My father is the main character, but the female leads want to kill me.

Behind Lin Ran, the long-haired woman with light blue hair, named Ruolan, searched for information and soon replied, "Fu Yuemei from Class 3 of the Spirit Level, just turned seventeen this year. She recently broke through to the first star of the Dao Yuan Realm and is the girl you saved before, Vice Dean!"

"Oh, I see. I remember she was still at the Daoist Realm back then. I didn't expect her to be so diligent. It seems that incident motivated her to cultivate even harder!"

Reminded by Ruolan, Lin Ran also remembered the silver-haired girl from back then.

Bravely helping friends, even if the methods are a bit reckless and put oneself in danger, this courageous and kind nature, coupled with the fierceness one displays when facing those who bully them, surpasses that of many others.

Wen Qianyi, who was standing to the side, was also a little surprised. She looked at Ruolan and asked curiously, "Is that girl that good? She actually made it to the top sixteen!"

Ruolan nodded and said, "Among the students, Fu Yuemei has been the talk of the town recently. She used to be the one being bullied, but since that incident, she has made great strides and her fighting style has become fierce."

"They really are ruthless!"

Lin Ran watched the battle on the stage. Fu Yuemei's fighting style did indeed reveal a fierce edge, and the weapon she used was quite unique—it was a fan.

Lin Ran originally thought it would be a mage, but Fu Yuemei charged into battle with a fan in hand. The sound of the fan opening and closing, along with the sound of metal clashing, stirred up a few sparks. She actually used the fan to block the attack of the opponent's spear and instead forced the opponent to retreat.

A final gust of fierce wind carried her opponent away from the ring. Fu Yuemei wiped the sweat from her forehead, glanced at the figure in the stands with her dark eyes, and quickly looked away before stepping off the ring on her own.

The referee's voice rang out at that moment: "Fu Yuemei from Class 3 of the Spirit Level advances to the quarterfinals!"

Lin Ran stroked her chin for a while before having Ruolan record Fu Yuemei's name.

This stubborn girl will probably continue to create miracles!

After the competition ended today, Qiu Qingzi took Lin Ran and Wen Qianyi to her office and poured them tea.

Qiu Qingzi didn't mince words and said directly, "After this Inner Academy selection competition ends, Lin Ran, you will take this group of freshmen to the Inner Academy and take the opportunity to reorganize the Inner Academy. In a few years, the Continental Academy Competition will begin. If our Linghua Academy wants to stay among the top five academies, we will have to rely on you!"

"Huh? How did it suddenly turn into the Continental Academy Competition?"

Lin Ran had just taken a sip of tea when she heard Qiu Qingzi's words and almost choked on it. When did it become the whole continent?

Wen Qianyi, standing to the side, explained softly, "The All-Continent Academy Competition is actually just another name for the Five Great Academy Competition. The Five Great Academy is the main force in this competition, but academies from all over the continent can participate. However, those who are not from the Five Great Academy are basically just there to make up the numbers."

"Is Linghua Academy so bad that it's almost fallen out of the top five academies?" Lin Ran blurted out, unable to stop herself, which ignited Qiu Qingzi's anger. Qiu Qingzi slammed her hand on the table and said, "Our Linghua Academy is just a little worse than the other four academies. Although we are at the bottom of the top five academies, that doesn't mean that the other academies can easily crush us. I invited you here not to say that Linghua Academy is trash."

"Sorry, sorry, it's my fault!" Lin Ran quickly apologized. It was indeed his fault; he had spoken too quickly.

Wen Qianyi, who was standing next to her, chimed in, "Sister Qiu, there's no need to get so worked up. Our Linghua Academy's results are indeed not satisfactory, so we must give it our all in this competition to achieve better results!"

Upon hearing Wen Qianyi's words, Qiu Qingzi took a sip of tea, her firm chest heaving violently. After a while, she shook her head and said bitterly, "Actually, I was just deceiving myself. What Lin Ran said is true; Linghua Academy is indeed rubbish."

Every time they returned from a failed competition, Linghua Academy would receive a barrage of criticism, which even Qiu Qingzi herself still finds hard to accept when she thinks back on it now.

"Anyway, there are still a few years left. We should be able to produce a lot more outstanding people in the inner academy, right?" Lin Ran said.

"A few years? Don't be too optimistic. I attended a meeting held by the five major academies recently, and it's possible that the meeting will be held earlier!" Qiu Qingzi said helplessly.

