Although Xiao Jingting and the others left, the news that Xiao Jingting and Xiao Jinfeng became sixth level Qi Practitioners had been passed back to the Xiao family.

Upon receiving the news, Wang Lu immediately contacted the husbands of her two sons, Xu Muan and Mu Shuyu to inquire about the situation.

“Is it true that Xiaofan, he gambled out a spirit bead?”

Xu Muan nodded and said, “Yes! Xiaofan was lucky and gambled a spirit bead so Jiangting asked someone to exchange it for the Harvest Sparrow Orchid.”

“Such a precious spirit bead exchanged for Harvest Sparrow Orchid, you guys got screwed.” Zheng Pei’er said in shock with a calm face.

Xu Muan nodded and said, “That’s right, but isn’t he going to compete soon? Father said that this competition is very dangerous! It’s hard for cultivators at the fifth level to protect themselves! Jingting was also forced to replace the Spiritual bead with the Harvest Sparrow Orchid, if it wasn’t for the fact that this competition was approaching, he wouldn’t give up such a precious thing.”

Wang Lu was calm as she said “You should have discussed this matter with me.”

Xu Muan nodded and said, “It was originally like this. However, when Jingting came to look for father and mother, you just weren’t there. The man Jingting found said that Harvest Sparrow Orchid was very precious and if he waited, he would sell it to someone else, so Jingting had no choice but to make the decision without authorization.”

Wang Lu sighed lightly, saying, “Things have already become like this, it is useless to say more, but in the future, when you encounter such things, you should still discuss it with me and your father.”

Wang Lu secretly thought: When Xiao Jingting came, she and Xiao Linfeng might have taken Xiao Qingyan to buy magic weapons. Xiao Jingting had always been arrogant and proud. If he found out this, he naturally wouldn’t talk to them about the spirit bead. Thinking that this time she and Xiao Linfeng had put all their efforts on their eldest son, Wang Lu was somewhat guilty.

Zheng Pei’er gripped her handkerchief. Xiao Qingyan did not hesitate to destroy his own potential to advance to the sixth level of Qi Practice by relying on the pill. But she didn’t expect that Xiao Jingting and Xiao Jinfeng would also advance to the sixth level of Qi Practice so quickly.

Zheng Pei’er originally thought about taking over the beverage shop, but was shocked by the news of Xiao Jingting’s and Xiao Jinfeng’s advance to sixth level of Qi Practice making her leave the matter of beverage shop behind her.

 

……

 

In the main house of Xiao family, Liu Xian’s face became green when she heard the news of Xiao Jingting and Xiao Jinfeng’s advancement to the sixth level of Qi Practice.

Originally, Xiao Jingting and Xiao Jinfeng were cultivators at the fifth level of Qi Practice and Liu Xian regretted not dealing with them sooner. Now that they were both at sixth level of Qi Practice, it would be not easy for them to do so.

If they died outside, it would be fine, but if they came back safely, her son would be crushed by the second family and would never be able to make a name for himself.

When she thought about Sun Miaomiao who left with her son, Liu Xian was even more furious.

At first, Liu Xian was proud of her son marrying the Sun family’s daughter, but now Liu Xian hated herself for being so blind.

Sun Miaomiao’s temper only grew after the return of Xiao Jingting, the son of the second family. She became more reckless. In the past, she was gentle to her son but now she was swaggering, which was simply not pleasing to her eyes at all.

Now that Sun Miaomiao knew that Xiao Jingting had advanced to the sixth level of Qi Practice, she(Liu Xian) was afraid that she would look down on her son even more.

Recently, Liu Xian also heard the servant girl say that Sun Miaomiao had already cuckolded Xiao Muhong. Xiao Muhong had always wanted to save his face, so although he did not say anything, his heart must have been aggrieved.

 

…………

 

Xiao Jingting’s group traveled for three days before they arrived at the Marquis’ territory.

“What a prosperous place!” Xiao Jingting couldn’t help but look at the streets of the Marquis’ realm.

With the competition around the corner, the elites of various towns gathered together, making the prices of inn of Marquis’ realm also rise rapidly.

The largest shop in Desert City was humble and not worth mentioning compared to the Marquis’ residence.

Before Xiao Jingting and the others entered the city, they were warned by their elders three times to keep a low profile when entering the city. Before Xiao Jingting’s and others’ ears became calloused, they finally arrived at the boundary of the marquis’ realm.

Xiao Linfeng brought a few teenagers from the Xiao family and sought out an inn to stay in.

Not only were the upper class rooms expensive, but they were also rented out. Xiao Linfeng could only rent a few middle class rooms.

