The metal chariot he received from Han De and the others moved quite a bit faster than Huang Ying expected it to, especially after he placed some Spirit Stones into it so that he wouldn't have to constantly pour his Qi into it. The scenery beneath him blurred as the chariot whizzed through the sky and allowed Huang Ying to return to the academy by moving in a straight line instead of having to follow the winding roads.

Huang Ying toyed a bit with the blue interspatial ring he had been gifted, continuously pulling things out and putting them in to experiment with just how it worked. He also didn't forget to continue cultivating while the chariot flew, Li Jun aiding him a bit by giving him tips on how to best utilize the cultivation technique that he had given to Huang Ying, the Dark Moon's Whisper.

The chariot moved a bit slower than the airships that the academy used to bring the students to Cloudreacher Forest, but it still moved so fast that Huang Ying could spot Burning Clouds city in the distance only four days after he left Cloudreacher Forest. It was a bit past noon so the streets were teeming with activity, a line of people gathered up in front of the entrance to the city as they waited for their turn to enter. He flew right above the stone wall surrounding the city and ignored the guards stationed around it, heading directly for the massive granite pillar that had a violent crimson flame burning atop of it, the symbol of the Fierce Flame academy.

The air started to shimmer slightly when Huang Ying approached the pillar, a few gleaming runes slowly appearing as if an invisible hand was drawing them in the air. He felt a strong sense of danger from the runes, Li Jun also warning him that he should descend right away unless he wanted to die right here. He stopped the chariot and had it descend to the ground in front of the academy, the gleaming runes vanishing without doing anything.

Huang Ying stepped off of the chariot and stuffed it into his interspatial ring before walking up to the large gate embedded in the wrought iron fence that surrounded the entire academy, which was like a small city that even contained forests and lakes. There were two people clad in simple armor positioned in front of the gate, Huang Ying succinctly stating his identity.

"Student Huang Ying, I'm returning from Cloudreacher Forest."

The two guards, who were actually third-year students who took up the job for some resources, couldn't help but slightly raise their brows at Huang Ying. They looked him up and down with slight frowns but didn't say anything, one of them swiping his interspatial ring and taking out a small brush. The guard swept the brush through the air in front of Huang Ying, a minuscule eye-shaped array appearing in thin air and flying over to Huang Ying. The eye lit up with a green light when it touched Huang Ying, the two guards nodding their heads and stepping aside so that Huang Ying could enter the academy.

He stepped through the iron gate and walked down the earthen path that had once served as the location of the final entrance test, his hands folded behind his back and his black eyes containing a slight chill. A few other students were also spending their time in the area around him, Huang Ying receiving a few stares and even a few unfriendly glares, all of which he completely ignored. He was pondering over who he should question if Song Yi and Chen Hong had returned to the academy, but the loud howl of a wolf quickly answered that question for him.

Huang Ying stopped moving after the howl rang out, the sound of rushing footsteps reaching his ears a minute later. The footsteps came from his left, from within the small forest that lined the earthen path he was walking, a fact that caused his brows to furrow slightly. The Z-shaped medicinal building was located in front of him and the dorms they used in the past were located to the north of the medicinal building, so if the ones that were approaching him now were who he expected then he couldn't quite understand why they came from his left, where the dorms for the more average students were located.

He threw the thoughts out of his mind and unfurrowed his brow, he could just ask them now so there was no point in pondering about it. And just like he thought, the group rushing over quickly entered his perception and burst through the forest. The group consisted of two people and two Demonic beasts, a small sparrow with red veins riding on the head of a black wolf, the yellow-haired and green-eyed Chen Hong, as well as the black-haired and differently colored eyes Song Yi.

The beasts ran right up to Huang Ying, Hei Ya lowering his head slightly while Hong Yi flapped her wings and flew up onto Huang Ying's shoulder where she proceeded to hop around. The two people were a bit calmer but still looked at Huang Ying somewhat dumbfoundedly, his only response being a casual wave of his right hand while his left hand ruffled the fur on Hei Ya's head.

"Yo! I knew you'd be able to make it out on your own, would honestly have been rather laughable if you didn't. Seeing that you came running form over there, could it be that you got bullied and had your old dorms taken from you?"

Huang Ying's casual and nonchalant attitude only served to further dumbfound the two people, this was not the attitude that someone who had just escaped the jaws of death should have. But how could they know that Huang Ying had already died once and in the process decided to walk his own path fearlessly, at this point just being in a tough and deadly situation was far from enough to ruin his calm. The dumbfounded state of the two people only lasted for a short while longer before Chen Hong let out a sigh and stepped forward, giving Huang Ying's chest a soft punch.

"You're insane, absolutely fucking buttered and nuttered insane, has anyone ever told you that? But it's good that you're alive, it's good. Don't worry about your cultivation dropping, you can always get it back later."

