"What a rare guest. Who would have thought that sister Hua Biluo would come to see me here?"
There were two people in a tent. In front of Long Chen was a a slender woman in a purple dress.
This woman was precisely the second monastery's number one expert, Hua Biluo. Long Chen was surprised to see her now. Meng Qi and the others had intentionally vacated the tent, leaving just the two of them.
Hua Biluo smiled. "To rudely turn up unsolicited, please forgive me brother Long."
"Please, sit." Long Chen waved his hand. There was a table and two seats in the tent that Guo Ran had prepared. "Sister Biluo, I'm quite the boorish man, so please don't blame me for not knowing etiquette."
Hua Biluo gently brushed forward her dress and sat down. Her movements were very graceful and relaxed.
There was a certain kind of air around Hua Biluo that made her seem very poised and graceful, one that would instinctively make a person feel relaxed. But Long Chen disliked it.
That was a kind of noble mannerism. It could be considered an accomplishment in the secular world. But in the cultivation world, this kind of artificial mannerism could be described with a single word: posturing.
Long Chen knew that Hua Biluo wasn't doing this deliberately. This was something innate to her, and if his guess wasn't wrong, her origins were definitely not simple.
"Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen is courteous. Men should be open and candid, living free and unfettered. To tell the truth, I greatly admire you." Hua Biluo smiled gracefully, a smile that could deeply move a person.
It could be said that Hua Biluo was exceptionally beautiful. There were few men who wouldn't like her. That pride in her bones would especially cause a man to feel a strong longing.
It was just like a horse. The more prideful a horse was, the greater the desire you would feel to subdue it.
"Sister Biluo overpraises me. Since you like to be direct, then I also won't bother with etiquette. Why have you come to find me?" asked Long Chen.
Hua Biluo was slightly surprised by how direct Long Chen was. He had skipped over all those polite manners, getting to the main point without even pouring a cup of tea for her.
However, she quickly reacted and smiled, "Yes, the reason I came here was to form an alliance with you."
Hua Biluo was very intelligent, and after this short of an exchange, she could already tell Long Chen's character. Knowing he didn't like beating around the bush, she also got right to the point.
"What kind of alliance? You want to handle Han Tianyu together?"
"Yes. I'm sure you're aware that the first monastery has been targeting you since you entered the secret realm. They set up layers of traps, constantly raising your infamy. That Yin Wushuang is especially repulsive, even placing her target on the ones beside you when she couldn't handle you. That kind of person is the scum of the Righteous path. Unfortunately, this junior sister is not strong enough on her own to handle the first monastery, and could only watch as brother Long had to suffer injustice."
Seeing her apologetic expression, Long Chen smiled slightly. "Sister Biluo, neither of us are stupid. Since you want to collaborate, shouldn't you bring out some sincerity?
"Yes, the first monastery was targeting me. I trust that your second monastery definitely knows the whole story.
"But the reason you just watched instead of doing anything was to see just how many trump cards I have, and whether or not I would be worth pulling to your side.
"Only once I revealed enough power to move you did you begin to take sides and protest against my injustice."
"..." Having her thoughts seen through by Long Chen, Hua Biluo's expression changed slightly. His words were really too direct, and she found herself put on the spot.
"Sister Biluo, I don't have any other intentions by saying these things. I just want to tell you that if we want to form an alliance, we both need to be sincere. We can't conceal things from each other, or when we face our enemies together, we'll be suspicious of each other. If we're just scheming against each other, there's no point to it," said Long Chen.
"I really do have to blush with shame about that matter." Hua Biluo's face did redden slightly. Long Chen had been entirely correct.
Even before the secret realm opened, it was impossible for the first monastery's covert actions to slip past the attention of the second monastery. Which monastery didn't have a few spies?
If the first monastery could bribe other sects' Elders and disciples, then the second monastery could do the same. So they had learned everything that had happened. Furthermore, for something as big as Luo Bing bringing her thirty-sixth monastery's disciples to grandly punish the 108th monastery, only to be defeated miserably, it was impossible to slip past the second monastery's ears.
So Hua Biluo was one hundred percent clear on the matter between Long Chen and the first monastery. That was always why she had purposely smiled at Long Chen at the beginning when all the monasteries had gathered.
One reason was to leave behind an impression as a foundation for this alliance. But the other reason was to provoke Han Tianyu. She never paid any attention to Han Tianyu, acting as if she didn't even see him. So when she expressed such a smile to Long Chen, she succeeded in arousing Han Tianyu's discontent.
Furthermore, at that time, Long Chen had also been accompanied by two peerless beauties like Tang Wan-er and Ye Zhiqiu. Others might not have been able to tell, but Hua Biluo had immediately sensed Han Tianyu's jealousy.
