A black-clad figure wearing a cloak emerged from behind the artificial hill, letting out a hoarse laugh: "The master of the yard is indeed formidable. You deliberately used Zhang Ruochen to lure us out."

  "It's just a pity that we didn't lure out everyone, but since we've caught this big fish, those small shrimps are no longer worth worrying about."

  Since he had already been recognized, Elder Sutou no longer hid his identity, removing the hood from his head to reveal a thin and pale face. A pair of deeply sunken eyes gleamed with two sharp rays of light, staring tightly at the master of the Western Courtyard.

  "Abbess, it's been ten years since I've seen you take action. I don't know what level your cultivation has reached." Xī Zǐ Lǎo Lǎng took out two scarlet gun handles from his robe, activated the markings on them, and combined the handles into an eight-foot-long dripping-blood spear.

  Guns, red like blood.

  Spears waved about, like a waterfall of blood pouring down.

  A flame-like true energy burst out from the palm of Elder Situ's hand and completely enveloped the long spear.

  A scorching heat emanated from the gun body, causing the temperature of the surrounding air to surge dramatically.

  Just as everyone thought that Elder Situ was about to engage in a life-or-death battle with the Master of the Western Courtyard, suddenly, Elder Situ's eyes narrowed and stared at Zhang Ruochen, his left palm slapping against the tail of his long spear.

  "Whoosh"

  An eight-foot-long dripping blood spear shot out like a flame arrow off the string, emitting an ear-piercing breaking wind sound, rapidly flying towards Zhang Ruochen.

  A loud cracking sound was heard in the air.

  At the same time, Elder Sito took a step to the right, his foot lifted off the ground, and his body soared into the air like a large bird. In an instant, he flew tens of meters away, leaped over the walls of Longwu Hall, and fled into the distance.

  He knew he was absolutely no match for the master of the Western Courtyard, so he could only attack Zhang Ruochen. As long as the master of the Western Courtyard went to save Zhang Ruochen, he would have a chance to escape.

  Zhang Ruochen quickly stepped back as he stared at the incoming Blood Drop Gun.

  Just as the flame spear was about to reach Zhang Ruochen, the master of the Western Courtyard grabbed the spear shaft and swung his arm, sending the spear flying out even faster.

  Rumble

  The blood gun pierced through the walls of Longwu Hall and flew out like a fire dragon.

  Outside, a mournful cry echoed over.

  The walls of the Longwu Hall were as high as seven meters and one meter thick, made of brick and stone. At this moment, however, a fire-tipped spear had smashed out a hole with a diameter of two meters, and the sturdy wall was on the verge of collapse.

  Through the hole, Situ Zhang was seen being pierced by a long gun and fell into a pool of blood.

  Zhang Ruochen glanced at the master of the Western Courtyard, thinking to himself, "What a formidable martial arts cultivation! With just one move, he was able to suppress and kill Master Situ without even using his true power."

  The master of the Western Temple looked at the purple-black poison mark on Zhang Ruochen's neck, took out a medicine bottle and said: "You were poisoned by the Yellow Spring Water of the Netherworld Gate. Fortunately, it was only a small amount of toxic liquid and not fatal. The medicine bottle contains a special antidote pill, take it now."

  Zhang Ruochen took out the antidote from the medicine bottle and swallowed it, and the purple-black poison mark on his neck indeed slowly dissipated and soon completely disappeared.

  The master of the Western Courtyard stared at Zhang Ruochen, nodded in satisfaction and smiled: "I heard from Yue Jingchan that your spiritual power has reached the 29th rank, becoming the first spiritual genius in the history of Wumeng Xuegong. Haha good kid, you have made this courtyard master proud, next time I go to the inner courtyard of Wumeng Xuegong, I will definitely show off in front of those old guys."

  He paused for a moment, and the master of the Western Temple's face turned serious. "There is one more thing," he said. "I must ask you carefully: do you want to walk the path of a Spiritual Power Saint?"

  Zhang Ruochen did not hesitate and said, "No, I will not give up on martial arts."

  The master of the Western Academy stared at Zhang Ruochen's eyes and said, "Zhang Ruochen, do you know how high your innate talent is in terms of spiritual power? Even among the entire Kunlun Realm's human history, it's estimated that you can rank among the top ten. With your innate talent, plus the strong nurturing of the Wumeng Xue Palace, you have at least a 50% chance of becoming a Spiritual Power Saint."

  Zhang Ruochen said: "Master, don't try to persuade me anymore. I will absolutely never give up on the path of martial arts."

  "Alright, actually your innate talent in martial arts is extremely high, and your future achievements will definitely not be low. Qing Hua, the deputy head of the institute, has promised to help you apply for ten drops of Semi-Holy True Liquid, which should be approved within three days."

  "In martial arts, if you have any doubts, feel free to ask me anytime. There are still two months until the quarterly assessment, you must work hard to cultivate and strive to win first place in the new student competition of the four institutes, bringing honor to our West Institute."

  Zhang Ruochen said: "Students must do their best."

  The master of the Western Courtyard stared at the corpse of Elder Situ, thought for a moment, and said: "Elder Situ is dead, but there must still be hidden assassins from other underworld gates in the Western Courtyard. Their cultivation shouldn't be too strong. Duanmu Yaotou, for the next two months, you will be responsible for protecting his safety. Do you have any problems with that?"

  "Of course, no problem, Master, you can rest assured." Duanmu Xingling smiled.

  The master of the Western Courtyard nodded, and then he ordered people to clean up the corpses of the three underworld gate killers and hang them on a nine-zhang-high blood wall in the Western Courtyard.

  All hidden followers of the Black Market and the Cult of the Moon were killed, then hung on the Blood Wall for three days to warn other hidden followers.

