At the martial pavilion.
When Xia Qingchen returned, he reported to Qin Lin.
“So fast!” Qin Lin had a smile on his face. “That’s good too. I will pass you the reward for getting first place in the external training.”
For this external training, the first place of each class would receive a very unique reward.
Qin Lin took out a round pearl that was fiery red.
“This is the proof for you to be able to enter the martial pavilion’s fire lake.” Qin Lin smiled.
Xia Qingchen was shocked.
The fire lake was a place only senior students could enter. That place was filled with an abundance of fire-attributed essence qi.
The density was three times that of the outside world!
However, even for senior students, they were only permitted to enter there once a year.
Because the damage caused to the body was extremely great, if one used it for a long-term cultivation, the consequences would surely be dire.
Entering once a year was already the limit.
“Truly, a special reward.” Xia Qingchen was very satisfied.
Next, he wanted to put all his heart into cultivation and try his best to break through to the middle constellation stage before the Wind-Cloud Meet.
If he could achieve this, he would know the seventeen-year secret from his father.
He then arrived at the fire lake.
A lava pool three hundred zhangs in diameter appeared in his eyes.
There were hundreds of man-made cultivation chambers jutting out from the lava.
Standing at the edge of the fire lake, one could already feel that the density of essence qi here was far thicker than in the outside world.
However, there was a streak of fire qi within the essence qi.
If one overly absorbed it, the fire qi would remain in one’s martial meridians and might damage them.
Xia Qingchen took a small breath and discovered that the fire qi that entered his body was naturally expelled from his pores.
This was due to him consuming Dragonblood Powder over a long period of time, which led to his body doing this as a habit.
The medicinal potency of the Dragonblood Powder was extremely fierce. The scorching degree completely didn’t lose out to lava.
Hence, the fire qi here couldn’t harm him.
He was now observing the distribution of the cultivation chambers. Before he came, he had already heard that the deeper one went, the denser the essence qi would be.
Since he wasn’t afraid of the damage caused by the fire qi, he would choose one of the cultivation chambers situated at the deepest part of the fire lake.
“Senior sister Zhou. It’s rare for us to encounter each other. Since that’s the case, why don’t we have a little competition and see which of us can cultivate longer in the middle area?” A slightly familiar voice drifted into his ear.
Xia Qingchen turned his head and saw that the one who had spoken was none other than Zhao Tianyu.
He was accompanying a cold-looking, tall young woman. She was clad in a yellow-colored round neck dress.
From his tone, one could see that Zhao Tianyu was fawning on her.
“Given your endurance, let’s just forget it. It isn’t even one-tenth of mine,” said the young woman directly, not giving Zhao Tianyu any face at all.
Zhao Tianyu awkwardly laughed. He was already used to it, but he didn’t accept her words as correct.
Suddenly, Zhao Tianyu noticed Xia Qingchen who was standing at the side of the fire lake. He called out involuntarily in shock, “Xia Qingchen!”
The woman with the cold expression glanced over and asked in astonishment, “What an unfamiliar face, are you acquainted with him?”
Zhao Tianyu’s expression turned complicated.
How could he not be acquainted with Xia Qingchen?
It was precisely because he had meddled in the matter between Xia Qilin and Xia Qingchen that had caused him to implicate his father. His father had been forced to kneel for one day and one night at the entrance of the Rainbow Cloud Villa.
In the end, he was still expelled from the Rainbow Cloud Villa. This caused Zhao Tianyu’s entire clan to sink into a huge commotion.
Fortunately, Zhao Tianyu’s relationship with this cold-looking young woman wasn’t bad. The Zhao Clan, which had lost their power, had submitted to the clan the cold-looking young woman belonged to and found their footing once more.
Hence, he was thinking of all sorts of ways to fawn on her.
Seeing Xia Qingchen again, Zhao Tianyu naturally felt hatred in his heart.
“I met him a few times before. He’s a first-year student from the D class, Xia Qingchen.” Zhao Tianyu’s voice was filled with contempt.
Senior sister Zhou suddenly understood as she mumbled, “No wonder.”
Several days ago, the first-year students of A, B, and C class, Lin Tianyou, Wu Yanfei, and Chen Junlong, joined forces and came here to the fire lake to cultivate.
