Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
“Zhao… Kuo?” Hao Ren tensed up.
Since Zhao Kuo failed to reach the Heavenly Dragon Realm and almost lost his life, he hadn’t returned to East Ocean.
Zhao Guang initially thought that Zhao Kuo went to train himself for a while and would quickly return. However, after leaving, no one heard from Zhao Kuo again.
Zhao Guang was worried that Zhao Kuo was caught in some sort of accident, and he sent out people to look for Zhao Kuo.
Finally, a few days ago, he received news and found where Zhao Kuo was heading. He was shocked that Zhao Kuo was going to the Dragon God Shrine for the general exams!
This morning, Lu Qing called him and told him that Hao Ren was going to participate in the exams at the Dragon God Shrine as Su Han’s assistant as well.
When he linked these two things together, Zhao Guang started to build a plan in his mind.
“I’m not too sure whether this news is true or not, but at least it’s a lead. That’s why me, Zi, her mom, and a few elders will go to the Dragon God Shrine this Saturday,” Zhao Guang said through the phone.
“Is there anything I can help with?” Hao Ren asked.
“Nothing really. I just wanted you to enter the exams as a representative of the East Ocean Dragon Clan instead of Su Han’s assistant,” Zhao Guang said.
East Ocean Dragon Clan!
Hao Ren as a representative of East Ocean Dragon Clan!
If it were before, the four ocean dragon clans wouldn’t participate in any of Dragon God Shrine’s events, including the general examinations.
The reason why Su Han was able to enter the exams was because she technically wasn’t a member of the East Ocean Dragon Clan.
In a sense, the four ocean dragon clans were an alliance of their own, and the Dragon God Shrine was an alliance formed by smaller dragon clans. The rise of the Dragon God Shrine, in reality, was a challenge to the four ocean dragon clans!
That was why the four ocean dragon clans and the Dragon God Shrine didn’t interfere with each other and only observe each other’s actions.
However, if Hao Ren were to represent the East Ocean Dragon Clan and participate in the exams rather than Su Han’s assistant, the meaning of everything would be different.
Even if the East Ocean Dragon Clan only sent one cultivator, it would still have a symbolic meaning.
It was Hao Ren who became the key person to make such changes!
“Yeah, I can do it,” Hao Ren said on the phone. Suddenly, he felt an enormous weight on his shoulders.
If he were to participate as Su Han’s assistant, then losing wouldn’t really matter. However, if he were to represent the East Ocean Dragon Clan, then losing early on would make the East Ocean Dragon Clan lose face.
“You don’t have to overthink this. This is a strategic decision that was made by all the elders and me. Therefore, your performance during the exam is irrelevant. As long as you represent the East Ocean Dragon Clan, we will have enough reasons to go to the Dragon God Shrine and find clues as to where my third brother is,” Zhao Guang explained.
“Ok, I understand,” Hao Ren responded.
For Zhao Guang, this trip was to have interactions with the Dragon God Shrine and to see Zhao Kuo. After thinking about it a bit more, Hao Ren felt like the latter was probably the main reason.
The current situation of the four ocean dragon clans was unpredictable with Zhao Haoran’s return. He suppressed the South Ocean Dragon Clan the North Ocean Dragon Clan before defeating the West Ocean Dragon Clan. These reasons have made the alliance between the four oceans extremely weak.
“Also, Xie Yujia, Lu Linlin, Lu Lili, and Zhen Congming would be coming with us.” Zhao Guang finished his last words and hung up the phone.
Hao Ran stared at his cell phone. He had a hard time believing the supporters he would have when he was taking the exams.
The Dragon King, Dragon Queen, and Princess of East Ocean, as well as several purple-robed elders of East Ocean, the disciple of a Soul Formation Realm cultivator, twin sisters from the Immortal Realm, and the only disciple of Qiu Niu, the eldest son of the Godly Dragon!
However, when he really thought about it, if he lost in the first round of combat or couldn’t even pass the first day’s written exam with such a strong support team, it would be such a humiliation!
He suddenly sensed chills in his spine.
He looked at Xie Yujia who was sitting in front of him, and he remembered that smile she just had; he guessed that she was looking forward to seeing his battles on this weekend. She probably found out that he was going to take the exams and thus understood why he was running with Su Han in the morning. He felt delighted.
“Class begins!”
The teacher, who was almost bald, walked into the classroom and disrupted Hao Ren’s thoughts.
Time slowly flowed away.
The bell that signaled the end of the class finally rung, ending the oppressive atmosphere in the classroom.
Hao Ren slowly stopped circulating his nature essence according to the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll within his body.
Just when Hao Ren was about to get up and go back to the dorm with Zhao Jiayi, a guy in a white t-shirt came over.
