With my nine meridians taken away, I will prove my invincibility with the Demon Seed!

Li Zheng led Qin Yi into the small house next to the martial arts arena.

"Did I scare you just now?" Li Zheng said with a smile.

Qin Yi said, "It really startled me. The guild leader's strength is indeed formidable; he truly deserves to be a genius on the Azure Cloud Ranking!"

Although Qin Yi did not use his full strength just now, Li Zheng did not use his full strength either.

Therefore, he is now convinced of Li Zheng's strength.

The best way to enter the Azure Cloud Ranking is to defeat Li Zheng without using the Blood Sea Pagoda and Soul Severance Techniques.

Because, strictly speaking, Blood Sea Pagoda and Soul Severance are not conventional combat methods, but rather secret techniques used in desperate situations.

Performing these two secret techniques requires burning a great deal of one's inner strength.

Li Zhengdao said, "I'm just at the bottom of the Qingyun Ranking. The Qingyun Ranking is updated every month, so maybe I won't be there next month."

Qin Yi said, "Perhaps Senior Brother Li's ranking will rise next month."

Li Zheng coughed, his face growing even paler, and said, "How can my improvement speed compare to that of other geniuses on the Azure Cloud Ranking? After all, I'm just a commoner with no background or powerful connections. I only have one master, who's rather unreliable."

Qin Yi thought that Lao Tian was actually quite reliable.

Li Zheng's eyes flashed, and he said, "My master came to see me yesterday and mentioned you. When he left, he even complained about being poor and took some spirit crystals from me..."

"As a result, he became a Dharma protector!"

"The protection affords him at least ten times better treatment than that of a high-ranking deacon; he's utterly shameless!"

Qin Yi: "...I haven't become a protector yet; I just applied for the protection exam."

Li Zheng said "Oh," and then added, "I hope he succeeds. Even if he's unreliable, at least he'll become a protector, which will give me a slightly stronger backer."

"By the way, Junior Brother Qin, your stay here is probably just temporary, right?"

"Does my master have any other plans for you?"

Yes, it is.

According to Tian Bugui's arrangement, Qin Yi is now becoming Li Zheng's brother, and will become Li Zheng's senior uncle in the future.

But Qin Yi couldn't say it out loud, so he said, "Not yet. He said he'll think about it for me once he becomes a formal protector."

Li Zheng nodded and said, "Then stay in the Brotherhood for now. If anything happens, just let us know, and we'll all be there!"

"Everything's almost ready outside. Let's go out for drinks and some meat!"

The two walked out of the room and into the training ground, where meat was being roasted. A large amount of meat from unknown monsters was sizzling and dripping with oil, filling the air with its aroma. More and more members of the Brotherhood arrived and greeted Qin Yi warmly.

Qin Yi drank and ate meat with everyone, quickly integrating into the lively atmosphere and gaining a better understanding of the Brotherhood.

The fraternity has more than two hundred members.

The Brotherhood's strength ranks in the upper-middle range among all the training teams.

Those training squads that ranked ahead of the Brotherhood were all formed by scions of wealthy and powerful families.

Although some commoners can join cultivation teams formed by scions of wealthy and powerful families, they have to hand over cultivation resources every month, and they are almost always at the beck and call of those scions of wealthy and powerful families.

What's even more outrageous is that these cultivation teams formed by scions of wealthy and powerful families specifically exploit ordinary people, demanding protection money every month. If they don't pay the protection money, they can forget about living and cultivating peacefully in the Starry Sky Palace.

The brotherhood that Li Zheng founded consisted entirely of people from ordinary backgrounds.

Li Zheng never asks members of the fraternity to hand over any resources.

Moreover, if anything happens, the Brotherhood will really step up!

For example, Zhang Miaomiao once beat several scions of wealthy families so badly that they fled in terror for the sake of a junior disciple of the Brotherhood.

Therefore, Zhang Miaomiao is the vice president of the fraternity.

Of course, the most outrageous feat was Li Zheng's. To stand up for his brother, he directly killed a member of a prominent family surnamed He with an axe in front of many people in the Starry Sky Palace.

The He family is one of the ten major families under the Starry Sky Palace!

The matter escalated, and even though Li Zheng had a valid case, he was still taken to the execution platform of the Starry Sky Palace.

Just as the guillotine was about to fall.

Li Zheng also shouted a slogan.

Fortunately, Tian Bugui arrived at the critical moment, which saved Li Zheng's life.

It was because of that incident that Li Zheng's health deteriorated, he suffered severe injuries that were difficult to treat, and ended up in his current state.

Many people originally thought that Li Zheng was a genius who could reach a high position on the Qingyun Ranking, but now, Li Zheng is already over twenty-four years old, and in three months, he will be twenty-five.

Those over 25 years old are no longer on the Qingyun List.

