As Tang Aotian walked out from the crowd, he cast a disdainful glance at Qin Yu.

“Commoner, thank you for giving me this chance.”

Qin Yu looked frail and weak, seemingly unable to even eat enough, let alone train in martial arts.

But Tang Aotian was different. To lay a solid foundation for his cultivation, he had a professional martial arts teacher and practiced diligently every day for at least a quarter of an hour.

His combat ability was impressive.

Someone like Qin Yu, he could defeat ten of them!

Qin Yu didn’t bother to respond, turning directly to Elder Hu. “Can we begin now?”

He had been itching for this moment ever since Tang Aotian cut in line earlier. He had hoped to punch him then, but the situation had not allowed it. Now, however, Tang Aotian had taken the initiative to step forward, providing Qin Yu with the perfect opportunity.

Qin Yu cracked his knuckles and clenched his fists, his anticipation palpable.

Elder Hu nodded. “Start!”

Let’s see this fool get a taste of his own medicine!

With Elder Hu's signal, Qin Yu strode toward Tang Aotian, who immediately took a professional stance, his body swaying slightly as he prepared himself for the fight.

“Idiot!” Qin Yu sneered, reaching into his hand and throwing a handful of dirt straight into Tang Aotian's face.

“Despicable! My eyes!” Tang Aotian shut his eyes tightly, but before his hands could even reach to rub his face, Qin Yu’s fist slammed into his face with a loud thud.

Bang!

The punch landed with a sickening thud, sending Tang Aotian crashing to the ground.

Qin Yu immediately mounted him, landing one punch after another on Tang Aotian's face.

Bang!

“Ahh!”

Bang, bang!

“Ahh! Noooo!”

Bang, bang, bang!

“Ahhh! I can't—“

The sounds of fists pounding and Tang Aotian's wailing echoed throughout the area. His face quickly swelled up, blood dripping down as his cries turned into whimpers. His legs thrashed uncontrollably, not sure whether it was his stubbornness or the pain driving his movements.

“Next time, don’t cut in line!” Qin Yu growled, his fists relentless.

Bang!

“Don’t call me a commoner again!” Bang!

“Having superior spiritual roots doesn’t mean you’re better than me! What, you think I eat your rice?!” Bang, bang!

Although Qin Yu was breathing heavily, his punches kept falling like a storm.

Onlookers were stunned, their eyes wide with shock. Some of the more faint-hearted people closed their eyes, not daring to watch.

No one expected Qin Yu to be this ruthless.

In his previous life, if he hadn’t been a bit tough, he’d have been bullied to death in a small town by thugs. But when he fought those local bullies, he always threw chili powder in their eyes.

This time, he only used dirt, a merciful gesture.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

After all, Qin Yu wasn’t sure how powerful Tang Aotian’s backing was. He couldn’t afford to offend them completely.

As for the old servant accompanying Tang Aotian, he watched as his young master got beaten senseless, but Elder Hu did nothing to stop it, keeping his eyes closed.

The old servant finally couldn’t take it anymore. He rushed over, shouting, “Young friend, please show mercy! We concede!”

Qin Yu paused and looked down at the groaning Tang Aotian. “Who are you?”

“I’m Tang Aotian’s servant,” the old man quickly replied, kneeling before Qin Yu. “Please, show mercy! My master was rude and caused offense. Please forgive him! I beg you in the name of our family’s longstanding ties with the sect!”

Elder Hu snorted coldly, turning to look at the old servant. “So, you are from the Tang family of the capital?”

“Indeed!”

“If it weren’t for the favor of Tang the Chancellor, your young master would have paid the price for his actions today!”

Elder Hu glanced around at the crowd, his gaze stern. Everyone lowered their heads, afraid to meet his eyes.

“From now on, Tang Aotian has lost his right to enter this sect. No one from his family will ever step foot in this place again. Should anyone defy this order, they shall be executed!”

“Anyone else wish to challenge?” Elder Hu’s voice rang out, his tone even colder.

Seeing Tang Aotian beaten so badly, the remaining candidates were all terrified. No one else dared to step forward.

Qin Yu kicked the semi-conscious Tang Aotian once more and dusted off his hands. Ahh, that felt great!

