"Stop bullshitting, do you accept my challenge or now?"
Ye Tian Yun just shrugged as he replied, "Are you kidding? You are not even ranked higher than me; why should I bother fighting with you?"
Hou Xing's eyes opened wide as he heard this ridiculous response, "What do you mean I didn't rank higher than you? You were ranked goddamn first! Was there any higher rank than that? And if I don't challenge you, then who should I challenge? The disciples ranked lower than me?"
"Ah, since when butlers got so insolent in front of their master? Keep your voice down in front of me." Ye Tian Yun ignored Hou Xing's burst and replied in a somewhat stern tone.
Hou Xing stomped his feet and almost shouted in frustration, "Do you accept my challenge or not?"
Ye Tian Yun just shook his head and headed downstairs towards the exit, without even looking at Hou Xing.
Hou Xing could only stare at Ye Tian Yun's back, clenching his fists, gritting his teeth, he said in his mind, 'One day, Fang Chen, One day, I will beat you so bad that not even your daddy will be able to save your pathetic life!'
However, just as he finished his thoughts, Ye Tian Yun turned around and said, "Good luck with that." Finishing with a mysterious smile, he moved on towards the first Floor.
Hou Xing could only stand frozen at one place as he stammered out a few words before losing sight of Ye Tian Yun, "How… how did he know what I was thinking?"
…
Ye Tian Yun could not help but smirk to himself as he headed out of the stairway door, 'This Hou Xing guy is so easy to read, but it's a pity that he can only be a cannon fodder in future.'
As he stepped on the First Floor, he was surprised to see the number of new Inner Court disciples present at the scene, going through the cultivation manuals on this Floor.
Unlike the case at the Resource Hall where his and Zheng Xiang's arrival from the Second Floor did not attract much attention, it was the opposite. As soon as Ye Tian Yun came, he was in the spotlight. It seemed as if everyone stopped whatever they were doing and looked at his way to see who has come from the upper floors.
Soon a hubbub of whispering invaded the Floor; the disciples were discussing his identity.
"Who has come now?" A disciple whispered.
"Well, this guy does look familiar, and I don't have a good feeling about him."
Another disciple snickered, "Hehe, yes, well he is Fang Chen after all."
"Fang Chen? That arrogant brat? Did he really rank in the top disciples yesterday?"
"Yes, he did. Even though this is unbelievable, he did rank at the top in our Seventh Peak."
"Dang, and here I thought it was just a rumour to mock him because he had failed. Was he really hiding his cultivation all this time?"
"He hid it pretty well, no one knows his real cultivation realm even now, but I think he should be at least in the Eight Level of Qi Refining Realm."
Another disciple chimed in, "Eight Level!? That's a pretty big estimate. Don't forget that in Inner Court Entrance Hunt Rankings, luck is also a big factor. I heard that he didn't really get a tough opponent against him."
The disciple before him nodded, "Yes, that's true. I think the final battle should have been between Zheng Xiang and Hou Xing. These guys are legit talented."
"Yes, but what I find funny is that as lucky this Fang Chen was, Hou Xing was equally unlucky. These two had polar opposite luck."
"Yeah, and if we take the whole sect in picture, I think Fang Chen will barely be counted among the average disciples, don't forget that Seventh Peak has the disciples with the worst talent."
"What do you mean? Our Seventh Peak is not as bad as what other peaks think, in fact, the average cultivation realm of Top 100 disciples in the Hunt yesterday was Seventh Level of Qi Refining Realm, which's already better than most of the peaks."
"Few disciples won't decide anything. You're not looking at the big scene. While Seventh Peak had a hundred spots for the Inner Court, the other peaks had at least five hundred. In fact, the Ninth Peak had two thousand spots, so you shouldn't compare the average cultivation without looking at the real numbers."
The other disciples around him also agreed on this.
Ye Tian Yun, who had just passed them, overheard this statement and was surprised at the number of Inner Court disciples from the Ninth Peak. His thoughts were not on their talent but something else, 'Did they also challenge each other? That would be two thousand challenges!? These guys really have so much free time.'
Shaking his head with a sigh, he came out of the Martial Book Pavilion.
His next stop was the Second Peak. The most protected Peak of the Gracious Sword Sect.
In the Lower Heavens, Alchemists and Blacksmiths are the most respected professions. Moreover, each Alchemist or Blacksmith is treated as a rare treasure in all the powers, and they stay under very high security. It is because they are the most important people to keep the sect going.
If a sect has all the world resources, but no Alchemist or a Blacksmith, all resources are useless. Unless they sell those resources, but that too will only bring losses.
Furthermore, even if they have Alchemists and Blacksmiths, there is a constant fear of their enemy sect's assassination attempt to cripple a sect's growth. The swiftest way is to assassinate its Alchemists and Blacksmiths.
That is why the Second Peak is the most protected Peak of all the nine peaks of the Gracious Sword Sect.
Similar to other peaks, this Peak was also connected to the First Peak with three chain bridges. Moreover, Ye Tian Yun was heading towards one of them.
However, just as he had begun, he felt a tap on his shoulder from behind.
Turning around, he found someone familiar.