By the roadside, young girls turned to look at him repeatedly. Chen Yiming immediately put on an indifferent expression and puffed out his chest, as if he hadn’t seen anything.

He thought to himself, “As expected, appearance is everything. Previously, I felt that something was missing. It turns out that I cared too little about my hairstyle.”

It was lonely at the top.

Ever since he became a martial master, he had become more and more fond of hiding his identity and blending into society. He did not want to become like the ancient emperors who were constantly busy with government affairs.

For example, if he wanted to secretly control Jiangnan province or even the Daxia Kingdom, to become like the corporations in the western world, when faced with an existence that could easily suppress other martial masters, the government and military could only submit and cooperate with him.

At the same time, he understood better why the ancient emperors were willing to take the risk and travel around as ordinary people.

He originally wanted to cut his hair and go to the deep forest in the wilderness to cultivate for a day. As he walked, he turned a corner and headed to the park square in East Lake City.

…

The square was very lively.

From time to time, birds would land in the square and get fed by the bird lovers.

Many young people were sparring to check what they had learned and help each other in their training.

Chen Yiming walked around and realized that many people were discussing the name Feng Wuji and the events surrounding him.

He thought to himself, “From the ordinary warrior realm to the half-step master realm, his progress is even faster than mine.

Either something similar to Yuan Chengwei happened to Feng Wuji, or the trial grounds triggered his hidden spiritual talent.”

At the third stage of the warrior realm, one used the internal force. The difference between the transformation of internal force and the fusion of internal forces was the level of control one had over the internal force.

With his spiritual talent activated, his ability to control his spiritual power would instantly reach a high level. It was indeed possible for him to quickly completely control his internal force.

Then, he quickly underwent a qualitative change and completed the materialization of his spiritual power. He leaped to the half-step master realm in one go, shocking the world.

A girl walked towards Chen Yiming and patted his shoulder from behind. “Senior Brother Chen, long time no see.”

Chen Yiming’s spiritual power had already sensed that the person behind him was Song Shanshan, who had shamelessly followed him when he brought the genius girl, Shen Mengwei, back to the sect.

The other party thought that he was a disciple of the Myriad Phenomena Sect.

He glanced at Song Shanshan and said, “It’s you! Are you alone?”

Song Shanshan nodded and said, “I stayed in the Mantis Snake Sword School to practice martial arts. Mengwei passed the assessment and entered the Myriad Phenomena Sect to cultivate.”

Chen Yiming nodded and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“It’s nothing. Didn’t we just happen to meet? How can the Shanghai Martial Arts Academy compare to the Myriad Phenomena Sect? If not for your recommendation, Mengwei would have been a pearl covered in dust,” Song Shanshan said enthusiastically, her tone filled with gratitude.

Chen Yiming fell silent. The capital’s martial arts academy and the Shanghai Martial Arts Academy were the two most famous martial arts academies in the Daxia Kingdom. They might have an advantage over ordinary provincial sects in terms of competing for talents.

However, facing the Myriad Phenomena Sect, which had a martial master as its sect master, the attraction immediately decreased by several levels.

“Um… Do you know if Feng Wuji’s deeds are true? Is the trial grounds really so magical that it can change one’s fate?”

Suddenly, Song Shanshan started to act shamelessly and asked hopefully.

Chen Yiming coughed and said mercilessly, “That depends on the person. For example, the potential in your body can be filled with a cup of water, while Feng Wuji’s potential can fill up a water jet.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Song Shanshan stood rooted to the ground. The hope on her face instantly disappeared, and her face turned pale.

To be able to go from the warrior realm to the half-step master realm was something almost everyone had dreamed of. It was inevitable that they would hope they were lucky enough to achieve this.

Now that her trace of hope had been shattered, she felt upset, very upset, extremely upset.

Chen Yiming also felt that his words were too blunt, so he added, “If you can settle down and cultivate diligently, you might have a chance to see the power of internal force in the future.”

His words were not baseless. On the surface, Song Shanshan’s talent was limited, but she had a very powerful friend, Shen Mengwei.

If Song Shanshan relied on herself, she would not be able to reach the threshold of the warrior realm even if she practiced martial arts for another 10 or 20 years. However, with the help of her friend, she might have a chance.

Sometimes, choices outweighed hard work.

Chen Yiming sighed to himself as he watched Song Shanshan leave. The influence of the trial grounds had spread so quickly that it had become a topic of discussion among all the citizens.

Martial arts had always been the dream of countless young people, but in reality, only a small number of people had truly embarked on this path.

It involved spending a lot of time and money, and persevering every day to cultivate arduously in the same place.

The appearance of Feng Wuji seemed to give countless people with mediocre martial arts talent hope that they could change their fate.

Just as Chen Yiming was about to end his stroll and head to the deep mountains for his daily cultivation, Wang Ronghui called.

