Behind the forest was a low hilly region. After climbing onto a mound that was a bit higher in elevation, Lin Xi and Qin Xiyue were able to clearly see the two sides of the dispute.

Because all of his close friends were within a radius of a dozen or so li, Lin Xi was quite worried that one of the parties involved was his own good friend. However, the moment they saw who was arguing, Lin Xi and Qin Xiyue’s eyes instantly became filled with bewilderment.

On one side of the dispute within this low hilly region were three gray-robed Medicine Department students. One of them had a tall figure, precisely one of the golden spoons who had previously mocked Lin Xi outside Poisonous Medicine Valley.

On the other side was a young man dressed in fitted golden clothes.

This was clearly not a student from Green Luan Academy.

This youngster who clearly wasn’t from Green Luan Academy was similar to Lin Xi and the others in age, but his face instead had a gloominess and austereness that completely didn’t match his age.

The fitted golden clothes he wore were also made with a certain type of beast skin. Even though it looked soft and lightweight, it clearly had good insulation properties. That was why his face was still rosy, no sign of being cold visible.

The collar and cuffs, including the back of this golden fitted uniform had some designs similar to lightning. At his side was a straight sword carved from tough hardwood, a foot or so longer than even normal longswords.

Between the three black-cloaked Medicine Department students was a wolverine that had already collapsed, its dirty and uneven yellow and black thick fur was covered in traces of blood, impaled and nailed to the ground by a wooden spear.

“I will say this once more. I was the one who chased after this wolverine first, its rear leg already wounded by me. Now that it ran here, its stamina had already been exhausted. All you guys did was stab your spear into my already captured prey, and then said that this prey is yours. This is not reasonable at all.” When faced with the three Medicine Department students, this youngster in golden fitted uniform lowered his eyes slightly, looking at the wolverine who could provide at least twenty to thirty jin of food, saying this with a sunken voice.

His hands and body were already shaking a bit, clearly also suffering from extreme hunger to the point where most of his stamina was gone. However, the expression on his face still remained extremely calm and cold.

“We already talked so much, but it seems like you don’t understand what is going on at all.” The large and tall Medicine Department golden spoon Bai Zihou, who previously mocked Lin Xi outside Poisonous Medicine Valley, gave this fitted golden clothed youngster a look, saying with a sneer, “Even though we don’t know why your Thunder Academy students are here, we aren’t even sure if you really are a Thunder Academy student, we don’t want to really look into it either, there is one thing that you must understand… this Heaven Ascension Mountain Range, in the end, is our Green Luan Academy’s territory. We are training here, so the prey that appears here, is naturally all ours as well. By appearing here, you have undoubtedly disturbed our training as well.”

The golden fitted clothed youngster’s face became more overcast. He gave Bai Zihou a look, and then coldly said, “Jadefall City to the west, Dragon Snake Mountain to the east, Thousand Sunset Mountain down south, even Heaven Ascension Mountain Range here north, are all territory of Yunqin. When did Heaven Ascension Mountain Range suddenly even become Green Luan Academy’s rear garden? Don’t tell me the emperor wrote an imperial order stating that apart from people from Green Luan Academy, no one else could enter Heaven Ascension Mountain Range?”

After a slight pause, this youngster coldly added, “Moreover, I believe that your Green Luan Academy should have already instructed you all that it should be first come, first served, to not do things like fight over prey.”

“It seems like you really don’t understand.” Bai Zihou’s face completely fell. “If our Green Luan Academy’s people were chasing after this wolverine, then we might move aside, but as someone from Thunder Academy, by appearing here and fighting with us over this wolverine, you are precisely our enemy. If you believe you can defeat the three of us, then you can come and take this wolverine. If you cannot, then please do not waste your breath anymore.”

The golden fitted clothed youngster clenched his teeth, saying coldly, “It seems like you all like to bully others with numbers, not willing to talk reason.”

“Brother Bai, why are you wasting so much time with him? We definitely don’t have as much patience as you.” The two Medicine Department students at Bai Zihou’s side both released a snort, not even giving this Thunder Academy academy student a look, directly pulling out a spear to clean this wolverine.

“Good, good, you all were the first ones to decide not to be reasonable.” This Thunder Academy student no longer said anything else, turning around and leaving.

Even though they couldn’t hear the two sides’ conversation, from how they were facing each other, and the wolverine that could provide one person with enough food for at least two days, Lin Xi and Qin Xiyue both guessed that this was the root of the dispute.

