“What a cold person.”
Long Chen thought inside.
He stood up and, with the other nineteen, stood in the middle of the hall. It was large enough, and they were thinly spread out.
Long Chen swept his eyes over the other nineteen, and found that they were about the same age as he was. However, from what Lingxi told him, they were all at the initial mastery stage at the Earth Dan Realm except for Long Chen, at the Human Dan Realm. Long Chen had no idea why this was the situation, when he had been at the peak of the Human Dan Realm when he had obtained the qualifications.
“These genius cultivators are all amazing.”
Long Chen sighed ruefully.
Just from their clothing and appearances, Long Chen could not tell which faction these geniuses were from. At this moment, based on Dongfang Xuanxiao’s directions, they were all beginning to stand in pairs.
Long Chen clearly saw Chu Yunxi smirking at him and then standing together with Jin Sheng’en.
Behind Jin Sheng’en was a pair of tall and sturdy twin brothers, who were probably from the Gold Faction.
Chu Yunxi was from the Green Faction, and after standing with the Gold Faction, he was leaving Long Chen high and dry. There were only 20 people, and soon enough, all were in their groups, forming an orderly line in front of Dongfang Xuanxiao.
Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the hot-headed young man who mentioned to escape death, Long Chen. Chu Yunxi had gone to the Green Faction, leaving Long Chen alone. On the other side, there was also a girl isolated.
“As I was saying, Mengyao really has the worst luck!”
In the Silver Faction, a beautiful woman shook her head. Beside her was an old woman, who looked extremely youthful and rosy cheeks. She was also an expert, and the grand elder of the Silver Faction.
“It’s not like you don’t know Mengyao’s strength. As long as she endures through the first round, she’ll definitely be able to shine in the second round. I just hope that Long Chen won’t pull her down.”
“How could he not?”
The beautiful woman rolled her eyes. “If this kid’s cowardly, he might use the firework signal at the first encounter of danger. That would cause Mengyao to lose the qualification to participate, and her hard work throughout so many years would only be wasted!”
“Don’t say more. Luck is a huge part of power, and if she can’t succeed because of that, there’s no one she can blame.”
Though they were not speaking very loudly, everyone in the hall heard their words clearly, including Long Chen.
“Pull her down?”
Long Chen had nothing to say when he was being thought of in this manner.
From everyone’s eyes, it was evident that anyone who teamed up with Long Chen would be extremely unlucky in the stage of Divergent Road.
The rule not only tested one’s strength. No matter how powerful one was, a teammate who was like swine meant a huge tragedy.
“Then let’s see who will be the one dragging down the other.” Long Chen’s expression was indifferent, able to withstand the mocking and contempt.
At this moment, Dongfang Xuanxiao’s eyes were trained on Long Chen.
“Go.” He pointed in Yin Mengyao’s direction and spoke.
Long Chen could only carry out this guy’s order dejectedly, walking to the Silver Faction’s Yin Mengyao’s side.
Yin Mengyao had directly gained the qualifications to participate in the competition. She was probably not any weaker than Jin Sheng’en or Chu Yunxi.
When Long Chen had first entered the discussion hall, he saw that there were two females and a male at the Silver Faction. A male and a female had been huddled together, while he had guessed that the other was Yin Mengyao.
Whether it was her appearance or temperament, both were exceptional and very similar to Dongfang Xuanxiao. Her good looks were peerless, and should be around twenty years old, any childish nature like Lingxi’s long gone, and was very lovely.
In terms of her beauty, she was on about the same level as Liu Lan, though her cordialness was rather different from Liu Lan. Though Yin Mengyao could not be said to be cold as ice, her indifference and apathetic temperament made her hard to comprehend.
Long Chen had initially worried that she would chase him away after he approached her, but her expression was the same as Dongfang Xuanxiao, unchanging and unwilling to look at Long Chen. It was as if she was not the one in the same team as him.
Now, ten groups had been perfectly formed. The round of the Divergent Road would leave four teams remaining, before the final battle.
“These two are a match made in heaven.”
Long Chen wondered depressedly.
His gloominess must be contributing to this thoughts, because Dongfang Xuanxiao looked to be around thirty, but his real age must be around forty, making him old enough to be Yin Mengyao’s father.
After the teams had been divided, Dongfang Xuanxiao did not say more and instead, took out firework signals from his cosmos pouch and getting Dongfang Tianyu to hand them down.
“As long as you infuse real Qi into the firework signal, it will work.”
Dongfang Xuanxiao narrated the usage of the firework signal.
At this point, Dongfang Tianyu finally winded around and came to Long Chen’s front. He suddenly realised that Dongfang Tianyu’s eyes were full of malicious intent towards him.
“Kid, when I saw you in the Sky Martial Realm, you seemed to pretend to be harmless. For you to dare touch Chu Tianxiong and make my Yunyao angry, could it be that you don’t care for my existence at all?”
