The power of the Tight-Circlet Spell was well known among the Chinese. A long time ago, Sanzang once used it on the Monkey King. Not even he could withstand the pain. Though the three golden circlets that Chen Xiaobei had with him were just replica, it was more than enough to use it to deal with mortal beings. To them, the torture from it was worse than death.
"God Chen… Stop chanting please… Ouch… Please… It's so painful! We are going to die if you continue doing this to us!"
The agonizing scream let out by Liu Xuanxi and Liu Chunyi was worse than a pig screaming when it was being slaughtered. Actually, the amount of Spiritual Qi that Chen Xiaobei had channeled from the box to the golden circlets was limited. He would not be able to kill the two of them with it. Even if they did not beg Chen Xiaobei to stop, he would have to stop chanting eventually. Seeing that they were begging him to stop, an idea came to Chen Xiaobei's mind. He thought to take advantage of the situation while they were suffering. They would literally say yes to anything when they were suffering from this extreme pain.
"Pay me 1,000 Spiritual Stones and I will stop the chanting!" said Chen Xiaobei with an evil smile.
"That's… That's a lot…"
Immediately, Liu Xiyuan's face contorted.
To Xuanjian Faction, 1,000 Spiritual Stones served as a foundation to fortify the faction. Giving them out in one go would mean weakening the entire faction. This was worse than asking Liu Xiyuan to cut a piece of flesh from his body.
"Grandpa… Stop hesitating! Just say yes to him! Quick! It's so painful! We are going to die soon!"
Clearly, Liu Chunyi was weak-minded. He did not want to suffer from the pain anymore. That was why he was trying to hasten his grandpa to hand over the Spiritual Stones.
"God Chen… Please stop with the chant… We will pay you! We are willing to hand over the 1,000 Spiritual Stones!"
Rendering with no other option and being convinced by his grandson, Liu Xiyuan finally agreed to pay Chen Xiaobei.
"Hehe… Go and get it immediately! You have five minutes! Fail to come back to me within five minutes, I will start chanting again!"
The truth was the Spiritual Qi in the golden circlets were almost depleted. Even if they refuse to pay the Spiritual Stones, Chen Xiaobei would have to stop the chant eventually. However, the two of them did not know about it. Immediately, they ran back to their faction and brought 1,000 Spiritual Stones for Chen Xiaobei.
"God Chen… All the Spiritual Stones are in these two boxes… Please accept it!"
Liu Xiyuan and Liu Chunyi came to Chen Xiaobei with two huge crates. The two of them then kneeled down in front of Chen Xiaobei to beg him to accept it while eyeing on the crates. Upon seeing that, Chen Xiaobei could not help but laugh out loud. He was thinking whether two of them would cough out a mouthful of blood if they knew that he would have to stop with the chant even if they refuse to pay him the Spiritual Stones.
"Not bad! You guys have made the right move!"
With a swing of his hand, two big boxes were kept in his Infinite Space Ring.
"What have you guys heard and seen today?" asked Chen Xiaobei.
"We…"
Taken aback, Liu Chunyi and Liu Xuanxin shook their heads immediately.
"N-n-no! We have seen and heard nothing today!"
"Good! Remember what you just said! If you fail to do so, I, Chen Zhufeng will make you shut your mouths for good! Mark my words!"
"Y-y-yes! Farewell! God Chen!"
Liu Xiyuan and Liu Chunyi kowtowed thrice before they fled the scene. Today, they had witnessed Chen Xiaobei used his godly skill to deal with his enemies. From the bottom of their hearts, they were now truly afraid of Chen Xiaobei. No matter what, they would not dare to tell Chen Xiaobei's secret to others.
"Alright. Everything is settled! We shall leave now…"
Chen Xiaobei strode toward the three people that stood on the side with a smile on his face.
Bop!
Bop!
Before Chen Xiaobei could finish his words, Huo Yuanba and Qiao'er kneeled on the ground.
"You are now our biggest benefactor! Please accept our gratitude! We will never forget that you saved our lives today!"
Right after that, they were about to touch the ground with their heads.
"No! Don't do that… It's equivalent to slapping my face!"
"We don't mean that…"
"Two of you are Xuanxin's friends! That means you are my friend as well! And friends are supposed to take care of each other! I just did what I can to help my friends! Get up! If not, I will see that you are not treating me as your friend!"
"This…"
Huo Yuanba and Huo Qiaoqiao were taken aback.
"Qiao'er. You should get up first!"
Huo Yuanba helped her sister to get up and he continued to kneel on the ground.
"Brother… What are you…" asked Qiao'er, baffled.
"God Chen. Of course, we see you as our friend! But! I have told you earlier that if you manage to bring back my sister to me, unharmed – I, Huo Yuanba officially owe you two lives! From today onward, I'm willing to follow wherever you go and serve you!"
"That's not necessary at all!"
"I, Huo Yuanba had ventured in the Jianghu for a lot of years! I will definitely make sure that I repay your good deed! Following you will be able to fulfill one of my personal wishes as well. My sister and I have offended Xuanjian Faction and we got into the mess with the Blood Descendants and Green Town Faction as well. I'm afraid that there's no safe place for me and my sister anymore! Only you can guarantee the safety of me and my sister! God Chen, please give us the chance to repay your good deed! And please let us to stay under your protection as well!"
Once Chen Xiaobei accedes to his request, he would definitely stay loyal to Chen Xiaobei until the end of the world.
"Chen Xiaobei. For my sake, please say yes to him! Consider that I owe you a favor!"
Suddenly, Liu Xuanxin spoke her mind as well. She knew that Huo Yuanba would never harm Chen Xiaobei. If Chen Xiaobei said yes to them, he would be able to protect them and recruit a powerful disciple. It was truly killing two birds with one stone!
"I'm going to say yes to it! You owe me nothing!"
Chen Xiaobei then smiled at Liu Xuanxin. Clearly, he knew that Liu Xuanxin had put herself into his shoes before making the suggestion.
"Yuanba! Qiao'er! Bei Xuan Faction is literally the safest place on earth! The two of you have to join my faction because it's easier for me to explain to my friends and family about it!"
"The two of us are willing to become your servants!" said Huo Yuanba.
"Don't lower yourself like that. I will treat you as my family members since I have decided to bring you in! Just see as yourself as my disciple! From today onward, Bei Xuan Faction is your new home!"
"We are willing! We are one hundred – no – one thousand percent willing! I, Huo Yuanba officially see you as my Sifu!"
"I, Huo Qiaoqiao would like to show my gratitude to my Sifu as well!"
Huo Yuanba and Huo Qiaoqiao were now officially Chen Xiaobei's disciples.
Both of them had been ready to become Chen Xiaobei's servants earlier. With that being said, their status in the faction would be the lowest among the rest. But everything would change for them once they had become Chen Xiaobei's disciples – they would gain a name, identity for themselves and even a bright future.
With their own eyes, they saw Chen Xiaobei defeated Xia Dinxi, Blood Descendants, and Liu Family members easily. Even a fool would understand that even though Chen Xiaobei was not a demigod, he would possess a wealth of unimaginable resources!
Huo Yuanba had a strong suspicion that by sanctioning Chen Xiaobei as their master and joining the Bei Xuan Faction would be better than joining any other ancient faction. Clearly, now he knew that he had a bright future waiting for him. Calling Chen Xiaobei his Sifu was not hard for Huo Yuanba at all. Instead, he felt that this was a golden opportunity for him and his sister.
As a matter of fact, his hunch was right. In the near future, he would be extremely grateful for this.
Of course, only time would tell.
"Xuanxin, I think you should go back to Bei Xuan Faction with me. I think you are safe if you all by yourself!"
Chen Xiaobei invited as he turned to face to Liu Xuanxin.
"No! I'm not going!" Liu Xuanxin refused, "I have my own way of dealing with things. There's nothing unsafe about it! I have already made my decision! So please stop pestering me."
"Why do I have the feeling that you are avoiding me?"
Chen Xiaobei narrowed his eyes. He smelt something fishy.
"Who… Who's avoiding you?" Liu Xuanxin braced herself and said, "Men and women should not touch! I don't want to get involved with you!"
"Well, if you refuse to stay in Bei Xuan Faction. That actually can be arranged!" Chen Xiaobei said, "But why do you always cover up your face whenever you see me? You're obviously trying to avoid me."
"That… That is none of your business! I can cover up my face whenever I want to! Why do I have to explain myself to you?" Liu Xuanxin blurted. Furious, she turned around, leaped on her three-inch-bounded feet and disappeared into the thin air like a snowflake.
"Hehe…"
Qiao'er started to giggle.
"Qiao'er, do you know something I don't?"
Chen Xiaobei turned his gaze toward her.
"I don't know…"
Qiao'er was loyal to a fault, so quickly said, "I have never seen her act like a child! That's why I laughed!"
Chen Xiaobei frowned. But because he could not seem to find any other explanation, he simply nodded and said, "Let's leave this place."
He then brought Sirius, Xiaobai, and Xiao'er back to Bei Xuan Faction.
The group returned safely to Bei Xuan Faction
Because Huo Yuanba and Wu Aofeng had a very similar temperament, they quickly became good friends; and the social butterfly, Wu Aofeng brought Huo Yuanba to meet all the menfolk.
Those who were able to gather around Chen Xiaobei were all heroic men! Men who were congenial like Huo Yuanba – they could all get along easily!
As for Qiao'er, because of her age and her adorable appearance, both Wenyuan and Murong Xiaoyao adored this lass. They even took care of her as their own little sister.
In less than half a day, the Huo siblings felt very much at home in Bei Xuan Faction and had already settled down comfortably.
While the siblings settled down, Chen Xiaobei found himself occupied.
"Today, I managed to extort some Spiritual Stones from that old bastard. But I still don't have enough! I need them for training, to activate the Witch Dragon Blood, Ancestral Sword Divine Rune, Quicksand Gourd, Golden Circlets, White Jade Dragon Box, and others!"
Chen Xiaobei sat in his room, pondering.
"It looks like the only way to acquire more Spiritual Stones is from the upcoming martial arts competition! First place gets 3,000 Spiritual Stones; second place gets 1,500 Spiritual Stones, and third place gets 500 Spiritual Stones! That's 5,000 Spiritual Stones in total! If I could just figure out how to get all of it. Then I wouldn't have to worry about it for a long long time!"
