Chapter 331: Purple Sun Sect, I’m Not Interested
Liu Wencai didn’t say anything as he stood off to the side.
He looked at Jiang Chen noncommittally. I wonder how will this secular genius
choose?
Jiang Chen suddenly laughed and turned to Dan Fei, “Brother
Xiao Fei, what would you do if someone tried to recruit you using this kind of
tune?”
Dan Fei smirked. She was very familiar with Jiang Chen’s
background and naturally knew of his grudge with Long Juxue. She even
understood more than anyone that Jiang Chen and the Purple Sun Sect would never
walk the same path.
“Forgive me for being blunt, but recruiting in this manner
is being too full of it. Beneath these heavens, our sixteen kingdom alliance
occupies but only a piece of sky that is the size of a hand. Some people like
to strut around in their superiority here, but they’re just demonstrating the
very reason why they are stuck at the bottom of the well. They don’t know the
immensity of heaven and earth.”
Dan Fei’s words added fuel to the flames and closed off all
possible areas for negotiation.
Jiang Chen flicked a glance at Dan Fei upon hearing these
words. This fellow is rather quick-witted, he knows to answer according to my
thoughts.
Liu Wencai was also slightly surprised to hear these words.
He’d only paid attention to the secular champion before, but hadn’t thought
that this candidate number two also possessed quite a personality.
This was rather interesting.
These words were an obvious slap to Guo Ren’s face. He’d
always thought highly of himself and styled himself as the first genius of the
mystic quadrant, lord of above all with no one worthy of his gaze.
Now that he was stuck on his cocky pedestal with thanks to
these two secular disciples, Liu Wencai felt greatly satisfied and that this
was such a wonderfully gleeful day.
Jiang Chen said faintly, “Brother Guo, this brother Xiao
Fei’s attitude is basically my attitude. As the saying goes, a dissidence of
opinions makes even a single word a waste of breath. Have a good day.”
Jiang Chen had no good feelings towards Purple Sun Sect
disciples at all. It was already a great restraint on his part that he hadn’t
burst out cursing vulgarities at them.
Guo Ren knew that this secular disciple had some abilities
and so could be arrogant, but he hadn’t thought that when he, the first seed,
personally took to the field, he would receive such cold treatment and even got
mocked at!
“Brother, is this your attitude against my Purple Sun Sect?”
Guo Ren’s tone grew cold.
“Firstly, you don’t represent the Purple Sun Sect. Secondly,
Brother Xiao Fei is right, you are a frog at the bottom of a well. You only
know of the Purple Sun Sect beneath these heavens, and don’t know that there is
no limit to this universe. Lastly, I’m not interested in the Purple Sun Sect.”
Jiang Chen smiled faintly and floated away, leaving behind a
flushed Guo Ren shaking in his rage.
This was the outcome that Liu Wencai was most delighted to
see. It was more exciting to see Guo Ren act the fool than he himself winning a
hundred times in a row.
He chuckled before turning to leave.
Fire spat out from Guo Ren’s eyes as he stared fixedly at
Jiang Chen’s departing figure. If looks could kill, he would’ve killed Jiang
Chen a thousand times over.
“Senior brother Guo, this kid doesn’t appreciate favors.
Although he has potential, he’s still courting death.”
“Indeed, senior brother Guo, he’s just a cocky secular
disciple. No need to pay him any mind. So what if he had 25 straight victories
in a row? He’s just lucky in that he didn’t select any candidates in the top
ten. If he landed in your hands, this kid would absolutely be tortured to
death!”
Guo Ren felt a bit better as his entourage fawned up to him
for a bit, but he didn’t lose his rationality because of this.
He was well aware that if he truly met this cocky secular
disciple in battle, he may not have the greatest shot of winning.
This fellow’s strength was already at a throne level.
Otherwise, with Guo Ren’s personality, he would’ve never personally recruited
someone.
It was because he wasn’t confident in defeating Jiang Chen
that he’d thought of recruiting the latter by using his identity as the first
seed and the Purple Sun Sect’s reputation to bring Jiang Chen under control.
It was a pity that with all of his scheming, he hadn’t known
that the person he wanted to recruit hated the Purple Sun Sect to the point of
that he would not even share a bed pan with them!
“Humph, cocky secular disciples are like those who suddenly
come into great wealth. He can enjoy momentary glory that he has right now but
it won’t last long. Even if he makes it to the earth spirit quadrant, there are
geniuses aplenty there and there will naturally be someone who will torture and
step on him. How dare a mere mundane ant disdain my sect?! He’s courting
death!”
Guo Ren bit off his words as he waved his hand and left with
his group. He was already planning on how to move against this arrogant prick.
He absolutely didn’t want someone challenging his position
of first seed in the mystic quadrant.
On their way back to the residence, Dan Fei smiled, “Brother
Boulder, was my response too much just now?”
“Too much? I rather feel that you weren’t savage enough.”
Jiang Chen laughed.
“Heh heh, so I was not savage enough? Then if that fellow
bothers us again, I’ll be even more vicious.”
Jiang Chen asked, “Aren’t you afraid of offending the Purple
Sun Sect?”
Dan Fei chuckled, “Your genius outstrips my talents and you
have a far greater potential. Since you’re not afraid, what I should be afraid
of? Besides, the Purple Sun Sect isn’t my top choice.”
Jiang Chen grew curious, “Then what is your first choice?”
Dan Fei was stumped by this question as she became lost in
thought, “What is my choice?”
She actually had long since come to an answer to this
question. She was here not for the four sects as she would always be Ye
Chonglou’s disciple.
She was here only because of one decision. She wanted to follow
Jiang Chen and witness his rise.
However, how could she possibly voice her thoughts right
now?
She laughed lightly after a long while, “All will right
itself when the moment comes. I’m rather curious, what is your first choice?”
Jiang Chen paused and said openly, “If I am to speak of my
first choice, that would be the Precious Tree Sect. However, I’ve never spoken
of this with anyone. I feel that we’ve hit it off, so I don’t mind telling
you.”
Dan Fei started and thought, the Precious Tree Sect alright.
They pushed opened the door to their residence to discover
that none of the other sect disciples had returned. It looked like they were
purposefully avoiding Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen had enjoyed the limelight greatly in today’s
battles and he had been undefeated. These sect disciples were naturally afraid
of running into Jiang Chen.
Particularly Cheng Lan, with the condition of his older
cousin being unknown after his beating, he had no desire to come back and see
Jiang Chen.
What could he do even if he came back anyways? Even his
cousin hadn’t been able to fight Jiang Chen, would he be able to exact any
revenge with his abilities?
Dan Fei smiled, “These fellows look like they’ve been scared
out of their wits. It’s best if they don’t come back, things will be quieter
for us anyways.”
Jiang Chen didn’t care either way if these fellows came back
or not. He practiced the Boulder’s Heart and could tune out the world around
him. He had no fear of being disturbed by them.
He pushed open the door to return to his room and saw that
Dan Fei was dithering over whether or not to enter. He laughed, “What are you
hemming and hawing around about? Are you afraid that I’ll beat you?”
Dan Fei chuckled, “I got scared by your order to leave
yesterday.”
Jiang Chen couldn’t help laugh as he thought of yesterday’s
happenings. Candidate number two had entered his room then and had been swept
out the door with “your room isn’t this one”.
Come to think of it, it was rather weird. After having
interacted with each other for a day, Jiang Chen felt much more kindly towards
this candidate number two. He somehow felt that they were already quite
familiar with each other.
Perhaps it’s because candidate number two’s actions were up
my alley?
This was indeed the case when he thought about it. When
they’d bumped into Cheng Zhen’s provocation at the Arena, candidate number two
hadn’t withdrawn, but had chosen instead to place himself in Jiang Chen’s camp.
When he’d won in the ring, this fellow had ignored the looks
of those around him and publicly cheered and applauded.
When Guo Ren had come to throw his weight around, he hadn’t
submitted to the Purple Sun Sect’s despotic power and had chosen to side with
Jiang Chen instead.
This kind of accord had resulted in Jiang Chen’s basic
acceptance of this person.
When Dan Fei saw that Jiang Chen hadn’t sent her on her way,
she knew that her new character had won Jiang Chen’s acceptance. She was also
gratified by this.
In that moment, she rather felt that this new identity was
quite interesting. She could say many and do many of things that she couldn’t
usually.
“Brother Boulder, to be honest, the Purple Sun Sect may
truly be most with your martial dao potential. Even though the Precious True
Sect is good, it is still far inferior to the Purple Sun Sect in terms of
martial dao heritage.” Dan Fei brought up this topic.
Jiang Chen chuckled, “The gain or loss of a day or night
matters not on the path of martial dao. I have my reasons for ranking the
Precious Tree Sect first.”
“What reason?” Dan Fei purposefully laughed with a light
tone. “I’ve heard that the Purple Sun Sect has taken in a new genius disciple
who’s a stunning beauty, they call her Long Juxue or something. She has an
innate constitution and apparently all the disciples of the four great sects
are striving their utmost to become her cultivation partner. With your talents,
you would be in a favored position if you joined the Purple Sun Sect.”
Dan Fei purposefully spoke thus and laughed herself as well.
Jiang Chen started and shot a look as sharp as a blade
towards Dan Fei. Has this fellow guessed my identity in his sudden mention of
Long Juxue?
However, upon closer sensing, he couldn’t feel any malicious
intent. He smiled wryly inwardly at his suspicions.
“Brother Boulder, are you mad?” Dan Fei couldn’t help but
ask when she saw Jiang Chen sweep a glance over herself but didn’t say
anything.
Jiang Chen said lightly, “Brother Xiao Fei, you should’ve
played along with that Guo Ren just now if you’re interested in Long Juxue. Now
that you’ve thoroughly offended the Purple Sun Sect, you’ve also blocked your
own path in pursuing Long Juxue.”
“Heh heh, I have a clear estimation of myself and don’t have
that kind of ambition. Not to mention that Long Juxue has a cluster of admirers
around her. It may not be a good thing for whoever eventually ends up with her,
wouldn’t you say so, brother Boulder?”
Jiang Chen was noncommittal. He truly wasn’t that interested
in the topic of long Juxue.
“Brother Boulder, can I ask you a question?” Dan Fei
gathered up her courage to ask.
“What is it?” Jiang Chen felt it slightly odd and felt that
Xiao Fei was likely someone wet behind the ears as he would talk about these
matters in a very lively fashion. It was apparent that his temperament wasn’t
mature enough.
However, Jiang Chen’s mental defenses relaxed slightly when
he saw that the other was like a child.
“I wanted to ask that since brother Boulder has such
stunning potential, do you… do you have someone that you care for, ever since
you’ve embarked on your path of cultivation?” Dan Fei was blushing furiously
behind the mask as she asked this question.
If it hadn’t been for the mask, her expression would be the
epitome of shyness right now.
She had gathered up all her courage and used the dual cover
of the mask and her identity to ask this question. She only felt completely
drained of strength after speaking and could barely keep herself upright.
Chapter 332: Dan Fei and Her Deeply Rooted Affection
Jiang Chen hadn’t thought that brother Xiao Fei would be
such a busybody, but he had no misgivings. After all, brother Xiao Fei was a
young sprig and happened to be in the emotional haziness of youth. Wasn’t this
the time of his life in which he was most concerned about the relationship
between men and women?
He flicked a glance at the other and saw Xiao Fei fixated on
him with a very serious look. An ardent desire to hear the answer was written
all over his face.
Jiang Chen thought for a moment. In both his past and
present lives, although he’d had many bosom friends, he truly hadn’t had any
loves that had etched themselves in his heart.
He sighed dejectedly, “No.”
This response had dimmed Dan Fei’s shining gaze by quite a
bit. She’d been circling around all the other topics for the purpose of asking
Jiang Chen this question.
She wanted to see from Jiang Chen’s attitude if he had any
feelings for her. Even the slightest bit would be good.
However, Jiang Chen hadn’t given her the answer she wanted.
Dan Fei fell into a despondent mood all of sudden, her heart
quite filled with bitterness. Did she not possess enough charm and allure in
the end to make it into his sights?”
“If you don’t have any romantic interests, then do you have
any bosom friends whom you have feelings for?” Dan Fei didn’t give up hope as
she continued to ask.
Jiang Chen smiled, “Brother Xiao Fei, you’re acting a little
weird today. Why do you keep asking about the affections between a man and a
woman? I’ve a few bosom friends, but for love, perhaps fate has yet to arrive.”
Dan Fei then hastened to ask, “Those who are worthy to be
Brother Boulder’s bosom friends are surely not ordinary people. Can it be that
they are still unworthy of Brother Boulder?”
The faces of a few girls associated with him in this life
flashed through Jiang Chen’s mind.
Eastern Zhiruo, that innocent little girl. His relationship
with her was that of pity for a similarly afflicted person.
Eastern Gouyu, a friendship forming from a fight. Jiang Chen
admired her direct personality, but if one were to speak of feelings beyond
that, Jiang Chen still felt that it had yet to reach that stage.
Wen Ziqi, cutely docile like the girl next door, but she was
only Jiang Chen’s follower. It was impossible for this to develop any further.
The only female he’d come in more contact with in the
Skylaurel Kingdom was Dan Fei. Jiang Chen rather admired this impish girl, but
he obviously had no particular feelings for her.
The lady has feelings, but the gentleman was not so
inclined.
Jiang Chen smiled when his thoughts traveled here. “It’s not
a matter of whether they are worthy of me. Fate and destiny are still the
determinants in relationships. When fate comes knocking, there is only a
hairsbreadth that separates us from marriage. Alright, it’s pointless for us cultivators
to continue to dwell on matters like these. Brother Xiao Fei, we still have
difficult fights ahead of us tomorrow, so let’s rest early.”