Not far from these two’s area of dispute was a bonfire, some dried bamboo that hadn’t been completely burned yet on it. The noise that startled the two gray foxes should be the exploding sound these dried bamboo made when burning.

“Who is that?”

While looking at that golden fitted clothes youngster’s rear figure, Lin Xi’s brows furrowed slightly, quietly asking Qin Xiyue. He only knew that the other party was definitely a cultivator, but why was there a young cultivator not from the academy this deep in Heaven Ascension Mountain Range?

Moreover, judging from how this individual confronted the three Medicine Department students, the other party seemed to not be scared of Green Luan Academy, this giving him an extremely strange feeling.

“I do not know.” Qin Xiyue shook her head, and then said with a sunken voice, “Should we go over and ask Bai Zihou and the others?”

“It seems like this has drawn quite a few people. We can go and see who exactly the other party is.” Lin Xi nodded.

A few black figures appeared around this hilly wasteland, currently heading towards this place of dispute. Even though Lin Xi couldn’t clearly make out that golden fitted clothed youngster’s face and expressions, that cold and prideful rear figure gave him a feeling that this matter wasn’t finished.

…

Because the wilderness was spacious and normally extremely quiet, the sound of the dried bamboo cracking and sounds of dispute traveled quite far. There were clearly quite a few Green Luan Academy students who were startled nearby, approaching this place when they heard the activity.

When they had just descended the slope, Lin Xi and Qin Xiyue encountered three students who walked over along a depression, a bit of their red gowns visible through their fluttering black cloaks; these were Natural Arts Department students.

“Lin Xi?”

Even before Lin Xi and Qin Xiyue said anything, within these three Natural Arts Department, a fair skinned youngster who seemed rather scholarly and quiet stared blankly for a moment, but then immediately cried out in shock.

“You are?” Lin Xi was also surprised. He was one of the three heaven’s choice students in this batch of new students, so it wasn’t all that surprising for students of other departments to recognize him, but these three Natural Arts Department students clearly hadn’t chatted with him before, yet his eyes had a pleasantly surprised expression, as if he saw a good friend. This left him quite surprised.

“What, you don’t remember me?” The fair-skinned, gentle-looking youngster, while everyone else wasn’t paying any attention, winked towards Lin Xi, saying, “I am from Natural Arts Department… also, recently, we’ve discussed matters regarding the Direct Spear Strikes Trial.”

Lin Xi immediately reacted. The other party was ‘Black Rose’ from the training valley.

Even though they had already gotten quite close in the training valley, the two both tacitly understood to never ask about the other’s name. Moreover, Lin Xi never knew that the other party already fully guessed his true identity.

“So you were Black Rose?” A smile appeared on the corners of Lin Xi’s mouth. He sized up this ‘Black Rose’ who he had never seen the true appearance of, and then put on an apologetic expression of suddenly remembering, “I remember… but last time, you didn’t tell me your name?”

When Jiang Xiaoyi saw that Lin Xi didn’t deny this, he already knew that his judgement right from the start was completely correct, as such, he excitedly walked over, reached out a hand, and then with an expression of incomparable respect, said, “I’m Jiang Xiaoyi.”

“Nice to meet you.” Lin Xi looked at this friend who he had already gotten quite close to in the training valley, but only met for the first time now, seriously shaking Jiang Xiaoyi’s hand.

This type of feeling was perhaps just like meeting for the first time in person with a good friend who you chatted with online, grew extremely close to.

When he recalled Lin Xi’s world shocking performance in the Direct Spear Strikes Trial and the Blade and Spear Trial, and then looked at Lin Xi’s gentle smiling expression, Jiang Xiaoyi, this youngster who normally wasn’t all that overcautious couldn’t help but become a bit reserved, momentarily laughing in an embarrassed manner, not knowing what to say.

The other Natural Arts Department Students who walked with Jiang Xiaoyi frowned, quite confused, not knowing why Jiang Xiaoyi was so close to this ‘ninety jin heaven’s choice’ whose reputation really wasn’t all that great.

The sound of dried grass being stepped on sounded from not far away. Two more academy students walked out from different directions.

One of them had a chubby figure. The moment he saw Lin Xi, he was about to cry. It was precisely Lin Xi’s good friend, little fatty Meng Bai.