"But I won't be able to do it alone. Tai Yitan, Huo Yuanba, and Wu Aofeng will have to level up in strength!"
Chen Xiaobei then took out his phone and went to the Red Envelope Group to ask Taiyin True Deity about the way to grow more Yin Yang Soul Linking Hexworms.
"Tai Yitan and rest of them could be considered as the prodigies that are below thirty years old! As long as I manage to grow more Yin Yang Soul Linking Hexworm and give them one each – they will be able to borrow Xiaobai's and Sirius's special ability! By that time, those that are in the same age category with them will not be able to defeat them!"
"Maybe… I don't even need to fight in the competition and I will be able to obtain all the rewards from the competition!"
Chen Xiaobei's eyes beamed. He then quickly picked up the phone and ordered Yap Liangchen to buy the medical ingredients to grow Yin Yang Soul Linking Hexworm.
Once he got the medical ingredients, Chen Xiaobei followed the way that Tai Yin True Deity taught him to grow the hexworms. Since this was a higher-tier hexworm, Chen Xiaobei had to spend 100 Spiritual Stones to grow a pair of Yin Yang Soul Linking Hexworms.
Chen Xiaobei did not grow more than three pairs since the Spiritual Stones that he possessed were limited.
Once he was done, Chen Xiaobei jumped on his Somersault Cloud and flew to Zhong State.
...
At Li Family's Mansion in Zhong State.
As the most powerful family in Zhong State, the Li owned three hundred million in assets. In other words, they were actually one of the richest families in China.
Li Yunlin's name was on the Forbes list nearly every year.
Only a few people know that the Li Family was actually under the Blood Descendants! And the leader of Li Family was the mysterious Li Xiang!
The purpose of Chen Xiaobei's trip was very obvious. Since he did not manage to extract any information about the Dark Neutron from Potter, he came just to ask Li Xiang about it. Earlier, Chen Xiaobei had already informed him about it, Li Xiang managed to cancel all his plan and wait for Chen Xiaobei's arrival at a private mansion beside lake and mountains. He would not need to worry about others eavesdropped on them since this was his hand.
"Mr. Chen! You are finally here!"
Outside of Zhuang Mansion, Li Xiang and a young man were standing there and welcomed Chen Xiaobei together.
Of course, while both Li Xiang and the young man looked really youthful, they were the only ones who knew their true age!
"This is?"
Chen Xiaobei eyed the young man.
What they had wanted to discuss was strictly confidential. Chen Xiaobei did not want any outsiders present.
"His name is Li Gang! He's our Li Family's most brilliant genius. Since the age of eight, he had already started to train by my side. I intend to make him my successor. That's why I brought him here to see you!" Li Xiang said reverently, "But of course, if it is inconvenient for Mr. Chen, I will immediately ask him to step down!"
"It's alright! Let's go in and talk!" Chen Xiaobei waved his large hand and the three of them stepped into the Zhuang Mansion.
Upon entering the common area, Chen Xiaobei took out the Star of David.
"Do you know what this is?" asked Chen Xiaobei.
After observing it for a while, Li Xiang shook his head and replied, "Is this a piece of gem? I don't see anything special about it!"
"What? How can you now know about it?!" Chen Xiaobei exclaimed in astonishment.
Initially, Chen Xiaobei thought he could acquire the answer that he wanted from Li Xiang. To his surprise, Li Xiang had no knowledge about this item. Let alone the secret that buried within it.
"Mr. Chen. I can recognize the item! But, I'm not sure whether I'm right about it!"
Suddenly, the young Li Gang spoke his mind.
"Enlighten me!" said Chen Xiaobei with his mind lit.
"I have read about this Star of David from one of the ancient books of the Blood Descendants. According to the ancient book, this Star of David also known as Dark Neutron! It serves as a vessel for the dark power of Blood Descendants! Of course, every family's Neutron has a different shape and color. And its abilities can vary as well!"
After hearing Li Gang's explanation. Li Xiang came to a realization suddenly.
"Ah! So, this is the Dark Neutron! This is my first time seeing other families' Neutron! That is why I could not recognize it in the first place!"
"Okay. Since you know that this is the Dark Neutron, I should tell you guys everything! I found this piece of Dark Neutron from the heart of the heir of the Gustav Family! Do you know what kind of special ability is buried within it?"
"I'm not too sure about it as well! The way of passing on those special abilities is different in every family! Only the successor of the family will know about it! The family will never let others know about their secret no matter what!" said Li Gang while shaking his head.
"He is right! Until now, the family has not even tell Li Gang about the way of passing down our Neutron to him. There is no way that an outsider will know about it!" said Li Xiang.
"This is going to be so troublesome! The previous head of the family and successor of the Gustav Family are dead! Does that mean the secret of inheriting the power of the Dark Neutron is gone forever?"
"That is not necessarily true! Did you notice any moves that could not be possible to be performed by a human when you battled the family members of the Gustav Family?" asked Li Gang.
"About this… Yes! He consumed the blood of this allies to boost his combat power greatly!"
"Yes! This is it! This is the dark power of the Gustav Family!" said Li Gang.
"Is there a way for me to acquire this dark power?" asked Chen Xiaobei in an enthusiastic manner.
Once Chen Xiaobei acquired this dark power, he would be able to increase his combat power instantly with ease. As long as there were enough enemies in the battlefield, he could boost his cultivation to pinnacle phase of True Nirvana stage within a few minutes. When Damien had first used this ability to boost his combat power, Chen Xiaobei thought that it was better than using a cheat tool.
All Chen Xiaobei needed to do to advance to Celestial cultivation was to concoct another Skybreaking Cultivation Pill after he acquired this dark power. And in the future, he just needed to continue to consume more blood essence to increase his combat power.
"Now that we know the magical ability of this dark power, that doesn't mean you will be able to wield it! You have to go through some secret techniques to inherit this dark power! For example, in order of the successor of Gustav Family to inherit this dark power, the person has to place the Dark Neutron deep in their heart! I don't think one can achieve it with current medical knowledge!"
Upon hearing that, Chen Xiaobei agreed with it. Putting a finger-sized rock into one's heart is close to impossible! Set aside current medical knowledge, not even Chen Xiaobei could achieve it with this top-notch medical skill and knowledge. And even if he managed to plant it in the heart somehow, he still did not know the way to activate the dark power. It would be really awkward if he failed to wield the dark power after planting it inside his heart.
"Since the two successors of the Gustav Families are dead, I don't think that anyone knows the to pass down this dark power to others…" said Chen Xiaobei in slight disappointment.
"You are right…"
Nodding, Li Xiang and Li Gang could not think of other ways to help Chen Xiaobei as well.
"Okay! Let's not talk about it for now!"
Seeing that there was no answer to it, Chen Xiaobei had no intention to keep on dwelling in it.
"Li Xiang. Have you prepared to travel to Japan?"
"I think I'm pretty well prepared! We will travel to Japan using my electronic company's name? There will be someone to pick us up once we arrive there! Basically, we can depart anytime you want right now!"
"Then, have you located the Orochi?"
Recently, Chen Xiaobei was occupied with different matters. That was why he did not have time to do it.
"I have three confirmed locations with me right now! All we need to do is to travel to these three places and I'm pretty sure we can look for the thing that we want in one of these three places!" said Li Xiang in a confident manner.
"Three locations? How long do you estimate to search these three places?"
"Shortest is one week and longest is one month!"
After all, things were constantly changing. There was no way that Li Xiang could give Chen Xiaobei an exact time frame.
"I think we need to postpone the trip again if this is going to take a month to look for the thing that we want! I have to wait until the martial arts competition ends first before I can leave to Japan for a month!"
"Alright! We will just follow whatever you say!"
They had waited for Chen Xiaobei to travel to Japan together for a few months. That was why they did not mind to wait for a few days more.
"Oh right! Do you have any update on the royal family in Japan? Did anything special happen recently?
Narrowing his eyes, Chen Xiaobei could not help but think of a voluptuous Japanese lady.
"There are actually! One month from now, the prince is going to marry the Holy Lady of the Divine Sovereign Sect! By that time, the whole country will celebrate their wedding together! That should be our best time to carry out our mission!"
"One month later! No matter what! We have to travel to Japan!" said Chen Xiaobei in a determined manner.
As compared to looking at the scale of Yamata no Orochi, Chen Xiaobei felt that it was more important for him to stop the royal wedding.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Suddenly, the sound of the wind could be heard from outside.
"Enemies are coming!"
Alerted, Li Xiang sensed that there was someone approaching them.
"Strange! How did they know that I'm here?!"
Using his Golden Gaze Fiery Eyes, Chen Xiaobei saw what was going on outside the house. And it made him extremely uncomfortable. There were powerful enemies coming at him.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
There were thirty-seven shadows flying in the sky outside the building. Thirty-six of them had silver hair with silver wings. All of them were wearing silver armor. Flying in the dark sky made them looked like the silver demons that came from hell.
It was apparent that all thirty-six of them were Silver-Winged Myrmidons of the Blood Descendants! When Damien announced that he wanted to destroy Paradise Island, he was only given twelve Silver-Winged Myrmidons. Now, there were thirty-six of them! Seemingly, the Blood Descendant that led this group of Silver-Winged Myrmidons was no ordinary Blood Descendants!
He had golden hair, wings, and eyes! Though this Blood Descendant looked old, Chen Xiaobei could sense a strong aura emanating from him. Without considering the number of Silver-Winged Myrmidons that he brought with him, one could see that the leader was someone that was even more powerful than the grand duke!
All thirty-six Silver-Winged Myrmidons possessed around 35,000 combat power. As for the Golden-Winged Blood Descendant, his combat power must be at around 50,000 since he was more powerful than a grand duke. In other words, he should be an elite with Celestial cultivation.
With only thirty-seven Silver-Winged Myrmidons, they could easily destroy the entire Xuanjian Faction a hundred times! Clearly, they were not the kind of enemies that one should mess with.
"How did they know I'm here?" asked Chen Xiaobei, shocked.
"Xiao'er come out!"
