Qian Jiafeng felt the hairs on the back of her neck prick up. She looked up, searching for the source of danger. Or at least she attempted to do so. The moment she did so, the dangerous feeling disappeared.
“What’s wrong, Miss?”
She looked up to see Zhuangbo’s wizened face. “Did you sense anything dangerous?”
“Dangerous?” Zhuangbo repeated. He shook his head. “How can there be any danger? I think there’s something more interesting right now.”
“Interesting?”
Zhuangbo gestured toward the hunched assessor, Hanwei, but his attention wasn’t focused on them, but the two next to him. A plain-faced man and lively young girl.
“They are?”
“I mentioned them before,” Zhuangbo said. “They are Wuqiang and Xingyi.”
“Wuqiang? Him?” Qian Jiafeng said and stared at Wuqiang, who was talking to the assessor. For some reason, she felt an air of familiarity from Wuqiang. That is not to say his features felt familiar, even if she felt she had seen it over a thousand times. His features were just that forgettable and average.
“What? Does Miss recognize him?” Zhuangbo asked.
“No, but his name is very familiar to the one who killed your fellow guard, Jun Qiangwu,” Qian Jiafeng said.
“Jun Qiangwu, Wuqiang,” Zhuangbo tested the two names. “You should be thinking too much. The meaning behind the two’s names is different. One means Spear Military, and the other means Without Attachment.”
“I hope so,” Qian Jiafeng said. But she didn’t think so.
“Still, the quality of this year’s disciples is very high. You probably have second-rate talent, possibly first-rate. And just before you, there was first, second, and even peerless-rank talent,” Zhuangbo said. The lowest requirements to be accepted as an outer disciple were talent of the fifth-class, and talent at the second-class or above was incredibly rare. Disciples with fifth and fourth-class talents composed nearly seventy percent of the disciples.
In truth, most of the hundred disciples that joined the Xi Immortal Dynasty were brought back by elders to make up for numbers. The ones that joined through the assessment made up for less than twenty percent. It was unavoidable. The Xi Immortal Dynasty had only formed for less than ten years, and it would still take more time for it to become the holy land of cultivation for the world, sought after by all living beings in the world. That’s why the Xi Immortal Dynasty dispatched its disciples to slay monsters. Not only is this a way to protect the humans, but it’s also to spread their fame and raise their reputation.
It was by chance that she and the crown prince of the Mu Dynasty had met. It was the classic story of a hero saving a beauty. Though she did not fall in love, it would be a lie to say her heart was not moved. Mu Long himself was interested, so Qian Jiafeng reciprocated his feelings.
Qian Jiafeng had already heard rumors of the Xi Immortal Dynasty, but she had only thought it was some mystical tales made up by desperate people. But after learning the truth from Mu Long, she wanted to join. To secure her spot, she deepened her ties with Mu Long. Through this connection, although Qian Jiafeng wasn’t an official member of the Xi Immortal Dynasty, she wasn’t that far off.
In fact, she had planned to join the Xi Immortal Dynasty months earlier, but she happened to receive news of her father’s death. This forced her to delay her plans for over three months. Qian Jiafeng was supposed to arrive at the previous disciple assessment, but thanks to Jun Qiangwu, she missed it. This resulted in Mu Long using his influence to start the next assessment ahead of time. As a result, there were far less test takers than the previous assessment.
Like Wuqiang, Hou Yawen, and Xingyi, Qian Jiafeng followed Hanwei into the structure behind the gigantic gate.
Due to the smaller number of participants, the assessment concluded much faster. The only thing of highlight was that there were two new disciples with fifth-class talent. As for Qian Jiafeng, her talent exceeded everyone’s expectations, including her own. She had first-class talent.
Hanwei, who only had a dull reaction at this point, finally showed an excited expression. “Haha, my luck recently has been too good. A second-class talent, two first-class talents, and a peerless talent have appeared during my tenure! I wonder what the dynasty will give me as a reward.”
For cultivators like Hanwei, who ingested pills to reach their current strength, they had no hope of growth. So, the Xi Immortal Dynasty awarded them with longevity pills instead. As they were still qi gathering pupils, they only had a maximum lifespan of a hundred years, and most would die earlier because of forcibly overdrawing their potential.
“Maybe I can receive a Six Month Longevity Pill. No, maybe it’s a Year Longevity Pill?” Hanwei muttered to himself. Normally, the longevity pills given were only Day or Week Longevity Pills. Very rarely would a Month Longevity Pill be given.
Hanwei forced the ones who failed the assessment to leave. Like before, those who wanted to play tricks were directly killed by him. However, he wasn’t the one that led Qian Jiafeng into the Xi Immortal Palace, but Zhuangbo.
As she left, Qian Jiafeng couldn’t help but look at Wuqiang’s back. She wanted to say something and test her hypothesis, but her intuition told her that it wouldn’t end well for her. In the end, she turned her head away and left with Zhuangbo.
After writing her name in blood on the Monument of Records, Zhuangbo brought Qian Jiafeng to Mu Long’s suite.
“Jia’er,” Mu Long said upon seeing Qian Jiafeng.
“Brother Long,” Qian Jiafeng said.
The two only spoke to one another and did not initiate any intimate contact, like a hug or holding hands. To do so would be scandalous. Even if they were married, they could only do it when no outsider was present.
“I haven’t seen you for a few months, but you are becoming more and more beautiful,” Mu Long said.
Qian Jiafeng smiled and hid it behind her sleeve, but Mu Long could still see a hint of redness on her cheeks. Mu Long laughed.