Having said this, he placed the firework signal in Long Chen’s hands and continued on to the next person. In the meantime, he turned back and sneered at Long Chen.
Taking care of the Chu family would result in Dongfang Tianyu’s hostility towards him. Long Chen had long since considered that. However, he was now at risk, and there was no other choice but to do this. Because of Liu Lan, the enmity between the Chu Family and him was already at the limit.
After Dongfang Tianyu handed out all the firework signals, Dongfang Xuanxiao produced twenty glistening jade bangles. This should be the mystical jade bangle and, with a wave of his arm, they automatically flew out and winded around Long Chen and the others’ wrists.
Gazing at this bangle, Long Chen was astonished.
“This is the jade bangle. With your strength, it’s impossible to destroy. Once your injuries exceed a limit, the bangle will automatically drop, and others can then retrieve it.”
Dongfang Xuanxiao was expressionless as he continued, “You must know the rules of the Divergent Road well. I won’t say more nonsense. It’s already late, and you’ll need to return and prepare. Early in the morning tomorrow, we will head to the Divergent Road.”
“Yes, Lord Xuanxiao!”
Following the others, Long Chen spoke deferentially towards Dongfang Xuanxiao.
After speaking, Dongfang Xuanxiao had little to say and left.
From start to end, he had not said anything about Long Chen and Chu Tianxiong, but Long Chen knew that by handing the identity jade piece to Long Chen and securing it, that in itself was a soundless warning to Chu Tianxiong. In this situation, Chu Tianxiong would not dare do anything to him.
Once Dongfang Xuanxiao left, Gu Batian patted his thigh and stood up, smiling at Long Chen, “Young man, looks like you’re Green Faction isn’t all that safe. How about you come to our Purple Faction and rest? Let me receive you properly!”
Long Chen had not wanted to be together with the Chu Family, and Gu Batian had helped him out of this issue. This was the best situation for him, and he quickly thanked the man, “Many thanks, Senior Gu!”
Seeing Gu Batian and Long Chen colluding together, a cold glint flashed in Chu Tianxiong’s eyes.
“Third Grandpa, don’t be in such a hurry. At the Divergent Road tomorrow, Jin Sheng’en and I have already planned it all out. Long Chen won’t be able to survive.”
At this moment, Chu Yunxi leaned over Chu Tianxiong’s shoulder and spoke.
“Mm. Xi’er, it’s all up to you now. Do as Grandpa told you,” Chu Tianxiong’s voice was icy.
“I know. Before he takes out his firework signal, will smash his body to smithereens.”
Their quiet conversation could only be heard by Lingxi, who was unbelievably bored. She repeated the words for Long Chen to hear, her tone full of fury.
“What’s the hurry? I’m not going to lose to him.” Long Chen laughed as he spoke softly.
At this point, he had dragged Liu Yuan and Liu Lan along. The rest slowly left the hall, and Gu Batian was preparing to bring Long Chen and the other two away.
All of a sudden, Yin Mengyao, who had not spoken at all, said, “Long Chen, right? Can I have a word?”
This icy beauty was actually looking to speak to him voluntarily. Long Chen was surprised.
Gu Batian wasn’t young anymore, yet very energetic. After hearing her words, he teased, “Girl, could you really have taken a liking for this kid?”
Yin Mengyao did not have any change in expression even after hearing these words. She answered calmly, “Senior Gu, I would like to discuss the arrangements tomorrow.”
“Oh.” There was no fun in messing with this girl, and Gu Batian stopped speaking.
Long Chen nodded and headed to a corner of the all with her. The closer he got to Yin Mengyao, the more he felt that she was mind-blowingly beautiful. That cold feeling she gave off was something regular girls could not even learn.
Watching Long Chen, she spoke, “My grand elder of the Silver Faction has told me that you’ve reached the Earth Dan Realm, so I’m at ease. For the battle tomorrow, try to hide as much as you can, and I’ll take care of the opponents. You’ll just have to take care of your jade bangle. Is that alright?”
In actuality, Yin Mengyao was not despising him. Long Chen did not have much of an impression of her, and even if she did seem to be looking down on him a little, that would not affect Long Chen’s good impression of her.
“She’s just worried that if I’m not powerful enough, I’d lose the jade bangle, which would make things complicated. That’s why she said that.”
Long Chen didn’t mind at all and nodded. “Alright, don’t worry. I’ll do what I can.”
From what Long Chen had said to Chu Tianxiong, he was very hot-headed, but never did Yin Mengyao expect that Long Chen would agree so easily, and seemed rather sincere.
That was better and required lesser effort on her part at convincing him. She nodded, bid him farewell, and left.
Long Chen followed Gu Batian and trained at the Nine Devil Mountain Manor for a night. On the morning of the second day, everyone followed Dongfang Xuanxiao and arrived at the bottom of the Devil Mountain of Life and Death.