At that moment, Chen Xiaobei had to come up with a strategy to deal with them as soon as possible. He then started to take out all the items that could aid him in the battle later. With his sheer will, the Green Jade Gourd was summoned to his hand and Xiao'er crawled out from his pocket as well.
"Bro Bei. How can I help you? Are you going to feed me something yummy again?" asked Xiao'er in anticipation.
"This is a life threatening situation! Tell me! How many Spiritual Stones do you need to recover your special ability? Just consumer however much you need right now! Quick!"
Immediately, Xiao'er crawled to the Green Jade Gourd and took a deep breath of Spiritual Qi into its body.
"I just consumed 100 Spiritual Stones from it!"
"That's a lot!"
Chen Xiaobei was frustrated as he had just taken 1,000 Spiritual Stones from Liu Xiyuan. Moments later, he had been forced to spend 300 of them on borrowing the special ability from his Spiritual Beasts. Now, Xiao'er had to consume another 100 Spiritual Stones to recover his strength.
Almost half of Chen Xiaobei's Spiritual Stones were gone!
However, this was the only way to defeat all of them. Facing such a powerful enemy, the Spiritual Qi inside the Green Jade Gourd was definitely not enough for Chen Xiaobei to transform himself into Witch Dragon.
The only thing that Chen Xiaobei could do right was to make sure all his trump cards could function normally. After helping Xiao'er to recover its special ability, there were around 600 Spiritual Stones left inside and he could use them for some critical moments.
"Mr. Chen… What are you trying to do?"
Li Xiang and Li Gang were taken aback.
They could not believe that Chen Xiaobei was talking to a golden beetle when there was a group of powerful enemies approaching them. They thought he had lost his mind.
"I don't have time to explain to you guys! Quickly use True Kang to protect yourself!" shouted Chen Xiaobei in a nervous manner.
Through the Golden Gaze Fiery Eyes, Chen Xiaobei could see that his enemies had started to prepare to attack them.
Swoosh!
The Golden-Winged Blood Descendant lifted both of his arms and a tornado was formed in front of him within three seconds! Though it was not as powerful as a demigod-level calamity, it was still destructive enough to kill elites that were below Celestial cultivation. The tornado was ten-meters tall meters and wide as a giant dragon. All the things around it were consumed by it wherever it traveled. It was as if it was going to shake the ground and turn the sky dark!
Soon, the tornado would arrive at the mansion where was Chen Xiaobei located.
Rumble—
Klak—
Crash—
It was a single floored mansion and it was made of wood. Within seconds, the tornado landed on the mansion and shredded it into wood chips.
Swoop—
Swoop—
Swoop—
There were three people could be seen dashing out from the destroyed mansion. These three people were Chen Xiaobei, Li Xiang, and Li Gang. Before the tornado hit the mansion, Chen Xiaobei used his Golden Gaze Fiery Eyes to predict the path that the tornado was going to travel. He then informed Li Xiang and Li Gang about it. Finally, three of them worked together to dodge the path that the tornado was going to travel.
If not, the three of them would be sucked into the tornado. One should know that this tornado was controlled by a Blood Descendant with Celestial cultivation! Its destructive power was enough to crush their True Kang armor. In the end, they would lose their lives because of it!
"Okay!"
To his surprise, the Golden-Winged Blood Descendant did not expect that the three of them managed to escape from his attack.
Swoosh—
With his sheer will, the Blood Descendant sped up the tornado to go after Chen Xiaobei.
"Mr. Gordon! I… I think that person is Chen Xiaobei! We have to make sure that he is alive! That is the order that you gave us in the beginning!"
"What? That is Chen Xiaobei? I'm glad that I can find him here! Go! Bring him to me!"
Immediately, all 36 Silver-Winged Myrmidons flew to Chen Xiaobei and surrounded him.
"Mr. Chen! Leave him! We will hold them off!"
Li Xiang was extremely loyal to Chen Xiaobei. At a critical moment like this, he still put Chen Xiaobei's before his own life.
"That Golden Wing Blood Descendant's cultivation is too powerful! And he can control wind attribute catastrophe event! None of us can leave here safely if we don't deal with him together!"
"What you want to defeat Gordon, the grand leader?! Did you just lose your mind? How dare you say something this stupid?!" shouted the leader of the Silver-Winged Myrmidons.
Every single Silver-Winged Myrmidon was staring at Chen Xiaobei like he was an idiot. Even Li Xiang and Li Gang could not figure out how was Chen Xiaobei going to defeat the grand leader of Blood Descendants.
Swoosh—
In a blink of an eye, the grand leader flew to Chen Xiaobei and glared at him.
"Kid! Do you know who am I?"
"I don't know you. And I have never offended you! Why are you attacking us?" Chen Xiaobei replied cautiously.
"You don't know me? Let me introduce myself to you! My name is Gordon Bryant! I'm the only survivor of the Bryant Family! Fate had made me crossed paths with one of the royal female Blood Descendants! With her help, I manage to find more golden opportunities for myself! After that, my combat power went through a huge boost! That was the time I got involve in a romantic relationship with her! Not too long after that, she was pregnant with my child!" said the Gordon.
"I know it's rude for someone to interrupt someone while talking. However, I have to tell you that I'm not interested in your love life at all!" said Chen Xiaobei.
"Hmph! You will be interested when you know the name of my son! My son's name is Damien Gustav!"
"What?! Damien is your son?!" said Chen Xiaobei, taken aback.
"Now you know the reason why I have to kill you today! Initially, I came here to look for Li Xiang after receiving some intel from the CIA! To my surprise, I'm lucky enough to see you here today!"
"What?! You really are Damien's father?!"
"I know you want to ask why Damien did not follow my surname when I claim that I'm his father. That is because my family was annihilated! My bloodline would never be recognized by the king! That's why I can never become a grand duke or a royalty!"
"No matter where I go, my woman and my son will be treated as lowlifes! I had enough mocking from them! I can never accept this cold hard reality! That was I came up with a grand plan to bring a good change to their lives! Once my woman was pregnant with Damien, I immediately arranged her to marry into Gustav Family! Not too long after that, Damien was born and he became the young master of the Gustav Family! And I stepped into the Gustav Family as the head servant! I wanted to stay at my son's side!"
"I'm the one that killed his father and helped to eliminate all potential successors! In the end, he was selected to become the sole successor of the Gustav Family! Finally, I could see my Damien being crowned as a grand duke! I also knew that Damien had the potential to become a grand leader or something even more powerful! I wanted to watch him being worshipped by millions of Blood Descendants! If I could see that with my eyes, that means my grand plan was a huge success!"
"But! Not too long ago, Damien told me that he wanted to kill someone called Chen Xiaobei. After that, my son never return to me anymore! My grand plan of many years was destroyed by someone called Chen Xiaobei!"
Immediately, the look on Gordon's face changed! His previous calmness was being replaced by extreme wrath. Glaring at Chen Xiaobei, Gordon was determined to remove Chen Xiaobei's existence from this earth! With his terrifying aura filling up the atmosphere, Li Xiang and Li Gang could not help but shake uncontrollably – fear had completely taken over their bodies. Even the thirty-six Silver-Winged Myrmidons were affected by his aura. None of them dare to move a single muscle on their bodies.
"Don't glare at me!"
At that moment, Chen Xiaobei was the only one that was not afraid of him.
"Your son was killed by me and his body is nowhere to be found! And your grand plan was destroyed by me because of that! That is why you are feeling angry and frustrated! Am I right?" asked Chen Xiaobei.
"Of course! I want to eat your flesh right now and drink your blood! And I want to crush your bones as well! I want to make sure that your soul will be damned in hell forever and ever!"
"Psst! You are such an evil man! But, I don't think you have the right to do that to me! In the Chinese language, we have a saying that those that do evil deeds would eventually end up in hell! Think about it! You let your woman marry someone else! And you even teach your son to come up with an evil plan for his self-gain! Because of selfishness, you destroy the entire Gustav Family! It seems like you have done all the possible evil deeds in this world! You are the one that caused this tragedy upon yourself!"
"You are the reason why your son had the desire to destroy the entire Paradise Island! Disloyal, injustice, heartless, and unfilial are the best traits to describe you and your son! I'm doing the world a favor by killing Damien! No one is going to feel happy as long as your plan is still running!" said Chen Xiaobei in a determined manner.
Clearly, it had always been Gordon's and Damien's fault! If Damien was a seventh generation evil person – then Gordon should be a ninth generation evil man! That was why Gordon had no right to avenge his own son!
"I…"
Rendering speechless, Gordon did not know how to counter Chen Xiaobei. In other words, he just admitted he was the one that did all those dirty deeds.
"Stop reprimanding me! You have no right to do so! Mind your own business! Your Chinese virtues do not apply to me! To me, power is everything! Unless you can defeat me, it's pointless for you to keep on criticizing me!"
Immediately, Gordon started to channel his white True Kang to link with the wind element once again. He was preparing to trigger another catastrophe event!
Rumble—
Seconds later, sand and rock on the ground swirled up into the sky. With the sky darkened, it seemed like a tornado was about to ravage the area again! Everything that was close to it would be destroyed within seconds!
"The tornado that he triggered to destroy the mansion just now was only half of his true strength! It seems like he is going to go all out this time!" said Li Xiang in a fearful manner.
"Shit… Shit…"
On the other hand, Li Gang was standing at the side, gulping. He had never seen such terrifying power before.
"Bitch! Are you sure that your power is everything here?!"
Suddenly, Chen Xiaobei smiled and lifted one of his hand slowly. In his hand, he was holding a finger-sized ruby.
"That is the Dark Neutron!"
Immediately, Gordon and thirty-six Silver Wings Myrmidons focused on Chen Xiaobei.
"Here! Doggy! Doggy! Go and fight for your bone!"
Chen Xioabei swung his hand and tossed the Dark Neutron away from him. The tiny ruby was sucked into the tornado and it was nowhere to be found. ED: ikr. me too Xiaobei, me too.Oh...ED: I don't know how this is related to him being shunned but okay.ED: WHAT
"It's the Dark… Dark Neutron! Quick! Go and look for it! Now! Don't come back to me if you can't find it!"
