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Chapter 15

Loud cheers were filling the whole arena of the floating palace, and the fifty thousand cultivators with their Peaks and Sect Masters were getting ready for the first round, the disciples filled with motivation in their eyes, hoping for a little bit miracle of strength to come and for the confidence to envelop their entire body. Everyone was overwhelmed and excited.......except for one person.

Lian Ren stared down at the marble floor of the arena stage with a straight expression. His hands were crossed and his lips was slightly pursed as he stared down at the cultivators who were filled with adrenaline rush on their bodies. He knew that the Rising Star Cultivation Battle was no big deal, he had once attended it in his past life, also looking like those cultivators whose eyes were beaming with excitement and motivation but in the end, it was just like a temporary pleasure. There was nothing special about rising up to the ranks.

More importantly........the prices are very suspicious. Who randomly gives a very important items to random cultivators? Holy weapon....... Heavenly beasts..... It's very suspicious. Lian Ren was taken aback when he noticed that Shao Ling was slightly wriggling in his seat. Since Lian Ren was facing Shao Ling's back and the back of the chair was covering his face and body, he doesn't have a clue on what's going on.

Curious on the situation, Lian Ren subconsciously took a step forward, until he can't help but eventually walk on Shao Ling's direction and lowered his gaze on him, and Lian Ren's eyes slightly raised on what he saw. Shao Ling's thick and neat brows were frowning as he stared down at the hem of his white and blue robes that was stuck on the edge of the chair. His long and slender hands were trying to pull the hem of his robes but was slightly hesitant because the fabric of the robe would rip.

Lian Ren's mouth twitched, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry but he crouched down and helped Shao Ling by carefully loosening the edge of the chair and pulling out the stuck fabric, after pulling the fabric out, Lian Ren lightly tapped the loosened chair, blue spiritual qi were compressing at the tip of his fingers and shifting all over the feet of the chair to cover the loosened edges with ice. Lian Ren stood up and withdrew his hand, redirecting his gaze back at Shao Ling who was looking at him with his brows arched.

I really hate this side of him. Lian Ren's brows twitched as he tried to curve his lips into a smile and replied,

Shao Ling said with his brows still arched.

Yes. Lian Ren answered with a smile.

Shao Ling frowned and took a quick glance at him before redirecting his gaze at the arena with a hint of anger on his face,

Lian Ren went back to his place with Jian Jie looking at him with a mocking smile on his face and Xin Mei leaning on to his direction and whispered,

Lian Ren asked in confusion,

Xin Mei winced at him and continued to whisper,

Lian Ren stared at the back of Shao Ling's chair in a daze as he recalled the moments on the Azure Lotus Pavilion earlier, but he didn't notice anything negative at Shao Ling's face at the time..... Or is it just because he was focused on cultivating and getting ready for the competition. Lian Ren eventually heaved a breath and shrugged,

Xin Mei warned,

Lian Ren gave her a slight smile. It funny because he knew a lot about Shao Ling except for the time when he immediately shifts his mood like how nobles change their clothes.

Xin Mei said with a smile and redirected her attention to the arena stage.

Twenty massive crystals were displayed on the wide marble arena. The crystals were transparent like a glass with a hint of shimmering purple, pink and blue when it came contact to the ray of the sun. The beautiful lady who was standing at the middle of the arena wandered her eyes on the surroundings before speaking,

The beautiful lady walked on one of the crystals and lightly pressed her hand on the transparent crystal, pouring her spiritual qi in it as she watched the crystal radiate a warm glow before redirecting her gaze at the crowd,

The whole arena was filled with a deafening silence until after a while, the sound of the blowing trumpet echoed throughout the arena, followed by a large and thick golden barrier covering the entire marble stage then a swarm of cultivators started using their best footwork to arrive at the barrier.

When the first person came in contact with the barrier, a loud clinging sound was heard, followed by a huge wave of golden spiritual qi covering the entire arena. The swarm of cultivators were knocked back in an instant by the huge wave of golden spiritual qi, their faces were filled with bewilderment as they redirected their gazes back at the stage.

