Yes. Exactly as Wei Ci said—forgetting Mei Yue'er, who had stayed silent all this while—Sun Wuji always thought of him as a single person, so he let out a phrase such as "a more serious type of guy" or "you" and not "you guys" like Ying Lizhua said.
As for Feng Luotian, he was probing from the start, so he deliberately said and regarded Wei Ci as a single person while he was greeting him.
"As I thought. Not only are your bloodline and ability quite rare, but you are also very cautious and quick-witted, Brother Wei?" Feng Luotian said.
"Oh?" This time, Wei Ci was the one to be surprised: "To know about my bloodline, you must be quite a bookworm."
Feng Luotian only smiled, then said to Ying Lizhua: "You don't have to worry about his ability at all, Lizhua. This guy is good."
Before they joined, Sun Wuji asked: "Why would you want to join us and defeat that clone anyway? It's not like you will get that monster core by doing this."
"Brother, there is something much more precious than just one monster core." Wei Ci raised his index finger.
Sun Wuji: "What is it?"
Wei Ci smiled: "Real-life combat experience."
Sun Wuji was surprised: "Couldn't disagree with that."
Following that, four of them joined the party.
///// Party Member 4 : Wei Ci
///// Six Fangs Body-Splitting Golden Duck
///// [Divided We Stand] Level 6 : The user can split their body up to 6 clones that share Theríon, damage, cultivation, vision, soul, and death. The user will also receive an extra Health of 60%.
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///// Party Member 5 : Wei Gang
///// Six Fangs Body-Splitting Golden Duck
///// [Divided We Stand] Level 6 …
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///// Party Member 6 : Wei Hao
///// Six Fangs Body-Splitting Golden Duck
///// [Divided We Stand] Level 6 …
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///// Party Member 7 : Wei Yan
///// Six Fangs Body-Splitting Golden Duck
///// [Divided We Stand] Level 6 …
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///// Alert!! – These members' cultivation levels may be fabricated.
"!!" Feng Luotian was quite astonished towards the end, but he only had a little twitch on his expression. Immediately after, he was back to his usual calmness. Whatever reason the guy was trying to hide his cultivation; he saw no harm in letting him join the team.
Even if the guy wished to get the first place and tried to steal the kill by leaving the party and dealing the finishing blow to the clone at the last moment, he would not mind at all. After all, Mei Hongli would still lose the bet either way.
However, the slight change on his face could not elude the guy; Wei Ci asked: "What's wrong, Brother?"
"It is nothing. Just thinking that with just this member, it's still not enough to take that clone down, so we might have to look for more." Feng Luotian flatly answered.
"Then let me join too." Another voice came from behind. It was the girl Feng Luotian signaled to before heading here.
"My name is Tu Lingxi. My reason would be the same as theirs. I only want to have a real-life combat experience. I'm curious as to how you guys will take it down. And I think I can be of help to you guys as well." Tu Lingxi introduced herself.
The rest of the party looked at Feng Luotian, waiting for him to make the decision, as if he was their leader.
Feng Luotian simply nodded and let Tu Lingxi join the party.
///// Party Member 8 : Tu Lingxi
///// Six Fangs White Bolt Floral Rabbit
///// [Void Jump] Level Max : The user can jump from anything without ricocheting or impacting the jumping ground.
///// [Petal Prance] Level 6 : The user's jump speed and jump force +240% when jumping from a flower petal.
"Do you know her?" Mei Yue'er asked.
Knowing Feng Luotian, it was almost impossible for him to accept a stranger to the team without a little bit of interview.
"I met her a week ago outside the city." Feng Luotian answered. He did not wish to reveal too much about him and Tu Lingxi fighting against Vulture Bandit Troupe as it related to the incident where Mei Yue'er was getting assassinated.
As this exam was administered by Alchemy Center—who was his prime suspect of that incident—Feng Luotian was afraid that there might be some array to record the sound and transmit what they said to another person. Regardless of whether there was such an array or not, it was better safe than sorry.
