Chapter 116: Scorching Sun Fist

　　‘Sigh, I need to stop thinking about useless stuff like this.’ 

　　Qi Ying shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, and began to focus on cultivation.

　　He was a Green Class disciple and as such, he was eligible for protection from the academy. Under those circumstances, no one would dare to try and kill him, and even if altercations were to arise, only between disciples would they be allowed.

　　As opposed to burdening himself with a bunch of pointless concerns, it was much better to concentrate on improving himself.

　　If he were powerful enough, then he wouldn’t have to be scared of anything!

　　‘Phew… I should try and cultivate in the Purple Sun Eye!’

　　After a while, Qi Ying couldn’t help but rub his eyes in exhaustion.

　　The Purple Sun Eye was indeed quite a complex battle technique. He could only direct his True Energy along the cultivation paths stipulated by the Purple Sun Eye, but he couldn’t find the most suitable state for himself, and could only experiment through trial and error. Even though his superb True Energy manipulation skills helped during the process, his eyes were still feeling quite sore and exhausted.

　　Qi Ying’s learning ability wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t fantastic either.

　　The vast majority of disciples in the Green Class had green or higher aptitude in their learning ability, but it happened to be Qi Ying’s weakest point.

　　After cultivating the Purple Sun Eye for two hours, he still hadn’t reached the elementary level.

　　‘Sigh… On the bright side, this really has helped enhance my Purple Energy Cultivation Method…’ 

　　He still had to do missions in the Beast Valley the next day, so he retired to his room and went to sleep.

　　…

　　The Beast Valley was one of the valleys at the foot of the five mountains, and it extended for close to ten kilometers. Beasts could be kept in pens and stables, but that was too expensive, and it would be very time-consuming to hunt down, capture, and transport those beasts back to the academy. Thus, the Yun Xiao Academy chased all of the surrounding beasts in the Beast Valley, thereby creating a natural stable. Disciples could slay those beasts and exchange the materials obtained for points.

　　Thus, they could hone their combat abilities and gather beast-based materials for the academy, resulting in a win-win situation for both the academy and the disciples.

　　Aside from Lin Yin, there were also several other disciples who had teamed up with Qi Ying. They were all also new Green Class Energy Martial Stage disciples, who were aiming to hunt down some beasts in order to earn Yun Xiao Points.

　　In reality, the high-born disciples of the academy were the only ones who had inexhaustible cultivation resources, even without having to do missions. Aside from them, everyone in the academy had to earn their keep.

　　The so-called four major families of the Celestial River County were not much different from plebeians in the capital, and it was far too expensive for them to financially support a disciple, one that had the potential to reach the Eighth or Ninth Spirit Martial Stages.

　　Thus, the group traveled to the Northwestern region of the Beast Valley, and began to hunt for beasts.

　　The Beast Valley was accessible to all disciples. The materials they obtained from slaying beasts there wasn’t useful to them anyway, so there was no reason why they wouldn’t exchange them for Yun Xiao Points. Thus, the academy didn’t have to worry about disciples keeping those materials for themselves.

　　Green Class disciples like them were unable to access areas with Dark Tier beasts. They could only prowl areas with normal and Yellow Tier beasts, so there was almost no danger for them, and they could kill whatever beasts they came across.

　　Aside from Qi Ying, the ones in the group with the lowest cultivation bases were already at the Eighth Energy Martial Stage, so they could even kill Yellow Tier Ninth Rank beasts.

　　Throughout the day, they killed close to twenty beasts, obtaining a lot of bones, flesh, horns, scales, and things of that nature, which they split among themselves.

　　The flesh and blood of the beasts could be used for pill refinement, and for dishes cooked by the academy cafeteria, while the bones and scales could be used for refining treasured tools… In any case, all of the body parts served a purpose, and the academy paid the disciples reasonable prices for them.

　　Qi Ying had the lowest cultivation base, so he received the smallest split. However, he didn’t really mind as he wasn’t required to put in much effort either. He was basically carried throughout the entire hunting trip, and he used the opportunity to practice his movement techniques, as well as to shake off some of the rust that had accumulated from lack of practical combat in recent times.

　　In contrast, the other members of the group seemed to be lacking in battle experience, and encountered some difficulties during the battles. On one occasion, they were hunting an Earth Armored Beast, with hard scales all over its body, and many of them were injured in the process.

　　‘Not bad.’ 

　　Qi Ying assessed his spoils of war, to find that he could exchange them for roughly five to six hundred Yun Xiao Points, which was the equivalent of fifty to sixty thousand crystals.

　　As they departed from the Beast Valley, Qi Ying asked everyone, “Do you guys want to come to the Beast Valley again tomorrow?”

　　Lin Yin was exhausted, and immediately shook her head. “No way! I’m going to lie in bed all day tomorrow…”

　　The other few disciples were also very tired, and preferred to do some easier administrative missions in the academy. If they were in need of more Yun Xiao Points, they could organize another hunting trip at a later date.

　　“Alright, I’ll come by myself tomorrow then.”

　　Qi Ying shrugged.

　　“Hey, that’s very dangerous!” Lin Yin’s brows furrowed upon hearing that, “You’re only at the Sixth Energy Martial Stage, so you could struggle even against Yellow Tier Seventh or Eighth Rank beasts.”

　　“It’s alright, I’ll just avoid the ones I can’t kill, and pick out the weaker beasts.”

　　“Alright then.”

　　…

　　In the end, Qi Ying received a higher reward than he had expected. There seemed to be a few items that the academy was in desperate need of, which raised their selling price, and he received a total of eight hundred and sixty Yun Xiao Points as a result.

　　The instructor explained with a smile, “There aren’t that many Energy Martial Stage disciples in the academy, and not many people want to go around killing these beasts, so demand constantly exceeds supply, and that drives up the prices. However, the Jade and Crimson Class disciples are going to the Beast Valley for a large scale hunting expedition soon, so the prices will fall drastically in the near future.”

　　“I see!”

　　After receiving the eight hundred Yun Xiao Points, Qi Ying went to the Cultivation Methods Library again. Thankfully, there was another instructor there alongside Instructor Jiang Yuanping, and he exchanged for the Scorching Sun Fist with that instructor.

　　He wasn’t going to get the hang of the Purple Sun Eye anytime soon, but the Scorching Sun Fist would be easier to cultivate, thereby resulting in a more immediate boost to his combat prowess.

　　As he left the library, Instructor Jiang Yuanping suddenly called out to him, “Qi Ying, what are you planning on doing tomorrow?”

　　“I’m going to cultivate.”

　　Qi Ying didn’t want to speak with that old suck-up, so he left an ambiguous response before quickly departing.

　　Who knew what he was plotting by asking that question?

　　He was a former servant of the Chu family, so Qi Ying had to be quite wary of him in the future!

　　That night, Qi Ying cultivated the Scorching Sun Fist in the courtyard.

　　Boom!

　　Thump!

　　Thump!

　　He was able to master the battle technique to the elementary level after just fifteen minutes; purple and golden light surged from his fists with every punch. The explosive force unleashed was also more than fifty percent superior to that of the Dark Falcon Illusionary Claw.

　　‘As expected of a Yellow Tier Supreme Rank battle technique! I’ve only reached the elementary level and it’s already this powerful!’