After entering the secret realm, Hua Biluo hadn't directly gone to ally with Long Chen. Instead, she had chosen to be a bystander, wanting to see if Long Chen was really worth her pulling him in.
If Long Chen had been unable to reach that level, she would have spent her time pulling in others. And so that line of hers, that she could only have watched as he had to suffer injustice, was just a lie to deceive others and to deceive herself.
Once images of Long Chen's defeat of Yin Wushuang had reached her, she had finally taken action, saying Long Chen was the innocent one, and that the woman in the photographic jade had just been setting him up.
However, back then, she had only just said that single line. That was also setting up a foundation.
Saying such a thing had been of no help to Long Chen at all. At the same time, she hadn't directly drawn on the hostility of the first monastery.
However, after he had managed to defeat Huo Wufang, she had finally been moved, feeling like it was time to take action. As a result, she had directly supported Long Chen, pointing out that he was being entrapped by someone. Although she didn't directly say who the person entrapping him was, she implied it was the first monastery and that Yin Wushuang was the director.
Then, when Long Chen had killed Han Tianfeng and severed one of Yin Wushuang's arms, Hua Biluo should have immediately come to find him.
However, she had only come now after Long Chen and Guo Ran had slaughtered a mass of their enemies, only once everything had calmed down. That was a bit unexpected for Long Chen.
"I've actually been waiting for you for a long time. You've come a bit late," smiled Long Chen.
"Talking with you really saves effort. I was going to come earlier, but because of a few things, I ended up being delayed." Hua Biluo smiled bitterly. Long Chen had already impressively seen through everything. She sighed, "Suddenly, I'm a bit of afraid of cooperating with you."
"Oh? Why?"
"Because I find you really are impressive. To have already managed to clearly see through everything, I really don't feel that safe." Hua Biluo sighed, brushing back a few strands of loose hair.
Long Chen laughed, "Then are you curious why I just foolishly jumped in despite knowing about this trap? Why I didn't think of a way to counterattack? Or perhaps do you think I have some hidden scheme?"
Hua Biluo didn't say anything, but she nodded slightly. She felt that with Long Chen's intelligence, he should have long since smelled the scent of a trap. According to reason, he should have long since come up with preventative measures and not have acted so passively.
However, all things had their own thoughts and plans. If Long Chen really had a plan, then he had truly hidden it deeply, so deeply that it was frightening.
"In truth, you're overthinking it. I knew there was a scheme against me, but I didn't spend that much energy on thinking about how to use brains to resolve it.
"In my eyes, she is absolutely nothing. If I ended up slowing down my advancement because of her, then my ending would definitely be very miserable. So despite knowing, I didn't have time to play those games with her. I have many things to do that are more important.
"In this world, there are many problems that can be solved with intelligence. But I trust that sister Biluo is aware that when there is a problem that intelligence cannot solve, only martial strength can solve it," said Long Chen.
"When intelligence cannot solve a problem, only martial strength can…" Hua Biluo muttered Long Chen's last phrase, a faint light shining in her eyes. "As expected, senior apprentice-brother Long Chen really is an intelligent person. This phrase of yours has let me see a new level of things."
"Sister Biluo is too courteous. All things have pros and cons. If you can use intelligence to solve a problem, it would definitely save effort and be safer, right?"
Hua Biluo laughed, as Long Chen really was too interesting, and his words were always very sincere.
From his gaze, she could that he was a very prideful person. And yet, he didn't display it. In comparison, those people who always acted very haughty were the people that felt self-inferior, and they had to use that haughtiness to hide it, all to find their own meaning for existence.
As for truly prideful people, they never purposefully acted arrogant. Long Chen was such a person, and such a person would usually disdain lying, whether it was to friends or to enemies.
"It really is enjoyable talking to you. I almost have an urge to have long discussions into the night with you," laughed Hua Biluo.
"Let's not. I'd rather talk about that matter of cooperation. After all, I still want to live for a few more years, and you should know that these days, even the walls have ears. With a slight carelessness, someone might end up punished with the five-horse dismemberment punishment." Long Chen acted very afraid.
Within the other tent, Meng Qi, Chu Yao, Tang Wan-er, Lu Fang-er, and Ye Zhiqiu all had their eyes closed, cultivating. Although they seemed to have entered a meditative state, their ears were all perked up and listening.
Hearing Long Chen's words, they all reddened. Was that five-horse dismemberment punishment referring to them?
"Alright, then let's talk about cooperating. I have one question for you. Can you let off Yin Wushuang?"
"Absolutely not." Long Chen's expression changed.