by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
So now his cruel death had become an example for them. Everyone was woken up, so at least his death had served some purpose.
“Ok, I’ve already explained everything. You guys can make your own decisions. Again, if you want to back out now, you still can.”
The entire crowd was silent. That person had been a peak Blood Condensation expert. But in his carelessness, he had been immediately killed. That was absolutely terrifying.
That was especially true to these geniuses who had never seen such a scene before. It was already not bad for them to not be crying for their mothers at this point.
Everyone was now looking at each other hesitantly, not wanting to stand out. They all wanted to wait a while and see.
“Boss, I’m going to go test it.”
Suddenly, Guo Ran walked out.
Both Long Chen and Tang Wan-er were given a fright. Both of them were experts and could clearly sense that Guo Ran’s strength wasn’t outstanding. At best he was only average amongst the crowd.
“You have to think this through,” Long Chen solemnly warned. This was no joke.
Guo Ran was extremely solemn. “I know. This is the greatest obstacle in my life. No one can help me but myself. Whether I am a dragon or just a serpent will be seen with just this one move. I’ll bet on myself.”
Guo Ran was no longer his smiling self. Instead, he was completely determined. This was a hurdle in his life that he couldn’t avoid. He had to face it head-on.
Seeing how worried Long Chen was, Guo Ran smiled slightly. “Don’t worry boss. I, Guo Ran, won’t die so easily. I’m still thinking of muddling my way along with you.”
“Good brother. I’m cheering for you.” Long Chen clapped Guo Ran on the shoulder. The current Guo Ran was so much manlier.
He could tell that although Guo Ran might appear slippery on the outside, he had his own pride inside. What he had resolved to do, no one else could change.
In front of everyone’s astonished gazes, Guo Ran walked up to the stage.
“Second one on the lower right.”
Chapter 163 Guo Ran's Perseverance
Guo Ran had made his decision. The cave he had selected was also one for an outer disciple.
Standing in front of the cave, Guo Ran first took out a bright set of armor as well as a saber from his spatial ring. They were actually part of a full set.
After putting on the armor, Guo Ran was armed to his teeth. After all these preparations, he walked in without any hesitation. Loud explosions immediately began to ring out.
“This is cheating!” One of Lei Qianshang’s people angrily pointed at him.
“Idiot, didn’t the Elder already make that rule clear? As long as you kill the Corrupt cultivator inside and bring out its head, you’ll pass.
“Are your ears just for decoration? Or are you blind? When did the Elder ever say you couldn’t use armor or weapons?
“If you’re an idiot, don’t use your idiot intelligence to critique others. Being critiqued by a fool like you is definitely a disgrace.” Long Chen rudely snorted.
He also hadn’t kept his voice quiet, so everyone present heard it loud and clear. Tang Wan-er looked at him with admiration. His reasoning was absolutely perfect.
At the same time, everyone cast a grateful glance at him.
Long Chen was giving them a reminder, making the rules clear. Unless you wanted to die, don’t just foolishly walk into the cave without any preparations.
Elder Tu Fang sighed in relief. He looked at Long Chen complicatedly. If only these spoiled disciples had even half of Long Chen’s intelligence.
Furthermore, he realized that the monastery’s growth had been held back. They shouldn’t have only looked at talent, but also perseverance and willpower.
The person in the monastery who had the greatest understanding of Long Chen would have to be Tu Fang. Originally, even if a spirit stone mine had appeared in such a small place like the Phoenix Cry Empire, it was such a minor matter that he wouldn’t have bothered to go personally.
But after repeatedly finding that every Elder he went to was in seclusion, he had finally gone over personally.
His goal had originally just been to handle the matter of the spirit stone mine. But that spirit stone mine was small and didn’t have much ore inside.
However, it was still within the range of the monastery. Since getting something was better than nothing, he had gone over to get a portion of the spoils. There, he had randomly heard people talking about what had happened in Phoenix Cry. Someone who was a youth had grown to an absolutely shocking level in less than a year.
