CHAPTER 132: CHAPTER 132: THE SECOND BRACELET

Zhou Jian stood up, the contemptuous gazes from those around him feeling like needles pricking his back. He and his companions shamefacedly left the Extreme Sun Great Hall.

"Damn it!"

Walking down the road, Zhou Jian’s expression was extremely grim. He couldn’t help but roar in a low voice.

Ever since becoming an inner court student, this was the first time he had been so humiliated!

The young man beside him, observing his expression, said, "Senior Brother Zhou Jian, that Luo Feng is too arrogant!"

Each step Zhou Jian took tugged at his injuries, making him grimace in pain. His heart filled with even more resentment, and he ground out through clenched teeth, "I won’t let this matter rest!"

At that moment, a commotion arose ahead. A crowd of students was approaching, surrounding a youth with an imposing aura.

"Huh, it’s Senior Brother Lin Yun! Senior Brother Lin Yun is back too!"

A joyful expression appeared on the face of the young man beside Zhou Jian. "Senior Brother Zhou Jian, aren’t you and Senior Brother Lin Yun good friends?"

Zhou Jian looked at the youth surrounded by the students, a triumphant look on his own face as he chuckled. "That’s right! Lin Yun and I entered the inner court together. In less than two years, he’s already ranked second on the Hidden Dragon List, while I still hover on the Winged Tiger List..."

Hearing this, the young man beside him had a flash of understanding in his eyes and chuckled. "Senior Brother Zhou Jian, I have an idea to teach Luo Feng a lesson."

"How?" Zhou Jian asked hastily.

The young man glanced towards Lin Yun and smiled. "Senior Brother Lin Yun values rules above all! Luo Feng dared to attack you in the Extreme Sun Great Hall, and you’re his good friend. If he finds out about this, he definitely won’t stand idly by! We can ask him to teach Luo Feng a lesson!"

...

Luo Feng and Bing Ruolan entered the Extreme Sun Great Hall, unaware of what had transpired outside.

They went to the mission submission window. Behind the counter sat the same middle-aged instructor who had handled their ’White-faced Flying Fox’ mission.

As soon as Luo Feng approached, the middle-aged instructor recognized him and smiled. "It’s you? What mission have you completed this time?"

Luo Feng found it a bit strange. Dozens, even hundreds, of students submitted missions every day, yet this instructor remembered him.

Without dwelling on it, Luo Feng took out all the materials he and Bing Ruolan had collected in the Misty Swamp over the past month.

Various spiritual medicines and demon beast materials piled up into a small mountain on the counter, drawing envious gasps from those nearby.

"Ze Spirit Grass, Mist Flower, fangs of an Iron Wall Python... Tsk tsk, all are rare, top-grade materials. Did you go to the Misty Swamp in the North Sea region?" the middle-aged instructor asked, his eyes sweeping over the materials on the counter with a hint of surprise.

Luo Feng nodded.

"To gather so many materials in such a short time is truly impressive. It seems you are very familiar with the Misty Swamp’s environment."

The middle-aged instructor glanced discreetly at Bing Ruolan and asked, "The academy needs all these materials. What would you like in exchange?"

"Exchange them all for credits," Luo Feng stated directly.

"I’ll tally them up first."

The middle-aged instructor nodded. He quickly finished counting all the materials and said, "One hundred and five Grade 1 materials, ten credits; sixty-six Grade 2 materials, twenty-two credits; ten Grade 3 materials, twenty-one credits. A total of forty-two credits."

Forty-two credits? That seems a little low. Luo Feng frowned slightly.

He and Bing Ruolan had spent a month in the Misty Swamp, hunted hundreds of demon beasts, and gathered a large pile of spiritual medicine ingredients, yet it was all worth only forty-two credits.

Split between them, it was only twenty-one credits each—a pitifully small amount.

The middle-aged instructor chuckled. "The credit system is designed to encourage your cultivation. Thus, the more dangerous the mission, the higher the reward. Gathering materials is the least difficult, so the rewards are relatively low."

