Three years later.
Qifeng City.
Yejia Square.
There is a pagoda high platform in the center of the huge and wide square. Two old men are sitting under the high platform. In the middle is a bluestone as tall as a person. On the bluestone is a ball as big as a head. The ball is made of unknown crystal and is completely transparent. , like glass.
Next to the crystal ball stood a young man in a blue shirt. The boy was holding the crystal ball in his hands and was pouring mana into it.
After a moment, there was a faint, almost blinding, milky white light in the crystal ball, squirming like a half-dead insect.
There was a sad smile on the young man's handsome face, and the slightly raised corners of his lips were a bit mocking and a bit helpless.
It was Ye Liangchen who returned injured from the secret cave exploration that day!
"Alas! The more you practice, the weaker you will become. If this continues, you will be back to the Bigu stage next year!" He pretended to be calm on the surface, but Liangchen was already scolding him in his heart.
An old man with a long beard who was responsible for detecting mana next to the crystal ball glanced at the faint band of milky white light in the crystal ball, and shouted in an indifferent tone:
"Early stage of Qi refining, lower level!"
As soon as the old man blurted out his words, there was a roar in the crowded square.
"Early stage of Qi refining? Still at the lower level! Haha...laughing to death!"
"Hehe, as expected, this "genius" has worked hard for a year and gave us another big surprise!"
"Haha, how come that genius illegitimate son who was famous in Fengcheng in the past is in such a miserable state now?"
"I told you a few years ago! It must be the accumulation of pills that his father spent a lot of money to buy, just to make him recognize his ancestors.
The clan leader thought he was a genius, so he agreed to let him return to the clan. Sure enough, the foundation was not stable. I tried to advance rashly after practicing, and went astray. Now I have plummeted. I guess I was right! "
"Who said that! He ended up in this situation because he was injured during a trial! What a pity for such a good young talent!"
"You are the only one who believes this nonsense!"
"What do you mean?"
As he said that, the two started to quarrel.
All kinds of ridicule, regret and quarrels coming from all around merged into a torrent of buzzing sound, rushing into the ears of Liangchen who still had a smile on his lips.
It was like a huge wave, making him unsteady and almost dizzy.
Liangchen stopped smiling and slowly raised his head, with a handsome and immature face. Because he was too young to control his emotions, his cheeks were a little red, as if he had applied rouge.
A pair of dark eyes slowly glanced at the mocking faces around them.
The pointing fingers had a mocking smile, just like those children who laughed at him when his father took him to stand in front of the family ancestral hall a long time ago!
"No matter what time, people still bully the weak and fear the strong!" With a bitter smile, Liangchen turned around lonely and quietly returned to the edge of the crowd. His lonely figure looked into the distance, not knowing what he was thinking.
"Next, Ye Meimei!"
Hearing the old man's shout, a girl in a green shirt with a ponytail walked briskly.
As soon as the girl appeared, the chatter caused by the good time was much quieter, and the eyes of everyone in the room were undulating with the trembling of her ponytail.
The girl was only fifteen or sixteen years old, with a small face like an oval and lightly arched eyebrows. She never forgot to say hello to the acquaintances next to her as she walked, and occasionally made faces. Her innocent and cute appearance made people feel very close to her.
The girl stepped forward quickly, touched the transparent crystal ball with her fair hands, and then began to slowly move her luck...
Within a few breaths, gas boiled in the transparent crystal ball again. As the girl continued to inject mana, the crystal ball was slowly filled with milky white and thick dense gas.
"This must be the end of Qi refining, right?"
"It's almost the same. Judging from the thickness, it shouldn't be at the upper level. I just don't know if it's the middle or lower level?"
"The final stage of Qi refining, intermediate level!"
"Ye Meijing, mid-level at the end of Qi refining!" the long-bearded old man shouted with a smile.
"Haha!" Listening to the elder shouting about her realm, the girl couldn't help laughing.
"Tsk tsk, she's already in the final intermediate stage. That's incredible. According to this progress, it will only take two or three years at most for her to build the foundation!"
"She is indeed one of the four beauties of Qifeng City along with the Zhang family's Hongmei, Xiao's family's Baidan, and Xu's family's Lengmei!"
Listening to the bursts of praise from the crowd, the girl returned to her seat with a smile.
"I think I was like this a few years ago. No matter where I go, I feel like the stars are holding the moon!" Liangchen looked at the beautiful scenery and cast a look of praise.
As if sensing something, the girl followed her gaze to look at Liangchen standing on the edge of the crowd. As soon as his eyes met, Liangchen pretended to look away casually.
Ye Meimei remembered that he had always been the focus of the crowd in the past, with a faint smile. Even at the age of fourteen when he advanced to the foundation building stage, he looked indifferent when the whole audience was in an uproar.
"I wonder if he can still accept such a blow now?"
"Alas..." She sighed melancholy and wanted to comfort him, but after thinking about it she didn't know how to speak, so she had to give up.
