New Pattern

Qiong Qi's head was cut off.

Initially when the cultivators heard this news, they all thought it was a bad joke. As the fifth ranked disciple among the formal disciples, who would dare cut off Qiong Qi’s head? They all thought this way.

Until they saw Qiong Qi’s head in the coffin, a head the size of a ball. Now no one could laugh about this. After a little investigation, they knew who had cut off Qiong Qi's head.

Chen Xia.

It was him after all!

At that moment, no one was too surprised. After all, the grievances between Chen Xia and Qiong Qi had been established half a year ago. It was just that the fight had been stopped by the three elders last time, otherwise it would have resulted in one dead one injured.

It was said that this time Chen Xia used a special method to instantly cut off Qiong Qi’s head, catching the few elders who were watching off guard.

This sounded even more terrifying.

A few elders couldn't even stop Chen Xia. Allowing Chen Xia to cut off Qiong Qi’s head in front of everyone, turning a competition into a funeral.

It was hard to say whether it was because Chen Xia was too fierce, or the elders were useless.

Maybe both points stand.

Afterwards, Chen Xia was also arrested by the Law Hall. Some cultivators who had deep connections with Qiong Qi, like the three elders, demanded the death penalty for Chen Xia.

But the vast majority disagreed with the death penalty, and even jointly defended Chen Xia. The excuses...reasons they gave were quite novel.

They said Chen Xia's hand slipped and he accidentally cut off Qiong Qi's head. They all witnessed it.

These defenders all had one thing in common - they had lent various amounts of money to Chen Xia.

If Chen Xia really died, who would they collect the money from?

As for the 300,000 spiritual stones Chen Xia borrowed to buy white vines, they were taken as compensation for Qiong Qi's life, and given to Qiong Qi’s powerful family.

Otherwise, the powerful family behind Qiong Qi would come to take revenge, which would cause great trouble for the Blue Sky Sword Sect.

On the day of Qiong Qi’s funeral, as punishment, the Law Hall also brought Chen Xia to the scene and asked him to sincerely repent.

There were tens of thousands of onlooking cultivators at the scene.

Chen Xia was bound by hundreds of formations, standing in front of Qiong Qi's coffin, looking solemn and sincerely asking,

"If I apologize, will it make you feel better?"

Of course there was no response.

The three elders at the side were so angry they wanted to curse. They didn’t know which bastard came up with this idea to make the murderer come and apologize to the dead.

When you die, will you also invite the killer to come?!

After this farce ended, it was time for Chen Xia’s descent into the Sword Sea, imprisoned for five hundred years.

It was said he would be sent to the middle part of the Sword Sea, 10,000 meters deep, imprisoned in the sea dungeon, ceaselessly tormented by the sword intent.

On the day Chen Xia descended into the sea prison, Emperor Capital and Qiu Li were the happiest, smiling from the bottom of their hearts.

With Chen Xia gone, the huge mountain pressing down on them was gone too.

They were the big brothers among the reserve disciples again, back to competing with each other.

This was how it should be. This conformed with the fighting between reserve disciples. Chen Xia completely exceeded too many levels, he wasn’t a reserve disciple at all.

Which reserve disciple could cut off the head of a formal disciple?

And his opponent was a top rank formal disciple too.

Turtle turtle, this was really scary!

Emperor Capital and Qiu Li were somewhat relieved that they had treated Chen Xia well in the past, admitted their mistakes quickly, and didn’t provoke Chen Xia’s anger. Otherwise, the ones losing their heads could have been them.

The two of them were much easier to kill than Qiong Qi.

This was when Chen Xia had just entered prison.

Although Emperor Capital and Qiu Li were back at the top, they were still somewhat restrained, not too ostentatious, slowly expanding their power.

In the fifth year after Chen Xia entered prison, Qiu Li had already recruited half of the reserve disciples, and obtained the support of many junior elders. He already had the momentum to suppress Emperor Capital.

Emperor Capital was also unwilling to show weakness. He allied with formal disciples and started a counterattack.

With Chen Xia gone, these two top talents completely let loose. In just ten short years, they fought all the fights they hadn’t fought in the past two hundred years.

The reserve disciple area became a complete mess. There wasn’t a single reserve disciple who could calmly cultivate. Even if you didn’t want to fight, there were people who would come fight you.

In troubled times, how could anyone remain aloof?

This angered the sect’s high level elders. They personally came to the reserve disciple area, pointing at Emperor Capital and Qiu Li’s heads and scolding,

“Now you know how to fight, now you know how to be arrogant. When Chen Xia was around, why didn’t I see you two being so amazing?”

“Because we couldn’t beat him.” Emperor Capital frowned and told the truth.

“That’s right.” Qiu Li echoed.

“So you can only find people you can beat to fight, without the ambition and courage to challenge stronger opponents?!” The elder questioned again.

“I don’t have that, but others do.” Emperor Capital shook his head.

“Who?” The elder frowned.

“Qiong Qi. By now, the grass on his grave is probably already three meters tall right?” Emperor Capital replied.

“And it’s not that we don’t dare to fight, the gap is just too big.” Qiu Li explained.

The elder was at a momentary loss for words. He felt these disciples were too hard to coax nowadays and didn’t know how to reply. With a flick of his sleeve, he impatiently said,

“If you don’t even dare to fight because of this, then I’m too disappointed in you two top talents. No matter if the opponent is one level, two levels, thousands of levels higher, so what?!”

“My fellow cultivators must have the unyielding dao heart to challenge the strong!”

Emperor Capital suddenly asked soul-piercingly,

“Speaking like you, if we challenge you, wouldn’t our dao hearts be unbreakable?”

Qiu Li also looked at the elder, waiting for an answer.

Don’t randomly spout chicken soup. Modern cultivators don’t eat this set.

The elder frowned, feeling these current disciples were truly hard to handle. He really didn’t know how to reply anymore. With a flick of his sleeve, he impatiently said,

“In short, no more fighting. Focus on cultivating well. Chen Xia is now imprisoned in the sea dungeon. His cultivation environment is far inferior to yours.”

“You two can take this opportunity and use these five hundred years to surpass him. Don’t waste this timing. If by the time Chen Xia comes back from the Sword Sea and you two still can’t beat him, wouldn’t that become a joke?”

These words did have some effect, instantly reminding Emperor Capital and Qiu Li of something.

Chen Xia was from the same batch of disciples as them!

That meant they were actually competitors.

Hiss!

Previously, the two had been scared by Chen Xia’s beatings, and had actually forgotten about this. They had regarded Chen Xia as their senior for a time.

But now before them was the chance to surpass Chen Xia.

The two did not want to still be steadily suppressed by Chen Xia from the same batch five hundred years later.

They were top talents. Although they had once doubted life after being beaten by Chen Xia, they still had pride in their hearts. Now there was a chance, they had to seize it tightly!

Thus the internal chaos in the reserve disciple area quickly ended. The various disciples all focused on cultivating, no longer asking about worldly affairs.

Among them, Emperor Capital and Qiu Li were the most extreme. The two closed up for several decades at a time, madly operating their arts, continuously increasing their level of cultivation.

The entire reserve disciple area entered an era of intense competition.