The beautiful lady asked with a terrifying smile on her angelic face,

Lian Ren stared down at the barrier and slightly raised his eyes. She's saying it's a mere two star barrier? Of course it's just a two star barrier but it's not just what you can call a 'mere'. Barriers in the floating palace were made personally by the Yong Yingxi, the Darling of the Heavens and it can protect the palace from demons who wants to steal their treasures. Just a one star barrier can protect an entire empire, what can a two star barrier do then? Protect the entire country? Or much stronger than that?

Jian Jie asked.

Shao Ling asked with a scowl.

Shao Ling asked.

Xin Mei answered with a nervous expression.

Shao Ling sipped his tea and glanced at her with a reply,

Xin Mei looked at Shao Ling with an astonished expression,

Xin Mei replied with a dejected expression.

In a blink of an eye, Xin Mei and Jian Jie were already jumping down the balcony, heading straight to the gigantic barrier on the stage arena. Lian Ren realized that he was the only one left at the balcony with Shao Ling and immediately started to step at the railings of the balcony so that he would join with his two seniors———

Lian Ren paused and shifted his gaze at Shao Ling. Lian Ren slowly glanced at the left then glanced at his right as well at his back before redirecting his gaze back at Shao Ling with his index finger pointing at himself,

Shao Ling frowned,

Lian Ren stepped down at the railings and cleared his throat,

Lian Ren's eyes twitched and his brows knitted into a frown in bewilderment, What's tiny? What is he talking about?

Shao Ling pursed his lips and his brows frowned even more. He raised his hand and pointed it at the top of his head,

Shao Ling said in a demanding tone.

Lian Ren secretly sighed. Give? How can he just———those ice fairies are hard to make! They require one fourth of my spiritual qi! Lian Ren was about to decline but he noticed Shao Ling's soot black eyes were giving a hint of spark, like a dignified cat asking for canned foods but was unable to completely express itself. Lian Ren closed his eyes, trying hard not to smile and continuously nodding by himself before slightly waving his hand, blue spiritual qi were compressing on his palms until a small ice fairy with transparent glowing wings slowly stood up and stretch on his hand like it just woke up in a deep slumber.

The ice fairy glanced at Lian Ren before flying at Shao Ling's direction, giving him cold as it danced around him with a low clinging sound. Shao Ling simply said with his straight face slightly flushed red. Lian Ren was hesitant to jump down the balcony and just watch Shao Ling forever but he was afraid that he would be a hindrance to him and he also need to win the competition so that he could meet the Yun Sect Elders, so in the end Lian Ren jumped down and joined the competition.

There were already four hundred ninety five participants on the arena stage. Some were able to pass through the barrier but the crystal didn't radiate a glow so they had no choice but to step down to the stage with their face filled with sorrow and rejection. The others were still outside the arena, scratching out or ripping out the golden barriers with their hands and weapons, some tried to destroy it with their spiritual but the damage bounced back on them and they ended up slammed on the wall.

Four hundred ninety nine participants, almost the remaining thousands of disciples were getting impatient to enter the barrier, and some of them already left and gave up. All of them paused when Lian Ren simply walked towards the barrier, passing through the barrier easily like he was entering a door and climbing up the stairs, pressing his hand on the crystal until the crystal radiated a bright glow that almost blinded everyone in the arena. The trumpet blew once more and the golden barrier disappeared, the whole crowd was quiet.

"What the hell...."

"Who is that guy?"

"Does he think he's just walking on a garden?"

"He must be very strong..."

"Which Peak is he? Or is it Sect?!"

"His uniform! Look! It's the Yun Sect!"

"Yun Sect?"

"The one with a beautiful male Master———"

"Shh! What if the Yun Sect Master hears?!"

"Argh! To think i lost! And it's only the first round!"

The beautiful lady stepped forward with a smile and spoke,

It's....... surprisingly easy.

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