After hearing his words, the elders fell silent, knowing that the Grand Elder was really furious.

It might be a good idea to let the successor suffer a little setback...

He hadn't become the clan master yet, but he had the audacity to frame the Grand Elder. Wouldn't things get worse once he became the clan master? Wouldn't he torture them every day?

...

On the Spiritual Rhinoceros Peak, Chen Chen was distributing spiritual water to a group of outer clan disciples.

In addition to that, every time an outer clan disciple arrived, he would also pour him a bowl of chicken soup.

"Senior Brother, here's a piece of advice for you. You have to suffer and take hardship in order to become an elite."

"Successor! I'm enlightened!"

"Junior Sister, don't cry anymore. If you don't brave through the storm, you won't see the rainbow! Mining might be tough, but it trains you to be patient. Go ahead!"

"Thank you, Successor!"

"Junior Brother, if you become an Immortal Emperor one day, you will look back on today's experience and realize that this is a rare treasure!"

"Become an Immortal Emperor..."

"Junior Sister, Heaven will bestow a great task on you, but you must first be willing to suffer, have a strong sense of ambition, and work hard. The harder you work now, the more Heaven will value you!"

The cultivators of the immortal world were simpletons who had never heard such fancy words before. Hence, they all cheered and clapped for him. Soon after drinking a bowl of spiritual spring water, they began mining energetically.

Looking at the busy figures, Chen Chen sighed.

"They are the future of the Tianyun Clan!"

As soon as he said those words, he heard a shout that disrupted his thoughts.

"Chen Chen! I want to challenge you!"

Chen Chen frowned and turned around, only to see the buff and burly Sun Tiangang walking towards him with a few inner clan disciples, all feisty and full of confidence.

A group of outer clan disciples who had been mining also paused, looking over curiously.

"It's Senior Brother Sun of the inner clan. He wants to challenge the successor!"

"The Grand Elder must be wanting to suppress the successor, so he sent his grandson over to pick a fight!"

"No wonder he deliberately ranked the successor so far at the top… So that's the reason! Those who are ranked at the top cannot challenge those who are ranked in the bottom! The Grand Elder just wants the successor to be his grandson's steppingstone!"

A group of outer clan disciples muttered amongst themselves while letting their imaginations run wild. Very soon, they imagined Sun Tiangang as a villainous figure.

'After all, the successor is so inspirational, motivated, ambitious, eloquent, soft spoken, and kind. He can't be a villain, right?'

"Senior Brother Sun, you want to challenge me?"

Looking at Sun Tiangang, who was walking up to him, Chen Chen's face was calm.

"Yes! There is now a new rule in the clan where disciples have the opportunity to challenge others once every seven days. The person who gets challenged cannot refute unless he has a special and valid reason!"

Sun Tiangang was rather confident and self-righteous. In the past, he did not dare to beat Chen Chen because the latter's status was higher than his. Hence, if he assaulted Chen Chen, he would be severely punished for offending his superior.

However, the previous rule had been abolished and the new principle of the Tianyun Clan was that the strongest would be rendered supreme.

Chen Chen nodded slightly after hearing this. He answered, "According to the rules, you have to draft a letter of challenge. If there is no letter of challenge, I refuse to take it on."

"Letter of challenge?" Sun Tiangang was dumbfounded. He only saw the term that stated that a challenge was permissible, failing to notice the various other restrictions.

Besides, most of these restrictions were to make the disciples choose their challenges carefully, so as to save everyone's time and effort.

This included drafting a letter of challenge.

"Senior Brother, I have a pen and piece of paper here!"

An inner clan disciple hurriedly took out the supplies from his storage bag, handing them to Sun Tiangang.

Seeing this, Sun Tiangang's eyes lit up and he immediately started writing the letter of challenge.

Soon, the letter of challenge was handed to Chen Chen.

"Chen Chen, can we start the fight now?" Sun Tiangang asked, getting into the mood.

However, Chen Chen shook his head.

"What's there to fight about? According to the rules, fights have to take place in the designated ring set up in the clan, and a person whose strength is above the two participants must bear witness."

After hearing his words, Sun Tiangang became so infuriated that he almost vomited blood.

'It's just a damned fight, why are there so many things to consider?'

However, he still had to comply!

After thinking about that, Sun Tiangang stomped his feet resentfully and turned around to leave.

...

Half an hour later, Chen Chen helped Zhao Xiaoya to the bed.

Many people had gathered below the ring at the foot of the Heavenly Sword Peak, among which were some inner clan disciples, outer clan disciples, and a few elders.

That was because it was the first official battle after the implementation of the new rule.

Besides, the contestants were two of the most popular figures of the Tianyun Clan.

