Hearing that voice, Chen Chen smiled and said calmly, "I'm going to go back and clean up before I go. I can't go into the palace covered in blood, can I?"

The ethereal voice did not answer, acquiescing to Chen Chen's statement.

Upon seeing that reaction, Chen Chen decided not to stand on ceremony any longer, slowly making his way to Yiran Inn while holding Qi Bufan's head.

The eyes of the people watching from afar twitched upon witnessing this scene.

Only when Chen Chen's figure had completely disappeared into the darkness did they start to cause a commotion.

"Oh my goodness! How long has it been since something like this happened in the capital of the country!?! This is so exciting!"

"This successor of the Tianyun Clan is really violent. He killed the second among the elites on the streets!"

"It scared me to death. I was so scared; I didn't even dare to breathe. He's truly a ruthless person."

Apart from the gossip mongers, who were incredibly astonished, most of them felt like they had just survived a calamity.

In the evening, many of them had bet their entire fortune on Qi Bufan's victory. They had thought that it was a sure bet, but they had expected Chen Chen's action.

Now, Qi Bufan was dead, and the bet became void. Hence, they had avoided the fate of losing their entire fortune.

"The successor of the Tianyun Clan is so kind..."

"I'll never gamble again, it's too scary."

Many people had broken into a cold sweat, terrified expressions on their faces.

...

Chen Chen returned to Yiran Inn only to see that Elder Zhao was already waiting at the door.

Upon seeing Chen Chen, Elder Zhao was relieved, but when he saw Qi Bufan's head, his eyes instantly became extremely gloomy once again.

"Successor… You!"

"It's alright. Give this head to Zhang Ji and tell him that I've avenged him. As for the man who beat him up, he has been blasted into ashes and will never come back again."

Chen Chen smiled and tossed the head to Elder Zhao before taking the golden silk robe out of his storage ring. He changed out of his blood-stained robe and put on the golden silk robe.

"I have to go to the palace, Chong Ye wants to see me," Chen Chen said casually after a change of clothes.

However, Elder Zhao was extremely nervous.

"What good can come out of going to the palace? Successor, how about I help you escape?"

"You're thinking too much. There is more than one Nascent Soul powerhouse in this capital, so where can we escape to? But don't worry. If Chong Ye really wanted to kill me, he would have done so directly. Why would he ask me to go to the palace? I'm not a big shot; he doesn't have to trick me into coming to the palace to kill me."

After saying those words, Chen Chen ignored the complicated gazes in the eyes of Elder Zhao and Sun Tiangang, instead turning around to leave Yiran Inn once again.

...

In the palace of the State of Jin, it was pitch dark. Only a few areas were lit, and very dimly at that, making it look particularly gloomy.

The new King, Chong Ye, cultivated the Supreme Wang Qing Dao, which allowed him to be emotionless and abstain from lust. Hence, he did not have any consorts and most of the people in the palace were not doing much.

The Heartless Hall in the center of the royal palace was where Chong Ye usually cultivated.

At this moment, he was still meditating inside, but there was an additional table in front of him, with a pot of wine that emitted some ethereality.

At that moment, a hoarse voice came from outside the door.

"Your Majesty, Chen Chen, the successor of the Tianyun Clan, is here."

"Let him in," Chong Ye ordered while opening his eyes, no emotional fluctuations within them.

A moment later, Chen Chen walked into the middle of the main hall.

"Sit," Chong Ye ordered.

Chen Chen did not stand at the ceremony and directly sat down opposite Chong Ye.

The atmosphere became quite oppressive as the hall suddenly fell silent.

After a long time, Chong Ye finally spoke up.

"Did you know that Qi Bufan was one of my people?"

"I didn't know; I only knew that he attacked my person," Chen Chen began feigning ignorance as soon as he spoke.

Chong Ye was suddenly speechless, thinking, 'You still don't know? As if I'd believe you!'

However, he did not expose Chen Chen, instead pointing to the two cups of wine on the table.

"This is a wine brewed by the Wuxin Clan. Do you dare to drink a cup of wine with me?"

Chong Ye picked up the cup of wine in front of him and gulped it down in one go. He then put the vacant wine cup back on the table, looking at Chen Chen with an intense gaze.

"Why not?"

Chen Chen was not ambiguous either. He picked up the wine glass and chugged the ethereality-filled wine.

Upon seeing this, Chong Ye's gaze gradually became complicated.

Since he practiced the Supreme Wang Qing Dao, he could clearly sense the emotions of others.

The successor of the Tianyun Clan, Chen Chen, was very… Special.

He wasn't greedy, pretentious, silly, resentful, hateful, or fearful.

Surprisingly, he could not find any flaw in Chen Chen.

One who cultivated to the highest level of the Supreme Wang Qing Dao would be able to capture even the slightest trace of emotion. Unfortunately, he hadn't reached that realm yet.

However, despite that, it was extremely rare to find someone whom he could not find a flaw in. At least, Chen Chen was the only elite who didn't show any flaw.

'This person is a formidable enemy. If I can't subdue him, he must be killed,' Chong Ye silently decided.

Immediately afterwards, he spoke softly, "Junior Brother Chen, who do you think is considered a true elite within the State of Jin?"

"Lin Jin, the Green Dragon Clan successor, Ye Wusheng, the White Tiger clan successor, Xiao Huang, the Vermilion Bird Clan successor, and you, Senior Brother Chong Ye. You should all be considered elites, right?" Chen Chen replied with a smile. For some reason, he felt as if he had seen this scene somewhere.

Hearing this, Chong Ye shook his head and replied indifferently, "Lin Jin might be half demon and very strong, but he has always been looked at differently since he was a child. He has developed an inferiority complex, so he can't be considered an elite.

"Ye Wusheng hides in his armor all day, so how can he be considered an elite? If he can break free from his armor one day, he'd be quite an elite.

"As for Xiao Huang… She's too weak and not worth mentioning. Even that dead Qi Bufan is a notch higher than her."

"Haha! I see, Senior Brother," Chen Chen smiled. At this moment, he finally remembered where he had seen this scene before. It turned out that he had seen it in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," from his previous life.

Chong Ye was testing him.

As expected, Chong Ye's pupils suddenly constricted in the next moment, some arrogance and self-confidence appearing in his abyss-like eyes.

"Junior Brother Chen, you and I are the only elites of the State of Jin."

As soon as he said those words, an invisible might emanated from Chong Ye's body and surged towards Chen Chen.

Chen Chen silently put down his wine cup while the golden silk robe fluttered in the wind. The two oppressive mights in the Heartless Hall collided with each other, the wine table serving as the center.

A few moments later...

The pressure vanished and the wine table was smashed into bits.

Chong Ye stood up and looked outside at the rising sun.

"Junior Brother Chen, I can't bear to kill an elite like you, and the Tianyun Clan has always been in line, so I'm willing to give you a chance.

"Ye Wusheng and the others will definitely wait for me to make a move before they get into the ring and fight with all their might in the Ranking Battle today.

"If you get inside the ring and defeat him, kicking the White Tiger clan out of the 36 clans, then I will consider the Tianyun Clan to be loyal to my Wuxin Clan and to the whole State of Jin.

"Otherwise… Hah! You and the Tianyun Clan will suffer the same fate as this table."

After saying these words, Chong Ye flicked his sleeve and left the Heartless Hall.