Chapter Thirteen: What the hell are you guys doing?

  Xu Qingxue walked behind Xu Ziyuan, occasionally glancing up at Xu Ziyuan's back. Her mind kept thinking, actually she hadn't slept well since last night. She kept thinking about the scene of her and Xu Ziyuan fighting, those scenes constantly replaying in front of her eyes.

  She was considered a child prodigy by her family from a young age, starting to cultivate at the age of three and reaching the sixth layer of acquired realm by thirteen. This is not unprecedented in the Xu family, but there are not many people like her who have never taken a single medicinal pill and relied solely on their own efforts to cultivate to the sixth layer of acquired realm.

  In the Xu family, in fact not only in the Xu family, but also in every family on this continent, those direct disciples and ordinary disciples have been different since birth. Although they cannot eat dan medicine like sugar beans like Xu Ziyuan now, there are still many dan medicines that can be eaten, so many so-called genius youngsters in many families are actually **made**.

  However, Xu Qingxue was different. She came from a poor family and relied solely on her own talent and hard work to cultivate herself. So in her small heart, she had always been very proud of herself. Yesterday when Xu Ziyuan came to visit her, without saying a few words, she understood Xu Ziyuan's intention. Originally having a cold and arrogant personality, she thought that Xu Ziyuan had heard about her reputation and came to ask for her guidance. So it was inevitable that she would be somewhat haughty.

  Moreover, she deeply thought that cultivation was not something to be talked about. If you want to communicate, you can only understand after fighting. When she just wanted to say it to Xu Ziyuan, she didn't expect Xu Ziyuan to misunderstand her as unwilling to communicate with herself, so she proposed to take leave.

  After Xu Ziyuan left, Xu Qingshu felt that she had accepted the other's gift and saw that Xu Ziyuan had obviously misunderstood her. She felt a little apologetic in her heart, so she decided to wait for Xu Ziyuan to come back and then go visit her. At worst, she would just spar with her and point out each other's mistakes during their match.

  However, the result of the fight was that she was extremely embarrassed and disheartened. At first, she could still gain some advantage, but after just over a dozen rounds, she completely lost her advantage. In the end, she was even knocked back by Xu Ziyuan with one punch, and Xu Qingshuang could see that her opponent had not used his full strength at all.

  She raised her head again to take a glance at Xu Ziyuan's back, and suddenly an idea flashed through Xu Qingsnow's mind. The Xu Ziyuan in front of her was absolutely not a mediocre person, and who knows, she might soar to great heights in the future. If she were to befriend her now, it might bring great benefits to herself later on. But did she have to submit to her like this? Proud Xu Qingsnow had another thought in her heart, unwilling as she was. And so, she followed Xu Ziyuan and the others to the lecture hall in a daze.

  Everyone chose a place to sit on the ground, talking in a low voice, waiting for the teacher's arrival. Before a moment had passed, the main hall suddenly fell silent, and Xu Ziyuan and others also hurriedly closed their mouths, looking forward with their heads raised. A middle-aged man walked up to the front podium with a leisurely pace. With a glance from Xu Ziyuan's spiritual eye, she saw that the other party was a cultivator of the first layer of the Refining Qi period.

  The middle-aged man walked onto the stage, not looking at anyone, and began to speak directly. Everyone below was quiet, listening attentively one by one. Today was the first lesson for the new disciples of the outer sect, so he lectured on the fundamental principles of cultivation from the fifth layer of the acquired period to the twelfth layer of the earth. These were exactly what the new disciples lacked, so they listened extremely seriously, as if in a trance.

  At this time, the main hall was filled with new disciples, only a few dozen people. Those old men from the outer halls knew that this was the first lesson for the new disciples and it would be about some basic things, so they didn't come at all.

  Xu Ziyuan was also listening very seriously at the bottom, her cultivation was naturally different from these new disciples, and there was a complete set of gongfa in the inheritance, so she would immediately understand every word of the teacher, and also learn from it, generalize and be greatly inspired. Soon Xu Ziyuan integrated the things taught by the teacher.

  The teacher finished his lesson and glanced at the disciples below, only to see that they all looked confused. He secretly smiled in his heart, knowing that he had only given them a general overview of the sixth to twelfth levels of cultivation for the day, and that these novice disciples who had just started to understand this level would not be able to comprehend it. After all, when he first entered the outer hall to listen to the lecture, wasn't he also confused? Anyway, in the future, he will explain each layer one by one, and whether they can understand it or not depends on their individual enlightenment.

  He felt a sense of emotion and didn't want to disturb the disciples' epiphany, so he wanted to leave. However, his gaze suddenly froze as he saw Xǔ Zǐyān sitting in the crowd. Xǔ Zǐyān sat there with a clear gaze, without a hint of confusion or perplexity.

  At this time, Xu Ziyuan saw the teacher stop and obviously wanted to leave. She thought that she and others should also leave, but when she looked at Xu Li and Xu Ling beside her, she found that they were all sitting there in a daze. Xu Ziyuan felt strange, so she turned her head around and found that dozens of people in the hall were like this, with a confused look in their eyes.

