“Boss Lu, which one is he?”

“The 4th level over there sitting down on the rocks by himself. You three better make sure nobody sees. I’ll handle this kid by myself.”

“You can count on us.”

The three that had followed behind were students of the punishment department who had lower positions than Lu Bao. However, these three were all in the 5th level.

The three separated and took positions on all three sides of Li Jian, leaving some distance for Lu Bao to be able to fight.

Lu Bao stared at Li Jian as if he was a rat trapped in a corner. He then jumped forward unleashing an attack.

“Blazing Spear!”

Right at the same time, the three 5th level disciples also used their skills.

“Earth Wall!”

“Earth Wall!”

“Earth Wall!”

Li Jian broke out of his concentration and activated Nimble Step, dodging all of the fire spears that had made their way towards him.

“Lu Bao, we are within the sect. What do you think you’re doing?”

“Finishing what I started.”

“So you’ve come to welcome death. Then allow me to assist you.”

Lu Bao ignored Li Jian’s provocative words and used another skill.

“Fire Snakes!”

A large group of fire snakes shot out forward, moving in multiple directions.

As Li Jian dodged, the snakes persisted and kept pursuing.

‘Annoying.’

“Blazing Spear!”

More flame spears rained down on Li Jian.

‘So annoying! I’m close to the 5th level and Lu Bao continues to pester me.’

Li Jian activated Nimble Step and disappeared.

Lu Bao could only see the afterimages slowly trail behind the real Li Jian.

“Stop running you piece of shit!”

“Who said I was running?”

Li Jian appeared behind Lu Bao causing the latter to break out in a cold sweat.

“Four Palm Strike!”

With each strike, Li Jian could feel and hear the sounds of bones breaking.

Lu Bao fell over and threw up blood. His left arm had been broken and crushed.

Struggling to stay on his feet, Lu Bao jumped backwards.

“We’re the same level… How can you be this strong?! What dark arts are you cultivating!”

“You’re just weak and pathetic.”

“You! It’s time to end this. ENTER!”

The moment Lu Bao yelled out, the three 5th level disciples entered the walls.

When the three walked in and saw Lu Bao’s broken arm and broken state, they turned their attention towards Li Jian and prepared to attack.

“Three 5th level disciples and one useless 4th level. I see you’ve come well prepared Lu Bao.”

Lu Bao’s anger had surged causing him to almost pass out.

Outside of the walls were many confused disciples.

“The hell is going on over there?”

“Someone must be fighting.”

“Let’s go watch!”

One of the disciples who was cultivating near the edges was Yu Yan.

Yu Yan decided to continue cultivating and didn’t bother.

The crowd slowly moved to the top of the walls and began watching.

“It’s Lu Bao! And his arm is broken!”

“Hahaha, a fight between two little 4th levels!”

“They even have a couple 5th levels to gang up on one of the 4th levels! Hahaha!”

“This is too hilarious, I can’t keep watching!”

Unbeknownst to Li Jian, he and Lu Bao had become the center of attention.

“Stone Armor.”

“Stone Armor.”

“Stone Armor.”

The three 5th levels activated their Stone Armor ability and the ground below broke apart and formed a suit of armor and sword onto each one of them.

After the armor formed, the three dashed forward.

“You interrupt me while I’m cultivating, you come at me with killing intent, and most of all, you think you can defeat me? You’ve made too many mistakes.”

Li Jian took in a deep breath and exhaled.

‘When I gather a large amount of spiritual energy into my fist, the space around my fist becomes densely compacted. I need to concentrate on this ‘space’ around my fist.’

Li Jian analyzed the punch he had used on the Blood Fanged Tiger ever since he woke up from that battle. He had made slow progress, but was never able to execute it again. However, this was his chance because he had absorbed much of the dense spiritual energy within the area.

Li Jian began to gather a large amount of spiritual energy into his fist causing the space around it to distort.

The three disciples moved closer and noticed the odd disturbance around Li Jian’s fist. But before they could react, Li Jian had already made his move.

Li Jian jumped towards the three and unleashed his might.

“SPATIAL FIST!”

The blast of energy crumbled the surrounding walls and had wiped out the three earth disciples. Lu Bao had held his sect badge in his hand, but was still too slow to activate his escape and was also hit by the destructive strength of Li Jian’s Spatial Fist.

“What kind of skill was that?!"

“So powerful!”

The disciples watching were baffled.

‘I succeeded! I’m finally starting to understand this power. Although it requires an immense amount of spiritual energy, its power is incredible!’

“Li Jian!”

“Oh, you’re not dead? That’s great!”

Li Jian walked nonchalantly towards Lu Bao who was on the ground, bleeding heavily. Along the way, Li Jian picked up one of the stone swords created by the Stone Armor skill.

