Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Sacred Martial Hall was quiet most of the time. The martial artists here were focused on the development of martial arts, either alone or discussing with others. Occasionally, they would appear on the once-abandoned Mountain of Blades and duel on the tips of blades to stimulate the sleeping potential in each other.
Today, the Sacred martial Hall was noisier than ever. Several dozen gatekeepers suddenly rushing into the Fight Pass drew the envy of countless martial artists, all wondering how many passes the attacker would pass before he was stopped.
Many people gathered outside the Fight Pass, waiting for the several dozen excited gatekeepers to return.
After half an hour since the whole breakthrough started, sounds of two sets of unhurried footsteps were heard from that long passage, giving the impression as if they were strolling in their own backyard.
As the source of footsteps approached closer and closer, everyone’s expectations reached their zenith. Everyone, one after another, started to wonder whether the attacker was defeated at the second last pass. If that’s the case, this attacker is too strong…
Vague figures appeared in the distant tunnel just as this thought flashed in everyone’s mind. While most of the people were unable to tell who it was, some martial artists who had specially trained their eyesight, screamed at the first moment. They pointed their fingers at the distant with a look of shock on their faces as if they had seen a ghost.
“My God! It’s actually him!?”
Everyone turned to the surprised martial artists, confused, “Who?”
The martial artists who had seen Qin Fen didn’t reply. They were so surprised to see Qin Fen that they were unable to speak for a long while.
When other martial artists were also able to see the assailant as Qin Fen walked another couple hundred meters closer, they were rooted on the spot, petrified. Dumbfounded, they watched Qin Fen walk over, pass them by, and walk away…
Qin Fen! The legend of Sacred Martial Hall has returned!
As Qin Fen occasionally stared at the surroundings, walking on the streets of the Sacred Martial Hall, past scenes floated in his mind. He could not help but lament in his heart, Although I have not lived here for a long while, it feels like home. If it wasn’t for the sake of Snake King and Zhao Huzi, who are nice to me, I would have immediately left the army without caring about how the army thinks. If the worst comes to worst, I would have rushed alone to Saturn to seize the crown of the divine beast martial artist!
Graciousness! In this era, as far as many selfish people were concerned, they were the sun. The entire world must revolve around them. Others must be good to them, they didn’t need to remember the graciousness of others.
For some people, kindness was a hindrance that could not be seen with the eyes. Qin Fen could climb to his current height all because he had never forgotten his roots!
Qin Fen passed by familiar buildings, one after another. He didn’t go to Building One twenty-two in the residential area right away, rather, he firmly made his way to Ferrero’s office in the Foreign Affairs Division of the Invitation Department.
As a disciple, the first thing he must do after returning to the Sacred Martial Hall was naturally to meet his two masters who were particularly good to him. Had those two not taken him as an apprentice, how would he have had the chance to enter the Sacred Martial Hall’s Secret Art Pavillion as he wished? How would he then have today’s martial strength and foundation?
One must never forget their roots! It was as true for the two masters of the Sacred Martial Hall as it was true for Zhao Huzi from the army.
Qin Fen had been to the Invitation Department of the Foreign Affairs Division several times. He might not be familiar with this place but he wasn’t unfamiliar either.
The beautiful receptionist sitting behind the front desk in the lobby couldn’t maintain her usual elegance once she saw Qin Fen appear before her eyes. Looking at Qin Fen in a bit of daze, her cherry red lips parted in an exaggerated manner.
“Hello.” Qin Fen nodded a little and greeted him. “Is the master in?”
The pretty receptionist was stunned for a few seconds, then she shook her head, “No… Mr. Ferrero has gone to see Mr. Sakra.”
Sakra Azia!? Qin Fen nodded his thanks, turned around and walked toward the Internal Affairs Division of the Department of Criminal Affairs, secretly rejoicing, This is even better. I can meet both masters at once.
—
“Boring…”
“Boring… it’s so boring!”
From time to time, wolf-like howls could be heard coming from Sakra Azia’s office in the Department of Criminal Affairs of the Internal Affairs Division.
Azia was sitting on a single-seater sofa, frowning a bit as he stared at the person who had occupied his seat and sighing from time to time, Maharoga Ferrero.