Jiang Chen couldn’t handle this continued string of
questioning anymore and could only gently once again shoo his guest from his
quarters.
Dan Fei felt lost as she walked out, her retreating figure
appearing a bit depressed.
Jiang Chen felt a bit odd watching her walk out. Brother
Xiao Fei seems a bit odd right now. Does he have something that’s difficult to
speak of?
However, Jiang Chen had no desire to further explore this
matter.
The 25 consecutive fights earlier in the day hadn’t resulted
in many gains for Jiang Chen. That kind of utter domination was just a warm up
for Jiang Chen, he hadn’t actually had many gains.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t had any at all, because he’d at
least familiarized himself with the sect disciples’ methods and learnt more
about their overall situation.
Although the sect disciples in the mystic quadrant were of
the lowest levels, he was still able to make an initial estimate from this
foundation of the sect geniuses in the earth spirit and sky spirit quadrants.
“The sect disciples aren’t actually all that worthless. If I
hadn’t had those encounters in the first selection, I actually wouldn’t be
winning this easily.”
It’d looked like he’d easily won the twenty five matches,
but it’d actually took all of his current knowledge and talent to pull it off.
The gains from the first selection had especially greatly
increased his strength.
The first trial of the heart had perfectly elevated his
mental strength.
The second of talent had allowed him to absorb two spirit
veins, forming a solid foundation for him to assail the earth spirit realm.
The third of endurance had granted him the magnetic golden
mountain, which was quite a haul in itself.
The fourth of actual combat had enabled to him to use this
opportunity to break through the shackles of martial dao and ascend to the
earth spirit realm.
The fifth in the Valley of Destruction had resulted in so
many gains that no further elaboration was needed.
It could be said that before the first selection, Jiang
Chen’s cultivation of third level spirit realm would have still enabled him to
win in the mystic spirit quadrant with his various methods, but he would never
win this easily. He’d have to use many of his trump cards, such as the Da Yu
bow, the nameless saber and the Moonshatter Flying Daggers, or even the Lotus
of Fire and Ice.
If he had to bring out these items, then his cover would’ve
been blown.
Now that his cultivation had greatly increased and he’d
returned to his original nature, he was actually moving through the mystic
quadrant with ease using that one move.
What was he relying on? He was leveraging the foundations
and refinement brought to him from the first selection.
If he hadn’t encountered thus in the first selection, how
could Jiang Chen possibly have reached the level of appearing dull when in fact
intelligent?
Jiang Chen possessed more confidence after the battles of
the first day.
Although sect disciples were indeed very different from
secular practitioners, there wasn’t a particular difference between the
candidates of the mystic quadrant and the top geniuses of the mundane world.
If it wasn’t for their fortune of being born into the sects,
they might not have gotten any further down the path of martial dao compared to
secular disciples.
Of course, it was also because the secular disciples had a
lower birth that they possessed a drive and hunger that was to their advantage.
Jiang Chen continued to practice the “Nine Transformations
of Demons and Gods” later that night. This art wasn’t something that could be
mastered in a day and a night.
It was a good thing that Jiang Chen was controlling the
entire magnetic golden mountain after refining the magnetic heart. The magnetic
power was boundless and inexhaustible from the mountain, so abundance of
resources wouldn’t be a problem for him.
Jiang Chen noticeably felt that his muscles had become more
tenacious after another night.
“At this rate and with the inexhaustible magnetic force
within the mountain, I will definitely succeed in training to the first level
of the Nine Transformations within three months.”
There were two main points of difficulty in training the
Nine Transformation.
The first was the requirement of boundless magnetic power.
This required a lot of resources.
The second was subjecting the body through what felt like
the trials of purgatory. This needed very strong endurance.
If both of these conditions were met, then only time was
needed to practice the Nine Transformations. Of course, with any technique,
comprehension was quite important.
Jiang Chen had the memories of his past life, and so he had
no problems at all with comprehension.
As he opened the window and felt the morning breeze wash
over him, Jiang Chen felt completely relaxed and happy. This Eternal Mountain
was indeed a wonderful place to train in.
Spirit power was also abundant even in the mystic spirit
quadrant. This made Jiang Chen sigh with admiration.
He truly did feel a bit of yearning for the earth and sky
quadrants now.
“Mm, the time is about right, it’s time to go.”
Jiang Chen took a look at the hour, closed the windows, and
walked outside.
When he pushed through the door, he was greeted with the
sight of Xiao Fei leaning against one of the pillars and holding a branch in
one of his hands. She was plucking each leaf off the branch absentmindedly and
throwing them down the little gutter beneath the roof near the front door. The
leaves drifted alongside the flowing water in the gutter.
“Brother Xiao Fei, what are you so lost in thought about?”
Jiang Chen smiled in greeting.
Dan Fei abruptly came to herself when she saw Jiang Chen and
threw the branch away. She said evenly, “Good morning Brother Boulder.”
“It’s not early, the hour is almost upon us. Let’s go.”
“Mm.”
Dan Fei recalled her sleepless night the past evening as
she’d turned over Jiang Chen’s words. She’d thought of the bosom friends that
he spoke of and fretted over her position in his heart.
She’d mused on his words. The matters of the heart rely on
the hand of destiny. When fate comes knocking, there is only a hairsbreadth
that separates us from marriage.
“Can it be that I, Dan Fei, really lack that little bit of
fate with Jiang Chen?”
Dan Fei’s heart was in disarray as she lost herself in a
reverie, unable to sleep all night. She had no heart to sleep as the sky slowly
brightened and she stood beneath the roof, lost in space. It was only when
Jiang Chen had appeared that she’d been startled awake.
Although Dan Fei’s age was a few years older than Jiang
Chen, she was still an inexperienced girl at the end of the day. Her standards
were high because of Ye Chonglou, and all the men she’d ever met had flocked to
her, trying to please her with all sorts of schemes and wanting her favor.
However, Dan Fei had never given them the time of the day.
What young girl didn’t have daydreams? As impish and
extraordinary Dan Fei was, she was still drawn to the ordinary world in that
she too harbored thoughts of romance in her heart.
Except, the door to her heart had always been tightly shut.
Until Jiang Chen’s sudden appearance.
The door had almost been knocked open before she’d put up
any defenses.
That time during the honored tutor’s banquet, Jiang Chen had
used almost his power alone to save the fate of fourth prince Ye Rong when
faced with oppression from all sides.
He, a secular disciple, had been as noncommittal as he could
be, and even the honored tutor had been stunned by him in the end.
He had stolen the limelight with his actions and words.
That time, although Dan Fei had noticed Jiang Chen, she
still didn’t quite accept him. However, as time passed, Dan Fei found that she
could uncover various miracles from Jiang Chen time and again.
It was like there was a limitless supply of secrets from
this young man.
Everything had been raised to another level during the
battle with the Silvermoon Monsterape in the Maze Realm Autumn Hunt. Jiang Chen
had thrown all caution to the wind and saved her when she was in danger.
Afterwards, not only had he not berated her for acting
alone, but he’d saved her again and tended to her wounds. He even taken in the
sights of her buttocks.
From that moment on, Dan Fei knew that she had thoroughly
entangled herself into his net for the rest of her life.
Except, the demureness of a lady had led her not to reveal
this.
Just like all girls in love, she fantasized about the day in
which Jiang Chen would show up with flowers and gifts on her doorstep to
profess his love for her.
However, the happenings afterwards had made Dan Fei finally
understand that although she was a born beauty and enjoyed the attention that
thousands had lavished on her alone, there was still a type of man in this
world who would never go after her like how the other men did.
When she finally understood this and wanted to take the
initiative, the great selection had started.
Jiang Chen was finally going to bid farewell to the mundane
world and enter a sect.
Dan Fei was like an ordinary girl in that moment,
heartbroken, depressed and wallowed in self pity. However, the honored tutor’s
words woke her.
He said that all matters on this world belonged to those who
fought for them. Those who didn’t ended up with nothing.
All sorts of achievements resulted from ploughing first and
harvesting later.
Dan Fei suddenly saw the light at the end of the tunnel and
went through various lines of thought. She actually made use of the honored
tutor’s closed door cultivation to disguise herself and registered for the
great selection!
She’d followed Jiang Chen ever since.
Chapter 333: Reactions After a Crazy Streak of Wins
Naturally, Jiang Chen didn’t know that it was actually Dan
Fei walking by his side as brother Xiao Fei. Even if he did learn of her
identity, he wouldn’t have known that she had walked such a twisting, emotional
path.
Ever since he’d arrived in this world and been pushed along
by fate, he’d had no spare time to contemplate the matters of the heart. He was
actually quite dense in this regard.
And, as the son of the Celestial Emperor in his past life,
although he’d had many bosom friends, his emotional world was a blank canvas.
Because of his yin constitution, he’d been wrapped up in the
great ways beneath the heavens and he had completely focused his concentrations
in this area, leaving no room for distractions at all.
This was because he could not have children with his yin
constitution, so his dedicated focus on the great ways was actually a type of
escaping the situation and self denial.
It was because of this special occurrence in his past life
that Jiang Chen’s world of relationships was actually completely blank. He was
completely clueless in both his past and present life.
The two walked together, but each was lost in their own
thoughts.
“Brother Xiao Fei, you're a bit absentminded today. It would
be a grave disadvantage to enter battle like this.” Jiang Chen spoke up in
reminder.
Dan Fei was startled and finally came to herself after these
words. That’s right, I’m in the midst of the hundred challenge trial. If I
can’t place in the top ten, I won’t be able to make it to the earth spirit
quadrant. How will I follow Jiang Chen’s path then?
Dan Fei hurriedly brushed away her emotions when her
thoughts traveled here. She spoke seriously, “Thank you for your reminder,
Brother Boulder. I was wrapped up in thoughts of my life and I had gotten
distracted.
Jiang Chen smiled, “Us cultivators have no need to dwell on
such things. The strong can change their destiny, so what need to wallow then?”
Jiang Chen was quite sincere in voicing these words.
When he arrived in this world, he too had been unable to
shake off the worries of his past life. He’d spent a long time to become used
to his identity in this life.
When Dan Fei heard Jiang Chen’s opened minded words, her
heart grew warm as she smiled, “Brother Boulder doesn’t look that old, but you
make convincing arguments. How odd is that!”
Jiang Chen chuckled as he thought that brother Xiao Fei was
quite perceptive. He could come to such a conclusion from my words and actions!
With two lifetimes of experience, Jiang Chen was naturally
much more steadier than most young men.
The two had arrived on the outskirts of the arena as they
chatted.
Compared to yesterday, the overweeningly proud sect
disciples had all docilely set aside their hostility.
When they saw Jiang Chen appear, all of them murmured in
their hearts, wondering how many matches this perverse genius would challenge
today.
Even more of them were praying that this fellow wouldn't be
picked that early today. Otherwise, it would become a disastrous or a day of
torment as soon as he was selected.
The later, the better. It’d be best if he was selected at
the end of the day! This way, no matter how strong he was, he’d be able to take
part in one or two matches at most. The day would be over by then.
This would be to the satisfaction of all.
Dan Fei was the first to be selected today. She quickly
achieved three straight wins, and her third win was against a first level
candidate. She finally won in the end after a tough fight.
With the three wins and one loss of yesterday, Dan Fei
voluntarily gave up her right to issue more challenges after three wins. In
this way, her score became six wins and one loss.
Jiang Chen had been keeping an eye on the matches and he too
felt that things were odd. Just who was brother Xiao Fei? Judging from his
techniques and ability, he shouldn’t be ordinary or undistinguished.
There was also none of the bearing of an outer sect disciple
on him. Could he be a wandering practitioner?
But, how did wandering practitioners possess such
sophisticated techniques?
Jiang Chen felt that it was quite odd. Logically speaking,
it wasn’t unusual for ordinary practitioners to have good potential. But the
level of techniques they practiced were usually on a lower level.
Brother Xiao Fei however, possessed techniques that were
noticeably not inferior to those of sect disciples. This was a strange
phenomenon.
Jiang Chen came to no conclusion after turning over this
matter in his mind, but he didn’t ask Xiao Fei when he alighted from the ring.
There was no need to probe some secrets if no one was asking
about them. To do so was to make oneself unwelcome.
It was as if the heavens had heard the prayers of the spirit
quadrant candidates today. Jiang Chen’s name was announced late into the
afternoon on this day.
Jiang Chen was a bit perplexed as he watched the matches
play out. He almost suspected that the examiners had done something to bury his
name.
Otherwise, it was impossible that his name hadn’t been
selected after such a long time.
However, there was no need to suspect the examiners.
Although he was a bit dejected, his desire to do battle had yet to reach
exploding levels.
It would also be understandable if the examiners wanted to
suppress his limelight a bit and not allow him to be too crazy.
After all, with this momentum, he’d be able to complete a
hundred challenges in three or four days.
This kind of situation would be undoubtedly a cruel,
psychological blow to the other candidates.
Jiang Chen’s name was finally called near dusk.
There was only four hours left in the day at this point.
Having waited all day, Jiang Chen’s mentality and fighting
spirit was no longer at their peak. Therefore, he didn’t continue after
achieving another five straight wins and updating his score to thirty straight
wins.
However, this was still quite a stunning score for two days.
Apart from Jiang Chen, the next highest ranked person was
the first seed of the spirit quadrant, Guo Ren of the Purple Sun Sect.
