The Founder of Qi Cultivation, Reincarnates?

The chubby man ignored all the vile and not-so-savory curses directed towards him. Instead, a wide grin was seen on his face, he believe that this was going to be a huge harvest!

He just confirmed Ji Mei was indeed going to battle as she had not denied his words prior. Even if people can’t afford the entry fee, with the prospect of seeing Ji Mei battle they might even sell all of their belongings just to pay the entry fee!

A good businessman was one who knew how to take advantage of any situation to rake in a huge profit!

Even though the chubby man wasn’t able to make up his losses today from Ji Mei herself, using this method he might even make a profit worth three years of business!

The chubby man’s fat jiggled excitedly as he thought about this. He also made his way to the battle arena as even he wanted to see Ji Mei in action.

Upon entering through the battle arena’s entrance, Yang Su and the others were immediately greeted with loud cheering. It was all directed towards Ji Mei in front of them.

She was like an SSS tier-list celebrity from how fanatic these people were calling out her name.

They also heard cheers for the Ji Niu and the others too; since with their rankings, it should be obvious they would garner some loyal fans of their own.

While being in this environment, the group couldn’t help but feel they were at a major disadvantage being on the away turf. They hadn’t expected this simple sparring battle between them would devolve into something this huge.

“Hey! You can’t lose against those Borderners! Show them the pride of our Celestial Academy!!”

A barely audible voice filled with youthful hot-bloodedness could be heard among the cheers of the away team.

It was from a young Celestial Academy disciple that had been caught up in the excitement and was swept into the battle arena.

Borderners around him all turned to give him mocking laughs.

“You Mainlanders are really too pitiful. Are those well know geniuses from the Mainland? I bet they pale in comparison to Goddess Ji Mei and the others.”

That Celestial Academy disciple shot that person a defiant look as he yelled back.

“What do you know! Do you see that girl who doesn’t lose out to your Ji Mei in looks? That’s Silk Goddess Lihua! And that white-haired youth, that’s senior brother Jun and he’s called the Little Spear Emperor! That twin sword user is senior brother Fang Chen, and his nickname on our Mainland is Slaughter Sword Fang Chen! That’s Blade Demon Mu Fan!… He’s Tranquil Sword Saint Fei Yin!!”

By the time the youth finished, his face was red and his chest was rising and falling as he struggled to catch his breath.

All the Borderners look on with slightly amused expressions.

“I must admit that Silk Goddess Lihua isn’t bad looking, but comparable to our Ji Mei? You must be blind. As for those people with the fancy-sounding titles, they might hold weight on your Mainland but here at the border, we see it as a way for you Mainlanders to make yourself sound more powerful than you really are.”

“That’s right. You get those titles by battling and defeating some weak pushovers, do you think our genies are of a similar caliber? Look brat, I’ll just point out one of our geniuses and list his accomplishments. Do you see that guy with the fan? That’s Cheng Li. He once single-handedly went into a hoard of mid-stage Rank 3 Sea Beasts and slaughtered them left and right to save three of his injured fellow Battalions members. He also has an eye for strategy and has contributed to the improvements of the formations that all of the Battalions at the border use. It practically saved thousands of lives.”

As the Celestial Academy disciple heard about Cheng Li’s accomplishments, his heart let out a loud thud. He glanced at Cheng Li and a feeling of respect unwillingly rise in his heart.

That Borderners saw the look in his eyes and he smiled.

“Now do you see the difference between you Mainlanders and us? We don't give our geniuses some fancy name... well, that Wu Kai is an exception, he’s a complete lunatic.”

The Celestial Academy disciple wanted to refute with something but he had nothing. Lihua and the others haven’t done things like that before. They’ve become a top Faction in the Celestial Academy and contributed greatly by exterminating Demonic Cults' hideouts. But in the Borderners' eyes, that meant nothing to them.

The Celestial Academy now realized Hao Yu’s words back on the ship were right. They were being looked down upon but they had no way to refute it.

That disciple became depressed and he chose to remain silent. Though he didn’t lose hope that Lihua and the others would win and show these Borderners they were wrong about Mainlanders.

“Hey brat, you only mention five of those people, who are the others?”

