The Founder of Qi Cultivation, Reincarnates?

The crowd gasped. They were silent until now as they watch this unfold, but they were completely confused as to why Lin Bei was attacking Xi Shen so relentlessly, and even broke his zither.

Xi Shen with the frown still on his face, glanced away from the broken zither and look down at his palm to see a white gash on it. His sleeve robes were cut as well, meaning Lin Bei hadn’t only been aiming for his zither but his hand as well.

Lin Bei himself had paused his attack and was staring at Xi Shen’s hand with a stunned expression.

He was trying to be sneaky and test Xi Shen’s current physique, but he was taken aback by the results.

When his sword made contact with Xi Shen’s hand, he felt like he had just struck solid steel instead of skin and flesh. Even though he wasn’t using his original weapon, which was a Low-grade Spirit Weapon Artifact, this sword was crafted from rare and precious materials that would put ordinary steel swords to shame.

Staring at the white mark on Xi Shen’s hand that was left from his sword, caused Lin Bei’s brain to momentarily stop working.

Looking back up at Xi Shen, Lin Bei began to say, “You, what kind of body cultivation technique is that? It managed to…”

However, Xi Shen didn’t give him time to finish his words, before he brought out a fancier-looking zither, which was a mid-grade Spirit Weapon Artifact his mother gave him before he left.

Xi Shen then angrily and viciously plucked one of its strings, as it snap back into place, it caused a defended high-pitch ring to sound out across the Colosseum that went on ceaselessly.

Meanwhile, Lin Bei became wide-eyed as he saw a blast of sound wave energy rapidly making its way towards him.

The stage trembled intensely and Lin Bei retreated swiftly, but the shocking Soul Attack that was clearly visible to the naked-eyed reached him quickly and engulfed his figure.

Lin Bei's painful cries then echoed out on the stage, and the disciple down below watch as intangible and formless swords that were flashing in and out of existence, surrounded and slashed at his body.

However, Lin Bei's clothes and physical body were unarmed as they swirl around in a circle and attacked him. The reason for Lin Bei’s screams was because of the excruciating pain he was feeling coming from his soul and consciousness.

Lin Bei then suddenly reveal his hidden Foundation Realm cultivation that was at the 1st stage, but even then it felt as if these swords were slicing apart his consciousness piece by piece.

After what felt like forever, the Soul Attack faded and Lin Bei was seen laying flat on his back unconscious, his eyes wide open but had a blank look in them.

If one examined his soul at the moment, one would see several cracks on it as if it could fall apart at any moment. And as for his consciousness, it was shattered and was on the verge of collapsing completely.

If Xi Shen had continued bombarding him, his soul and consciousness would have crumbled completely effectively killing him.

But even if Xi Shen didn’t deal the final blow, Lin Bei would wish he was dead. A cultivator's soul was an important aspect while on the path of cultivation. With just slight damage to it, it could cost that cultivator years' worth of cultivation time to repair. With that said, the damage to Lin Bei’s soul and consciousness was almost irreparable, and his cultivation was going to completely stagnate at his current cultivation level. Even if his soul and consciousness recover it wouldn't be the same. Xi Shen had just killed any chance of him moving from the 1st stage of the Foundation Realm.

In fact, if one's senses were sharp, one could feel Lin Bei's aura weakening. If left untreated, his cultivation could drop back down to the Sea Expansion Realm.

After Xi Shen stopped his attack just before killing Lin Bei, all the disciples in the crowd stared in absolute dumbfounded.

Xi Shen then let out a snort before saying, “There, you saw my performance up close. How was it?”

After throwing out those sarcastic words, Xi Shen glared daggers at a few more disciples in the crowd who was wearing white robes with the Sovereign Sword Faction insignia on their chest, before he turned around and left the stage.

Those Sovereign Sword Faction disciples' faces stiffen slightly when they saw Xi Shen’s gaze singling them out in the crowd, but let loose sighs of relief when they saw him only turning to leave.