He was Lu Qi, the president of the Go Club. Lu Qi had extraordinary skills, winning all the competitions when he was in high school. When he entered university, he was the champion of the national amateur competition two years straight and even represented China to compete in Korea, winning 16 games and losing only one.
His talent and skill allowed him to be respected even by top Chinese Go players, and he also had a beautiful smile and good looks.
He was also humble and low-key, attracting a loyal female fanbase.
Different from Huang Xujie, even though Lu Qi was incredibly popular with the girls at school, he was never arrogant about it.
Since he was rarely at school due to all the competitions, this sudden appearance he made in this classroom shocked everyone.
“I’m sorry, but are you looking for someone?” Xie Yujia asked while everyone hadn’t recovered from the shock.
“Hao Ren.” Lu Qi’s gaze locked on to Hao Ren, who was at the back of the classroom.
Everyone’s gaze had turned to the back of the classroom where Hao Ren was.
Hao Ren looked over and saw that Lu Qi had a dim red light around him.
The element of fire!
“Come with me; I have something to discuss with you,” Lu Qi said while he stared at Hao Ren.
His voice was calm but bleak.
Hao Ren walked passed the crowd and went to the front of the classroom where Lu Qi was.
Lu Qi wore a pair of frameless glasses, and his eyes gave out a dim red light.
His skin was softer than girls’, and it looked like he came from a wealthy family. To sum it up, he was more handsome than Hao Ren.
The classroom was filled with clamors, all discussing what was going on.
Lu Qi is a prodigy in the Go circle. No matter how hard one thought, there didn’t seem to be a connection between him and ordinary students. However, he suddenly appeared here and asked for Hao Ren in a provocative tone. This strange event led to plentiful of gossip and theories.
“What is it?” Hao Ren asked.
“A challenge.” Lu Qi uttered the two words coldly.
“Wow…” The classroom got noisy.
“Where?” Hao Ren asked.
“At the Go Club,” Lu Qi answered.
“Oh…” people in the classroom were astonished.
“Sure.” Hao Ren nodded without any hesitation.
Lu Qi nodded back and walked toward the staircase, and Hao Ren followed him.
Dong, dong, dong… The crowd rushed toward the staircase and wanted to see what would happen.
Between the academic buildings, there were sky bridges that connected them.
Hao Ren followed Lu Qi to a nearby academic building, causing the buildup of a large crowd there.
“Lu Qi is challenging Hao Ren to a game of Go!”
“Really?”
“If you don’t believe it, just go to the Go club!”
“What is actually happening?”
“I heard it’s because of Su Han!”
“Yeah. When they were walking toward the Go Club, they talked about Su Han! It must be that Lu Qi also likes Su Han! Since Hao Ren and Su Han came to school together today, Lu Qi was infuriated by the sight!”
“Great gossip! I can’t believe that Lu Qi has a crush on Su Han!”
Just when the crowd was building up in front of the Go Club, Hao Ren and Lu Qi entered the classroom that was dedicated to this club.
Lu Qi had great accomplishments in the Go circle, including defeating Japanese and Korean professionals and bringing in countless honors and trophies for the university. That was why the school dedicated a room for him to practice Go in, and it was the only exception for a school club.
In order for the members of the club to practice in peace, the windows of the classroom had black papers stuck to them along with specialized sound insulations installed.
Hao Ren and Lu Qi entered the classroom, and the rest of the students were all trying to get a peek through the door or trying to hear what was going on inside. However, due to the sound and light insultations, they couldn’t see or hear a thing.
“Are you saying that you’re challenging me because of Su Han?” Hao Ren looked around the classroom and asked Lu Qi.
There were six to seven tables in the classroom, and they were decorated with black and white chess pieces.
“Su Han sent out a secret notice to all secret clubs in the university. She said that whoever defeats you by Friday can replace you as her assistant.” Lu Qi looked at Hao Ren in the eyes with unflustered emotions.
“Su Han… She thinks my life is too easy…” Hao Ren thought secretly.
“Just a short self-introduction. I, Lu Qi, am a Dui-level fire-elemental dragon from the main branch of Wude Forest,” Lu Qi said.
“I’m Hao Ren, a Gen-level water-elemental dragon from East Ocean,” Hao Ren said while backing up half a step.
“It’s my honor!” Lu Qi put his hands together and then suddenly attacked!
The classroom was lit up by a red light!
An energy sphere!
The two tables beside Lu Qi bounced away!
The black and white chess pieces rose.
Lu Qi put his hands out and counted ten black and white chess pieces before throwing them toward Hao Ren!
Lu Qi had amazing Go skills, but his cultivation was also quite incredible!
Although he looked like he was in his twenties, he might have trained for 50 to 60 years in order to achieve Dui-level. He had the skills to compete on the exams at the Dragon God Shrine!