During the meal, a number of expensively dressed young ones from the big city could be seen.

What made Xiao Jingting happy was that the teenagers from the big cities, although their group was bigger than them and they looked like they had more treasures on them, except the few leading ones, the rest of them were also at the fifth or fourth level of Qi Practice, so it was still evident that progressing in this world was difficult.

“The Marquis’ fifth miss is here.” The crowd outside was bustling.

Xiao Jingting was just by the window when the movement from outside sounded. Hearing the noise outside, he peeked through the window.

A young girl in blue dress was riding on a snow-white wolf-shaped demon beast passing through the downtown area.

“Those people……” Xiao Jinfeng’s eyes suddenly widened.

Xiao Jingting immediately shook his head and motioned to Xiao Jinfeng that he should not speak, making Xiao Jinfeng close his mouth in a timely manner.

The few attendants beside the Marquis’ fifth miss were the same individuals who had come to collect fines from the Mound Village. These individuals had a very bad temper from the beginning.

With such a great momentum of being officials from Marquis household, they were so powerful that they naturally did not need to give face to the two children from a family, who had already lost their power.

Xiao Jingting heard the discussions of several insiders nearby. The Marquis’ fifth miss, Ouyang Mingyue, was a cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Practice. There were a lot of young ladies and young masters from the Marquis’ household, but very few of them could be taken seriously. Previously, Ouyang Jing, who had talked to Xiao Qingyan, didn’t even have a position because of her lowly background.

“The Marquis is really powerful. That girl doesn’t look too old.” Xiao Jingting said.

Xiao Jinfeng smiled and said, “In the path of cultivation, no one can say for sure. Brother, your luck is unstoppable, you have great potential.”

Many geniuses had fallen, and many mediocre people had persevered until the end.

As far as Xiao Jinfeng knew, his own grandfather who was now at the ninth level of Qi Practice was not very conspicuous in his family. However, some of those astonishingly talented family cultivators killed each other, some of them went out on adventures and had accidents making them fall one by one. Only then his grandfather, who had kept a low profile and survived the death of his other brothers and sisters, became the head of the Xiao family.

 

…………

 

“Second brother, third brother, do you want to go out for a walk?” After dinner, Xiao Qingyan walked over and asked.

Xiao Jingting and Xiao Jinfeng looked at each other with some surprise, both seeing the same shock from each other’s eyes.

They didn’t know if Xiao Linfeng had a guilty conscience or what, but after knowing that his two youngest sons were both at the sixth level of qi practice, he gave them each 100,000 taels of silver, which made Xiao Jingting and Xiao Jinfeng much richer.

“Allright.” Xiao Jinfeng nodded.

Although Xiao Jinfeng had some prejudice against Xiao Qingyan in his heart, he was still his brother after all. They shared the same blood, so Xiao Jinfeng didn’t want to refuse too much.

“Fine!” Xiao Jingting nodded. The Marquis was so prosperous, so he also wanted to go out and have a look.

“Let’s go.” Xiao Qingyan said with a smile.

Xiao Qingyan smiled and went out with Xiao Jingting and Xiao Jinfeng.

“Jingting that spirit bead, you traded it for two Harvest Sparrow Orchids.” Xiao Qingyan couldn’t help asking.

Xiao Jingting nodded and said, “Yes! It was already not easy to trade two Harvest Sparrow Orchids with only one Spirit Bead.”

In fact, the Spirit Bead helped a lot. With its help, not only the quality of the Spiritual Spring had changed dramatically but also many other spirit plants by the Spiritual Spring had emerged one after another.

Xiao Qingyan didn’t have a good temper. “One can tell that you’re an amateur. Third brother, the Spirit Bead is an existence that can help a person at the seventh level of Qi Practice advance to the eighth level of Qi practice. Using it to exchange for two Harvest Sparrow Orchids is simply throwing away watermelons and picking up some sesame seeds.” If he took Spirit Bead to the Academy himself, he would definitely be able to exchange it for quite a few good things! What a pity! Xiao Jingting, this shallow-eyed thing, had actually traded out such a precious thing.

These two younger brothers of his were really lucky recently! They ran into so many good things, how come he didn’t have their luck?

“It has already been exchanged so there is nothing I can do.” Xiao Jingting calmly said.

Xiao Qingyan was enraged by Xiao Jingting’s calm and relaxed appearance.

 

…………

 

The three of them chatted as they walked into a large merchant shop. It was around the time of the big competition, so there were many youngsters like them who came treasure hunting.