Immediately, Gordon ceased the tornado. Considering that it was night and the size of the Dark Neutron was as small as a finger, looking for it in such big area was no different from looking a needle in the haystack. Without wasting any time, all thirty-six Silver-Winged Myrmidons spread out and started to look for it.
"Let's go now!"
Chen Xiaobei then quickly took out his Somersault Cloud and helped Li Xiang and Li Gang to get on it. Right after that, Chen Xiaobei took off to the woods outside of the Zhuang Family's mansion at lightning speed.
"Are you planning to run away from me? Not that easy! I'm going to f*cking kill you today no matter what!"
There was no way that Gordon was going to let Chen Xiaobei get away from him. Immediately, he flew into the sky with his golden wings and started to pursue them. With the help of the wings and the strength of the grand leader of Blood Descendant, Gordon managed to catch up to Chen Xiaobei.
"Shit! He is catching up! I don't think we can get away from him!"
At that moment, Li Xiang's and Li Gang's faces were pale as a sheet. Clearly, they had lost all hope. As Blood Descendants, they knew how powerful a grand leader could be.
Celestial Cultivation!
Special talent!
And Dark Power!
In other words, Gordon could actually gain upper hand when he dealt with a human that had the same combat power with him. To be honest, Chen Xiaobei, Li Xiang, and Li Gang were just elites with True Nirvana cultivation. To Gordon, the three of them were just a speck of dust. Feeling despair, Li Xiang and Li Gang had lost the hope that they might be able to get away from Gordon.
However, Chen Xiaobei could still put on a calm smile at this life-threatening situation.
"There's a saying that dogs will always protect its food and not let anyone lay their hands on it! Why are you not doing the same?"
"Son of a bitch! How dare you badmouth me when you are about to be killed by me?! Just wait! I will let you have a taste of all kind of tortures when I capture you! I will make you feel regret for being born to this world!"
Upon hearing that, Li Xiang and Li Gang could not figure out why would Chen Xiaobei go and taunt Gordon at moment like this.
"You are wrong! I'm not trying to badmouth you! I'm just trying to advise you!"
"Advise me about what?!" asked Gordon, feeling uncomfortable.
"There is only one Dark Neutron! Are you sure all thirty-six of your doggies will not keep it for themselves?" said Chen Xiaobei with a smile.
It seemed like he had everything under control.
"This…"
Gordon was smart enough to know what Chen Xiaobei was trying to tell him. Dark Neutron was one of the most important things for Blood Descendants. All thirty-six Silver-Winged Myrmidons could choose not to inform him when they managed to locate it since he was not with them. There was a high chance that he could never lay his eyes on it once it was hidden by his allies. Without saying a word, Gordon immediately turned around and return to where he came from earlier.
The moment he turned around, Chen Xiaobei managed to increase the gap between him by hundreds of meters. Seemingly, he had given up to pursue Chen Xiaobei.
"He… He is just going to leave us alone? Not going to kill us anymore?"
Initially, they thought that they would surely be killed by Gordon. To their surprise, Chen Xiaobei managed to use a single statement to drive Gordon away from them. Being able to run away from the grand leader of Blood Descendants was like a dream to them.
"Don't worry! An evil person like him prioritizes his own gain more than anything else in this world! Not even the death of his wife or son would affect him!"
Narrowing his eyes, a glint of wisdom could be seen reflected from Chen Xiaobei's eyes.
"We can expect him to come and looking for us a few days later!"
"That's right! The shape of this area is extremely complicated! There are long grass and tall trees everywhere! They will need at least a few days to locate the Dark Neutron! By that time, we have already traveled to Dragon City! And he will not dare to mess with us anymore!" said Li Xiang with his head nodded.
"You are right. But giving up the Dark Neutron just like this is going to pose a huge threat to us! Gordon has stayed with Gustav Family for quite some time! And he is the person closest to Damien as well! He might know the way to inherit the power of Dark Neutron! If Gordon manages to get a hold on the dark power, his strength will receive a huge boost! By that time, he will turn into a monster that we can never imagine!"
"When he becomes stronger, I don't think even all the elites in Dragon City will be able to stop him! Let's take a step back and think about it! Even if the government can stop him from killing us, they will not assign a group of armies or using massive destruction weapon just to help us! In other words, the moment Gordon comes looking for us again, we will definitely be killed by him!" said Li Gang.
Upon hearing that, Chen Xiaobei and Li Xiang were taken aback.
"You are right. Giving up the Dark Neutron will definitely leave us with a lot of future troubles! But, throwing away the Dark Neutron is the only way to help to get away safely! If it wasn't for Mr. Chen's decisive move, we would have been killed by Gordon just now!" said Li Xiang, frowning.
"You are right! Mr. Chen is the one that saves us!" said Li Gang, nodding.
"Hmm… Li Gang's worry is legit. I have to say that he is looking at the bigger picture! However, you guys don't have to worry about it at all! All the worries that you analyzed just now do not exist at all!"
"How… How is that even possible?"
Li Xiang and Li Gang were taken aback.
"Look at this… Tell me what this item is."
Chen Xiaobei opened his palm with a smile. A finger-sized Dark Neutron could be seen lying in his palm.
"This…"
Rendering in shock, Li Xiang and Li Gang were baffled by it.
"Mr. Chen… The… The Dark Neutron that you just tossed was a fake one?"
With only a smile on his face, Chen Xiaobei gave no reply.
...…
At the ruins.
Gordon was leading all thirty-six Silver-Winged Myrmidons looking for the Dark Neutron thoroughly. They have checked every single inch on the ground and in the woods. They would have never thought that the Dark Neutron that Chen Xiaobei tossed on the ground just now had actually transformed by a golden monkey fur. In other words, they would never be able to look for the Dark Neutron even if they were given tens of thousands of years! In this battle, not only Chen Xiabei had treated him like a dog, but he also fooled him as he would a monkey.
...…
Upon returning to Bei Xuan Faction, Chen Xiaobei went into the study room and had a long discussion with Li Xiang and Li Gang. In the end, they came to a decision on an important matter.ED: Oh snap! Good one bro Bei!
"I would rather deal with the Dark Neutron right now instead of letting Gordon to snatch it away from me! I need to make sure that he will never be able to lay his hands on it!" said Chen Xiaobei while sitting on the chair.
Keeping the Dark Neutron with him was like a time bomb. The moment Gordon laid his hand on it, he would be able to unleash the dark power – making him more powerful than before! By that time, not only the Dragon City would not be able to stop him, even Xiang Yu could do nothing about him. In other words, as long as Chen Xiaobei could make it disappear, Gordon's strength would be set in stone. And there was a high chance that Xiang Yu would be able to defeat him.
"Sounds like a good idea! But, Dark Neutron is extremely tough! Not even an elite with Celestial cultivation possesses enough strength to destroy it!" said Li Gang.
"The only thing we can do about it is to throw it into the sea or bury it in the mountain!" said Li Xiang, frowned.
"No! I don't need to destroy it or throw it away!"
Suddenly, Chen Xiaobei narrowed his eyes then smiled mysteriously.
"What are you going to do about it?"
Li Xiang and Li Gang were taken aback.
"I'm going to eat it!"
"What?!"
With their eyes and mouth wide open, they could not believe the thing that Chen Xiaobei just said.
"Mr. Chen… Didn't you hear what I just told you? Dark Neutron is extremely tough! Not even an elite with Celestial cultivation can destroy it!" said Li Gang in frustration.
"This Dark Neutron is not that big or small. I don't think it's good for your stomach if you consume it!" said Li Xiang, nodded.
"Hehe… To you guys, this is a Dark Neutron! To me, this is just a bean! I prefer it to be harder actually!"
"Err… Mr. Chen… Are you sure you are not joking? No! Don't eat it!"
Initially, Li Xiang and Li Gang thought that Chen Xiaobei was just messing with them. To their surprise, Chen Xiaobei had already put the Dark Neutron into his mouth before they could finish their words. They were shocked to see that Chen Xiaobei took a bite at it like it was a bean.
Crack—
"Shit! Mr. Chen's teeth have shattered!"
Li Xiang and Li Gang took in a deep breath at the same time. They could almost feel the pain that Chen Xiaobei was experiencing. The two of them expected that Chen Xiaobei had failed to crack to Dark Neutron with his teeth.
Crunch—
Crunch—
Just when Li Xiang and Li Gang thought they were feeling his pain, they saw he started to chew on it like it was nothing.
"Is he crushing his own teeth?" asked Li Gang with sweat dripping down from his forehead.
"Mr. Chen… Are you…" asked Li Xiang, stuttered.
"Damn! This Dark Neutron is so yummy! Super delicious! Legendary delicacy! It's tastier than the Phoenix Rune Enigmatic Silver!"
While talking, he smiled and Li Xiang and Li Gang. A row of perfect teeth was visible.
"Mr. Chen… It seems like your teeth are fine! How is that even possible?!" asked Li Gang, shocked.
"In.. in other words, the Dark Neutron was truly consumed by Mr. Chen!" said Li Xiang, gulped.
Seeing that Chen Xiaobei's teeth were perfectly fine, the two of them started to doubt that there were actually having a dream.
"What a good meal! I'm feeling sleepy now! Let me take a nap first! You guys should take a rest as well!"
Chen Xiaobei then stretched his back and gotten ready to take a rest.
"Alright… Then we should head out first…"
Li Xiang and Li Gang nodded their heads and exited Chen Xiaobei's room with a lot of questions in their heads. Most of all, they were shocked that Chen Xiaobei could consume the Dark Neutron. The reason why Chen Xiaobei crushed the Dark Neutron with his teeth was all because of Twelve-Winged Golden Cicada's special ability!
The moment Chen Xiaobei finished digesting the Dark Neutron, his body would be able to absorb all the power from the Dark Neutron. One had to say that this was definitely an awesome ability. He could only know how powerful he had become after he woke up later.
...
"I can't seem to find it! Gordon Grand Leader! I can't find it!"
"I can't find it on my side as well! I have picked up and checked almost every single rock that I saw!"
"I have searched every single inch of the field as well! I still can't find it!"
All thirty-six Silver-Winged Myrmidons were standing in a row and shaking their heads. None of them could complete the task given by Gordon.
"Useless bunch of garbage! How can you guys not complete such easy task?! Why don't all of you go and eat shit!"
