“How did you get them?” an Elder asked.
“I got them by killing evil demons. I knew of one place which was frequented by evil demons and waited for them there. I killed every evil demon that came there. However, it was somewhat risky as I have almost died a few times there!” explained Lanlan, her face filled with trepidation.
Looking at this little girl lying through her teeth without so much as blinking her eyes, Chen Xiang’s heart secretly palpitated. He realized Lanlan wasn’t a vegetarian.
“Where is it?” Wang Quan continued asking.
“There is a place called Spirit River, it’s a river full of Spirit Qi! I got this information from an evil demon,” stated Lanlan.
It was what Chen Xiang had told her. He didn’t expect that she would have to use it so soon. Chen Xiang felt that he was so stupid for treating Lanlan as a naive girl earlier.
Wang Quan returned the demon hearts to Lanlan, nodding. He and those Elders indeed knew of that Spirit River. They had also caught many evil demons there.
Next was Wang Quan’s eldest apprentice, Sun Xueren. There wasn’t an iota of expression on his face, like a dead man; cold and a man of few words. He didn’t look around, and his gait was also very stiff. However, the clothes he wore were the most magnificent of all Wang Quan’s apprentices. There were many sparkling rings on his fingers as well.
“Sun Xueren, eighty!” shouted Wang Quan. As it was his own apprentice, he and those Elders just casually glance one or two times, giving him a perfunctory check.
Seeing this, Lanlan and Chen Xiang secretly came to despise them. The same was true for Gu Dongchen and the other, those powerhouses on the sidelines; all of them could see that some kind of back-hand dealing was going on.
The next one had forty-three, such a number also gave Chen Xiang a fright. Fortunately, he had foresight; also, he was surprised by their strength. Surprisingly, they could obtain so many.
Lanlan was also feeling the same. On her own, Lanlan was only able to get twenty-eight. Had it not been for Chen Xiang giving her so many, maybe she would have ended up last.
Fifty, forty-eight, forty-five, fifty-two…
All of them had had forty or fifty, which gave Chen Xiang and Lanlan palpitations, as earlier, Chen Xiang was only planning to hand over fifty some demon heart, and Lanlan went a little further, just twenty-eight!
Meanwhile, all these people were interrogated as to how they acquired so many demon hearts.
“Mo Tian, eighty-three!” an elder shouted, shocked. A solemn look also appeared on Wang Quan’s face, there was still someone else who was able to acquire so many. Maybe he had killed Wang Quan’s apprentice.
Wang Quan and those elders carefully inspected those demon hearts. Soon, those Elders’ and Wang Quan’s countenance changed. Although they looked calm on the surface, Wang Quan’s eyes flickered with an undisguised fury.
“These demon hearts has your mark, right? Before your apprentices went in, you gave them fifty demon hearts to each! That’s right, I had killed your apprentice, I had no choice because he wanted to kill me. I did what a normal person would have done in my shoes,” said Mo Tian dismissively.
Mo Tian was far from being handsome. But at this moment, Chen Xiang felt admiration towards him; Mo Tian had actually admitted it, not to mention the fact that he had given a loud slap on Divine Martial Palace’s face.
“You…” Wang Quan was so infuriated that he was unable to utter anything. However, how could he dignify with a response as he sure had helped his apprentices in cheating, which had already been noticed by the powerhouses standing nearby.
“According to Elder Ding, it was permissible to have a conflict inside. I indeed killed your third apprentice and got fifty demon hearts from him. They can also be counted as mine! If you want to deal with me in accordance with violations, I will still admit it,” continued Mo Tian, he was not the slightest bit afraid of Wang Quan.
Chen Xiang reckoned that someone very powerful was surely backing up this Mo Tian.
“Humph!” Suppressing the anger in his heart, Wang Quan returned the demon heart back to Mo Tian; it was quite evident that he had scruples about the man backing Mo Tian.
Now, it was Chen Xiang turn. He was also at the center of attention. Chen Xiang only took out sixty demon hearts in order to be inconspicuous. This amount was just enough to put him in the fourth place, just behind Lanlan.
After Wang Quan and the others had completed their inspection, they still didn’t find their marks on them, which fairly astounded Wang Quan and the others. Mo Tian too knit his brows into a frown, puzzled. He thought that Chen Xiang would have attacked Wang Quan’s apprentices.
He had been able to get sixty demon hearts with his own strength; this was quite fearsome.
“How did you obtain them?” asked Elder Ding.
“Why are you questioning only me when I have obtained just sixty while Divine Martial Palace Lord’s elder apprentice had obtained eighty? Why didn’t you question him? Don’t you think you are rather shameless? You are openly cheating, in order to make sure that the Divine Martial Palace Lord’s four apprentices take the top four, you have given them a lot of demon hearts when they went in. And now that the three of them have died, you want to check and see who killed them, am I right? Anyone can see it as long as there is nothing wrong with their brain!” said Chen Xiang in a questioning manner.
