Chapter 517 - Shocking Everyone

“Do you understand the rules?” the Clear Shallows King asked her representatives.

Long Chen and the others nodded.

“You need to work together when you obtain a Flame Pearl. Help others secure them too. There are seven pavilions and twelve pearls. As long as we have two people entering the next stage, our pavilion will not be in last place.”

“Two spots? There are so many strong contestants from the other pavilions. We didn’t even manage to get one last time ...” One of the disciples was pessimistic about the assessment.

“That was last time. This time is different ...” The Clear Shallows King smiled and said nothing else.

After the announcement of Demon General Typhoon, the first stage officially started. Long Chen and the others entered the arena. The sixty contestants formed a large circle surrounding the twelve pillars. Everyone was an equal distance away from at least one of the pillars.

Naturally, the contestants were separated from their own teams. Long Chen, Liu Yiyi, and the others were placed in different spots around the circle. Long Chen looked around and took note of where Liu Yiyi was so that he could help her. He ignored the other three.

When he looked at Liu Yiyi, she looked at him too. Liu Yiyi was feeling pressured because she was surrounded by disciples at the Seventh Passage Stage. It was very hard to secure a Flame Pearl when surrounded by so many strong disciples. The Clear Shallows King had told them that they needed to get at least two Flame Pearls to not be placed last. She could only rely on Long Chen and herself for that; the other three on her team were not reliable.

But Long Chen’s gaze calmed her down.

I need to do this and win for my mother!

Liu Yiyi was focused on victory.

There were thousands of spectators, but most of them weren’t focused on Long Chen. Instead, they were looking at the contestants at the Eighth Passage Stage. Demon General Typhoon separated them and placed them at different locations on the circle to ensure that they wouldn’t fight each other the moment the first stage started.

There was also Chen Feng at the Ninth Passage Stage, as well as Ying Shaotian and the others from the Red Ghost Pavilion. All of them were highly regarded by the others. They stood in the circle and waited for the signal from Demon General Typhoon. They were ready to grab a Flame Pearl the moment the stage started.

Jiang Wushang was staring at Chen Feng. He looked at the grand elder beside him and said, “Chen Feng is young, but he’s already at the Ninth Passage Stage. He’s similar to my fifth brother. Once the assessment is over, let him become my subordinate and work for me.”

“Understood! It would be his honor to work for you, Prince Wushang!”

Jiang Wushang nodded and said nothing else.

Even though he was of similar age to Chen Feng and the others, his status and strength were on another level.

Of course, he hadn’t noticed someone called Jiang Cheng among the sixty contestants. In fact, most people don’t know that there was a Jiang Cheng in the Clear Shallows Pavilion.

Jiang Cheng was just a fake name Long Chen was using. He only recognized two contestants outside the disciples of the Clear Shallows Pavilion: Ying Shaotian and Chen Feng. Ying Shaotian was standing at the opposite end of Liu Yiyi. He was looking at her boldly, but Liu Yiyi wasn’t looking at him. Chen Feng, on the other hand, looked at Long Chen and smiled for a short moment before ignoring him.

Chen Feng thought that Long Chen was destined to embarrass himself today. Long Chen had the ability to escape extremely quickly, but that was useless here in the assessment. How could he win by just running and hiding?

Time slowly passed. When the contestants and everyone else started losing their patience, Demon General Typhoon gave the signal to start. Everyone watched in anticipation of the grand fight.

“Three, two, one, start!”

Everyone tensed up when they heard “three.” Strong energy swirled in their bodies and compressed, ready to be released like a powerful spring. The moment the first stage started, everyone shot forward like an arrow towards the pillar closest to them.

Even though they were all roughly a hundred meters away from a pillar, the power gap between each disciple was soon revealed. Chen Feng was naturally the fastest, followed by the several disciples at the Eighth Passage Stage. He was so dazzling that no one noticed that the second fastest contestant was Long Chen instead of an Eighth Passage Stage cultivator.

Long Chen had not transformed but relied on his Qi. Thanks to his Qi’s innate quality of being four times better than regular Qi, as well as being the only one with a King-tier Body Tempering technique, his leg muscles were extremely powerful. When Demon General Typhoon announced the start of the stage, Long Chen was the first one to run past the group of Seventh Passage Stage disciples around him.