  "That's Huā Lián shī jiě (Elder Sister Hualian), I didn't expect her to be the underworld gate's assassin, she even pointed out my flaws in archery techniques."

  "Situ Zhanglao had been in the Western Courtyard for decades, but it turned out that he was also a wicked person in the black market. Fortunately, he was killed by the courtyard master, otherwise, I don't know how many talented disciples would have been secretly harmed by him."

  Three killers were killed, causing a great sensation in the Western Courtyard, and many students came to watch under the blood wall.

  Zi Yan stood among the crowd, staring at the three corpses on the blood-stained wall, feeling an unspeakable sorrow in her heart. From now on, she might also be killed and hung on that bloody wall.

  Choosing to be an assassin means being mentally prepared to be killed by others.

  It wasn't just Zǐ Qiàn; two other students in the crowd also showed unusual colors in their eyes, and quietly withdrew.

  Dragon Martial Hall

  Du Mu Xingling clasped his hands together in front of his chest and smiled, "The assassin hiding in the West Wing of the Netherworld Gate has been severely injured. Even Situ Old Man was killed. I reckon no one will dare to make another attempt on your life for a while."

  Zhang Ruochen stared at the debris on the ground, the collapsed wall, and said: "The first number of Xuanzi has also become a ruin, it is estimated that it will take a month to rebuild, where will we live from now on?"

  Duanmu Xingling stopped in her tracks, rubbed her chin and smiled: "Let's go to Chen Jie's place."

  "You just had a big fight with her and it's so awkward, she'll still let you move into the first floor?" Zhang Ruochen said.

  "Don't worry, since I've already fought with Dust Sister once, her anger should have dissipated by half. Let's go, trust me, Dust Sister will definitely accept us." said Duanmu Xingling.

  They arrived at the first place on the list, and the gate was wide open. Du Mu Xing Ling and Zhang Ruo Chen walked straight in.

  Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen stopped in his tracks.

  With a "whoosh" sound, a sapphire-blue sword flew out of the window and brushed past Zhang Ruochen's nose tip.

  Huang Yanchen walked out of the house, standing proudly above, staring at Duanmuxingling and Zhang Ruochen, coldly saying: "What are you doing here? If you don't want to die, get out immediately."

  Du Mu Xingling chuckled and pounced forward, embracing Huang Yanchen's arm, looking pitiful as she begged: "Now that the number one of Huang and the number one of Xu have been destroyed, where can we go, Sister Dust? Look at us, so pitiful, please take us in, please!"

  Zhang Ruochen stood below, calm and composed, saying: "If Eldest Sister Huang is still angry, then I'll go to Fourth Brother's place and live with him. Farewell."

  "Who says I'm still angry when was I ever angry?"

  The chill on Huang Yanchen's face melted away, and she smiled brightly: "Since you've come to rely on me, as your senior sister, how could I not take you in and have you follow me?"

  Huang Yanchen's arm stretched forward, and true energy shot out from his palm, transforming into a twisted gust of wind.

  In that vigorous gust of wind, the blue gemstone sword originally stuck in the stone wall beside Zhang Ruochen suddenly flew back into her hand with a whoosh.

  "Fetch something from afar." Zhang Ruochen's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Huang Yanchen with a few more points of interest.

  With her exquisite control over true energy, it shouldn't take long for her to reach the realm of Sword Following Heart at a higher level.

  "From now on, Xingling will live with me on the second floor. You'll live in the large hall downstairs. Without my permission, you can't set foot on the second floor. Don't you have any objections?" Huang Yanchen stared at Zhang Ruochen with a pair of beautiful eyes, her eyelashes slightly raised, gazing at him calmly.

  The large hall downstairs is very spacious, not just a room, but also a study, a music room, and a martial arts training hall. Outside the music room is the bathtub, with a row of maple trees by the bathtub, making the environment very elegant.

  "Alright, from now on I'll live in the Training Hall and absolutely won't disturb either of you two Shifu."

  After saying this, Zhang Ruochen took Xiao Hei and walked into the martial arts hall.

  The martial arts hall was extremely spacious, about eight meters long and six meters wide. Except for the entrance, all four sides were stone walls. Moreover, there were array patterns engraved on the stone walls to protect them from being pierced by sword energy.

  "Zhang Ruochen, I'm going to the study to read a book," said Xiao Hei, and with a whoosh, he left the martial arts hall.

  For the next three days, Zhang Ruochen practiced Tiān Xīn Jiàn Fǎ in the Wǔ Táng during the day. At night, he would enter the inner space of the Shí Kuàng Jīng Shí, take elixirs and cultivate his true energy.

  He had a large amount of elixirs on him, all of which were taken from those examinees during the first round of the Imperial Palace Examination.

  There are elixirs that enhance true energy, elixirs that increase strength, healing elixirs, detoxifying elixirs, and elixirs that boost blood energy. There are over 300 bottles in total.

  Zhang Ruochen roughly calculated that with so many elixirs, he could support his cultivation to the Great Perfection of the Mystic Extreme Realm.

  Three days later, Qing Hua Deputy Director will deliver ten and a half drops of the Holy True Liquid to Di Zi First Number and hand it over to Zhang Ruochen.

  Having obtained ten and a half drops of Sacred True Liquid, Zhang Ruochen hastily began refining it.

  "Xiao Hei, help me keep watch. If Huang Shijie and Duanmu Shijie come looking for me, tell them I'm in seclusion cultivating."

  Zhang Ruochen gave Xiao Hei a shout, then entered the inner space of the Time and Space Crystal, took out the first drop of Semi-Holy True Liquid, directly swallowed it into his mouth, and began to refine.

  In the Time-Space Crystal, after spending eight consecutive days, Zhang Ruochen refined two and a half drops of Sacred True Liquid, successfully breaking through to the Small Extreme Realm.