“Brother Long, if you keep teasing me, I’m going to leave,” Qian Jiafeng said.
“My bad, my bad. It’s my fault, don’t be angry anymore,” Mu Long said, placating Qian Jiafeng. His expression turned serious, losing all sense of joviality. “Can you tell me about this Jun Qiangwu and your grievance with him?”
Qian Jiafeng’s blush also disappeared. She told him about her and her former fiance’s past. Of course, she edited some of the parts, like how Jun Qiangwu wanted to kill her and take the precious herb for himself. She didn’t hide the fact that she once admired and loved him. In fact, Mu Long might even love her more after learning this. After all, being betrayed by the one you loved and trusted the most would leave untenable scars in the heart.
She had never planned on this aspect of her past. Doing so would only elicit Mu Long’s disgust. And with her current cover story, Mu Long would naturally think of excuses for her. Such as why she was so distant, yet she still yearned for him.
“Don’t worry, Jia’er,” Mu Long said. He walked closer and reached out for her hand, but she reflexively stepped back. His eyes darkened, but not out of anger at her. “That Jun Qiangwu will pay for betraying you.”
Qian Jiafeng made a small but bitter smile. “Thank you.”
“Senior Brother, is there something?” Xingyi asked.
She and Jun Qiangwu had left Xanadu right after the disciple assessment. Currently, both of them sat in a carriage driven by their bodyguards. It was supposed to be a pleasant day, but Xingyi couldn’t help but feel chilly. Xingyi felt that her senior brother had changed. Although Jun Qiangwu acted dull toward everything, he still treated her well. But for some reason, his whole body exuded an icy aura.
“Huh?” Jun Qiangwu looked up, as if awoken from his brooding thoughts. He forced a smile onto his face. “It’s nothing, I just had some thoughts.”
“Oh,” Xingyi said. Then, she snuck a glance at him. “Senior Brother, do you know that pretty lady?”
“…no,” Jun Qiangwu finally said.
Xingyi didn’t believe him, but she didn’t continue to ask.
From then, the two began their monster-slaying journey. At first, Xingyi showed vigor that only young people had. After a few battles, she lost some of her immaturity, becoming a capable monster slayer. Whenever she entered battle, she would switch into combat mode. However, her enthusiasm for the monster slaying waned after the first month.
She couldn’t help it. Jun Qiangwu had gone on a monster slaying spree. As a result, Xingyi had already met her quota in the first two weeks. From there, Jun Qiangwu didn’t plan to return, and Xingyi hadn’t minded, but then it just became too much.
Xingyi had already slain thirty monsters of the second rank. Monsters were categorized by ranks, and the ranks went all the way up to thirteen, which correlated to the thirteen stages of the Qi Gathering Realm. She also faced death many times, not because she hunted monsters above her rank—although she had slain a few third-rank monsters—but because Jun Qiangwu kept challenging monsters of the sixth and seventh-rank like mad.
Were it not for the two’s bodyguards, they might have already been buried six feet under after encountering ninth and tenth-rank monsters.
Still, it wasn’t like the hunting was pointless. The more monsters they hunted, and the stronger monsters they hunted, the more points they would receive from the Xi Immortal Dynasty. The Xi Immortal Dynasty didn’t use gold or banknotes as currency, but points. They were automatically stored into their XiyiDs. Even if they lost their XiyiDs, it could easily be replaced as the XiyiDs were only used to access their account inside the Monument of Records.
“Let’s go back,” Jun Qiangwu said one day out of the blue.
“Really!?” Xingyi asked. It was already the fifth month. She thought that her senior brother would only return until the last moment.
“Yeah,” Jun Qiangwu said. “The inter-disciple tournament will start in a month. During this time, it’s better to use the points we earn and convert it into strength. I heard that many elders are interested in this tournament, and a few might accept a few outer disciples.”
“Oh,” Xingyi said. She didn’t have much interest in finding a master because Elder Hui was her, Jun Qiangwu, and Hou Yawen’s master. Xingyi didn’t think her talent had caught Elder Hui’s eyes. Perhaps he accepted Jun Qiangwu, her and Hou Yawen on a whim.
“You don’t seem to want to go back? Do you want to hunt a few mo—”
“Nope! Senior Brother, let’s go back now!”
Jun Qiangwu made a helpless smile as he allowed Xingyi to drag himself away. Rather than senior brother and junior sister, the two seemed like blood-related brother and sister.
The journey back didn’t take long, and upon his return, Jun Qiangwu didn’t leave his room or the cultivation chamber after reporting to Elder Hui. He was afraid, afraid that he would not be able to stop himself from killing Qian Jiafeng if he saw her in the Xi Immortal Palace.
Both of them had joined the Xi Immortal Palace, so it was against the rules for two members to kill each other. Still, that didn’t mean Jun Qiangwu would give up on his revenge. Accidents happen all the time, especially in the heat of the moment. Even if he was unlucky and failed to meet Qian Jiafeng in the tournament, what about when she went on her mission? She couldn’t stay in the Xi Immortal Dynasty forever.
As for her protector? Jun Qiangwu had a plan. He didn’t kill all those monsters just for points, but also to complete side missions. After receiving those three gacha coins, he had restocked his weapons. Not to mention that his Frostflower Eyes had fully matured. He couldn’t display their full strength, but in the Qi Gathering Realm, it was practically unfair.
The days passed, and the time for the inter-disciple tournament finally arrived.
[Ding! Main Mission 4 issued.]
[Main Mission 4: Become the champion.]
