Chapter 159 - Yin Mengyao

He’s too calm.

Long Chen silently noted this down.

He then stood up with the other nineteen contestants and made his way to the middle of the hall. He looked around and saw that their ages were roughly the same as his, but Ling Xi told him that most of them were at the mid Earthly Core Realm. Only Long Chen was at the initial Earthly Core Realm. Long Chen didn’t know what was happening. When he was granted the opportunity to participate in the qualifiers, he was still at the peak Human Core Realm.

All of them are very strong.

Long Chen was amazed.

He couldn’t differentiate which family they came from based on their faces and apparel, but they were standing in groups of two according to Dongfang Xuanxiao’s instruction.

Chu Yunxi smiled at Long Chen before walking over to where Jin Sheng’en was.

Behind Jin Sheng’en was a pair of twins. They were most likely the contestants from the Gold family.

Chu Yunxi was from the Turquoise family. After joining up with Jin Sheng’en, Long Chen was left alone. Soon, they were all grouped together in front of Dongfang Xuanxiao.

Everyone looked at the dense Long Chen. Now that Chu Yunxi had gone with Jin Sheng’en, Long Chen stood alone with a girl.

“Damn. Mengyao is super unlucky.”

One of the ladies from the silver family shook her head. Beside her was an old woman with a ruddy face. She was the Grand Elder of the Silver family.

“We know how strong Mengyao is. As long as she passes the first stage, she will win the second stage. I hope Long Chen won’t drag her down.”

“How could he not drag her down?”

The younger lady rolled her eyes. “If Long Chen is cowardly and uses the flare when they are in danger, Yin Mengyao will be disqualified too. All of her hard work will go down the drain!”

“Enough! Luck is also part of a person’s fate. She cannot blame others if she doesn’t succeed.”

They weren’t loud, but everyone heard them, including Long Chen.

Drag her down?

Long Chen was speechless.

But it was clear to everyone that anyone who teamed up with Long Chen would be very unlucky on the first stage, Heaven’s Path.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The rules were not simple. A person’s individual strength was definitely important, but their teammate is equally important. If their teammate failed, they would lose too.

I will show you who will drag who down.

Long Chen was calm. He was capable of taking such insults for now.

Dongfang Xuanxiao’s gaze finally fell on Long Chen.

He pointed at where Yin Mengyao was and said plainly, “Go there.”

Long Chen had no choice but to obey. He approached Yin Mengyao.

Yin Mengyao had been directly given the right to participate as well. She was as strong as Jin Sheng’en and Chu Yunxi.

When Long Chen entered the meeting hall, he instantly saw there were two girls and a guy standing in the Silver family area. The guy and the other girl were paired up together.

The sole remaining girl standing alone should be Yin Mengyao.

Yin Mengyao’s appearance and demeanor were surprisingly similar to Dongfang Xuanxiao’s. She was beautiful, roughly twenty years old or so. She was becoming a woman that everyone adored.

She was as beautiful as Liu Lan, but in contrast to Liu Lan’s fiery demeanor, Yin Mengyao was cold and calculating, making her much harder to approach.

Long Chen was worried that she would chase him away, but her face was as emotionless as Dongfang Xuanxiao’s. She didn’t even look at him, as if he was not on her team.

A total of ten teams had been formed. Only four of them would be able to pass the first stage and enter the final round.

Hmm, they do look similar.

Long Chen was perplexed.

Dongfang Xuanxiao looks like he’s in his thirties, but he should be around forty, which would make him old enough to be her father ...

When they grouped together, Dongfang Xuanxiao said nothing and brought out flares from his Universe Pouch. He told Dongfang Tianyu to distribute them.

“Infuse your Qi into it and the flare will light up.”

Dongfang Xuanxiao briefly explained how to use it.

Dongfang Tianyu finally stood in front of Long Chen, and the latter saw animosity in Dongfang Tianyu’s gaze.

“Brat, I recall how cowardly you were when I first met you in the Heavenly Martial Realm. To think you would dare to insult Chu Tianxiong and make my Chu Yunyao angry. Do you think I do not exist?”