Wen Qianyi hurriedly asked, "Sister Qiu, what happened? Why is it suddenly being held earlier? Isn't it usually held every four years? There should still be more than three years left!"

"Originally, it was held every four years, in the same old ancient battlefield secret realm. But recently, it seems a new secret realm has been discovered. We're considering whether to hold it earlier, but we haven't done enough research on that secret realm yet, and the information isn't sufficient, so we haven't announced it yet," Qiu Qingzi said.

"Is this competition still being held inside the secret realm?" Lin Ran was stunned; he seemed to know something extraordinary.

Wen Qianyi explained, "That competition is basically held in the secret realm. In previous years, our students were basically eliminated within a few days, and they lost very badly. Songling Academy was in a similar situation to us. Tianli Academy was a little better, and could compete with Canglong Academy and Shengqiong Academy!"

"I see!"

Lin Ran nodded. Just now, when the topic of the secret realm came up, he also remembered something related to it. If he remembered correctly, his bronze cube was still in his possession, and it seemed like the secret realm wouldn't be open for long. Lin Ran had forgotten where the secret realm opened, so it couldn't possibly be the one that Qiu Qingzi and the others had mentioned earlier.

After chatting with Qiu Qingzi about what to do next, Lin Ran said goodbye to Wen Qianyi and returned to her residence, which was a quiet and elegant courtyard.

After returning to his room and setting up the array, Lin Ran carefully prepared to take out the bronze cube. He had been very interested in the secret realm that Qiu Qingzi and the others had mentioned. If that secret realm was indeed the inheritance secret realm of the Mirror Moon Saint Emperor, then he could start preparing and try to seize some opportunities inside.

I wonder if I'll be able to meet that Sword Sect Fairy, Shangguan Mengqing. After all, the inheritance of the Mirror Moon Saint Emperor is closely related to Shangguan Mengqing. It can be said that Shangguan Mengqing's ability to achieve such powerful cultivation is entirely due to this inheritance of the Mirror Moon Saint Emperor.

However, I don't know if the Sword Sect Fairy has collapsed. After all, if the White Moonlight Mu Shishuang can collapse, it seems quite reasonable for the Sword Sect Fairy to collapse as well.

Lin Ran thought of Meng Qing, who had passed the Qingling Sword Saint's inheritance with him. He wondered if she would come. Meng Qing's name sounded quite similar to Shangguan Mengqing's.

Putting aside all distractions, Lin Ran focused intently on examining the bronze cube in her hand. But everything was exactly as it had been when she first got it: strange, blurry patterns on it, a cool touch, and nothing else.

"Could it be that I'm just imagining things?"

Lin Ran stroked the bronze cube for a while longer, then, bored, put it back into her spatial ring. But just as the bronze cube returned to the ring, it seemed to flash with a barely perceptible light, which quickly disappeared...

……

Chapter 103 The Unsolved Mystery of the Sword Sect

In the Central Continent, atop a majestic and beautiful mountain, lies a courtyard. Suddenly, an invisible ripple spreads through the tranquil courtyard.

Immediately afterwards, a beam of cyan energy shot into the sky from a room in the courtyard, accompanied by a muffled thunderous sound. This startled the birds that were perched in the forest, and a large flock of birds cried out and flew away from the mountain peak.

This imposing force lasted for a long time, when suddenly a powerful aura emanated from the mountaintop and spread outwards before slowly dissipating.

Once the mountain peaks returned to calm, the crowds watching from the surrounding peaks began to whisper among themselves.

Among the crowd were men and women, dressed in simple, ancient robes, with small tags hanging from their waists bearing the character "sword".

"Senior Sister Mengqing's breakthrough speed is too fast! Judging from this breakthrough momentum, she's probably already at the peak of the Spirit Core Realm!" a chubby boy said.

"As expected of the number one person in the Sword Sect in a thousand years, with Senior Sister Mengqing's breakthrough speed, I'm afraid only those madmen in Xinzhou can catch up with her!" Another somewhat burly man responded.

"Moreover, Senior Sister Mengqing is so stunningly beautiful, but her personality is too aloof. I wonder who will be able to win her heart in the future!" The fat man's eyes flashed with infatuation when he said this, clearly very fascinated by Senior Sister Mengqing.

