“Alright, I will do my best. I will submit it, but whether or not it gets approved is beyond me.” Xuanyun didn’t know what else he could say since Long Chen wanted the Sky Soul Fruit so badly.
“Long Chen, you just entered the family, so you might not know how important a year’s worth of resources is. Are you sure? Are you willing to bear the risk of being left behind?”
“I’ve already made my decision.”
Dongfang Xuanyun couldn’t do much since Long Chen had made up his mind.
After registration, Long Chen left the Xuanyun Pavilion, but he only got his left foot out when Ling Xi broke the silence.
“Ling Xi, you don’t have to say anything. I’ve already made my decision and there’s nothing you can do to change it.”
She didn’t know what to do about Long Chen’s behavior. All she did was keep the sense of gratitude in her heart.
“Stop!” Long Chen had just walked out of the Xuanyun Pavilion when he was stopped by a group of teenagers on a small path surrounded by a beautiful forest.
He recognized them immediately—they were the ones he had bumped into when he first entered the Xuanyun Pavilion. There were seven of them, and all of them were looking at Long Chen with a prideful look in their eyes.
The leader of the group was a youth roughly the same age as Mo Xiaolang but was already at the mid Earthly Core Realm, a stage higher compared to Long Chen.
The youth looked handsome too, with sharp eyebrows and a tall nose. Even though he was still young, his body was fairly toned. The only thing that showed his true age was his naive-looking eyes.
“You! Are you Long Chen, the one who came in from the outer family?” Dongfang Tianya felt very cool when he surrounded Long Chen with his friends. All of them were glaring at Long Chen to intimidate him.
“Hoho, you brats. Shouldn’t you be calling me ‘big brother?’ We just met and you are already picking on me. What’s going on? Don’t tell me you don’t know how to respect your elders even though you’re a grown up?” Long Chen did not want to show them even a hint of respect.
He remembered hearing them say that Dongfang Tianyu was waiting for them earlier. It was very likely that Dongfang Tianyu was trying to inconvenience Long Chen by asking them to block him.
“What?!” Seeing how Long Chen had not stuttered and was even more of a jerk than him, Dongfang Tianya felt his nose flaring from anger. He stepped forward and exuded his aura to suppress Long Chen.
“Do you really think you’re one of us when you just joined the inner family? How dare you try to act mighty in front of me, Dongfang Tianya? I will teach you a lesson now! Rather than me calling you ‘big brother,’ you are better off kneeling and calling me ‘big brother’ instead!”
Dongfang Tianya, not wanting to waste another breath, threw a punch towards Long Chen amidst the cheers.
He just tried to punch me without any warning? He’s too prideful. They must’ve been tricked by Dongfang Tianyu. Long Chen knew that Dongfang Tianyu was behind this, but he didn’t want to lose to a bunch of brats.
“Sure, let me give you idiots a lesson.” Long Chen smiled and didn’t retreat. Instead, he punched as well and smashed his fist into Dongfang Tianya’s fist. Both of them staggered from the impact.
Dongfang Tianya took several steps back from the attack before he steadied himself.
Wasn’t he at the initial Earthly Core Realm? Dongfang Tianya was in disbelief. He thought he could show off to his friends today, but he was already embarrassed on the first attack.
Long Chen took a few steps back too, similar to Dongfang Tianya.
“Not bad, you brat. No wonder you managed to pass the qualifiers. But a country bumpkin like you can’t handle a member of the inner family!”
Dongfang Tianya circulated his Qi in anger and ran towards Long Chen. Rather than using only physical strength, he was using a martial technique!
“Heaven Rending Dragon!”
A massive fist was launched towards Long Chen. The fist also contained a faint silhouette of a dragon, marking it as a special attack.
Looks like an intermediate Black-tier technique. Long Chen was toying with the boy. He didn’t even need to transform to win.
I might as well put the Nine Dragon Flashes to the test. Long Chen smiled evilly.
Nine Dragon Flashes!
