“Faction? Rely on? What do you mean?”

Guo Ran looked at Long Chen strangely. “When brother Long left, didn’t your family give you some information about the monastery?”

Long Chen shook his head. Having his family mentioned, his heart became somber. He wondered how his mother was.

While he had been home, he had been his mother’s main support. Now that he had left, his mother was probably greatly affected.

“Oh, then we should find a place to have a proper conversation.” Guo Ran waved his hand, and a round thing ran over.

When it arrived, Long Chen realized that it was a huge, pitch-black mouse three meters long.

“Brother Guo’s steed is pretty unique,” Long Chen couldn’t help but laugh.

Guo Ran didn’t take offense. “This is my companion that has been with me since I was a child. We grew up together. Don’t look down on him; he runs extremely fast.”

The two of them found an isolated place and sat down. Guo Ran took out some refreshments and began to eat and converse with Long Chen.

“Brother Long should know about the three heroes and two beauties, right?” asked Guo Ran.

“Nope.” Long Chen shook his head.

“Pffft!” Guo Ran spat out his food. “What, you don’t even know about this? Then your information really is nothing!” Guo Ran took out a beast hide from his ring. The words on that page were extremely small and densely packed. There had to be tens of thousands of words on it.

Guo Ran glanced at the beast hide and was slightly startled. He read it over again, then looked at Long Chen with shock. “Why isn’t your name on the registration list?”

“I don’t know.” Long Chen could only shake his head.

Guo Ran took a deep breath and asked suspiciously, “Do you not have a registration card?”

“I do.” Long Chen directly handed over his registration card to Guo Ran. Although he hadn’t known him for long, Long Chen sensed that he wasn’t a bad person.

Guo Ran glanced over the registration card and exclaimed, “The Law Enforcement Elder?! You know the Enforcement Elder?” Guo Ran looked at Long Chen with disbelief.

“Are you talking about Elder Tu Fang?” asked Long Chen.

“Yes, Elder Tu Fang is an extremely powerful Elder in our monastery. He’s very upright and strict. He is very trusted.” Guo Ran looked at Long Chen with admiration, obviously thinking Long Chen was a relative of Elder Tu Fang or had a close relation to him.

Long Chen shook his head. “I’ve only met with Elder Tu Fang once. After giving me this registration card and a map, there was nothing else between us.”

Long Chen told Guo Ran about his interactions with Tu Fang. Most of what he had to explain was finished with just a sentence, as he truly didn’t have much of a relation with Tu Fang.

“It seems brother Long must truly be a talented genius. Otherwise, the Enforcement Elder wouldn’t give such a registration card to you. The monastery’s standards are extremely strict, and even the experts on the Elder level only have one registration card to give out. Furthermore, I haven’t heard of the Enforcement Elder handing out a registration card in many years. Brother Long must definitely be an extraordinary person for the Enforcement Elder to recognize your talent,” exclaimed Guo Ran with admiration.

“We got a bit off track. How about we return to the three heroes and two beauties you mentioned?” Long Chen was curious about this.

And so Guo Ran began to tell Long Chen about the monastery. The Xuantian Monastery would select disciples every three years, but all the people who registered were already set one year in advance.

Those people that didn’t have a registration card like that youth Long Chen had encountered previously were all expelled before they could even take the test.

Once the registration list had been set, Guo Ran had begun to gather information on the registrants. Of course, he didn’t need to gather information on all of them, but just the more powerful ones with the highest potential.

It went without saying that Guo Ran was an extremely deliberate person. Long before he had set out, he had already recorded the names, backgrounds, temperaments, and special skills of all the more famous registrants.

Even when it came to the less famous registrants, as long as there was information, he wrote it down. But as for the three heroes and two beauties, that wasn’t something he had come up with, but something that was publicly recognized.

That was because it wasn’t only Guo Ran who was so meticulous. Others had also done their own investigations. That was what is meant by to know yourself, know your enemy.

The three heroes were three young men. They were Lei Qianshang, Qi Xin, and Yue Zifeng. It was said that they were all peak talents.

As for the two beauties, that naturally pointed to two young women. One was called the ice beauty Ye Zhiqiu, while the other was also an equally unmatched beauty called Tang Wan-er.

He didn’t know why, but when Long Chen heard Ye Zhiqui’s name, he immediately thought of that woman who had been standing atop that multi-colored bird.

If that really had been her, then those three heroes and two beauties were definitely at the top level.

Although they hadn’t exchanged blows, Long Chen had experienced many life and death battles that had caused his perception of experts to become incredibly keen. That icy woman was definitely a terrifying opponent.

Guo Ran continued, saying that in the future, the entire Xuantian Monastery would be theirs to control. And that was why Guo Ran recommended finding a faction to rely on.

That was because the Xuantian Monastery wasn’t the same as other sects. The competition was extremely intense inside. Other than core disciples, any other disciples had to complete missions in order to obtain resources.

But there were never enough missions to go around, and so the disciples were like wolves fighting over a piece of meat.

And that was how such an intense competition had arisen. According to past experiences, the monastery encouraged disciples to form their own factions, saying that this was also a kind of tempering for their disciples.