Luo Feng nodded resignedly. Remembering Ji Wuchang’s head and the secret manual in his storage ring, he took them out and placed them on the counter.

"Eh, this is the Black Dark Claw secret manual from the Heavenly Demon Sect of the West Desert! How did this manual come into your possession?"

Before Luo Feng could speak, the middle-aged instructor, upon seeing the secret manual, snatched it up, his face alight with excitement.

Seeing the instructor’s reaction, Luo Feng’s eyes lit up. He said, "We unexpectedly encountered Ji Wuchang in the Misty Swamp. Ruolan and I managed to kill him after a desperate struggle and obtained this martial art from him."

"You killed Ji Wuchang! He was a cultivator at the mid-stage of the seventh level Essence Storage Realm! His elimination was a three-star academy mission!" the middle-aged instructor exclaimed, utterly astonished. His gaze then fell upon Bing Ruolan, and his eyes suddenly brightened.

"Huh, you’ve already reached the Essence Storage Realm in your cultivation! I remember when you submitted a mission a month ago, you were only at the late-stage of the sixth level God Bravery Realm. Your progress is incredibly fast!"

Bing Ruolan smiled politely, her beautiful eyes blinking as she skillfully changed the subject. "Instructor, how many credits can this secret manual and Ji Wuchang’s head be exchanged for?"

The middle-aged instructor realized his questions had been too abrupt and chuckled. "The Black Dark Claw is a Yellow Grade, Supreme-Rank martial art of the Demon Sect, extremely rare. I must discuss this with the elders before I can give you an answer."

With that, the middle-aged instructor hurried away.

Luo Feng watched him leave and exhaled. I didn’t expect earning credits to be so hard.

Seeing Luo Feng’s frustrated expression, Bing Ruolan smiled faintly. "Actually, forty-two credits isn’t that little. Ten credits can be exchanged for a Yellow Grade, High-Rank martial art. A Yellow Grade, High-Rank martial art is worth a million taels of silver. Forty credits are equivalent to several million taels of silver. An ordinary family would struggle their entire lives to earn that much."

"That’s true."

Luo Feng nodded. Just then, the middle-aged instructor reappeared.

"The academy elders have discussed it. The Black Dark Claw can be exchanged for one hundred and twenty credits. Ji Wuchang was a three-star academy mission target; the reward is ten credits and one hundred thousand taels of silver. In total, that’s one hundred and thirty credits and one hundred thousand taels of silver for these."

One hundred and twenty credits! Luo Feng’s heart pounded fiercely.

The middle-aged instructor chuckled. "Don’t be too surprised. The Black Dark Claw is an extremely vicious martial art of the Heavenly Demon Sect. When the Demon Sect invaded our Canglang Dynasty, this martial art killed many of our people. Obtaining this secret manual will help us understand the Heavenly Demon Sect’s martial arts! It’s a significant contribution, so one hundred and twenty credits isn’t too much."

Hearing this, Luo Feng tapped the table and said with a grin, "Since we’ve made such a great contribution to the academy, it wouldn’t be excessive to give us a few more credits, would it?"

The middle-aged instructor was taken aback, then said in an exasperated tone, "You brat, give you an inch and you’ll take a mile! One hundred and twenty credits can allow you to cultivate a Yellow Grade, Supreme-Rank martial art! The martial arts of our Purple Sun School are no worse than those of the Heavenly Demon Sect!"

Stingy! Luo Feng pursed his lips when he realized there was no chance.

The middle-aged instructor gave a wry smile and asked, "Adding the forty-two credits from before, you’ve earned a total of one hundred seventy-two credits this time. How do you plan to divide them?"

Luo Feng thought for a moment, then turned to Bing Ruolan. "Ruolan, how many credits do you have?"

"Six credits."

Luo Feng nodded and turned back to the middle-aged instructor. "Give her ninety-four credits. The rest are for me."

"Luo Feng, you..." Surprise flickered in Bing Ruolan’s beautiful eyes. She was about to say something when Luo Feng interrupted her.