He had achieved eighteen straight wins over two days and he
hadn’t lost once either.
Apart from this, there were also two others who had achieved
ten straight wins.
Adding Jiang Chen and Guo Ren to the mix, that meant there
were four who had achieved ten straight wins.
Although Dan Fei’s score of six wins and one loss was high,
she had yet to rank in the top ten.
That night, several core examiners gathered together in the
examiners’ residence area.
“Master Fang, was something done to the secular champion’s
name today?”
“Indeed, logically speaking, he shouldn’t have appeared so
late.”
“That fellow is truly perverse. He’d been selected so late,
but he still completed five straight wins. The spirit quadrant is too easy for
him indeed.”
The examiners were all talking lively with everyone trying
to get a word in.
Master Fang smiled and he was noncommittal in the face of
everyone’s discussion and speculation. Truthfully, things were as everyone was
guessing, he had indeed done something to the list of names.
It wasn’t that he wanted to suppress Jiang Chen. He actually
wanted to protect Jiang Chen. In his eyes, a secular genius was to be
congratulated after achieving such results. It was quite stunning.
However, this young man only knew how to show off his
strength and he didn’t know how to rein himself in. That wasn’t necessarily a
good thing.
Much was hidden in the depths behind a selection for the
sects. This selection also wasn’t limited to just these three months. There
were too many twists and turns over three years, in which one had to be
hardened and tempered by them.
To make such a strong showing in the beginning, geniuses
like these may not make it to the end.
Master Fang was acting out of a thought of treasuring talent
in placing a small pit in his progress to slow down his momentum. It would be
best if his actions could remind this young man.
If they couldn’t, at least Master Fang would be able to slow
down his speed and make it so that others don’t set their sights on him that
quickly.
There were none who could threaten him in the spirit
quadrant. But what about the earth and sky quadrants?
If this young man displayed too much of his abilities and
offended too many people, relationships between the sect disciples were complex
and intertwined. Who could guarantee that others from the sects wouldn’t
suppress this young man?
This secular genius was stunning in the spirit quadrant, but
he was still too naive for the sky quadrant. It’d be best if he didn’t keep
such a high profile before he’d fully grown into his strength.
Master Fang actually meant well in the end.
However, these matters could only be conducted
clandestinely. He naturally wouldn’t admit what he’d done in the face of
curiosity from the other examiners.
He was the keeper and head examiner, his word was law. If he
didn’t want to admit to things, the others would never get to the bottom of
things.
Not to mention that the other examiners were possibly very
happy to see him do this. After all, these examiners were from the four sects
as well. Not everyone was as fair and impartial as Master Fang.
Anyone with a bit of selfish intent wouldn’t want this
secular genius to occupy too much of the limelight and dominate all the sect
disciples. Appropriate suppression may be right up their alley.
Several Purple Sun Sect disciples were gathered in the first
residence of the spirit quadrant.
This first level residences were all solitary houses,
spacious and bright, and it was an absolutely wonderful place.
“Senior brother Guo has achieved eighteen straight victories
now. Such good news, congratulations! Our Purple Sun Sect well deserves the
title of first amongst the four great sects.”
“Heh heh, it was an unworthy placement to assign senior
brother Guo to the mystic quadrant. He shouldn’t been in the earth or even sky
spirit quadrants.”
This flattery actually made Guo Ren sweat a little. He did
think that he was worthy of the earth quadrant.
But as confident and arrogant as he was, he knew he was
quite a bit off from the sky spirit quadrant. The sky quadrant was absolutely
not some place where he had the right to set foot in.
Only the best disciples had the right to enter the sky
quadrant.
He spread out his hands to stem the tide of flattery from
his peers. Guo Ren turned his head to ask, “Cheng Lan, how is your brother’s
injuries?”
“Senior brother Guo’s pill had power to overcome a desperate
situation. My brother is conscious again and he can regain sixty to seventy
percent of his strength in a few days. However, his battle plans are all
completely ruined.” Cheng Lan’s tone was a bit dejected as he then bit off his
words viciously, “It’s all that animal’s fault! That village buffoon is truly
ill mannered. Senior brother Guo, I hope to see you thoroughly torture him to
defeat in the ring.”
Guo Ren nodded and didn’t express any weakness.
“Although that fellow is arrogant, he does possess a bit of
strength. Even with my strength, I’m not wholly confident in being able to
torture him to defeat. However, this fellow considers everybody and everyone
beneath his notice and that truly cannot be forgiven!”
Guo Ren grew immensely irritated when he thought about the
shame he’d felt yesterday in his recruitment offer being turned down.
“Indeed senior brother Guo, we can’t allow that fellow
continue to act so wildly. Otherwise, he’ll wreck senior brother Guo’s great
plan to be first.”
Guo Ren felt like his heart had been bitten by a poisonous
snake when he heard these words. He was thoroughly put out.
These words were piercing to his ears, but they were the
truth. With this fellow’s momentum, he’d already won thirty matches in a row
and was completely putting his eighteen victories to shame.
As long as this fellow was here, his plan of taking first
had almost no possibility of succeeding.
“I must be the victor!” Guo Ren waved his fists viciously in
the air. “Which of you has a good plan? Start thinking. I will treat well
whoever gives me a good plan!”
Chapter 334: An Insidious Plot
The Purple Sun Sect disciples all obviously looked to Guo
Ren as their leader in the mystic quadrant. When they heard Guo Ren speak thus,
they all enthusiastically offered ideas in a massive brainstorm.
Some proposed surreptitiously beating Jiang Chen up.
Others wanted to use poison to cripple Jiang Chen’s
cultivation.
Yet some also advocated using profit and gain to buy off
Jiang Chen, and have him purposefully lose a few matches. As the saying went,
there were no eternal enemies, just eternal profit. They didn’t believe that
Jiang Chen wouldn’t submit in the face of enormous profit.
Of course, there were voices that harped on about buying out
those that walked with Jiang Chen, and use them to make a move against him.
There were quite a lot of ideas, but after close
consideration, it seemed that none of them were viable.
It was a good idea to surreptitiously beat him up, but they
first would have to be able to even hit Jiang Chen.
Using poison to cripple his cultivation sounded good, but
who would go? If this didn’t succeed and the matter was exposed, everyone who’d
be involved in planning this matter would be done for.
As for buying him off, it sounded feasible, but how much
profit and resources would be needed to bring Jiang Chen over to their side? No
one had any idea.
And, to be honest, they were all second or third rate
characters in the sect. How much wealth did they possess to buy someone off?
As for buying off someone by his side instead, this was even
more of a crappy idea. There was only one other by his side, and that was that
candidate number two, who took completely after Jiang Chen.
That fellow’s temper was even worse than that of the
perverse genius. Get him to become a turncoat? They were best off erasing this
idea as early as possible.
Suddenly, a unlikely figure with a reddened face and white
teeth chuckled, saying, “Senior brother Guo, I have a plan here that may
succeed.”
“What?” Guo Ren flicked a glance at the person but didn’t
think much of what he’d said. This guy relished in the pleasures of women and
didn’t possess much ambition. What kind of good idea would he have? Therefore,
Guo Ren wasn’t much enthused after this fellow offered an idea.
He also seemed to know that Guo Ren wasn’t too inclined to
speak with him, but he didn’t grow irate. He smiled obsequiously, “I am indeed
inferior to everyone when it comes to battle strength, but however, I truly do
have a scheme.”
He spread out his hand upwards as he spoke, revealing a pill
bottle that had appeared in his hand.
“Senior brother Guo, this is medicine that this younger
brother uses to liven things up with plucking flowers. The powder in this
bottle is without taste or smell, and is one of the newest and most precious
things I’ve gained lately. Once this is activated, the masculine, yang energy
within one’s body will be elevated to an explosive level. This cannot be easily
used if there aren’t a handful of girls nearby. This is because this medicine
can catalyze the yang qi within one’s body to an almost maddened state within a
short period of time. If the user doesn’t pluck the flowers in time, it’s quite
lucky that his blood vessels will burst and he’ll die from his body exploding.”
Guo Ren had furrowed his brow at first when he began
listening to this long-winded explanation. He felt that it was an affront to
his bearing. But the more closely he listened, the more he seemed to identify a
possible path.
This medicine would be able to catalyze the yang qi within
one’s body and make it roar to life in a short period of time.
This was the key!
This medicine that added to the fun was so domineering; what
kind of consequence would there be if this fellow accidentally breathed some
in?
Where would he find girls to pluck and vent his energies
with on such a short notice in the mystic quadrant?
It wasn’t that there weren’t any, there were many female
disciples from the Flowing Wind Sect in this quadrant. But as brazen as he was,
would he dare openly pluck them?
This was courting death!
But if he didn’t find an outlet to vent his energies, then
the raging yang qi would cause his blood vessels, and even his entire body to
explode …
A sinister smile floated onto Guo Ren’s face in that moment.
“Xiao Yu, your idea is not bad. However, in order for this
to succeed, someone must approach him and gain his trust. How would this be
easy?”
Upon further thought, Guo Ren felt that although this was a
good scheme, there was quite a bit of difficulty in executing it.
Xiao Yu was shocked and flattered by Guo Ren’s
acknowledgement and smirked slightly, “Senior brother Guo, the amazing part of
this medicine is that it is tasteless and odorless. We just need to dump a
little bit somewhere he will pass by. Unless he doesn’t breathe, he’ll be in
great trouble if he takes in even a little bit.”
“Oh? Just what is this that it’s thus wondrous?” Guo Ren’s
interest was piqued.
“This medicine is called ‘Smile of the Goddess’ because it’s
said that even the gods and goddesses will be unable to withstand it when they
take it. It is comprised of nine items of extreme yang, all incredibly lewd in
nature.”
“Mm, even if this is the case, a cultivator puts up high
defenses when training. It may become apparent if you scatter it in front of
his door.” Guo Ren thought for a moment and felt that some traces would be
apparent if scattered in front of Jiang Chen’s door. With this fellow’s cultivation
level, he may very well detect it.
In actuality, any medicine that was said to be odorless or
tasteless would never be entirely so.
The perceptive abilities of a cultivator weren’t something
that any ordinary person could aspire to.
Even the slightest hint could lead to discovery. Although he
wasn’t afraid of failure, Jiang Chen would be on even higher alert once this
failed and it’d be harder for Guo Ren to plot against him in the future.
“Everyone think, is there a way that he wouldn’t be on his
guard at all?” Guo Ren looked around the group and encouraged everyone present
to rack their brains.
Cheng Lan suddenly said, “Senior brother Guo, I think we can
only target that candidate number two if we want this guy to be completely off
his guard. Although this fellow is also strong, he’s not as inexplicable as
that freak. These two are always seen together. If we can do something to that
candidate number two…”
This suggestion gave Guo Ren quite a bit of inspiration.
He slapped his thigh as his eyes lit up. “Yes, Cheng Lan,
this is a good suggestion. If this powder also takes effect on candidate number
two, then he’ll issue a plea for help from his companion because he won’t know
what’s going on once it takes effect. As long as that freak comes to
investigate, the powder will also stealthily steal into his body. At that time,
those two men might even take a tumble in the bedsheets bare naked, hahahaha…”
Guo Ren couldn’t help but laugh himself when he thought of
the depravity that would ensue.
All the Purple Sun Sect disciples started snickering as
well. It was apparent that they were all very excited by the thought of such a
depraved and shameless scene.
“Cheng Lan, with your observation of them, how likely do you
think that candidate number two will fall victim?” Guo Ren calmed down.
Cheng Lan thought for a moment, “Candidate number two seems
to have a good level of cultivation, but he also seems to be bothered by some
matters of the heart. He’s often lost in space with his attention wandering. I
think there is great hope for success if we start with him. However, it’s not
likely that I’ll succeed with my strength. Perhaps senior brother Guo should
take the field to assure success.”
Guo Ren’s strength was absolutely the first amongst all the
Purple Sun Sect disciples in the mystic spirit quadrant.
He sighed lightly when he saw everyone’s ardent expressions.
He also knew that it would not be the best if he didn’t undertake this
operation himself and had someone else do it.
“Alright, it looks like I should personally do this. Let’s
talk about a plan first.” Guo Ren decided to do it himself after he thought
about it.
However, even if he was doing it himself, he still needed a
plan. It would be impossible to pull things off flawlessly without a perfect
plan.
…...
As for Jiang Chen and Dan Fei, they’d returned to their
residence.
They pushed open the door to find that the six others were
all missing.
Dan Fei smiled, “Those fellows seemed to have hardened their
hearts to avoid us.”
Jiang Chen smiled back, “This is best. It will be less noisy
this way.”
Their two rooms neighbored each other on the south side. Dan
Fei squeezed out a smile when they arrived at Jiang Chen’s door. “I think I’ll
go back to my own room.”
Dan Fei actually really wanted to go in, but she was afraid
of being shooed out by Jiang Chen again. Although Jiang Chen didn’t know that
she was Dan Fei, it still saddened her a bit when he showed her the door.
Jiang Chen smiled carelessly and nodded, not saying much and
entering his room afterwards.
Dan Fei lightly bit her lip and stood at the door for a
slight while before entering her room as well. She sighed faintly as her thin
frame leaned on the door.
She felt quite conflicted right now. She truly wanted to
reveal her identity and express her feelings towards Jiang Chen, but she also
worried that this would impact Jiang Chen’s emotions and affect his upcoming
matches.
“I can’t be this selfish and disrupt his current tempo
because of my own wishes. He needs to soar to the skies right now, and if I
impact his development because of affairs of the heart, I will not be at peace
for the rest of my life. Forget it, forget it, if we truly lack this kind of
fate in our lives, I will just look at him silently and support him, admiring
his stunning talents. Isn’t it also quite joyous to admire his rise as a genius?”
