exchanged a Mystic Stone for one day’s cultivation time. These days, Beigong Qin earned a lot of Mystic Stones because of this.

On the side of Wind-heeding Pavilion, some people wanted to go to the first district to cultivate. However, this would undoubtedly be the greatest embarrassment for Xiao Chen, so they held back. However, a dozen Nascent Soul Realm cultivators would secretly go there, once a day.

Xiao Chen was equally worried about this. If he wanted to lead everyone to the first district to train, he would have to at least be ranked higher than Beigong Qin on the Earth Ranking, if he wanted to get rid of Beigong Qin and his people. However, he only had 18 Mystic Stones now. It was very likely that he would lose more than he gained, if he used the Wisdom-forsaking Technique rashly.

“Brother Chen, why don’t you enter the Human Ranking first? Otherwise, you will only be able to obtain ten Mystic Stones next month,” Qin Tianyu said with a frown.

Xiao Chen frowned. Indeed, he had been pushed down on the Earth Ranking. There would not be any Mystic Stones for him to obtain every day. However, with his strength, it would not be difficult for him to enter the top three Human Ranking, but it was inevitable for others to look at him with disdain.

The current situation was that Beigong Qin was earning Mystic Stones every day, but he was badly in need of them. His biggest obstacle now was the Mystic Stone.

“No! I need to think of a way to earn Mystic Stones!” Xiao Chen clenched his fists. As long as the Mystic Stones were given to him, he was confident that he could use the Wisdom-forsaking Technique and get into the Earth Ranking by the end of the month. As long as he surpassed Beigong Qin, he would be able to lead everyone to cultivate in the first area, next month.

At dusk, the freshmen left the training area, one after another. Because the Cloud Mist Academy, like other sects, had to maintain the Spirit Gathering Spiritual Formation at night, the training area was not open at night.

Along the way, Beigong Qin was talking and laughing with the others. In order to please him, many people addressed him as Senior Brother all the time. Xiao Chen was very annoyed. He quickened his pace and arrived at the mountain. When he reached the mountain, he saw Bai Ling, whom he had not seen for a long time, coming toward him.

However, the expression on her face today seemed a little strange. It was very strange indeed.

Xiao Chen thought about how she was afraid of hurting herself that day, but had ended up being tricked by him instead. It was quite interesting. He walked up to her and grinned cheekily, saying, “Bai Ling… Senior…”

“Oh!” Suddenly, everyone in the surrounding area cried out in surprise.