The disciple hearing that question looked back at the center of the arena.

He pointed to Tai and Li Wen, explaining that he wasn’t familiar with them since they weren’t from the Celestial Academy.

“What about the veil-hat person who’s trying to be all mysterious?”

“That’s-”

The Celestial Academy disciple paused as he looked at Yang Su. Seeing the veil hat, suddenly, a rumor he heard in the Academy from a senior came to mind and a chill immediately went down his spine.

He was merely an Inner Disciple that had been promoted recently, so it took him a while to recognize Yang Su.

“Th-That person is our Celestial Academy's Faceless Demon.”

The disciple said with a stutter.

“Hahaha! Again with those fancy names?”

The people around the disciple immediately burst out laughing after hearing the name, but he didn’t respond. He simply kept staring at Yang Su while wearing a nervous expression.

‘I can’t believe I got to see him in person, I’ve only heard stories about him.’

Yang Su’s existence in the Celestial Academy had become strange during the three years Li Shen was growing the faction, and the following half a year after he died.

Ever since Jun and the others stepped into the spotlight, all eyes in the academy had landed on the Divine Sword Music Faction. It’s not every day that several Top Chosens form a single group.

But despite Jun and the others' high profile, this disciple who continually hid his presence and remain low-key drew more attention.

Well, rather, he had drawn more rumors about him as to why he was hiding his appearance.

Some say he hid his face because of his hideous appearance, while others say if he didn’t and one looked at him, they would be cursed to die a miserable death.

There was a story that told of a disciple who had unmasked him, in retaliation this person called Faceless Demon left his corpses charred black.

It might not be true since the academy would have intervened, but then again it might be that the Second Prince had used his position to get him out of trouble.

All in all, the Faceless Demon had become somewhat of a Taboo to talk about by the few disciples that now of him. The complete opposite of the enigmatic Shoeless Hero.

‘Could he fight Ji Mei one-one?’

The disciple asked himself upon recalling the rumors that said he was extremely terrifying.

As the cheers from the Borderners ceaselessly continued, a thought popped into the group’s minds.

‘This might as well be a miniature Chosen Tournament.’

While the others were feeling a bit overwhelmed by this situation, Lihua suddenly stopped before taking out a jade slip and reading a message.

Her face changed to a cold expression after finishing before she turned to the others and said.

“The Ming Clan and the Demon Sects have arrived.”

Everyone’s faces mirrored Lihua’s as they heard this news.

“For now, let’s just observe them.”

After saying that, Fei Yin turned to Jun and said.

“Have your Beggars Group work with Lihua’s Intelligence gathering team on this. Place them in the city’s auction houses, taverns, Inns, and-”

“No need to tell me, I know what to do.”

Jun politely cut Fei Yin off before taking out a jade slip of his own.

Lihua’s Intelligence Gathering Team as the name suggests was responsible for intel gathering as well as covert operations. Jun's own Beggars Group was kind of a branch of her group but was mainly focused on the information-gathering aspect. His members made up of mortals were able to blend into any environment, as even in a cultivated city like this, there were numerous mortals to be found.

After sending his message, Jun thought of something. Turning to Lihua he asked seriously.

“Lihua, has there been any news of Xian’s appearance?”

Jun had never forgotten his grudge against Xian, and if it weren’t for him in hiding, only ever appearing to fight third-place Chosen Rankings Handsome Alchemist Ling Yichen, Jun would have sought him out to settle their differences.

However, as Jun waited for Lihua to respond, he realize she wasn’t even acknowledging the fact he had just spoken.

“Uh...Lihua? Lihua. Lih-”

“What?!”

Lihua suddenly turned and snapped at Jun, an extremely annoyed expression on her face.

Jun flinched back from her sudden snappiness, only managing to blurt out sometime after.

“I-I said if there’s been any news of Xian’s wherea-”

However, Jun couldn’t finish his question before Lihua harshly cut him off.

“How am I supposed to know?! Why don’t you just use that ability of yours to find him and stop annoying me more than you already are!!”

“I-I can’t use my ability as freely as I wish, since it exhausts my Soul Power very quickly. I-If I can, I want to avoid using it unless it's emergencies.”