“Thank you, Senior, for sparing his life!” The old servant quickly bowed in gratitude.

Elder Hu coldly responded, “I will inform Tang the Chancellor about today’s events. He’ll have to explain what happened here.”

The old servant bowed once more. “I will report back to the family immediately.”

“Go!”

Elder Hu turned, leading Qin Yu and the others into the gates of the sect.

“Boy, what’s your name?” Elder Hu asked as they walked.

“Qin Yu, senior.”

“Qin Yu, I will remember your name. You did well today. Here, take this sword as a reward for your actions.”

Elder Hu pulled out a flying sword from his storage ring and handed it to Qin Yu.

Qin Yu hurriedly expressed his gratitude.

Elder Hu patted Qin Yu on the shoulder, a rare smile on his face. “Now that you’re in the sect, focus on your training. And for heaven’s sake, don’t indulge in such… filthy things anymore!”

Qin Yu stared at him, puzzled. “Huh?”

Before he could respond further, Elder Hu disappeared in a puff of green smoke.

Once they were inside, the sect’s administrators divided the new recruits into groups based on their spiritual roots. Those with inferior spiritual roots would become the sect’s menial disciples, while those with middle and superior roots would become outer disciples, and the very best would join the inner disciples.

Out of this batch of new recruits, there were only five with exceptional spiritual roots, and not many with superior roots. Most of the others were placed into the middle and inferior groups.

As they were assigned, Qin Yu and the others followed a middle-aged man named Zhong Wende.

“I’m in charge of the menial disciples here,” Zhong Wende announced with a smile. “You can call me Uncle Zhong, or Brother Zhong—whatever suits you.”

“I’m just like you all, with inferior roots. I’ve been working as a menial disciple here for over fifty years. Because I’m diligent, I got the position as an administrator.”

“Being a menial disciple isn’t too different from the outer disciples. You work more, get paid less. But hey, we all know the drill—our talent isn’t the best!”

“But don’t lose heart,” Zhong Wende continued, trying to encourage them. “If you meet the sect’s conditions, you can still rise to become an outer disciple.”

Qin Yu’s eyes lit up. “Uncle Zhong, how do I become an outer disciple?”

Zhong Wende laughed. “Well, it’s simple enough. You just need to challenge an outer disciple and defeat them. If you win, you can take their place, and they’ll be demoted to a menial disciple.”

Qin Yu’s excitement grew. “Can I challenge someone now?”

He was already thinking of how he could fight his way to the inner disciples.

“Of course not!” Zhong Wende immediately dashed Qin Yu’s hopes.

“You need to wait at least half a year. You have to give everyone time to cultivate before challenges are allowed.”

“Besides, you can only challenge someone from the same batch. If you’re new, you can’t challenge someone from a previous batch.”

Some of the others groaned, clearly frustrated. “This is too hard! The gap between inferior and middle spiritual roots is huge. Even after cultivating for a while, how can we possibly beat them?”

Qin Yu snickered inwardly. Of course the weak complain about the environment. Meanwhile, strong people know how to use systems to cheat!

“It’s going to be tough,” Zhong Wende said with a bitter smile, “Otherwise, I wouldn’t still be a menial disciple myself.”

“But even if you don’t rise up here, you can leave the sect in ten years. As long as you’re a cultivator, you’ll have options. You can join smaller sects, become a wandering cultivator, or even work for a family as a guest elder.”

Zhong Wende continued walking, giving the recruits advice and explaining the rules of the sect.

Meanwhile, outside the sect, after consuming a healing pill, Tang Aotian finally came to his senses. With tears streaming down his face, he clung to his servant.

“I’ve had the worst luck today!”

“I had that disgusting sweet tofu pudding for breakfast, then got kicked out of the first round for cutting in line, the second round was mysteriously canceled, and I still don’t know why I was eliminated in the third round. To top it off, I got humiliated like this in front of everyone!”

“I swear, someone’s targeting me. Waaah!”

The old servant quickly tried to console him. “Young master, it’s their loss for not accepting you into the sect. There are plenty of other sects. The world’s not just made of this one.”