Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After Jing Tianying left the Martial Arts Performing Stadium, Jing Mingzhi took a deep breath and turned back to the Jing Clan’s disciples.
“The abilities test continues!” he said in a serious voice.
He turned his gaze to Jing Yan with a meaningful look.
Jing Yan sensed the Sixth Elder’s gaze and looked over his shoulder. Jing Mingzhi nodded at him with a smile.
“Brother Jing Yan!”
“Brother Jing Yan! You rock! You beat Jing Lucheng!”
“Haha, Brother Jing Yan, you’ve always been my role model.”
After the fight, many of the nearby Jing Clan members walked over to Jing Yan to greet him.
Jing Yan responded to all of them with a smile.
After falling to the bottom of his clan, the once-powerful Jing Yan had come to realize many things.
If you were strong, people would come to compliment you; if you were weak, they would simply ignore you.
One didn’t need to pay too much attention to things like that.
“Well, fellas, I have to go back to continue my cultivation. See you guys later,” Jing Yan said. He cupped his hands slightly to them and was about to leave Martial Arts Performing Stadium.
“Goodbye, Brother Jing Yan!”
“Next time, please allow me to buy you a drink, Brother Jing Yan…”
Followed by their warm compliments, Jing Yan walked toward the front gate of the Martial Arts Performing Stadium.
Of course, not everyone started acting friendly to Jing Yan again. There were some higher-ranked disciples in the Martial Arts Performing Stadium who were gazing at Jing Yan with conflicted expressions. They all had strangely mixed feelings about Jing Yan, which perhaps even the warriors themselves couldn’t have explained very well.
“Hey, Brother Jing Yan?”
Just as Jing Yan was about to step out the front gate, several people walked in, led by Jing Chuanling, who was at the Eighth Heaven.
Jing Chuanling had apparently come to get his abilities tested too.
In fact, in the Jing Clan, very few High-ranking warriors like Jing Chuanling attended the monthly abilities test. Some would only go for it when their rank went up.
Yet Jing Chuanling came every month. He wasn’t coming for the pittance of Spiritual Stones that he would receive. For a warrior at the Eighth Heaven, there were many ways to get Spiritual Stones. A couple hundred Spiritual Stones wasn’t much for someone like him. When hunting squads of High-ranking warriors went to the Blackrock Mountains to hunt for Spiritual Beasts, each warrior could earn 1,000 Spiritual Stones a month with relative ease.
Of course, there weren’t that many High-ranking warriors in Dong Lin City. Even in the Four Legendary Families, High-ranking warriors were considered to be top-tier fighters.
The main reason Jing Chuanling came to participate in the test was because he was fond of other people’s compliments and the envious looks in their eyes.
Jing Chuanling greeted Jing Yan with a smile as soon as he saw him.
“Chuanling,” Jing Yan responded with a smile too.
“Haha, you came for the abilities test again, Brother Jing Yan? Is it all done?” Jing Chuanling said with a smile, eyes sparkling. Despite the warmth in his voice, the hints of arrogance and contempt hidden in his eyes didn’t escape Jing Yan.
“Yep. I’m about to leave,” Jing Yan said, keeping the expression of cold amusement off of his face.
Jing Yan couldn’t help holding a grudge against people like Jing Chuanling, but it wasn’t the right time to make an open enemy of Chuanling yet. After all, the man was at the Eighth Heaven. Jing Yan knew it would be challenging to beat him. That challenge would become surpassable soon, so he might as well wait a little longer.
“I know that you really need Spiritual Stones, Brother Jing Yan. Last month I lent you some. Wait a minute for me. Once I get my rewards, I can let you borrow some more!” Jing Chuanling raised the corners of his mouth.
He raised his voice as he spoke, so that everyone present could hear him. Of course, he did that on purpose.
The Jing Clan members behind Jing Chuanling all burst out laughing.