Long Chen’s body flickered, and he disappeared like the light. Dongfang Tianya was astounded by Long Chen’s speed, but his reaction was far too slow—the latter was already right in front of him!
“Ah!” Seeing how Long Chen was seeking death by approaching Dongfang Tianya’s attack, everyone shouted in shock.
“Die!” Dongfang Tianya didn’t hold back even though Long Chen was just in front of his technique. How could the youth swallow the embarrassment he had shown to his friends just now?
“Die? Are you kidding me?” Long Chen suddenly disappeared just as the attack was about to touch him. Dongfang Tianya wasn’t sure what had happened.
His move was strong, but it didn’t hit!
“How could this be?” Dongfang Tianya was surprised before he suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
“Careful!”
Dongfang Tianya’s face paled when he heard them warning him. He had a bad feeling and was about to turn around and punch, but he was too late.
Dongfang Tianya had failed to react to Long Chen’s Nine Dragon Flashes. Long Chen hit him with a heavy kick from the back and launched him away!
When he landed, all he saw was Long Chen smiling evilly, causing him to feel fear for the first time.
“Are you really trying to piss me off when you’re this weak?” Long Chen grasped Dongfang Tianya’s neck and smashed his face onto the ground.
Bam!
Dongfang Tianya shouted in pain. His face was red from the impact and his body was limp.
It was not a serious wound, but Dongfang Tianya had never been this heavily injured before. Everyone else was shocked when they heard him screaming.
“You dare hurt Brother Tianya?!”
Some of the girls wanted to attack Long Chen together, but he shot them a glare. “You want to end up like him too?”
He had killed far more people than them, so the killing intent in his voice was more than enough to shut them up. Even though they were angry, they didn’t dare to move. The strongest member of their group, Dongfang Tianya, had already lost, so what chance did they have?
Long Chen squatted beside Dongfang Tianya and laughed at the youth, who was on the verge of tears.
“Hey, didn’t you just say that I have to kneel and call you ‘big brother?’”
Dongfang Tianya was startled and shifted his body to the side in fear. “No … I … I said nothing …”
Long Chen’s method had scared the youth.
This boy was only at the mid Earthly Core Realm, slightly better than the youths from the Red family. Long Chen had an advanced Black-tier Body Combat technique and more combat experience, so it had been an easy victory for him.
“What should you call me?” Long Chen said cheekily.
“Brother! You are my big brother!” Dongfang Tianya hated Long Chen, but he knew that he would get beaten again if he didn’t do this now.
“Not bad.” Long Chen stood up and decided to forgive Dongfang Tianya.
“Let Dongfang Tianyu know not to pull this kind of trick again, or I will hate him. We have the tournament coming up, so I will show him how strong I am then.”
Long Chen left right after saying that, leaving the teenagers to look at each other.
“Let’s go find Aunty Xuanyu! Let her come and deal with him!” Dongfang Tianya stood up shakily, his eyes red.
***
Back in his room, Long Chen gave Ling Xi the two Soul Grasses to be refined. They would extend her life again.
Long Chen continued to cultivate the Nine Dragon Flashes. The little battle earlier had given him some comprehension on how the technique worked.
“It seems that I have to use it in a real battle to be able to cultivate the technique to a higher realm.”
Long Chen continued to work hard.
Xuanxiao set a goal for me—I have to be able to do four flashes in one month, but will that be my limit?
Long Chen cultivated for an hour before he heard someone approaching outside.
“Long Chen, come out.”
Long Chen knew who the voice belonged to. He walked out and saw the youthful-looking Dongfang Xuanyu.
Dongfang Xuanyu’s face was solemn. When she saw Long Chen walking out as if nothing had happened, she was even more angry. She released the aura of a Heavenly Core Realm cultivator and closed in on Long Chen. “You got guts. You just joined the inner family, yet already started beating up the juniors? You are incorrigible! If I don’t punish you today, I won’t be able to show my face here again!”