Then he had run into Long Chen. But when he saw that Long Chen had no Spirit Root, he couldn’t help but become a bit sad. Without a Spirit Root, no matter how crazily he advanced, there would definitely be a limit.
But then when he had returned, Ling Yunzi had given him a reminder. He had gone out to investigate Long Chen’s path. He learned all about Long Chen’s bitter childhood and how he had been bullied all the time. That had tempered him, allowing him to forge an indomitable will as well as giving him intelligence that far surpassed his peers.
Now when he compared these thousands of geniuses to Long Chen, they were so immature it was laughable. That caused Tu Fang to sigh regretfully. Did that mean the monastery’s way of raising disciples was lacking something?
Long Chen was like some tenacious weed. Fire might burn his outside, but when the spring came again, he would grow back out. He just didn’t know how far Long Chen would be able to walk relying on only determination.
Would he be able to surpass these tender saplings which had been grown inside greenhouses? Although currently those saplings were still extremely weak, once they were transplanted into the monastery, they would all grow to become enormous trees if they could just survive. But would a tenacious weed be able to do the same?
BOOM!
Repeated explosions came from within the cave as Tu Fang was thinking. People’s hearts were about to rise into their throats. No one knew whether or not it would be a corpse covered in blood that would fly out again.
Although Long Chen’s expression seemed calm on the outside, he was clenching his fists tightly. He knew worrying didn’t have any use, but he couldn’t help it.
After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, the explosions gradually faded. A figure slowly walked out of the cave. Guo Ran was completely covered in blood, and his helmet was gone. Only half of his saber still remained.
His armor was damaged all over. Who knew just how many wounds there were on his body. Blood had completely dyed him red. It could be seen how bitter that fight had been.
Within his left hand was a head. That was the head of a middle-aged man. Its expression was sinister, and some terrifying lines covered its face that made it look like an evil spirit.
“Hehe, boss, I succeeded!”
Guo Ran excitedly raised the head as he shouted out.
Long Chen smiled and let out a breath of air. He gave Guo Ran a big thumbs up. This fellow was a real man.
With his strength, he had less than a fifty percent chance of passing the outer disciple trial. He had had a fifty percent chance of death just now! To fight as he had not only required courage, but also a firm Dao-heart.
As soon as Guo Ran said that, he immediately fell from the entrance of the cave. In that intense fight, he had only sustained himself with his powerful perseverance. Now that he relaxed, he immediately fainted.
Everyone let out startled cries. Even the lowest cave was still a hundred meters from the ground. And the ground was completely made of hard rocks. He would end up smashing himself to death!
Long Chen had just been about to run over when an Elder waved his hand. Guo Ran’s body immediately began to float and drift over to Long Chen.
Long Chen hastily grabbed him and expressed his thanks to that Elder. That Elder lightly nodded his head.
Examining Guo Ran’s body, he saw that where his armor was broken, it h
ad been cleaved by some unknown weapon. Those cuts were extremely flat; whatever had downed it had obviously been incredibly sharp.
He fed Guo Ran a medicinal pill as well as taking out a Queen Bee Crystal, dissolving it into water and giving it to him.
Qi Xin’s expression began to turn ashen when he saw Long Chen take out that Queen Bee Crystal. That should have been his, but it was snatched away by Long Chen.
Under these two medicinal energies’ effect, Guo Ran slowly awoke. Looking at Long Chen excitedly, he exclaimed, “Boss, I succeeded, I succeeded!”
Long Chen laughed, “I know you’re excited, but when did your tastes get so strange? With the way you’re holding that head, are you planning on using it as a pillow?”
Guo Ran then realized he was clenching the head tightly and proudly said, “Boss, you have no idea! This plaything was so vicious. One of its arms was made of just bone. It had no hand and had sharpened that bone to an incredibly sharp point. All these wounds were caused by its bones.”