At that moment, Gordon was so furious that he turned into one of those old men that kept on complaining about things around him. He could not help but keep on yelling at all the Silver-Winged Myrmidons.
"Mr. Gordon! Please don't scold us! Please don't forget that we are assigned by King Vinsmoke to help you! Calling you our grand leader is out of politeness! You are only worthy to become the grand leader of the north when you lay your hands on the dark power! In other words, you can never be called a royal if you fail to take control of the dark power! To be frank, you are just slightly more powerful than us! Our position is about the same!"
"So, I'm not allowed to scold all of you if I'm a grand leader?!" said Gordon, his face darkening.
"Feel free to scold us if this is our fault! The tornado that you created is the one that caused the Dark Neutron to be lost! We would have found it ages ago if it wasn't for the tornado!"
"Tornado? Caused it? Are you trying to say that it's my fault that the Dark Neutron is nowhere to be found now?"
"I have no intention to reprimand you. I'm just telling the truth! I hope you don't scold us anymore! We all have dignity…" said the leader of the Silver-Winged Myrmidon in a serious manner.
Upon hearing that, the rest of the Silver-Winged Myrmidons nodded their heads as well. Clearly, they were not happy that Gordon scolded them just now. However, before the leader could finish his words, he could feel a sense of coldness landing on his body.
Whoosh!
Gordon flicked his finger and a wind that was hundreds of times sharper than a sword was being tossed at the leader of the Silver-Winged Myrmidon.
Phissh—
The moment the blade wind landed on the leader of the Silver-Winged Myrmidon's left shoulder, his entire left arm was lopped off.
Swoosh—
Swoosh—
Swoosh—
Gordon launched a dozen blade winds at him when everyone was still in shock. In a blink of an eye, the leader of the Silver-Winged Myrmidon was hacked to pieces.
Sii—
The remaining 35 Silver-Winged Myrmidons could not help but took in a deep breath with fear creeping up their spines.
"Who else thinks that not being able to locate the Dark Neutron is my fault?"
"No… No… No…"
Immediately, everyone shook their head vigorously.
"Am I allowed to scold you guys in the future?"
"Yes… Yes… Yes…"
Everyone nodded their heads.
"Not bad! You guys are pretty smart! Not get lost and go and look for the Dark Neutron again! What's your name again?! Did you manage to record everything as I told you just now?"
"Yes! I did…"
One of the Silver-Winged Myrmidons ran to Gordon and passed the cell phone to him. Gordon then tapped on the play button and watch everything that happened tonight.
"Keep on running! With this video clip! You can say goodbye to your identity as a demigod!" said Gordon with his eyes squinted and an evil smile on his face.ED: Is the author a One Piece fan? HMMM
"Should I send this video clip back to Dragon City immediately? I can make it into three copies and hand them over to the Zhuang, Yap, and Liu Families!" asked one of the Silver-Winged Myrmidons in a polite manner.
"No! It's not necessary for us to rush it since we already have this solid evidence in our hand! Our priority should be looking for the Dark Neutron!"
"Yes… Yes… Yes…"
The Silver-Winged Myrmidon took a step back and continued to look for the Dark Neutron. Actually, it was totally fine for the Silver-Winged Myrmidon to send the video those three families since he already had enough manpower to search for the Dark Neutron. Gordon was the one that did not want to let anyone leave his sight. After all, all these manpower were loaned to him by order of the king. He was worried that the Silver-Winged Myrmidon might take the opportunity to inform the king that he had just killed the leader of the Silver-Winged Myrmidon. And he would definitely not meet a good end.
At the same time, Gordon also worried that they might keep the Dark Neutron for themselves if they managed to locate it while he was not around. That was why it was crucial for him to monitor them. In the end, Gordon had to delay his plan to expose Chen Xiaobei's true identity. However, Gordon would never expect it was his paranoia that would cause his ultimate failure.
When Gordon was spending days to look for the Dark Neutron, something special happened to Chen Xiaobei. And Dragon City had gone off the track as well. All these changes were caused by Chen Xiaobei tossing a fake Dark Neutron that was transformed by Prosperous Monkey Fur to Gordon. It was enough to make Gordon believe that the precious item that he was looking was still on the land that he was located. Seven days had passed since the day Gordon started to look for the Dark Neutron.
...
At Bei Xuan Faction!
At the grand hall!
"Everyone. Just eat this Yellow Tier Cultivation breaking Pill. After that, all you need to do is sit down for an hour. One hour later, you will be able to achieve Qi refining stage with 5,000 combat power! And you can actually be considered as a mid-tier powerful elite!" said Feng Qingyang while standing in the middle of the hall.
Chen Zhongfu, Zhang Chui'er, NeZha, Hong Hai'er, Old Wang, Jing Fei, Fire Boss, Jin Liu, Wenyuan, and Song Qincheng that came here purposely were sitting in the grand hall. After coming back from Paradise Island, they managed to achieve pinnacle phase of physical stage with the help of the God of War Body Strengthening Pill. At the same time, Tai Yitan, Wu Aofeng, and Huo Yuanba were standing at the side and helped them to stabilize their Qi field. They were not worried that Chen Xiaobei's pill might make them go out of control. Instead, they wanted to stay by their sides in case something bad happened to them when they woke up. The three of them were after all the martial arts prodigy of Jianghu.
When it came to training, all three of them were well equipped with enough knowledge to help them to grow faster. On the other hand, Murong Tian and Murong Xiaoyao were just standing at the side and observing them. Of course, they were ready to help whenever they needed their help.
"I remember I was powerful enough to dominate the entire Green Vine City with only 5,000 combat power! No one was able to shake my position! Look at Xiaobei now! With only a single swing from his hand, he managed to create so many elites with Qi refining stage in one go! This is really shocking!" said Murong Tian.
"You are right. It's true that Xiaobei is not an ordinary person! I still remember that he handed me a lollipop in Green Vine City and it made me achieve Qi refining stage within seconds! It's truly unbelievable when I think about it again!"
Though Murong Xiaoyao loved arguing with Chen Xiaobei, she was actually fond of him for quite some time. One thing for sure was she was really impressed by the things that Chen Xiaobei could do.
"Damn? I just heard the Flatboard Princess give me a compliment! This is definitely one of those rare moments!" Suddenly, a lazy voice could be heard from outside the door.
"Asshole Xioabei! You are finally awake! You are a super lazy pig! Do you know that you just slept for seven days and seven nights?! Do you know there are a lot of things waiting for you to attend in the faction?!" said Murong Xiaoyao in an aggressive manner.
"Xiaoyao! Mind the way you speak to our faction leader!" said Murong Tian in a serious manner.
"Hmph!"
Murong Xiaoyao pursed her lips and turned her head to the other side.
"Uncle Murong. Were there any special things happened while I was asleep? I don't think there are a lot of matter happened, right?"
"No big deal actually! There were two groups of Japanese assassins and two groups of Blood Descendants that came looking for you! However, they didn't even manage to pass the Puzzle Formation. In the end, they were all killed by Face Slapping Little Tornado!"
"Err…"
Most of the people in his faction were peace lovers. Wu Aofeng was the only one that had a hard time to sit tight. He was the kind of person that would never miss the opportunity to slap someone's face.
"By the way, there was a special thing that happened while you were asleep! During the second day of your deep sleep, there was an old man passed the Puzzle Formation and entered the faction!"
"What?! How is that even possible?" asked Chen Xiaobei, shocked.
After all, Puzzle Formation was Chen Xiaobei's ultimate protection to safeguard the faction. If there was someone managed to pass the Puzzle Formation – that would mean enemies could now enter his faction whenever they wanted!
"I found it hard to believe that he could pass your formation in the beginning as well. However, it is an undeniable fact that he did manage to find his way to your faction! On the other hand, Wu Aofeng did not kill that old man. All he did was asked him to leave the faction and find his way to enter the faction again. He also said that he wanted to make a bet with the old man. If the old man managed to pass the formation for the second time, Wu Aofeng would pay his utmost respect to the old man!"
"Let me guess. In the end, the Face Slapping Little Tornado was slapped by the old man!" said Chen Xiaobei, frowned.
"You are right… That old man used only around ten minutes to find a way to enter the faction! Wu Aofeng was slapped in the face by the old man!"
"Did Wu Aofeng beat the old man to death?" asked Chen Xiaobei anxiously.
"Faction Leader! You really know everything! Wu Aofeng was so angry that he almost went and beat up the old man! And Mr. Feng felt that old man is no ordinary person! Immediately, he went and stopped Wu Aofeng from attacking the old man."
"Luckily my very first disciple is reliable… Quick! Bring me to see the old man!"
"Alright! That old man was locked inside the toilet cubicle by Wu Aofeng!"
Murong Tian nodded his head and led Chen Xiaobei to the bathroom.
"Ugh…"
Chen Xiaobei was speechless after Wu Aofeng knowing that the old man was being locked inside the toilet cubicle.
Blargghh!
"Damn this Wu Aofeng! Why didn't he flush the toilet after shitting… He even turned off the water tap! I'm going to be killed by the smell of his shit!"
The moment Chen Xiaobei unlocked the door, an old man with messy hair and tattered clothes ran out from the toilet cubicle. Without saying a word, he went to the wall and started to vomit. Chen Xiaobei could see that the old man's face was bruised and one of his teeth was gone. Air kept on coming out from his mouth when he talked. It was definitely a funny scene.
"Chen Xiaobei! Are you Chen Xiaobei?"
Suddenly, the old man lifted his head and stared at Chen Xiaobei in his eyes.
"I'm Jiang Ziya!" shouted Jiang Ziya while crying. 1 ED: I'm crying too ?????
"Hahaha! Jiang Ziya! You just lost a tooth! I like the way you present yourself! This is so special!"
Chen Xiaobei could not hold back his laughter anymore.
"Chen Xiaobei! You are heartless! This is all your fault! How dare you laugh at me?!"
Feeling frustrated, Jiang Ziya was really upset that he could not speak properly. It was really funny whenever he talked.
"Faction Leader. I shall head back first since the two of you know each other!"
Murong Tian was trying his best to hold back his laughter. Jiang Ziya was after all a senior, he was afraid that he would lose control when he saw him talking again. The moment Murong Tian left them alone, Jiang Ziya started to cry out loud.
