Chapter 140: Second Place...

My muscles tensed for a little bit as the shock slowly came to me. I looked around and see everyone dropping their jaws in shock at the score we got and somehow, it made me feel a little bit consoled since we only got second place.

To think that we only got second place after killing at least four hordes? Sigh~ reality does hit hard when it shows up.

One by one, the other parties and their members dropped their jaw at the outstanding numbers we've achieved. And although they looked please, I could see the disappointed expressions on Liu Zhi, Blade, and Wu Yan's faces. I didn't even look downtrodden about it but they looked worse.

For one, Liu Zhi looked aggravated, clenching his fists while biting his lips as he hung his head down. As for Blade, he glanced at me once, and then he tried so hard to avoid looking me in the eyes. Wu Yan was the same, they look crestfallen... and it's the most expression I could get from them ever since I met them. I was genuinely surprised that they could make those expressions. After all, they never seemed like the type to feel that bad after a loss.

I guess I never really knew them that well.

"Come, on. We have to go upstage." With a sincere and warm smile on my face, I patted them on the shoulder, indicating that we should go and receive our prize. I mean, it's still second place, and we were up against parties with a lot of members and some of them were even on the Ancient Realm or something.

"Believe it or not, Liu Zhi's party only has four members at the moment and they are already this strong. And what's more, three of them are in the Immortal Realm and the last member is just on the King Realm." Shen Rong lightheartedly said as he let out a hearty chuckle.

I'm guessing he said that just so Liu Zhi and the others would feel better. But the reaction he received was something he didn't expect.

"Haah?!" Shi Yanmei exclaimed as she heard Shen Rong's obvious hints. Clearly, Shen Rong was implicating that the others were on a much higher rank than his party. And yet, they managed to snag second place.

And unsurprisingly, she wasn't the only one who reacted the same way.

"No way, are they really?!"

"How many Ancient Realm Cultivators do we have? Is this real?!"

"Yeah, I've known Liu Zhi's party for years. They are still in the Immortal Realm. This is surprising."

"Wait, really?! Then what does that make us?"

"I presume the one who got first place is the Meili Sect?"

"Figures, they have a lot of Ancient Realm and Dao Realm cultivators in their main party."

"Their main party has a dozen members right? That's three times more than Liu Zhi's party."

"Shut up, our team has fourteen members and we didn't even make it to top three."

"Maybe they just got lucky, they might've found thirteen thousand Stage-1's"

"Are you stupid or what? How could you find a horde like that."

"Yeah, how? We couldn't even find a single Stage-1 around."

"Maybe they hunted every Stage-1s?"

"Then that would've taken them the whole day. Are you for real?"

Even though the others were unintentionally showering them with compliments, Liu Zhi, Blade, and Wu Yan still seemed downhearted as our party walked up the stage. If it were me, I would have stopped short and turned around, addressing everyone that we're the best party in the area. But somehow, that didn't even occur in their minds. They were too engrossed with the loss... but why?

"I'm sorry, Yong Rui. As the leader of this party, we should've gotten first place with you in our team." Liu Zhi said. "I swear in my life that I will definitely get stronger. Or at least, strong enough to be able to assist you."

"Yong Rui, even though you gave us all those Essences and Pills, and even gave us cultivation techniques... we were still not strong enough. It would've been so easy to get first place since you were with us... but it was our own fault we only got second place."

"When we heard about the prize, we thought that we would work hard in order to obtain that high-grade set of armor. We thought that giving it to you would at least show our gratitude for everything you've done for us. And yet, we were still short two hundred points. It was our shortcomings that led to our loss. We're really sorry, Yong Rui." Wu Yan added.

What are they talking about? They've done their best. I've never seen them go above and beyond like that and they were in no way lacking in effort. I'm definitely sure of this since I saw that their Qi Energy was almost depleted when the joint extermination was over. Although they paced themselves, they never took any of the battles lightly. Why do they talk like they didn't give their best?

If you say it like that...

As a former Sect Master, I can't leave them alone like this. They've done their best. They are in no position to droop their head around like that. We are in second place, right? They shouldn't act as if we got the last place.

Or maybe, in their heart, they think that they're being a burden— sigh, seriously.

WIth arms outstretched, I turned around before Shen Rong could give me our reward. Since we were already on the stage, every party and their members were on the ground, looking up as they marvel in all our glory— well, that's just in my perspective. They're not doing that at all.

"We're just in the Immortal Realm right now, but when we get to Ancient Realm, then that's when we'll get serious," I said with all the confidence I got. "Liu Zhi, don't droop your head like that, our party got the lowest member count and the lowest overall cultivation level. Getting second place is already a huge achievement. "

The people down below went utterly silent as we received the reward and got down the stage. Whilst going down, I saw Shi Yanmei, smiling towards me as she nudged at her daughter. Shi Meili, on the other hand, couldn't look me in the eyes as her party walked towards the stage to claim their prize.

"Even t-though we... um." Shi Meili said as she addressed everyone. "First place is still first place!" She shouted while her eyes were closed. It was obvious that she was flustered to the core.

.....

"We got second place, that's all there is to it. You've done well for a team of Immortal realm cultivators." I comforted Liu Zhi since he was still hanging her head down like a wilted tree as we sat around the table in the middle of the living room.

Right now, we're already back to the house where Liu Zhi's party resides. Yang Mei Mei and Luo Zehn were already there, preparing some sort of late breakfast. Apparently, they also eagerly waited outside for the announcement so they weren't able to prepare anything for us.

"But still... no, you're right." Liu Zhi said, forcing himself to smile as he shook his head in denial. "We can't go around being mopey about it. All that we have to do is get stronger." Liu Zhi said... but it was evident that he was forcing himself to smile just so I wouldn't worry about them.

"We could only cook roasted chicken for a late breakfast. Is that okay, Yong Rui?" Yang Mei Mei asked as she walked inside the living room with Luo Zehn right behind her.

"That's hardly breakfast at all," I commented.

After the two roasted chicken was placed on the table, Luo Zehn set the utensils and the other side dishes that he cooked. Yes, surprisingly, Luo Zehn could cook, as expected of someone who uses the Fire Element.

Honestly, I didn't know he could cook... wait, this is actually delicious.

Although some of them were just sauteed vegetables, they turned out extremely well, complimenting the roasted chicken which was the main dish for breakfast. Maybe I was just so hungry, or maybe I wasn't used to a normal meal like this... but indeed, this is delicious in its own way.

"Right, after the Red Sea Tournament, are we heading straight to the Void Tower?" I asked. Somehow, I felt a bit exhausted for the day even though it's still morning.

"Yes, we will try to clear out as many floors as we can today. And then if we can't move on, we'll leave it to Shen Rong to complete everything." Liu Zhi affirmed. "But well, I hope we could get to the last floor with just our strength."

'No, that's impossible.' I thought to myself as I remembered everything that Hui-ying told me about that certain dungeon.

Knock.

Knock.

Our group immediately went silent as we heard the knock on the door.

"Yongrui, are you there?" A woman's voice asked.