Feng Luotian flashed and placed each hand on Sun Wuji and Ying Lizhua's shoulders: "Wuji, calm down. As for Lizhua, apologize to Lingxi."
"Why should I?" Ying Lizhua did not yield.
"You know why. Your sworn brother was one of those people. And also, I was the one who invited Lingxi to take this exam. At least give me some face!!" Feng Luotian sternly replied.
"Apologize!!" Strongly gripping the guy's collar, Sun Wuji loudly declared, whereas Mei Yue'er was still pointing her sword at the guy's throat.
Facing three deadly glares, Ying Lizhua finally yielded: "Alright, alright!! Tu Lingxi. I'm sorry to have said that."
"Hmph!!" Two harrumphs sounded as Sun Wuji released the collar in his hand while Mei Yue'er sheathed her sword.
On the side, Tu Lingxi nodded, accepting the apology, before she turned her head to the other two and said: "Thank you."
Although the fight did not break out, everyone stayed silent, creating a dead air. The atmosphere at the party was clearly dampened.
Feng Luotian suddenly gave out another suggestion to divert everyone's thought from the previous matter: "We should invite that guy as well."
He pointed his finger to the leader of the obliterated fifty-man party.
Ying Lizhua was getting frustrated and impatient. He shouted: "How many more do you want to invite?"
"It's better safe than sorry." Feng Luotian spread his hands.
Sun Wuji was irritated by Ying Lizhua's remark: "Why do you have to be so loud? You will be in the number one spot anyway, as long as we have less than sixteen people in our party!!"
"You better hurry. Isn't it you who said that we have no time?" Ying Lizhua said to Feng Luotian, then he harrumphed at Sun Wuji and turned his attention to the strongest clone.
Following that, Feng Luotian flashed and appeared next to this He Chen, bringing Mei Yue'er and Sun Wuji with him.
Seeing the guy's condition, Feng Luotian said: "A little bit of damage, and he would not be here. Brother, can you still fight?"
"No, I can't move at all. But I can help you with my skill and ability. I know that you guys also want to defeat that clone, so I'd like to join your party as well. If you can defeat it, then I will pass the exam and finally become Peacock School's disciple."
Originally, He Chen was in his despair that he would not have any chance to pass the exam. Now, someone came here to ask him to fight. He would, of course, not let this chance get away.
It was his dream to enter Peacock School as its disciple. His older brother and sister had already joined the school. Even though he had much less talented than them, as a son of one of the Four Lords, he did not want to besmirch his father's prestige, so he wanted to try his very best to enter the most prestigious school in the city like his siblings.
"How can you help us if you can't even move?" Sun Wuji doubted.
"Believe me, I can." He Chen confirmed.
"I will see to that. Join our party first." Feng Luotian suggested. Afterward, He Chen linked his Theríon and joined the team.
///// Party Member 9 : He Chen
///// Six Fangs Grey Beak Rapier Heron
///// [Piercing Focus] Level 6 : Upon receiving Theríon from other cultivators, the next attack's damage will be increased by 3 times of Theríon increment percentage.
(AN: For example, if his Theríon was at 50% of his max capacity after he received a certain amount of Theríon that could increase his current amount from 50% to 55%, then Theríon increment percentage would be 5%, his next attack's damage will be increased by 3×5% = 15%.)
"…" After seeing the guy's stat, Feng Luotian still did not know how he was going to help them if he could not move, while he thought: "His skill might be useful somehow."
Feng Luotian turned to Mei Yue'er: "Yue'er, give him some recovery pill so that at least he would not be sent out by some stray bullets."
Mei Yue'er nodded and fetched some pill for the guy. After that, they carried him to where the party was waiting.
When everyone was gathered, Feng Luotian proposed: "Okay. Shall we begin our strategy meeting? I know that your skills and abilities are sensitive information that cannot be said in public. So, telling us roughly would be enough. Please share only those that would help us in this final showdown."
———
On the stage outside the exam site, Mei Hongyi noticed Feng Luotian and others had joined hands and were having discussions on what to do next.
He could not help but utter: "Don't tell me they planned to challenge my Three Talons clone? That's reckless!! They won't be able to scratch it, let alone defeat it!!"
