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Their nap lasted for about a few hours. During this time, their bodies were quietly tempering and refining their cultivation continuously. Although they had both stabilized their cultivation very well, it wouldn't hurt to increase it's effectiveness a bit more. While this change was happening in their bodies, they quietly slept and regained their energy. Xia Qing especially needed the rest. Although she was indeed at the same level of cultivation as Feng Yun, she was weaker than him by many times. When they had been traveling across the hills, she had to expend more Yuan energy to make the trip since she didn't know any agility techniques like Feng Yun. Her body was furiously circulating the energy until it gradually accumulated in her dantian to the limit. Then, as soon as she felt that she didn't need any more rest, she opened her eyes and sat up from her bed. She felt much more refreshed than before and was in a great mood. Now that she was in the second layer, it would only be a matter of time before she advanced to the third layer. Once that happened, she would be eligible for joining the Holy Continental Academy. She had owed most of it to Feng Yun. He had helped her on so many occasions that she found it hard to count them all. She smiled towards the handsome figure sitting on top of the bed opposite to her.

Feng Yun had woken up an hour ago. Naturally, he was not exhausted much and had been cultivating for a while. He only needed a bit of time to break through to the third layer. For that to happen, he needed to seriously put in effort for his cultivation for the next few weeks. They had been on their trip a few months now and were nearing the one year mark. A bead of sweat dripped down his face as it bent in concentration numerous times. He was making steady progress and once again, he found himself sighing in praise of the Universal Bindings cultivation technique. It truly was worthy of being one of the heavens's greatest techniques. Even sovereigns in the higher realm may fight over this. After a few minutes, he sensed a change in Xia Qing and realized that she had woken up and was staring at him, careful not to disturb him in his cultivation. Feng Yun slowed down the circulation of Yuan energy in his veins until he could no longer feel the refreshing feeling that it once gave. He got out of his meditative position and gave a glance towards Xia Qing that he was ready for them to depart.

"I'm ready. Lets go find a group to join. Then we'll be able to catch up to the time period. We still have quite a lot of distance to travel in order to reach the Holy Continental Academy." Feng Yun said. Xia Qng nodded and the two walked out of the room together. They went down the stairs with their cloaks covering their faces. With this, they did not attract much attention and left swiftly. The Emerald Dragon was very refined and calm. Most of the people who stayed there were high ranking and civilized people. There were a lot of people there, but none of them were causing any ruckus. Some were sipping tea while others were quietly conversing with each other. The duo rather enjoyed this type of environment. The quality of Snow Beast Town could indeed not be compared to Sky Wind City. Before they left however, they decided to consult with the innkeeper of the Emerald Dragon. They walked up to the woman standing at the back of the main floor.

"Innkeeper, do you perhaps know of a place where mercenary groups gather at for recruiting members?" Xia Qing asked the woman. She raised her head which was previously looking at a paper filled with numbers dictating the sales of the day before. Her expression was that of surprise when she looked at him but she immediately turned to a respectful posture.

"Hmmm, a mercenary gathering place? Well, the Combat Recruit Plaza would be a good place. It is near the center of the city and isn't too far from here. There, you must showcase your skills in order to get into a powerful mercenary group. The more your skill impresses a group, the more they'll want to recruit you. You must earn the right to join their group." She thought for a moment and then smiled as she said. Feng Yun and Xia Qing were slightly surprised. They hadn't thought that they would need to fight in order to join a group. It didn't really matter either way however. With their power and talent, it should be relatively easy to join a powerful group.

The duo thanked her and left with directions to the plaza. It was slightly difficult to navigate the streets due to the unfamiliarity but they adapted to the new surroundings quickly and very soon found the combat plaza. Along the way they saw shops and wealthy merchants as well as cultivators engaged in spars. The environment here was very clean and orderly. If a Second Class City was already this good, how good was a city above its level like the First and Imperial Class Cities? The Combat Recruit Plaza was a very interesting place. It was a wide open area with many groups of people each taking up their own part of the space. They held up flags with many different emblems on them. Some of them were very small but others were very big. In the center of the plaza was a small arena. Two fighters stood there fighting each other in very intense clashes. The surrounding groups merely watched from a distance analyzing the battle and its participants's abilities. Feng Yun too watched the battle. It appears that the two people were battling to see if any one would receive an offer from a powerful group. The smaller groups analyzing the battle looked excited but Feng Yun was slightly disappointed in their abilities. These two cultivators were at the Xiantian First Layer and seemed quite strong but to Feng Yun, they weren't even worthy of being put in his eyes. They were over fifteen years old and seemed quite inadequate in terms of combat experience. Feng Yun possessed over twenty seven years of combat experience and skills that were not supposed to be found in someone his current age.

