Chapter 78 The First Challenge Target

Chapter 78: Chapter 78: The First Challenge Target

The group gathered together.

Xie Yanran pointed to Hong Yuan beside her, who looked a bit embarrassed. "Huo Ming, this is my husband, Hong Yuan. Old Hong."

Huo Ming nodded slightly, scrutinizing Hong Yuan for a few moments. After making him feel a burst of awkwardness, Huo Ming finally smiled.

He extended his left hand to shake Hong Yuan’s. "I heard from Master that you’ve taken great care of my senior sister these past few years. Thank you very much."

Flattered and slightly overwhelmed, Hong Yuan immediately gripped Huo Ming’s hand tightly. "No, no, it’s actually Old Xie who has been helping me out. Otherwise, I would have died a long time ago."

The atmosphere instantly relaxed.

Huo Ming shifted his gaze back to Xie Yanran. "Eldest Senior Sister, you’ve suffered these past few years."

Xie Yanran waved her hand nonchalantly. "That’s all in the past. You, on the other hand, have really made us proud. You were the weakest among the six of us back then, but now I’m afraid you’re even stronger than me."

With that, she pointed at Feng Yin. "This is your youngest junior brother."

Huo Ming looked at Feng Yin with a gentle smile. "I heard from Master last night. Our genius junior brother, Feng Yin—the future face of our Gangrou Sect."

Beside them, Xiao Yu chimed in randomly, "And he’s very handsome, too!"

Huo Ming cast a helpless glance at his little junior sister, then reached out to pat Feng Yin’s shoulder. "Welcome to our big family."

Feng Yin returned the smile. "Senior Brother Huo Ming, I’ll be in your care from now on."

Saying so, Huo Ming turned around and waved the six young men and women over.

Through the mutual introductions, Feng Yin learned of their identities.

Sure enough, they were all children of wealthy and powerful families from various corporations.

The young men were all handsome, well-proportioned, unfailingly polite, and exuded an elegant demeanor.

The young women were equally beautiful, well-educated, and possessed an air of refined grace.

These people were quite polite to Feng Yin, but they showed no obvious enthusiasm—their warmth was primarily focused on Xiao Yu.

It seemed that rather than striving for success in Martial Cultivation to win Xie Jingyuan’s favor, these scions were more inclined to gain Xiao Yu’s friendship, or even her affection.

"Feng Yin, come here."

On the other side, Xie Jingyuan waved Feng Yin over.

Feng Yin, who was already uncomfortable with this kind of socializing, immediately ignored the pleading look Xiao Yu shot him and turned to walk over. "Master."

Xie Jingyuan gave a slight nod. "Did you rest well?"

Feng Yin answered honestly, "Not really. It was a bit... too comfortable..."

"Heh, that’s an interesting way to put it." Xie Jingyuan smiled and shook his head, then cut straight to the chase. "I’ve arranged your first opponent."

Feng Yin’s expression shifted slightly. "Understood, Master. When do we head over?"

Seeing Feng Yin’s straightforwardness, Xie Jingyuan laughed instead. "Don’t you think I’ve arranged this a bit too fast?"

Feng Yin replied softly, "I don’t know much about anything, but I know you won’t harm me, Master."

Xie Jingyuan paused slightly, his gaze toward Feng Yin softening even more.

He had been a poor judge of character in the past, betrayed by that ungrateful wretch Shang Yunjie, which had led to the deaths of nearly all six of the disciples he had meticulously cultivated. Perhaps influenced by this, when he later advanced to a higher realm and his Spiritual Will achieved a breakthrough, he awakened to a profound and mysterious instinct—the ability to sense the true moral nature of those close to him.

This was the "ability to read people" he had mentioned to Chen Jingzhong last night.

That was why, when he met Feng Yin on Border Prison Island, he was still willing to accept him as a disciple even after the butler warned that Feng Yin might be a felon.

His instinct told him that Feng Yin was not an evil person.

Xie Jingyuan didn’t say much else; he simply patted Feng Yin’s shoulder lightly. "Your first opponent is an Elite student from the Battle Flower Club, which has been rooted in Coastal City for many years."