"I was being beaten up the moment I descended from heaven! Look at my bruised eyes! Look at my missing tooth! This is so painful… After being beaten up by your disciple, he kept in the toilet cubicle for seven days! Seven freaking days! The worst part was I have to look at his shit when he sent me meals every day! Tell me! How can I stomach down the food?!"
"Hahahaha!"
After hearing Jiang Ziya's complaint, Chen Xiaobei started to burst into giggles once more. Jiang Ziya had been the ruler of the League of Gods Leaderboard. All the deities were afraid of him whenever they saw him. The amount of respect that he received in heaven was more than most of the deities. Unfortunately, he was beaten to a pulp the moment he stepped into Chen Xiaobei's faction. It would be huge news if other deities knew that the legendary Jiang Ziya was treated poorly in Chen Xiaobei's faction.
"Do you really think this is a laughing matter? Stop laughing!" said Jiang Ziya in frustration.
"Alright! Alright! Alright! I will stop laughing! Let's go! I'm going to bring you to have a nice shower and change a set of brand new clothes! You should stop treating me like I'm your enemy since you are now on the earthly realm! I will help you in recruiting the disciples!"
"Sounds good to me!"
After spending two hours to clean up himself, Jiang Ziya looked completely different. He now looked like a respectable deity. Of course, that only happened when he was not talking.
"Shidi Xiaobei…"
The moment he started to talk, the funny look on his face was presented to Chen Xiaobei again. It was all on Wu Aofeng for breaking his front tooth.
"Hahahaha…"
Chen Xiaobei could not help but start to laugh again. Seeing that Jiang Ziya was feeling upset, Chen Xiaobei forced himself to stop laughing at him.
"Shixiong Jiang! I think we should be more transparent to each other! I'm going to tell you everything honestly from this moment onward! Now, tell me how did you pass my Puzzle Formation?! This formation was the only safety barriers protect my friends and family from the enemies! Are there something wrong with the formation?!"
"There is nothing wrong with your formation! It's just I have studied the art of war for forty years! I can literally solve this kind of primary Taoist Magic with one of my eyes closed! It will reflect badly on me if I fail to pass your Puzzle Formation!"
"This is only Primary Taoist Magic? How come there's no one capable of passing my Puzzle Formation?"
"To deities, this Puzzle Formation can be categorized as the most basic Taoist Magic! To human, this is something that they can never solve! You don't have to worry about it! No ordinary human being in this world possess the skill that is needed to solve this puzzle piece!" said Jiang Ziya with a smile on his face.
The moment Chen Xiabei saw his missing tooth, he found it really hard to take him seriously.
"Alright. Then I shouldn't worry anymore after hearing your explanation!"
Nodding, it seemed like Chen Xiaobei trusted Jiang Ziya a lot.
"Oh right! What's your current cultivation?" asked Jiang Ziya.
"My current cultivation is early phase of True Nirvana stage but I possess the power of middle phase of True Nirvana stage!" said Chen Xiaobei with a joyful smile.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Jiang Ziya, frustrated.
"You don't have to care about it at all! Just follow my lead! I will make sure that you will have a safe and peaceful life here!"
Ding!
[Cultivation: Early phase of True Nirvana stage. Health: 38,000. Combat power: 30,000!]
After sleeping for seven days and seven night, the Dark Neutron that Chen Xiaobei consumed earlier was completely digested. And the strength that he received from it was immense! A total of 5,000 health was added! With the help of Primordial Witch King Combat Enhancement Training Manual, he could now come up with 38,000 combat power!
And there were some changes going on in his body as well. Most probably, it had something to do with the dark power. Since everything was still unknown, Chen Xioabei did not tell anyone about it – especially Jiang Ziya! Clearly, this was one of Chen Xiaobei's biggest secrets. From the surface, Chen Xiaobei made it look like he wanted to live in peace with Jiang Ziya. However, there was no way that he could trust Jiang Ziya fully.
Upon recalling the conversation between him and the Prime of Tongtian and the undercover, Shen Gongpao, Chen Xiaobei had every reason to believe that the Primordial Lord of Heaven was using the same strategy again. With that being said, there was a possibility that Jiang Ziya was being sent to the earthly realm to become a spy.
The Prime of Tongtian had made a mistake before and Chen Xiaobei would never make the same mistake again. To be frank, Chen Xiaobei would never hurt Jiang Ziya if he behaved well in front of him. However, Chen Xiaobei would always be cautious of him. As the saying goes, one must never harm another person but one must always be cautious of another individual!
On the other hand, Jiang Ziya was smart enough to know that Chen Xiaobei had not trusted him fully. Immediately, he changed the topic.
"How are you planning to help me to increase my number disciples? I have made a mistake and that's why I'm being sent to the earthly realm! So, there's actually a time limit for me!"
"Singing, dancing, act in a movie, and do live streaming like Old Wang are ways to increase your disciples! Choose one!"
"I don't know how to do all the things that you just told me… All I know is leading soldiers to go into war!"
"There's no war on earth! Nowadays, everyone one loves a peaceful life! Going into war will only make people hate you more!"
"What should I do then?"
"You have to choose one of the options that I suggested to you just now! If not, you have to wait for a while before I find you something that suits you perfectly!"
"I can't do that! I have just mentioned to you that there's a time limit to my mission! I will be punished if I fail to recruit one million disciples within a month! By that time, Shen Gongpao will use me as an excuse to punish you as well!"
"Say no more! You have wasted seven days! Go and learn live streaming from Old Wang starting tomorrow!"
After dealing with Jiang Ziya's matter, everyone at the training hall had managed to achieve Qi refining stage. Immediately, Chen Xiaobei wanted to meet up with Tai Yitan, Wu Aofeng, and Huo Yuanba.
"Tomorrow is the day of martial arts competition! I'm going to lay everything in my mind out to you guys! I want Bei Xuan Faction to get the first three places!"
Though Chen Xiaobei was the youngest among them, he exuded a domineering aura while sitting at the master seat. All top three prodigies were standing and listening to him talk.
"Don't just stay quiet. Tell me what do you think about it? Just speak your mind! You guys have nothing to worry about!"
"I'm pretty sure we can dominate the first three places! Other than ancient faction, we can be considered the most powerful elites in the under thirty years old category!" said Huo Yuanba in a confident manner.
"I don't think that's true! Thought I have spent almost all my time here in the faction to study the hexworm, the people that come with me are assigned me to constantly check on the things that are happening in the Jianghu! They heard that Mount Hua Faction is going to send out three of their most powerful disciples to participate in the martial arts competition. You should also know that they are the organizers of this martial arts competition! It seems like they are competing for the top three places as well!"
"What?!"
Upon hearing that, everyone was taken aback.
"Mount Hua Faction knows no shame! They are the one that announced that they are going to sponsor the prize for this competition! Now, they are sending three of their most powerful disciples to take the top three spots? Clearly, they are making a fool of us!" Wu Aofeng exclaimed angrily.
"As the saying goes, a bad leader will bring out members with bad attitude! Look at Yue Junmo and you will know that Mount Hua Faction is full of scum!" said Chen Xiaobei.
"Motherf*cker! I should have killed that son of a bitch!" shouted Wu Aofeng.
"Well… You can't travel back time to fix it! We should figure out a plan to deal with them rather than wasting time to complain about it! Shixiong Yitan. Do you know the cultivation of those three Mount Hua Faction disciples?" said Huo Yuanba.
"Yes… I know! They are smart enough to assign three disciples that are slightly more powerful than us to fight with us on that day! Not only they can secure the top three places, but others also wouldn't call them bullies as well," said Tai Yitan.
"F*ck! How are we going to battle them?! The total number of Spiritual Stones that are going to award the top three winner is 5,000! No one would risk their lives for the top three places if the reward is taken out of consideration!" said Wu Aofeng.
"You are not entirely right! Mount Hua Faction did promise that the elites that got into top ten places will be invited to join Mount Hua Faction!" said Tai Yitan.
"Psst! We are so blessed that we are given the rights to join Bei Xuan Faction! I don't care about joining Mount Hua Faction anymore! And I don't want to become their disciple!" said Wu Aofeng.
"It's true that we are blessed with the opportunity to join Bei Xuan Faction! None of us here want to join Mount Hua Faction! But others do not think the same way we do! Without that 5,000 Spiritual Stones reward, people will still fight their way to join the ancient faction!" said Huo Yuanba, shaking his head.
"Hmph! I feel really sad for all those people! After knowing that they are being fooled by Mount Hua Faction, they still work their ass off in the martial arts competition!"
"What to do? This is a dog-eat-dog world! The first iron rule of Jianghu! The strong one will always prey on the weak one! Logically speaking, Mount Hua Faction is one of the strongest ancient faction in our Jianghu, that's why they can do whatever they want – including cheating in the competition! Since we are being placed at the weaker side, we can only choose to comply with them or not! Other than that, I can't think of other ways to solve this problem!" said Tai Yitan.
"Damn…"
Huo Yuanba could not help but let out a long sigh. Though he did not say a single word, one could see that his look was filled with frustration. All three of them could be some of the rarest geniuses in Jianghu and they had made a name for themselves in their own territory. However, when it came to ancient faction, they had completely lost their ability to fight back.
Just when the three of them were left in a state of frustration, Chen Xiaobei smiled.
He then asked them, "Do you want to take the first three places and slap Mount Hua Faction in the face?!"
Upon hearing that, all three of them were taken aback.
"Sifu, are you joking with us? I know you can surely defeat them with ease if you take part in the martial arts competition! However, I don't think we are powerful enough to take the second and third place!" said Huo Yuanba.
"Just trust me! I say it's totally possible!" said Chen Xiaobei with a smile.
It was as if he had everything under his control.
"How… How is that even possible?"
"Sifu… Please show us the way! Don't keep us waiting! My fists are looking for someone to punch!" said Huo Yuanba in an aggressive manner.
"Just now Tai Yitan mentioned that the three disciples that Mount Hua Faction will send to join the martial arts competition are just slightly more powerful than the three of you! Now, I'm going to teach you guys a secret technique to defeat them!" said Chen Xiaobei in a confident manner.
With his hands swung, there were three bottles appeared on the table.