Having said that, he placed the flare in Long Chen’s hand and continued distributing them to everyone else. He kept smiling at Long Chen menacingly.

Long Chen had considered that he would get targeted by Dongfang Tianyu by antagonizing the Chu family, but there was no reason to not do so. He already had a grudge against the Chu family Because of Liu Lan anyway.

Once the flares had been distributed, Dongfang Xuanxiao brought out twenty white jade bracelets. He waved his arm, and the twenty bracelets flew up into the sky before they wrapped around the contestants’ wrists.

Long Chen was shocked when he saw the mysterious bracelet.

“These are the jade bracelets that will automatically fall off from your wrist when you are injured beyond a certain threshold. Do not worry, as you won’t be able to break them with your current strength. You should know the rules of Heaven’s Path, so I will not explain more. It’s late now, so you should rest. We will depart tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, Lord Xuanxiao!”

Long Chen paid his respects to Dongfang Xuanxiao along with everyone.

Dongfang Xuanxiao said nothing and left.

He never raised the issue of Long Chen and Chu Tianxiong, but Long Chen knew that Dongfang Xuanxiao had silently warned Chu Tianxiong by giving Long Chen the jade bracelet now. Chu Tianxiong would never dare to injure or kill Long Chen at this point.

Once Dongfang Xuanxiao had left, Gu Batian slapped his leg and stood up. “Young man, it seems the Turquoise family is not safe for you. Please come to the Violet family’s residence to rest. I will be sure to treat you right!”

Long Chen didn’t want to stay with the Chu family. Seeing how Gu Batian had come to their rescue, he immediately said, “Thank you!”

Chu Tianxiong glared at Long Chen, seeing both him and Gu Batian standing together.

“Grandfather, don’t worry. I have discussed this with Jin Sheng’en. Long Chen will not be leaving Heaven’s Path alive tomorrow,” Chu Yunxi whispered to Chu Tianxiong.

“Then I look forward to it. Just follow my plan.” Chu Tianxiong's voice was ice cold.

“I know. I will tear him apart before he even has the chance to take out the flare.”

Both of them were whispering, so no one heard them except for Ling Xi. She repeated what they had said with an angry but hushed tone.

“Don’t worry. I won’t lose to them.” Long Chen smiled.

Long Chen had pulled both Liu Yuan and Liu Lan towards him before leaving the meeting hall with Gu Batian.

Suddenly, the quiet Yin Mengyao called for Long Chen. “Long Chen? Can we talk for a moment?”

Long Chen was surprised that Yin Mengyao would come to him willingly.

Gu Batian was old, but he loved gossiping. When he heard Yin Mengyao, he tried joking with her. “Young miss, did you fall in love with him?”

Even though Gu Batian was teasing her, Yin Mengyao’s face did not betray any emotions. “Senior Gu, I want to discuss some plans with him for tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Gu Batian said nothing after seeing how there was no reaction from her.

Long Chen nodded and followed Yin Mengyao toward the corner of the meeting hall. The closer he got to her, the more he was surprised by her beauty, especially her aura, which made approaching her difficult. Regular women would have a hard time copying it.

When they were alone, she told him her plan. “My Grand Elder has told me that you’ve reached the Earthly Core Realm, so I’m quite relieved to hear that. For the battle tomorrow, all you need to do is to protect your bracelet and hide while I fight. Understand?”

Yin Mengyao did not abhor Long Chen but made the best possible plan for tomorrow based on the circumstances. Long Chen didn’t understand Yin Mengyao because he had never met her before. Even though it was slightly insulting to him, Long Chen did not have any distaste for her.

She’s just afraid that I’m too weak and will lose the bracelet. She’s making a plan based on current circumstances ...

Long Chen was used to it, so he didn’t mind. “Sure, I will do my best.” He nodded at her plan.

Yin Mengyao was worried that Long Chen would be naive and dense based on how he had acted against Chu Tianxiong just now, but she had never expected him to agree so earnestly.

She nodded and left after bidding him goodbye.

Long Chen followed Gu Batian and cultivated for the night. On the next day, everyone followed Dongfang Xuanxiao and walked to the base of the Nine Devil Mountains.