Chapter 292: The Dangerous Intruders
"Congrats, leader Luo. Your Sky Cloud Martial School is indeed full of pride now. Two of your disciples have entered the Hidden Dragon Rank this year. You will be full of luck!"
Once the competition had officially finished, all of the powerful parties in the Wind Nation had gathered in front of the leader of the Sky Cloud Martial School to congratulate him. Some of them came with a friendly intent while some were full jealousy and even evilness.
Luo Xinglie held his fist and laughed with a bright voice, "It was all because of them. The Sky Cloud Martial School is the lucky one to have the honor. Everyone, don’t worry, our Sky Cloud Martial School will not be like some of the martial institutions, trying to pull the dictating stuff." Ye Chen and Xu Jing had not fully grown up yet. Luo Xinglie did not want to be the common enemy for everyone, which would only be bad for the future growth of the Sky Cloud Martial School, since the school’s history was incomparable to the Emerald Martial School and the North Snow Martial Academy. It was definitely not a tyrant in the whole Wind Nation.
Hearing him, the expressions of every leader in the whole Wind Nation changed a little bit. Although in the whole true spirit continent, only power truly mattered, a promise did not mean anything much. But since the leader of the Sky Cloud Martial School had promised in front of everyone, it still made an impact after all. While some of the leaders felt relieved, some still felt jealous. They could not help but wonder why they were not the one having such powerful disciples, thinking how great it would have been for them to even just have one.
The leader of the South Rudra Martial School walked over and said with a beautiful smile on her face, "Leader Luo, Long Biyun is here to congratulate."
Luo Xinglie saw her and said with gratitude, "Leader Long, I would still have to thank you for what happened in the Scorching Ancient Desert. You had truly prevented a disaster for us!" Long Biyun had a special social status, it was something that everyone in the Windy Nation knew. Besides the fact that she had already helped the Sky Cloud Martial School once before, Luo Xinglie wanted to make a good relationship with the South Rudra Martial School, or at least just not to have a bad one.
"I have lived in the Windy Nation for so many years now, and it had kind of grow on me after all. How could I let our own martial schools be bullied by anyone else? Okay, let’s not talk about this now. Where is Ye Chen? I want to take a good look at him this time." Long Bingyun had not met Ye Chen officially yet, so she was very curious.
"Of course, I will ask him to come over."
Soon, Ye Chen walked over in blue robes. He touched his fists and said, "Leader Long, greetings!"
Long Biyun studied him for a while, then nodded and said, "Yeah, you indeed have the quality of a great sword artist. You have pride and dignity but not blind confidence… Indeed a great jade!"
Ye Chen was a bit flattered. It was the first time for him to be complemented by someone personally. And it was even coming from a lady. Without any negative intention, Ye Chen carefully looked at her, feeling a slight vibration, ‘I cannot see it through. Even with my powerful soul power, I still cannot see anything.’ What was even scarier was that Ye Chen felt that his soul had been seen through with just one look. It was definitely not the power a peak-level Late Clasping Yuan Realm warrior should have. It should be at least at the Astral Reaching Realm, or maybe even higher…
Ye Chen would never forget what happened in the Scorching Ancient Desert. At the time, when the head master of the South Rudra Martial School took out a name tag with the carving of a green dragon, it was referred as the Minor Green Dragon Tag. Even the Multiple Mountains Martial School, a rank 7 martial institution, could not do anything else but take it as it was instead of going head-on. It was not hard to imagine that the owner of that Minor Green Dragon Tag would be a person with high social status, background, and power. Right now, after a little bit more information, Ye Chen was even more sure of his assumption.
Long Biyun said with a smile, "It is nice to see you in person. And I am definitely relieved. You are not overly confident, jumpy, ashamed, nor arrogant. This kind of quality would not be bad anywhere. However, there will be so many uncertainties in the future, everything will be on your own now. Right now is just a beginning for you. You will be exposed to a lot of more things, and the slightest mistake will put you in huge danger. So remember, the top part of the true spirit continent is one hundred times more dangerous than you might have expected. As for who I am, don’t bother to guess. You will know when you need to know."
