A stunned silence descended over the two groups that had gathered in front of Huang Ying's cabin, the sound of Song Yi and Chen Hong's uproarious laughter the only thing cutting through the silence. This was the exact reason they hadn't dispersed the crowds of people ahead of time, it was all for this scene.

It was actually rather easy to see a large part of Huang Ying's personality from the way he acted during the entrance tests. Especially his final act of marching up to Gang Yongye and simply stating those four words 'I do not kneel', few things were a better showing of his personality and belief. So the two of them let these people make a bunch of noise here, all so that they could see Huang Ying mercilessly shoot them down. And he didn't disappoint, plainly telling them to fuck off without bothering to listen to them.

Huang Ying took their stunned silence as a sign that they understood him, pushing his way through the groups so that he could reach the door of his cabin. But just as he was about to gesture for Song Yi and Chen Hong to follow him, one disciple from each group quickly stepped in front of him to stop him.

"Please stop, Senior Brother Ying, I'm certain that there has been a misunderstanding, please listen to me!"
"Are you sure you haven't misunderstood something? Why don't you follow me to the Silver Cloud pavilion and allow me to properly explain everything to you?"

Huang Ying was forced to stop in his tracks, his gaze landing on the two people and sweeping over them. The student from the Burning Cloud faction was a young man with a somewhat round face covered in freckles, his ear-length black hair laying flat on his head. The student from the Silver Cloud faction was a young woman with a somewhat thin frame and strikingly pale skin, her shoulder-length brown hair neatly curled. The two felt an unexplainable shiver run down their spines as Huang Ying's eyes swept over them, but neither of them shrank back. Huang Ying stopped sweeping his gaze over them, focusing on their faces as he spoke plainly.

"Misunderstood? I don't think so. You from the Burning Cloud faction want me to join you so that you can brag about how great the students of your faction are, rubbing it in the face of those around you, especially the Silver Cloud faction. And you, the Silver Cloud faction, you only want me to join you so that you can brag to others about how great you are, that even the third-ranked first-year disciple is willing to follow you."

Huang Ying's mind was perfectly clear on the matter, these people had no interest in him, only the ranking he currently held amongst the first-years. He raised his right arm and used his thumb to point at Song Yi and Chen Hong, the corners of his lips rising into a very faint sneer.

"What about those two? They should be ranked first and second, why aren't you asking them to join your factions? Don't you dare?"

If Huang Ying received the third rank due to what he showed, then Song Yi and Chen Hong, who actually defeated their opponents in single combat, were definitely ranked higher than him. And yet looking at the scene around him, no one got close to the two of them, much less dared ask them to join their factions.

Huang Ying was also clear on the reason behind this, Song Yi and Chen Hong had the strength to back up their rankings. They had showcased their strength while Huang Ying had only showcased his will, and even what could be described as his madness, he was far easier to approach. Looking at the somewhat awkward expressions of the two youths, Huang Ying couldn't help but shake his head.

"Don't you see how pathetic this is? Just this planet alone is unimaginably vast, I can't even imagine how big the rest of the universe is. When we have such a vast world awaiting us, why bother being so focused on getting the recognition of people in a place as small as this? Is this what you want to spend the rest of your lives on, looking big to people in a place like this, which is so small that it can't even be considered a well but rather a fishbowl?"

The Fierce Flame academy was never Huang Ying's end-goal, it could only barely be considered his starting point. With that being his thought process, he found it hard to wrap his head around the thoughts of people who did their best to elevate their status amongst the people here.

The people around Huang Ying gawked after hearing his reply, not even Song Yi and Chen Hong had expected Huang Ying's gaze to be so far above the Fierce Flame academy. But their gawking quickly turned into smirks, Song Yi's so wide that it was almost a grin. He spoke his words so matter-of-factly that one almost didn't notice how arrogant and even disdainful they were. She and Chen Hong underestimated how high his sight was set, but they didn't underestimate his personality, he was definitely the kind of guy to cause trouble and fun wherever he went.

Huang Ying swept his gaze across the two students in front of him once more, his eyes narrowed slightly. He stepped forward to push through them, but the two grit their teeth and stopped him once more. Huang Ying stopped in his tracks once more, looking at the two of them, who were gritting their teeth and staring at him with resolute eyes. From the looks of it, it seemed like they were unable to go back without producing any results, Huang Ying guessed that they might have been ordered to do this. After a few seconds, he raised both arms, his eyes returning to normal as he gave them a faint smile.

"Fine, if that's how it's going to be."

He moved both arms forward, placing his left hand on the shoulder of the male student and his right hand on the shoulder of the female student. The two were a bit confused at first, but then Huang Ying slowly started to put strength into his hands, pushing down on their shoulders.

Huang Ying's body was far stronger than most people after being rebuilt, not to mention that these two were only at the 5th Mortal Step. The two also found that Huang Ying's body released a faint aura as he pushed down on their shoulders and smiled at them, their hearts almost skipping a beat just from the aura. This aura was an instinctive fear all living beings of this universe would feel when they were in the presence of the Ancestral God of Devouring, it was something they were born with.

The pressure on the two steadily grew stronger, both of them quickly forced to grit their teeth to resist it while trying to keep their backs straight. But their legs and waists slowly started to bend as Huang Ying applied more strength to his hands, fully showing off the great physical strength he possessed. After resisting for nearly half a minute, both of them could feel their shoulders and knees creaking, quickly releasing the strength they used to resist and allowing the pressure to drop them to their knees so that they could avoid getting hurt.

Both of them sat on their knees, their heads lowered as they didn't dare to look at Huang Ying. They knew that they had failed by dropping to their knees, but they didn't want to get injured so it was the only thing they could do. Huang Ying looked down at the two people on their knees, a thin sneer on his face as he stepped past the two and opened the door to his cabin, his words practically hammering their hearts.

"No determination, you surrendered the moment there was the smallest sign that you could get hurt. You know what that tells me? It tells me that you're content with staying here in your fishbowl, you don't dare move on. You can stay as guppies in your fishbowl for all I care, but I will be a leviathan in the endless ocean, so don't expect us to have any interactions, not now and not in the future."