After Jun stuttered that out, Lihua only stared at him coldly before looking away. Not having answered Jun’s question in the end.

Jun seeing this released a sigh.

Meanwhile, the others awkwardly stood there as Jun suffered his punishment.

“Ehem, sorry to interrupt the lovers' quarrel, but how should we do this?”

The group turned to see Ji Niu and the others looking at them from across the large center stage, battle intent radiating from each of them.

“Since each of us wants to battle and there are six of us each, let’s do a group individual battle. The group with the most wins is victorious.”

Lihua responded to Ji Niu.

Without thinking much, Ji Niu nodded before pointing at Cheng Li and said.

“You go first, we’ll go by our ranks.”

Cheng Li lowered his fan from his face and released a dazzling white smile.

Although his personality seemed unscrupulous, he was still quite a handsome fellow.

Leaping onto the stage, Cheng Li swept his gaze across Fei Yin before saying.

“I guess there’s no need for a deliberation on which of you would be fighting, you seemed the most eager.”

Without saying a word, Fei Yin’s robes fluttered as he leaped onto the stage.

Though he wasn’t as handsome as Cheng Li was, the people filling the seats of the battle arena realized the vibes they emit were on the same wavelength, but at the same time weren’t.

They knew Cheng Li's promiscuous and unbashful personality, and while looking at Fei Yin he seemed like a friendly person who was like an eternally calm lake. Neither woman, wealth, or any human desire could cause a ripple in his state of mind. Though a feeling that it was due to extreme laziness to care for these things couldn’t help but rise in these people's hearts for some reason.

Cheng Li and Fei Yin were two sides of the same coin.

The people in the crowd were going to have to get used to this feeling as the two groups continued to battle each other.

“Let’s start with a simple Daoist Magic spell, shall we?”

Cheng Li’s words hadn’t ended before the Metal Qi in the surroundings quivered and sprung to life. Without any incantation or mantra, Cheng Li began casting a Daoist Magic spell.

This caused Yang Su’s eyes behind his veil to narrow. Cheng Li was supposed to be the weakest, but his ability to cast chant-less spells was above the norm for an early Core Formation Realm cultivator.

“This is supposed to be a simple Daoist Magic spell?”

Fei Yin asked as he look up to see that the sky above the stage was covered in numerous translucent two-meter-length needles made from Metal Qi.

Just one of them radiated energy strong enough to easily puncture the skull of a peak-stage Rank 2 Sea Beast. With so many of them, this attack didn’t seem as simple as Cheng Li claimed.

“Oh, it’s not? I guess my standards are just too high compared to yours.”

Cheng Li said that with a smirk.

There it was, what irked Fei Yin about Cheng Li.

‘Why is he so full of himself despite being sixth on the rankings?’

“Fellow disciple Cheng, you should learn to be more humble in life, like I am.”

Fei Yin’s legs shifted, and a hand went behind his back while the other extended out. A slight smile formed on his lips that even cause a few of Cheng Li's fan girls to swoon.

“What’s with your posturing brother Cheng?”

BANG

The Wood Qi in the surroundings roared to life in a similar manner as Cheng Li's Metal Qi. The appearance of Fei Yin’s Wood Qi domain caused Cheng Li’s Daoist Magic Spell to tremble and become slightly unstable.

A Qi Domain was a basic technique almost any Core Formation Realm cultivator could do after some practice. Though it was simple, it was useful when battling an opponent as it acted as a suppressive force as well as increasing the ease of casting daoist spells.

However, techniques like these were only used by cultivators who incorporate Daoist Magic Spells heavily into their fighting style. These people have a name in the cultivation world for going down this path.

They're called Spell Casters.

Though Cheng Li and Fei Yin couldn't really be called Spell Casters as they still used weapons. True Spell Casters forsake everything else in the pursuit of studying and using Daoist Magic spells.

For example, Tongguo Xian. Yang Su himself was very close but wasn't there as yet, he was still holding onto the wooden sword Li Shen gave him.

Hearing Fei Yin's words, Cheng Li became amused.

“Really? Maybe it's you who should actively peruse the pleasures in life more. You seem so boring.”

Upon saying that, Cheng Li released his daoist spell from its tightly held reigns.