He has been at the bottom of the Qingyun Ranking for nine consecutive months.

In the monthly updated Qingyun Ranking, Li Zheng struggled to hold onto last place...

The sky was getting dark.

Qin Yi left the Brotherhood's outpost and returned to his residence.

The fraternity's slogans still echoed in my ears.

If you're a true brother, come and chop me up...

Qin Yi shook his head to adjust his state, then took out a Three Pure Spiritual Aperture Pill and began cultivating.

Two days later.

Qin Yi refined and absorbed all the Three Pure Spiritual Aperture Pills in his hand, raising his cultivation level from the seventh level of Nirvana Realm to the eighth level of Nirvana Realm.

We are one step closer to the realm of Dharma manifestation.

"I still have four Six Harmony Spirit Aperture Pills. These pills are most effective for martial artists in the Dharma Aspect Realm. Of course, I can use them now, but there's no need to rush. I've just broken through, so I need to calm down a bit."

As he spoke, Qin Yi took out a rhombus-shaped crystal that shimmered with dazzling starlight.

This is a star stone.

It was given to me by Huo Gang when I became sworn brothers with him.

The star stone contains a rich stellar power, and this star stone can be used to cultivate the Star Body.

On the ancient continent, when Qin Yi was heading to the Valley of Heartbreak, his Star Body constructed the Star Array, but he only completed fifty-six array eyes.

After that, Qin Yi focused his energy on rebuilding his foundation in swordsmanship.

There are still only fifty-six array eyes.

The Star Body Technique is quite good, combining offense and defense. Moreover, the Star Body Technique is the foundation of many core inheritances of the Starry Sky Palace.

Qin Yi held the star stone in his hand, circulated the Star Body technique, and then used two things at once to activate the Array Heart Technique he had obtained from Qin An!

As his cultivation level improved, his understanding of cultivation also deepened.

The influence of various factors made his speed of constructing the Star Array extremely exaggerated.

The 360 ​​stellar phenomena that appeared quickly transformed into array eyes, with runes flashing along with the starlight.

In just two days, Qin Yi's Star Body completely constructed the perfect Star Platform array!

With a thought, Qin Yi activated the power of the Star Array.

The original defensive technique, Star Robe, should now be called Starry Sky Robe. The Starry Sky Robe is like a robe woven from flowing starlight, draped over Qin Yi's body.

The Starry Robe can not only resist physical attacks but also mental attacks. In addition, it can purify impurities and dispel poisonous gases.

As for the attack, the original single-target killing move Starfall has been transformed into the area-of-effect ultimate move Thousand Starfall!

Once activated, each of the star array eyes will fall from the sky like stars, covering a vast area!

As Qin Yi was experiencing the profound mysteries of the Star Array, he suddenly noticed that the gate to his residence was being pounded on forcefully.

Qin Yi dispersed the starlight around him and then walked out of the cultivation room in his residence.

"Bang bang bang!"

The gate to Qin Yi's courtyard seemed about to be smashed to pieces.

He opened the courtyard gate with a displeased expression.

A group of menacing-looking guys stood at the entrance.

Upon seeing Qin Yi emerge, the leader sneered, "We've finally found you."

"Qin Yi, listen up, we are from the Xuan Guang Alliance, and this place is under our jurisdiction."

"You have to hand over one thousand Yuan Crystals every month. Once you've done that, if you have any problems, you can come to our Xuan Guang Alliance, and the Xuan Guang Alliance will help you resolve them."

"You didn't pay last month, so including this month's, it's a total of two thousand Yuan Crystals."

"In addition, because you didn't pay last month's amount, which was delayed until this month, you will be fined another thousand Yuan Crystals."

"So, now, take out three thousand spirit crystals, quick, don't dawdle!"

Just a few days ago, Qin Yi heard from the Brotherhood that some cultivation teams formed by scions of wealthy and powerful families would do such things, specifically exploiting commoners without any background.

Unexpectedly, this kind of thing has now happened to him!

"What if I don't pay?" Qin Yi asked coldly.

The leader sneered and said, "It's fine if you don't want to pay, that's your freedom, but don't regret it if something unexpected happens one day."

"For example, your residence might inexplicably catch fire."

"I was walking down the street when I was attacked without any warning."

"Or, you are constantly interrupted by various unexpected events during your cultivation."

"I imagine you wouldn't want this to happen, would you?"

"Furthermore, let me tell you, the leader of our Xuan Guang Alliance comes from one of the top 100 families under the Starry Sky Palace. Qin Yi, you have already offended the Li family and the Du family. If you go any further..."

next moment.

boom!

A powerful force suddenly erupted.

Qin Yi slapped the man so hard he fell to the ground, coughing up blood.

Qin Yi stomped his foot on the back of the guy's head and sneered, "Threatening me? Do you think I'm easily scared?"