The two cultivators were engaged in a flurry of punches and kicks being traded as qi against qi clashed with each other. These cultivators hadn't even transformed a little of their qi into Yuan Energy at all. They both appeared to be covered in bruises and their fists had some of their skin peeling apart. Blood leaked out of their mouths and one even spit out some. One could say that these battles could be quite brutal at times. Such was the difficulty of joining a powerful mercenary squad. You had to prove yourself worthy of joining them. Most people who joined mercenary squads were people who had low talent and hopeless lives. They didn't have a way to make good money so they decided to join a mercenary squads. Feng Yun watched the battle with disinterest. The battle here had started out good, but it had later turned into a battle of attrition as neither side could defeat the other. Their methods of attacking were using unnecessary energy and lacked efficiency. After a few minutes of constant ripping and clawing of flesh, one man collapsed to the ground from the pain and his knees dropped. His eyes turned white as it dropped to the floor, face down. The other contestant panted hard, and then let out a grin as he shook his fist in the air. The man walked off the stage with a triumphant posture and looked to the surrounding areas of the plaza. The groups looked at him and pondered, as if wondering whether to take him in or not. Some of them shook their heads while others looked at him thoughtfully and eyebrows raised.

Eventually, one member of a relatively small group walked over to the man. He was a middle aged man The group this member belonged to had about twenty people among them and a orange flag. Because he was from a small group, it meant that his group was quite weak and didn't have a lot of power. The truly large and powerful groups would not invite the man to join after seeing his poor performance in the arena, but the small ones would. They could not afford extremely good quality mercenary recruits as they costed too much money. So, they had to settle for these people. The middle aged man outstretched his hand to the man with a small smile on his face. He then spoke a few words to the man. The man looked at the hand with a frown. Evidently, he wasn't exactly satisfied with the group who had decided to invite him. He scanned his eyes towards the big groups looking for someone to take him in, but they all just gave him cold glances and snorted upon noticing his sorry gaze. They wouldn't care for someone as weak as this person. The man sighed to himself and looked at the middle aged man's outstretched hands once again. The middle aged man's face slightly twitched in annoyance when he saw that the man had threw glances towards the big and powerful groups. The man took the hand and shook it. They then walked over to their own corner to stand and watch. The recruitment of mercenaries lasted until evening so Feng Yun and Xia Qing still had plenty of time to earn their spots in the mercenary groups. The groups who had previously been looking at the man now gazed at the empty arena waiting for someone to step up to fight.

A minute later, a middle aged man with a large beard and a heavily built body walked up to the arena. His clothes looked slightly ragged and much of his muscles could be seen. He wore a large two handed axe behind his back that seemed menacing to anyone who dared to cross it. His eyes flashed and his mouth curved upwards into a sneer. He spoke in a loud booming voice,

"COME ON!!! I, Cao Tou am here to fight against anyone who dares to steal my position. Hmph, you are all weaklings in the face of a true master such as myself! All of you are cowards! Come fight me you bastards!" Cao Tou was incredibly arrogant and domineering. Many people were angry at him but they couldn't do anything about it. That man's strength was at the Xiantian Realm Third Layer and he was stronger than most of the people here. With the exception of Feng Yun and Xia Qing.

"Hmph, with only this much strength, you dare to be arrogant. What a weakling you are! I can't believe that someone this stupid and weak dared to make such useless comments. It seems your brain is as big as your tiny wee." A voice cried out from the audience. Cao Tou was immediately enraged out of his mind. Someone actually made a joke about his thing?

"WHO WAS THAT?!!!! Why don't you say that again, you coward! Come fight me like a man!" He furiously shouted into the surrounding audience. He was quite embarrassed as the audience had begun to laugh at the joke that had been shouted. However, they quieted down as a shadowy figure landed in the stage right in front of Cao Tou. He held an imposing aura underneath his pitch black coat. Cao Tou could not see the figure's face but he was astonished because the figure was quite young. He was much smaller than him and seemed like an eleven year old kid from the physical appearance of the figure. He immediately began fuming. A kid tried to mock him about his wee.

"Hmph, so a kid tried to mock me? You don't even have the skills to land a punch on me. Ahh, I'll tell you what. If you kowtow to me fifty times and call me 'Master Cao' twenty times, then I may let you go unscathed." Cao Tou said, obviously lazy.

"What, you? You're worth as much as trash. You have no power. Only the Xiantian Realm Third Layer, you've got to be kidding me! If I, Qiu Yun, don't put you in place, then I'm not fit to be surnamed 'Qiu'." This person was obviously Feng Yun who had went under the name, Qiu Yun. At this moment, he was narrowing his eyes at Cao Tou. The man was complete trash. He didn't even need to bring out his spirit to deal with him. He gestured to Cao Tou.

"Come at me if you have skill, you trash."