Martial Sage from the Vajra Skill

Guo Huai said, "I’ve heard, Brother Xu, that you don’t have the backing of a family. If you don’t mind, you could come serve my Guo Family as a Tributor. We can offer you a monthly stipend of two hundred taels.

It won’t interfere with your training at the Purple Sun Sect. You’d only need to help the Guo Family with a few matters each year.

In the future, for the Inner Sect assessment, the Guo Family will also lend you a hand."

This was a very high stipend. In Qingyuan County, the monthly pay for a Gang Qi Martial Artist serving as a Tributor would never exceed one hundred taels.

But the most important part was the last point!

Countless Outer Disciples of the Purple Sun Sect were unable to enter the Four Peaks and become Inner Sect Disciples, mainly because they couldn’t pass the Inner Sect assessment.

With the Guo Family’s help, the chances of completing the missions would be much higher.

Shen Liang and his two companions, listening from the side, grew tempted, wishing they could accept Guo Huai’s offer in Xu Yang’s place.

"My apologies, but I currently have no plans to become a Tributor for any family," Xu Yang politely declined.

’If I hadn’t learned how to refine Blood Coagulation Pills, I really would have had to seriously consider Guo Huai’s offer. But now, I won’t even entertain the thought.’

’It’s not money I’m lacking anymore, it’s resources.’

’If Guo Huai had offered elixirs for the Gang Qi Realm like the Guiyuan Pill instead of money, I might have been interested. But I doubt the Guo Family could produce something like that.’

Guo Huai smiled. "No matter."

He had only made the offer because he saw that Xu Yang’s talent was not much inferior to Lu Ren’s, and wanted to see if there was a chance to recruit him for his family. But anyone who knew Xu Yang knew about his lone-wolf personality.

If Xu Yang had been willing to join a family, it wouldn’t have been his turn to make the offer now.

’But inwardly, he had already judged that Xu Yang wouldn’t go far.’

’In a place like the Purple Sun Sect, it’s too difficult to achieve anything without the support of a family.’

The meal ended quickly, and the five of them went their separate ways.

Xu Yang took the twenty contribution points he had just obtained, along with the ones he had looted from Yun Feng, and exchanged them for a Guiyuan Pill before returning to his courtyard residence.

There was no one in the courtyard. ’They must have all gone out on missions.’

He entered his room, closed the door, and took out the Guiyuan Pill to consume it.

As he circulated the Fuyue Bear Scripture, the elixir dissolved into a warm current that swept through his entire body.

At the same time, news of the deaths of Fang Yu and Wen Hao from the Ten Heroes List spread among the Outer Disciples, causing a huge stir.

Many people tried to find out how the two had died, but they couldn’t dig up any information.

...

Four hours later, having refined most of the elixir’s medicinal power, Xu Yang opened his eyes.

[Fuyue Bear Scripture Gang Qi Chapter·Small Achievement (287/4000)]

With a soft sigh, he stood up from his bed.

’Now that I’m at Gang Qi Minor Achievement, the effects of the Guiyuan Pill have weakened considerably. Before, one pill could increase my Fuyue Bear Scripture’s progress by over a hundred points. Now, it’s only seventy or eighty.’

’After more than half a month of training plus two Guiyuan Pills, my Fuyue Bear Scripture’s progress is still less than three hundred.’

’At this rate, I’ll need over fifty Guiyuan Pills to reach Gang Qi Great Success.’

’Even if I can get one Guiyuan Pill from the Zhu Family every month and exchange for another one at the Purple Sun Sect, it would still take me more than two years to gather that many.’

’Of course, this doesn’t mean it will take me over two years to reach Gang Qi Great Success. Besides elixirs, I also have my own training.’

’But it will still take at least a year or so to reach Gang Qi Great Success.’

Pushing the door open, Xu Yang saw that Jiang Ping, Sun Tao, and the others had returned. They were discussing the deaths of Fang Yu and Wen Hao with Wang Weihua and his group.

"Haha... Junior Brother Xu, you’re back! Congratulations," Sun Tao said happily, coming forward to greet him.

Xu Yang was taken aback. "Senior Brother Sun, what’s there to congratulate?"

’Could Sun Tao know about me reaching Gang Qi Minor Achievement? That’s impossible.’

Jiang Ping, smiling broadly, said, "Junior Brother Xu, you haven’t heard? Those two geniuses from the Ten Heroes List, Wen Hao and Fang Yu, are dead. Lu Ren moved up from the bottom to eighth place, and you’re now tenth on the Ten Heroes List."

Hearing this, Xu Yang almost couldn’t stop himself from cursing out loud. ’I just want to keep a low profile! Isn’t this just putting me on the spot?’

’He knew all too well why Wen Hao and Fang Yu had died.’

’If those two hadn’t been geniuses on the Ten Heroes List, they might not have died in the valley with the Earth Vein Spiritual Fire. Even a piece of trash like Yun Feng managed to escape, so Wen Hao and Fang Yu were naturally no less capable.’

’But because they were Ten Heroes Geniuses, they were immediately targeted by the Blood Lotus Sect’s experts, leaving them with no chance to escape.’

"Who made this list? With my level of talent, how could I possibly be qualified to be one of the Ten Heroes?"