“I appreciate it very much, Jing Chuanling. But no thanks. I’m not short on Spiritual Stones anymore. Oh, right, here are the five Spiritual Stones I borrowed from you last month. I really need to thank you for your generosity. Those five Spiritual Stones helped me so much.” Jing Yan took out five Spiritual Stones and handed them to Jing Chuanling with a smile.
Jing Chuanling paused.
He hadn’t expected that Jing Yan would give the five Spiritual Stones back. In fact, he didn’t expect Jing Yan to even have five Spiritual Stones.
So he didn’t immediately reach out to take them.
Jing Yan chuckled and dropped his arm, letting the five Spiritual Stones fall to the floor. They made a series of quiet clapping sounds as they hit the hard ground.
Jing Yan then walked out the front gate of the Martial Arts Performing Stadium.
Many Jing Clan disciples in the stadium gave Jing Chuanling a strange look. When Jing Yan had been extremely strong, Jing Chuanling used to follow him everywhere. Everyone had known that Jing Chuanling was on Jing Yan’s side. Back then, Jing Chuanling benefited a lot from Jing Yan.
Now people were also aware that Jing Yan seemed to have gone to Jing Chuanling to borrow Spiritual Stones recently, yet Jing Chuanling only gave him five of them. If Jing Yan hadn’t returned the five Spiritual Stones to Jing Chuanling in front of everyone, a lot of the warriors wouldn’t even have known about it.
“This Jing Chuanling is a little ungrateful, isn’t he?”
“Jing Yan gave him so much when he was at his peak, but now Jing Chuanling is treating him like that?”
“Time really reveals a man’s heart!”
Some of the Jing Clan disciples were secretly judging Jing Chuanling, although they didn’t dare to say anything to his face. Jing Chuanling couldn’t do anything about their disapproving thoughts, though.
“D*mn!” Jing Chuanling waited until Jing Yan left to tightly clench his fists. He couldn’t hold in his anger any longer.
The sound of each of those Spiritual Stones hitting the ground had been like a slap in the face. It happened in front of so many people as well. “Clap! Clap! Clap!” It hurt!
“Brother Chuanling!” said a lowered voice.
A Jing Clan disciple who got along very well with Jing Chuanling walked over to him.
“What is it?” Jing Chuanling glanced at him.
“Jing Yan is at the Sixth Heaven now,” the disciple said, still speaking quietly.
“What? That’s impossible!” Jing Chuanling’s eyes flared as he groaned in shock.
Just a month before, he had watched with his own eyes as Jing Yan’s test result showed that his rank was the Third Heaven. It had only been a month! How could his rank be at the Sixth Heaven now?
It was absolutely impossible. Ridiculous!
Nobody would believe it.
“It’s true. We all saw it with our own eyes. Also, Jing Yan fought Jing Lucheng, and Jing Lucheng lost,” the disciple murmured in an even quieter voice. He could sense Jing Chuanling’s anger boiling off of the man.
Jing Chuanling quickly glanced around to look for Jing Lucheng, only to see Jing Lucheng’s pale face and dull eyes. He did look like he had just been defeated by Jing Yan.
Jing Lucheng glanced at Jing Chuanling and quickly left the Martial Arts Performing Stadium without saying a word. He felt too uncomfortable to stay any longer.
“How could that happen? How?” Jing Chuanling, no matter how reluctantly, had to believe what he was being told.
Apparently, many people had just witnessed the fight between Jing Yan and Jing Lucheng.
But, even if Jing Yan was at the Sixth Heaven, how could he beat Jing Lucheng? Jing Lucheng was at the Seventh Heaven. There was no doubt about that!
Jing Chuanling thought for a moment and took a deep breath. A cruel expression spread over his face.
“D*mn it! How dare you humiliate me! Jing Yan, I will never allow you to force me back into your shadow!” Jing Chuanling swore, and the blue veins on his arms started bulging as if they were about to explode.