Elderly Martial Saint: Sixty Times the Cultivation Speed ​​at the Start

Yi Yang looked in the direction of the sound and saw a burly man with a full beard waving at him. The beard was thick and curly, covering half of his face, leaving only a pair of small, piercing eyes visible.

It is Luo Kaishan.

Sitting next to him was Xie Yungui, dressed in a gray-blue martial arts uniform with a sword at his waist. He was drinking water from a water pouch and nodded slightly when he saw Yi Yang looking over.

Yi Yang met the two at a gathering at Wangyue Tower in Qingzhou City. Luo Kaishan was a carefree and easygoing person, while Xie Yungui was calm and taciturn. Both of them had only met Yi Yang once.

After arriving in Hengyue Town, the three of them met up several times. In this unfamiliar town, they had developed a certain friendship.

Yi Yang walked over, and Luo Kaishan moved aside to make room for him, patting his shoulder with considerable force.

"I thought something had happened to you that night." Luo Kaishan chuckled twice. "I heard that the alley where you live was also affected, with a few barbarians from the Wu Kingdom breaking in."

"It's nothing serious, my men took care of it," Yi Yang said casually after sitting down next to him.

Xie Yungui put away the water pouch, glanced at Yi Yang, and said, "Many people died in the city that night."

"I've heard about it." Yi Yang nodded.

Three other people sat beside the two, all from the Sky Patrol Bureau, each from a different prefecture. Luo Kaishan introduced them to Yi Yang one by one, and Yi Yang bowed to each of them, memorizing their names and faces.

These individuals were all at the late True Qi Realm, ranked from sixty to eighty on the Hero Ranking, exactly the same level as Yi Yang's publicly stated "late True Qi Realm". Apart from Yi Yang, who was hiding his strength, the strongest person present was Xie Yungui, ranked thirty-ninth on the Hero Ranking, at the peak of the True Qi Realm.

When the others were talking, their eyes would intentionally or unintentionally glance in Xie Yungui's direction, and their tone was polite, implying that they regarded him as their leader.

Yi Yang looked around the tent and, not seeing Jiang Zhongtian, asked:

"Has Lord Jiang not arrived yet?"

Luo Kaishan shook his head and lowered his voice, saying, "Not everyone has arrived yet. Those upstairs will probably have to wait a while."

"Do you know why we've been summoned here?"

Luo Kaishan rubbed the stubble on his chin with his thick, rough hands and guessed, "The information I've gathered is all over the place, and no one can say for sure, but think about what happened a few days ago..."

The people of the Witch Kingdom, the Nine Evil Cults, and the Blood Illusion Venerable—it's all a mess. There needs to be some kind of order afterward. I reckon it'll either involve tracking down the remaining rebels or redeploying the city's defenses.

He lowered his voice and leaned closer: "But that's not important. Let me tell you, some of the people here today are quite extraordinary."

Yi Yang picked up the tea that had been prepared on the table and drank it, waiting for him to continue.

Luo Kaishan gestured cautiously with his chin toward the other side of the tent and said:

"Those three over there, did you see them?"

Yi Yang looked in the direction he was looking and saw three people with extraordinary bearing sitting together on the right side of the tent. They were deliberately left with a circle of space around them, and the people next to them were two body lengths apart, as if they were afraid of getting too close.

Among the three, the one on the far left was a young man with a sword. He had a cold and aloof expression, sat upright, and kept his hand on the hilt of his sword without moving. The aura he exuded was so sharp that it made people uncomfortable.

The man in the middle was wearing a moon-white robe, with a gentle face. He was smiling and talking to the person next to him. He looked more like a scholar than a martial artist, and his deep eyes indicated that he was not as simple as he appeared on the surface.

On the far right sat a tall, slender young man with handsome features and an extraordinary air about him, his clothes embroidered with a tiny clan emblem.

Luo Kaishan then introduced the three men, who all seemed quite extraordinary, one by one:

"The one with the sword is Han Linyuan, a core disciple of Ten Thousand Swords Valley, ranked seventeenth on the Heroes List."

"The one in white robes is Fu Yun Shen, a core disciple of the Heavenly Heart Sect, ranked fourteenth."

"The last one is Gu Qiusheng, the core member of a collateral branch of the Gu family, one of the four great families. He is number twelfth."

All three of them are in the top twenty of the list of outstanding individuals.

After Luo Kaishan finished speaking, he added, "Originally, there was an even stronger one, ranked in the top ten of the Heroes List, Lu Wanyuan, the prodigy from the Lu family. But you've probably heard about him—"

"I was hit by Lu Qinglan," Yi Yang continued.

"It wasn't just a fight, he was knocked down within ten moves and seriously injured." Luo Kaishan clicked his tongue twice. "Lu Wanyuan was so embarrassed that he packed his bags and left the next day. I heard he went back to the Lu family's old house to recuperate."