Everyone knew that the Dragon God Shrine had a quota for its official inspectors. Theoretically, it was based on merit. However, under similar circumstances, they would prioritize cultivators who had the position of assisting inspector!
“It’s my honor!” Hao Ren also put his hands together, and 160 sword energies suddenly shot out of his shoulders
The sound of the sword energies piercing through the chess pieces shook the classroom, and the floor was covered in broken chess pieces.
With only 40% of his cultivation power and only at Gen-level, Hao Ren had to give it his all to defeat a Dui-level cultivator!
“What is this technique!?” It was the first time that Lu Qi had witnessed such a technique and was slightly shocked.
He stomped his feet on the ground, and the broken chess pieces bounced up again before dashing at Hao Ren. The broken chess pieces were lit up with bright red fire and followed the movement of Lu Qi’s palm.
The tens of chess pieces had transformed into hundreds of flaming fragments!
After Hao Ren moved his palms in the air, the 160 sword energies immediately doubled.
The sword energies were flying across the room, smashing the chess pieces to the extent that there wasn’t even powder left.
“Three! Talents! Heaven! Earth!” Hao Ren said each word clearly and precisely.
The sword energies gave out a humming noise, and the sparkling swords charged toward Lu Qi’s head, chest, and legs.
With only 40% of his cultivation power, Hao Ren had to finish off the battle quickly!
Also, he had to freeze his nature essence for a split second within each second to not trigger the Five Mountains Bracelets.
During the split second when Hao Ren’s nature essence froze, the sword energies vanished with the loss of energy.
Then, once Hao Ren managed to get his nature essence back up again, the sword energies reappeared!
Never had Lu Qi seen such strange attacks. Suddenly, a chessboard that was in white and back appeared in his palm.
That was his natal dharma treasure!
This dharma treasure emitted a pure black and white flame, and at the same time, the sword energies already arrived at Lu Qi’s neck, stomach, and knees.
Whoosh!
The Sword energies suddenly stopped a few millimeters in front of Lu Qi.
“Buzz… buzz…” With Hao Ren’s continuous rhythm of stopping and reemitting his nature essence, the sword energies vanished and reappeared.
Even after taking out his strongest weapon, Lu Qi was flabbergasted.
“You lost,” Hao Ren calmly uttered the two words.
A mystic black and white flame was still floating around Lu Qi’s chessboard.
He stared at Hao Ren, tightly gritting his teeth. Then, he put the chessboard back into his body.
From start to finish, the battle only took five seconds.
“I lost.” Lu Qi nodded and stopped the red energy sphere.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The dense sword energies rushed back into Hao Ren’s body.
Lu Qi only had one natal dharma treasure, but Hao Ren had 320! The sword energies were Hao Ren’s nature essence, and they were also his natal dharma treasures.
“If you want, I can have another battle with you,” Hao Ren said.
Lu Qi raised his head and looked at Hao Ren.
“Peng!”
The red energy sphere reappeared, and Lu Qi’s entire body was blazing with red flames.
His white skin turned bright red!
Peng, peng, peng…
The chessboard turned into a black and white Tai Chi symbol with a big fire dragon symbol at the center, emitting dazzling flames!
When a fire dragon flies into the sky, it lights up everything!
Lu Qi practiced the Raging Flame Scroll. The burning flames he emitted were capable of melting rocks!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Hao Ren’s sword energies reappeared from his body.
This time though, they weren’t colorful swords but were solely made up of black ones.
“Black Water Scroll!” Lu Qi couldn’t help but scream.
The black sword energies formed waves just like the water in the netherworld and rushed toward the flame.
Water counters fire!
With the countering element and the power of the sword array formation, Hao Ren’s water-elemental array formation did not lose to Lu Qi’s burning flames!
Peng! Peng! Peng!
The flames and the swords were colliding with each other.
Water and fire opposed each other, and the flames around Lu Qi and the water-elemental swords around Hao Ren were wearing each other out.
In a few days, the exams in the Dragon God Shrine were going to take place. It would be easy to pass the written exam, but the combat exams would be difficult.
The news Su Han spread out suddenly got Hao Ren a bunch of ‘trainers’.
In the East Ocean University, there weren’t many strong opponents, but there were a bunch of dragon cultivators who were around the same level as Hao Ren.
How could Hao Ren not accept this ‘gift’ from Su Han?
Half an hour later, the Go Club’s door finally reopened.
Lu Qi walked out with a pale face.
In contrast, Hao Ren looked proud. He waved his hands and walked out of the classroom.
They both didn’t explain anything. However, when Lu Qi walked down the stairs, he almost tripped.
From then on, the rumor of Hao Ren beating Lu Qi in a game of Go spread rapidly across the campus.