The atmosphere in the fourth layer of the Demon World flared up as everyone cheered excitedly. Since most were focused on Chen Feng, only a few hundred spectators noticed Long Chen’s speed.

The grand elders, the twenty-eight Demon Generals, the seven Demon Kings, and Jiang Wushang all noticed Long Chen’s speed!

“Chen Feng is so fast! He’s indeed at the Ninth Passage Stage! I think he will manage to grab two Flame Pearls!”

“The others at the Eighth Passage Stage are strong too!”

The crowd discussed amongst themselves.

The members of the Clear Shallows Pavilion were focused on Long Chen and Liu Yiyi. Liu Yiyi’s performance was good; she was within the top three in terms of speed amongst those at the Seventh Passage Stage. But Long Chen was monstrous—his speed was close to Chen Feng’s!

How did Jiang Cheng achieve that speed without transforming?!

Even the Clear Shallows King was shocked. But this was good news to her since it was almost certain that Long Chen would be able to secure a Flame Pearl.

Jiang Wushang noticed Long Chen and asked the grand elder beside him, “Who is that man? Is he from the Clear Shallows Pavilion?”

The grand elder was shocked too. “I only know that he’s from the Clear Shallows Pavilion. I do not know his name.”

“Go and check. Give me his name immediately!”

“Yes!”

At the same time, Chen Feng was laughing because he was already in front of a pillar. The others hadn’t even reached the halfway mark yet! Long Chen ran up a pillar and grabbed a Flame Pearl. The crowd admired and worshiped him.

“Chen Feng has obtained a Flame Pearl!” Demon General Typhoon was excited and riled up the crowd again.

The other disciples were only halfway to the pillars. All of them ran faster when they heard that Chen Feng had obtained a Flame Pearl.

No one dared to fight Chen Feng for his Flame Pearl. The people from the Azure Purgatory Pavilion cheered wildly.

But a surprise unfolded when they cheered. Long Chen ran up a pillar to grab a Flame Pearls of his own. The other disciples at the Seventh Passage Stage around him were also halfway to the pillar. They looked up and saw that the closest Flame Pearl was gone!

“Jiang ... Jiang Cheng got a Flame Pearl as well!” Demon General Typhoon was shocked to see someone almost as fast as Chen Feng, and surprisingly enough, it was someone he knew. He had seen how quickly Long Chen had grown, but he never thought Long Chen would catch up to Chen Feng!

Everyone shouted wildly too as they focused on Long Chen. Chen Feng’s glory vanished in an instant, and the disciples at the Eighth Passage Stage were also ignored.

This time, it was the Clear Shallow King's turn to cheer.

She looked at the Red Ghost King and saw that he had stood up. “That brat is fast, but do you think he will be able to hold it until the end with just speed?”

The Clear Shallows King’s haughty gaze angered him, but he thought Long Chen only had his speed going for him, so he consoled himself.

Jiang Cheng’s name spread into everyone’s ears.

Many of them had seen Long Chen back when he entered the Ancient Demon Domain. When they confirmed that it was the same person, everyone’s excitement bubbled over. It was unheard of for someone to grow so fast in two months, from the First Passage Stage to the seventh!

What monstrous talent!

Even the Seven Demon Kings were shocked.

While they were shocked at Long Chen’s talent, all of them were also looking at the Red Ghost King provokingly. They remembered how the Red Ghost King had abandoned Long Chen in the beginning, and now such a talented individual was the Clear Shallows King’s disciple instead. They thought the Red Ghost King was blind.

The discussions and taunting looks made the Red Ghost King’s face go green from anger. He really wanted to kill Long Chen.

But he couldn’t do so here.

Jiang Wushang stared at Long Chen.

He’s called Jiang Cheng? The name is familiar, and he has the same surname as us. Is he from our family? He is much more talented than me if he got to this point from the First Passage Stage in just two months. But why hasn’t he reached the Three Martial Realms yet with his talent? Did he start cultivating too late in life?