Yi Yang didn't respond; he was preoccupied with other matters. Han Linyuan, Fu Yunshen, and Gu Qiusheng—these three represented the interests of Wanjian Valley, Tianxin Sect, and the Gu family, respectively, in Hengyue Town.

However, these three sects and families are so large that they cannot bet on just one major town. Most of their stronger disciples are scattered across the two major towns of Xuanming and Wanyao.

In other words, these three are already among the top True Qi Realm cultivators in Hengyue Town.

"Brother Xie, you're ranked thirty-ninth. With a little more effort, you might reach the Profound Realm." Just then, a warrior from the Sky Patrol Division smiled and cupped his hands towards Xie Yungui, his tone carrying a hint of flattery.

Another chimed in, "Brother Xie has reached the pinnacle of the True Qi Realm before the age of forty-five. Given time—he might soon be on the verge of reaching the Profound Realm!"

Xie Yungui waved his hand, ignoring the remark.

Yi Yang sat beside him, his lips twitching slightly, but he remained silent, thinking to himself:

"List of Outstanding Individuals"

A few months ago, this would indeed have been a goal for him, but now he has already entered the first stage of the Profound Realm, dealt with Jiang Zhongtian, witnessed the methods of those monsters on the Hidden Dragon Ranking, and even heard of the Grandmaster-level "Shang Yu".

To put it bluntly, this ranking list is a leaderboard for those at the True Qi Realm.

This is nothing more than a minor skirmish in this small pond in Qingzhou.

"The Hidden Dragon List".

That is the true land of dragons and tigers.

However, Yi Yang would not say this out loud. Everyone present thought that he was a late-stage True Qi Realm cultivator, ranked fifty-eighth on the Heroes List, a Sky Patrol Warrior from a small place in Suining Prefecture, with no background or backing, who relied entirely on luck and a little skill to get to Hengyue Important Town.

This impression is quite good; he's not the kind of person who likes to show off.

Just then, a suppressed gasp came from the entrance of the main tent.

The buzzing of discussion spread from the front row to the back. Some people stood up and craned their necks to look towards the door, while others gasped.

Yi Yang also raised his head and looked in the direction everyone was looking.

At the entrance of the large tent, four figures slowly walked in from outside.

Leading the way was Jiang Zhongtian, dressed in a silver-gray narrow-sleeved martial arts uniform and carrying a long spear.

To his left was Chu Tiankuo, the powerful and imposing law enforcement elder of the Tianxin Sect.

To the right was Lu Zui, the master of the Mountain and River Fist. The old man walked steadily, his cloudy old eyes half-open and half-closed, but no one present dared to underestimate him—that night, this old man crushed two monsters at the peak of True Qi into bloody mud with a single punch.

The simultaneous appearance of these three important figures was enough to make all the True Qi Realm martial artists present feel suffocated.

But what truly made everyone gasp was the person standing beside Lu Zui.

A young woman.

She wore a plain white, narrow-sleeved martial arts uniform, her long hair was casually tied back with a white jade hairpin, her face was beautiful, and her eyes held a hint of indifference.

Lu Qinglan.

A woman who defeated Lu Wanyuan, one of the top ten on the Heroes List, in ten moves and won the title of "Number One Hero of Hengyue Town".

She actually walked in with three important figures from the Hidden Dragon List.

The murmurs inside the tent were impossible to suppress.

Why is Lu Qinglan following behind those three?

"Haven't you heard? She's the granddaughter of the venerable Lu Zui."

"I know she's Lu Zui's granddaughter, but that doesn't mean she should be walking alongside Lord Jiang and Elder Chu, does it? She's only at the True Qi Realm—"

"True Qi Realm? Have you ever seen a True Qi Realm expert easily defeat the Lu family's prodigy? Fairy Lu is definitely a contemporary prodigy, and she has a promising future on the Hidden Dragon List."

"Perhaps only Fairy Lu can be considered Hengyue's only 'hero'!"

The rustling sounds echoed inside the tent, and upon hearing these words, the eyes of the top twenty on the list of heroes couldn't help but turn towards them.

Han Linyuan tightened his grip on the sword hilt slightly. Fu Yunshen's smile remained unchanged, but the look in his eyes darkened.

Gu Qiusheng turned his head slightly, staring at Lu Qinglan as she walked a few steps in front of him, and pursed his lips.

A barrage of envious, jealous, and resentful gazes pierced Lu Qinglan like needles.

But she didn't care at all.

Her gaze didn't even linger on any of the "prodigies" inside the tent.

～～～～～～～

Happy National Day to everyone! Have a wonderful holiday! Spend more time with family and friends, or simply relax.