Dan Fei suddenly heard the sound of knocking on the window
as her heart dwelled in turmoil that was as chaotic as a tangled skein. Her
heart leapt gladly, does he know it’s me and so is knocking on my window to
come find me?
Her face reddened immediately afterwards and she lectured
herself slightly. She truly was full of whims and fancies, thinking all sorts
of wild thoughts. Why would he come knock at my window if he knew it was me?
However, upon closer listening, there was indeed the sound
of someone knocking at my door.
“Who is it?” Dan Fei’s emotions were a tad disarrayed as she
vainly tried to keep them in check. She walked to the window and asked lowly.
“I’m here on behalf of others to deliver a gift to you.”
Dan Fei cracked the window open a bit but saw a punch flying
straight towards her face.
It was a good thing that her reaction was swift as she
turned her head a bit and evaded it. She shouted, “What kind of mad villain are
you to dare ambush someone on private property?!”
The voice laughed oddly and vanished without a trace, its
whereabouts unknown.
Dan Fei felt rather baffled, who was playing a prank? Or was
this a threat? As fierce as this punch had been, it obviously hadn’t held much
malicious intent within it.
The person behind it had left immediately after sending this
punch over, whether it’d connected or not.
It looked like a prank no matter how she looked at it. Dan
Fei was perplexed as she shut the door, wondering if she should report it to
the examiners.
She thought about it carefully and decided that this wasn’t
a particularly important matter. She hadn’t been injured at all either. It was
likely that the examiners wouldn’t be able to find much of anything if they
came to investigate.
Jiang Chen had also come knocking at her door by now,
“Brother Xiao Fei, I heard something from your side, is everything alright?”
Dan Fei calmed her emotions and opened the door to let him
in. She described what had just happened to Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen jumped out the window when he heard what had
happened and investigated for a while, flipping back in through the window.
His brow creased, Jiang Chen said, “Whoever came possessed a
high level of skill. He didn’t leave even a footprint behind and had completely
concealed his presence. There are no traces at all, so it’d be futile to summon
an examiner.”
Dan Fei nodded, “It looks like someone couldn’t hold
themselves back and wanted to use these little tricks to disturb us.”
“Dancing clowns. They’re using some tricks that can’t see
the light. Have no fear, if they come back again, I’ll make sure that he can’t
leave.”
Jiang Chen walked up to Dan Fei and patted her shoulder,
“Just a small interlude, don’t worry. I’ll go back first, feel free to summon
me if anything happens.”
After a few days of coexisting through difficulties, Jiang
Chen had grown more accepting of this brother Xiao Fei. He started walking
outside as he spoke, but his nose suddenly twitched slightly and he frowned.
Chapter 335: The Effects of the Extreme Aphrodisiac
Wait, something’s wrong!
Jiang Chen’s perceptions were incredibly astute due to
training the Psychic’s Head. He hadn’t noticed something was out of the
ordinary when he’d first entered.
But, as he was about to walk out of the door, he could subtly
feel that something was wrong.
“What wrong?” Dan Fei asked when she saw Jiang Chen frown.
Jiang Chen’s tone chilled slightly, “Don’t you feel that
there’s a faintly discernible presence floating through the air?”
Dan Fei sensed attentively for a while and shook her head
with a lost expression. “No.”
“Hold your breath.” Jiang Chen’s expression changed as he
immediately opened the door and all the windows.
He then tugged on Dan Fei’s sleeve and dragged her out the
door into the yard.
Dan Fei was shocked by his sudden action, but with her
understanding of Jiang Chen, she knew that something was surely up at this
point. Knowing his steadiness, he would never act so impulsively otherwise.
“Brother Boulder, what’s going on?” Dan Fei asked.
“Of all the precautions I took, I still didn’t defend
against this.” Jiang Chen’s expression would be quite ugly at this point if he
hadn’t been wearing a mask.
He’d always been quite careful and would enter his room with
utmost care whenever he returned. He’d only enter after observing the
surroundings for quite a while.
He was afraid that someone would plot against him and deploy
various unscrupulous methods.
However, he’d been on his guard against his own room but he
hadn’t done the same for brother Xiao Fei’s room.
He took in large breaths of air from the outside but could
still feel the blood in his veins circulating at a faster speed.
There seemed to be a ball of flame slowly burning in his
body. He felt a very strange feeling of countless bugs crawling over his body.
“I’ve been poisoned!” Jiang Chen’s first thought was that
he’d been poisoned. However, when he sensed carefully, he didn’t find any
traces of being poisoned.
Where was this bizarre feeling coming from if he hadn’t been
poisoned?
“This… is bad…” Jiang Chen could feel a bizarreness in
certain parts of his body. His body leapt away as he dodged back into his own
room.
He sat down cross legged and circulated the Boulder’s Heart,
planning on controlling this sudden impulse.
However, the Boulder’s Heart could only restrain the wild
fancies of his mind, but couldn’t tamper down the instinctive impulsiveness of
his body.
As naive as he was in the ways of men and women, Jiang Chen
understood by now that he hadn’t been poisoned, but a depraved aphrodisiac.
He felt the blood in his body circulating at a continuously
faster pace. An enormous impulsive feeling continued to agitate in his body,
making him feel like an inflating balloon.
“What kind of lewd poison is this that it could be so
domineering?” Jiang Chen was shocked. He’d downed successively numerous spirit
medicines that would reduce internal flames, but it was still insufficient to
repress that strong impulse.
His body was like it was about to explode, as a ball of
flame roared fiercely three inches beneath his navel. He was tough as iron, as
if an ancient, fierce beast that was about to break free of its seal.
“Who would be so treacherous to use such a bizarre poison to
entrap me?” Jiang Chen was extremely depressed. He was an old hat at using
poison, but although he had some knowledge of aphrodisiacs, he’d never studied
them.
Unfortunately, this was what he’d happened to fall victim to
this time.
The door creaked open.
Dan Fei walked in hastily and was greeted with the eyes of a
wild beast.
When she saw Jiang Chen’s reddened eyes and his crazed look
of hunger, Dan Fei was enormously startled, “Brother Boulder, what’s wrong with
you?”
Jiang Chen was immediately enraged when he saw her walk in.
He roared, “Just who are you?!?”
“I…” Dan Fei was completely perplexed. She had no idea why
Jiang Chen was asking her this.
Jiang Chen’s eyes spat fire. “I was too naive and actually
trusted you. To think that you had colluded with the sect disciples to plot
against me!”
A roaring sound exploded in Dan Fei’s mind as she became
completely shell shocked. I… plotting against you? What… what??
Even if I, Dan Fei died, I would never scheme against you.
“Brother Boulder, I… I swear to the heavens that I really
didn’t plot against you. What’s going on? Your eyes are so red.”
It was a good thing that he was sitting cross legged on the
ground. Otherwise, the sight of his greatly peaked privates would likely scare
Dan Fei out of her wits and send her scurrying for cover.
“You didn’t plot against me? Then how come I’ve fallen
victim to this poison but you’re completely fine without any symptoms? The
poison originated from your room, and you dare say that it had nothing to do
with you?” Jiang Chen flared his aura. If the other moved at all or had any
suspicious traces in his tone, he would absolutely strike out with all his
strength and kill the other immediately.
“The poison originated from my room? I… I really don’t seem
to be poisoned. But, I really didn’t plot against you. I’m right here right
now. If I’ve done anything against you, you can kill me with one blow!” Dan Fei
was almost to the point of tears as well. She’d never seen Jiang Chen in this
state.
Even someone as calm as her had been frightened. She was
stupefied and her voice was trembling. Dan Fei was almost crying.
“Impossible!” Jiang Chen shook his head. “My defenses are
stronger than yours, so there’s no reason that I’m poisoned and you’re
unscathed!”
Dan Fei also thought it odd. She believed that Jiang Chen
would never talk random nonsense. The poison must’ve originated from her room.
However, it was also true that she hadn’t been poisoned.
“Brother Boulder, what poison have you been afflicted with?
Is there an antidote to this poison? Should I go alert the examiners?”
Jiang Chen stared fixedly at the other and saw that their
panic and disarray didn’t seem to be an act. He couldn’t help but think, does
he really not know? Does this really have nothing to do with him?
Jiang Chen was quite skilled in reading others and could
tell that brother Xiao Fei wasn’t putting on a pretense. If the other really
did have collusions with the sect disciples, he should be hiding in the shadows
at the moment and watching everything unfold, not walking in to place himself
at Jiang Chen’s mercy.
However, why was it that he had been poisoned but Xiao Fei
was alright?
Could it be that he was naturally immune?
In terms of being resistant to poison, his body was
absolutely resistant. But that medicine was obviously not poison and just an
aphrodisiac. Technically speaking, it wasn’t a poison.
It was precisely because this wasn’t a poison that Jiang
Chen had succumbed to it.
His enemies had also been quite thorough as they hadn’t made
a direct move against Jiang Chen, but Xiao Fei instead.
What did this indicate? It meant that his enemies feared him
and wasn’t certain of their success in front of him. This was why they had
acted against him indirectly through Xiao Fei.
This way, his mental defenses had been greatly lowered.
One had to say, this was a good plan and it’d been
calculated quite precisely.
Dan Fei threw all other thoughts out of her mind at this
point and walked over with concern. “Brother Boulder, there must be an antidote
to this poison. Tell me and I’ll go look for it now.”
Jiang Chen reached out a hand and halted her in her
footsteps. “Don’t come any closer!”
Dan Fei’s body trembled slightly. As she looked at his
reddened eyes, she knew that he was absolutely in immense discomfort at this
moment and suffering greatly.
She stood there dumbly, feeling as if blades were cutting
into her heart. She deathly wished that she could take Jiang Chen’s place and
suffer on his behalf.
But, why was she completely safe and sound? Dan Fei
completely didn’t understand.
“Poison… heh heh, it wouldn’t be a problem if it was poison.
But this isn’t poison at all, but an aphrodisiac. Of extreme masculinity and
yang, it’s stoking all the yang qi in my body and is increasing the rate of my
circulation. If I don’t vent this yang qi, my body will explode. If I’m lucky,
I will end up with a cultivation deviation, immediate death if I’m not. I have
no way of treating this poison or treating its symptoms if I don’t know the
recipe of this medicine.”
“What?” Dan Fei lost her voice in shock. She hadn’t thought
at all that it’d be this kind of poison.
She immediately understood why she hadn’t been affected.
This poison of extreme yang was obviously only effective on males.
She was a girl, so how could she possibly be affected?
Dan Fei was completely shell shocked in that moment and
completely frantic. She was full of self accusation. “It’s all my fault, it’s
all my fault! If I hadn’t opened the window, that person wouldn’t have been
able to scatter the powder in with the force of his blow. If I hadn’t emitted a
sound, Jiang Chen wouldn’t have come to my room…”
This was a plot of successive elements.
The origin of the poison was her.
“The enemy made their move on me because they knew they
wouldn’t succeed if they targeted Jiang Chen directly. Therefore, they used me
to attack him indirectly. I… I’m so useless! It’s all my fault, I dragged him
down!”
Dan Fei’s heart was in a wild disarray as guilt stoppered
her chest. She truly wanted to fall on her own blade to atone for her
wrongdoings.
“Brother Boulder, it’s all my fault!” Dan Fei murmured in an
anguished tone. “Kill me, it’s all my fault! They knew I’m useless so they made
their move through me to get at you. It’s all my fault in the end. If you want
to vent your anger, kill me with one blow…”
Jiang Chen snorted coldly as he sweated profusely. He also
knew at this moment that this matter truly had nothing to do with Xiao Fei.
He could only blame the enemy for being too cunning in using
their method to make their move.
But why hadn’t Xiao Fei succumbed to it? Jiang Chen still
didn’t understand, but he had no ability to contemplate this now.
The blood vessels of his body were all frothing. It was a
futile exercise no matter how he tried to restrain himself or regain a calm
state of mind.
The kind of impulse was like an ancient beast about to break
free of its cage. He needed to vent himself like a roaring deluge of water, and
only the relations between a man and a woman could give him relief.
Jiang Chen’s mind was already a bit hazy at the moment, and
his dao heart as firm as a boulder was slowly succumbing.
The instinctive power of his body was overwhelming
everything now.
“It isn’t that there are no female cultivators within the
mystic quadrant. There’s a ton in the Flowing Wind Sect. But since the enemy is
using this kind of method to plot against me, he must have laid more plans. If
I try to engage in illicit relations like a rapist, then I will surely fall
into their trap. Not to mention that I, Jiang Chen, am an upright man. How can
I do something as shameful as forcing myself upon others? I’d rather die than
do something like that!”
Jiang Chen’s internal struggles made his breathing become
faster.
“You… get out!” Jiang Chen’s eyes spat out fiery sparks.
Although this matter had nothing to do with Xiao Fei, he was unwilling for
others to see him in his current state.
Dan Fei shook her head resolutely, “No, I’m not leaving.
It’s all my fault, so if we’re going to die, I’ll die with you!”
“Die? Do you think it’s a matter of death? Do you really
have to see me make a fool out of myself?!” Jiang Chen was roaring like a wild
beast by now as he began to rage out of control.
Chapter 336: Jiang Chen, Let Me Help You
This was a torture even worse than death; the extreme forces
of masculinity and yang had formed a situation where the yang in his body had
been isolated.
It's been said that nothing would grow when only yang was
present, and that nothing would be born if only yin was present.
