Chapter 35: Tribute Fee
The next morning, Xiao Ling awoke from his sleep.
He took a seat in the living room and began reading books on alchemy.
Everyone came down the stairs one after another, greeting each other.
After Lin Yan, the last person, arrived, Lin Xiuya asked, "Let's go settle the affairs of the faction today to avoid further trouble."
Xiao Ling nodded noncommittally and said, "I'll leave the recruitment and management of the faction to you. I'll just help you refine the medicine. If you ask me to refine the medicine for your faction, you can get a discount. It's just a benefit of joining the faction."
"Don't worry, I'll handle these matters seriously. Just consider it a way to hone my abilities," Lin Xiuya replied.
"Okay, I'll leave it to you. I'll go out for a walk and try out the Tianfen Refining Qi Tower." Xiao Ling said, waved to everyone, and left the dormitory. Leaving
the pavilion, there was a green avenue. On both sides of the avenue were the residences of the other freshmen of this class. Han Yue and Xiao Xun'er had a double room next to Xiao Ling's dormitory.
Of course, compared to Xiao Ling and his companions' small pavilion, the other houses were a bit more modest, suggesting that this privilege wasn't afforded to everyone.
The streets were deserted, presumably because the Fire Energy Hunting Competition had been so tiring for them, and they hadn't gotten up early.
Xiao Ling walked towards the two girls' dormitories and took a quick look. He noticed Han Yue already practicing her fighting skills in the courtyard. Xiao Xun'er, presumably still asleep, hadn't seen her. Seeing this, Xiao Ling didn't intend to disturb Han Yue's practice and wandered off to another area.
After nearly ten minutes, Xiao Ling slowed down his pace and looked up at the end of the road. There, a group of people had suddenly blocked the intersection.
Seeing this, Xiao Ling frowned, guessing they were the old students collecting their tribute.
When he reached the exit of the main road, Xiao Ling ignored them and found a clearer direction to head.
At that moment, seven or eight senior students, each wearing a tower-shaped badge on their chest, surrounded him, their faces fierce and menacing.
Xiao Ling, who had initially been unwilling to waste time, saw these people treating him like a soft persimmon. He reached out and grasped, a spear appearing in his hand, and said in a stern tone, "Don't waste my time, or you'll be in trouble."
A burly-looking man in black, arrogantly and disdainfully addressed Xiao Ling, "Boy, hand over the Fire Energy Card now, or you'll be in trouble." He then raised his hand and punched Xiao Ling.
Slightly dodging the man's blow, Xiao Ling easily evaded the blow. With a backhanded pistol shot, he knocked the man to the ground. Then, using his Suction Palm, he pulled him back in front of him, grasping his neck with one hand and lifting him up.
Seeing this, everyone gathered their fighting spirits, preparing to attack Xiao Ling.
At this moment, an old student came from a distance and shouted to these people: "Stop it, all of you."
Then he smiled at Xiao Ling and said: "This guy is talking nonsense, Xiao Ling, you should leave. All of you, hurry up and get out of the way."
Xiao Ling nodded slightly. He didn't want to waste time on such trivial matters. He said in a cold tone: "It's none of my business if you rob others. Don't waste my time and that of my friends, or don't blame me for not hitting you hard in the future."
Looking at Xiao Ling's back, the burly man in black broke his companion's hand He opened his mouth and asked in confusion, "Why let that kid leave? Didn't Brother Li Zhengyu say that the tribute fee must be collected from every new student? Although this person is able to enter the inner courtyard at such a young age, his talent is not high, but his strength should not be high. He is also admitted at the bottom. Why should we, the great fighting masters, be afraid of him?"
The young man who had just arrived rolled his eyes at him and said in a serious tone, "Incoming at the bottom? That's because you were not here yesterday and didn't see Xiao Ling and the other five people rob all the old students of their fire energy. Otherwise, you wouldn't say such a thing."
"Is this true? How is that possible?" the black-clothed man exclaimed in disbelief. The senior students in the Fire Energy Hunting Competition had powerful Dou Ling masters, ranking among the upper middle class in the entire inner courtyard. And yet, a child who looked over a decade younger than them and a few others had snatched them all away? He found it hard to accept.
The man shook his head and said, "That's not right. Especially this Xiao Ling. He's only ten years old, but he's already a Grand Dou Master and a peak-level fourth-grade alchemist. His talent is unmatched by the rest of us. Now you know why I'm not letting you do anything."
"And his friends are incredibly talented and powerful. We don't need to mess with them. Judging by Xiao Ling's attitude, he seems to be ignoring the other freshmen. We'll just take these."
"I understand." The black-clothed Qing was speechless.
Upon hearing this, the other senior students, who didn't know Xiao Ling's situation, also regarded him as something to be avoided.
Xiao Ling hadn't cared much about this minor incident.
He did know a little about the tribute, which the freshmen paid to the senior students' forces.
This sort of thing could be considered an unspoken rule within the Canaan Academy inner courtyard.
This tradition wasn't imposed by the academy; the academy only encouraged competition. It could be said that this kind of thing had grown up under the academy's encouragement.
Xiao Ling had long observed, though he didn't know who started it, that senior students in both the inner and outer courtyards enjoyed giving the new students a lesson.
After each new class was taught a lesson by the seniors, they, in order to maintain their composure, would turn on the newcomers once they became seniors, and the cycle would repeat itself.
Xiao Ling didn't care about this and didn't intend to intervene. He wouldn't set up a faction to clean up the mess of the new students, as Xiao Yan did in the original novel. It was always Xiao Yan's fault that his own men were bullied, and he 'd
always come to Xiao Yan to seek redress. This was a waste of time and a thankless task. Xiao Ling and his friends decided to establish their own faction to facilitate their training. Later, if they needed to find something, they could simply assign their subordinates to search for it, and gathering information would be much easier.
...
Putting these trivial matters aside, Xiao Ling pulled out the inner courtyard map he'd asked Elder Su for yesterday, confirmed the location of the Tianfen Qi Training Tower, and then sped towards it, following the map's instructions.
As expected, the inner courtyard was enormous.
He ran for nearly half an hour, but still hadn't reached the inner courtyard's boundaries.
This journey allowed Xiao Ling to truly experience the inner courtyard's atmosphere.
On the way to the Tianfen Qi Training Tower, it was common to see students sparring in public. Outside these circles, many spectators gathered, clearly accustomed to the action. Some of the more talkative ones would watch and shout at the occasional flaws revealed by the combatants, which only made the two inside the circle increasingly apprehensive. In the end, they would withdraw with dejected expressions.
Support me and read advanced chapters at for up to 50 advanced chapters at my Patreon patreon.com/Unknown7717
Special offers at my Patreon 30% of at my membership in Patreon patreon.com/Unknown7717 LIMITED TIME
This made Xiao Ling sigh with emotion: "The atmosphere in the inner courtyard is really very fierce. Although this kind of frequent sparring and fighting is not prohibited in the outer courtyard, few people will seek out others to spar with unless there is a grudge. After Lin Yan comes to the inner courtyard, he should be able to spar with others to his heart's content."
After running for more than 20 minutes, he glanced around and was surprised to find that for some reason, more and more people were flocking to this road heading north, each one pushing their speed to the extreme. As a result, Xiao Ling could only see the figures flashing by on the woods on both sides and the sound of breaking wind.
Seeing this situation, Xiao Ling also roughly understood that they should be about to reach the Tianfen Qi Training Tower. So he increased his speed and rushed forward.
(End of this chapter)