13 Shocked Bao'er

"An outer sect disciple lost to a lowly servant disciple! Did you see that? Haha..."

"Yeah, Yang Ye has finally given us servant disciples a bit of pride. Who would dare to say we're inferior now? Haha..."

"An outer sect disciple! I told you before, Yang Ye is extraordinary. One day, he'll rise like the true dragon from the abyss. Do you believe me now?"

"You idiot, did you really say that back then?"

"..."

That day, the entire servant disciple peak was buzzing with talk about Yang Ye. Many servant disciples even neglected their work, too excited to focus.

Seven Refining Peak

The Seven Refining Peak was a training ground for the outer sect disciples. It housed seven training areas: Golden Armor Formation, Wooden Man Alley, Thousand Layers of Water, Lava Cavern, Gravity Cave, Yin Wind Ridge, and Thunder God Valley. However, these training areas were not freely accessible. Apart from the top ten disciples on the outer sect rankings, everyone else had to use sect contribution points to exchange for training time.

Sect contribution points were earned by hunting mystical beasts in the Ten Thousand Mountain Range or completing difficult sect tasks. These tasks were often dangerous and were typically taken on by the most talented and powerful disciples.

Out of over a thousand outer sect disciples, fewer than fifty could train at the Seven Refining Peak, and these fifty were the strongest of the outer sect.

"Qingyu, that Yang Ye has become a玄者 and defeated Duan Jun, who is an eighth-grade玄者!" In the Wooden Man Alley, an outer sect disciple spoke to a man in white robes standing before him.

The man in white robes was Liu Qingyu, ranked 65th in the outer sect. He was known as the brightest talent from Annan City, having become a congenital strongman at the age of seventeen.

Upon hearing this, Liu Qingyu frowned. "That waste is already a xuanzhe?" He had been told by his father to deal with Yang Ye if given the chance, but upon arriving at the Sword Sect, he found Yang Ye had already been relegated to the status of a servant disciple and was considered the Sect's greatest failure. Thus, Liu Qingyu hadn't bothered with him, thinking Yang Ye was beneath him. But now, he found that Yang Ye had already advanced to the xuanzhe level.

"Yes, but it seems he's still a servant disciple. Should we deal with him?"

Liu Qingyu thought for a moment and then shook his head, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "Let's go. Let’s meet this so-called玄者 waste."

Clear Wind Valley

"Little servant, this ring is for you. Inside, there are some energy stones," Bao'er said, smiling as she handed Yang Ye the ring she had previously extorted from Feng Yu.

Seeing the ring, Yang Ye’s eyelids twitched, and after a moment of hesitation, he shook his head. "Bao'er, this ring is too precious. I can't accept it." Although the (Xumi ring) was a space artifact, which could hold a lot of things, Yang Ye had certain boundaries and didn't want to take advantage of Bao'er.

"Little servant, don’t say that. Bao’er will be upset!" Bao'er rolled her eyes at Yang Ye and said, "It’s just a ring, not a big deal. Plus, without you, Bao'er wouldn’t have won so much. If you keep refusing, I’ll just throw it away!"

Yang Ye felt a warm current in his heart and stopped rejecting the ring. He then took out a strong talisman he had made, a high-grade one, and handed it to Bao'er. "Bao'er, this is a strong talisman I made. It’s a top-quality one. Take it."

"Mm!" Bao'er smiled and nodded. But suddenly, her eyes widened. "You—you made a strong talisman, a top-grade one?"

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"Yeah!" Yang Ye nodded.

"You—you wouldn’t be lying, would you?" Bao'er gave him a suspicious look and said, "Little servant, Bao'er doesn’t like being lied to!"

Yang Ye rolled his eyes. "If I’m lying, just look at it!"

Bao'er took the talisman from his hand. When she saw the vividly glowing pale golden flame on the talisman, she was stunned. She stared at it for a long time before murmuring, "Impossible. This is really top-grade. How could it be...?"

Seeing Bao'er in such a daze, Yang Ye softly asked, "What’s wrong? Is it good or bad?"

Bao'er looked up at Yang Ye, suppressing her excitement. "You—You made this in half a month?"

"Yeah," Yang Ye nodded. "I failed a lot in the beginning, and I wasted a lot of the materials you gave me." He felt a little embarrassed as he said this.