On the phone, it was briefly mentioned that the Minnan provincial government had the intention to invite Chen Yiming to be a mediator. He would lead a team to the Green Mountain Sect to help resolve the internal strife in the sect.

After hanging up, Chen Yiming understood what was going on.

Since it involved someone who was half a step away from the master realm, no one in the Minnan provincial government could speak to Feng Wuji on an equal footing.

It had to be known that the sect master, Xiao Mingshan, had died that night. In such a short time, no one could figure out Feng Wuji’s true personality.

If they rashly came into contact with him when their strength was not on the same level, the Minnan provincial government was afraid that it would cause a conflict that could not be resolved.

However, they had to resolve this issue. There were not many people who had the ability to speak up and could spare the time to deal with the problem. Chen Yiming seemed to be the only one who was suitable.

…

In a meeting room in the Jiangnan provincial government office, Chen Yiming was arranged to sit at the head of the table. A female civil servant in a suit served him tea enthusiastically.

He thanked her, and the female civil servant was immediately overjoyed. She smiled back at him brightly.

Sitting around the conference table were the provincial head, Wang Ronghui, one of the four people from the capital, Zhu Song, a young man, and a middle-aged man.

The young man’s name was Zheng Hong, and he had a green sword tied to his waist. He was a subordinate of the martial master stationed in the south of the Daxia Kingdom. Chen Yiming had seen him at the scene of the deformed monster’s corpse.

The middle-aged man’s name was Huang Guangqing, and he was the second-in-command of Minnan province. He was usually in charge of managing the civilian martial arts factions in the province, so he had been arranged to be in charge of this matter.

“Tell everyone about the current situation of the Green Mountain Sect,” Wang Ronghui said to Huang Guangqing after the female civil servant closed the door.

Huang Guangqing nodded and stood up to adjust the settings on the projector. He clicked on the remote control and projected the top-secret information on the screen.

The video began to play, showing the scene of a competition between the Sword Clan and the Spirit Clan of the Green Mountain Sect. Every fight between the disciples was recorded.

From the looks of it, the disciples of the Sword Clan had won more often than they had lost. Most of the disciples of the Spirit Clan were red in the face and extremely angry.

Huang Guangqing pressed the pause button and briefly explained, “The Green Mountain Sect’s Spirit Clan’s cultivation technique has a longer foundation stage, but it is also more powerful. There are many more experts in the middle-aged and older generation than in the Sword Clan.

The cultivation technique of the Sword Clan had a relatively shorter foundation stage, and its power was much weaker than that of the Spirit Clan. However, its effectiveness in actual combat in the early stages was good, and to a certain extent, it made up for the difference in quality between the disciples.

It’s recorded that before the appearance of the trial grounds, in the annual competition between the disciples of both sides, the disciples of the Spirit Clan relied on the quality of their life force to give them an advantage. Even though the combat strength of the cultivation techniques they cultivated in the early stages was relatively weak, they had never lost.”

Chen Yiming roughly recalled the scene of the competition between the disciples of the Green Mountain Sect.

The disciples of the Sword Clan who had returned from the trial grounds had relied on their explosive strength to easily defeat the disciples of the same level who were valued more.

Once they were able to hold their heads high, they would probably not say anything good. It was inevitable that they would mock others, show off, and be mean to others.

The disciples of the Spirit Clan were very angry, but they could not win. The more the competition progressed, the more embarrassing it would be.

Huang Guangqing pressed on the remote control, and the paused video resumed.

After the competition ended, an elder from the Sword Clan stood up and made a suggestion to the sect master, Xiao Mingshan, in front of everyone.

From now on, the Sword Clan had to obtain the respect they deserved. They asked the Green Mountain Sect to split the resources equally and change the distribution plan.

Then, the other elders of the Sword Clan stood up in support, along with many disciples of the Sword Clan.

All of a sudden, the sect master, Xiao Mingshan, and the many elders of the Spirit Clan were embarrassed by the people from the Sword Clan.

Huang Guangqing paused the video again and explained, “The founder of the Green Mountain Sect set a rule. Through the annual disciple competition, the resources for the next year will be allocated. The position of sect master and the distribution of cultivation resources have always been controlled by the Spirit Clan.”

Hearing this, Chen Yiming thought to himself, “No wonder the disciples of the Spirit Clan were so angry. Not only were they humiliated, but they also had to follow the rules set by their ancestors and give a portion of their cultivation resources to the Sword Clan the next year.

It was unknown what the founder of the Green Mountain Sect was thinking. He wanted to have a friendly competition between the two clans in the sects but from the weaker power of the cultivation techniques of the Sword Clan, there was clearly a difference between them.

As the Spirit Clan had controlled the Green Mountain Sect for a long time, perhaps they subconsciously viewed the other clan as inferior to them. How can they accept the other party climbing over their heads?”

The meeting room was silent. No one expressed their opinion for the time being.

