Chapter 337: After Joy Comes Sadness for Guo Ren

The group of Purple Sun Sect disciples were gathered in Guo Ren’s residence.

“Cheng Lan, are you certain that those two weren’t in their rooms?” Guo Ren asked as he laughed sinisterly.

Cheng Lan hated Jiang Chen with a burning passion after his cousin had been beaten up, so he nodded very affirmatively, “Senior brother Guo, twice I took the risk of being beaten to take a look at their rooms. There was no one in their rooms. I looked all over the residence, there was absolutely no one!”

Guo Ren frowned, “That’s strange, where could they have gone?”

Cheng Lan leered, “Perhaps they couldn’t withstand their hunger and ran out, running afoul of the restrictions in the mystic quadrant and were destroyed in the process?”

Apart from the residences in the quadrant, the only area with free access was the Hundred Challenges Arena. All the other areas were restricted areas that not even the examiners dared venture into. If the candidates barged into them, only death would await them!

Xiao Yu didn’t care at all as he said with an uncaring expression, “Senior brother Guo, stop wasting your time worrying all about this. Even the gods are incapable of withstanding the Goddess Smile poison, not to mention a mundane cultivator. In my eyes, those two have probably exploded somewhere already and died.”

Guo Ren was a cautious one. He wanted to see the person if they were alive, or their corpse if they were dead. If he didn’t, he’d always feel a bit uneasy in his heart.

“Indeed, senior brother Guo, that aphrodisiac is so dominating. Since they couldn’t find women, there’s no doubt that those two are definitely dead. I feel that we shouldn’t gather here anymore. What if an examiner notices that they’re missing and traces it to us in their investigation?”

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Guo Ren wasn’t worried about this and smiled coldly, “The f*ck will they investigate about? Dead men tells no tales, how will they investigate?”

Another disciple said, “It’s about time now, so let’s go to the Arena first. We’ll be docked if we’re late.”

All of the candidates nodded and headed towards the Hundred Challenges Arena.

When they’d reached the outskirts of the Arena, Guo Ren at the front suddenly halted his footsteps.

There was a figure by the side of the road who was stately and reserved, his presence quite dominating.

“It’s him?” The Purple Sun Sect disciples behind Guo Ren were all flabbergasted. How could it be possibly him? Shouldn’t he have been afflicted with the Goddess Smile and exploded from its effects?

Had that kid found a woman to vent his energies into last night?

That wasn’t right either! None of the female disciples from the Flowing Wind Sect had been plucked last night.

Not to mention that they had set up informants everywhere. This fellow would’ve been discovered if he’d dared approach a female disciple.

Since he hadn’t taken a female disciple, how had he manage to dispel the effects of the Goddess Smile?

Guo Ren remained calm as he waved his hand and indicated for his peers behind him to remain calm and to not reveal their weak points. Don’t confess everything without receiving a single blow from the cane!

“Guo Ren.” Jiang Chen’s tone was remote, but anyone could hear the unbounded killing intent embodied in this voice.

“Don’t bother to explain and don’t try to deny it. Admit it if you’re a man.”

“Admit what?” Guo Ren smiled coldly. He wasn’t a fool.

“It’s fine if you deny it. I’m marking you down as the responsible party whether or not you did it. From now on, you better pray every minute and second of your life that you don’t get matched with me. Otherwise, you’ll end up worse than Cheng Zhen.”

Jiang Chen snorted coldly as he pushed off his feet and vanished like the wind from the vision of those assembled.

His warning sounded again in the air, “If any of you assembled here today come to me and confess of your wrongdoings, I will forgive you. Otherwise, if any of you meet me in the ring, you better pray for your lives.”

This wasn’t a warning anymore, but a naked threat.

“The hell, he’s so damn cocky!” A Purple Sun Sect disciple couldn’t help but curse.

“How is this possible? He... he seems completely fine?” Xiao Yu stammered as his face was ashen.

He’d been the one to think of this plan and provided the aphrodisiac. He’d tried the Goddess Smile before, it was absolutely a terrifying thing.

He’d brought out his precious treasure in order to fawn on Guo Ren. If it hadn’t been for kissing up to his senior brother, he wouldn’t have wanted to bring out something so precious at all.

But, when he saw the other person brimming with energy, Xiao Yu knew that his plan had failed.

As he looked at his peers cast interrogative glances at him, Xiao Yu angrily retorted back, “What are you looking at me for? Can it be that my medicine was fake? Anyone who doesn’t believe me can try it for themselves!”

“Shut up!” Guo Ren spat out. Wasn’t it to voluntarily confess by discussing this matter openly in a public space?!

With the other’s strength, if he was hidden in the shadows not too far away, he might’ve already heard Xiao Yu’s words.

Xiao Yu had also seemed to realize that he had lost his composure and muttered, “Anyways, there’s definitely nothing wrong with it. There must be something else at play here.”

Guo Ren actually didn’t suspect the aphrodisiac either. His guess was that the fellow had indeed managed to find a woman to vent his energies on.

Could it be that all his informants hadn’t been enough to keep an eye on that fellow from making a visit to the Flowing Wind Sect?

Guo Ren became paranoid all of a sudden as well.

“This is the end of the matter. No one may bring this up again.” Guo Ren ordered.