Meanwhile, the moment the other one saw Lin Xi walking together with Qin Xiyue, he revealed a stunned expression. It was one of the very few people Lin Xi disliked greatly, the handsome Liu Ziyu.

Suddenly, Lin Xi seemed to have remembered something, using a voice only him and Qin Xiyue could hear, he said to her, “Xiyue, why are you together with this ninety jin heaven’s choice?”

“What?” Qin Xiyue stared blankly for a moment, still not reacting, but then heard Liu Ziyu who already walked over say, “Xiyue, why are you together with this ninety jin heaven’s choice?”

The words and tone Liu Ziyu spoke these words with were exactly the same as how Lin Xi spoke them. This made Qin Xiyue immediately release a pfft sound, quietly laughing.

“I don’t feel like explaining anything to him. If you have the patience to slowly explain things to him, then I’m going to head on first to find out just what kind of saint that fella is.” Lin Xi laughed, and then after saying this quietly to Qin Xiyue, he pretended he didn’t even see Liu Ziyu, patted Jiang Xiaoyi’s shoulder, waved towards Meng Bai, and then directly walked towards where Bai Zihou’s group of three Medicine Department Students were.

“Did you see a person dressed in fitted golden clothes just now?” When Qin Xiyue’s laughter ended, she didn’t bother explaining either, walking upwards, asking Liu Ziyu who was currently walking over.

Lin Xi treating him as empty air already filled Liu Ziyu with anger, and Qin Xiyue’s soft laugh, now not replying to his words either, even more so made his mind completely sink. He didn’t know what happened between Lin Xi and Qin Xiyue that actually made her attitude towards him change so greatly. This filled him with an even greater wave of cold anger, to the extent where his expression was even a bit rigid, not too natural.

“Golden fitted clothes? I haven’t?” Because his brain was completely preoccupied with Lin Xi, how he was together with Qin Xiyue, he actually momentarily didn’t think too much or feel too much shock when he heard her ask him about a golden fitted clothes individual.

…

“Ninety jin heaven’s choice?”

Bai Zihou and the others who had already returned to the bonfire, starting to skin the wolverine also heard the sounds of someone stepping on dried grass. They turned around, seeing Lin Xi appear from the mountain depression. The large and tall Medicine Department youngster also immediately revealed a sneer, nodding towards the wolverine in front of him, saying, “What do you think, this wolverine we hunted isn’t bad, right?”

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Lin Xi smiled, saying, “It isn’t bad indeed, but I just don’t know if you forcibly seized it from someone else’s hands, or if you really hunted it yourself.”

The faces of Bai Zihou’s group of three immediately sunk. Bai Zihou stared coldly at Lin Xi, saying, “What are you trying to say?”

Lin Xi said, “Nothing really, I just want to ask about that golden fitted clothed individual’s background.”

“Why should I tell you?” Bai Zihou said with a cold laugh, “Because you are ninety jin heaven’s choice?”

When he heard Bai Zihou’s mockery, Qin Xiyue who was in the back frowned, about to say something, but Liu Ziyu who walked at her side asked again, “Xiyue, before, you had a falling out with Gao Yanan over this person, but today, it seems like your opinion of him has changed greatly, why is that?”

When she heard Liu Ziyu ask this again, Qin Xiyue couldn’t pretend as if she didn’t hear him either. With a sunken voice, she said, “My previous opinion of him might have been a bit extreme, he said that in a bit, he will prove to me that he isn’t like how I viewed him.”

“Proof, what proof? With the judgment of a Self Defense Department lecturer present, there is no way that type of test is wrong.” Liu Ziyu took a deep breath, controlling his own exploding mood, speaking with a sneer, “Someone like him is all talk to begin with, putting on an act. Xiyue, don’t tell me you actually believe him?”

Qin Xiyue became a bit unhappy, saying clearly, “Whether I believe or not doesn’t matter, we’ll know if it’s real or fake when he proves himself.”

She felt a bit discontent inside. Liu Ziyu’s suppressed anger could no longer be restrained. He just could not figure out why this bumpkin from a small countryside town had such a weird magical power, to actually make Gao Yanan and Qin Xiyue display clear changes in opinion one after the other.

This was only a bumpkin with a meager cultivation level!

“Proof? Then we’ll just let him prove himself!”

Liu Ziyu’s expression even became a bit pale. He took a deep breath, and then took large steps towards Lin Xi, saying fiercely, “Lin Xi, I really want to know what kind of method you are going to use to prove yourself to Xiyue!”