Azia was helpless. Not long after Qin Fen left, there would always be a person on his office chair, Maharoga Ferrero, who used to be an eyesore. As a matter of fact, he was an even bigger eyesore now.
Azia was truly helpless. In the beginning, Ferrero asked his secretary for the key to the office. And when he set his entry so that Ferrero couldn’t open the door even when he had the key, this Maharoga had simply kicked open the door, entering the room by means of destruction.
The doors of the Sacred Martial Hall were very solid. For many martial artists, these doors were special existences that were very difficult to destroy, but that was only in those martial artists’ opinions.
This sturdy door in the eyes of the head of the Invitation Department of Foreign Affairs Division, Maharoga, was still as fragile as a toilet paper, they had no effect on him!
Azia looked at Ferrero coldly but there was a bit of empathy mixed in with his helplessness. Since Qin Fen left the Sacred Martial Hall, Xue Tian flirted with girls everywhere after he had emptied their collection of martial arts secret books. This ultimately forced the Six Stars of Sacred Martial and Mr. Wu Zun to make a move. After they arrested him, the two fell into boredom.
At first, they had planned to turn and guide Brooks, Solomon, and those disciples who were taken as apprentices collectively. But they discovered that the other heads had already made their moves in advance; they had divided up this batch of talented youngsters already. Each head directly went knocking on their doors, and regardless of whether or not they were willing to take them as their master, they used all kinds of enticement to take them in as their disciples. And at the first notice, brought them into isolation for special training.
They didn’t give Azia or Ferrero the time to react at all. And when they responded, these people resorted to the very rogue choice, seclusion.
Although the Heads of the Sacred Martial Hall were strong, they were still very human at the core! Having seen Qin Fen and Xue Tian’s performances, if anyone still hesitated, his or her head must have been kicked by a wild donkey.
Among them, the silent Solomon was the luckiest in the group. Jennifer, the Auspicious Goddess, the daughter of the head of the Foreign Affairs Division, disregarded her identity as the boss of Ferrero and directly grabbed her subordinate’s person and took Solomon as her apprentice.
Although the Auspicious Godded didn’t resort to seclusion, Azia and Ferrero had no way to talk to this daughter of the head, which caused them to become the two most bored heads of the Sacred Martial Hall.
“So bored…”
Ferrero let out another howl-like cry. A frown appeared on Azia’s brow as the light bulb in the room suddenly burst with a loud noise.
Sakra of the Department of Criminal Affairs of the Internal Affairs Division sadly found that since the appearance of this Ferrero’s face before him every day, his energy maintaining skills were becoming worse and worse. Just the other day, these bulbs flickered several times, declaring the end of their life.
And today, the light bulb could not bear the current at all and exploded instantly.
“Bo…” Ferrero had uttered just half a syllable before his figure lying on the chair sprang back up fiercely. At the same time, Sakra straightened his spine as well. A look of surprise took over his face that had not had a change in an expression for a while as he looked at the door calmly.
Knock knock…
A slow and rhythmic knock echoed in the room. Ferrero and Sakra could not hide the surprise in their eyes. They opened their mouths at the same time, “Come in.”
As the door opened, Qin Fen, who was standing by the door bearing a smile on his face, bowed to the two heads of the Sacred Martial Hall inside the room as a disciple should.
“Hahaha! It’s really you!”
Ferrero jumped up from behind the desk in excitement. The office chair under him was unable to withstand this head of department’s excitement as he forgot to control his strength. It didn’t even have the time to make so much as a creak before it was reduced to powder.
Sakra stood up with a joyful look on his face before he nodded to Qin Fen gently. Ferrero, on the other hand, bear-hugged this disciple who allowed him to hold his head up high in the Sacred Martial Hall.
When the news of Qin Fen’s deed in Hallasan passed to the Sacred Martial Hall, the heads and the martial artists above them held a special meeting to discuss this matter. At that time, Sakra and Ferrero’s faces were glowing; the lighting in the room was a little dim but because of the glow of excitement on their faces, it seemed as if two one kilowatt halogens had been lit.