Whether it was the operations of heaven and earth, or simply
the human body, even the gods would be hard pressed to pull off a miracle if
one’s yin and yang were out of balance.
Therefore, Jiang Chen knew that this was indeed a fate worse
than death.
Dan Fei was equally stubborn in this moment and shook her
head firmly, “I’m not leaving, not unless you beat me to death!”
“Get out!!” Jiang Chen roared. “What the hell can you
possibly do here, apart from irritating me?!”
“I…” Dan Fei had no time to spare for her own feelings after
being yelled at. Her mind was a chaotic mess currently, and she felt guilty and
wanted to help. However, apart from helplessly throwing her hands up in this
situation, she didn’t know what she could do.
She only had a single thought in mind right now, and that
was that even if she were to die, she’d die with Jiang Chen.
“Wait a second…” Dan Fei suddenly thought of what Jiang Chen
had said amidst the havoc in her mind. “Jiang Chen said that this was an
aphrodisiac of extreme masculinity. It’s currently causing his yang qi to
increase exponentially, and in turn his blood to froth. His body will explode
if he doesn’t vent his yang qi, with a cultivation deviation being the least
serious consequence, or immediate death as the most serious... Does this mean
that he’ll be saved if he’s able to expend his yang qi?”
Dan Fei seemed to realize something when her thoughts
reached this point. Her heart abruptly shuddered, and a red flush crept up her
face behind the mask.
Although she was inexperienced in the ways of men and women,
and didn’t usually think about things like this, she still knew a little bit
about this matter since she was still a woman over twenty years old.
Her body shook as she felt both her mouth and tongue go dry,
and her heart crashed about in her chest.
“Did he mean… that when he spoke of venting his yang qi?”
Dan Fei only partially understood. She was also afraid that she’d
misunderstood, but had a subtle feeling that this was indeed the case.
Although she was both hesitant and bashful, when she thought
about the fact that she was the source of the torment that Jiang Chen was
currently suffering through, her guilt triumphed over her shyness in an
instant.
She swiftly walked over to Jiang Chen and held him up, “I
think that… I think that I can help you.”
Jiang Chen had almost been consumed by the flames raging
inside his body at the moment. He sighed ruefully when he heard these words,
“Hurry and leave while I still have my rationality. If you don’t, I’m afraid
that I might really beat you to death once I’ve lost control. How can you
possibly help me? You’re a man too, don’t you understand that a balanced amount
of yin and yang is needed to resolve this kind of aphrodisiac?”
“Yin and yang… do you... do you perhaps mean the pleasures
between a man and a woman?” Dan Fei asked in a low voice as her head trailed in
embarrassment, a flood of red blush at the nape of her neck.
She was an untested girl and so she didn't even dare think
about these matters ordinarily, not to mention actually talking to someone
about them.
She’d gathered up almost all of her courage in order to ask
this question. After she asked it however, she felt completely drained.
Jiang Chen rasped out, “So what? Are you able to go out and
grab a girl? What’s the difference between that and a rapist? Not to mention
that, since the enemy had this kind of sinister plan, they’ll definitely be on
their guard against us doing such a thing. We might be walking straight into a
trap if we leave.”
Jiang Chen was well aware that this plan had to have many
interlocking elements to it. He’d have to think of a way to take care of his
needs once he found it impossible to control his urges any longer.
There were quite a few female disciples within the mystic
quadrant.
If they laid in wait, and laid an ambush for him to walk
into, they could then arrange for him to gain a title of illicit relations with
women, and in turn ruin his reputation. They might even kill him at the scene.
Dan Fei knew that Jiang Chen had spoken the truth, and felt
the utmost admiration for him. He was already in this sort of state, yet still
didn’t wish to ruin a girl’s innocence. This was proof of what level of
character he had. I, Dan Fei, have no qualms about giving my innocence,
something that I’ve kept safe for twenty years, to him.
When her thoughts reached this point, Dan Fei’s voice became
as small as a mosquito’s as she said lowly, “It’s my fault, so I should make
amends to you. It... would be bad if any other innocent girl lost her
innocence.”
“What?” An explosion rang out within Jiang Chen’s mind as a
body as warm as jade lightly slipped into his embrace.
His final line of defense completely imploded at that
second.
As for Dan Fei, she found it hard to repress her bashfulness
when she felt the ball of fire and rampaging energy beneath his navel.
…….
No one knew how long that night lasted, nor how many
conquests were mounted—it seemed as if fierce gales and winds never ceased all
throughout the night.
The completely new experience almost made Dan Fei faint a
few times.
When everything had returned to a state of calm, Dan Fei’s
mind slowly regained its clarity as she gazed upon the man that lay quietly
next to her. His mask was askew—underneath were Jiang Chen’s sharply delineated
features.
This face had appeared in Dan Fei’s dreams countless times.
and had made her toss and turn throughout many nights.
The two were now fully exposed to each other. Tears
glimmered in Dan Fei’s eyes as she lightly kissed Jiang Chen’s body. A sense of
contentment and pride, along with a complicated sort of feeling, rose up in her
heart.
“Jiang Chen, I have no regrets. I will never have any
regrets.”
Dan Fei didn’t know where Jiang Chen had brought her whilst
they’d been enraptured in the throes of their passion. She looked around, but
all she saw was darkness. They seemed to be underground.
As she gazed at Jiang Chen’s fast asleep form in peaceful
repose, Dan Fei suddenly had a strange feeling that perhaps... this was the
true Jiang Chen?
Dan Fei’s first taste of a night-long conquest had left her
extremely tired. She struggled to her feet, but almost didn’t dare to take a
step forward due to the aches and pains she felt.
Dan Fei put her clothes back on, and resumed her identity as
Xiao Fei.
“Jiang Chen, I hope the story of this night doesn’t give you
any psychological pressure in the future.” Dan Fei knew that Jiang Chen had
been completely lost in a frenzy of passion during the night, and had had no
idea who she was.
Since he didn’t know, Dan Fei didn’t want to use this night
to tie Jiang Chen down. As much as she wanted to spend the rest of her life
with him, she didn’t want to use this sort of method to achieve her goal.
She didn’t want Jiang Chen to think that she’d offered her
body simply so she could spend the rest of her life together with him.
With Dan Fei’s self-pride, using her body to tie a man down
wasn’t something that she’d do.
“Last night was something that I owed you. You wouldn’t have
been poisoned if it hadn’t been for me.” Women were thus odd. Once they’d given
their body to a man, they would think of him in every detail. and try to make
the best of the situation for him.
Sitting down cross-legged, Dan Fei slowly calmed herself.
However, a feeling of happiness blossomed in her heart whenever she turned her
head to gaze at Jiang Chen sleeping soundly.
If it was possible, she wished that this moment could last
forever.
If time stopped right now, at this precise moment, Dan Fei
felt that she’d be the happiest woman in the world.
“Ugh...” Jiang Chen slightly rolled over and abruptly opened
his eyes. His mind immediately cleared up.
“Uh… brother Xiao Fei, why is it you?” Jiang Chen was
slightly surprised to see the cross-legged Dan Fei, and memories of last night
began to flood his mind.
“Brother Boulder, are you alright?” Dan Fei restrained her
emotions with great effort as she asked faintly.
“I… did I do something? Brother Xiao Fei, you…” His memories
from last night came to a screeching halt at this moment.
Jiang Chen vaguely felt that he’d done many ludicrous things
last night. There was the perfect figure of a wondrous girl, whom had allowed
him to pluck her many times imprinted in his mind.
But, was it all simply a dream?
Jiang Chen didn't think so as he gazed at Dan Fei with a few
interrogative hints in his eyes.
Dan Fei smiled faintly, “Brother Boulder, where have you
taken me? The hour is almost here, we’ll be late if we don’t leave.”
Jiang Chen’s mind was a mess. He could hear that something
was wrong from Xiao Fei’s words, but he couldn’t articulate what exactly was
wrong.
The matters from last night were quite clear; they likely
weren’t a dream.
Then, brother Xiao Fei is a girl?! An explosion erupted in
Jiang Chen’s mind as he suddenly understood a lot. Why hadn’t brother Xiao Fei
fallen victim to the poison? And how had he vented his excessive yang qi?
There was only one possible explanation to all this.
Brother Xiao Fei wasn’t a boy, but a girl!
Jiang Chen found himself in quite a predicament behind a
mask right now. He’d taken a girl’s innocence!
“Brother Boulder let’s go.” Dan Fei knew that Jiang Chen
would surely have many questions in his heart right now.
However, Dan Fei didn’t want Jiang Chen to have too much of
a psychological burden, so she’d planned on burying this deep in her mind, and
archiving it permanently.
“Brother Xiao Fei, yesterday…”
Dan Fei spread her hands out, “Accidents are inevitable in
life. Last night’s matter was something that I owed Brother Boulder. If you
feel guilty, then knock down those damned sect disciples savagely and vent our
ill temper on them. If you manage to step on all of those sect disciples, I’ll
be greatly gratified when we meet again in the world.”
Jiang Chen was in complete disarray. Brother Xiao Fei was
both admitting that she was a girl, and that what had happened last night had
truly happened. And judging from her tone, she obviously didn’t want to talk
about it anymore.
He sighed lightly, “Xiao Fei…”
“Brother Boulder seems so dashing in the ring, why are you
so awkward and stilted right now? We don't have much time, let’s hurry up and
leave. If you insist on acting thus, I’ll think less of Brother Boulder.”
Jiang Chen knew that there was no way for him to change the
situation, and simply nodded. He ordered the Lotus to take them to the round.
In his last lucid moments yesterday, he’d instinctively told
himself that he couldn’t consummate this relationship in the room, and had thus
activated the Lotus in order to bring them underground.
It was then that Dan Fei discovered that they’d been on an
enormous Lotus flower last night.
This marvelous occurrence made her heart tremble once again.
She found that she was able to understood less and less of Jiang Chen.
This lotus was able to extend and retract as it wished? Dan
Fei suddenly understood why Jiang Chen had been unable to emerge unscathed from
the Fire Ravens’ rampage.
With this strange lotus, Jiang Chen had been able to tunnel
into the ground; so what of the fire burning for a hundred li?
The two returned to the surface and checked the time. There
was only fifteen minutes left until they had to gather.
After Dan Fei had gave her body to Jiang Chen, her girlish
notion of being worried about personal gains and losses had actually been
cleanly swept away.
She kept telling herself that from today onwards, she was
still brother Xiao Fei, and that she couldn’t affect Jiang Chen because of any
personal relationships.
Women were made of water, and thus her personality was as
gentle as water right now.
All her thoughts were pointing in one direction right now,
and that was that she simply couldn’t impact Jiang Chen’s trials.
To do this, she had to pretend to be as strong as possible,
and never let the matters of yesterday become a psychological burden for Jiang
Chen.
Chapter 337: After Joy Comes Sadness for Guo Ren
The group of Purple Sun Sect disciples were gathered in Guo
Ren’s residence.
“Cheng Lan, are you certain that those two weren’t in their
rooms?” Guo Ren asked as he laughed sinisterly.
Cheng Lan hated Jiang Chen with a burning passion after his
cousin had been beaten up, so he nodded very affirmatively, “Senior brother
Guo, twice I took the risk of being beaten to take a look at their rooms. There
was no one in their rooms. I looked all over the residence, there was
absolutely no one!”
Guo Ren frowned, “That’s strange, where could they have
gone?”
Cheng Lan leered, “Perhaps they couldn’t withstand their
hunger and ran out, running afoul of the restrictions in the mystic quadrant
and were destroyed in the process?”
Apart from the residences in the quadrant, the only area
with free access was the Hundred Challenges Arena. All the other areas were
restricted areas that not even the examiners dared venture into. If the
candidates barged into them, only death would await them!
Xiao Yu didn’t care at all as he said with an uncaring
expression, “Senior brother Guo, stop wasting your time worrying all about
this. Even the gods are incapable of withstanding the Goddess Smile poison, not
to mention a mundane cultivator. In my eyes, those two have probably exploded
somewhere already and died.”
Guo Ren was a cautious one. He wanted to see the person if
they were alive, or their corpse if they were dead. If he didn’t, he’d always
feel a bit uneasy in his heart.
“Indeed, senior brother Guo, that aphrodisiac is so
dominating. Since they couldn’t find women, there’s no doubt that those two are
definitely dead. I feel that we shouldn’t gather here anymore. What if an
examiner notices that they’re missing and traces it to us in their
investigation?”
Guo Ren wasn’t worried about this and smiled coldly, “The
f*ck will they investigate about? Dead men tells no tales, how will they
investigate?”
Another disciple said, “It’s about time now, so let’s go to
the Arena first. We’ll be docked if we’re late.”
All of the candidates nodded and headed towards the Hundred
Challenges Arena.
When they’d reached the outskirts of the Arena, Guo Ren at
the front suddenly halted his footsteps.
There was a figure by the side of the road who was stately
and reserved, his presence quite dominating.
“It’s him?” The Purple Sun Sect disciples behind Guo Ren
were all flabbergasted. How could it be possibly him? Shouldn’t he have been
afflicted with the Goddess Smile and exploded from its effects?
Had that kid found a woman to vent his energies into last
night?
That wasn’t right either! None of the female disciples from
the Flowing Wind Sect had been plucked last night.
Not to mention that they had set up informants everywhere.
This fellow would’ve been discovered if he’d dared approach a female disciple.
Since he hadn’t taken a female disciple, how had he manage
to dispel the effects of the Goddess Smile?