All the other disciples nodded in agreement. They really would reveal their involvement if they kept discussing it. Although this wasn’t a big deal, someone would have to be the unlucky one and take the fall if an investigation was mounted.

Cheng Lan asked timidly, “Senior brother Guo, that kid threatened us just now. Although the chances of our group meeting them in the ring aren’t high, it’s still a possibility. If we truly meet him in the ring, this kid is vicious and ruthless...”

Guo Ren snorted, “What, are you intending on becoming a traitor and selling out your brethren?”

Cheng Lan hastened to say, “How can that be possible? There is undying enmity between me and him. Senior brother Guo, I’m worried that there will be others who can’t stand up to this and secretly tattle.”

Guo Ren’s gaze darkened as he swept his eyes in a circle. “Remember, whoever goes behind my back to become his informant makes an enemy of the entire Purple Sun Sect. Watch yourselves!”

The other Purple Sun Disciples all had distressed expressions on their faces as they were caught between a rock and a hard place.

If they didn’t become the informant, they would definitely be beaten to death if they met in the ring. The other had said that he would make them end up in a much sadder state than Cheng Zhen.

Half of Cheng Zhen’s body was basically paralyzed. If they were worse off than him, then wouldn’t that meant that they would be beaten to death?

If they did become the informant however, they would be betraying their own and their peers would definitely beat them to death when all came to light.

In the span of a moment, all the disciples who had participated in this matter were incredibly conflicted. No one had thought that a mere secular disciple would be able to inflict such agony on them.

Upon returning to the Hundred Challenges Arena, Jiang Chen’s demeanor was noticeably more frosty.

After the accident of last night, he had calmed down much more. He had always gone about things cautiously before, but hadn’t thought that he would still accidentally fall victim to such a plot.

The hearts of those in the sects were wicked and malicious indeed.

It seemed that he’d underestimated just how treacherous the sects and sect disciples would be.

Dan Fei also sat cross legged by Jiang Chen’s side, but could feel the coldness emanating from him. She knew that Jiang Chen had been thoroughly enraged by these sect disciples.

A maddened Jiang Chen, a truly enraged man made even Dan Fei’s heart palpitate. She knew that the Purple Sun Sect disciples were in for it now.

However, things were a bit strange over the next couple of days. Jiang Chen’s name always appeared only when the day was about to end.

There was only three to five challenges worth of time left to him at that time.

Therefore, after five days had passed, Jiang Chen had only achieved 45 successive victories when adding together the 30 from the first two days.

No matter how dense Jiang Chen could be, he could detect that someone must’ve done something to his name. One day could be deemed an accident, two days could be coincidence.

To be selected only when the day was close to its end five to six days in a row meant that someone was purposefully compressing his time.

They didn’t want him to be selected early and complete another frightening round of successive wins.

As long as he was selected late in the day, he wouldn’t have much time to issue challenges. He would at most obtain three successive wins before the day was up.

His name would be shuffled in again on the second day.

“Huh! Using these methods to shorten the tempo of my challenges and compress my time, the Purple Sun Sect is truly all powerful huh!”

Jiang Chen wasn’t the sort to swallow insult and humiliation silently. When the day’s contests were over, he immediately approached the keeper, Master Fang.

“Master Fang.” Jiang Chen’s gaze was faint as he looked at this expressionless keeper.

“Heh heh, the secular genius, freak genius of the boulder’s heart. 45 successive wins. Not bad, not bad!” Master Fang was rather polite. “Tell me, what do you need?”

“I just want to ask if the shortening of my time in the ring and making my name appear in the last moments everyday is due to Master Fang’s wishes, or the wishes of some other examiners?” Jiang Chen cut straight to the point.

Master Fang was a bit surprised and looked at Jiang Chen for a while before chuckling, “Are you guessing? Or do you have evidence to prove your claim?”

Jiang Chen responded noncommittally, “It wouldn’t be hard to find evidence either.”

Master Fang couldn’t help but smile as he nodded forthrightly. “Since you know already, then I will explain. It is indeed my hand behind this matter.”

Jiang Chen was rather surprised, as he’d thought that Master Fang would never admit to things.

He creased his brow upon hearing this confession, “Is there a reason for this?”

“Yes, but it will certainly be different from what you’re thinking.” Master Fang smiled faintly. “I guess you must think since I’m from one of the sects, I’m shortening your time to suppress your rise and am indirectly helping the other sect disciples cheat, am I right?”

“Isn’t that so?” Jiang Chen asked unceremoniously back.

Master Fang sighed slightly, “If that’s what you think, then forget it. Starting from tomorrow, I will stop what I’m doing and treat you fairly. However, young man, have you discovered that although both your time and momentum have been restricted, there hasn’t been anyone capable of surpassing your results and the speed of your challenges?”

Jiang Chen thought carefully and felt that this was indeed the case.

A thought struck him,

was Master Fang doing so not to suppress me?

“Your advantages are too apparent in the mystic quadrant. Since you’re already firmly setting on number one, why use such exaggerated methods to place first? Why invite so much hatred to you from all sides? The relationships between the four sects and their disciples are complex and intertwined. If your reputation is too great here and news of it travels to the earth and sky quadrants, do you not think that boundless enmity would be attracted to you even before you set foot into those two areas?”