Huang Guangqing paused for a moment before clicking on the remote control again. The video resumed.

Xiao Mingshan used the excuse that the disciples of the Sword Clan had cheated by training in the trial grounds to reject the request from the Sword Clan’s elders to redistribute the resources.

This was difficult for the people from the Sword Clan to accept. Xiao Mingshan, the sect master, had actually broken the rules set by the founder.

The atmosphere between the Spirit Clan and the Sword Clan suddenly became tense. One of the elders of the Sword Clan said fiercely, “Either you agree to the redistribution of resources, or everyone from the Sword Clan will leave the Green Mountain Sect and establish another sect.”

When the sect master, Xiao Mingshan, heard this, his expression darkened. He suspected that the elders of the Sword Clan had come prepared, and their true goal was to split from the Green Mountain Sect.

With a leap, his internal force turned into a spirit claw that covered half the sky and grabbed at the elder who had spoken those harsh words.

Seeing this, the elder of the Sword Clan cursed angrily, “Xiao Mingshan, you didn’t follow the rules of the sect and you don’t even treat the Sword Clan as part of the Green Mountain Sect. Now you want to harm your own sect members? I’ll fight you to the death.”

As soon as he finished speaking, not only did he not dodge, but he also charged forward. His sword stabbed out, accompanied by a stream of green and red energy.

However, the difference in their cultivation levels was huge. The spirit claw easily broke through the green and red energy, and its power did not seem to decrease at all.

Seeing this, the elder of the Sword Clan immediately cursed, “Damn it! Xiao Mingshan, you really want to kill me.”

At this moment, it was too late to dodge. Everyone seemed to have foreseen the situation that would occur in the next moment.

The elder from the Sword Clan who had taken the lead to cause trouble and said that he would set up another sect was suppressed by the sect master, Xiao Mingshan, in one strike. He ruthlessly rejected the Sword Clan’s arrangement to split from the sect.

The disciples of the Spirit Clan had unfriendly gazes as they imagined how they would deal with the disciples of the Sword Clan later.

It was the same for the elders of the Spirit Clan. They mocked the elders of the Sword Clan in their hearts for not knowing their place. So what if they won the competition among the disciples? The true decision-maker of the Green Mountain Sect was the sect master and the elders.

The disciples and elders of the Sword Clan were dumbfounded.

They did not expect this to be the result. In an instant, the seeds of their desire to leave quickly sprouted. They could not convince themselves to continue staying in the Green Mountain Sect.

Suddenly, a low voice rang in everyone’s ears.

“Die!”

Under everyone’s incredulous gazes, a disciple of the Sword Clan stood up.

The longsword at his waist was instantly unsheathed, revealing a six-colored stream of energy around it. The longsword curved through the air and shattered the spirit claw.

“Impossible!”

“How can that be!”

“He actually…”

Surprised cries rang out.

At this moment, even the elders and disciples of the Sword Clan were dumbfounded. This young disciple, Feng Wuji, had actually destroyed the spirit claw in a head-on attack.

It had to be known that the spirit claw was used in an attack made out of anger by Xiao Mingshan, who was at the peak of the warrior realm. From the looks of it, he did not care if the elder of the Sword Clan was dead or alive after the attack. Even if it was not a full-powered attack, he had used at least 80 to 90% of his power.

“You…”

The muscles on Xiao Mingshan’s face twitched as he lost face in front of the sect.

If the spirit claw could be shattered once, it could be shattered a second time. The situation seemed to be getting out of hand.

Feng Wuji did not say a word and walked to the side of the elder who had almost been hit by the spirit claw.

“Wuji, you…” The elder of the Sword Sect hesitated.

He wanted to ask his disciple what had happened, but he realized that it was not suitable to do so in the current situation.

“Elder He, what should we do now? Should we leave or stay?” Feng Wuji whispered.

His voice was not loud, but the other elders and disciples of the Sword Clan felt relieved, as if they had found their pillar of support who could shelter them from the storm.

Of course, Xiao Mingshan had heard it too. The disciple was completely looking down on him. He was saying that they could leave or stay as they wanted.

He leaped into the air angrily and struck out with both palms from the left and right.

A roar rang out. The air became distorted and dark, and the sky above seemed to be about to collapse, turning into a seal that suppressed everything.

This was the pinnacle of the Spirit Clan’s internal force cultivation technique. It could allow one to fuse and create a stronger internal force. Each move and stance did not need to be fancy, and one could directly use their power to suppress others.

Feng Wuji did not panic. With a light push, he sent the elder to the back of the crowd.

He still had the mood to observe the situation and wait for the huge seal to land before launching a counterattack.

A crystal shadow appeared behind his head, and a longsword formed from the six-colored energy appeared beside him.

In the next moment, he executed a flying sword technique. With a wave of his hand, his sword shot into the sky, as if it was about to destroy the seal.