Guo Ren remained calm as he waved his hand and indicated for
his peers behind him to remain calm and to not reveal their weak points. Don’t
confess everything without receiving a single blow from the cane!
“Guo Ren.” Jiang Chen’s tone was remote, but anyone could
hear the unbounded killing intent embodied in this voice.
“Don’t bother to explain and don’t try to deny it. Admit it
if you’re a man.”
“Admit what?” Guo Ren smiled coldly. He wasn’t a fool.
“It’s fine if you deny it. I’m marking you down as the
responsible party whether or not you did it. From now on, you better pray every
minute and second of your life that you don’t get matched with me. Otherwise,
you’ll end up worse than Cheng Zhen.”
Jiang Chen snorted coldly as he pushed off his feet and
vanished like the wind from the vision of those assembled.
His warning sounded again in the air, “If any of you
assembled here today come to me and confess of your wrongdoings, I will forgive
you. Otherwise, if any of you meet me in the ring, you better pray for your
lives.”
This wasn’t a warning anymore, but a naked threat.
“The hell, he’s so damn cocky!” A Purple Sun Sect disciple
couldn’t help but curse.
“How is this possible? He… he seems completely fine?” Xiao
Yu stammered as his face was ashen.
He’d been the one to think of this plan and provided the
aphrodisiac. He’d tried the Goddess Smile before, it was absolutely a
terrifying thing.
He’d brought out his precious treasure in order to fawn on
Guo Ren. If it hadn’t been for kissing up to his senior brother, he wouldn’t
have wanted to bring out something so precious at all.
But, when he saw the other person brimming with energy, Xiao
Yu knew that his plan had failed.
As he looked at his peers cast interrogative glances at him,
Xiao Yu angrily retorted back, “What are you looking at me for? Can it be that
my medicine was fake? Anyone who doesn’t believe me can try it for themselves!”
“Shut up!” Guo Ren spat out. Wasn’t it to voluntarily
confess by discussing this matter openly in a public space?!
With the other’s strength, if he was hidden in the shadows
not too far away, he might’ve already heard Xiao Yu’s words.
Xiao Yu had also seemed to realize that he had lost his
composure and muttered, “Anyways, there’s definitely nothing wrong with it.
There must be something else at play here.”
Guo Ren actually didn’t suspect the aphrodisiac either. His
guess was that the fellow had indeed managed to find a woman to vent his
energies on.
Could it be that all his informants hadn’t been enough to
keep an eye on that fellow from making a visit to the Flowing Wind Sect?
Guo Ren became paranoid all of a sudden as well.
“This is the end of the matter. No one may bring this up
again.” Guo Ren ordered.
All the other disciples nodded in agreement. They really
would reveal their involvement if they kept discussing it. Although this wasn’t
a big deal, someone would have to be the unlucky one and take the fall if an
investigation was mounted.
Cheng Lan asked timidly, “Senior brother Guo, that kid
threatened us just now. Although the chances of our group meeting them in the ring
aren’t high, it’s still a possibility. If we truly meet him in the ring, this
kid is vicious and ruthless…”
Guo Ren snorted, “What, are you intending on becoming a
traitor and selling out your brethren?”
Cheng Lan hastened to say, “How can that be possible? There
is undying enmity between me and him. Senior brother Guo, I’m worried that
there will be others who can’t stand up to this and secretly tattle.”
Guo Ren’s gaze darkened as he swept his eyes in a circle.
“Remember, whoever goes behind my back to become his informant makes an enemy
of the entire Purple Sun Sect. Watch yourselves!”
The other Purple Sun Disciples all had distressed
expressions on their faces as they were caught between a rock and a hard place.
If they didn’t become the informant, they would definitely
be beaten to death if they met in the ring. The other had said that he would
make them end up in a much sadder state than Cheng Zhen.
Half of Cheng Zhen’s body was basically paralyzed. If they
were worse off than him, then wouldn’t that meant that they would be beaten to
death?
If they did become the informant however, they would be
betraying their own and their peers would definitely beat them to death when
all came to light.
In the span of a moment, all the disciples who had
participated in this matter were incredibly conflicted. No one had thought that
a mere secular disciple would be able to inflict such agony on them.
Upon returning to the Hundred Challenges Arena, Jiang Chen’s
demeanor was noticeably more frosty.
After the accident of last night, he had calmed down much
more. He had always gone about things cautiously before, but hadn’t thought
that he would still accidentally fall victim to such a plot.
The hearts of those in the sects were wicked and malicious
indeed.
It seemed that he’d underestimated just how treacherous the
sects and sect disciples would be.
Dan Fei also sat cross legged by Jiang Chen’s side, but
could feel the coldness emanating from him. She knew that Jiang Chen had been
thoroughly enraged by these sect disciples.
A maddened Jiang Chen, a truly enraged man made even Dan
Fei’s heart palpitate. She knew that the Purple Sun Sect disciples were in for
it now.
However, things were a bit strange over the next couple of
days. Jiang Chen’s name always appeared only when the day was about to end.
There was only three to five challenges worth of time left
to him at that time.
Therefore, after five days had passed, Jiang Chen had only
achieved 45 successive victories when adding together the 30 from the first two
days.
No matter how dense Jiang Chen could be, he could detect
that someone must’ve done something to his name. One day could be deemed an
accident, two days could be coincidence.
To be selected only when the day was close to its end five
to six days in a row meant that someone was purposefully compressing his time.
They didn’t want him to be selected early and complete
another frightening round of successive wins.
As long as he was selected late in the day, he wouldn’t have
much time to issue challenges. He would at most obtain three successive wins
before the day was up.
His name would be shuffled in again on the second day.
“Huh! Using these methods to shorten the tempo of my
challenges and compress my time, the Purple Sun Sect is truly all powerful
huh!”
Jiang Chen wasn’t the sort to swallow insult and humiliation
silently. When the day’s contests were over, he immediately approached the
keeper, Master Fang.
“Master Fang.” Jiang Chen’s gaze was faint as he looked at
this expressionless keeper.
“Heh heh, the secular genius, freak genius of the boulder’s
heart. 45 successive wins. Not bad, not bad!” Master Fang was rather polite.
“Tell me, what do you need?”
“I just want to ask if the shortening of my time in the ring
and making my name appear in the last moments everyday is due to Master Fang’s
wishes, or the wishes of some other examiners?” Jiang Chen cut straight to the
point.
Master Fang was a bit surprised and looked at Jiang Chen for
a while before chuckling, “Are you guessing? Or do you have evidence to prove
your claim?”
Jiang Chen responded noncommittally, “It wouldn’t be hard to
find evidence either.”
Master Fang couldn’t help but smile as he nodded
forthrightly. “Since you know already, then I will explain. It is indeed my
hand behind this matter.”
Jiang Chen was rather surprised, as he’d thought that Master
Fang would never admit to things.
He creased his brow upon hearing this confession, “Is there
a reason for this?”
“Yes, but it will certainly be different from what you’re
thinking.” Master Fang smiled faintly. “I guess you must think since I’m from
one of the sects, I’m shortening your time to suppress your rise and am
indirectly helping the other sect disciples cheat, am I right?”
“Isn’t that so?” Jiang Chen asked unceremoniously back.
Master Fang sighed slightly, “If that’s what you think, then
forget it. Starting from tomorrow, I will stop what I’m doing and treat you
fairly. However, young man, have you discovered that although both your time
and momentum have been restricted, there hasn’t been anyone capable of
surpassing your results and the speed of your challenges?”
Jiang Chen thought carefully and felt that this was indeed
the case.
A thought struck him, was Master Fang doing so not to
suppress me?
“Your advantages are too apparent in the mystic quadrant.
Since you’re already firmly setting on number one, why use such exaggerated
methods to place first? Why invite so much hatred to you from all sides? The
relationships between the four sects and their disciples are complex and
intertwined. If your reputation is too great here and news of it travels to the
earth and sky quadrants, do you not think that boundless enmity would be attracted
to you even before you set foot into those two areas?”
Chapter 338: Guo Ren Breaks Down
These words made many thoughts run rapidly through Jiang
Chen’s mind. When he looked at Master Fang again, he saw that the keeper’s eyes
were clear, without the slightest hint of schemes or duplicity. On the
contrary, there was a bearing of perfect impartiality.
Had he possibly mistaken Master Fang’s intentions?
Master Fang sighed lightly, “That an ordinary disciple has
such talent as yours is truly uncommon. However, it may not be a good thing for
you to rise so swiftly as you lack foundations within the sects. As the saying
goes, even the strongest will break easily when faced with numerous enemies.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing to suppress your momentum for a bit.”
Master Fang explained patiently when he saw that this young
man didn’t possess a stubbornly hotheaded temper. He was also doing this out of
good intentions to truly succor such a secular genius so that Jiang Chen could
develop smoothly and not attract endless oppression in his rise.
With Master Fang’s understanding of the sect disciples, if
this secular genius hogged too much of the limelight, the sect disciples would
think of ways to move against or suppress him if they felt threatened.
Even though Master Fang was one of the sects, he had no
desire to see this happen.
Jiang Chen was silent as he bowed, “Master Fang has expended
much effort and thought on my behalf, but I have tried to measure your stature
by my own desires. Please forgive me if I have given offense.”
Master Fang smiled dashingly, “Good, it’s rare for a young
man to have such a demeanor as yours. Remember, a great man knows when to yield
and not to yield. I have heard of your grievances with the Purple Sun Sect
disciples. I can promise that I will not favor any side. Your old scores can be
settled in the ring, and I will absolutely not interfere.”
“You know everything?” Jiang Chen was greatly surprised.
He’d thought that Guo Ren had conducted his business completely unknown to
anyone.
Master Fang said faintly, “Although I don’t know much, I
know the general sequence of events. Don’t worry, no one will make trouble for
you if you are able to exact your revenge in the ring.”
Jiang Chen had indeed had his head clouded by enmity over
the past couple of days.
His mind cleared as he heard Master Fang’s words.
Indeed, it was not too late if one of noble character took
his revenge ten years later.
There was plenty of opportunities within the three months,
what was the need to be in such a hurry?
After he took his leave of Master Fang, Jiang Chen had thoroughly
calmed down by the time he returned to his residence.
Ever since the events of that night, Dan Fei started to keep
a purposeful distance away from Jiang Chen. They always returned to their own
rooms after the day and never visited each other.
It wasn’t that Dan Fei was putting on airs, but that she
knew if she went to his room after this matter, she would distract him.
Dan Fei didn’t want to be that selfish. She was even less
willing for Jiang Chen to see her in a bad light feel that she was a frivolous
woman of loose morals.
…...
The Purple Sun Sect disciples who had schemed against Jiang
Chen also lived through a torturous existence over the next couple of days.
Cheng Lan and the others didn’t dare return to the residence at all. They
didn’t even have the courage to approach.
They were worried that if they returned, they wouldn’t even
know how they died.
Therefore, they all depended on others for shelter over the
next couple of days. Although this was quite irritating, there was nothing to
be done about it.
They wouldn’t dare go back no matter how much courage they
borrowed.
Even Guo Ren was on edge, much less than Cheng Lan and the
others. He was constantly fretting about whether or not he would be selected by
Jiang Chen.
It wasn’t that Guo Ren was afraid, but that no matter how he
thought about things, he felt that this secular disciple was rather mysterious.
He really couldn’t understand how the effects of the Goddess Smile had been
nullified.
All sorts of mysteries abounded on this candidate.
Thus, Guo Ren felt uncertain, and honestly speaking, the
other had used one move out of the “Obscure Seal of Life and Death” to bring
out 45 consecutive victories — as confident as Guo Ren was, he was aware of the
differences between the two of them.
Now that things had developed to this point, he couldn’t
naively think that the other only knew this one move. How was that possible?
As much as he might lack in techniques, it was impossible
for him to only know that one move.
The days of great anxiety passed for the next four to five
days. The anxiety in Guo Ren’s heart didn’t decrease, but grew stronger
instead.
He knew that if he didn’t settle this matter, it would
always wind around in his heart and become an internal demon.
The more he was afraid of meeting the other in the ring, the
more likely this would become an internal demon after days and months of
accumulation!
He lost quite a bit of his appetite for food and drink over
this.
“No, this can’t continue. I will surely break down when an
internal demon forms.” Guo Ren knew full well that if this dragged on, his own
mentality would collapse even if he didn’t meet that secular genius in the
ring.
The internal demons were unable to be seen or felt, but
something incredibly frightening.
Once a thought was born, it was impossible to stop the
formation of an internal demon.
One had to eliminate the source of the internal demon in
order to fully exterminate it.
“I need to either pull this secular genius into my camp or
kill this him. Resolute and effective measures need to be taken to resolve this
as soon as possible.” Guo Ren was well aware that the source of his internal
demon was from this secular genius.
“From previous experiences, the chances of killing him or
scheming against him are all low, unless even stronger senior brothers from the
sect descend upon the mystic quadrant to kill him.” Guo Ren knew that he was
daydreaming. This was impossible.
“If I can't’ kill him, I can only use strategies to mollify
him and buy him off.”
“This fellow’s temper is stubborn and nasty. He’s completely
dismissive of my sect. How easy will it be to buy him off? We’re now as
incompatible as fire and water, I would only make things worse if I try to
bribe him.”
Guo Ren suddenly thought of someone at this time.
He arrived at the examiners’ section after fifteen minutes
and knocked on a door.
There was a Purple Sun Sect examiner instead. Although he
wasn’t the main keeper, he was still someone with a bit more influence.
The examiner opened the door and was slightly surprised to
see Guo Ren. “Guo Ren, what are you doing here?”