When the students left for Cloudreacher Forest, Huang Ying used Li Jun's technique to make it look like he was at the very peak of the 7th Mortal Step. But after cultivating and fighting for over a month within the ant hive his cultivation had risen from the 6th to the 7th Mortal Step so he stopped bothering with the disguising technique, he simply no longer saw a need for it. Huang Ying didn't bother explaining the truth to Chen Hong, giving a non-committal shrug of his shoulders as he turned his gaze towards Song Yi, who responded with a shrug of her own.

"I wouldn't really call it bullying, the two factions wanted to use wave tactics against us to exhaust us during the ranking competition after we returned from the forest. We decided that there was no point in taking part in something as pointless as that, especially not with the trump card that the Burning Cloud faction had prepared. We had to engage that cheating bastard in a short duel since he did everything he could to stop us from surrendering, but the best he could do within that short period of time was inflict a few superficial wounds. We've been staying in the dorms over there ever since, allowing the two factions to squabble among themselves. Well, with you returning I can imagine that things are going to get a bit more chaotic, they really fucking hate your guts after all. And you... well, things are certainly going to get fun now."

Huang Ying knew about the trump card that the Burning Cloud faction, the faction consisting of students from common and lower backgrounds, had prepared. Langye had told him about it before they left for Cloudreach Forest, the faction had taken advantage of a loophole to bring back a student who should have already entered the second year but had been absent for the advancement ceremony due to a mission.

Thanks to this, he would be counted as a first-year student for a few more days while the academy prepared everything for his advancement, so the faction timed his return so that they could use him in the ranking competition for the first-year students. Having already stayed at the academy for a year, this student was definitely stronger than those who had just entered it, giving the Burning Cloud faction a great advantage in the competition. Huang Ying gave a slight nod of his head after hearing about the situation, patting Hei Ya and Hong Yi on the head before he started walking.

"Alright, let's just go and make things chaotic straight away."

Song Yi and Chen Hong were once again utterly dumbfounded by Huang Ying's actions. He hadn't even been in the academy for over two minutes and had already decided to make a mess of things straight away, it was almost as if he was an enemy to peace. But thinking about just what sort of chaos Huang Ying could cause when he actively tried to, the two people couldn't help but start smirking as they rushed to follow him, a grand show was bound to follow.

Huang Ying headed straight for the medicinal wing where he woke up right after entering the academy, quickly finding the gray-haired and brown-eyed Dingju that was in charge of this part of the academy. He respectfully asked her to pass along a message for him and then headed for the cut-in-half mountain that served as the martial field. Huang Ying picked the closest of the nine square stone stages that were scattered around the plateau and then sat down, stroking Hei Ya's back while Hong Yi excitedly jumped around on his shoulder.

Huang Ying didn't have to wait too long before people started flooding into the martial field. The flood of people was split into the two factions, the black-haired and blue-eyed Qing Moyun leading the Burning Cloud faction and the silver-haired and black-eyed Xing Dong leading the Silver cloud faction. Looking at the number of people flooding into the martial field, Huang Ying guessed that practically the entire first-year section of the two factions had arrived, which was exactly his goal.

Following behind the flood of people was the black-bearded, brown-haired, and muscular Gang Yongye, the headteacher of the first years. Huang Ying had asked Dingju to deliver a message to him, simply stating that Huang Ying was challenging everyone else who had taken part in the ranking competition. Gang Yongye had burst out laughing when he got the message, gleefully delivering it to the first-year sections of the Burning Cloud and Silver Cloud factions.

And just as one would think, a lone man challenging every last one of them in an act of rampant arrogance angered them quite a bit. The two factions had been able to rope in just about all the first-year students and thus led pretty comfortable lives in the academy, no one other than the other faction really daring to go against them.

When they left for Cloudreacher Forest, not counting Huang Ying's group there had been 739 first-year students within the academy. But now that he looked at the people surrounding the stage, it seemed like only a bit below 400 had actually managed to return to the academy, over 300 people dying within Cloudreacher Forest.

But considering that a stamped had ended up taking place, there were some that felt that they should consider themselves lucky that there hadn't been more students that died. Huang Ying swept his now slightly narrowed eyes over the surrounding people as he stood up and had the two beasts leave the stage, his gaze settling on Qing Moyun.

"Alright, we'll start with you. Come on up so that I can trounce you."

The students from the factions hadn't expected that the first thing Huang Ying would do upon seeing them was to ignore everyone else and call out one of their leaders, even going as far as to say that he would trounce her. This was a form of disrespect not just to the other disciples but also to Qing Moyun. He was basically saying that the other disciples were so weak that they weren't really worth his time while their leader was so weak that he could trounce her.

