36

Xu ZiRong glanced in the direction of Lei Hu’s disappearance. His expression looked extremely somber.

That person.... was actually this sensitive to blood....

He could not stay!

Xu ZiYan was completely unaware that the little brother he thought to be kind and obedient was currently pondering how to kill that guy from before. Instead, he was mulling over the words Lei Hu had just told him.

Anything related to his little brother must be handled seriously. Thus, Lei Hu’s words that came out of the blue really made things hard for Xu ZiYan.

Although he had been determined to find Lei Hu again to ask what he meant, time was running out. In addition, Xu ZiRong seemed to dislike that person.historical

After hesitating for a while, Xu ZiYan still gave up his plan in the end.

The two brothers followed the path as they rapidly neared the meeting location. There were other people on the path who were waiting to ambush them, but with Xu ZiRong’s prior warnings, Xu ZiYan only needed to glance in their general direction to warn them: we already know where you are hiding.

Lacking the necessary element of surprise, not many people would be able to win in a fight against Xu ZiYan, who had mastered the Qi Condensation Stage of cultivation. With the addition of Xu ZiRong, who was at the eighth layer of the Qi Condensation Stage, the two brother’s combined intensity was even greater than Wei Qing’s or Xiahou Lian’s.

In reality, although Xu ZiYan was included amongst the popular candidates for the top position of the inner-sect competition, compared to the backgrounds and forces backing Wei Qing or Xiahou Lian, the remote Xu family was just too inferior.

For this reason, not many people thought highly of Xu ZiYan, even though his cultivation wasn’t any worse when compared to Wei Qing and the rest.

When selecting persimmons, one must target the softer ones. In addition, it was quite obvious that Xu ZiYan was the sole pushover among those ultra-talented geniuses. Thus, Wei Qing, Xiahou Lian, and the other geniuses had an awfully undisturbed trip. Only Xu ZiYan encountered an ambush.

Of course, after making an example out of that slaughtered chicken, other people would quickly realize that Xu ZiYan was definitely not some kind of soft persimmon. If one wanted to take a bite out of him, they need to be prepared to lose one of their teeth.

The meeting place was set up at a clearing in the forest. On a protruding bump of dirt, a woman dressed in Taoist robes held a horsetail whisk and sat there quietly. The air surrounding her was calm and peaceful, and it seemed like she blended together with the forest itself.

When Xu ZiYan arrived there, he noticed that the atmosphere felt extremely strange.

Although the dozens of candidates looked rather scattered, you could still see some clumps here and there. The largest group was led by none other than Wei Qing. The teen dressed in a golden changpao seemed rather indifferent. Although one could tell that the two people beside him were currently trying to curry his favour, Wei Qing had a faint, impatient look on his face.

In addition to Wei Qing’s group, there were still a couple of others. The Xiahou Lian they met yesterday was also standing in the middle of a big group of her own. However, the moment Xiahou Lian saw Xu ZiYan, she excitedly waved her hand at him. To this gesture, Xu ZiYan felt faintly startled and reflexively gave her a smile.

Xu ZiRong’s expression looked gloomy to the point it was slightly terrifying. That damned woman actually dared to seduce his older brother! She could never be forgiven!

Xiahou Lian’s actions made a lot of people around her curious enough to look over. One must understand that Xiahou Lian was one of the most popular candidates in this examination. Someone who was capable of being treated like that by her, whoever it was, definitely couldn’t be an ordinary person.

Although Xu ZiYan was only fifteen years old, he was already nearly a hundred and eighty centimeters tall. With that tall height and his handsome appearance, he was capable of attracting almost everyone’s gaze.

And although the Xu ZiRong standing beside him was only eleven years old, he was unexpectedly pretty. Currently, his small and delicate face was filled with impatience. If he had been an adult, an expression like that would make everyone loathe him. However, on a child’s face like his, people would only scream about how cute he was.

“Who is that?” A gloomy-looking teenager stood not too far away as he coldly watched this scene. Lowering his voice, he asked the person beside him.

That person seemed utterly overwhelmed and flattered by his question. Following his gaze, he blanked for a moment upon seeing Xu ZiYan as a trace of surprise flitted through his eyes. “That is Xu ZiYan. He was the one who just wounded Wu Xun from the Wu family. In fact, Wu Xun was wounded rather heavily this time. Even if he recovers, he would definitely still be affected.”

This gloomy teenager, Hu YuTian, frowned slightly. He was aware of Wu Xun’s strength. Wounding Wu Xun was enough to prove Xu ZiYan’s abilities. Suddenly, Hu YuTian’s expression didn’t look that good. The candidates participating in this examination could all be considered hidden dragons and crouching tigers with how everyone was concealing their talent. Wei family’s Wei Qing, Xiahou family’s Xiahou Lian, and the rest of the candidates from the other families were all staring at each other like a tiger looking at his prey. Who would have thought that even a remote family like the Xu family would have a person like this?

The person beside Hu YuTian took a few more glances at Xu ZiYan before carefully adding, “The person standing beside him is his younger brother. It’s said that the relationship between the two of them is very good. In addition, his little brother is also very amazing. Although he has the Water, Wood, and Earth Tri-Spirit Vein, he is already at the eight layer of Qi Condensation Stage.”

Hu YuTian’s expression turned even more serious. With things as they were, it seemed like this year’s examination would be much harder than he had originally thought.

Hu family, Wei family, Xiahou family. Coming from big families like these, becoming an inner-sect disciple was pretty much already a done deal. Thus, their goals were placed on the top three places of the examination. To be more accurate, they were after one of the rewards for the top three places, the one that allowed them to enter Qilin Tower.

