Without waiting for a response, Shun Long took a few steps forward and walked past Jiang Chen, as he stepped out of the Administration Hall.
Looks of surprise instantly appeared in the faces of the disciples inside the hall when they heard Shun Long's calm voice, as his words and actions astounded every single one of them, including Liu Mei and Xie Xingyi who were ready to fight Jiang Chen a moment ago.
According to what they knew, Shun Long and Jiang Chen didn't know each other before today nor had they had met each other during the third test either.
Thus, Shun Long saying 'come with me' while walking past Jiang Chen and stepping out of the Administration Hall made them both stunned and confused for a few moments.
Even Bai Longtian was confused by this, as his eyes stared at Shun Long's disappearing back with an astounded look on his face.
And yet, the most shocking part, was that Jiang Chen actually turned around and followed Shun Long a moment later, completely ignoring the 2 girls that seemed ready to fight him at any moment.
Liu Mei and Xie Xingyi turned to look at each other, before they immediately stepped out of the Administration Hall as well.
''What? Jiang Chen really went with him? Could it be that he and Shun Long have known each other before today?''
''Perhaps they have met each other before the Holy sect's test. After all, nobody knows which continent Jiang Chen came from.''
''No way! Shun Long may truly be a rogue cultivator from the Night star continent but Jiang Chen definitely isn't, otherwise, there is no way I wouldn't know about it!''
The one who was the first to refute this claim was the young lord of the 'Mercenaries' Association' of the Heaven's Dome city, Zhong Fang.
Although Shun Long was a genius, if he wanted to stay low-key before they entered the Holy sect's test it was possible to do so with his cultivation at the peak of rank 1 in the Nascent Soul. After all, no one would pay any attention to someone who had barely just entered the Nascent Soul stage before the Holy sect's test started.
But for Jiang Chen to do the same was virtually impossible.
Forget about an early rank 4 Nascent Soul stage cultivator like him, even the peak rank 3 Nascent Soul stage cultivators attracted a lot of attention in the Night star continent when they were all gathered together outside the Heaven's Dome city to enter the Holy sect's test, and Zhong Fang knew every single one of them.
And yet, although Zhong Fang's words were accepted by many disciples around him as he had already introduced himself as the young lord of the 'Mercenaries' Association' of the Heaven's Dome city when he passed the fourth test, there were also many others who weren't convinced by this answer, as they looked at the chubby silver-haired young man and asked questioningly
''If they didn't know each other from your Night star continent isn't it possible that they met sometime during the third test? Don't tell me that you were personally monitoring Shun Long and Jiang Chen during the third test as well.''
Zhong Fang was stunned for a moment as he realized that he didn't have a way to refute this while a sharp glint flashed through his eyes as he looked at the disciple who had asked this question with a mocking tone.
And yet, that disciple didn't shy away from Zhong Fang's gaze, obviously not being afraid of the chubby young man in the slightest.
At the same time, many other disciples seemed to have nodded their heads when they heard this, as they curiously stared at Jiang Chen's disappearing figure as well, as he stepped out of the Administration Hall too.
Indeed, the only possible explanation seemed to be that he and Shun Long had met each other during the third test.
However, at that moment, another disciple shook his head when he heard this guess, while a look of fear flashed through his eyes as he then said
''There is no way that Shun Long and Jiang Chen had met each other during the third test. Although I have no idea what Shun Long did during the third test, what you all don't know is that Jiang Chen is a true madman. During the third test, not only did he take over an entire city by himself, but he didn't go into hiding after obtaining the Holy sect's token, and he instead sat on top of the city walls and cultivated as he waited for the third test to be over. Every time that someone attacked him, he would kill them without hesitation.''
Shock and disbelief flashed every disciples' eyes when they heard this, before they turned their attention towards the white-robed Elder Zhuan almost as if they were asking for confirmation.
After all, considering that the Holy sect would almost certainly be observing them during the time of the tests and as the Elder responsible for the new disciples that entered the sect, Elder Zhuan must definitely know about this issue as well.
Even the red-robed Jun Ren who was an early rank 4 Nascent Soul stage cultivator as well seemed to have turned his attention towards Elder Zhuan as he waited for his answer. However, unlike most other disciples, he had a calm and collected look on his face, almost as if this wasn't of much importance to him anyway.
Of course, Jun Ren wasn't surprised that Jiang Chen had managed to take over a city by himself. If Jun Ren wanted to, he could easily conquer 10 cities at the same time. The reason why he seemed interested in this, was to find out why Jiang Chen stopped Shun Long.
At that moment, the white-robed Elder Zhuan smiled and simply nodded his head as he stared at the entrance of the Administration Hall, leaving the entire hall dead-silent.
