I have the face of a great demon.

Cheng Qian has been searching for the mysterious man in black robes around Lingshui Town for a whole month, but he hasn't found a trace of him.

The man in black robes seemed to have mastered the art of invisibility, vanishing into thin air.

Cheng Qian firmly believed that this was impossible; the man in black robes must have changed his clothes and quietly slipped out of Ling Shui Town.

This completely severed his trail. Left with no other option, he had to return empty-handed with a group of disciples.

These days, the name "Lingshui Town" is like a sensitive word to Cheng Qian. Whenever he hears it, he becomes nervous as if by reflex, wishing he could thoroughly investigate everyone who comes from there, because the man in black robes might be hiding among them.

So when he heard the disciples practicing in the courtyard mention that they came from Lingshui Town, he didn't even leave the gate; he immediately jumped over the wall to come over.

Cheng Qian merely nodded casually at Senior Brother Qin's enthusiastic greeting and cut straight to the point: "Which one of you is from Lingshui Town?"

Upon hearing this tone, Liu Xingchen's heart skipped a beat, sensing that something was wrong.

Although he didn't know the specific reason, his intuition told him that Master Cheng seemed to be somewhat hostile towards people from Lingshui Town.

Yu Kun clearly noticed this as well, and immediately pointed at the two men and said loudly, "These are the two country bumpkins. They're from Lingshui Town."

Seeing that Master Cheng's gaze had turned to them, Liu Xingchen calmly explained:

“Yu Kun, you’re wrong. We’re not from Ling Shui Town. We just went there to participate in the selection because the Ling Shui Gang was recruiting.”

"But seeing that they were too weak, I didn't join them and instead came to Lingzhou, where I was fortunate enough to become a member of the Azure Sky Sect."

Upon hearing these words, Master Cheng's expression softened.

He knew perfectly well that the man in black robes was capable of killing so many people; such a man must be highly skilled in martial arts.

He knew that these two young men had considered joining the Ling Shui Gang, and he was well aware of the gang's incompetence.

This shows that these two young men are still very inexperienced and are unlikely to be the murderers who killed the two martial arts factions.

Master Cheng chuckled: "Whether you're from Lingshui Town or not doesn't matter. I just came back from Lingshui Town, and hearing the name felt familiar, so I came to check on you. How's your training going?"

Senior Brother Qin quickly chimed in, "Senior Uncle Cheng, this Liu Xingchen is our newly recruited prodigy. He learns things exceptionally quickly, and he has already mastered the movement technique we just taught him today. Junior Brother Liu, quickly demonstrate it to Senior Uncle Cheng."

Since things had come to this point, Liu Xingchen had no choice but to go on stage and give a demonstration.

He deliberately kept a low profile, concealing his true strength. He displayed a speed that was slightly faster than the other disciples, but not so astonishing as to be overly impressive, which perfectly matched the image of an ordinary genius disciple.

After reading it, Uncle Cheng praised it a few times and then left.

His senior brother, who came with him, was acquainted with Senior Brother Qin, so he stayed and chatted for a bit.

Senior Brother Qin asked, "Senior Brother Liao, why did you take so long this time?"

Upon hearing this, Senior Brother Liao's face clouded over, and he sighed.

"Sigh, don't even mention it. We received a message from Senior Brother Chen via carrier pigeon, saying that we had snatched the divine sword left behind by the immortals. We rushed to the mountains outside Lingshui Town, only to find that they were already dead."

"Ah, who on earth did this?" Upon hearing this, Senior Brother Qin's eyebrows shot up.

"Who else could it be but those blind fools from the Sand Tiger Gang!"

Upon hearing this, Senior Brother Qin flew into a rage: "The Sand Tiger Gang? Those little shrimps dare to mess with our Azure Sky Sect! We'll teach them a lesson they won't forget!"

Senior Brother Liao sighed and said, "The Sand Tiger Gang has been wiped out by us, but the Divine Sword has disappeared. Now the clues point to a mysterious man in black robes. He probably stole the Divine Sword."

"How hateful! How dare they steal our sect's divine sword!"

"The man in black robes escaped this time, but we have offered a large reward for his capture, so he can't get far."

Liu Xingchen overheard their conversation and finally understood why Master Cheng had reacted that way. It turned out that the group of white-clad men fighting at the bottom of the cliff were from the Cangqiong Sect.

He secretly rejoiced that he hadn't done anything to those men in white; it had nothing to do with him.

But then he thought, if the divine sword were in his hands, wouldn't he become the target of everyone's hatred?

Liu Xingchen was calculating in his mind that this matter absolutely could not be leaked. Once people found out that he was involved in this matter, he would be in big trouble.

Even if he were to offer the divine sword with both hands, he would likely still be suspected.

Fortunately, he kept a low profile and did not reveal his monstrous strength, otherwise Uncle Cheng might have associated him with the man in black robes, which would have been terrible.

The divine sword was currently lying securely in a small cabinet in his room, locked tightly. As long as he didn't take it out, no one would know.

Only Tie Zhu had ever seen this divine sword, but he didn't know it was the divine sword. That was good, because if he didn't know, it wouldn't be exposed.

After much deliberation, Liu Xingchen decided to maintain the status quo. As the saying goes, "the most dangerous place is the safest place." They would never have imagined that the person who had obtained the divine sword was right under their noses.

After a minor incident, Liu Xingchen returned to his peaceful days and continued to devote himself wholeheartedly to his training.

After practicing for a few more days, Senior Brother Qin increased the difficulty for them by having them practice on plum blossom stakes.

The plum blossom stakes they're going to climb this time aren't the kind where you just walk to the end of a path during the entrance exam; they're a large plum blossom stake array that's spread all over the playground.

Standing on the plum blossom stakes, one can move freely in all directions, making it perfect for practicing movement techniques.

Senior Brother Qin first demonstrated for everyone, constantly moving forward, backward, left, and right on the plum blossom stakes. His agility was already highly refined, and he would never miss a step, whether moving forward or backward.

After demonstrating, he nimbly jumped off the plum blossom stakes and addressed his disciples:

"Everyone in the Azure Sky Sect has been practicing their movement techniques for several days now, and I've heard some people say they've already mastered them to a high level."

"But it's not enough for you to say you're good. You have to be able to move and twirl on the plum blossom stakes without falling off. That's what makes it good. Alright, everyone come up and practice."

So the disciples jumped onto the plum blossom stakes and began their respective practice.

Liu Xingchen also leaped up and easily climbed onto the plum blossom stake, which was as tall as a person.

Recalling the entrance exam a month ago, when he had to climb several steps one by one, he could now easily leap up with his newly acquired light-body skills, and he felt secretly pleased.

The plum blossom stake formation was very large, and the disciples were spread out, each with a considerable amount of space to practice their own skills without interfering with each other.

Many disciples felt somewhat fearful when they first stepped onto the plum blossom stakes. Their movements, which they had practiced smoothly on the ground, became clumsy and awkward.

Not long after the practice began, cries of "Ouch!" and "Wow!" could be heard continuously, as many people fell off the wooden stakes after missing their footing.