"Yeah!" Ye Chen nodded.
"Oh right! Did the Moon Reaching Pavilion get in contact with you?" Long Biyun asked suddenly.
Ye Chen was a bit curious, "Yeah, there had been an executive from the Moon Reaching Pavilion."
"Oh!" Long Biyun nodded and thought to herself, ‘I thought that guy had noticed him. But with his power and potential, someone would have noticed him sooner or later; it is inevitable. The good thing is that there are so many martial geniuses out there, and a lot of them have top quality potential as well.
The two chatted for a little bit longer before Long Biyun left.
Then, Luo Xinglie walked over, "Ye Chen, the Hidden Dragon Rank competition has officially finished. Are you planning to go back to the Windy Nation?"
"Leader, yes, I do plan to go back and stay for a while." For both professional and personal reasons, Ye Chen would have to go back first. The dragon fountain Qi would not start to work until he entered the martial school. Otherwise, it would only be benefiting for himself. Also, he wanted to go back home first because when he left, his mother had already been pregnant with a twin. Now, after a year, his siblings must have grown older. As a brother, he had an obligation to go back and visit. Plus, he would need to close himself up in the early stages of training his Green Lotus Sword Spell. Since he would not be able to travel around, it would be best for him to go back to the Windy Nation.
Luo Xinglie smiled, "Great. I want to discuss something important with you when we get back. By then, even the Great Master would come out."
"What’s that important?"
"Hehe, let’s talk then only. Of course, don’t worry, it would not affect you." Luo Xinglie did not say more.
The Hidden Dragon Rank competition had finished a long time ago now. There had been people greeting him, trying to become friends with him… After it had finally settled down again, the people from the Sky Cloud Martial School started their journey to leave the Hidden Dragon Ancient City.
Watching them leave, the leader of the Purple Sun Martial School, Tu Chongshan sneered. A bright light appeared in his eyes.
…
The dragon shaped shadow only appeared on the battling platform. After leaving the battling platform, Only the dragon fountain Qi would be left. Once one left the Hidden Dragon Ancient City, the dragon fountain Qi would enter the blood, which would be unnoticeable by human eyes and soul power. It would save Ye Chen a lot of effort.
Whooo!
After leaving the Hidden Dragon Ancient City, Ye Chen let out a breath.
Right next to him, Luo Hanshan laughed as he said, "I had carried out a mission down at the Luo City. Your little sister and brother are adorable. They kind of look like you."
"Oh yeah?" A smile appeared on Ye Chen’s face. It was nice to have a home to go to. No matter how long or how far he would travel in the future, there would always be a place to go back to.
"Let’s go!"
The headmaster called back his Windy Eagle and yelled at the rest of them.
"Shall we?" asked Luo Hanshan.
"Yeah."
Ye Chen nodded and got on that Windy Eagle. It expanded its wings, bringing the group into the air, into the clouds.
…
Ten days had passed. A group of people had already traveled almost two hundred miles. Ye Chen, Xu Jing, Luo Hanshan and Zhu Mei were sitting on one of the Windy Eagle, guarded by the rest of the people.
That heavy wind, which normally would easily shake their body, could no longer make them move. They looked like they had been nailed to the back of the eagle, not moving even an inch.
Watching the clouds moving around him, Ye Chen suddenly thought of something. The zhen Qi inside his body started to move on its own, the sixth movement of his Sky Shattering Clouds had been successively combined together.
"My poetic perspective of thunder and clouds has reached a brand new level. I was planning to try to combine my sword movements when I get back. I did not expect my random thought could make such progress!" Ye Chen was not that shocked. He had learned a lot from the Hidden Dragon Secret Realm, which included making progress on the poetic perspective on the thunders and clouds. Compared to the poetic perspectives, combine sword movements was even easier. With a short amount of time, it would not be completely impossible for him to combine the whole Sky Clouds Sword Art. However, right now, even that time had been saved as it was combined naturally.
