Chapter 300: Interrogation and Friendly Indications
Everyone looked dumbly at the empty field in front of them, their minds buzzing with questions.
The magnetic golden mountain had vanished right in front of their eyes. This scene had destroyed all the knowledge that they had painstakingly built up throughout half of their lives.
The four forefathers had also come in pursuit of answers. The four figures stood out in front, looking at the empty ground left in the wake of the vanished magnetic golden mountain. Shock was writ large in their eyes.
They looked at each other, traces of wariness beginning to appear in each other’s eyes.
Even the forefathers wouldn’t be at ease if changes had taken place in the legacy territory of ancient times.
The appearance of this bizarre scene belied their previous self assurance.
Jiang Chen was now sitting cross legged with the other disciples that had passed. He had arrived in the midst of this crowd when the golden light exploded, catching no one’s attention nor appearing out of place.
As for the golden magnetic mountain, he’d naturally put it away by now.
And of course, he wouldn’t give even the slightest clue of his involvement in such an earth shattering issue.
Although his potential was quite strong, much trouble would come knocking on his door if the secret that he’d refined the golden magnetic mountain was leaked.
He would never place himself in the midst of trouble before he had gotten a full grasp of all the aspects of a situation.
The forefathers came up empty handed after looking at the scene for quite some time.
The organizers in charge of the third trial all presented themselves in front of the forefathers, undergoing interrogation.
After all, they were in charge of the trial. The four forefathers hadn’t seen things firsthand and such had no idea what had happened.
However, they still came to no conclusions after questioning everyone.
“Logically speaking, this is the seventh day of the trial of potential, if it was to disappear, the mountain would vanish only after the tenth day. It’s gone, just like that. Have you interrogated the ordinary disciples?” Sunchaser asked.
The organizers were speechless. Interrogate? How do we interrogate them? It’s not as if ordinary disciples can cart away the golden magnetic mountain.
“Stop joking old monster Sunchaser. There must be a reason for the mountain vanishing, and it has nothing to do with the ordinary disciples. Even the four of us combined and our strength increased tenfold, we likely wouldn’t be able to move this mountain!” Ninelion laughed oddly.
Sunchaser snorted as his dark gaze swept over all of the disciples that had completed the trial with a trace of coldness.
There was less than twenty thousand left after the third trial.
However, all of them felt a mountain’s worth of pressure descend upon them under the severe gaze of forefather Sunchaser. Their breathing hitched as their meridians expanded, and their blood starting frothing. It was as if they’d all spontaneously combust if Sunchaser exerted the slightest bit more pressure.
“Those who have passed the seventh floor, present yourselves in front of me!” Sunchaser roared out sternly.
Some disturbances occurred amidst the crowd as the participants who had surpassed the seventh floor all walked warily to the front row.
They had all brought their participant tokens over to register their results when they’d left the mountain.
“Take out your participant tokens.” Sunchaser said faintly.
Jiang Chen was privately alarmed as he knew that it’d be difficult to get past this now.
All of these practitioners had long since been bounced out by the mountain, and their tokens registered with their results shortly thereafter.
Jiang Chen’s token had yet to be registered, and that meant he’d still been on the mountain when the mountain had disappeared.
Indeed, as the tokens were inspected, Jiang Chen’s unregistered token was quickly discovered.
“It’s him!” The organizers naturally recognized this token. It was the freak with the boulder’s heart that they’d been discussing!
“This genius didn’t fall in the magnetic golden mountain alright!”
“But, the mountain’s gone and disappeared, how could he be alright if he was on the mountain then?”
“Can it be that he has something to do with the disappearance of the mountain?”
“Tsk tsk, he’s in for it now that forefather Sunchaser has his eye on him.”
The organizers discussed hotly amongst themselves. Some looked at Jiang Chen with sympathy, others with the look of delighting in another’s misery.
Sunchaser stood with both hands behind his back, his expression remote. Although his gaze wasn’t as severe as before, it seemed to lock onto Jiang Chen, as if not even a single hair on Jiang Chen’s body could escape his gaze.
“Explain yourself. Why is your token unregistered?”
His tone was faint, but was suffused with an enormous aura. Seemingly there, and also not, was a blade of judgement hanging over Jiang Chen’s head.
If an origin realm practitioner leveraged even thirty percent of his aura, it was still enough to send a third level spirit realm into spasms.
Sunchaser had leveraged precisely thirty percent of his aura.
Jiang Chen’s eyelids twitched faintly and his heart was as still as water in the face of Sunchaser’s oppression. He didn’t resist, just swayed slightly and pretended to be at the limits of his endurance.
“What would the forefather have me explain? I had yet to complete my test and thus my token was not registered. Isn’t that normal?” Jiang Chen asked in confusion.
“Huh. Young man, don’t get up to any tricks in front of me. The mountain wouldn’t have vanished for no reason. You were still within it when it disappeared. Speak. What did you see inside? Or rather, what did you do inside?”
Sunchaser’s tone grew a bit more severe.
He added another ten percent aura. When forty percent of Sunchaser’s aura descended onto Jiang Chen, the latter’s body grew much heavier all of a sudden. Shapeless strength pressured the blood vessels and bones of his body, as if wanting to roll him up into a ball.
Sweat poured down his forehead, but Jiang Chen refused to take even a half step back. He lifted his head and said stubbornly, “Forefather Sunchaser, I only sought to climb to a higher level on the Endless Mountain. I was still within the mountain before the trial was over, what was untoward about that? If participating in the trial is a crime, then I ask forefather Sunchaser, what is the Purple Sun Sect doing in the great selection? Is it just to glorify yourselves in front of the ordinary practitioners?”