Guo Ren was vexed after closing the door, “Uncle-master
Daoyan, this disciple is in great trouble.”
“What happened?” Uncle-master Daoyan valued Guo Ren quite a
bit and thus was filled with expectations towards the latter.
“Everything is because of that secular genius.”
Uncle-master Daoyan sighed, “Guo Ren, if you’re here to ask
me to cheat for you and suppress this character, that is likely not going to
happen. The four great sects are a mutually restraining and supervisory force
on each other in the great selection. I will surely be censured by the other
examiners if I abuse public power for my own gains.”
Guo Ren hastened to say, “How would this disciple ask the
uncle-master to do such a thing?”
“Then what would you ask me to do?” Daoyan relaxed a bit
when he heard that Guo Ren didn’t want him to cheat.
“Uncle-master, I’ve formed a grudge with that secular genius
and he’s proclaimed that he’ll have me end up in a state worse than Cheng Zhen
if we meet in the ring. I plotted against him first in this matter and so this
has already become my internal demon. This disciple is worried that if this
continues, the internal demon will consume me.”
Guo Ren didn’t dare play any tricks at this moment and speak
candidly.
Daoyan emitted a long sigh after hearing these words, “Guo
Ren, ah Guo Ren. What do you want me to say? What did you have to provoke him
for?”
Guo Ren spoke, depressed, “I’d been anticipating the title
of champion of the mystic quadrant with all my heart, but then some animal
comes out of nowhere, throwing a wrench into my plans. Uncle-master, do you
think I can endure this?”
Uncle-master Daoyan sighed, “Lack of forbearance in small
matters upsets great plans. This secular genius has extraordinary potential and
all examiners are expecting him to be the champion. Since this is unstoppable,
why be a mantis trying to stop a chariot? If you truly dislike or hate him, why
not wait until he reaches the earth quadrant and ask other stronger peers to
take care of him? Besides, this fellow is overly dominating and is too fond of
the limelight, but doesn’t know the meaning that even the strongest will easily
break when faced with numerous enemies. When he reaches the earth and sky
quadrants, the premier geniuses there will absolutely not tolerate him. His
fall is just a matter of time.”
Guo Ren wasn’t in the mood to listen to this. His only
thought at the moment was how he could resolve this internal demon!
“Uncle-master, please give me guidance on how I should
react?”
Daoyan was silent for a while and asked, “In your
estimations, how much guarantee of success would you have if you faced off
against him in the ring?”
Guo Ren smiled ruefully, “To be honest, I had thirty to
forty percent assurance of success before the internal demon appeared. But now,
I haven’t the slightest bit of confidence.”
Daoyan wasn’t the least bit surprised by this answer.
“How confident are you in ambushing or scheming against
him?”
Guo Ren smiled wryly, “I had felt completely assured of
success before, but I’d still failed. This fellow is exceedingly odd and I
truly cannot obtain a good measure of him.”
“Then this means that you can neither win in a fight or in
the darkness. Then there’s only two choices.” Daoyan smiled ruefully.
“Which two? Please shed some light, uncle-master.”
“One, voluntarily admit defeat if you meet in the ring. This
is a chance to triumph over yourself. If you can remember the humiliation of
surrender and become stronger after tasting defeat, it will be a strengthening
experience. However, there is also risk in taking this action. If you admit
defeat in the ring, you’re certain to face mockery from all sides. If you
cannot endure the jeering, that will in turn become an even more stubborn
internal demon and thoroughly destroy your dao heart.”
Guo Ren thought for a while and felt that his dao heart
wasn’t that strong. He smiled wryly, “Uncle-master, what is the second option?”
“The second option is merely a choice, but it’s unknown if
it will prove effective.” Daoyan also seemed uncertain.
“Uncle-master, please express your views.” Guo Ren was
trying anything in a desperate situation.
“The second choice is that I contact this secular genius
privately and tempt him with various conditions to first steady our side with
him. The best would be to spend a bit of money to buy him off, appease him,
using logic and emotion to close on a deal and neutralize his enmity towards
you.”
This was actually the plan that Guo Ren had thought of
before, and he’d come precisely to ask uncle-master Daoyan to speak on his behalf.
As an examiner, Daoyan’s presence was more convincing than
Guo Ren, and he was even more stronger representative of the Purple Sun Sect.
“Uncle-master, let’s choose the second option. I didn’t
bring much to the selection to this time, but I am willing to share my blade of
Millennium Brightfire Grass with uncle-master upon our return to the sect.”
Guo Ren also knew that it was impossible to not put forth
some principle if he wanted uncle-master Daoyan to try his best.
“Mm, I’ll do my best.”
Guo Ren nodded firmly, “As long as uncle-master can reach an
accord with him and stabilize our situation, I will absolutely rally together
the other senior brothers to take back all we have lost and more when I reach
the earth and sky quadrants.”
Guo Ren gritted his teeth. He’d chosen to temporarily
compromise, but he truly didn’t want to. He only wanted to have the situation
in hand. With Guo Ren’s personality, once he made it past this hurdle, he would
absolutely make the other spit out their bones and flesh for compensation!
Chapter 339: Are You Threatening Me?
“Who is it?
After last time’s lesson, Jiang Chen had set up several
lines of defense around the residence. As soon as he felt someone attempting to
enter the residence, Jiang Chen was immediately alerted and shouted out.
His body shot out like an arrow to see a figure standing in
the middle of the yard. The intruder’s face was covered, only his pair of eyes
showing.
“Young friend, perhaps we can chat for a bit?”
An unwelcome guest in the middle of the night likely had
unkind intentions. Jiang Chen wasn’t interested in dilly-dallying with him.
“Will you leave yourself, or do you want me to call for the
law enforcers?” Jiang Chen frowned.
“Don’t misunderstand me, young friend. I have no malicious
intentions. I’m just here on behalf of others to be a mediator and peacemaker.”
“Peacemaker?” Jiang Chen laughed coldly. “Who asked you to
pay a visit?”
“Don’t be in a rush, young friend. With your potential, you
are destined for great things, why hold a grudge in this mere mystic quadrant?
It matters not who asked me to come here today. As an examiner of the mystic
quadrant, I assure you that I deal fairly in all matters. I am here today to advise
you that taking a step backwards in forgiveness will dispel all ill will,
resulting in peace as wide ranging as the open skies.”
“Taking a step back in forgiveness?” Jiang Chen burst out
laughing. “If I take a step backwards, they will take ten forward to bully me.
Don’t beat about the bush, did Guo Ren ask you to come?”
“Heh heh, young friend is a smart character indeed.”
“Go back and tell him that some bottom lines are not meant
to be crossed. Once they are crossed, that conflict will only end at death. I
respect you as an examiner, but I trust that this trip isn’t truly an official
action. Otherwise, why would you conceal your face?”
“Young friend is indeed sharp minded, I am impressed. He
regrets the previous matters as well, and so have asked me to come see if there
is any compensation that can be made. Young friend, if you have any requests,
feel free to raise them.”
Jiang Chen spread out his hands and shouted, “Shut your
trap! You think my principles can be bartered over? Go back and tell Guo Ren
that the only thing he can do is to pray that he won’t meet me in the ring.
This is all I have to say, I won’t be seeing you out!”
Jiang Chen was incensed. Mediator? Peacemaker?
At the end of the day, it was just all tricks from the
Purple Sun Sect! Jiang Chen needed only to think with his knee to know that the
masked examiner was someone from the Purple Sun Sect, paying a visit on Guo
Ren’s behalf.
He also knew full well that these sect disciples’ so-called
reconciliation was just smoke and mirrors. Their fanged, true forms would
reappear after a while and they would deny all knowledge of an agreement.
People like Guo Ren possessed a scorpion’s heart and would
never sincerely want to make peace.
Besides, the matters of that day had completely crossed
Jiang Chen’s bottom line. He’d destroyed a girl’s innocence with his hands.
Although she hadn’t said anything, Jiang Chen was well aware what an enormous
sacrifice this was to a girl.
Could an innocent girl’s innocence be glossed over so easily
with such an insubstantial word?
Jiang Chen would never agree to this.
When the masked man saw Jiang Chen speak so assertively, his
brow furrowed, “Young friend, is there really no room for discussion?”
Jiang Chen laughed coldly, “Unless he dies.”
The masked man’s tone grew cold. “Die? Do you think this
matter would be resolved if he dies? Let me tell you, that would only make the
matter worse. Killing a Purple Sun Sect disciple is akin to stirring up a
hornets’ nest. Furthermore, Guo Ren is quite popular within the sect. If you
kill him, you will face unbounded revenge in the earth and sky quadrants in the
future. You have enormous potential, why destroy your own future for a dispute
caused by personal feelings and block your path forward?”
Since persuasion had failed, the masked man had resorted to
threats instead.
Jiang Chen laughed heartily, “I have my own way, who has the
ability to block it? Is my future something others can destroy? A hornets’
nest? What a joke! On the path of martial dao, whether a dragon’s den or
phoenix’s nest, all who block my path will be smacked to death!”
The masked examiner had seen arrogant disciples before, but
never any as arrogant as this.
He was so enraged that he almost spat blood. He snorted
successively in cold laughter. “Good, good, good! It looks like you refuse to
repent until you fail completely! I’d like to see how miserable a death that
you, a so-called genius, will have in the end!”
“Kid, remember that from today forth, the Purple Sun Sect
will deploy all possible resources to suppress and force you out. Just wait for
the Purple Sun Sect’s sword of judgement to behead your dog of a head!”
The masked examiner’s attitude switched as quickly as
flipping the pages of a book as his tone matched his sinister threats.
Just as Jiang Chen had threatened Guo Ren and the others,
the examiner was also trying to plant the seeds of fear in Jiang Chen’s heart
through threats, and try to create an internal demon.
However, Jiang Chen’s mental strength wasn’t something that
trash like Guo Ren could aspire to. His Boulder’s Heart was completely immune
to this kind of threat.
He smiled faintly, “I’ll be waiting. Now, I have two words
for you, GET OUT!”
The last two words rolled forth like the spring thunder. The
thunderous roar of the two words immediately suffused the surrounding area of
the mountain slope.
The examiner’s expression immediately changed drastically as
he cursed silently, this kid is devious! He didn’t dare linger as he sprang up,
taking off faster than a hare bounding away.
There was naturally great purpose in Jiang Chen shouting
out. He wanted to wake the entire mystic quadrant and the examiners so he could
attract the law enforcers.
To put it frankly, he wanted to frame the masked examiner.
He had visited a candidate’s residence in the dead of the
night and had threatened to suppress him. If evidence of this was uncovered,
that was absolutely an enormous disaster and he was sure to be censured by the
other three sects.
Therefore, when the examiner heard Jiang Chen’s yell, he
knew that things were bad and hastened to leave.
At this time, Dan Fei also entered the yard through her
door.
“Brother Boulder, your lofty and unyielding spirit is
greatly admirable. This person must be an examiner from the Purple Sun Sect. He
tried hard and soft tactics to force you to compromise and definitely didn’t
truly want to reconcile with you.”
Jiang Chen smiled faintly, “How would I not see through
their tricks? What does this mean? This means Guo Ren is afraid.”
“Guo Ren has great ambition but little talent, and has no
possibility of reaching the great dao. His dao heart is thus weak, it’s likely
that Brother Boulder’s threat has already become his internal demon. At this
rate, Brother Boulder doesn’t even need to do anything before Guo Ren collapses
without even battling.”
Jiang Chen agreed and nodded, “Calling in reinforcements, it
looks like Guo Ren has exhausted his tricks. I declined his offer today, so I
should likely keep an eye out over the next couple of days to prevent him from
leaping over a wall in desperation.”
Once an internal demon was formed, it was exceedingly
difficult to get rid of. One had to eliminate the source of the internal demon
in order to get rid of it.
Jiang Chen was so strong that Guo Ren was in a quandary as
for what to do to him. He could only resort to desperate measures to eliminate
the source of his internal demon!
A patter of footsteps came from outside the residence as
they spoke.
The law enforcers had come in search of the disturbance.
Jiang Chen opened the door, and the group of law enforcers
walked in with Master Fang at their head.
“We heard a roar here earlier, was it from you?” Master
Fang’s tone was quite dignified, as if he didn’t know Jiang Chen at all and
wouldn’t let private affairs interfere with public matters.
Jiang Chen nodded forthrightly, “In response to Master Fang,
there was a masked man here earlier who claimed to be an examiner of the mystic
quadrant, but was here on behalf of the Purple Sun Sect to threaten me. I ask
Master Fang to be the judge of this matter.”
Master Fang frowned. “Something like this truly happened?”
“Absolutely, my roommate can bear witness.”
Master Fang looked to Dan Fei. She was unafraid as she met
his gaze and said resolutely, “Although we secular disciples have lowly births,
we are also not trash to be shoved around by everyone. This person claimed to
be an examiner, but stood on the Purple Sun Sect’s side in suppressing us. I’d
rather like to ask Master Fang, is this selection really as impartial as the
four sects have said it is?”
Master Fang nodded, “Where is everyone else in this
residence?”
“We don’t know. They don’t return at night and are like this
everyday. We don’t know what they’re up to.” Dan Fei responded.
Master Fang shouted, “Summon all the examiners here
immediately!”
Some law enforcers immediately dashed out the door to notify
the examiners.
There were roughly two hundred examiners from the four great
sects. They quickly made their way here.
As the head keeper of the mystic quadrant, the other
examiners were unable to ignore his commands.
“Everyone, these two candidates say that an examiner came
here to threaten them. I have only one question—who was so bold as to do such a
thing and publicly break the rules of the selection? Who dared privately
approach the candidates and threaten them?”
