Martial Arrogance Dragon Soul-Chapter 133 - 124: Visitor from the Palace_2

"Heh, has the day finally come? However, has the royal palace considered the cost if they want to move against the Great Qian Martial Institute?" Xu Fang sneered coldly.

Zheng Kaihe frowned and said, "It’s said that there are two voices within the royal palace now. One faction, led by the Seventh Prince and Shangguan Yong, has been eyeing the Great Qian Martial Institute for a long time, especially this time, because of the incident with Qin Qing..."

At this point, Zheng Kaihe glanced at Qin Qing.

Qin Qing gave a wry smile.

Zheng Kaihe nodded, then continued, "Because of this incident, the faction of the Seventh Prince and Shangguan Yong has become even more determined to break the current pattern of the Great Qian Martial Institute..."

Xu Fang’s brows wrinkled slightly, then he nodded and said, "Then I will go over first to see what exactly the attitude of the Seventh Prince and Shangguan Yong is. Qingyuan, I’ll leave the arrangements for the competition here to you!"

"Rest assured!" Xu Qingyuan nodded.

...

As Qin Qing watched Xu Fang leave, he felt a sense of helplessness deep inside.

Perhaps it was because he had inadvertently become entangled in the vortex of the entire Great Qian Dynasty.

And he had actually played a role in adding fuel to the fire.

This feeling of being caught in a vortex without the ability to control it made Qin Qing feel deeply frustrated.

Strength!

It all came down to strength...

"Sigh!"

Qin Qing sighed inwardly.

In the end, it was because his own strength was insufficient.

If he were a Nascent Soul Ancestor, then even if caught in a vortex, he would be able to cope with ease.

But now, he had no control over the overall situation.

"Junior Brother, don’t overthink it," Jiang Ruorong said softly, as if perceiving Qin Qing’s thoughts, and then smiled playfully, "Junior Brother, didn’t you say you plan to sign up for the institute-wide disciples’ assessment?"

"Yes!" Qin Qing nodded.

"Just in time... The spots were originally full, but now someone is making a fuss about dropping out of the assessment." Jiang Ruorong said.

"Eh?" Qin Qing’s brows furrowed, "Why would someone want to drop out?"

"Let’s go and see!" Jiang Ruorong said, pulling Qin Qing toward a noisy place not far ahead.

At this moment, Elder Mo Kong was maintaining order.

In front of Elder Mo Kong, a disciple was looking helpless.

"Elder Mo Kong, I really don’t want to participate in this assessment anymore!"

"I’ve already made it clear to you, my family forbids it. They don’t allow me to represent the West Courtyard Disciples and compete with the East Campus. You should know, I am from the Li Family of Luochuan Imperial City..."

"If I really participate in this competition, I’m afraid I’ll be expelled from the Li Family!"

"My father died unexpectedly last year, and now it’s just my mother and me relying on each other..."

"I don’t want to make my mother worry, nor do I want to see her homeless because of being expelled from the Li Family..."

The slightly emaciated disciple’s voice began to tremble, almost in tears as he pleaded with Elder Mo Kong.

"His name is Li Ziming!" Jiang Ruorong whispered to Qin Qing, "He’s a collateral member of the Luochuan Imperial City’s Li Family. His father offended an influential figure within the family, so he didn’t get the qualifications to enter the East Campus."

"He was determined to participate in this end-of-year grand competition, but it seems the family has voiced opposition and even warned his mother."

"His mother probably doesn’t want him to participate in the competition, so that’s why..."

Qin Qing nodded slightly.

The institute-wide disciple competition of the Great Qian Martial Institute is conducted for all the institute’s students.

The previous competition was the end-of-year assessment for new disciples, targeted at the new entrants of the Great Qian Martial Institute for that year. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Generally speaking, new disciples who had already participated in the end-of-year competition for new disciples rarely join the institute-wide disciple competition.

Moreover, the strength of new disciples is normally insufficient to contend with older disciples.