Afterwards, two of them went up on the stage to pick up Lin Bei while the rest hurried off to report what had just happened.

They had been tasked to stall Xi Shen for a while, but they had miscalculated the power of his Soul Cultivation, and now he was on his way to the Demon Sealing Pagoda to interrupt their plans.

Fang Chen, who hadn’t left as yet, wore a thoughtful expression on his face as he stared in the direction Xi Shen rushed off in. He then looked down at the box in his hands and then thought about that powerful Soul Attack Xi Shen had used to defeat Lin Bei.

Defeating someone in the Foundation Realm wasn't easy.

If one compared their strength with Sea Expansion Realm cultivators, they were multiple times stronger, due to the divine abilities and access to more Spiritual Qi usage they had. Fang Chen should know as he had come across more than one, and each time he had to pay a significant price to either kill or escape from them. Which would always leave him with injuries that would take him months to recover from, slowing down his cultivation progress.

Xi Shen had only shown the power to defeat Sea Expansion Realm cultivators, so he assumed that was his current Soul Cultivation level. But from the look of things, he had been hiding way more of his strength.

Fang Chen was thinking maybe this second prince wasn’t so simple. He was now curious to see what his days in the future would be like while being a part of his Faction.

Fang Chen had the type of personality where he would go with the flow.

Clenching the box in his hands, his gaze shifted to the white robe disciples that were scurrying out of the Colosseum.

‘Maybe if I start contributing he’ll give me one more Nine Revolutions Sea Expansion Pill.’

Fang Chen’s heart let out an excited thump at that thought, as he moved to follow those disciples.

Up in the void, Ye Fei and First Elder Lang paused their game to watch the sudden turn of events on stage.

First Elder Lang then said, “It looks like things are going to get chaotic in the Inner Academy.”

Ye Fei remained silent upon hearing that, before he said after a while, “The older generation does not interfere with the younger generation. But as the Vice Head Master of the Pavilion as well as a disciple of the Academy, I have a duty to keep the Academy in order and make sure none of its long-standing rules are broken.”

First Elder Lang wanted to nod in agreement, but he found himself staring at Ye Fei with a strange expression.

Despite Ye Fei’s current cultivation and position in the academy, he was barely a hundred years old. So he could be considered to be a part of the same generation as the current one, albeit being in the earlier phase making him a little older.

While Ye Fei and First Elder Lang went back to their game of chess, Xi Shen’s figure flickered as he ran towards the Demon Sealing Pagoda.

Like many institutions on the Maple Continent, the Celestial Academy had training grounds for their disciples, and ones of different variations to accommodate the many different paths of cultivation their disciples chose.

The Demon Sealing Pagoda was one such training ground, where disciples who trained in Fleshly Body cultivation techniques come to train.

The pagoda itself consisted of 24 floors, and each floor was like a different world on its own or rather separate pocket dimensions.

As Xi Shen went through the information on the Demon Sealing Pagoda he had got when he became an Inner Disciple, he also recalled that it was actually a Spirit Artifact created by the Celestial Academy's Leader.

Each floor had a challenge where disciples would be tested in different ways pertaining to their physique.

But even though the test remained the same on each floor, the environment would change for every disciple who entered.

One person can enter the first floor and see a landscape filled with forest trees, but another disciple that entered at the same time could find themselves in a hot desert.

The Inner Academy was pretty huge, with the Demon Sealing Pagoda being located on the eastern side near the Blacksmith Pavilion's mountain.

Xi Shen refrain from using his cultivation to boost his speed and instead used his Spectral Steps. He then chose to cut through the forest instead of using the passes where he could be seen. In here, he went all out and used his full speed in bursts.

His figure would disappear into a cloud of black smoke and reappear several tens of meters away on another tree branch.

In only a few short minutes, Xi Shen had crossed the one-kilometer distance to appear at the edge of a clearing leading to the Demon Sealing Pagoda.

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Word Count: 1608