"It’s not good to bite off more than you can chew. Learning too many martial arts isn’t beneficial. Right now, I just want to focus on cultivating the ’Teng Dragon’s Step’ and ’Sky Slayer Saber Technique’. I don’t plan on learning any other martial arts for the time being."

"As for your ’Floating Cloud Sword Technique’, it’s only a Yellow Grade, High-Rank martial art; its power is insufficient. You need a Yellow Grade, Supreme-Rank sword technique to compensate for this weakness. I don’t want to see our former class leader lose too badly in the Qualification Challenge." Luo Feng rubbed his nose and stated bluntly.

"I won’t lose!" Bing Ruolan, with her competitive nature, retorted indignantly upon hearing Luo Feng’s words.

The middle-aged instructor beside them glanced at Luo Feng with an amused smile. "It seems you two have already decided. Give me your inner court student tokens."

They both handed over their tokens.

FZZT... FZZT...

The instructor channeled his Gang Qi into his fingertips and swiftly wrote on the tokens.

A moment later, they each received their tokens back.

The number on Luo Feng’s token had changed to seventy-eight.

Having received their credits, the two of them left the Extreme Sun Great Hall.

After witnessing Luo Feng’s ’Sky Slayer Saber Technique’, Bing Ruolan had longed for a Yellow Grade, Supreme-Rank sword technique. Now that her dream was coming true, she couldn’t wait to go to the Martial Arts Hall to exchange for one.

Luo Feng also needed to return to his small courtyard to prepare for the Qualification Challenge in two days. The two parted ways outside the Extreme Sun Great Hall.

The Qualification Challenge was an annual grand event for the academy, during which the academy rankings would undergo a major reshuffle.

Everyone in the academy was excitedly discussing it, speculating on who would represent the academy in this year’s New Talent Conference.

Among these discussions, two names caught Luo Feng’s attention.

The first was Zi Yuan.

The other was Lin Yun, ranked second on the Hidden Dragon List.

Little needed to be said about Zi Yuan. As one of the Four New Talents from the previous competition, her strength was not to be underestimated, despite her innocent appearance. It was said her strength had further improved during her recent training expedition.

As for Lin Yun, he was a more mysterious figure.

In last year’s New Talent Conference, Lin Yun had ranked tenth.

After the conference, Lin Yun declared he would definitely claim the title of one of the ’Four New Talents’ in this year’s New Talent Conference, and then he vanished without a trace. For a whole year, there had been no news of him.

Many had speculated that he had perished in the martial world, so no one expected his sudden return. His current strength was a mystery.

With my current strength, reaching the top ten of the Hidden Dragon List shouldn’t be a problem. However, if I want to secure a high ranking on the Hidden Dragon List, I’m afraid... Luo Feng’s expression was solemn.

All students on the academy’s Hidden Dragon List were experts at the seventh level of the Essence Storage Realm, capable of condensing Qi into Gang Qi.

Nearly half of them were at the mid-stage of the seventh level Essence Storage Realm. Each was an amazingly talented individual, their strength not to be underestimated.

Based on his current situation, Luo Feng was quite confident of breaking into the top five of the Hidden Dragon List, but the top three were uncertain.

The top ten in the Qualification Challenge will receive focused cultivation from the academy. Their benefits and status will significantly improve with each rank they climb. I must strive to get into the top three! Luo Feng took a shallow breath, a resolute look glinting in the depths of his eyes.

Returning to his small courtyard, Luo Feng was about to start cultivating when he suddenly remembered the other bracelet he had obtained from Shi Wushuang of the Floating Snow School.

The world-destroying murderous intent he had sensed from this bracelet earlier had left a profound impression on him. He was certain that the map hidden inside the bracelet held a secret!

He took out the bracelet. It was dim and lusterless, similarly engraved with a flying dragon pattern, only this dragon was blue instead of red.

"I hope my guess is correct," Luo Feng muttered to himself, then circulated his Soul Power, attempting to permeate the flying dragon pattern on its surface...