I Have Countless Clones

63 Yan Jingren

A head-on blow?

Lin Shen and Su Nian looked at each other and frowned slightly.

Seeing their confusion, Yang Zhongyi put down his wine glass and explained,

“This is a tradition of the Nine Yang Academy.

“Every year, when the new students enter the academy, the older students will discuss and choose ten people from the Yellow disciples, who will compete with the new students on behalf of the Yellow disciples. The losers will have to go to the spirit mine outside the city to dig for ore for three days.”

Digging ores for three days was nothing to cultivators with blooming health, but it was definitely embarrassing. The loser would be humiliated.

Su Nian frowned and said, “Isn’t this pure bullying?”

It was obvious the competition was extremely disadvantageous for the new students.

The older students had at least one more year of cultivation time than the new students, and those who could enter the Nine Yang Academy were definitely talented. Even if they only had one more year of cultivation time, it was enough to widen the gap.

The weakest person representing the yellow-level disciples would be a cultivator at the ninth level of the Qi Transformation Stage. There might even be someone at the Long Breath Stage. How could the new students win?

“It can’t be helped. This is something that the institute heads and tutors have tacitly agreed to. Perhaps they feel this is a training for the new students so that we can deeply experience the cruelty of the competition in the college.

“Moreover, in the competition every year, the older students will take out some resources as a stake. As long as the new students win against the senior students, they can take away the prize. Moreover, the senior students are usually more restrained and won’t let the new students lose too badly.”

At this point, Yang Zhongyi paused and looked at Lin Shen.

“However, things are probably different this year. It’s mainly because of you, Lin. You’re the first person in the history of the academy who isn’t from an influential family or even the declining old families but has become the chief disciple. Many senior students from influential families must find you the least favorite person. They might make things difficult for you in the guided battle and directly ask you to take the challenge!”

As soon as he said this, Su Nian frowned.

On the other hand, Lin Shen had a calm expression as he smiled faintly.

“We’ll deal with whatever comes our way.”

“You’re very calm, but don’t let your guard down. Your performance in the entrance examination has probably reached those people’s ears. If they want to come after you, they’ll most likely send out disciples of the Long Breath Stage. Even you won’t be able to defeat one of those!”

Lin Shen smiled and took a sip of wine.

Long Breath Stage… Even now, he was confident that with the enhancement of his talent, he could fight against a Long Breath Stage cultivator.

Moreover, he might break through to the Long Breath Stage in a month.

At that time, nobody knew how the battle would end.

…

Central district.

In a building that was 50 to 60 floors high.

Ding!

The elevator stopped on the fiftieth floor. The door slowly opened, and Yan Xing walked out with a gloomy expression.

There was already a waiter waiting outside. When they saw Yan Xing, they immediately bowed and said,

“Young Master Yan!”

“Where’s my brother?”

“In Cultivation Room 2.”

Yan Xing nodded and walked past the waiter. He passed through a long bright corridor and finally stopped in front of a room.

He was about to knock on the door when a voice came from inside.

“Come in.”

Yan Xing paused, pushed open the door, and walked in.

The lights in the cultivation room were off. As the door was pushed open, the light outside suddenly poured in, vaguely illuminating the figure in the middle of the room.

It was a man in his twenties. He was tall and handsome. He was wearing a white training suit with his eyes closed. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor as if he had just finished meditating.

The moment Yan Xing stepped into the cultivation room, the man suddenly opened his eyes.

In an instant, the darkness in the cultivation room seemed to have been frozen on a piece of white paper. Then, someone quickly erased it with an eraser. Every inch of light flashed and dispersed the darkness, giving people the illusion that an electric arc had exploded out of thin air, illuminating the room.

There seemed to be lightning in the room!

Yan Xing was stunned on the spot. Then, he revealed an ecstatic expression.

“Brother, you’ve broken through to the Bright Aperture Stage!”

Yan Jingren smiled and nodded. “I broke through when I was in seclusion three days ago. I didn’t have time to report it to the family yet.”

