27: Beat up Zhuang Yu and head to the mission hall.

Jiang Yan took out his Identity Token and handed it to the two patrol Disciples, then showed his Formation Token:

"Senior Brother, I am the new Outer Sect Disciple Jiang Yan, ordered to go to Hua Ling Peak."

Seeing the Formation Token, the two patrol Disciples cupped their hands, "Junior Brother, don't misunderstand; we are just following orders to inspect."

Jiang Yan took back his Identity Token, exchanged salutes with the two patrol Disciples, and walked toward Hua Ling Peak.

As for him, he did not look down on patrol work, and he would also have to perform such Sect missions.

Moreover, most patrol missions were for Outer Sect Disciples, so he was very respectful toward the patrol Disciples.

Arriving at Hua Ling Peak, his expression was full of shock, like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden.

Perhaps it was because during the competition, he was inside the Formation and hadn't seen the current scene.

At this moment, the Spiritual Qi on Hua Ling Peak was exceptionally dense, and on some plants, one could vaguely see the scene of spiritual mist condensing into liquid.

'Everyone says Formations are miraculous; it seems that's indeed the case.'

Jiang Yan went up the mountain along the path, and when he arrived outside the martial arts arena, he pressed the Formation Token against it.

Instantly, the entire martial arts arena appeared before his eyes.

'Whoa, is this a Concealment Formation?'

Jiang Yan looked around, touching the white jade pillars one moment, the surrounding Formation barrier the next, and then jumping up to look at the ceiling.

'Miraculous, truly miraculous.'

Jiang Yan sat in the martial arts arena, closing his eyes to feel the flow of Spiritual Qi around him.

To him, the current Great Concealment Formation was like a kindergartner looking at university textbooks; he couldn't understand a single bit of it.

'I'll have to go through the shelves for some books on Formations later.'

He gave up because he completely didn't understand the flow of the Great Formation's Spiritual Qi. He even tried to find a node or look for the structure, but after searching for a long time, he didn't find a thing.

'It's still early; I'll take a nap.'

In Jiang Yan's view, although cultivators didn't need to sleep, he was different; he really enjoyed the process of sleeping.

Sometimes he would have strange dreams, especially those where he stood at the peak in triumph—that feeling, that state of mind, that scene of having beauties on both sides was simply wonderful.

Suddenly, Jiang Yan snapped his eyes open and turned his head toward the outside of the martial arts arena.

"You've been here for a while?" Zhuang Yu approached Jiang Yan, carrying his sword in one hand behind his back.

"Yeah, I've already had a nap," Jiang Yan replied as he stood up.

"It's my fault. Had I known, I should have arrived earlier." Zhuang Yu came to a halt and began to seriously size up Jiang Yan.

"Please." Jiang Yan made an inviting gesture.

"Please advise!" As soon as Zhuang Yu finished speaking, his longsword unsheathed, and he tapped the ground with one foot, charging toward Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan parried with his longsword, stepped back, and instantly appeared on Zhuang Yu's left side.

Clang!

The two swords collided again.

The corners of Zhuang Yu's mouth curled up as the longsword in his hand attacked Jiang Yan incessantly like a flood dragon emerging from the sea.

Jiang Yan's face was as calm as water as he constantly searched for weaknesses in Zhuang Yu's swordplay, then countered with even greater speed.

"Interesting, it seems you really were hiding your strength!" Zhuang Yu retreated to put some distance between them, and another longsword suddenly appeared in his hand.

"Are you planning to get serious now?" Jiang Yan asked curiously.

"I was afraid you wouldn't be able to force out my trump card." Zhuang Yu held dual swords, twirling them into sword flowers. Before long, two moon rings slowly appeared.

Jiang Yan could feel that these two moon rings were anything but simple.

"Sword Breaking Method, Double Moon Orbit!" Zhuang Yu stepped in the Seven Star Pace, his dual swords twirling like wind-and-fire wheels as he slashed frantically at Jiang Yan.

Clang, clang, clang...

Jiang Yan retreated non-stop, the longsword in his hand frantically parrying the attacks.

He never expected that Zhuang Yu would actually turn the Moon Orbit into a Double Moon Orbit; this was a self-created derivative Move.

"Sword Breaking Method, Raising the Lamp to View the Sword!" Jiang Yan leaned forward and raised his longsword high with his right hand, stabbing directly toward the space between Zhuang Yu's eyebrows.

But just as the longsword was about to hit Zhuang Yu, the Moon Orbit in his right hand instantly knocked away Jiang Yan's attack.

"What, out of Moves?" Zhuang Yu asked with a smile.

"You're good, I'll change my style!" Jiang Yan gave a thumbs up and immediately switched his Moves.

He truly admired Zhuang Yu; based on this one Move alone, the Sword Breaking Method he knew was completely useless against the opponent.

One sword for offense and one for defense—within the same sword style, this was an unsolvable problem. So, he simply stopped using the Sword Breaking Method.

"Watch this!"

Jiang Yan's right hand stabbed out repeatedly, creating afterimages that looked like meteors streaking across the night sky.

Originally, Zhuang Yu was only using his left-hand sword for defense and his right-hand sword for offense. However, after clashing several times, he found that all he was attacking were sword shadows, while his defense was being gradually breached by Jiang Yan. He simply formed a defensive barrier with both swords.