She cast a glance at Xia Qingchen and spoke, “I advise you to leave here right now. The fire lake isn’t a place where people like you are qualified to come in contact with.”
So it turned out that the fire qi in the fire lake was overly intense.
Lin Tianyou and the other two didn’t believe this and refused to listen to the advice from the seniors, stubbornly heading into the depths of the fire lake.
In the end, the three of them suffered different degrees of burns and were now recuperating at their homes.
“Oh.” Xia Qingchen calmly spoke, remaining unmoved.
Seeing that Xia Qingchen wasn’t taking her advice, senior sister Zhou’s brows furrowed lightly. “Mistaking my kind intentions for bad ones. I’m only saying this for your own good!”
The way she spoke was truly direct.
Xia Qingchen frowned.
He had never believed that there were people in this world who would say out what they really thought.
Could it be that this young woman would also dare to say things like ‘people like you’ when facing the martial legend? Would she still dare to say what she thought?
It was just that she couldn’t be bothered to be tactful and chose to be direct when dealing with people whose status was lower than hers.
“Do I need you to care?” Xia Qingchen replied in a cold manner.
Senior sister Zhou frowned. “You are just trash from the D class, so don’t think of yourself as impressive. Lin Tianyou is a hundred times stronger than you, but he still ended up in such a pathetic state. Let alone you? Quickly scram now while you can!”
After speaking, the coldness on her face was even stronger as she entered the fire lake. She followed the laid-out path and chose a cultivation chamber near the edge of the fire lake.
But even so, when she reached the cultivation chamber’s entrance, traces of agony could be seen on her jade-like face.
Evidently, the fire qi here had reached the limits of what she could endure.
Zhao Tianyu hurriedly followed after. When he passed Xia Qingchen, he coldly spoke, “The one speaking to you is the eldest granddaughter of Vice Headmaster Zhou! Who the hell do you think you are? Are you even qualified to speak to her like that?”
After speaking, he coldly chose the room next to senior sister Zhou.
Xia Qingchen’s gaze turned cold. He had no favorable opinion of this person at all.
Back then during the repeat competition, he had helped Li Weifeng to make things difficult for him at the second test.
And at the Rainbow Cloud Banquet, he had helped Xia Qilin to make things difficult for him again.
Xia Qingchen was never someone who would remember grudges. But he was also not someone so excessively benevolent as to forgive and forget everything.
For this person, if there was a chance to do so in the future, he would definitely make him pay the price.
One that helped others to do evil would definitely receive punishment in the future!
When the two of them entered their cultivation chambers, Xia Qingchen headed to a large cultivation chamber that was situated right at the center.
There was a schedule outside the cultivation chamber.
Once someone entered it for seclusion, the amount of time they used would be indicated on the schedule.
Just as he expected, the fire qi here was extremely dense.
Xia Qingchen casually drew a breath. His inner organs could immediately feel the scorching sensation, causing his entire body to feel extremely uncomfortable.
But he could even endure all these.
Because the essence qi here was three times more than the outside world.
Since it was rare for him to come to such a treasured land, he would definitely take the chance to properly cultivate!
Creak~
He pushed open the stone door and discovered that there was one person in the large cultivation chamber.
This person was a young man with exquisite features, in addition to exuding a faint sense of ruthlessness.
Upon hearing the commotion, the young man opened his eyes.
His eyes gleamed with anger as he roared in a low voice, “Who told you to come in here? Scram!”
Xia Qingchen frowned. Each cultivation chamber could allow numerous people to cultivate in it.
This cultivation chamber also didn’t forbid others from entering.
The young man before him was simply unreasonable!
Xia Qingchen didn’t say anything. He chose the corner opposite to the young man and instantly started his cultivation.
“You…” The young man seemed to be at a critical moment of his cultivation and had no way to stop. He could only suppress his anger. “Forget it, not even a single day is needed and people like you who don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth would leave here crying.”
This particular chamber was one of the most dangerous places in the fire lake.
The density of the fire qi was beyond imagination.
Out of all the senior students, only the top four, Lone Cloud’s Four Heroes, would dare to cultivate more than a day here.
The others basically couldn’t endure the fire qi in this place.