“Doesn’t that mean you can apply to the upper house for a challenge?” Yan Xing said happily.

“It’s still early.”

Yan Jingren shook his head slightly.

“Among the top ten disciples of the upper house, even Han Yue, who’s ranked last, has been in the Bright Aperture Stage for half a year. My stage hasn’t stabilized yet, so I don’t think I can defeat him for the time being. The challenge can wait.”

At this point, Yan Jingren’s smile disappeared, and he glanced at Yan Xing indifferently.

“Let’s not talk about me. Yan Xing, I heard you were ranked in the 180s in this exam.”

Yan Xing’s expression froze. He opened his mouth to explain, but in the end, he hesitated and lowered his head.

“In the past 20 years, no one among the direct descendants of the 18 cultivation families has ever obtained a ranking beyond 100 in the exam. The news has already spread. Now, our family has become a joke in the circle of influential families.”

Yan Jingren’s tone was calm, but there was a terrifying pressure. Just a few words made Yan Xing break out in cold sweat.

“The family elders are very dissatisfied with you. There are even people who propose to reduce your resource quota in the family and distribute it to other talented disciples.”

Yan Xing’s expression changed.

...

The Yan family was one of the five great sects. Geniuses gathered within the family clan, and the competition was extremely intense.

There were people of the same age who were more talented than Yan Xing, but his father was the current head of the Yan family, so he had priority in obtaining the family’s resources. That was why he had his current achievements.

Once the resources were reduced and distributed to the other cultivation geniuses, it would not be long before he would be replaced by those people and lose his current status!

It would be too late to catch up by then!

At the thought of this, Yan Xing panicked and looked at Yan Jingren pleadingly.

“Brother, you have to help me!”

Yan Jingren said calmly, “Don’t worry, Father has already suppressed the suggestion. When the news of me breaking through to the Bright Aperture Stage reaches the clan, no one will talk about this matter anymore.”

Before Yan Xing could heave a sigh of relief, Yan Jingren continued,

“But this can’t happen again. If you don’t perform well in the academy and give others something to use against you, Father and I won’t be able to help you anymore!”

“I understand!” Yan Xing’s expression turned solemn as he nodded heavily.

After a pause, Yan Xing’s expression suddenly darkened. He gritted his teeth and said,

...

“About Lin Shen…”

Yan Jingren glanced at him and said expressionlessly,

“You don’t have to worry about this. A mere commoner has become the new chief disciple, and many disciples of influential families can’t stand this. In the guided battle in a month, there will naturally be people who will make Lin Shen suffer!”

Yan Xing’s expression was gloomy. He gritted his teeth and didn’t say anything.

Yan Jingren saw this and sighed inwardly.

Generally speaking, the influential families would extend an olive branch to a talented commoner like Lin Shen. If they failed to recruit him, they would then secretly suppress him.

However, looking at Yan Xing’s expression, he knew recruiting Lin Shen wouldn’t be an option.

Shaking his head, Yan Jingren thought for a moment and said calmly,

“Peng Xinyuan and Kuang Bao are both Yellow-level disciples. I’ll tell them to fight for a spot in the guided battle. When the time comes, they’ll deal with Lin Shen.”

As soon as he said this, Yan Xing’s eyes lit up, and his gloomy expression finally lit up.

“Thank you, Brother!”

Yan Xing clenched his fists tightly, and a look of relief flashed in his eyes.

Lin Shen wasn’t born into an influential family, so those senior students wouldn’t go easy on him.

Yan Jingren would also add fuel to the flame. When the time came, Lin Shen would suffer a crushing defeat in front of everyone, and he wouldn’t have the face to call himself the number one freshman anymore!

Furthermore, no one could predict what would happen in a battle. If they could injure Lin Shen and make him stay in bed for a few months, by the time he recovered, he would probably have been surpassed by many people.

At that time, even if Lin Shen wasn’t eliminated, he wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble in the academy.

Thinking of this, Yan Xing grinned maliciously.

“I’ll let you be smug for now. Let’s see if you can still smile in a month!”