Clang, clang, clang...

Jiang Yan's longsword continuously struck Zhuang Yu's defensive barrier. Just as his sword was about to break through, his right hand rapidly changed its Move.

"Not good!"

Zhuang Yu was alarmed. Just as he was about to use his Exploding Sword, Jiang Yan's Sword Rain Art fell directly upon him.

Swish, swish, swish...

The sword rain poured down. With every strike, a piece of Zhuang Yu's clothing was torn open.

"Roar!"

A tiger roar rang out, and the massive sound wave directly flipped Zhuang Yu over.

Jiang Yan followed up quickly, kicking Zhuang Yu's hands in succession.

As Zhuang Yu's swords flew from his hands, Jiang Yan immediately straddled him.

"I'll teach you to show off!"

"I'll teach you to challenge me to a fight!"

"I'll teach you to be so cocky!"

"I'll teach you to blackmail me!"

...Jiang Yan's fists fell like raindrops. With every punch he landed on Zhuang Yu, he would hurl another complaint.

Zhuang Yu was dazed. He was beaten so badly he couldn't even open his mouth, yet he could clearly hear every word Jiang Yan said.

As his fists continued to land on Zhuang Yu's body and face, Jiang Yan's mood improved significantly.

'I guess this counts as stress relief!'

Jiang Yan grumbled internally, but his fists kept working until Zhuang Yu was beaten to the point of being unable to Move, only then did he stop.

"Phew... that feels much better." Jiang Yan stood up and exhaled a breath of turbid air.

He felt great; all the frustration he had bottled up for over two months had been vented onto Zhuang Yu.

But Zhuang Yu was in a sorry state. A handsome, refined young man had been beaten into a pig's head.

Jiang Yan hadn't used any Spiritual Qi; he had completely suppressed Zhuang Yu with his Physical Body strength.

What Jiang Yan didn't know was that his physical strength was actually twice that of Zhuang Yu's!

"Hey, you dead yet?" Jiang Yan gave Zhuang Yu a light kick.

"I thurrender..." Zhuang Yu managed to say with great effort.

Hearing those slurred words, Jiang Yan nodded in satisfaction. He leaned in and whispered to Zhuang Yu, "I'm telling you, don't blame me. The person who told me to beat you up was my Revered Master. He said you blackmailed me and were just asking for a beating, so he told me to beat you half to death."

Hearing Jiang Yan's words and recalling what the other had said while pummeling him, Zhuang Yu felt extremely aggrieved and felt like crying but had no tears.

He just wanted to have a match with Jiang Yan. Who could have known that neither this Revered Master nor his Disciple was a good person?

"Alright, here's a bottle of Old Yellow Wine. Although it's no medicinal liniment, rubbing a bit on should reduce the pain." Jiang Yan placed a small porcelain bottle in front of Zhuang Yu and then walked away.

In his view, the Old Yellow Wine he had prepared should be similar to medicinal liniment. Aside from a few key ingredients, it should be able to treat bruises and injuries to some extent.

After all, he had formulated it based on the Illustrated Guide to Spirit Plants; at the very least, it wouldn't kill anyone.

Lying on the ground, Zhuang Yu shed tears. He really wanted to get up and curse Jiang Yan, but in his daily life, he had never cursed anyone.

And after beating him up, to give him a small bottle of Old Yellow Wine—this was a blatant insult!

"Ol' yellow wine... I'll remember thith!"

Back at the Outer Sect Disciple Peak, Jiang Yan lay on his bed, feeling wonderful.

'Anyway, Revered Master told me to beat him. If he dares to bring his elders, I'll just pass the buck to Revered Master.'

What Jiang Yan didn't know was that Zhuang Yu didn't dare go to his grandfather at all. After all, he was the one who proposed the match; if he went to complain after losing, it would be losing both his face and the match.

However, ever since losing to Jiang Yan, Zhuang Yu also became much stricter with himself. People rarely saw him out performing missions anymore.

As a result, the Qingyun Sect gained a hardworking and diligent Senior Brother!

As the first light of dawn appeared, Jiang Yan ran to the Outer Sect Mission Hall.

After some inquiry, he also gained a general understanding of the Outer Sect Disciple missions.

Missions were divided into four grades:

Grade A Tasks involved leaving the Sect for experience and required a cultivation level of Qi Refining Seventh Layer or above.

Grade B Tasks involved refining various Medicinal Pills, cultivating spiritual materials, or manufacturing weapons, with no fixed cultivation requirement.

Grade C Tasks involved hunting Spirit Beasts at the Spirit Beast Peak or patrolling, requiring a cultivation level of Qi Refining Level Two or above.

Grade D Tasks were the simplest, similar to those of Utility Disciples, except they included a few peaks that Utility Disciples couldn't go to, with no cultivation requirement.

Jiang Yan was a bit bewildered at the moment because the mission board was basically full of Grade C Tasks.

Furthermore, over a dozen tags were all for hunting Spirit Feather Chickens and Spirit Fur Rabbits in the Lower District.

'Whoa, what's going on? No one's taking such good missions?'

Just as Jiang Yan was hesitating over whether these missions were traps, a crisp voice rang out behind him.

"Oh, what a coincidence, Junior Brother!"