The powerful factions would have more opportunities and thus, more cultivation resources. That was why joining a powerful faction was extremely important.

Furthermore, your vision definitely had to be sure. That was because once you were in a faction, it was very difficult to switch to a different one.

Each core disciples would have the right to possess their own mountain. With the support of a formation, the spiritual qi on those mountains would be much denser, allowing one to cultivate twice as fast with half the effort.

Core disciples would all choose a couple of aides to cultivate with them. That was a reward to the capable members of their faction. After all, a faction could not just rely on a single person.

And so Guo Ran’s goal was on those five people. Moreover, it wasn’t just Guo Ran. Almost everyone hoped to join one of their factions. That was also an intense competition.

Furthermore, it was said that many people that were waiting in line to join their faction had already begun to take action, secretly sending gifts and even marriage contracts. Listening to all of this caused Long Chen to be dumbstruck. This was much more complicated than what he had thought.

“Guo Ran, who do you think is the strongest amongst those five?” asked Long Chen. He wanted to hear Guo Ran’s thoughts since he had gathered a great deal of information.

Guo Ran shook his head regretfully. “Those five are all monsters with unlimited battle strength. They can easily fight across realms.”

“They can all fight across realms?” Long Chen was shocked.

Guo Ran nodded. “The craziest of them all would have to be Lei Qianshang. It’s said that last year he killed three Tendon Transformation disciples from a sect, causing a huge ruckus.”

“Three sect disciples?” Now Long Chen was truly shocked.

“Yes. That sect was infuriated at the time, but the Lei family also has its own foundation and wasn’t afraid of them. A war almost broke out between them. But in the end, the matter was left unsettled. From that moment on, Lei Qianshang’s great name became famous. No one else in the same generation dares to fight against him,” sighed Guo Ran.

Long Chen was definitely shocked. A year ago he was already able to fight one against three, killing three Tendon Transformation sect disciples. That kind of combat ability was too frightening.

“Lei Qianshang has his Lei family’s lightning[1] inheritance. Not only is his combat ability shocking, but his physical body is also powerful beyond compare. He has never lost to someone within the same realm.

“Although Lei Qianshang is admittedly powerful, the others aren’t far off. Qi Xin and Yue Zifeng have also killed Tendon Transformation experts.

“But they’re comparatively more low-key and didn’t immediately become famous. Thus, no one knows whose strength really is the greatest.”

“As for the ice beauty of the two beauties, she comes from the Misty Ice Peak. She possesses an innate ice-cold spiritual qi. When her spiritual qi circulates, those on the same level as her cannot even approach her before turning into ice statues. Just how would you fight against her?

“The most mysterious one would have to Tang Wan-er. I’ve never been able to gather any information about her, but someone leaked that she possesses an extremely rare wind spirit body.

“Ah, the wind spirit body is favored by the heavens. By using the wind’s energy, she is able to kill the enemies with practically invisible wind blades. Just how terrifying is that?

“So those five are all monsters, existences that have no match within the same realm. As long as they don’t fight each other, no one knows just who is stronger or weaker,” sighed Guo Ran emotionally.

Within Guo Ran’s family, he was also a peak existence to some degree and was called a genius. But after arriving, he was completely suppressed by these freaks.

“Then which faction are you planning on relying on?” asked Long Chen.

“Of those five powers, basically all the spots are full. Trying to squeeze your way in would be extremely difficult, as everyone has already long since taken action. For me, it’s already too late.

“Amongst the five, Lei Qianshang is the most violent, while Ye Zhiqiu is the iciest, so neither are easy to approach.

“I’ve heard the most amicable one would be Tang Wan-er, but it’s precisely because of that friendliness of hers that countless people are already lined up for her. And so I basically have no hope of getting close to her either.

“Right now I was just trying to take advantage of the remaining time to earn some more medicinal pills. With those resources, I was hoping to see whether I could muddle my way into either Qi Xin or Yue Zifeng’s factions,” said Guo Ran. “What are you thinking?”

“Me? I don’t have any plans. I’ll just take everything step by step.” Long Chen smiled slightly.

“Then you aren’t planning on joining any faction?” Guo Ran was puzzled.

“Yeah, I prefer to do things on my own.” Long Chen nodded. Now he had left home. Although he felt a bit of a loss, he also had a feeling of freedom, like a horse that had thrown off its reins. He wanted to be as free as possible and no longer suffer any more restrictions.

Although those monster-class figures were extremely terrifying, Long Chen wasn’t afraid of them. As long as he didn’t find any trouble with them, everything would be fine. And if they really did fight, then he was actually interested in seeing just how powerful such monsters were.

Guo Ran shook his head. “Although you might also be an extremely powerful genius, I’d still advise you that those five aren’t humans, but monsters. You’ll definitely lose out greatly which will impact your cultivation.”

Long Chen was about to reply when an angry roar suddenly rang out, shaking the mountain forest.

“BRAT, THIS MASTER HAS FINALLY FOUND YOU!”

[1] Lei=Thunder