The name of Cottage's Ye Qiubai quickly spread throughout the Academy.
Countless people were amazed at his strength.
It was as if, among those in the Golden Core Pill Realm, he was already invincible!
Sword Hall.
Xin Hongyi heard the news.
"Ye Qiubai is the disciple Cottage took in that day, huh..."
"But if he can do it, I can do it even better."
"I'll show you just how much you lost by not accepting me as your disciple that day."
With that, Xin Hongyi grabbed a sword and headed straight to the martial arts arena.
That same day, Xin Hongyi's name also spread across the Academy.
Ten matches, ten wins, complete domination!
Standing on the martial arts stage, Xin Hongyi declared she'd challenge Ye Qiubai at the Academy Grand Competition!
The crowd went wild.
Meanwhile, at Martial Hall.
Inside a small courtyard.
Ye Yan sat on a stone chair, his face a storm of emotions.
"Ye Qiubai! No way, how is this possible?!"
He'd seen it himself—the day Ye Qiubai lost his talent, lost all his cultivation!
It's only been a few days?
But he's already reached the peak of the Golden Core Pill realm, and he's shining in the Academy!
"No, I can't let him walk back into the family alive..."
Right now, there was an internal power struggle within the Ye family.
Great Elder Ye Ling and the current head Ye Qing were fighting for supremacy.
Ye Qing was at a disadvantage because of his son Ye Qiubai's situation.
But if the old guys in the family learned Ye Qiubai's talent had not only returned but was greater than ever, things would flip in Ye Qing's favor.
"In that case..."
A cruel glint appeared in Ye Yan's eyes.
Meanwhile, in the Martial Arts Pavilion, where the Academy's techniques and skills were stored.
Ye Qiubai, flush with contribution points, naturally came to check out the martial arts and cultivation techniques here.
He circled the cultivation technique section several times.
Looked at a few books, including some Earth-Tier techniques.
"No wonder it's the Hidden Dao Academy, these techniques are way better than those from outside families and sects."
The Ye family's technique was just a Mystic-Tier.
But Ye Qiubai wasn't interested in any of these. After all, compared to Lu Chang'sheng's Primordial Sword Scripture, these were miles behind.
Just what tier is that Primordial Sword Scripture anyway…
His master was really mysterious.
He had no idea what level Lu Chang'sheng's strength was at, to be able to take out something like the Primordial Sword Scripture—and even paint such scenery-soaked scrolls.
Thinking about it, Ye Qiubai respected Lu Chang'sheng even more.
Meanwhile, lying in the Cottage, sunbathing, Lu Chang'sheng suddenly sneezed.
"Achoo! What little bastard's cursing me?"
Passing by the martial arts section, Ye Qiubai was drawn to a lone and incomplete volume.
He walked over and picked it up—Nine Heavenly Demon Sword.
Flipping through, it only had training methods for the first to the third move of the sword.
Ye Qiubai thought for a moment. The sword techniques in the Primordial Sword Scripture were just too hard for him to use right now—some he couldn't even touch.
Might as well use this Nine Heavenly Demon Sword as a stepping stone.
With that thought, Ye Qiubai took the book and went out. When he handed over contribution points, the elder guarding the pavilion said, "This is an incomplete volume. The last six moves aren't even found here at Hidden Dao Academy. Whether you can obtain them in the future… is up to luck. You sure you want this?"
Ye Qiubai nodded.
Seeing this, the pavilion elder didn't say more and handed Nine Heavenly Demon Sword to Ye Qiubai, then sat back down for a nap.
Once Ye Qiubai got back to the Cottage, Lu Chang'sheng was fertilizing the willow tree, and feeding spirit fruit to the little bird nearby.
"Tch, a tree needs me to feed it spirit soil; a little bird eats spirit fruit too, such a money pit."
The little bird flapped its fiery red wings, showing its annoyance.
Seeing Ye Qiubai come over, Lu Chang'sheng tossed the spirit soil to him and said, "Finish the rest of this work, then come see me."
Ye Qiubai nodded.
Once it was all done,
he finally found Lu Chang'sheng.
Lu Chang'sheng lounged on the long chair, "I heard you hit up the martial arts arena today? How'd you do?"
Ye Qiubai cupped his fists and answered respectfully, "I didn't shame the Cottage's name, all wins.
Master, I have something I'd like to ask."
He took out the incomplete Nine Heavenly Demon Sword and asked, "I just got this from the martial arts area, hoping you could give me some pointers."
Lu Chang'sheng glanced at it, then took it, "Incomplete volume?"
[Incomplete Nine Heavenly Demon Sword. Can repair and improve.]
The system has this ability?
"Repair it."
With that, the last six moves of the Nine Heavenly Demon Sword appeared in Lu Chang'sheng's mind.
"Come here."
Ye Qiubai stepped up, and Lu Chang'sheng pressed a finger to his forehead. A flood of information poured into Ye Qiubai's sea of consciousness.
The complete Nine Heavenly Demon Sword!
Lu Chang'sheng then picked up a branch and, following the demon sword's techniques, broke it down and demonstrated move by move.
Ye Qiubai watched from the side, utterly shocked.
Because what Lu Chang'sheng showed wasn't just a perfect recreation of the incomplete manual's moves—it was even more ingenious than the original, and the power was way higher!
Once all nine moves were displayed,
Lu Chang'sheng set down the branch and said, "Not bad, plenty strong for your needs. Now, in two days it's the Academy Grand Competition. Get ready, then go cook, your teacher's hungry."
With that, Lu Chang'sheng headed into the cottage.
The next two days,
Ye Qiubai focused on training the Nine Heavenly Demon Sword without stop.
By the day of the Academy Grand Competition, Ye Qiubai could already wield the fifth move of the Nine Heavenly Demon Sword.
"A shame my current realm only lets me barely use the fifth move."
Thinking of how easily Lu Chang'sheng performed it before, he sighed at how much further he had to go.
The Academy Grand Competition.
Held at Hidden Dao Academy's plaza.
The place buzzed with voices; countless people crowded around six high stages.
These six stages meant there'd be six winners this Grand Competition.
The six who prevailed would represent Southern Region's Hidden Dao Academy at the exchange matches with the East, West, and North Academies.
"Exchange" was really code for battle—for grabbing Academy resources.
Qin Tiannan appeared in mid-air and called out, "Here are six platforms. By sundown, whoever remains on them wins. No rules, except no killing."
Then Qin Tiannan announced the prizes for the winners.
Immediately, the crowd exploded—the rewards this year beat all previous Grand Competitions.
The Academy Grand Competition began.
But nobody moved first.
Since results were announced at sunset, rushing up early meant getting dogpiled and ground down by others, even if you won your fights.
On seats not far away, Qin Tiannan sat with all the Hall elders.
Lu Chang'sheng was dragged over by Qin Tiannan.
Looking thoroughly unhappy.
"Come on, I usually leave you be, but your disciple's competing today and you, as master, are gonna watch whether you like it or not."
Qin Tiannan spotted Lu Chang'sheng's sulky face and couldn't help but laugh, "I wanna see just how far your disciple gets in this Grand Competition."