"Sifu, what is this?" asked Tai Yitan.
"You should be able to recognize this item! This is a Yin Yang Soul Linking Hexworm! With the help of this hexworm, you will be able to borrow the ability of a Spiritual Beast for a limited amount of time! And you can use the ability to surprise your enemies!"
"Yin Yang? Soul Linking?"
"I know exactly what this is! I have studied this type of hexworm from the book that you pass to me! However, the book does not tell us the way to grow them! I can't believe that you manage to grow three pairs of it!"
"What the hell is this thing?"
Wu Aofeng and Huo Yuanba were baffled. To ordinary human beings, a hexworm was not something they were familiar with. Most of them had not even heard about it before!
"I will explain the details to you guys later! Our Sifu is a divine entity! With these three pairs of hexworms, Bei Xuan Faction will be able to dominate the martial arts competition!" said Tai Yitan.
"Great! I'm going to leave this to you. I have some other matter to deal with!"
After that, Chen Xiaobei left the room. Clearly, he knew that Tai Yitan was reliable enough to settle this matter perfectly.
At the back of the woods.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, a shadowy figure flew toward Chen Xiaobei. He was being pushed on the ground and a pair of voluptuous breasts landed on his body. Immediately, the monster within Chen Xiaobei was unleashed.
"Mercy! My heroine!"
Before Chen Xiaobei could finish his words, his mouth was sealed by the other pair of lips.
"It feels so good to have power! Before this, I would never have imagined that there would ever be a day that I could possess strength comparable to the best fighter in Jianghu! It's all thanks to you –you opened up a whole new world to me! Man, this is awesome!"
After dawdling for a while, Song Qincheng leaned onto Chen Xiaobei's chest, grinning from ear to ear.
"Well, shouldn't you be thanking me? Just a kiss is not enough!" said Chen Xiaobei while licking his lips.
"Oh you big gray wolf. What else do you want to do? I won't do it!" Song Qincheng then said gently, "Tomorrow you are going to compete in the martial arts competition! You will need to be fresh and energized. Please remember not to be stubborn. All that matters is for you to come back safely!"
"Understood, your highness!" Chen Xiaobei grinned and said, "But you didn't come all the way here just to tell me this, did you?"
"Mm… Actually, I came here to report to the president of the company about work," said Song Qincheng.
"President? What president?" Chen Xiaobei was startled.
"Who else? The president of the Qincheng Entertainment! You slacker! Can't you pay a little more attention?" Song Qincheng looked crossly at Chen Xiaobei and said, "It has been ten days since Ling Yue the Heroine has been released! Don't you know about the situation at the box office?"
"Oh… I would've forgotten if you hadn't told me…" Chen Xiaobei smiled guiltily and said, "C'mon, tell me. I'm curious. I want to know how my first film did!"
"Three billion!" Song Qincheng said with a face filled with pride, "It had only been ten days and it had already exceeded the three billion mark! This breaks the record of the Chinese film industry! You've created a whole new legend in the industry!"
"Oh." Chen Xiaobei just nodded. He looked unmoved as if Song Qincheng had said thirty yuan and not three billion.
Song Qincheng narrowed her eyes, and teased, "I knew it. What is three billion to our beloved president?"
Chen Xiaobei said nothing but smile, quietly agreeing what she said.
After that unusual auction during their last trip to Paradise Island, Chen Xiaobei had gained a new understanding of money.
A chest with 2,000 Spiritual Stones inside it!
Selling a piece of Ambergris for 8,000 Spiritual Stones!
If it were to be converted to RMB, Chen Xiaobei had profited a total of ten trillion yuan in one day!
Chen Xiaobei now understood that money was just pieces of waste paper, a string of numbers – that had no other practical significance!
Three billion was nothing in Chen Xiaobei's eyes. If it were to be replaced by three Spiritual Stones, Chen Xiaobei might feel just the slightest bit of excitement.
Spiritual Stone was after all had more practical uses than the numbered waste papers.
"Okay, I'll talk about something else." Song Qincheng understood Chen Xaobei very well, so she quickly changed the topic. "The number of fans in your harem group has been soaring exponentially the past few days, and has already gone up to 15 million!"
"No way!" Chen Xiaobei's eyes lit up in excitement. "Wow! That's a lot! That's way beyond what I expected!"
"Of course! Movie stars have a higher exposure rate!" Song Qincheng nodded and said, "Based on the number of fans you have and how active are your fans, you have now become the country's top star! What's more, the number will keep growing!"
"That's great! I have gotten into acting solely to gain more fans!" Chen Xiaobei said ecstatically.
Among those fans were some pretty hard-core ones. And among those hard-core ones were Chen Xiaobei's disciples.
Even though Chen Xiaobei did not know what was the use of having disciples. But since the Prime of Tongtian had asked him to gather as many disciples as he could, he would do as he was told!
"It seems like you are very interested in your fans. Then you'll like what I have to say next!" Song Qincheng said, "Since the release of Ling Yue the Heroine, there had been about ten businesses, both big and small, looking to engage you for advertisements and endorsements. All these will help you become even more famous! On top of that, there were also a lot of directors – especially the local one – are expressing interest in having you in their movies. My phone nearly exploded with all those calls."
"What I didn't expect, though, is that there were also a lot of big Hollywood directors who talked to me about filming in America! That will definitely help you generate more foreign fans!"
Chen Xiaobei was very excited to hear this. "Talk to them and find out if there are any good ones. We'll take those. The more fans the better!"
"I'm not done yet! There is one Japanese director who wanted to hire you to for that kind of film!"
Song Qincheng winked slyly.
"What kind of film?" Chen Xiaobei was puzzled.
"The kind with very few actors, very simple plot, casual location… The kind where the filming starts when all your clothes are off!"
Song Qincheng flashed a sinister but mesmerizing smile.
"I have no idea what you mean!" Chen Xiaobei said smiling, "I am a pure and innocent boy. I don't understand what you're saying!"
"Oh please, save that act. Who do you think you're fooling?" Song Qincheng puckered her red lips and grinned. "It's the ahhh, oooh, uhhmmm kind of movie! Don't you say that you say you don't know what I'm saying again or we won't have sex again!"
"Oh… That won't do. I will be killed by my own desire if I don't do it!" Chen Xiaobei said, grinning. "Do you think I'm suitable for those kinds of films?"
"Of course! There's no one more suitable than you! You have the looks and the body. And you look like a strong bull when you have sex!"
Song Qincheng smiled slyly. "I can guarantee that the entire female population of Japan would become your fan if you decide to do it!"
"It would be meaningless to win the entire Japan but lose you." Chen Xiaobei smiled coolly.
"Nonsense!"
Chen Xiaobei gave Chen Xiaobei the evil eye but inside she was melting.
"Oh I suddenly thought of suitable candidate!" Chen Xiaobei lit up.
"What suitable candidate?" Song Qincheng asked.
Her curiosity was aroused.
"Candidate for filming!" Chen Xiaobei said, "Jiang Ziya wouldn't sing or dance. He won't even perform in live shows. Just send that annoying old man over to Japan to shoot those films!"
"Who is Jiang Ziya?" Would an elderly man be able to handle it?"
Song Qincheng giggled.
"It's no problem. We'll just have to find a few more around his age to be in the film with him!"
Chen Xiaobei grinned.
....
"Achoo!"
"Achoo!"
Jiang Ziya sneezed as he lay in bed. "Who the heck is bad-mouthing me behind my back? I will hit the person with my Divine Whip after I redeem myself!"
Ding—
Just then, his phone rang.
"Oh, it's Six-Ear Macaque! Great! This is great!" said Jiang Ziya with an evil smile.ED: owhh smoothED: Holy.......
The next day.
Before the sun was up, Chen Xiaobei, Tai Yitan, Wu Aofeng, and Huo Yuanba had already left for Xuanjian Faction.
As the most powerful faction in China, Xuanjian Faction was the only place suitable for holding the martial arts competition. Especially since the model this year was particularly large, it would have been impossible to change the venue.
"Xuanjian Faction is right in front!" Chen Xiaobei made some arrangement. "Because we have too many enemies, we'll split up later. Don't move together and don't tell anyone that you know me! So that if I were targeted, you wouldn't be marked either."
"Affirmative! Please take care, Sifu!"
The three disciples left and headed towards Mount Xuanjian in separate directions.
Chen Xiaobei sat back for a while before heading towards the mountain on his own.
All three families Zhuang, Liu, and Yap were coming here as well! Blood Descendants and Japan would surely take this opportunity to attack Chen Xiaobei. What's more, the Mount Hua Faction, Green Town Faction, and Mount Shu Faction were going to safeguard the martial arts competition as well!
Chen Xiaobei knew that in today's martial arts competition, his enemies would be all around, watching him!
Because of that, Chen Xiaobei made sure that there was no one by his side. He even made sure that his three disciples' identities were hidden. That way, if the things were to get out of control, Chen Xiaobei would be able to escape with ease.
As for Xiaobai, Sirius and Xiao'er, Chen Xiaobei had ordered his undercover, Qi Yueting that he had planted at Xuanjian Faction to bring them to Mount Xuanjian, in order to borrow their special ability during life-threatening circumstances.
Chen Xiaobei had done his best to be thoroughly prepared for all the unknown variables.
Once he had stepped into Xuanjian Faction, he could only think on his feet!
"Hey you! Stay where you are! Who are you?"
Just as Chen Xiaobei arrived at the doors of Xuanjian Faction, he was stopped by two young guards.
Although the entire Xuanjian Faction worked together to capture Chen Xiaobei last time, these low-level disciples would not be able to recognize Chen Xiaobei with his mask on.
"I am a competitor. This is my registration information." Chen Xiaobei took out his phone and revealed into his registration.
"Chen Xiaobei? Hmm!" the taller guard squinted and then rubbed his thumb finger repeatedly over the tip of the index and middle finger at Chen Xiaobei, grinning clandestinely.
"What does that mean?" Chen Xiaobei asked.
"It's up to you to interpret!" the shorter one said.
"Oh, you meant money?" Chen Xiaobei half-smiled and then rewarded them with a, "No!"
"F*ck!"