He started fasting at the age of nine, refined his qi at the age of eleven, broke through the late stage at the age of fourteen, successfully advanced to the foundation building stage, and became the youngest genius in his family and even Qifeng City within a hundred years!
There were even rumors that Tianjian Mountain, one of the four major sword sects, was planning to take him to the mountain to practice after his sixteenth-year-old coming-of-age ceremony.
However, the path of genius is always tortuous!
Three years ago, this young genius who was at the peak of his powers suddenly separated from his team during a family trial and was knocked unconscious by an unknown monster!
After waking up, I found that my mana was inexplicably flowing away, and my realm continued to fall.
From a genius to an ordinary person, and then to a mediocre person, this kind of blow made him increasingly decadent.
Fortunately, he has a cheerful nature and seems to let nature take its course on the surface. If he had a strong personality, he might not be able to take the blow and would have become crazy long ago.
"Next, Ye Kai!"
Among the noisy crowd, the old man's voice rang out again.
As the name sounded, the crowd suddenly became quiet, and all eyes turned to the center of the square.
Where everyone's attention gathered, a man wearing a purple tights, sword-shaped eyebrows and starry eyes was walking slowly, his calm demeanor not changing at all due to the attention of everyone.
The young man has a resolute face and a childish face. Although he is young, he has a calmness that no one else has.
Ye Kai walked to the crystal ball, gently rolled up his long sleeves, stretched out a pair of thin palms, and placed them on the crystal ball.
After taking a deep breath, he moved his energy into the crystal ball, and the cloud-like light bloomed again, quickly filling the entire crystal ball.
"It's so powerful, it must be in the later stages!"
"Yeah, yeah. Wait...I think I see silver!"
"No way! Silver only appears during the foundation building stage!"
I saw that in the crystal ball, the edge of the thick milky white air mass was gradually coated with a layer of silver.
At first, people thought their eyes were dazzled, but as the silver light gradually enlarged, as if it was slowly swallowing the milky white air mass, people were finally convinced!
After a few breaths, the milky white air mass gradually became smaller, the silver light became brighter and brighter, and finally turned into a silver trickle, flowing slowly in the crystal ball.
"Early stage of foundation building! Lower level." The old man's clear voice sounded again!
"Early stage of foundation building!!" The crowd suddenly became noisy after being quiet.
"The foundation building was actually successful! The number one member of the younger generation in the family must be Ye Kai." The teenagers around him swallowed involuntarily, their eyes full of awe!
In the crowd, Ye Meimei frowned lightly and stared at Ye Kai, who slowly retracted his palm in front of the crystal ball and looked calm.
His eyes were in a daze, as if he saw Ye Liangchen retracting his palm from the crystal ball three years ago today.
It's just that Ye Liangchen's expression was more arrogant and dazzling that year!
Looking at the silver light in the crystal ball, the indifferent face of the old man responsible for the inspection also showed a rare smile, and said to the young man:
"Kaier must have successfully built the foundation recently, right? Why not report it earlier so that us old men can be mentally prepared."
"Yes, grandpa. My grandson was lucky enough to succeed recently. He has been consolidating his realm in the back mountain in the past few days and only came out yesterday." The young man answered respectfully.
"Okay! Not bad! You are indeed a good boy of my Ye family. Step back." The old man said with a smile, stroking his beard.
Ye Kai turned around quietly, and then slowly walked to the decadent young man at the back of the crowd under the blazing attention of everyone.
"Ye Liangchen." When he arrived at the young man's side, Ye Kai paused and nodded to Liangchen, with a faint smile on his stern face.
"Ye Kai, at that moment just now, I suddenly seemed to see my old self! It's just that if I were half as calm as you are now, I wouldn't be ridiculed by so many people now." Liangchen said bitterly.
Ye Kai was one of the few brothers he had after he fell into despair.
"Liangchen, you once said before that you want to become strong and go out to see the outside world! Cheer up and you can stand up again!" Ye Kai said with a smile.
The slightly childish but calm tone made Liangchen feel warm in his heart.
But when he thought about his current situation, the confidence he had just gained from Ye Kai's words disappeared again.
"The past was before! Now is now!" Liangchen said with a self-deprecating smile.
Facing his former role model, Ye Kai wrinkled slightly and said seriously:
"Liangchen, you have always been my leader. Although I don't know why, you have stopped now, but I know you will definitely walk in front of me again!"
Ye Kai's tone was firm and sincere, as if he was describing something that was originally like this.
Liangchen looked at his solemn expression, and the extinguished flame in his heart seemed to burst out of the ground again!
But just now, the image of his thin mana and squirming like a small insect flashed in his mind again.
The fire disappeared completely as if cold water had been poured on it.
"You really praise me too much! Just because of a practice diary? It's just tattered!"
"Let's go, see you later!" Liangchen chuckled and walked out lonely.