  She was completely lost here, but the teacher on the podium was not happy. He looked at Xu Ziyuan's distracted appearance and decided that she was slacking off and hadn't listened to his lecture at all. He absolutely wouldn't believe that a new disciple could grasp the basics of cultivation after just one class, so there was only one reason for her clear eyes - she hadn't been paying attention in class.

  With a cold hum, he thought to himself, such an ignorant thing, wait for future suffering, even if it's death, this kind of person is not worth pitying. He swung his sleeve and glared fiercely at Xu Ziyuan before turning around and leaving the grand hall.

  It just so happened that Xu Ziyuan saw the teacher's eyes, and Xu Ziyuan was very disheartened. She didn't know how she had offended the teacher, and why the teacher glared at her fiercely when leaving.

  At this time, the disciples were awakened by the teacher's cold hum as he was about to leave. Seeing the teacher's back as he departed, they stood up in unison, bowed their bodies and paid their respects:

  "Thank you, teacher."

  After seeing off the teacher, Xu Ziyuan found that everyone did not leave, but was whispering to each other in a low voice. Xu Ziyuan was also affected and quietly pulled Xu Li, saying in a low voice:

  "Xu Li, why isn't everyone leaving? What are they whispering about over there?"

  Xu Li's expression was difficult to look at, and she leaned in close to Xu Ziyuan, whispering: "Everyone is afraid to go out!"

  "Why?" Xǔ Zǐyān asked in puzzlement.

  "This is the rule of the outer sect. After new disciples finish their first lesson, those senior brothers will be waiting for us at the gate of the main hall."

  "What are we waiting for?" Xǔ Zǐyān was already feeling a bit uneasy in her heart.

  "Beat us up! Every new apprentice will be beaten by the senior apprentices, and then every month they will ask us to give them some gold and silver as protection fees. If we don't give it to them, they will beat us to death, and our families won't care."

  Here is the translation:

  "Speaking of this, Xu Li let out a light sigh and said: 'If it were just that they beat us up and took some gold and silver, that would be fine. What's even more hateful is that every month when our family gives us outer disciples one grain of Yun Ling Dan, they will come to rob us of it too. And we can't defeat them in a fight. Without the Yun Ling Dan, our cultivation progress will fall further behind theirs and we'll be bullied by them forever.'"

  "Then there's no way to solve it?" Xǔ Zǐyān asked with a furrowed brow.

  "There is a way, unless you join their gang and become one of their dogs. That way, you'll suffer less bullying."

  "...So the family doesn't care? Is this rule set by the family?" Xǔ Zǐyān asked somewhat indignantly.

  "This is not a family rule, but something these old brothers came up with themselves. However, the family also knows about this matter, but they don't intervene, saying that there must be competition to make progress. Only after experiencing cruelty can one become a true talent."

  After listening, Xu Ziyuan couldn't help but sigh. This method is cruel, but anyone who can survive in such an environment must be the strongest person of this generation. It's not a bad way to cultivate talent for the family, it's just too cruel. After thinking about it, he shook his head and said:

  "But we can't stay in this grand hall for our whole lives, can we?"

  "Yes!" Xu Li also said with a worried tone, looking around blankly at the people whispering to each other.

  "What's wrong with that, let's just fight it out, Sister Ziyun, we'll take the fight outside." Xie Ziyun didn't need to turn around to know that the one who said this was Xie Qingshuo, that hot-headed troublemaker. But after thinking about it for a moment, it seemed like there was no other way to do things. Besides, Xie Ziyun had already tasted the sweetness of victory from her previous exchange with Xie Qingshuo, and she had thought to herself that once she became familiar with the outer sect and understood who the strong ones were, she would go seek them out one by one for a fight. Now that they were delivering themselves to her doorstep, it seemed like there was no harm in getting a head start on things.

  Just as she was thinking of going out with her companions, the disciples in the grand hall seemed to have made up their minds too, and slowly walked towards the outside. So, Xu Ziyuan also stopped talking and followed the crowd to go outside.

  As soon as they walked out of the grand hall, they saw many people standing outside. Xu Ziyuan took a rough glance and estimated that there were over a hundred people, divided into four groups standing not far from the entrance of the grand hall. Each and every one of them was smiling at the newly arrived disciples with an air of ridicule, their eyes gleaming like wolves spotting sheep.

  This time, thirty-six new disciples joined. At this moment, more than a dozen people walked to the front of those old disciples. Each person took out a pouch from their body and handed it over with both hands to the old disciples in front of them. Those old disciples received the pouches, weighed them in their hands, and then put them into their own bosoms. The new disciples who had paid saw that the other party had accepted the money bags they handed over, one by one showing delight on their faces, bowing their heads and paying respects:

  "Everyone, can we go now?"

  "Slap!!"

  A burst of slapping sounds sent those new disciples retreating in succession. A loud and clear voice came from the crowd:

  "You're even worse than pigs and dogs, get out of here!"