Chapter 161: Martial Academy Students

Chapter 161: Martial Academy Students

Outside the martial arts academy, Wang Jin led a group of disciples out, causing curiosity among the onlookers.

"Where are they going?" someone asked, puzzled.

"They're going to take the Inspection Bureau's assessment, of course!" another person explained.

"I'm so envious of them! If they pass, they'll become officials!" someone else exclaimed with admiration.

The group of disciples walked out one by one, and the atmosphere became lively.

"Jiang Ning, do you have confidence for the upcoming assessment?" Li Qing moved closer to Jiang Ning and asked softly.

Jiang Ning's heart trembled as he caught a faint scent of a woman's perfume. He couldn't help but laugh at his body's instinctive reaction.

Indeed, young martial artists with robust physiques and abundant energy often struggled with self-control.

He quietly moved away, creating some distance between him and Li Qing.

The memory of Li Qing's foot odor from the other day still made him feel dizzy.

"Of course, I'm confident!" Jiang Ning replied softly.

"Jiang Ning, you're so arrogant!" Zhao Hu mocked from the side, "Even I wouldn't dare say I'm certain to pass the assessment. You've only been training for a few months, yet you speak so boldly."

Jiang Ning sighed inwardly as he saw Zhao Hu's intense gaze upon him.

It was clear that Zhao Hu was jealous because Li Qing had shown him some affection.

In the martial arts academy, it was common knowledge that Zhao Hu admired Li Qing.

In fact, many disciples secretly admired Li Qing for her tall and slender figure, which was rare even in Luoshui County.

Her skin remained smooth and fair despite her martial arts training, thanks to her privileged background and lack of hardship.

At a glance, Zhao Hu and the others secretly admired Li Qing, especially as she was in the prime of her youth.

"Women are indeed a source of trouble," Jiang Ning thought to himself.

He glanced at Zhao Hu, who immediately scowled.

"What's that look for, Jiang Ning?" Zhao Hu asked, his voice rising as he stood before Li Qing.

Jiang Ning furrowed his brows and stared at Zhao Hu, his sharp gaze making Zhao Hu's heart skip a beat.

Jiang Ning had already taken dozens of lives, and his aura, unintentionally unleashed, was filled with a tangible killing intent.

"Hmm?"

Zhou Xing sensed this aura and turned to look at Jiang Ning with a sideways glance.

The next moment, he narrowed his eyes in thought.

"This Jiang Ning seems more than meets the eye. I thought he was just a sheltered flower, only knowing how to train without any real combat experience."

"But now, the killing intent emanating from him suggests he's taken numerous lives."

"He's only been training for three months, yet he already exudes a hint of killing intent. Impressive!"

Meanwhile, Wang Jin noticed the commotion and turned to look at Jiang Ning and Zhao Hu.

"What's going on here?"

"Nothing!" Jiang Ning shook his head.

Zhao Hu, seeing Wang Jin's gaze, also shook his head. "It's nothing!"

As Wang Jin turned away, Zhao Hu quietly averted his gaze, his mind racing.

"What just happened?"

"How did this kid make me feel afraid?"

"Could he be a threat to me?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Zhao Hu shook his head, dismissing the thought.

On the other side of town, at the Yun Lai Inn.

"Greetings, Elder!" The disciples of Medicine King Valley bowed respectfully as a middle-aged man in a gray robe appeared before them, their anxious hearts finally settling.

"What happened?" The gray-robed man asked the group of disciples.

"Elder, we don't know either! Elder Liu left at noon three days ago. That night, there was no news from him or the two disciples who accompanied him, Wang Jiu and Wu Sheng," one of the disciples stepped forward and replied.

"So, we went out that night to search for Elder Liu and the others. After searching all night without any clues, we realized something was wrong and contacted the sect," the disciple continued.

"Has Liu Qing Song appeared today?" The gray-robed man asked.

"No, Elder," the disciple replied.

Hearing this, the gray-robed man's brows furrowed.

"It seems Elder Liu Qing Song is in grave danger!"

"Elder, do you mean he's been harmed?"

"At this moment, a female disciple cautiously spoke up."

The middle-aged man in the gray robe glanced at her and said, "It's almost certain!"

As his words fell, he took out a white jade token from his body.

Upon seeing the token, several disciples were momentarily stunned.

