Chapter 141: Rage
The Inner Palace was located at the deepest part of the Cangfeng Mystic Palace. To leave the Cangfeng Mystic Palace, one had to pass through the Inner Palace, then the Middle Palace, and finally the Outer Palace.
As Yun Che traversed the Middle Palace and stepped into the Outer Palace, he was immediately recognized by someone.
"Look! That's Yun Che! I saw him during the new disciple assessment. He's the one who's going to challenge Murong Yi in two months."
"That's the biggest joke in history? He looks pretty normal to me."
"He looks normal, sure, but his brain is definitely abnormal! Otherwise, why would he boast about challenging Murong Yi from the Inner Palace? And he chose a heavy sword along with two of the most useless profound skills?"
"In two months, Murong Yi is going to beat him like a dog. Murong Yi probably doesn't even take this guy seriously. He's just playing with a monkey, hahahaha..."
Voices filled with all kinds of mockery and pointed fingers came from a distance. Yun Che turned a deaf ear and walked straight ahead. As he entered the Outer Palace training area, he spotted Xia Yuanba at once.
Xia Yuanba's massive frame stood out no matter where he was. Yun Che couldn't have missed him even if he tried. He walked over and greeted him: "Yuanba!"
Xia Yuanba's eyes went wide when he saw Yun Che, and he ran over excitedly: "Brother-in-law, why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be in the Inner Palace?"
"I got tired from training and came out for a stroll," Yun Che said casually, then looked Xia Yuanba up and down. He noticed that Yuanba's profound force had improved somewhat, and he wasn't far from breaking through to Level 7 of the Initial Xuan Realm. "Yuanba, did everything go smoothly when you entered the palace? Have you told your parents you're here?"
"Hehe, Mentor Qin kept his word. The day after you entered, he arranged for me to be placed in the Outer Palace. I sent a letter to my father, and I got a reply a few days ago. He was very happy that I could enter the Cangfeng Mystic Palace." Xia Yuanba grinned broadly, then added admiringly, "As expected of the Cangfeng Mystic Palace—it's nothing like the New Moon Mystic Palace. There are so many experts here. I've also encountered many things I never could have before... Oh, right, brother-in-law, look." He opened his hands, revealing a box of fresh pills that emitted a medicinal fragrance. "Today happens to be the day the Outer Palace's Profound Pill Pavilion distributes pills. The pills here are so much better than what we got at the New Moon Mystic Palace... Thirty Small Cyclic Profound Pills, ten Small Penetrating Profound Pills, three Bone Forging Pills, and three Profound Forging Pills. I never would have dared to dream of this before."
No wonder he looked so excited—it was pill distribution day. Yun Che smiled and said, "Yuanba, work hard. Your starting point might be a bit low, but I believe that with your effort, you won't be worse than anyone else in the future... Anyway, let's work hard together!"
With that, Yun Che casually patted Xia Yuanba's thick arm. It wasn't a very hard pat, but the moment his palm touched Xia Yuanba's arm, the arm jerked back as if shocked. Xia Yuanba let out a pained moan, and his face twisted with agony.
Yun Che's brow furrowed. He stepped forward quickly and forcefully rolled up Xia Yuanba's left sleeve. Only then did he notice that most of Xia Yuanba's left arm was bruised in patches of blue and red, and the shoulder joint was swollen. Yun Che could tell at a glance that it had been dislocated not long ago.
"What happened?" Yun Che's brows sank. "How did you get hurt?"
Xia Yuanba hastily pulled his sleeve back down, forced a smile, and said dismissively, "It's nothing. I was sparring with some senior brothers. My profound force is weak, so getting a few injuries is normal. It's not a serious injury anyway; it'll be completely healed in a few days."
What Xia Yuanba said seemed reasonable enough. In the Outer Palace, training inevitably involved sparring, and with more sparring came injuries. But Yun Che felt something unusual about Xia Yuanba's injury. He shifted his gaze to Xia Yuanba's neck and his brows furrowed again. "And the bruise on your neck? You aim for the neck when you spar?"
Xia Yuanba quickly pulled his neck in and tugged his collar up higher, still maintaining an unconcerned expression. Chuckling, he said, "Brother-in-law, I know you're worried about me, but it's really nothing. Even though I get hurt sometimes during sparring, every injury leads to new progress and insights. So even if I get hurt, I'm still happy. And it's not just me who gets hurt—almost every Outer Palace disciple carries some kind of injury. Without sparring, how can we improve, right? Hehe."
Yun Che's expression relaxed a little. He seemed to believe it and nodded. "Training is important, but don't break your body first. Also, even though your profound force might be the weakest in the Outer Palace, that doesn't mean you have to let anyone bully you... If anyone bullies you, you must tell me!"
"Hehe, got it, brother-in-law." Xia Yuanba gave a simple, honest smile. "The senior brothers are all very good to me. No one would bully me, don't worry. In a little over two months, you have that decisive battle with Murong Yi. You need to train hard in the Inner Palace. But I believe that even against that much-hyped Murong Yi, my brother-in-law can definitely defeat him... Well, brother-in-law, I'll head back to the training room now. I won't waste your time."
"Mm, go ahead."
Watching Xia Yuanba's hurried retreating figure, Yun Che's expression slowly turned dark.
He no longer headed toward the exit of the Mystic Palace. Instead, he changed direction and walked slowly toward the training room Xia Yuanba had gone to.
Xia Yuanba's training room was number 2296. Each training room housed five Outer Palace disciples. Yun Che walked over silently, stopped by the window, and glanced inside.