"Flower of Battle?" Feng Yin felt that this name didn’t quite match the naming style of the Sects in Celestial Essence.

Xie Jingyuan smiled. "It’s a combat Flow from the Ousu and Soviet Countries. It encompasses various cold weapon combat techniques, but its most representative one is Long Swordsmanship. Their Coastal head coach, Dean, is on good terms with me. He mentioned that he has an Elite student he has spent three years carefully Cultivating. This student also Cultivates Long Swordsmanship and is being prepared to participate in this year’s Rising Star Ranking Tournament."

He looked at Feng Yin. "He’s a ready-made opponent for you."

Feng Yin nodded slowly. "Master, what Level... will this Elite student be?"

Xie Jingyuan chuckled. "Don’t worry. No matter how strong he is, he won’t surpass Fierce Upper. I can tell you frankly that among those under twenty, there are very few people whose physique can match yours. I have no intention of setting you up against them just yet."

Feng Yin was a little confused. "Master... I’ve only been practicing Martial arts for less than a month. Everyone else has started earlier than me, right? Why does everyone seem so confident in my physical prowess?"

Seeing Feng Yin’s "ignorant" appearance, Xie Jingyuan smiled. "You really do lack a lot of common sense.

"Although there are many people at the Fierce Level in the world, the Absolute majority of them only rely on Breathing Techniques and other special Cultivation Techniques to Refine their bodies and break past the limits of ordinary people after the age of sixteen."

He posed a question to Feng Yin, "Do you know why that is?"

Feng Yin shook his head simply. "I don’t know."

Xie Jingyuan explained, "Because the body must first finish developing to touch the limits of an ordinary human. Only then can they use special methods to break through those limits and enter the Fierce Level.

"Pushing the body past its limits for Cultivation before development is complete won’t just yield poor results; it will also damage one’s physical foundation and leave behind hidden injuries that are hard to Repair."

He pointed at Xiao Yu, who was currently overwhelmed and completely surrounded by a group of people.

"Xiao Yu also didn’t officially begin her Martial arts practice until she was seventeen. After conditioning her body for several months, she started Cultivating the Dragon Transformation Breathing Technique. Now, at eighteen, she has only just reached the Fierce Lower Level.

"And she is already considered a rare genius.

"The same goes for other geniuses. They won’t start to Xiu Breathing Techniques for physical Enhancement until they are at least sixteen."

He finally looked at Feng Yin. "The geniuses capable of participating in the Rising Star Tournament have, at most, practiced Breathing Techniques for Four years longer than you. And that small amount of time basically isn’t enough to let anyone break through to the peak ’Five People’ strength of Upper-Rank Ferocity."

Feng Yin took a deep breath. "I understand. No matter who my opponent is, I will go all out."

He truly hadn’t realized before that Cultivation for Superhumans in this world had age requirements. He had assumed there would be Superhumans who had started Cultivating Breathing Techniques since childhood.

If that were the case, then the biggest gap between him and his competitors was probably just "actual combat experience."

While they were speaking, Xiao Yu finally finished dealing with the endless coddling and inquiries of their fellow Sect members and came running over, TAP TAP TAP, her footsteps echoing against the floor. "Big Junior Brother! You left me alone over there. That was so disloyal of you."

Before Feng Yin could speak, Xie Jingyuan looked at Xiao Yu. "You’re here just in time. I’ve already set the appointment. At ten o’clock in the morning three days from now, you will take Feng Yin to the Battle Flower Club in the North District."

"Oh? Are we going to challenge their dojo!?" Xiao Yu’s eyes lit up, and she nodded enthusiastically with a cheerful grin. "Don’t worry, Master! I promise I’ll take good care of Junior Brother."

Feng Yin looked at Xie Jingyuan. "Aren’t you coming with me, Master?"

Xie Jingyuan patted him on the shoulder. "Chen Jingzhong is going abroad to negotiate corporate business. Naturally, I have to go with him for a few days. During that time, I’ll arrange your targets over the phone."

His eyes carried a hint of a smile. "Let’s see how many opponents you can defeat before I come back.

"If you manage to satisfy me, I will teach you the third stance of the Cyan Dragon Secret Sword."

***