He was actually still filled with some fear. As he spoke of the battle, everyone was completely horrified. What kind of thing used its own bones as weapons?
“Young fellow, congratulations on passing. Use that head to exchange for an outer disciple badge. In the future, you will be a formal disciple of the Xuantian Monastery.”
A group of people walked over and set up a table. That would be the place to exchange for the badge, and a senior from there called out to Guo Ran.
He hastily went over and handed over the head. The senior also collected the Tian Di Xuan Huang tablet he had collected as well as his registration card, handing him a palm-sized badge in return.
That badge was made of a heavy bronze that emitted a cold, pressuring air. It could only be made with a special kind of metal.
The badge had the four ancient characters on it as well: Tian Di Xuan Huang. On the back was Guo Ran’s name.
“Hehe, boss, now we’re definitely people with prestige. Even if we have to return home in the future, we’ll definitely have something to brag about.” Guo Ran lovingly fondled his badge. He was touching it as he would a lover, the creepy sight causing other people to get goosebumps.
“Ok, don’t waste any more time. Go to the rear and heal your wounds. And try not to lose that badge,” laughed Long Chen.
“Don’t worry, I’d never lose this badge.”
He ran to the rear and sat down, focusing on recovery. After such a huge fight, even with the assistance of spirit medicines, he would still need to focus on recovering and deliberately activating the medicinal energy.
Being the first to obtain a medal, many people looked up enviously at him. At the same time, his success also filled them with more confidence.
There were immediately several people who went to challenge the trial. They all chose outer disciple trials. Over ten people entered. Three of them died.
There were also two of them that reacted quickly and managed to flee out in time. People saw a crazy figure inside the cave charge out howling, wanting to kill them each time.
But those two figures that charged out had only just come out of the cave when they were lit up by the stone pillars’ light. Both of them immediately let out a sharp shriek. Their bodies turned to green smoke, becoming desiccated skeletons in the blink of an eye.
That strange sight caused people’s hair to stand on end. As for those two people who had managed to escape death, even their legs turned to jelly.
By the time they could walk away, they had their registration card and tablet taken away. Although they had managed to keep their lives, they had lost the right to attempt the trial again.
Other than the three deaths and two failures, the others had passed, causing many people to feel some hope.
But some people also decided to give up when they saw how high the chance of death was. They all started to sell their complete sets of tiles.
The monastery actually didn’t care about that. As long as you managed to obtain a full set, you could attempt the trial.
Many people began to use medicinal pills and weapons to exchange for them. If it was people they knew, they even directly set up an IOU. In any case, later they could exchange it for anything.
At this time, Lei Qianshang and the monsters’ people also started to move. Tang Wan-er tugged on Long Chen’s robes. “Should we also start now?”
Tang Wan-er was slightly nervous. She didn’t know why but at this juncture that involved life and death, the first thing she thought to do was to ask Long Chen’s opinion.
For some unknown reason, she felt that although Long Chen was a glib, smooth-talking rascal, he was definitely an extremely reliable person.
“Since this is an unavoidable trial, you should use your charm to give everyone a boost of morale and some confidence,” smiled Long Chen.
Tang Wan-er reddened. Fidgeting, she awkwardly asked, “I don’t know how. Can you help me do that?”
“That’s no good. You’re the one who decided to be in charge. And everyone only came rushing into your faction because of your great beauty. A minor player like me can’t upstage the main character.” Long Chen shook his head.
“Scoundrel, this is an order! You must do it!” Tang Wan-er was shamed into anger and actually pushed Long Chen forward.
Long Chen laughed mischievously. Wasn’t it just a simple trick? When had he ever been afraid of such a thing?
Chapter 164 Boosting Morale
“Brothers and sisters, everyone look here.”
Long Chen waved his hand, getting Tang Wan-er’s faction’s attention.