"A life token!" one disciple whispered, their voice filled with surprise, "The Third Elder actually brought Elder Liu's life token with him."

The gray-robed man held the token and infused it with a strand of his blood energy.

The next moment, he said, "Follow me!"

"Yes, Third Elder!" The disciples quickly followed.

After a while, they arrived at the bank of the Luo River.

The gray-robed man looked at the surging Luo River before him and then at the life token of Liu Qingsong in his hand.

He infused another strand of blood energy into the token, activating its function.

"Into the water!" he commanded.

Then, he leaped towards the water's surface.

Plop!

As the sound of the splash echoed, he dove into the water.

"Seventh Sister and Xu Shidi, you two wait here, we're going down!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

The two disciples responded in unison.

The next moment, they dove into the lake, quickly disappearing from the surface.

In the lake, they followed the gray-robed man's descent.

After several dozen breaths, the man in gray said, "You all go up first!"

Even in the water, with the man's robust physique, he could easily produce a deep and resonant voice.

By now, the disciples' faces were already flushed, and the oxygen in their lungs was almost depleted.

Hearing the gray-robed man's words, they immediately felt relieved and quickly swam towards the lake's surface.

After a short while, the man in gray stepped onto the soft riverbed, which was piled with sand and stones.

With the guidance of the life token in his hand, he quickly located three corpses.

At this moment, the bodies had been soaked in the water for several days.

The corpses were already unrecognizable, their flesh half-eaten by fish and shrimp, leaving only some pale rotten meat floating on their white bones.

"It's definitely Elder Liu!" Seeing the clothes draped over the skeletons, the gray-robed man immediately confirmed.

He approached Liu Qingsong's body and bent down to untie the stone tied to Liu Qingsong's bones.

After a moment, he also untied the stones from the other two corpses.

Then, he grabbed the three corpses and brought them to the surface.

On the lake's surface, a gushing sound was heard as the gray-robed man emerged from the water.

"Third Elder!"

"Third Elder!"

". . ."

Seeing the gray-robed man appear, the disciples from Yao Wang Valley spoke up.

"Catch!" The gray-robed man said, then threw the three corpses he had brought up from the lake bottom towards the shore.

The three corpses instantly dropped in a parabolic trajectory and landed on the shore.

The next moment, he stomped his leg forcefully in the water.

Boom!

With the powerful explosion from his leg, the lake water beneath him instantly solidified like mud.

He leaped out of the water in an instant.

The water's surface beneath his feet also seemed to have been struck by a cannonball, and a circle of white waves spread out in all directions.

"Third Elder, is this Elder Liu's corpse?" A disciple pointed at a corpse on the shore, wrapped in rotten flesh, and asked.

"According to the guidance of the life token, and this servant is indeed Liu Qingsong, Elder Liu," replied the gray-robed man.

Then, he shook his body, and the major tendons in his body tensed, instantly causing his clothes to tremble, shaking off a large amount of lake water from his garments.

In an instant, his clothes were half-dry.

"Third Elder, what should we do now?" asked a disciple.

"Find the murderer who killed Liu Qingsong and the other two," the gray-robed middle-aged man glanced at the corpses on the ground, then continued, "Do you know what Elder Liu went out to do that day?"

"I know!" A disciple nodded, "According to Elder Liu's words, he went to find Jiang Ning to ask him something."

"Jiang Ning?" The gray-robed man asked, "Who is this person?"

On the other side, in the outer city, at the western training ground, Jiang Ning had just arrived and saw that the area was surrounded by onlookers.

Even as the sun overhead became scorching, the crowd of spectators remained large.

In the training ground, wooden sheds had already been set up all around.

These wooden sheds were already half-filled with people.

Wang Jin led a group of people towards one of the wooden sheds on the eastern side of the training ground.

This wooden shed was assigned to the Canglang Martial Arts Academy.

Soon after, the group arrived at the eastern wooden shed.

"Wang Guan, you're here!"

As soon as they entered the shed, a tall man sitting on the outermost stool stood up and greeted Wang Jin.

This person is none other than the Master of Shen Wei Martial Academy, Yu Yuan.

In Luo Shui County, he is also a true powerhouse, known to be on par with Wang Jin, both of them ranked seventh in the Martial Dao.

At the master's banquet that day, Jiang Ning had seen this person arrive, so he immediately recognized his identity.