“I… will… kill… you!”

Lu Bao continued to cough up blood as he forced himself to speak.

“You won’t ever have the chance to.”

As Li Jian spoke these words, he had bent down to Lu Bao and brought forth the sword.

“What… are… you… planning?!”

Li Jian smirked.

“Cutting the roots off of a weed.”

Li Jian punctured Lu Bao’s dantian draining him of all of his spiritual energy and inevitably destroying his cultivation.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHhhh!”

Lu Bao screamed out his agony as his cultivation was diminishing. He was becoming a mortal and would never again be able to enter the martial world. A life that was worse than death.

The disciples who had been watching were mortified as they saw the events unfold.

“What’s he doing?”

“Is he going to kill Lu Bao?!”

The spectators couldn’t speak another word. Fear had filled their hearts as they watched this 4th level outer disciple cripple another disciple.

“H-he took away his cultivation…”

Li Jian walked back to the three earth disciples on the ground and made sure they weren’t dead. He had calculated the strength of his newly created skill and believed their cultivation and Stone Armor would be enough to protect their lives.

After checking those defeated, Li Jian sat down and began cultivating.

“He’s going back to cultivating after all of that?!”

“What’s wrong with this kid??”

Yu Yan was constantly hearing the laughter and clamor of those around her as she continued to train. However, everything changed when she heard a loud explosion followed by silence. She looked over at where the walls had been erected and saw the boy she had just met earlier that day; Li Jian.

She had beared witness to the cruel antics of Li Jian, but felt he had justified himself after being attacked and ganged up on. She had heard the feud going on between Li Jian and Lu Bao, so she also believed it was the right choice in crippling Lu Bao since killing was forbidden within the sect.

‘Li Jian… I’ll see you in the inner sect.’

Yu Yan smiled and then used her sect badge to exit the trial.

Li Jian, who was absorbing the spiritual energy, was finally making his way towards the 5th level.

After a few minutes, Li Jian broke through and felt his whole body become bathed in an overwhelming energy as his power rose rapidly.

‘This is the 5th level! I’m almost at the peak of the middle stages of the Mortal realm!’

Li Jian continued to sit there to stabilize his cultivation before leaving.

‘This area’s spiritual energy is almost depleted… Training here won’t be beneficial anymore.’

When Li Jian opened his eyes, he looked over and saw that the three disciples and Lu Bao were gone.

Lu Bao had used his remaining spiritual energy to activate his sect badge and exit the trial before all of his energy had disappeared.

‘Maybe I should move onto the next area…’

Li Jian stood up, walked over to the lake and peered down into the water.

Focusing some spiritual energy into his eyes, he squinted and looked into the waters.

Within the lake he could see reptile-like beasts that were in the 7th and 8th level of the Earth realm swimming about.

‘What the hell?? The power gap from the previous area and here is too large! No wonder those inner disciples haven’t moved on.’

‘Guess that means I’m going back home… Oh well, I’ll give this place another shot next time.’

With that, Li Jian pulled out his sect badge and activated it, leaving the trial and teleporting right outside the mountain in front of the cave entrance.

‘I should have the qualifications to enter the inner sect now.’

“Outer sect disciple Li Jian.”

Li Jian looked around and saw a large, rugged old man holding a jade-green battle axe with one hand and wearing the jade robes of an Elder.

“Yes, Elder?”

“You are to be taken into custody for acting against the sect.”

‘This must be the punishment department… Lu Bao, you annoying pest.”

“May I ask what I am being accused of?”

“You have injured three 5th level disciples, and have crippled Lu Bao. Is what I have stated false?”

Li Jian looked coldly at the Elder.

“Everything you have said is true.”

The disciples outside all sucked in cold air. This disciple had fought three 5th levels and had also crippled Lu Bao? To defeat others was one thing, but to cripple someone? That was going too far!

“This guy crippled Lu Bao?! Has he gone mad? Elder Lu will kill him!”

“I heard this Li Jian and Lu Bao had some bad blood.”

“Li Jian, you are to come with me to the detention building.”

“I have done nothing wrong. I acted in self-defense.”

“And your excuse for crippling a promising disciple?”

“Well… He kept stalking me and it became bothersome.”

The disciples looked at Li Jian with dumbfounded expressions.

“Crippling Lu Bao because he was bothersome??”

“This Li Jian is too much!”

“You can explain yourself to the Head of the Punishment department. Until then, you will be held in a detention room to reflect on your actions.”

Li Jian figured he would end up there one way or another so he unwillingly complied.

The Elder took Li Jian to the detention building and placed him inside one of the rooms.

The room looked more like a prison cell as it was cold, dark, and surrounded by prison bars. The room Li Jian was put into was small, empty, and devoid of light.

‘Unreal…’