One was Sun Tiangang, the inner clan disciple with a mid-stage Foundation Establishment status of cultivation, ranked in the 36th place. The other was the successor, who had been initiated less than two months ago, was ranked 10th, and had an unknown status of cultivation.

"Grand Elder has arrived!"

Just as the crowd was waiting expectantly, they heard a voice ring out from the distance.

Upon hearing this, the crowd hurriedly made away. After all, the Grand Elder was now feared by everyone in the clan.

The Grand Elder walked to the ring with a sullen expression. He had no choice but to do so since his grandson had begged him to come and bear witness.

To be honest, he did not plan to come out this time because he could not stand the contemptuous gazes others were looking at him with.

However, Chen Chen was ranked 10th and there were only a few people in the entire clan who were qualified to be a judge and bear witness.

"Participants, please come onto stage!"

When they arrived at the edge of the ring, the Grand Elder announced loudly according to the process.

As soon as he said those words, Sun Tiangang jumped onto the ring impatiently.

'Oh my god, I can finally challenge Chen Chen!'

He had been flying around nonstop for the past half hour. Apart from begging his grandfather to bear witness, he also went to report to the elders in charge of the ranking.

On the other hand, Chen Chen did not do anything…

However, heaven would never let down those who had strong willpower. By beating Chen Chen up, he would be able to vent his anger.

"Both of you, bow and show your friendship!" the Grand Elder ordered with twitching cheeks. It was exactly like the process Chen Chen had set up.

"Senior Brother Sun, please teach me more!" Chen Chen said politely with a bow.

"Brother… Brother Chen, please guide me along!" Sun Tiangang bit the bullet and forced himself to bow. At this moment, he was just scared that he might break a rule and allow Chen Chen to find an excuse not to accept his challenge.

When the inner and outer clan disciples below saw that scene, most of the nervousness in their hearts instantly vanished because Chen Chen and Sun Tiangang had demonstrated the challenge process for them today.

"Sun Tiangang, if you dare hit too hard, you'll get it from me!"

Just as the Grand Elder was about to announce the start, a woman's warning voice suddenly rang out in the crowd.

Sun Tiangang was furious at hearing her words. Why was it that difficult for him to fight?

However, at the next moment, his eyes suddenly lit up and he hollered back furiously, "Zhao Xiaoya, according to the rules, you are disturbing the order in the ring, so you have to pay a fine of 100 Spirit Stones!"

After saying that, Sun Tiangang behaved extremely complacently. Along the way, he had studied the rules thoroughly even though he was not a studious person. At this moment, he was finally gaining the upper hand in an encounter with Zhao Xiaoya!

"Zhao Xiaoya, go pay the fine. Also, the battle in the ring officially begins!" the Grand Elder humphed coldly and announced with a wave of his hand.

Sun Tiangang was so excited to hear this instruction that he abruptly looked up at the sky and roared, after which the ethereality in his body gushed out like a gale.

He was cultivating the Tianyun Gale Technique, which was the Tianyun Clan's second-best technique. During a battle, the attacks would be like a violent snowstorm. On top of that, extremely powerful wind Dharma spells would be cast too.

With the combination of the two, a normal cultivator at the middle of the Foundation Establishment realm would be no match for him!

The disciples below were all shocked at seeing the scene before them.

'Is this the strength of the inner sect's eldest Senior Brother?'

To be honest, the group of disciples in the Tianyun Clan rarely had any opportunities to see a fight between experts when they were training, especially some of the outer clan disciples.

Hence, they had no idea what cultivation above the Foundation Establishment realm was truly like.

Now that they had seen how powerful Sun Tiangang was, the eyes of many disciples were full of desire, wishing that they could become that strong someday.

Looking at the envy in the eyes of the disciples, the Grand Elder had some extremely complicated emotions.

Although he hated Chen Chen, he could not deny that Chen Chen's reform of the Tianyun Clan was leading them in the right direction. Letting those disciples know what an expert looked like would undoubtedly inspire them to become stronger.

While he was thinking about that, Sun Tiangang had already charged towards Chen Chen like a storm, powerful ethereality surging out in all directions. Some of the outer clan disciples with weak statuses of cultivation were almost flipped over, falling onto the ground.

They had no choice but to cover their eyes with their hands in order to catch a glimpse of the ring.

With their vision blurred, they could only see a figure standing like a lone pine in the middle of the storm, his clothes rattling loudly as he stayed still.

The most senior disciple of the inner clan, Sun Tiangang, was about to hit the figure with a fist that was covered in wind.

At that moment, the figure suddenly stretched out his palm, a terrifying wave of ethereality that was several times more violent than the ferocious gale surging outwards.

Boom!

With a loud roar, the gale came to a sudden halt, the smoke and dust dispersing.

In the ring, there was a singular figure still standing.