Bao'er gave him a strange look and thought, "Grandpa’s such a big liar! It took me three months to make a talisman, and it was only a mid-grade one. Yet Grandpa called me a genius. He must have been lying to me. Hmph, just wait until you come back, I’ll pluck all your beard hairs!"

"Is something wrong? Am I too dumb?" Yang Ye asked, noticing Bao'er didn’t respond immediately.

Bao'er’s face became even more unusual. After a moment, she regained her composure, smiled at Yang Ye, and nodded. "Half a month for one talisman... I guess your talent is... okay. Hmm, a bit worse than Bao'er, but still not bad!" She said the last part with a slight blush on her face.

Upon hearing this, Yang Ye relaxed and said, "That's fine. By the way, Bao'er, I’m not very familiar with other attribute talismans. Could you teach me?"

"Well..." Bao'er made an exaggeratedly difficult face. But when she saw Yang Ye’s nervous expression, she quickly said, "Only if you agree to one condition!"

"What condition?" Yang Ye asked excitedly. If he could become a talisman master, it would greatly improve his strength and future prospects.

Bao'er looked at Yang Ye with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You must agree to become my grandfather’s disciple. You’ll be my little brother, how about it?"

"Be your little brother?" Yang Ye froze.

"What? You don’t want to?" Bao’er’s face darkened a bit.

Yang Ye quickly shook his head. "No, of course, I’m willing to be your little brother. It’s just... Bao’er, will your grandfather accept me as his disciple? If he doesn’t want to, then I..." He was worried because every talisman master was incredibly powerful, and if Bao’er’s grandfather didn’t want him as a disciple, it would be quite awkward.

Upon hearing this, Bao’er’s displeasure disappeared in an instant, and she smiled. "Don’t worry about that. If I’m willing, then it’s settled. Alright, you’re now my little brother. I’ll take care of you, and next time I come, I’ll test you. For now, study the other attribute talismans. That’s your task. Got it?"

Yang Ye nodded eagerly, not daring to refuse.

Bao’er nodded with satisfaction. "It’s getting late. I’ll leave now, and I’ll study the strong talisman you gave me. No need to see me off." She then ran toward the Clear Wind Valley, her stern face immediately breaking into a wide grin as soon as she turned her back. "I found a treasure! Haha, this treasure is Bao’er’s discovery, and now he’s my little brother. Hee-hee..."

Yang Ye watched her go, feeling that something wasn’t quite right. Bao’er, though about the same age as Xiao Yao, seemed to be a bit more mischievous. He felt like she was hiding something from him earlier.

"Well, whatever. She certainly doesn’t mean me any harm," Yang Ye smiled and shook his head, then looked at the Xumi ring Bao'er had given him. Holding the ring in his hand, his heart raced a little. This was a Xumi ring, a space artifact that even the City Lord of Annan City might not have.

He played with it for a moment, then inserted his spiritual power into the ring. When he saw the vast space inside, Yang Ye’s heart skipped a beat. The space inside was enormous, at least 20 feet wide. There were also a large number of energy stones—at least ten thousand!

Remembering Bao’er’s earlier words, Yang Ye’s mouth twitched. She had mentioned there were only a few hundred energy stones inside, but he never expected there to be tens of thousands!

"This is a huge favor," Yang Ye thought to himself, smiling as he looked at the energy stones. He finally understood what it meant to be rich and powerful.

He then took out the yellow-grade high-quality sword given to him by Elder Fengyu. The sword was about 1.6 meters long, two fingers wide, and emitted a cold, sharp gleam. When he waved it lightly, it emitted a soft sword hum.

"A good sword!"

Looking at the玄铁 sword in his hand, Yang Ye’s eyes sparkled with joy. "I was planning to choose a sword from the Sword Pavilion after becoming an outer sect disciple, but Fengyu unexpectedly gave me this sword, a high-quality yellow-grade one. Now, I won’t have to practice swordplay with branches anymore."

"In twenty-eight days, it will be the Sword Sect’s biannual outer sect disciple assessment. With my current strength, I should have no problem becoming an outer sect disciple, but to rank in the top ten will still be a challenge. I need to improve my strength." Yang Ye muttered to himself, looking at the sword in his hand.