"Master Yu!" Wang Jin greeted him, acknowledging his presence.

Then, he calmly took his seat.

Jiang Ning and the others also sat on the benches behind Wang Jin.

"Master Wang, do any of your disciples have the intention to compete for the Squad Leader position?" Yu Yuan suddenly turned to Wang Jin and asked.

"By that, do you mean that your disciples have the ambition to vie for the Squad Leader position?" Wang Jin asked.

"Haha!" Yu Yuan laughed, "You've seen through it all at a glance, as expected, nothing can be hidden from you."

Wang Jin shook his head, "If you want to boast about your disciples, just say it directly. Why beat around the bush? Could it be that your disciple Du Yang has already reached the eighth rank?"

"Haha!" Yu Yuan laughed, "Nothing can be hidden from you, Master Wang!"

Hearing this, Wang Jin turned and asked, "Zhou Xing, do you have any intention to compete for the Squad Leader position?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xing nodded slightly, "I am also an eighth-rank warrior now!"

With these words, both Wang Jin and Yu Yuan understood Zhou Xing's intention.

Being an eighth-rank warrior, how could he not have the ambition to compete for the Squad Leader position?

At this moment, Wang Jin burst into laughter, "Brother Yu, don't you think my disciple is not bad either?"

"Not bad at all!" Yu Yuan's gaze fell on Zhou Xing, and he exclaimed, "The Qilin Child of the Zhou family, truly extraordinary. He has the potential to surpass us in this lifetime!"

Wang Jin nodded slightly, "Of course!"

At the same time,

Jiang Ning's gaze swept across the entire training ground and then landed on a distant spectator stand.

On that stand, men and women gathered, each dressed in extravagant clothing, clearly made of expensive fabric.

Among this group, Jiang Ning also spotted two familiar faces.

Lin Jia'er, the niece of Lin Qingyi.

Li Sansheng, the younger brother of Li Wanwan, the Eldest Sister-in-law.

"These must be the disciples from the Martial Academy," Jiang Ning thought to himself.

At that moment, Li Qing followed Jiang Ning's gaze and then leaned slightly towards him.

"Brother Jiang, are you envious? They get to sit in the shade on the spectator stand, while we're stuck in this stuffy wooden shed."

"A little," Jiang Ning nodded.

As Li Qing said, the large shed, hastily constructed with wood, became unbearably stuffy as soon as the sun shone on it.

Especially since each shed wasn't very big, and with so many people crammed together, their sweat mixed, making it hard to breathe.

The spectator stand was different; it was well-ventilated, spacious, and far more comfortable than the wooden shed.

Li Qing also looked at the direction of the Martial Academy disciples with a hint of envy in her eyes.

"It's not just you, Brother Jiang, I'm envious too!"

"The spectator stand is so much more comfortable!"

"But we're not qualified to go over there. They are students from the Martial Academy in Dongling City, their status is far more prestigious than ours from this small town."

Hearing this, Jiang Ning spoke up, "Sister, there's no need to belittle yourself. Your family background is also quite impressive."

"It's true, but..." Li Qing shook her head, "Compared to them, we fall short in many ways."

Just then,

Zhao Hu clenched his fists as he saw Li Qing intentionally moving closer to Jiang Ning, feeling a surge of hatred.

"That despicable pretty boy!" he cursed in his heart.

On the other side,

Lin Jia'er, sitting on the spectator stand, also noticed Jiang Ning in the wooden shed.

Jiang Ning stood out among the crowd, his height and appearance easily drawing attention.

Looking down at Jiang Ning in the shed, Lin Jia'er lifted her chin slightly, a hint of pride on her face.

As if to say,

Look!

This is the difference!

Jiang Ning saw Lin Jia'er's subtle gesture and shook his head.

Childish!

Then he glanced at Li Sansheng.

Li Sansheng was surrounded by a group of people, clearly the center of attention.

"It seems Li Sansheng was right! He truly has the potential to become the future patriarch of the Li family; otherwise, his status wouldn't be so high."

Jiang Ning's gaze then shifted to the central platform of the spectator stand, where the Chancellor's Seat remained empty.

Jiang Ning knew that this seat belonged to the head of the Inspection Bureau in Luo Shui County.

With the power of the Inspection Bureau, if the County Magistrate was like an emperor, then the head of the Bureau was like a god, holding the power of life and death.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end