Even the other few heads who were good at maintaining their emotions could not help but cast a gaze of envy upon seeing the disciple of the two be so resourceful.
“Well!? Kid, you…”
Ferrero wandered about Qin Fen, clicking his tongue constantly. A look of surprise replaced the joy in Sakra’s eyes. As he sized up Qin Fen from top to bottom, the surprise in his eyes also had a bit of extra gratification but more of it turned into pride.
That’s right! Pride! Sakra couldn’t help but be proud. Qin Fen was in the fifteen-star level when he left the Sacred Martial Hall. When he fought at Hallasan, he was still in the fifteen-star level. But when he came back, he was in the sixteen-star level!
What made the two heads happier was Qin Fen’s temperament, which was deep and mysterious. It gave the feeling of being too deep to be fathomable.
“Come in and sit, come in and sit.” Ferrero dragged Qin Fen into the room only to find a girl standing behind him. “Well? Who is this?”
“This is my friend.”
“It’s against the rules..”
“I say Sakra, are we done yet? Our disciple hardly comes back and when he does, you dampen the spirit.”
“It’s against…”
“Alright, don’t speak!” Ferrero raised his hand. “I will take Qin Fen and his company out of the island. Anyway, I’m the head of the Invitation Department of External Affairs Division. It’s within the rules for me to go out and invite someone in, right? You live and maintain your rules here, okay…”
Just as Ferrero turned around he felt the corner of his clothes being pulled. He turned and looked at Sakra’s vermillion face, he noticed a hard-to-detect blush on it.
“Go get her an invitation card and go through the formalities.”
Azia’s voice was cold as ever but Ferrero could find the rare compromise in the voice of his old opponent who never compromised all because of the sudden appearance of their common disciples.
“What’s your name?”
“Lin Ling…”
Ferrero left the room with a smile but he dared not make Sakra’s face too ugly. While moving as swiftly as the wind, Ferrero recalled the gradual change in Sakra’s contradictory attitude towards Qin Fen. He even knew how to bend the rules.
“Qin Fen this kid… is really a fantastic kid.”
Ferrero said to himself with a smile as he made up formalities for Lin Ling. Lin Ling inadvertently created a record of being the fastest one to enter the Sacred Martial Hall after being invited.
At the same time, Ferrero also knew that Lin Ling would break a record set by Qin Fen, and that would be the time interval between joining the Sacred Martial Hall and leaving the Sacred Martial Hall.
Ferrero returned to Azia’s office and pushed Azia to one side, speaking very impolitely, “You have occupied the apprentice for a while now. Now, it should be my turn to be with him.”
Sakra immediately made a knife-hand strike towards Ferrero. I have been tolerating you for a long time. It is really hard for the disciple to come back and you actually dare to grab him from me!? I can’t take it anymore!
Ferrero crossed his arm as he hammered his head straight at Sakra while speaking non-stop, “Why? You finally want to do it? Good! Let’s show the apprentice who among his two masters is really fearsome.”
Sakra was also not polite. He threw the elbow of his chopping palm towards Ferrero’s hammering head.
The two heads of the Sacred Martial Hall told Qin Fen by their actions what the real strength of a Sacred Martial Hall’s head was. Although the two heads hadn’t used much of their real strength and were switching their offense and defense quickly while sitting still, the onlooking Qin Fen admired them continuously, nevertheless.
At first, only the sofa in the room was creaking but very soon, the tiles started to creak as well. Then, the whole building started creaking. Qin Fen had no doubt that the ground around the room was also quaking.
Lin Ling slowly got up and took a step back, calmly looking at the two heads of the Sacred Martial Hall without speaking a word.
The creaking stopped as they stopped fighting… the two heads were a bit embarrassed. Lin Ling gave up the seat next to Qin Fen.
“Hehe, what an interesting girl.” Ferrero jumped to the position where Lin Ling was sitting. “You are indeed my disciple’s confidant.”
Lin Ling’s expression was still as calm as if she hadn’t heard Ferrero’s words but her pupils were shaking ever so slightly at this moment.
“Kid, you didn’t come back to see the young me and the old bag of bones, Sakra, did you?”