On the other hand, Mei Yue'er was asking him for a completely different reason. Not getting a clear answer, she became even more anxious, but nothing changed on the surface.
"Oh? Do you know her, Brother Feng? Is she strong? What's her bloodline?" Out of curiosity, Sun Wuji asked in a low voice as matters concerning one's bloodline were quite sensitive.
"I rather not say it." Feng Luotian refused.
"Why? There's no enemy here." Sun Wuji was confused.
"It's complicated. And you yourself know really well why it's complicated."
However, the more he argued, the more Sun Wuji became curious.
"Stop with the suspense. Why would I know it's complicated when I don't know what you're talking about?" Sun Wuji was getting irritated as he thought this was only a small matter.
"Lingxi, can I say your bloodline out loud?" Feng Luotian turned to Tu Lingxi, asking for permission.
"!!" There was a little twitch on Mei Yue'er's face when she heard him calling the girl by her name.
Tu Lingxi pondered for a while and finally nodded, albeit some hesitation still lingered.
"Okay. Her bloodline was White Bolt Floral … Rabbit."
It was quite noticeable that Feng Luotian did not wish to reveal her bloodline at all, especially the last word.
Sun Wuji was stunned, not knowing what to say.
"Hmph!! Another outsider." Ying Lizhua harshly commented in an instant.
"!!" Tu Lingxi was hit quite hard by the word, hanging her head down without saying anything back.
She knew full well that she was not from this place. But being invited to this exam by Feng Luotian made her feel that the world outside her home was not that bad and she could become a part of it. Nevertheless, …
"Ying Lizhua, you rude bastard!! Can you even spell the word 'manner'?" Mei Yue'er instantly burst out in anger while all previous suspicious thoughts about Feng Luotian and Tu Lingxi instantaneously disappeared.
She drew out her sword, pointing at the guy with the real killing intent because what she could not tolerate the most was men bullying women.
Sun Wuji's expression was darkened to the extreme while slowly walking toward Ying Lizhua. He fiercely tugged the guy's collar and solemnly said with his face only an inch away: "I dare you say that again, you punk?!!"
Ying Lizhua did not speak, simply staring back at Sun Wuji.
Compared to their previous fight, Sun Wuji's mood was completely different this time around. His nerve was utterly snapped by Ying Lizhua's previous words.
His eyes turned cold as his chill voice escaped his mouth: "What's wrong with being an outsider, huh? Isn't she also a person, huh, Ying Lizhua?"
The term "outsider" was used in Divine Bird City to indicate specific people. The city was established by a group of people whose bloodlines inherited from Divine Beast, Phoenix, so its original citizens only owned bloodlines with feather wings, in other words, the birds.
As the city grew and prospered, it was natural that someone from outside would seek to come and invest their business here. The more business emerged, the more prosperous the city would become, so the ones in charge of the city allowed them to enter.
However, with a distinct trait of the city's bloodline, the ones from outside could not escape discrimination from its denizens.
Even though they were not saying it clearly, the "outsiders" were always victimized by the discrimination: bullied, cheated, and exploited.
Rarely would someone from the city befriend an outsider?
Feng Luotian's group was an uncommon case when Sun Wuji with his Blitz Stone Titan Monkey bloodline was the best friend and sworn brother of God's Son and Peacock Lord's beloved daughter.
Although no one said it out loud and his friends did not mind it, Sun Wuji realized that people around them did not approve and would talk behind their backs.
Sun Wuji had been in this city since he was young.
There was a time when he was beaten up, and even though there were people seeing him being tortured, no one extended their hands to help, just because he was an "outsider."
At that time, there were only a group of kids led by Feng Luotian, who defeated some bandits and rescued him from all of those suffering.
And from then on, they had all become sworn brothers.
Sun Wuji had fought against this discrimination for a very long time—proving himself as one of the prodigies and contributing for the city—yet he was still far from accomplishing his goal. That explained why Sun Wuji was so oversensitive to the term.
He would not allow anyone to make a disrespectful remark about them being an "outsider" for no reason.
That was one thing Sun Wuji had sworn to protect.