“Chen Xiang, watch what you are saying! You must have evidence to back you up!” said Wang Quan coldly. As long as there was any evidence, the Divine Martial Palace could act all shameless as much as they want.
Shaking his head, Chen Xiang said, “I indeed got no evidence.”
“How did you get sixty demon hearts? Tell us in detail, it will help my Divine Martial Palace to understand how those evil demons move. We sent you in for competition as well as for an investigation,” Wang Quan asked back; since there was no evidence, he had no qualms.
Which made other powerhouses secretly curse at his shamelessness.
“I arranged an illusion array and lured the evil demons with a large number of Hundred Beasts Dan,” stated Chen Xiang dismissively.
“Where did you arranged the illusion array?” Wang Quan was extremely suspicious. Although he didn’t find anything wrong with those demon hearts, he still had suspicions that Chen Xiang killed his apprentice because the demon hearts of his other apprentices had still not surfaced.
“It was a canyon full of black trees,” replied Chen Xiang.
“Oh, it’s called Dark Forest Canyon, it’s the only way through which you can get to the Spirit River. If you intercepting them there, it is impossible for Lanlan to get seventy-eight demon hearts! You are lying!” said Wang Quan with a cold smile on his lips.
Lanlan was taken aback for Chen Xiang had spoken the truth. She secretly cursed Chen Xiang for his stupidity; he was actually contradicting her lies.
Other powerhouses also secretly wondered. If Chen Xiang had killed one of Wang Quan’s apprentice, it would really gladden everyone’s heart.
Chen Xiang shook his head as he heaved a sigh, “It took me many days to arrange the illusion array. While I was arranging it, I sure did saw many evil demons passing by, but I didn’t take any action. Furthermore, my illusion array has limited energy, it could only be used for a very short period of time. I was only able to complete it two days ago.”
“Just when the competition was about to end, a very powerful evil demon with fifty or so subordinates entered the illusion array. At that time, I activated the illusion array, trapping those guys before killing them one by one. However, the leader of the evil demons was exceptionally strong. Even after all its energy was expended, my illusion array was only able to seriously injure it!”
“Finally, I had to fight with that guy. During our fight, the canyon was destroyed. If you don’t, believe me, you can go and check it out!”
At this time, Lanlan said, “When the rounds were just about to end, I indeed felt a lot of movements. There were dragon roars, the ground was shaking, it seems that it was caused by this guy.”
CHAPTER 432 – THE STRONGEST FOURMo Tian and the others also stepped up to testify, one after another. Even Wang Quan’s eldest apprentice nodded and said, “He is speaking the truth. When the round was just about to end, there had been big activities, I think the entire mysterious realm should know of it.”
“Why don’t I see that demon heart? If it’s an extremely powerful evil demon, its demon heart will also be different,” Wang Quan was still a bit skeptical.
Chen Xiang heaved a sigh and took out that Poisonous Scorpion King’s demon heart. Many people were immediately fascinated by its dazzling green glow, in particular, that pure and vast energy; even those Nirvana Realm martial artists were enticed by it. This sure was a treasure; it was quite normal for Chen Xiang to intentionally hide it.
Seeing this demon heart, Wang Quan couldn’t utter a thing. Everyone had a new understanding of Chen Xiang’s abilities; Chen Xiang surprisingly knew how to arrange such a powerful illusion array that could entrap so many evil demons at once.
Chen Xiang was in no way stupid. If he let Wang Quan knew that he had killed Wang Quan’s two treasured apprentices, maybe Wang Quan would not let him participate in the finals with ease. In order to ensure that he could take the Fruit of Fortune without anything going wrong, he could not infuriate Wang Quan.
“Looking at this demon heart, the evil demon was extremely powerful and such a powerful evil demon is actually inside. It quite possible that your apprentices had encountered this kind of evil demon. It’s quite normal for them being unable to escape. Why are suspecting that they have been killed by someone? Surely you don’t think your treasured apprentice are sufficiently strong to deal with an evil demon whose strength is close to a Nirvana Realm expert?” ridiculed Lian Yingxiao.
“Humph, why did you not tell us that it was such a dangerous place? If this brat got killed inside, that old madman would throw all caution to the wind and come looking for you to settle the debt!” said Gu Dongchen, harrumphing coldly.
Actually, the most surprised was Liu Menger. She had a good understanding of Chen Xiang; he was a complete ignoramus when it came to arrays, but he was able to arrange an illusion array that was so powerful that it was actually able to entrap an evil demon that was not too far away from entering Nirvana Realm!
“Sun Xueren, Mo Tian, Lanlan, and Chen Xiang, you will enter the finals! Sun Xueren will fight with Mo Tian, Lanlan will fight with Chen Xiang! The winner of two group will enter the finals! The semifinals will start after three days!” Having finished speaking, Wang Quan flew away. He was in an extremely bad mood.
All of Wang Quan’s smug calculations had been smashed, and too miserably at that. Three of his treasured apprentice had been killed, all of whom were very outstanding King’s Vein martial artists. One of them even had Fire Spirit, he had boundless prospects, but he had used all his good luck up and died inside.