The taller one's face fell and said scornfully, "What happened this year? Where did all these dumbasses get the balls to register? How dare a nameless nobody who doesn't even know the rules come to Xuanjian Faction?!"
"Why should you let it get to you?" the shorter one laughed, "Since he doesn't know the rules, let's not give him directions. It's his loss, not ours."
"Heh, I don't need you to direct me. Please move aside." Chen Xiaobei smiled indifferently.
These two guards were seen cowering – two terrified cockroaches who peed themselves when Chen Xiaobei made a huge mess at Xuanjian Faction. That was why Chen Xiaobei could not be bothered to reveal himself to them.
The taller one would not let it go. He pointed at Chen Xiaobei and screeched, "There's something wrong with your registration! I have the right to bar you from entering!"
Chen Xiaobei frowned. He had not wanted to make a fuss with these cockroaches but they had crossed the line.
"Hey kiddo, my brother here has a short temper! You better not provoke him!" the shorter one didn't realize how much danger they were in but raised his voice and said, "Even the competitors who are more famous than you paid the guide fee! You are nothing but a nobody and you dare refuse to pay? My brother won't take it well."
"I don't have money to pay for the guide fee." Chen Xiaobei said coldly, "but I do have two big slaps, do you want them?"
"You mother*ck…" the taller one was furious.
Before he could finish his sentence, he was forced to shut his mouth.
"Master! Master! Why have you come down?"
Both guards rushed into the door, nodding and bowing like two pitiful, tail-wagging pugs!
"There is an extremely important guest coming today! I have yet seen him so I decided to come and wait for him myself – just in case you dash him!" a cavalier voice said – it belonged to none other than the young master of Xuanjian Faction, Liu Chunyi.
The bugger kept pacing back and forth with his head down, tapping away on his phone, probably trying to contact someone.
"Don't you worry! We will make sure to keep our eyes open! We will definitely not offend the VIP!" the shorter guard nodded.
The taller guard then glared at Chen Xiaobei from the corner of his eyes and barked, "Hey idiot! Get out of here! If you upset our VIP then I'll make sure that you don't see the light of day!"
Chen Xiaobei ignored them but looked straight at Liu Chunyi and asked, "Hey bitch, who's your VIP?"
"What the f*ck! You…you called our master your bitch?!"
The two guards' eyes nearly exploded in their sockets.
All their years serving at Xuanjian Faction, they had seen some really powerful individuals but never had they ever met anyone as cocky as Chen Xiaobei! Calling Liu Chunyi his bitch would mean scolding Liu Xiyuan an old bitch.
Also, this happened at Xuanjian Faction's territory! It was no different from suiciding!
"This bastard knows no bounds! Let me help the young master to slap his face!"
The taller one raised his palm and bolted toward Chen Xiaobei like a guard dog!
Smack!
But before he could take the first step, a hand came down hard across his mouth.
"Mas… Master… Why did you hit me…" he was squatting on the floor about ten meters away from where he was standing, hand on his opened mouth where blood was gushing down his teeth.
"Master, you hit the wrong person…" the shorter one looked very confused. Why did his own master hit his own people?
"You two morons!" Liu Chunyi scolded, "This is God… Mr. Chen! He is Xuanjian Faction's most distinguished guest! With his word, I would kill the two of you blind idiots!
"Huh?! He… He is our VIP…" the two guards were suddenly struck by horror. They said in disbelief, "But... He name-called you!"
"Is that name-calling?" Liu Chunyi said unaffectedly, "Mr. Chen's words are precious like gold and jade! If he calls me a bitch then I am a bitch!"
"Er…"
The two of them were speechless. They would never have thought that their young master would be so unassertive; he was insulted and he actually confirmed it.
Liu Chunyi would never do something like that. It must mean that the man they both regarded as a nameless nobody was of a formidable status! Having realized that, the two idiots quickly knelt before Chen Xiaobei and started to kowtow toward him.
"Mr. Chen… how should we deal with these two idiots?" Liu Chunyi asked dutifully.
"Do whatever you want. I cannot be bothered." Chen Xiaobei said uncaringly, shrugged and walked towards Xuanjian Faction. "Remember I came to have fun today. Don't reveal my identity or no one will be brave enough to play with me anymore!"
"Y-y-yes! I will remember to do that! I will keep my mouth shut."
Liu Chunyi nodded repeatedly.
"Master, who is that man?" the two guards asked in trepidation.
"He is actually a demi…" Liu Chunyi caught himself and scolded, "Motherf*ckers! I had just promised Mr. Chen not to disclose his identity! Are you two trying to make me reveal the secret?"
"No no no… We wouldn't dare…"
The two guards shook their heads desperately. All the years they were in Xuanjian Faction, they had never seen Liu Chunyi fear an outsider like that before.
"Shut your mouths, the both of you and get your ass out of Xuanjian Faction!" Liu Chunyi bellowed, "I want the both of you out of Mr. Chen's line of sight! Or I will make sure you meet your maker!"
"Yes… Yes master…"
Both the guards were shaking in their shoes. They hurried away without another word.
"I must hurry to see grandfather to make sure that God Chen's secret is safe with us!"
Liu Chunyi then took the shortcut to the arena.
At Xuanjian Faction.
Inside the arena.
It was early in the morning but the place was abuzz with fervent chatter. There were at least tens of thousands of people, including Xuanjian Faction's disciples, and people from Jianghu, present – all eagerly waiting, impatient for the competition to begin. The audience sat surrounding the training grounds where eight fighting arenas were set up to accommodate the overflowing number of contestants. With eight matches taking place concurrently, the elimination of the weaker competitors would be faster and more efficient.
North of the training ground was an elevated platform. On it was about a dozen rosewood yoke-back armchairs with matching side tables. And on each of them was a cup of fragrant tea and a platter of fruits. These seats are unquestionably reserved for big shots.
"Bro Bei! Why are you here?"
Just then, a guy in green traditional martial artist clothes ran over.
"Wu Jiechao?!"
Chen Xiaobei was taken aback for a moment.
He had made sure to inform those who knew him to not turn up.
As for this fool, Wu Jiechao with whom Chen Xiaobei was acquainted with; but he was not one of Chen Xiaobei's people and did not have any insider information so Chen Xiaobei did not need to worry about him divulging his identity.
"Bro Bei! It's been a while but you still remember me! It's such an honor!" Wu Jiechao said, grinning from ear to ear.
Chen Xiaobei beat around the bush and asked, "When did you arrive?"
"I've been here for almost an hour!" Wu Jiechao said enthusiastically, "Did you just arrive? Come with me. We'll see which arena you are assigned to!"
Chen Xiaobei nodded and followed behind Wu Jiechao to the staff area.
Chen Xiaobei was assigned to the arena no.3.
"Why is the arena set up like that?" Chen Xiaobei asked, curious.
"In this year's competition, there are 240 'average' contestants from all over the country." Wu Jiechao explained. "As you have seen there are eight arenas. That would mean that there would be thirty competitors in each arena. They will fight until there is only one preliminary winner left in each arena. The best eight will then compete in the semi-finals!"
"What? There are semi-finals?"
Chen Xiaobei was perplexed.
"That's right." Wu Jiechao said, "Mount Hua Faction had already preselected eight 'seeded fighters'. They don't need to compete in the preliminary rounds. They will only need to fight against 'preliminary winners'!"
"How could there be such a thing?" Chen Xiaobei had to know, "Who are the eight seeded fighters?"
Wu Jiechao answered, "Luo Puti! Liu Chunyi! Huo Yuanba! Tai Yitan! Wu Aofeng! And the three disciples from Mount Hua Faction!"
"Puti came…"
Chen Xiaobei squinted, laughing on the inside.
This ice queen had always thought that Chen Xiaobei was very weak and was always protective of him.
Today, Chen Xiaobei would reveal his true strength. It would be really interesting to watch Luo Puti's reaction.
As he thought about it, Chen Xiaobei became more excited.
Rumble—
Just then there was a stir on the training ground.
"Bro Bei! The big shots are here! The competition will begin soon!" Wu Jiechao raised his voice above the noise as he turned with the audience who had risen from their seats and faced the elevated platform to the north of the training ground.
About a dozen men walked up the platform and settled on the rosewood chair prepared for them. In the center of platform sat a man in his fifties. With his long hair and beard, dressed in a Chinese traditional chang pao (long robe), he had an air of Master of Jianghu like the characters in martial arts novel.
This man was none other than the faction leader of Mount Hua Faction, Yue Changkong!"
To his left was the faction leader of Xuanjian Faction, Liu Xiyuan! Followed by the grand elder of Green Town Faction, Su Dongruo! Since Li Family was on good terms with Green Town Faction, they had chosen to sit next to each other.
To Yue Changkong right, was Zhuang Bihuang! This old man was the previous head of the family of the Zhuang Family. When it came to age and position, he was definitely more powerful than Zhuang Lao Taiijun! At the mature age of 105, he was considered as a monster that would never grow old. Moreover, he was also the second most powerful individual from Mount Hua Faction!
One could say that these four men were the four most powerful big shots in this martial arts competition.
Evidently, that meant that the others seated on the platform were less powerful in terms of position.
For example, Mount Shu's elder, Situ Hengfeng was also an elder but he was just a third-ranked elder. In other words, he did not have any real power with him.
The rest of the men on the platform were made up of random faction leaders. Their strength, status, and influence were nowhere near paralleled to that of Situ Hengfeng. They were only up on the platform to gain the favor of the people.
Yue Changkong got up from his seat and started to deliver a long-winded scripted speech.
"Everyone! I'm the faction leader of Mount Hua Faction! This time…"
"Bro Bei, it's going to begin! I feel so nervous!"
Wu Jiechao grinned. He looked like an elementary school student about to sit for a test.
Chen Xiao smiled but said nothing. To him, this martial arts competition was just a game.
"Wu Jiechao!"
Suddenly a sharp voice could be heard.
"Where is your shame?! Why did you call that person your bro?! You are such a shame to our Jianghu!"
"Who said that?"
Wu Jiechao looked rather unhappy. He was about to flip out when he saw the speaker. He swallowed his anger and laughed. "Bro Ritian! Why are you here?"
The other man looked at Wu Jiechao with his nose in the air and scoffed, "Duh! I – Zhao Ritian – am competing in the martial arts competition!"