Master Fang was also seizing on this pretext to vent his
feelings. He wasn’t of the Purple Sun Sect and naturally would never stand on
their side to protect those of that sect.
It was deadly silent at the scene. All the examiners didn’t
dare say anything as great waves of emotions rippled through their hearts.
Who was it? Who’d dared been so bold as to openly threaten
the candidates?
“Recount what transpired here.” Master Fang encouraged Jiang
Chen.
Jiang Chen read a trace of encouragement from Master Fang’s
eyes and knew that the latter was encouraging him to make a big deal of things.
“I was training in my room just now and heard someone appear
in my yard. He said he was here representing the Purple Sun Sect to lobby me.
When that failed, he immediately changed his tune to threaten me and said he
would deploy all of the sect’s strength to suppress me and force me out.
Therefore, I suspect that this person is someone from the Purple Sun Sect.”
Since Master Fang was supporting him, Jiang Chen naturally
didn’t mind directly roasting the Purple Sun Sect over the fire.
“Kid, don’t you slander us!”
“Do you have proof?! Lack of proof means you’re framing us!”
“My Purple Sun Sect is open and straightforward, what need
do we have to threaten you, a mere secular disciple?”
“There must be someone setting my sect up and purposefully
framing us!”
The examiners from the Purple Sun Sect all spoke up in
denunciation.
Jiang Chen looked around and locked on one of the examiners.
He snorted coldly in his heart, you were cocky and unbridled when you visited
just now and only wore a mask. You didn’t change your body shape likely because
you thought you had me?
Jiang Chen pointed directly at that person, “He’s the one.”
The person’s body shook slightly as he shouted, “Kid, do you
know that the crime of framing another is not a small one?”
Jiang Chen laughed coldly, “Stop putting on an act! Before
you came, you likely didn’t think that I’d blow this matter up so you only
carelessly concealed your face, but did nothing to your body shape. What, you
were so arrogant and domineering when threatening me just now, have you turned
into a turtle retracting into your shell now and don’t dare own up to what
you’ve done?”
This person was indeed uncle-master Daoyan whom Guo Ren had
reached out to. He had thought that Jiang Chen wouldn’t suddenly use this
strange tactic, and just as Jiang Chen had postulated earlier, he was forced to
be the passive one all of a sudden.
However, as proud as he was, he also knew that he absolutely
couldn’t admit to things now.
“Master Fang, this kid is slandering me. I ask Master Fang
to punish him harshly and destroy the ill wind that dares besmirch the
examiners!” Daoyan was actually filing the suit first, even though he was the
guilty party.
Master Fang snorted coldly, “Where were you just now?”
“I was resting in my room.” Daoyan responded easily.
Chapter 340: Guo Ren Breaks Down, Jiang Chen is Champion
Jiang Chen also knew that if this fellow flat out denied his
involvement, there was truly nothing Jiang Chen could do about it. However,
Jiang Chen didn’t want to beat him to death. Even if a crime couldn’t be pinned
on him, Jiang Chen was happy to pull the examiner’s leg for a bit.
Jiang Chen snorted coldly, “You dare commit those actions
but don’t dare to admit to them. Coward! I don’t know who you are, but I hadn’t
thought about using the rules to bring your crime to light. I only want to tell
you that a coward should never threaten others. A coward’s threat is the
weakest and most useless of all. Remember, I’m going to stir up that hornets’
nest of yours. You better go back and pray with Guo Ren that he won’t meet me
in the ring!”
Jiang Chen made a cupped fist salute to Master Fang after
speaking, “Master Fang, since he wishes to deny this, then this becomes a
mystery without clues. Please make your judgement.”
Master Fang thought momentarily, “It’s impossible to judge
this matter without a witness. Let it end here.”
He mused silently for a bit after speaking and raised his
voice again, “I’ll say this again. If it’s discovered that an examiner has
privately approached a candidate, let alone threatened one, the punishment will
not be light!”
Master Fang beckoned with his hand after speaking and led
the group out.
As Dan Fei watched Jiang Chen’s expansive demeanor and
carefree chatter in front of the assembled examiners, her heart was tied even
more closely to his lofty sentiments and her affections knew no bounds.
This was the truest, most uncommon man in her heart, a real
man able to hold up the heavens!
Dan Fei had a vague feeling that, as long as Jiang Chen was
present, no matter how weak or strong, senior or junior the others were, they
would all be relegated to being Jiang Chen’s supporting characters in the end.
This man seemed to have been born to be the main character.
Even if he kept a low profile, even if he purposefully
concealed his talents, there were always various fortuitous encounters that
propelled him to take center stage.
This had happened time and time again without exception.
Jiang Chen was actually calmer after erupting in open
hostility with the Purple Sun Sect. His mind had been previously clouded with
hatred, but it was now much clearer.
“Purple Sun Sect! One of my goals in participating in this
time’s selection is to stomp on all of the Purple Sun Sect disciples. It looks
like this is destiny, and I am fated to feel irreconcilable hatred for them and
be unable to even share the same sky!”
“Since this is the case, then come at me! Let me see just
how frightening the so-called hornets’ nest of the Purple Sun Sect is, and how
perverse their geniuses are!”
Jiang Chen’s personality made him prefer death to
submission, and never acquiescing to someone taking a hard line.
Since the Purple Sun Sect had attempted to bully him time
and time again, Jiang Chen’s only choice was to resist until the end.
“Brother Xiao Fei, I’m thoroughly breaking with the Purple
Sun Sect. I’m afraid you’ll become embroiled into this in the future. Are you…”
“Don’t worry about me. I already made all my preparations
when I came here.” Dan Fei waved her hand and said faintly, “It’s late, get
some rest.”
Dan Fei walked back into her room after saying this.
When she closed the door, Dan Fei leaned back listlessly on
the door. All that calmness and that strength had been an act she’d put on for
Jiang Chen.
Her goal was to make Jiang Chen feel that she wasn’t a
burden, so that she wouldn’t affect his dao heart.
The only thing was, this kind of pretense was truly very
tiring.
However, Dan Fei had no other choice. What else could she do
other than this? Could she spend her days in unabashed displays of affection
after revealing her identity and allow Jiang Chen to lose himself in her
tenderness?
This was absolutely not what she wanted to see.
…...
Guo Ren was also suffering greatly in his residence at the
moment. He’d completely collapsed when he had learned that his uncle-master
Daoyan had failed and had nearly revealed his identity in the process.
His last bit of effort had all been for naught, and it
hadn’t brought about any effect.
Guo Ren’s eyes were bloodshot and his expression ugly as he
spat out his words, “A mere country bumpkin who doesn’t know how to appreciate
the good! Kid, are you forcing me here?!”
A violent light exploded in his eyes. He was obviously
formulating some sort of extreme scheme.
Guo Ren’s chest suddenly felt tight as he kept thinking, and
he spewed out a mouthful of blood. His body softened as he actually fell
straight down.
Guo Ren’s internal demon had flared up and the flames of his
heart had surged up, making him break down where he had stood!
Although the news was kept under wraps, it still traveled
quickly, causing the entire mystic quadrant to go crazy!
For the candidates of the other three sects, this was
absolutely a most delightful piece of news to see and hear. It was most
gratifying, worthy of such widespread jubilation that everyone rushed to tell
each other. This was of great satisfaction!
The news of first seed Guo Ren of the mystic quadrant being
frightened into forming an internal demon, and how he had been so incensed that
he’d spat blood, quickly made the rounds.
Those who had joined Guo Ren in plotting against Jiang Chen
mourned the loss of one of their own kind. Like felt for like, and they all
felt that this ill fate was about to quickly descend upon their own heads.
The other Purple Sun Sect disciples who hadn’t participated
in this matter were all shellshocked and all came to ask what had occurred
behind the scenes.
The disciples of the other sects were almost unanimously
gleeful in the face of the misfortunes of others, and some even added insult to
injury!
Guo Ren had always been tyrannically domineering and had no
respect for anyone. Just because he was ranked first in the mystic quadrant,
he’d been haughty and self-conceited, always having his eyes at the top of his
head.
Now what? How did karma taste?
He’d been so terrified by a secular disciple that an
internal demon had formed, and he’d even spat blood. It was obvious that he was
crippled for life!
“Such delight, much joy!” Liu Wencai of the Myriad Spirit
Sect couldn’t help but want to forcefully toss back some cups of wine as he sat
in the yard of his seventh residence. He’d been humiliated that day when he’d
failed in recruiting Jiang Chen.
Liu Wencai hadn’t argued with Guo Ren then because he’d been
fearful of Guo Ren’s strength as the first seed.
Now that he’d heard of such wonderful news, Liu Wencai was
naturally the epitome of elation. He felt that today was the best day ever
since he’d participated in the great selection.
The other first level candidates who’d had nothing to do
with this were also a bit fearful as they exulted in the misfortunes of others.
They weren’t afraid of Guo Ren, but of Jiang Chen.
Just where had this mysterious, domineering secular genius
sprung out from? How much talent did he have that even the mighty Guo Ren had
formed an internal demon and had been so enraged that he’d spat blood?
Guo Ren was absolutely not unworthy of his place as the
first candidate in the mystic quadrant. None of the other first level
candidates dared say that they were stronger than Guo Ren.
“It looks like even though we’re down a Guo Ren, we’ve
gained an even more mysterious, more frightening secular genius. The
championship of the hundred challenges in the mystic quadrant is still
something that I believe will be tough to obtain.”
This was embodied in a sigh from the second residence of the
mystic quadrant.
Guo Ren became the laughingstock of the entire mystic
quadrant overnight, and the title of the freak genius of the boulder’s heart
became illustrious on the contrary.
If it was said that his previous, incredible 45 successive
wins had placed Jiang Chen at the center of attention, he had now become the
mountain within the hearts of the mystic quadrant candidates after the night
had passed.
An insurmountable mountain.
Almost all of the first level candidates bowed their heads
with resignation in the span of a night.
In this regard, Jiang Chen’s momentum met even less
resistance. Almost all of the people he selected surrendered voluntarily or put
up a weak front, because they knew that if they feigned weakness, they could at
least retain face and get off the stage in a respectful way.
An incredible legend of 100 straight wins was born after
half a month!
This was a score that surpassed the ancients and galvanized
the contemporaries, an absolutely insane record!
Things weren’t over yet. All the candidates banded together
and requested that the name of the freak genius of the boulder’s heart be
eliminated from the list of challengers.
Not only did they not wish to be selected by Jiang Chen,
they didn’t want to pick him either.
Whether it was the challengers or the ones to be challenged,
none of them wanted to meet the secular genius in the ring.
This seemingly ludicrous petition forced the examiners to
seriously consider it.
After requesting feedback from all of the candidates, the
final result was—
His position as the champion of the mystic quadrant was
accepted, but the caveat was that he be struck from the list of challengers.
This was a change that Jiang Chen hadn’t anticipated.
He hadn’t thought that he’d turned into an existence that
everyone revered, akin to a tiger that all feared. But since everyone admitted
his position as the champion, he was happy to take a break and have his name
dashed off the list.
Otherwise, having to appear at the Hundred Challenges Arena
everyday and wait to be called upon was indeed a restriction for someone who
had completed the hundred challenges early on.
Finally, all parties reached an accord. Jiang Chen was
bestowed the title of the champion of the mystic quadrant, and his name was
eliminated from the list of participants in the Arena.
All the candidates breathed a sigh of relief when this
outcome was announced, particularly the Purple Sun Sect disciples. They felt
their spirits revive again.
After this unlucky harbinger of doom left the lists, they
would never have to fear accidentally selecting him again.
To Jiang Chen, this meant that he had temporarily graduated
and was a free man.
Without the unexpected factor that was Jiang Chen, the
matches of the mystic quadrant finally started proceeding normally. However,
eye-popping performances also decreased.
There were no longer crazy phenomena such as ten or twenty
successive wins.
Jiang Chen would visit the Arena now and then to keep an eye
out for Xiao Fei’s matches. However, he discovered with resignation that Xiao
Fei seemed to be purposefully keeping her distance from him.
A month into the matches, Jiang Chen discovered that Xiao
Fei’s movements became even more untraceable. She would avoid him whenever
Jiang Chen appeared.
Three months finally passed in the end.
In the final announcement of scores, Jiang Chen was the
undisputed champion. The slots from second to tenth were almost all filled with
first level candidates.
Except the seventh.
The seventh was Jiang Chen’s neighbor Xiao Fei.
This meant that of the ten spots from the hundred challenges
in the mystic quadrant, two of them had been filled by secular disciples. Even
the sect disciples were amazed at this outcome. They were resigned to the
outcome but unwilling to actually accept it.
As for the other eight secular disciples, their scores had
been more ordinary. Four of them ranked in the last ten and were going to be
demoted to the yellow quadrant come next week.
Jiang Chen and the other top ten candidates were to enter
the earth spirit quadrant at that time.
Jiang Chen wanted to excitedly congratulate Xiao Fei when he
returned to his residence, but he found the place empty and that she had long
since moved out of her room.
Xiao Fei had left the premises!
Jiang Chen was stunned. Now was the time to celebrate her
being in seventh place. Where had she gone now?
He looked all over and returned back to the Arena, but
couldn’t find any trace of Xiao Fei at all.
When he still couldn’t find her at nightfall, Jiang Chen
began to feel a twinge of an uneasy premonition. Had the Purple Sun Sect made a
move on Xiao Fei?
Alarm bells began to clang in Jiang Chen’s mind as he sped
towards the examiners’ section.