"I shall test its power when I get back… hm? Something’s going on!"
Ye Chen frowned, his soul power had sensed something.
"What’s wrong, Ye Chen?" Luo Hanshan looked over. Xu Jing and Zhu Mei had looked over as well.
Ye Chen sneered, "We are being watched."
While he said it, he did not try to lower his volume. Luo Xinglie and the other core masters had made the discovery as well. They all looked very serious.
"Haha! You are indeed the No. 1 of the Hidden Dragon Rank. You have discovered us in such a short time." The sky was torn apart suddenly. Thunders were heard everywhere as a blinding light flashed about. A human figure shot out from within, blocking the windy eagles’ way. It was a middle-aged man with a black cloth covering his face. He was covered in a bright fire light, and he was indeed an Astral Reaching Realm warrior. Judging from the zhen yuan vibration, he should be at the peak-level Early Astral Reaching Realm, which was exactly the same as Thunder Freer.
Luo Xinglie had a serious expression on his face. He said, "Who are you, and why are you blocking our way?"
The middle-aged man laughed, "I have been hired to kill you all. It’s all very simple."
"A hitman?" Everyone from the Sky Cloud Martial School had a very bad look on their faces. They had not expected to be ambushed on the way home. They were very clear that they might not be the actual target. It would be Ye Chen, who was the champion of the Hidden Dragon Rank. After all, only Ye Chen would be worth being killed by an Astral Reaching Realm warrior right now.
"Indeed. You all go, but he shall have to stay." The intruder pointed at Ye Chen. He carried a vibe as if he was controlling everything.
Ye Chen flew and landed on the Windy Eagle that was closest to the intruder, "You are that confident that you can keep me?"
The man said with a shrug, "Although you and Sikong Sheng have very powerful attacking power and can take on normal Early Astral Reaching Realm warriors, do not underestimate the power of Astral Reaching Realm warriors. By burning my zhen yuan, it would not be anything difficult to kill you. Plus, I am at the peak level of the Early Astral Reaching Realm. I can actually kill you without burning my zhen yuan. Okay, now, are you going to be killed by me nicely? Or are you going to make it hard for me?" He obviously did not take Ye Chen seriously. The so-called champion of the Hidden Dragon Rank was still a veal before it grew up.
"What a great statement. But I think your dream is going to fail you!"
The sky had been torn apart once again. A human figure that was wrapped by thunder had appeared. It flashed once before appearing in front of Ye Chen.
Luo Xinglie let out a breath and said with great respect, "Thunder Freer!"
It was indeed Thunder Freer. He had come to protect the people from the Sky Cloud Martial School. Only Luo Xinglie and the headmaster had known about it.
"Back out!" The Thunder Freer looked at Ye Chen with pride, then said to the rest of the people.
The expression on that intruder’s face did not change at all, "No wonder you look so confident. It turns out that you have a peak level Astral Reaching Realm warrior protecting you. Indeed, with my power, I cannot kill a warrior with the same cultivation easily. Not to mention to kill you all, but unfortunately, that is your destiny." After he had finished talking, he turned his head to the sky and said: "It just became tricky. Why haven’t you come out already?"
"Haha! I thought I would not be needed!" The sky was torn apart the third time. Another man with black cloth on his face appeared out of nowhere. Judging from the zhen yuan, he was only slightly weaker than the other guy, another Early Astral Reaching Realm warrior.
Seeing that, Luo Xinglie and the head master looked very nervous. Thunder Freer was only frowning. He was confident that he could stall them both for a long time, but it would be very tricky if he wanted to save everyone.
The blood and light inside Ye Chen’s body started to boil. He did not hesitate before performing his Minor Blood Demon Separating Art. Meanwhile, he took out two Blood Sun Flowers that were both five hundred years old from his storage ring. His zhen Qi wrapped around the plants, separating the medicine from the plants and turning it into a pellet. He then swallowed it.
Facing Astral Reaching Realm warriors, his true ace attack could no longer stay hidden.