But his good friend, the burly man, slapped the chubby boy on the head and said disdainfully, "Dreaming in broad daylight? That's not something you can mess with. You're worlds apart from me!"

"Even a toad can eat swan meat, okay!"

“But that’s definitely not you. Come on, let’s go practice your sword. You’ve already become lax after watching all this time. If you don’t get good results in the sect competition, your master will have to give you a good beating!” the burly man lectured.

"Okay, okay!"

The chubby boy also decided to stop discussing the matter and went to the training ground with the burly man to continue practicing his swordsmanship.

Many people on the surrounding hills originally wanted to stay a while longer to see if they could catch a glimpse of Senior Sister Mengqing and admire the beauty of this prominent figure in the Sword Sect. However, after waiting for a long time, Senior Sister Mengqing still did not come out, so they all left the surrounding peaks, and the area finally became quiet.

In the courtyard atop Qingjing Peak, in one of the rooms with its doors wide open, a slender, jade-like hand lifted the curtain, revealing a woman. The woman wore a light, white dress, as if she were shrouded in mist and smoke. She appeared to be around twenty years old. Apart from her black hair, her entire body was snow-white, her face was elegant and refined, and her appearance was exceptionally beautiful.

This woman, as beautiful as a fairy and seemingly real yet ethereal, was none other than the renowned "Senior Sister Meng Qing" of the Sword Sect. She stepped out and walked to the pond in the courtyard, leaning against the stone pillar by the pond. Her eyes, as calm as a deep pool, gazed at the pond, lost in thought.

"Meng Qing, you've broken through to the Nine-Star Spirit Pill Realm?"

A sound shattered the tranquil scene.

Mengqing turned around and saw her master standing behind her, dressed in a simple blue dress. Mengqing knew her master would come, so she bowed to her master and calmly said, "Yes, I just broke through!"

The beautiful woman in green slowly walked up to Meng Qing, looked at her disciple, and suddenly said, "Have I put too much pressure on you?"

“No!” Meng Qing replied.

The beautiful woman in green knew her disciple well. She was naturally aloof, and with the cultivation technique she practiced, even with heavy responsibilities, she would never express the bitterness in her heart. Thinking of this, her eyes softened, and she said, "Mengqing, I hope you can understand that the Sword Sect needs you to grow up quickly. The Void Evil Clan has been making more and more frequent moves in recent years, and we lack effective means to deal with them. Only you can cultivate the inherited techniques passed down from our Sword Sect since ancient times. They were left by the Azure Emperor and can effectively deal with the extraterrestrial evil clans."

Even so, your master doesn't want you to accumulate too much pressure and end up ruining yourself, understand?

"Okay, I understand, it won't happen!"

Meng Qing nodded, then suddenly remembered something and couldn't help but ask, "Master, is this cultivation technique, the Pure Tranquility Scripture, really left behind by the Azure Emperor?"

"Yes, our Sword Sect is also a branch created by the Azure Emperor, passed down through the same lineage. However, there are no more people who can cultivate the Pure Tranquility Scripture by our time. It's not easy for you to be the only one. Mengqing, you must stay true to yourself. Cultivating the Pure Tranquility Scripture is also a test of your character!" the beautiful woman in green said worriedly.

The Pure and Tranquil Scripture requires detachment, coldness, taciturnity, and a lack of emotions and desires, which is really too anti-human. Now is the time for Mengqing to consolidate her mind and nature, which is why the beautiful woman dared not let her go down the mountain easily and chose such a quiet place for her to cultivate.

“Master, you must have come here for other reasons!” Mengqing said.

The beautiful woman in green nodded and began to stroll in the courtyard, while Meng Qing followed beside her, listening to the important matters the woman was discussing.

"Recently, a secret realm seems to have been discovered in the Eastern Region of Jiezhou, which is the location of the five great academies. The level of this secret realm has not yet been determined, but it is said to be the ruins of an ancient powerhouse, possibly from the era of the Azure Emperor."

"If that secret realm truly belonged to the era of the Azure Emperor, those guys from Xinzhou would probably have come here drawn by its scent, right?" Meng Qing analyzed.

The beautiful woman in green agreed, saying, "That's right. Those sects have already started to take action, sending people to investigate and explore that secret realm one after another. However, the secret realm still has a very strong seal, with only a very small gap. Some people who came out alive described it as possibly being the ruins of a great emperor, perhaps just like what happened in Liezhou back then..."

