Chapter 154: Third in the Inner Sect

After pretending to finish recovering his depleted Spiritual Power, Fang Yun went over to see what was happening.

By this time, the Magical Combat spar between Bai Qinying and Wu Junxin had also ended.

According to the other senior brothers and sisters, Bai Qinying had defeated Wu Junxin even faster in this Magical Combat spar.

This showed that Bai Qinying’s rate of improvement had been faster these past few days.

The two Magical Combat spars Fang Yun had afterward were both against Qi Refining Tenth Layer opponents.

Because he had already gleaned a lot of information about the three-star Combat Talent from Bai Qinying, Fang Yun learned very little from these next two Magical Combat spars.

For Fang Yun, the greater reward from these two Magical Combat spars was the Talent Points he gained.

With the bonus, defeating a Qi Refining Tenth Layer opponent yielded nearly eighty Talent Points.

When Fang Yun left Battle Peak, Bai Qinying showed no intention of leaving.

According to Bai Qinying, she would probably be spending the entire day on Battle Peak.

「Two days later.」

A piece of news spread rapidly through Battle Peak.

"Have you seen the Inner Sect Ranking?"

"I just looked three days ago. What’s wrong?"

"Then you definitely don’t know. The third-ranked person on the Inner Sect Ranking has changed."

"I’ll go take a look."

Some Inner and Outer Sect Disciples went to the Inner Sect Ranking board themselves to see the current situation.

"Huh... When did Junior Brother Fang become third on the Inner Sect Ranking?"

"Senior Sister Bai is off the ranking. It looks like she went to attempt Foundation Establishment. Normally, she would only be removed after she successfully establishes her foundation and becomes an Elder."

"Don’t forget, Senior Sister Bai is an Abnormal Spirit Root Cultivator. She also won a Middle Grade Foundation Establishment Pill during the Inner Sect Grand Competition. With all that, she’s guaranteed to succeed at Foundation Establishment. So in my opinion, it’s fine for her to be removed from the ranking early."

"Yeah, I think so too. And besides, Junior Brother Fang taking Senior Sister Bai’s spot is perfectly reasonable. Junior Brother Fang definitely has that level of strength."

After the third spot on the Inner Sect Ranking changed from Bai Qinying to Fang Yun, no disciple felt there was any issue.

Disciples who frequented Battle Peak would never miss the Inner Sect Grand Competition, and everyone had seen Fang Yun’s performance for themselves.

Furthermore, the Magical Combat spar between Fang Yun and Bai Qinying two days ago was further proof of his strength.

This adjustment to the Inner Sect Ranking was perfectly reasonable.

"Senior Brother Fang is on the list for the Four-Sect Trial. Should I go challenge him? I’ve never even had a single Magical Combat spar with Senior Brother Fang."

"I’d forget it if I were you. If you challenge Senior Brother Fang, he definitely won’t just defend himself. If your Magical Artifact gets unfortunately destroyed by him during the Magical Combat, it won’t be worth the loss."

"That’s right, Junior Brother. You should stop thinking about it. From what I know of Junior Brother Fang, he values his time greatly. With your strength, you’d just be wasting his time. Do you really think he’ll just defend and let you use him as a whetstone?"

"If you really want to represent the sect in the Four-Sect Trial, you should challenge the weakest opponent on the list. Junior Brother Fang is without a doubt the strongest of the twenty-five."

The change to the Four-Sect Trial list prompted a few disciples to consider challenging Fang Yun, but they were dissuaded by the majority.

Fang Yun’s schedule, which he had arranged for himself, was not affected by this, and his cultivation life proceeded as usual.

...

Celestial Demon Sect Territory.

Yang Yingjie followed a complex route, entering the territory once again.

The complex route took more time, but it was much safer.

’Celestial Demon Sect disciples again. Haven’t I been running into them too often lately?’

Yang Yingjie concealed his aura and continued to observe from the shadows.

Within the Celestial Demon Sect’s domain, you couldn’t attack their disciples rashly. You might see one Celestial Demon Sect disciple, but a second one could pop out at any moment.

For Yang Yingjie, who was active on missions in the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory, his number one rule was to never get greedy.

The mission rewards were already generous enough. Unless it was absolutely necessary or he was completely confident, he must never attack Celestial Demon Sect disciples in their own territory just to earn more Sect Contribution Points.

Many of the missions he accepted did involve attacking these Demons, but they were Demons from smaller factions.

The members of the other factions, large and small, within the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory were all Demons who cultivated Demon Power.

Long after the Celestial Demon Sect disciple had left, the hidden Yang Yingjie finally revealed himself.

’I can’t go in my intended direction anymore. It’s best to take a detour...’

After some thought, Yang Yingjie chose a different direction.

Not long after he changed his route, Yang Yingjie once again sensed the presence of Demon Power, and it was impure as well.

In his current location, only Demons were likely to appear; Demon Beasts were highly unlikely.

As soon as he sensed the presence of Demon Power, his first instinct was to hide.

This time, however, he didn’t get the chance to hide.

"Where do you think you’re going!"

A hoarse, piercing voice called out. The Demon had already discovered him.

A Qi Refining Tenth Layer Demon, and a disciple of the Celestial Demon Sect at that.

Yang Yingjie glanced to the side and saw a Demon with a face full of hair rushing toward him.

After transplanting a bloodline from a Demon Beast and fusing it with their own, the more pronounced the Demon Beast’s features were on a Demon, the more talented that Demon was considered.

With just a single glance, the experienced Yang Yingjie could tell that this Celestial Demon Sect Demon’s talent was not low.

Such a Demon would usually hold a decent position within the Celestial Demon Sect.

Run!

Hiding was impossible for now; running was Yang Yingjie’s only choice.

He slapped two yellow talismans onto his left and right feet.

Before the talismans could even activate, a ball of cyan flame shot toward Yang Yingjie. The flame was spewed from the Demon’s mouth, requiring no spell. This was a power granted to them by their transplanted Demon Beast bloodline.

A jet-black shield flew out of Yang Yingjie’s Storage Pouch, positioning itself in front of him to block the cyan flame.

"Huh?"

The hairy-faced Demon was astonished. The next moment, he took a deep breath and unleashed an even more powerful ball of cyan flame.

"This is impossible!"

Yang Yingjie paid no mind to the Demon’s surprise. As the talismans activated, wind gathered at his feet, and he fled the area at extreme speed.

The hairy-faced Demon gave chase.

But speed was not his forte; he was much more skilled at attacking.

Before long, he could no longer sense the man’s aura.

The hairy-faced Demon’s name was Jiang Yangxia.

"Damn it! He got away! That guy must have been a disciple from the Celestial Cloud Sect."

For every Celestial Cloud Sect disciple killed, a reward could be claimed at the designated place back in the Celestial Demon Sect.

A Celestial Cloud Sect disciple at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer was worth a considerable reward.

"Strange... The Spiritual Power fluctuation... it was clearly an Upper Grade Magical Artifact. How could it block my full-power Cyan Yang Fire breath?"