After everyone was done, Chen Xiang left following Gu Dongchen and the others. Others who were at the summit also left flying. What Chen Xiang found funny was that he was truly going to be fighting with Lanlan, that little girl; he was also feeling a little pressure.
Lanlan was hell-bent on knocking Chen Xiang down. Furthermore, both had good relations. Had Chen Xiang not helped her, she would have ended up at the bottom. Chen Xiang could also not understand why Lanlan could only get so few while the others were able to get forty or fifty.
The fights were going to be held in a huge square inside the Divine Martial Palace. The stage had already been there from way back. At that time, many people would come to watch as it was the competition between Extreme State martial artists, moreover, between younger generation, all of whom were famous figures.
Lanlan had no small reputation in the Kings’ Mainland because she was from that mysterious and powerful Blue Blood Family. She was strong as well as cute. Many people were paying attention to her.
Mo Tian, he was shrouded in a veil of mystery. No one knew where he came from, all they knew was that he was extremely powerful and had been challenging all the famous younger generation experts of the Kings’ Mainland. He himself was a powerful King’s Vein martial artist.
Sun Xueren didn’t need any introduction. He was Wang Quan’s eldest apprentice. Rumour had it that he was a bloodthirsty killer and had a strange character; no one in the Divine Martial Palace could get along with him.
Chen Xiang was quite a famous figure in the Mortal World. Especially the fact that he had made fun of tycoons of many mainlands just recently. Furthermore, he was the champion of Kings’ Mainland alchemy tournament where he had demonstrated his illustrious alchemy technique. He himself was very strong and also, an apprentice of that old madman, Huang Jintian, allowing him to cultivate in Tai Chi Subduing Dragon Exercise, so on and so forth.
Therefore, this last round was worth watching, for all four were equal in strength as well as in fame. If they clashed with each other, what would be the result? Everyone was filled with anticipation.
King’s Martial Arts Assembly was sponsored by the Divine Martial Place. As the organizers, they had even taken out the Fruit of Fortune as a reward. At first, Wang Quan’s plan was let his own apprentice compete, but who would have thought that they would actually die. This matter had also turned into a joke and spread far and wide in the King’s Mainland.
“Young Martial Uncle, you are really formidable! You actually know how to arrange arrays!” said Gu Dongchen with a smile, looking at Chen Xiang gobbling up the sumptuous dishes on the table like Wolves and Tigers. There was a skeptical look in his eyes when looking at Chen Xiang.
Wu Kaiming was also skeptical about it. Chen Xiang’s time was invested in cultivation as well as in alchemy, where would he have the time to learn arranging arrays? Although Gu Dongchen and Wu Kaiming didn’t know how to forge weapons or refine dans, they were well versed in arrays; otherwise, they would have lived in vain, because arranging the arrays was not as complex as forging weapons or refining dans. As long as one spent a bit of time and effort in it, familiarize themselves with the spirit patterns, and also exchanged pointers a bit, everyone could learn it.
“How about we make a bet? If I can arrange it, each of you will give me a billion crystal stones, okay?” proposed Chen Xiang mischievously.
Gu Dongchen and Wu Kaiming didn’t dignify it with a response. They knew that Chen Xiang would not bet unless he was sure of his win.
“Tell us the truth, did you kill Wang Quan’s other two treasured apprentices?” Gu Dongchen was extremely curious regarding this.
“Of course not!” Chen Xiang said, smiling, “If I had killed them, I would also act like Mo Tian did and anger that Wang Quan. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luck to encounter his apprentices.”
Chen Xiang was too lazy to tell them the truth. Until he had obtained the Fruit of Fortune, he absolutely could not divulge this matter.
“You have so many demon hearts, how are you planning on using them? How about you give them to us to layout arrays. We have only heard of this kind of things, but never got to see! We never got any demon heart by killing those guys in the One Hundred Thousand Devil Mountains, all of them are were a bunch of ants,” said Gu Dongchen with a smile.
“Even among brothers accounts should be settled without ambiguity. One hundred million for each. After all, I got them by putting my life on the line! If even a single crystal stone is missing, I will not sell,” after Chen Xiang got to know of the fearsome part of arrays, he realized the specialty of these demon hearts; they were a lot better than top-grade crystal stones when they were used to arrange the arrays.
Having eaten full, Chen Xiang returned to his room to rest. After spending so many days in the mysterious realm, he was really tired. He wanted to maintain his peak state in order to participate in the final round.
As long as he could get the Fruit of Fortune, Bai Youyou, that frosty and aloof beauty would give him a kiss, so would Su Meiyao. This was the strongest motivation for him to get the Fruit of Fortune.
“I don’t know much about Lanlan as well as the Blue Blood Family. Little Bald only told me that they are all very powerful King’s Vein martial artist. As for their ability, he is not sure as well,” said Chen Xiang as frown crept up on his brows.