The beautiful woman in green recalled the fierce struggle in Liezhou back then, in which no one managed to obtain the true inheritance. Thinking about it now, she felt a sense of regret and emotion.

"Liezhou?!"

Upon hearing this word, Meng Qing immediately recalled that familiar voice, that cheeky laugh seemingly echoing in her ears. Meng Qing quickly calmed herself down, and seeing her master looking over, she hurriedly asked, "Master, did you also participate in the battle for the secret realm in Liezhou back then? I heard that many people died that time. What exactly was that inheritance?"

"That thing is said to be related to the Azure Emperor. Our Sword Sect invested a lot of effort back then, but it all came to nothing." The beautiful woman in green was full of regret as she continued, "If we could get information about the Azure Emperor through that ruin, perhaps we could solve the mystery of our Sword Sect."

"An unsolved mystery?"

"Yes, our Sword Sect also experienced internal strife back then, and many of our inheritances were lost. Among them was a technique that is said to be related to the Pure and Tranquil Scripture, which no one can understand anymore. It is also said to be related to the true inheritance of the Azure Emperor."

Seeing that Meng Qing seemed interested in this, the beautiful woman in green said, "I have that technique with me now, so I'll pass it on to you. Perhaps you'll be able to decipher it in the future, after all, you're the only practitioner of the Pure Tranquility Sutra in all these years!"

After speaking, the beautiful woman in green stopped and took out a roll of yellowed parchment from her spatial ring, handing it to Meng Qing.

After Mengqing took it, she sensed that it was made of some special material. When she opened the paper, she saw that it was covered with dense, illogical scribbles, like a child's artwork that had been preserved to this day.

Perhaps understanding Mengqing's doubts, the beautiful woman in green patted Mengqing's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, this was left over from ancient times. It was originally stored and preserved together with the Qingjing Jing, but no one knew what was on it, only that it was a magic technique, so it was stored separately."

"I'll study it carefully later!"

Meng Qing nodded. If she were to encounter that guy in the future, perhaps giving this thing to him would reveal its purpose. After all, that guy seemed to be cultivating the Azure Emperor's techniques, perhaps even the purest version.

After Meng Qing returned that year, she spent a long time immersed in the Sword Sect's top-secret library, confirming that the guy was definitely practicing the Azure Emperor's techniques, perhaps a branch like hers, or perhaps the Azure Emperor's legacy.

Since it's possible to cultivate with both sides, and their cultivation methods are from the same source, and that guy was the one in charge, it's possible that the ruins in Liezhou back then were the legacy of the Azure Emperor. So many powerful people failed to obtain them, but this guy finally got his hands on them. He's still so cunning. It turns out he was a thief all these years ago!

Although these are just her guesses, they should be pretty close to the truth. She could have noticed many strange things in the secret realm inheritance space back then. She could have her master take action and kill that bastard, and directly obtain the Azure Emperor's inheritance. With her talent, her strength might drop significantly after the modification, but her future potential would definitely be higher. Moreover, the Sword Sect also has a way to refine medicine that would not cause her strength to drop significantly.

But for some reason, after discovering this secret, she didn't think of telling him. Instead, she buried it deep in her heart, thinking that she could use it to threaten that guy later and see him beg her not to expose it. She could make some unreasonable demands and maybe get revenge for the grudge she suffered back then.

"Mengqing, Mengqing!"

The voice of the beautiful woman in green suddenly rang in her ears, startling Meng Qing out of her strange state. She quickly said, "Master, I'm fine, please continue!"

The beautiful woman in green didn't think much of it, but suddenly remembered something. She clapped her hands and said in a daze, "I forgot to tell you something important. After a while, I'll have you lead a team to that secret realm in Jiezhou. Maybe you can take this opportunity to break through to the Nirvana Realm."

"I've already prepared the pills for the Nirvana Realm. However, if you have the opportunity to attempt the advanced Soul Karmic Fire tempering, it will greatly benefit your future Nirvana Realm cultivation. For now, stay at the Spirit Pill Realm a little longer and conserve your strength!"

"I understand, Master!" Mengqing nodded and said.

After the beautiful woman in green finished speaking, she turned and left, while Meng Qing stood in the courtyard gazing at the lush, green tree in the distance, murmuring softly, "Jiezhou?"

I quietly added that sentence in my mind...

Can you see him?