Ding Hao smiled and patted Li Yunqi’s shoulder and said, “There is no need of doing this. I don’t need Qing River Town to send soldiers to help me. After I kill the bandit chief of Blood Dragon Village, all you have to do is to deal with the aftermath.”

Li Yunqi was almost fluttered when Ding Hao patted his shoulders.

Anyone who was familiar with Ding Hao knew that Ding Hao only did this to his closest friends. In the entire Eastern Academy of green shirts, only a few people could be patted by Ding Hao, such as Zhong Dajun, Zhang Fan, Fang Tianyi. That was simply a kind of glory because it represented the man had won the recognition of the first sword of the Eastern Academy of green shirts.

“I don’t think that’s good. The three brigand chiefs of Blood Dragon Village are all very powerful. Besides, they have got an Inscriptionist. Their village had been operating for decades. Their cattle is an impenetrable fortress and is a danger spot like the Dragon’s Pool and Tiger’s Den. Senior Brother Ding is risking your life, so I must do something.” Li Yunqi was very excited.

For a moment, this boy only felt that it was worth even the entire Li family’s elites got hurt.

That was an invisible personality charm.

Even Li Yunqi himself did not realize that he had become a loyal admirer of Ding Hao in the past two months of Swordsmanship-seeking Sect.

“It’s just a small Blood Dragon Village and it’s not dangerous. It’s not a problem for me.” Ding Hao smiled and said, “I will let the villagers contact your people. As for how to cooperating with each other, we can discuss it by then.”

“It’s just a small Blood Dragon Village?”

“Only Senior Brother Ding can say that, I guess.”

Li Yunqi knew that Ding Hao is not a reckless person. If he said so, he had to be confident. Therefore, he stopped persuading and began to think about how to convince his father Li Ying not to miss this opportunity.

After a while, Ding Hao suddenly remembered something and asked with a smile, “By the way, since Junior Brother Li just left our Sect, do you know what are the results of the second competition between the five academies?”

“Ah, I am thinking to tell you. Because of your absence, Li Muyun, the head of Honorable Alliance of Seven in the Central Academy of white shirts, easily got the first of this match and Liang Feixue was the second, so the Central Academy of white shirts was the biggest winner. Senior Brother Li Lan of our academy won the third… Speaking of this, it was a pity. If Li Lan was not matched against Li Muyun, the d*mn strong man, in the semi-final, he would have entered the final!”

Ding Hao nodded.

The results were basically the same as he guessed before.

Li Muyun’s strength was way too powerful among the five academies, and Liang Feixue was not willing to compete with his own big brother, so Li Muyun naturally won the championship.

It was Li Lan’s performance that slightly surprised Ding Hao.

The strength that Li Lan showed before was about the same to that of Lin Xin and Ren Xiaoyao in the Northern Academy of yellow shirts. How could he reach the semi-final? Did Li Lan’s strength surge after Ding Hao had left?

“The handsome guy Lin Xin of the Northern Academy of yellow shirts was ranked fourth, and the fat man Ren Xiaoyao was the fifth. Both of them had already reached the realm of the six-apertured Martial Disciple Realm. In addition, Lyu Kuang, Crazy Kuang from the Southern Academy of purple shirts, had lost surprisingly during the last competition, but this time, he performed very well and won the sixth. It was rumored that there was a big change in his temperament. He disbanded his small group in the Southern Academy of purple shirts, intoxicated in Martial Arts and stopped entering into rivalry with Wang Xiaoshi, the first disciple of the Southern Academy of purple shirts, over fame and gain.

“In addition, Li Canyang, the first disciple of the Western Academy of red shirts, zipped across the horizon and had entered the top fifteen. Other members of the top fifteen were Murong Yanzhi, Yu Jueyao, and Fang Tianyi of our Eastern Academy of green shirts.”

Li Yunqi unhurriedly reported the results of the second five academies competition to Ding Hao.

As Ding Hao heard that Fang Tianyi also entered the top fifteenth, Ding Hao couldn’t help but be happy for the boy who was obsessed with his sword only.

Last time to be the one who represented the Eastern Academy of green shirts to take part in the first five academies competition, he fought against Fang Tianyi for the first time. Since then, Ding Hao had known that Fang Tianyi was born for a sword. He had an exceptional talent in practicing swordsmanship. Now he finally was able to enter the top fifteen with his efforts. That was the best reward for his diligence for two months.

“There are many other new geniuses, such as Lu Pengfei of our academy, Dong Yi and Li Bing of the Southern Academy of purple shirts, and Dumbo Vajra of the Northern Academy of yellow shirts. On the contrary, those who had won during the last competition lost their battles this time. The competition was too fierce. A new generation replaces an old one…”

As he talked, Li Yunqi couldn’t help but sigh.

The road to martial arts was too cruel.

Those disciples had great strength when they just entered Swordsmanship-seeking Sect and thus they represented their own academies to take part in the first competition. But in less than two months, they were defeated by the new disciples. The halos on them gradually dimmed, and they were replaced by the newcomers.

Ding Hao did not participate in the second competition this time. There were rumors that Ding Hao knew that he could not win the first place and did not dare to fight against Li Muyun and Liang Feixue. So-called closed-door training was just an excuse. He flinched.

The winner’s laugh could always be heard, but did anyone care about the cry of the losers?

Before meeting Ding Hao, Li Yunqi also doubted that Ding Hao shrank, but now, as he saw Ding Hao show up at Valley Village, all the puzzles were solved, and the rumors were untenable. Ding Hao did have something to do, so he could not attend the competition.

Perhaps as many disciples in the Eastern Academy of green shirts who admired Ding Hao insisted, the five academies competition was not challenging for Ding Hao any more.

Li Yunqi told Ding Hao some new names. They were all newcomers who became famous in the second competition. But Ding Hao had never heard of them and he did not care.

They chatted for a while. When Li Yunqi found Ding Hao did not speak any longer, he told Ding Hao that he wanted to leave.

Ding Hao nodded and said, “Gao Xue’er is still young. She is not suitable for marriage. Moreover, she has good talent in martial arts. I’m going to recommend her to enter our Sect, so please tell your brother let her go for my sake.”

Li Yunqi said, “Now that Senior Brother Ding thinks highly of her, we will certainly do as you wish. After going back, I will immediately let my brother give his thought up.”

“Thanks.” Ding Hao smiled slightly. “I don’t want others to know I am here, so please Junior Brother Li keeps it a secret for me.”

The wind and snow were getting bigger and bigger, the north wind was whistling, and it was like knives scratching on the face. [Tips: To Chinese people, winters come with the northwest wind. The north wind or the west wind in China is like the east wind in England.]

In front of the stone building—

Everyone was quietly waiting, no matter whether they were the arrogant Li Yunyang’s warriors from Qing River Town or Gao Feng, Gao Lin, and others from Valley Village. There had been a thick layer of snow on their shoulders and their heads, but they did not clear the snow. They were not in the mood.

Everyone was waiting for the conversation between the two teenagers in the stone building.

Undoubtedly, this conversation would determine the fate of Gao Xue’er and even Valley Village.

…