Consequently, the institute-wide disciple competition has by default become the competition among the older disciples.

However, just like the competition for new disciples, it too is divided between the East Campus and the West Courtyard, symbolically becoming the ultimate power clash between all the disciples of both campuses since their establishment.

In recent years, everyone knows that the East Campus has been consistently overpowering the West Courtyard, with the situation of the West becoming more and more precarious.

The competition between the old disciples of the two campuses hasn’t truly begun this year, but a sense of pessimism has already started to spread among the West Courtyard Disciples.

Hardly anyone was optimistic about the West Courtyard, including its own disciples.

High-level experts from the East Campus like Gu Fengxian and Xie Jin’an could single-handedly sweep through many; there was simply no one in the West Courtyard who could stand against them.

Thus, even though there were some strong disciples within the West Courtyard, they were well aware that they lacked the strength to compete with the East Campus and therefore chose not to participate in the competition.

Another very important reason was that these West Courtyard disciples did not want to offend anyone!

Like Li Ziming, many disciples had various concerns.

Therefore, the number of West Courtyard disciples signing up for the competition became increasingly limited, with many capable ones opting to go into seclusion during this period, refusing to get involved.

Moreover, this year’s end-of-year assessment was different from the past.

The tension between the East Campus and the West Courtyard became ever more apparent...

"This time, arranging the team for the assessment, Elder Mo Kong has put in a lot of effort,"

"Since many disciples declined Elder Mo Kong’s invitation...,"

Jiang Ruorong continued.

At the moment, Elder Mo Kong was frowning deeply.

He saw the bitterness and helplessness in Li Ziming’s eyes.

He could also understand the thoughts harbored in Li Ziming’s heart.

Li Ziming’s status, coupled with his current predicament, indeed placed him in a very difficult position.

"Fine! I agree...," Elder Mo Kong nodded reluctantly, letting out a sigh.

Accepting Li Ziming’s withdrawal now was also an act of helplessness.

What else could he do if someone didn’t want to compete? Keeping them here would be meaningless.

But now, they were one person short. Who could they get to join the team at the last minute?

"Elder Mo Kong!"

At that moment, Qin Qing approached.

"Qin Qing!"

Mo Kong saw Qin Qing coming and nodded.

"Let me join," said Qin Qing.

"What?" Elder Mo Kong thought he had heard wrong.

Many surrounding disciples were also startled.

"I want to participate in the assessment competition for all institute disciples!" Qin Qing stated confidently.

"You? Take part in the institute-wide assessment competition?" Elder Mo Kong was somewhat astonished, "You’re a newly-promoted disciple..."

"The Martial Institute has no rule against newly-promoted disciples joining the institute-wide assessment competition, does it?" Qin Qing asked.

"That’s true... It’s just that, having just completed the competition for new disciples, your current situation..."

"I’m fine!" Qin Qing asserted.

"I see no issue!" An older disciple nearby spoke up: "We have witnessed the strength of Junior Qin ourselves. Even when compared with us senior disciples, he holds his own, and he is even stronger than most!"

"Exactly! Junior Qin was able to defeat Shangguan Feixing and already possesses the strength of the preliminary stage of Divine Might Realm. Joining us shouldn’t be a problem!" another added.

Elder Mo Kong couldn’t help but ponder for a moment before nodding, "Alright then. Qin Qing, since we’re currently one person short, welcome to our team!"

"Welcome, Junior Qin!"

"Junior Qin, go for it!"

"Junior Qin, don’t worry, with us here, we won’t let those senior disciples target you!"

The surrounding senior disciples gathered around, many politely greeting Qin Qing.

Some knew that the East Campus wanted to deal with Qin Qing, so they reassured him to be at ease.

However, just then, another different mocking voice came through.

"Heh, so you’re Qin Qing?"

"Just because you won first place among the new disciples, you think you’re qualified to compete in the assessment for all institute disciples?"

"You just have no idea of your own weight..."