The shop had talismans and magic tools that were very popular.

Xiao Jingting took a look. The prices of magic tools and talismans were similar to those of the large merchant houses in Desert City but they were much more in style.

People came and went from the shop, some who knew Xiao Qingyan came up to say hello. Many of the students of Bifeng Academy would participate in this competition, so Xiao Qingyan met many acquaintances.

“Student Qingyan, you are here too!” A young man dressed in white came up to them.

Xiao Qingyan nodded and said, “Yes! I am going to participate in the competition with my brothers.”

“Your brothers came here to compete?! Will they be able to stay alive?” The tone of the young man dressed in white was very rude.

Xiao Jingting was embarrassed. The white-clothed teenager’s cultivation was only at the fifth level of Qi Practice, one level below him. However, this guy was worried about whether he and Xiao Jinfeng would live or not. Xiao Jingting looked at the young man’s face and guessed that it was probably because Xiao Qingyan had spared no efforts to slander him and Xiao Jinfeng in front of this guy. Making this young man seems so dismissive.

“Who knows?” Xiao Jingting said lightly.

The woman next to the white-clothed teenager, who knew roughly what was going on, sized up Xiao Jingting and Xiao Jinfeng before leaning to mutter a few words into the young man’s ear.

The white-clothed teenager’s gaze shifted to Xiao Jingting, his eyes contracted sharply. “You… are at the sixth level of Qi Practice.”

Xiao Jingting nodded and said, “Yes!”

The white-clothed teenager’s face twisted for a moment as he looked oddly at Xiao Qingyan before turning around walking away, full of shame and indignation.

Xiao Jingting looked at the leaving teenager and thought: The youth at the age of second year of junior high school, couldn’t afford to be hurt!

 

…………

 

“Brother Mo, thank you so much.” A good-looking woman, full of affection, addressed the person beside her.

“It’s nothing, the competition is around the corner. How could you do without a self-defense magic weapon, Senior Sister?”

“Senior brother is so good to me.”

“If I am not good to you, who can I be good to?”

“Senior brother is so powerful that he will definitely win the top ten rank and Ice Heart Pill in competition. I have no doubt that senior brother could even win the top three.” Ouyang Jing complimented.

“This competition is full of geniuses. There are quite a few seventh level Qi Practitioners who have the same level as this senior brother. Senior sister is too hasty to say that.” What Mo Bei said might be modest but there was some pride in his eyes.

 

……

 

When Xiao Qingyan heard the voices of these two people, his expression suddenly became distorted.

Xiao Jinfeng glanced at Xiao Qingyan’s face and looked towards the woman who just came down from upstairs.

Xiao Jingting looked at Xiao Qingyan’s ugly expression somewhat strangely, and Xiao Jinfeng signaled with his eyes, mouthing Ouyang Jing to Xiao Jingting.

Xiao Jingting instantly understood the reason for Xiao Qingyan’s abnormal behavior.

This girl, Ouyang Jing, had an affair with Xiao Qingyan before! It was just that later, when something happened to the Xiao family, this girl and Xiao Qingyan also naturally separated.

Ouyang Jing was originally talking and laughing with Mo Bei, but when she saw Xiao Qingyan, she suddenly stopped.

Mo Bei looked in the direction of Xiao Qingyan, his eyes filled with contempt. “Isn’t this Brother Qingyan? It has been a long time.”

Xiao Qingyan’s face tensed as he said indifferently, “Long time no see.”

“Student Qingyan, you’re here for this competition too! Younger martial brother Qingyan, you advanced to sixth level of Qi Practice by relying on a pill, which makes it more unsteady compared to others. You must be careful during the competition!” Mo Bei patted Xiao Qingyan’s shoulder with great emphasis.

Xiao Qingyan’s face suddenly became red as he tried to suppress the shame and anger in his heart and said, “I’m grateful for the senior’s advice.”

“Are these two your brothers?” Mo Bei asked.

Xiao Qingyan nodded and said, “Yes!”

“Qingyan, come on! Don’t let your brothers catch up and lose the reputation of our academy.” Mo Bei said. Xiao Jingting and Xiao Jinfeng hid their cultivation level so Mo Bei only thought that they were at the fifth level of Qi Practice, so he told Xiao Qingyan to do so.

Xiao Qingyan who listened to Mo Bei’s words was so ashamed that he wanted to faint.

Xiao Jingting looked at Xiao Qingyan’s face and secretly gave Xiao Qingyan a tear of sympathy, but, at most, that was all. 

 

 

Edited by: Tetsu

Proofreader: Taalia

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