Azia turned a deaf ear to Ferrero’s words. Qin Fen’s appearance was a very, very happy matter. As for the provocation just now, he will settle with Ferrero slowly later.
Qin Fen nodded. “I’m back this time to invite Xue Tian and the others to leave the Sacred Martial Hall and go to Saturn with me. And obviously, meet the two masters first before that.”
“Saturn!? Divine beast!”
Ferrero jumped up from the sofa in excitement. He was in a state of extreme excitement when he asked, “You want to go to Saturn to compete for the title of the divine beast?”
“Yes!”
Smack! Sakra didn’t say anything but he patted his big hand heavily on Qin Fen’s shoulder. The loud and crisp sound reminded Qin Fen of the moment he first met Sakra, who at that time wanted to take Qin Fen as his apprentice. He had made a similar move at that time too.
Just a pat on the shoulder but Qin Fen could feel Sakra’s concern, praise, and encouragement all gathered in that pat.
Facing his master, Qin Fen didn’t circulate his true energy to resist it. The corner of his lips twitched quietly. Master never controls his strength when he is excited. The thunder energy in that palm was very strong. If not for the true aura infused in my body defending it, I might have fainted from the pain.
The only thing that made Qin Fen happy this time was that the sofa under him only creaked and didn’t collapse like last time.
“Very good!”
Ferrero’s roar shook the entire building. The martial artists downstairs looked at the building, confused, wondering what happened to Mr. Ferrero, who came to disturb Mr. Sakra every day, today.
“However…” Ferrero looked at Qin Fen. “It would be better if you went by yourself, you don’t have to drag your friends, right? You wouldn’t be afraid, would you?”
Qin Fen shook his head. “There are two reasons. First, I believe that if they knew that I went to Saturn, they would want to go together with me. As a friend, I have to inform them. Second, the test given by the army needs me to find ten people as my companions. And because the points will differ according to the difference in strength. If my points aren’t enough, I might be eliminated…”
“Fuck the military!” Ferrero waved his hand, again and again. “Kid, just leave the military, it would be a lot better. You are a peak sixteen-star martial dao master of the Main-Star level. Your strength and fame have surpassed your rookie days already. There is no need to bear the grievances of those old stooges.”
Qin Fen smiled. “General Zhao and Snake King have taken good care of me. They had defended me in many of my affairs.”
“Oh…” Ferrero nodded, the anger on his face reduced a bit. “Since there is graciousness, you can’t just walk away. You’re right about this.”
“Haha!” Ferrero’s expression changed suddenly as his eyes were all smiles. “I’m very happy that you came looking for your friends to go with you first.”
“Happy!?”
Qin Fen saw Sakra, who would never agree with Ferrero, also nod slowly with deep approval on his face.
“Your friends aren’t living in Building One twenty-two of the residential area anymore.”
Qin Fen was stunned again. Once the Sacred Martial Hall had allocated the rooms, it would never change, ever. Did Solomon and the others leave the Sacred Martial Hall? But if they’ve already left, why didn’t they contact me?
“It’s all your fault!” Ferrero’s face carried a bit of false anger. “Because you were in the limelight, even your friends were targeted. Once you left the Sacred Martial Hall, they were divided by the other heads at the fastest speed! It caused me and Sakra to spend our everyday life in boredom.”
Sakra nodded again, expressing his approval.
That’s how people were. They were used to being bored and didn’t feel bored. But if something not-boring happened one day which made them happy for a while, they would feel extremely bored once this thing disappeared again.
Sakra, who never took the boredom seriously, had to admit that he had begun to hate the feeling of being bored because of the appearance and disappearance of Qin Fen.
“They…”
“Ever since you left, they had been fooled into a secluded training by various heads.” Ferrero heaved a sigh. “The only time they were let out was during your battle at Hallasan. Now, these guys are the favorites of those heads. Later, they will be as bored as me! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go! I will take you!”
Shengjing’s Army Headquarters.
“Qin Fen should have arrived at the Sacred Martial Hall by now, right?” Zhao Huzi looked at the dark sky outside the window. “Encountering a betrayal is also a part of growth. I hope you won’t be hurt too deeply by this kind of growth.”