The training room was small—less than half the size of a Profound Gathering Tower chamber. When Xia Yuanba entered, the other four disciples were already inside. Seeing him return, they exchanged glances and wore sneering smiles.
"Oh ho, big guy, you're back? And you got your pills too?" A blue-clothed youth who had been sitting on the ground training stood up, looking at Xia Yuanba with a mocking tone.
Xia Yuanba's neck visibly shrank, and a look of fear appeared on his face. He forced a smile and said, "Senior Brother Han Feng, can you spare me a few pills this time? Just a few will do..."
The disciple called Han Feng's face instantly darkened. He sneered, "Oh? You've learned to bargain now, have you? Are your bones itching again, and you want us to loosen them for you? Less bullshit! Hand them all over! The four of us spend every day teaching a waste like you at the Initial Xuan Realm, and now you don't even know the basic courtesy of giving offerings!?"
The other three disciples also let out contemptuous sneers. The white-robed youth in the middle, who looked quite handsome, merely gave Xia Yuanba a faint glance as if looking at a pathetic clown.
Xia Yuanba's face flushed red. Gnashing his teeth, he obediently took out the pills he had just received. Han Feng snatched them all with one hand, not leaving a single one behind. Then he chuckled approvingly, "Tsk tsk, that's more like it. Don't worry, as long as you behave and serve us well, we'll treat you nicely, little junior brother. In future 'sparring sessions,' we'll go easy on you too, hahahaha."
Amid the triumphant laughter, Han Feng took ten Small Cyclic Profound Pills, then distributed ten Small Cyclic Profound Pills to each of the other two. Finally, he approached the white-robed youth, bent over, and said fawningly, "Senior Brother Kui Yang, these ten Small Penetrating Profound Pills and three Bone Forging Pills are for you. Please accept them."
The white-robed youth called Kui Yang was nineteen years old, the highest in profound force among the four. He had already broken through the Xuan Entry Realm and reached Level 1 of the True Profound Realm, ranking among the top two thousand among the fifty thousand Outer Palace disciples. He reached out, took the pills, then stood up and walked over to Xia Yuanba. Suddenly, he grabbed Xia Yuanba's left hand and snatched the three pills that were tightly clenched in his palm.
"So you were hiding three Profound Forging Pills." Kui Yang squinted with a cold grin, then suddenly kicked Xia Yuanba in the abdomen, sending him tumbling. "You little brat, if you try to be sneaky again, I'll break both your legs, got it!"
"Truly brilliant as always, Senior Brother Kui Yang!" Han Feng and the other two disciples immediately burst out laughing, brown-nosing fervently.
Xia Yuanba, kicked in the abdomen, fell to the ground, his body convulsing in pain. But he didn't cry out. He propped himself up, stood up, his face red and pale with suppressed anger. Yet he dared not speak back. He shuffled step by step to the corner of the training room.
Yun Che's anger blazed. A murderous intent exploded in his chest. Unable to watch any longer, he stepped forward and kicked the training room door.
Bang!!
The sturdy wooden door shattered under Yun Che's kick, splinters flying everywhere, startling all five people in the room.
Seeing Yun Che standing there, his face full of rage, Xia Yuanba panicked. He scrambled to his feet and stammered, "Bro... brother-in-law..."
But Yun Che paid no attention to Xia Yuanba. His eyes swept over the four Outer Palace disciples who had risen to their feet, and his voice was low and dark: "I'll give you two choices. First: hand over all your pills, break your own right arms, kneel down and kowtow to Xia Yuanba in apology. Second: die!!"
They had been about to demand who was causing trouble here, but Yun Che's words stunned them for a moment. Then they all burst into laughter.
"Where did this little brat come from, daring to make trouble here? Kowtow? Break our own right arms? Did you forget to take your medicine today? Hahahaha!"
"Oh! This guy looks familiar... Hey, shit! Isn't this the incredibly famous Yun Che—the one at the Xuan Entry Realm who boasted about challenging Murong Yi and got called the biggest joke in Cangfeng Mystic Palace's history!"
"Hm? He's that Yun Che?" The white-robed disciple Kui Yang sneered when he heard the name "Yun Che." "I heard that Yun Che is mostly insane. Looks like the rumors are true. What, you want us to kneel? Heh, if you kneel down and beg for mercy right now, I might only break one of your dog legs later."
The moment Kui Yang finished speaking, his vision blurred. A murderous intent washed over him like ice water, freezing his entire body. He was greatly alarmed, but before he could react, Yun Che's icy face had already appeared before him.
Bang!!
Kui Yang felt as if a ten-thousand-jun hammer had struck his chest squarely. His entire body shook violently. A wild, overwhelming force surged through all his meridians in an instant. He spewed a mouthful of blood and flew backward like a kicked sandbag, crashing heavily into the training room wall... With a shudder, the wall cracked and crumbled. Kui Yang's entire body became embedded in the wall. It was a long while before he slid down like a dead dog.
————————————————————
Infinite gratitude to Yue Zhiwu, Tian i Dao, Rui Qi, Ge Shi Chuanshuo _, Mingli Nanshuo, Jue _ Ban de Shenhua, vv Bailiu, Weixiao _ Xianzai, Qiu Er _, Mi Lian Xiao Qi, Xuanyu ex, Cha Fei Chunbai Wang, Shuyou 3373854, Jimo Xingchen, Nai Xi _, Zhen Yi ................ and many, many more dear friends for the tons of gifts and support........ Please, all you generous benefactors, accept my 24-karat titanium-alloy kneecaps! r1058