Although it was possible to obtain the eligibility to enter Qilin Tower after they entered the sect, the difficulty of that....

Hu YuTian rubbed the bracelet circling his wrist as his expression eased up. His talent was not inferior to the others, and he had been just as hardworking. Hu YuTian did not believe he would not be able to obtain one of the top three places!

Xu ZiYan found some open space to sit down. Before he sat, the teenager rather thoughtfully took out a handkerchief and placed it on the spot beside him.

Seeing this, Xu ZiRong’s mood became a bit better. Sure enough, his older brother was always thinking about him.

At this place, Xu ZiYan’s identity wasn’t some kind of secret. After all, the intelligence networks of those influential families weren’t incompetent.

In reality, after Xu ZiYan registered yesterday, information regarding him had already been placed onto the desks of many people. Xu ZiYan knew this as well, but he simply didn’t care. The strength of the Xu family was still too small, and their intelligence network wasn’t large enough to extend to Fa An City. Thus, Xu ZiYan just went into this situation completely blind. Fortunately, he was able to take advantage of the original Xu ZiYan’s memories.

‘Tut, the Wei Qing over there still has that stinky face on. He’s only a few years older than ZiRong, so how is he this uncute? That young girl Xiahou Lian doesn’t seem to be a simple character, so it’s a pity the original Xu ZiYan didn’t have much contact with her in his previous life. Ah, the person beside Hu YuTian looks a bit familiar.... Ah, right. Isn’t that the rat that specializes in selling information? Hehe, he shouldn’t have developed his relationships at this point yet. Let’s wait and find an opportunity to gain his loyalty.’

Xu ZiYan recovered his gaze in a seemingly careless manner. The original Xu ZiYan had an impression of many people here, but unfortunately his relationship with them was very ordinary.

However, it was understandable if one thought about it. The original Xu ZiYan had been raised to such a high pedestal in the Xu family. It was only when he arrived at the Liu Guang Sect that the original Xu ZiYan found out that his strength had been super ordinary. The genius of Xu family was nothing in the Liu Guang Sect. His strength could barely be ranked at the lower end of the top disciples, but compared to those super geniuses, he was a joke.

This huge gap between their strengths made the original Xu ZiYan struggle to accept the facts. He wanted to be haughty, but he didn’t have the qualifications to be haughty anymore. No wonder he thought everyone he saw was displeasing to his eyes, and followed his Master every day.

However, Xu ZiYan wasn’t a young child. He was very clear on just how important the relationships between people could be. It was impossible for him to be on friendly terms with everyone there, but picking a fraction of the people to associate with was still no problem.

“Big brother, what are you thinking about?” Xu ZiRong asked with a face full of curiosity.

The Blood Devil Lord was very curious. This was the first time he ever saw big brother expose this kind of—— calculating expression. He just didn’t know who exactly his big brother was scheming for?

“Nothing much,” Xu ZiYan rubbed the Blood Devil Lord’s head. “I’ll tell ZiRong when he grows up a bit more.”

Xu ZiRong wasn’t that happy with this answer, but he did not reveal his emotions on his face. His current image was a clever and obedient little brother. Although he was rather indifferent when facing other people, toward his older brother he would never say anything.

This was the character he molded with meticulous care, one that was most able to rouse Xu ZiYan’s desire to be a good older brother. Xu ZiRong didn’t want Xu ZiYan to become suspicious of him just because of some curiosity.

As time passed, more people arrived at the meeting place.

An interesting thing was that many of these people had wounds on their body. They all glared spitefully at the people who had sneak attacked them, but they didn’t seem to have any intention of complaining to the female Taoist. Apparently, they seemed to have come to terms with the fact that they had suffered losses.

“Damn! Who ambushed me!!!”

Unfortunately, not everyone could accept this result. Someone protested.

A fat person wearing gorgeous clothes rushed out of the forest before fiercely sweeping his eyes over the people gathered there. It was as if he wanted to find the person who had ambushed him.

Everyone’s gazes concentrated on him, making the fat person feel a bit uncomfortable. This was because it seemed as if everyone looking at him had a hint of a ridiculing smile in their eyes.

However, the moment he thought of his misfortune, he immediately became bold and self-confident as he angrily roared, “Who exactly was the bastard who ambushed me?! If you have the guts, then step up!”

“What will happen if they don’t step up?” A voice similar to the sound of ringing silver bells suddenly asked in a curious manner.

“If they don’t step up, I’ll slaughter them!” The fat man answered in a shout.

That voice continued to ask, “But if they don’t step up, then you won’t know who they are. If you don’t know who they are, how are you going to slaughter them?”

The fat man was suddenly speechless. He turned around to stare in the voice’s direction.

When he saw who was speaking, he immediately became dazed. It had been a young, eleven or twelve year old girl. She was wearing a pink dress with fluffy pompoms sewn on it. With a round face and big eyes, the sweet smile on her blushing face made it hard for anyone who saw her to not feel fondness.

“Hey, you still haven’t replied to me. If you don’t know who they are, how are you going to slaughter them?” The young girl didn’t seem satisfied with the fat man’s dazed look. She continued to pester him with her question.

“I....I....” The fat man stuttered for a bit and couldn’t say anything as his face flushed bright red.

“Tut, this is so boring,” the young girl curled her lip in a pout as his face filled with disdain. Suddenly, she fished out a small and deep green snake from who knows where and placed it in her palm. “Bi Yun, look at this guy. He’s so stupid. In the future I actually have to be in the same Sect as him, I’m practically throwing away all my face¹.”

“Sssss....” The small deep green snake named Bi Yun exposed its tongue as it began to emit a dangerous hissing sound.

^{1. Face = honour or dignity.?}

2. April Fool’s 2018