On the surface, Mei Hongyi was with confidence, but on the inside, he was quite worried that those younglings might pull it off, especially the former God's Crippled Son.
Feng Luotian had displayed a much higher capacity than any normal Six Fangs Fighters in all aspects: attack, defense, speed, ability, skill, and technique.
Peacock Lord, of course, knew what Mei Hongyi was thinking, but he still entertained the guy by responding to his arrogant phrase: "Just let them. I'm actually interested in what they will do against such an opponent. You don't have to worry, though. That clone has much higher cultivation than those kids."
"!!" Mei Hongyi became silent and hated the fact that his Clan Chief seemed to know every one of his thoughts.
———
"Okay. Let's do this!!"
After they finished formulating their plan, Feng Luotian announced the end of the meeting. Everyone checked their own body and Theríon, ready to fight at any time.
Feng Luotian: "Yue'er, can I ask you for a favor?"
"What is it?" Mei Yue'er turned serious to his request.
"Let me borrow all monster cores you have. I will return it when I have a chance in the future, with interest."
"..." Mei Yue'er frowned but agreed anyway.
Following that, she handed the bag full of monster cores to him while saying: "Don't worry about the interest, I won't be that pity to ask it from you."
Even though she did not appear to be like some rich girls who wore several expensive accessories, she was still the beloved daughter of the Peacock Lord. In the bag she gave Feng Luotian, there were hundreds of monster cores ranging from Six Fangs to Nine Fangs.
Just this bag alone made her one of the richest people the city.
"Hehe, thanks." Feng Luotian chuckled and accepted it without any reserves.
"What are you planning to do with them? Don't tell me you want to refine it to raise your strength?" Sun Wuji was curious.
"Mhm. Pretty much." Feng Luotian flatly said.
Mei Yue'er and Sun Wuji traded glances. They had no idea of how Feng Luotian would do as he said. They were in the middle of the exam, the battle. What time did he have to refine the monster cores and finally make a breakthrough here?
"Sound transmission checked!!"
Suddenly, a sound was heard in every party member's mind. It was Feng Luotian's voice, but he had not moved his mouth.
Mei Yue'er thought: "Checked!!"
Sun Wuji: "Checked!!"
…
…
He Chen: "Checked!!"
After hearing Feng Luotian, the rest of the party sequentially replied without speaking out loud.
It was another common method of this cultivation world.
When in the party, every member could communicate with each other using a sound transmission through their linked Theríon. Thus, they could send a sound message and talk to each other without explicitly saying it.
This could prevent others who could be hiding nearby from hearing their conversations and allow them to carry out a covert operation without letting their enemies notice them.
Also, with linked Theríon, one could roughly know any of their teammates' location by sensing their Theríon.
However, there was a limit to this linked Theríon as it would be broken once a cultivator strayed too far from the party.
But as a temporary party to battle a certain opponent within a specific place, there was no need to worry about such a thing.
"Okay. Everyone's ready?" Feng Luotian said in sound transmission.
"Ready!!" Everyone replied in the same manner.
"Alright!! Wuji. Lingxi. Give us a good distraction." Feng Luotian commenced the operation.
"Leave it to us." Sun Wuji affirmed.
Everyone except Sun Wuji and Tu Lingxi quickly moved and flashed away to the designated position.
As for He Chen, he was teleported by Mei Yue'er using her Aurora Treading Step. One step, and he was five hundred meters away from his original position, hiding behind the ruin on the west side of the plateau.
Sun Wuji turned to Tu Lingxi and beckoned: "Shall we?"
"Mhm." Tu Lingxi nodded.
She walked toward Sun Wuji's back, retrieved one sakura petal from her bag, and placed it on the ground behind Sun Wuji before she stepped on it and hugged him from behind.
Sun Wuji: "!!"
Tu Lingxi: "What?"
"Nothing." Sun Wuji turned red a little.
Seeing their position and the embarrassed Sun Wuji, Tu Lingxi realized something and turned a little red as well. She hung her face down and said: "We are only carrying out Big Brother Feng's plan and nothing else."
"I know." Even though Sun Wuji said it like that, there was quite a storm raging inside of him right now.