Of course, the reason why the disciples in the Administration Hall were so interested in Shun Long and Jiang Chen, aside from the fact that the 2 of them had attracted the attention of the white-robed Cao Ling during the fourth test, was because both of them were extremely powerful.
If the 2 of them had somehow formed a connection with each other and had become friends, there was no way that this wouldn't affect the rest of the disciples as well.
This was even more so after the results of the test of fate, that had caused everyone to pay even more attention to Shun Long.
...
At the same time, unaware of the commotion that his words and Jiang Chen's actions had caused to the disciples in the Administration Hall just now, Shun Long continued following after the white line of qi that had appeared in his vision as he walked towards his courtyard, completely ignoring the black-robed young man that was following after him.
And yet, Jiang Chen wasn't impatient, as he followed after Shun Long with a calm look on his face.
Liu Mei and Xie Xingyi were both stunned when they saw this scene, but despite their curiosity, none of them spoke, as they followed after Shun Long as well.
Finally, less than an hour later, after being guided by the white line of qi, Shun Long arrived at the entrance of a small courtyard that was surrounded by many other courtyards as well.
This was the place where most of the outer disciples of the sect actually lived.
Although his courtyard didn't seem to be big in size, it was actually surrounded by many formations, including protective formations that Shun Long was unable to break through even if he attacked them with his full strength for days.
Even though Shun Long had only studied formations briefly in the last 2 years that he and Liu Mei spent in the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range' and he could only be considered a rookie among formations masters at best, he immediately understood that these formations could even take on the attacks of early-stage Dao Kings without too much trouble!
With a calm smile on his face, he then extended his hand, as he pressed his sect identification token on the courtyard's gate.
As soon as the sect token touched the courtyard's gates, the protective formations around the courtyard were instantly lifted, while the wooden gates opened at the same time.
Shun Long could feel waves after waves of pure qi 'assaulting' him the moment that he stepped foot into the courtyard, causing his eyes to widen in shock.
At the same time, without any hesitation, Jiang Chen followed after him and stepped inside the courtyard as well, while Liu Mei and Xie Xingyi did the same.
Liu Mei's expression immediately changed when she felt the pure qi that had filled the courtyard, as she immediately turned her eyes towards Shun Long as well.
This was the second time that Liu Mei had felt such pure qi in the air around her, and it was only inferior to the pure qi that she had absorbed from the Heaven Swallowing vine in the past.
Although this qi wasn't at the same level as the Heaven Swallowing vine's, it was actually not too inferior to it either.
Of course, due to her 'Blood Absorption art', Liu Mei could no longer absorb any qi from the air around her and cultivate normally. Instead, she could only absorb the qi from other cultivators before turning it into her own.
This was part of the reason why Little Black had also said to Shun Long that the 'Blood Absorption art' cultivation technique was extremely difficult to train in.
Once someone could only absorb the qi from others to become stronger, it was easier to start killing mindlessly or fall into qi deviation in the future, unless they had enough help to keep themselves in check every time.
However, thanks to this, Liu Mei could also advance her cultivation extremely quickly, as long as she was lucky enough to find plenty of strong cultivators that she could absorb qi from.
At the same time, Xie Xingyi's and Jiang Chen's expressions changed as well, as soon as they stepped inside the courtyard and felt the qi around them.
Unlike Shun Long and Liu Mei, they had never felt such pure qi before. The pure qi that filled Shun Long's courtyard was like heaven for them, as they barely resisted the urge to sit cross-legged and cultivate right then and there.
After staying still for a few moments, Shun Long stared at the 'small house' in front of him, before he walked directly towards what seemed to be the main room.
The moment that he pushed open the door and entered inside, an extremely plain room appeared in his vision.
There were no decorations or anything else inside the room, aside from a single bed and a white meditative cushion on the floor.
After taking a look inside the room's interior, Shun Long then turned around and stared at Jiang Chen who had followed after him and entered the room as well without saying a word, followed by Liu Mei and Xie Xingyi.
Seeing that everyone had entered the room, Shun Long's lips curved up into a smile before he sat on the white meditative cushion in front of the small bed, and looking at the black-robed Jiang Chen in front of him he then said calmly
''You were staring at me for quite a while during the fourth test. Was it because of my bloodline?''
Jiang Chen's eyes narrowed slightly when he heard this, before he waved his hand and took out a black meditative cushion from his spatial ring and placed it on the floor opposite Shun Long's white cushion as he sat on it and stared at Shun Long silently.
Without any hesitation, Liu Mei also did the same, as she took out 2 small cushions as well, one for herself and one for Xie Xingyi before they sat by Shun Long's side.
At that moment, Shun Long saw the handsome black-robed young man in front of him nod his head with a serious look in his eyes, and after hesitating for a moment he then said seriously
''So you knew already... In that case, I only have one question! Are you from the Immortal Dimension?''
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Author's note: 1/2