Qing Moyun's blue eyes turned chilly when she was called out, Xing Dong snickering at her from the side. She shot him a vicious glare and then stepped onto the stage while allowing her 9th Mortal Step Qi to burst forth in an unrestrained manner. Huang Ying remained unmoved in the face of the billowing Qi, raising his right arm and holding up his index and middle finger.

"The order you gave within Cloudreach Forest killed a friend of mine, Langye. I would like to torment you like I tormented those that killed her, but I'll have to settle for this since we're in the academy. You have one minute to attack as you please, one minute to showcase your everything. Once that minute ends, these two fingers will end the battle, they will show you a fragment of the despair that she felt. So come, let me show you true strength, not whatever it is you are trying to flaunt in your silly factions."

Not once had Huang Ying forgotten Langye's death, not once had he let go of the determination to kill those that caused her death. Those that were personally responsible for it had already been killed by him, the only one that remained was the person who gave the order. Qing Moyun's eyes flashed with a violent light when Huang Ying made his arrogant statement, her feet kicking off the ground as she shot forward like a cannonball.

Her fist shot forward when she arrived in front of Huang Ying, the air around it vibrating so fiercely that it even tugged at Huang Ying's clothing. But compared to how fast Ming Chang and the others that he fought in the ant hive were, this speed was nothing to Huang Ying, he simply tilted his body to the side so that the attack slid past him.

"Try again."

Qing Moyun's eyebrows shot up at Huang Ying's casual remark, her left foot whipping upwards before she even pulled back her arm. But Huang Ying simply tapped the stone stage with his foot, a small pillar of earth bursting out from beneath it and pushing against the side of her leg. Her entire body spun as a result of the move, Huang Ying's biting words sounding out in her ears.

"Come on now, we're fighting here, not dancing."

She stomped her foot down so hard that the stone stage beneath her foot pulverized under the vibrating force while her already extended arm lashed out in a sideways sweep. But once again Huang Ying only made a simple move, raising his left hand while his index finger pointed out as if he was planning on tapping the incoming arm from below. A strong gust of wind was unleashed from his finger, pushing Qing Moyun's arm into the air so that it slid above his head, once again taunting her.

"Not even close, are you even trying to hit me?"

Huang Ying might only be at the 7th Mortal Step, but the sheer amount of people and beasts he had devoured within the forest pushed his strength far above his realm. Each beast might only strengthen his Qi by a tiny amount, but each beast also contained a vast amount of memories that he could digest to better learn how to use his own Qi and strength so if anyone thought that his experience would match his age then they would be foolish.

Huang Ying continued to dodge Qing Moyun's attacks, barely moving from his starting position as he did so. Each dodge would be followed by a taunt that further enraged her, making her attacks more reckless and easier to dodge. The battle was decided from the start, but allowing him to get inside her head had only made the foregone conclusion even easier to reach.

And before long, the promised one-minute mark approached, Qing Moyun getting more and more desperate with each passing second. In the end, her practically bloodshot eyes flashed with a vicious light as she swiped her interspatial ring and drew out a large silver saber, grasping the hilt with both hands and using all her might to swipe out at Huang Ying's head.

The weapon vibrated so fiercely that it pushed away all the air around it, it would likely also pulverize any earth that got close to it. This was Qing Moyun's final move, one where she bet everything on her ability to kill Huang Ying the moment her weapon touched him after he failed to disrupt her attack. But sadly for her, Huang Ying's lips curled up into a pleased smile when he looked at the incoming weapon and the intense bloodlust that Qing Moyun radiated.

"One minute has passed. Farewell."

Huang Ying's body suddenly crouched down as he spoke, the muscles in his legs unleashing all their might as he dashed beneath Qing Moyun's saber and instantly crossed the short distance between the two of them. He arrived within her bosom and straightened his body, his right arm shooting straight at her throat while his eyes glinted with a merciless light.

His index and middle finger stretched out and stabbed directly into Qing Moyun's throat. His body had reached an unprecedented height for the Mortal Step realm after devouring so many beasts, Qing Moyun's throat and Qi were simply unable to prevent the advance of his fingers. He twisted his fingers slightly so that her esophagus and vocal cords curled around his now bent fingers, yanking his arm back once he felt satisfied.

He tore open her throat so that it sprayed blood everywhere, her vocal cords and esophagus still coiled around his fingers. Qing Moyun's mouth hung wide open as she looked at Huang Ying's bloody fingers, her body leaning forward as if she wanted to place the organs back into her throat. But no matter how desperate she was, it was already too late, not even Gang Yongye could save her now. She let out a single gasp and then collapsed to the ground, her blood gushing forth and staining the stage. Huang Ying flicked his hand to remove the organ pieces on his fingers, his gaze settling on Xing Dong.

"Alright, you can come up now."