Looking at how confident and at ease his movements were as well as that calm smile, Tang Wan-er couldn’t help but lament. How come Long Chen always seemed to do things so easily?
“Everyone has already seen just how powerful those monsters in the caves are. So in order to encourage everyone, our goddess Wan-er has promised everyone that whoever manages to pass will get a reward of a kiss… aiya!”
He had only just gotten that out when a sharp pain came from his leg. Tang Wan-er had kicked him. She now raged, “What random nonsense are you spewing? When did I ever say that?”
Long Chen acted puzzled, apologizing, “Oh, I heard wrong, my bad, my bad.”
Turning back to everyone, he continued, “I was wrong just now. The winners won’t get one kiss from sister Wan-er, but two kisses! Aiya, how come you’re kicking me again?!”
“Scoundrel, when did I ever say that?! What are you randomly spouting?!” Tang Wan-er had turned red from rage. He really dared to make any kind of joke.
“Ok, sorry everyone. Sister Wan-er is a bit too stingy. Then forget about it. But there will definitely be rewards. Then how about I change the reward? Any beautiful women who pass can get a kiss from me, Long Chen!” shouted Long Chen loudly.
Those people all burst into laughter. That tense atmosphere was immediately lightened greatly by him.
Only now did Tang Wan-er realize Long Chen’s intentions. She knew that although Long Chen was strange, he was an extremely prideful person inside.
Otherwise, there was no way he would have refused to lower his head and ended up fighting with monsters like Qi Xin and Lei Qianshang. For him to drag himself down to make everyone laugh was definitely a large kind of sacrifice on his part.
“Haha, you guys are laughing. Fine, I’ll just take that as your assent. Trust me, I, Long Chen, have never eaten my words,” Long Chen said to those maidens in their faction.
Those maidens immediately turned shy. Although they knew he was joking, they still blushed.
“Ok, let’s get serious. Since everyone has gathered together, that means we all have the same goals and dreams.
“We all want to become experts; we all want to bring honor to our ancestors; we want to surpass our ancestors, letting our descendants forever remember our names!” Long Chen’s shout was filled with passion. His voice slowly ignited a fire in their hearts.
Tu Fang watched as every
one was pumped up by Long Chen and admiration appeared in his eyes. Long Chen had definitely completely comprehended the hearts of these disciples from powerful families.
He knew that pride filled them, as well as a bit of self-disdain. That was because all their accomplishments up until this point had not really been theirs, but the achievements their ancestors had left for them.
And that was why Long Chen had said that they would surpass their ancestors, letting their descendants forever remember their names. That immediately struck a chord in the core of their hearts, lighting up a powerful desire for battle, causing them to completely forget their fear.
First he joked, lightening the tense atmosphere, and then he ignited their passion, causing them to be filled with a desire for battle. That was definitely an extremely well-executed plan.
But then as everyone’s passions were soaring, his voice once more became heavy. “Do you guys know? In our hearts, sister Wan-er is a goddess, an idol to be worshipped. She is a kindhearted beauty, someone from the heavens who has descended down upon us. She is an unparalleled beauty, a fairy too high to reach.
“But do you all know? To herself, she is no goddess, but an ordinary maiden.
“She also knows how to be aggrieved, sad, and helpless. You guys don’t know that behind her strong exterior is concealed a gentle heart.”
When Long Chen reached this point, Tang Wan-er sniffled. She was almost unable to stop her tears, and she quickly turned away.
She was definitely a proud genius, but she also had a weak side. Having to stay in the spotlight and be a powerful pillar of support was actually extremely tiring for her. But she had no way around it and had always endured.
That scoundrel truly was a cheat! Tang Wan-er turned away, covering up her face as tears welled out of her eyes.
But this movement was still seen by everyone. Their hearts ached for her. They had never thought their goddess had this weaker side. She also needed them to protect her!
“In her heart, you are not underlings, but her family. Each one of you is one of her brothers, one of her sisters.