"I don’t know either. That’s just what everyone’s saying."

Xu Yang genuinely planned to find out who created the Ten Heroes List and ask them to change it, but unfortunately, it seemed no one knew who was behind it.

’I’m already being low-key enough, how is someone still paying attention to me? It seems I absolutely cannot reveal that I’ve reached Gang Qi Minor Achievement. If I don’t show any breakthroughs after a while, I should drop off the list.’

"Brother Xu, don’t be so modest. For our little courtyard to have two Ten Heroes Geniuses is a rare sight in the history of the Purple Sun Sect," Wan Hai said with a laugh.

Jiang Fan said, "Brother Xu, I heard you were one of the people with Wen Hao and Fang Yu. Do you know how they died?"

As soon as he said this, Jiang Ping and the others stopped focusing on Xu Yang becoming one of the Ten Heroes and looked at him curiously.

Sun Tao was shocked. "Junior Brother Xu, your mission was actually with Wen Hao and Fang Yu?"

Xu Yang was inwardly surprised at how well-informed Jiang Fan was to have found out even this detail. He shook his head and said, "I can’t say how they died. I can only say that a lot of people died this time."

Hearing Xu Yang say he couldn’t talk about it, Jiang Fan understood. He was a Young Master Marquis and knew more than the others. He instantly formed a guess and didn’t press the matter further.

"Brother Xu, to survive a great disaster means you are destined for good fortune," he sighed.

From Xu Yang’s words, he already had an idea of the kind of crisis Xu Yang had encountered.

"Why can’t you say?" Wang Weihua pressed. "Is there some kind of secret?"

Jiang Fan’s expression darkened. Realizing he had caused trouble for Xu Yang, he snapped, "If he can’t say, he can’t say! Why are you asking so many questions?"

He was an enthusiastic person and didn’t put on the airs of a Young Master Marquis; he was usually very amiable.

Seeing his rare display of anger, the others who wanted to ask more questions could only shut their mouths.

"How many people died, exactly? You should be able to say that, right?" Zhang Yong asked curiously.

Xu Yang nodded. "Not too many, just over a dozen. Not many from our batch, most were disciples from the previous intake."

At his words, everyone gasped. They thought five or six deaths would have been the absolute limit, but it was over a dozen, and they were all Dragon Ascending Disciples from the previous intake.

For disciples from the previous intake to have survived until now, even if they hadn’t reached Gang Qi Minor Achievement, they couldn’t have been far from it. This meant that among the dozen or so who died, there were likely several experts who were already at Gang Qi Minor Achievement.

At that moment, they finally understood the meaning behind Jiang Fan’s words about surviving a great disaster. For Xu Yang to have returned alive was truly a great escape from death.

Xu Yang then looked at Zhang Yong and Jiang Ping and added, "By the way, Yun Feng is dead too."

What?!

Yun Feng is dead too?

Jiang Ping immediately roared, "Good riddance! That bastard exploited us, he finally got his just deserts!"

Zhang Yong also clapped his hands and said, "A pity we couldn’t see how he died with our own eyes. If only Cao Rong and Gu Haoming had died too, that would be even better."

The two of them felt incredibly exhilarated and immediately pulled Xu Yang and Sun Tao along, insisting on taking them out for drinks.

Since it was dinnertime anyway and someone was treating, Xu Yang naturally wouldn’t refuse. The four of them immediately left the courtyard.

Not long after leaving the courtyard, the four of them saw a familiar figure.

Lu Ren!

He exuded a "keep your distance" aura. A sharp light glinted in his eyes, and his presence was exceptionally powerful.

He glanced at Xu Yang’s group of four from a distance, then turned and strode away.

"He’s reached Gang Qi Minor Achievement," Xu Yang murmured.

’Lu Ren went deep into the Yunling Mountain Range to risk his life; he must have gained quite a lot. His aura is even more ferocious than before. He’s definitely been tempered by life-and-death battles and has blood on his hands.’

Zhang Yong nodded. "That’s right. Two days ago, when he came back from outside, he publicly announced he’d reached Gang Qi Minor Achievement."

Jiang Ping sighed. "Lu Ren’s talent is truly astonishing. I heard Gu Haoming and the others tried to win him over again, but he refused."

When Gu Haoming and his group saw that Jiang Fan wasn’t making things difficult for Lu Ren, their minds started working again. They wanted to reconcile with Lu Ren and pull him back into the Dawn Association, but Lu Ren refused.

Zhang Yong laughed. "Lu Ren has already reached Gang Qi Minor Achievement. You must be close too, right? On the Ten Heroes List now, only you and Su Zhe, who’s in ninth place, haven’t reached Gang Qi Minor Achievement yet."

At these words, both Sun Tao and Jiang Ping looked at Xu Yang curiously.

Xu Yang shook his head. "I’m still very far off. I’m not qualified to be on the Ten Heroes List at all."

The appearance of the Blood Lotus Sect made him feel an even greater need to keep a low profile.

’This incident with the Blood Lotus Sect was not only for those Forging Materials but also to eliminate the talented disciples of the Purple Sun Sect. Only a fool would want to stick their neck out at a time like this.’