Jiang Chen had never been kindly disposed towards the Purple Sun Sect. Now that he was being publicly interrogated by this old monster and subjected to the continual pressure of the origin realm aura, he was naturally enraged. The pride in his bones made him loudly denounce the forefather.
“Tsk tsk, stiff upper lip huh?”
Sunchaser snorted coldly and increased his aura by another ten percent.
Even an earth spirit realm practitioner would find it difficult to hold up beneath fifty percent origin realm aura for long.
Jiang Chen’s face was beet red but even more stubborn, his aggrieved expressions exploding all of a sudden. He threw his head back and started laughing wildly, “So this is the Purple Sun Sect and an origin realm forefather. You of the origin realm are suppressing me, your junior. How mighty and lofty you are! That’s right, you’re an origin realm forefather and can easily trample me, but don’t think of making me a scapegoat and forcing me to heel! Even if you kill me today, I’d like to see what you bring out to stopper the mouths of all practitioners beneath the heavens!”
Jiang Chen’s facial muscles began twitching in the face of Sunchaser’s continued pressure. It was as if countless mountains were weighing down on him.
“‘Enough!” Ninelion roared and stepped forward, sending his aura crashing into Sunchaser.
Wham!
The two forefathers’ strength hurtled into each other, giving rise to countless air currents and forcing organizers on all sides to continuously back up.
Thousandleaf also stepped forward and chuckled. “Daoist Sunchaser, the disappearance of the mountain isn’t something that either you or I can determine. Why vent your spleen out on a young man?”
Icemist also spoke up, “Forget it, both you and I know that there is no way a young man can move away the magnetic golden mountain. Not to mention that if this young man is involved with this matter, that is his fortuitous occurrence as well. All sorts of fortune exists in the world of martial dao, why must Daoist Sunchaser be fixated on this?”
Ninelion chuckled, “Hear that old monster Sunchaser? A just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust cause finds little support. It won’t do if you’d like to cover the skies with one hand. Our four sects cannot afford to lose the face involved in bullying a young practitioner.”
Sunchaser’s face darkened as he surveyed the three forefathers and looked at Jiang Chen again.
His face suddenly split into a grin as he said coldly, “The three of you, stop pretending to be on the side of good. You’ve just set your sights on this young genius. Don’t think I don’t know your schemes.”
Sunchaser’s gaze shot towards Jiang Chen again after speaking and he smiled faintly. “Young man, I had only wanted to test you earlier and determine the depths off your potential and talents. Not bad, not bad. You’re the once in a century dao heart genius alright. For a young man to have such pride and a resolute heart of martial dao, your potential is limitless. I was treasuring such a talent and thus couldn’t help but test you. I’m sure that you will understand my efforts with your intellect and wit.”
Sunchaser certainly was an origin realm practitioner alright. The speed in which he twisted black and white around was nothing short of incredible.
If Jiang Chen truly was an ordinary genius, then in his youth, he would’ve surely been convinced and greatly gratified by Sunchaser’s show.
He was only testing you because you had entered his vision. That was suppression, it was treasuring talent, a show of love. What did that mean? That meant he looked upon you with favor and wanted to recruit you.
However, Jiang Chen was still Jiang Chen after all, not just some ordinary practitioner.
His previous lifetime of a million years had enabled him to be perceptive of the minutest detail.
So as flawless as forefather Sunchaser’s act and words had been, it appeared a completely phony fraud in Jiang Chen’s eyes.
Jiang Chen wasn’t the sort to be easily led astray by the nose like this. The more Sunchaser was thus, the more Jiang Chen was on his guard.
“This old monster Sunchaser is strong and flinty one second, then gentle and warm another. His personality reverses in a heartbeat, and is a sign of crafty, slippery person. I must keep an eye out for him in the future, no matter what.”
Jiang Chen had come to some conclusions in his heart, but still maintained a look of being incredibly overcome by this attention. “This kid is dull and didn’t understand the forefather’s efforts previously, and almost misunderstood the forefather.”
Sunchaser nodded with a faint smile. “That is right, you are promising and worthy to be taught. I’ve heard that you only chose to be tested for martial dao in the second trial. Such a resolute heart of martial dao is truly impressive and honorable.”
There was a long established rule that the four sects had to compete fairly and could not recruit during the selection.
Ninelion laughed coldly upon hearing Sunchaser’s words. “Old monster Sunchaser, what a good show. It’s easy to hoodwink the young, but not your peers. Not to mention that private recruitment is forbidden during the great selection, don’t you think you’re overstepping yourself?”
Sunchaser smiled faintly, “I’ve only complimented him a bit, what recruitment is this?”
“Pah! You shameless old thing! You compliment his resolute heart of martial dao and say that he shows promise and is worthy of teaching. Do you think the three of us are brainless idiots and can’t make out such naked hints?” Ninelion blustered in protest.
“Daoist Sunchaser, we’re all smart people, why act in this way?” Thousandleaf smiled faintly.
“Alright, the third trial is over. Let’s keep moving and head directly into the fourth trial. Us old fellows should not overly intervene.” Icemist tried to gloss over the situation.
Jiang Chen made use of this opportunity to take his place amongst the group again, but was on his guard against Sunchaser.
He was well aware that Sunchaser was keeping an eye on him.
