Chapter 209: Prelude to the First Trial (1)

Three days later, Ji Yuan was now grumbling unhappily to himself as he scouted the surrounding terrains for any unusual signs.

Soon in the cover of the darkness, he had found a small valley and he saw dozens of cultivators moving toward the entrance?

"Is there a trial inside that valley?" He began to ponder.

Finally he had spotted a trial with his divine sense; they had to find the trials quickly in order to enter the second level. The first two levels only required the cultivator to complete two trials before they could go to the next level or to exit it.

After taking note of the location, he began to return to their hideout and he was grumbling along the way.

He was the dominant alpha of their party and yet he was now doing the scouting job.

He had actually instructed Sisi to do the scouting but she had protested immediately.

"Aren't you the leader? You should do the scouting!"

"What kind of a logic is this?" Ji Yuan frowned.

"Let me ask you this. Are you the alpha lion of the pride?" Shui Xisi asked.

"Of course I am!" Ji Yuan replied with any hesitation.

"Then go and do your territorial patrol. Don't you know that it is supposed to be the job of the alpha lion to be the guardian of the pride and to do territory patrols?" She pointed out.

Ji Yuan: …

"What if your loved ones are attacked because you're not doing your job properly? Buy Feiyue some time for her to regain some of her profound strength."

Ji Yuan: …

"You know. I am also trying to regain my profound strength too. This stupid trial actually burns my spiritual sea…"

Shui Xisi interrupted him. "But I don't see you doing any cultivation?"

Ji Yuan rolled his eyes; after three days of cultivation, he was a little restless and he was distracted by the feminine wiles of his party and he was spending more time chatting with Xiang Li than cultivating.

Without Qianfeng to serve as his pillow, he could not cultivate well and his insomnia was even worse than before. He really had an insomnia problem due to long years of stress but he had since developed a way to cultivate with his eyes opened.

Therefore the other maidens had misunderstood that he was not cultivating but was lecherously starting at them.

They were only half right; Ji Yuan was lecherously looking at them while cultivating as well.

"Ji Yuan, you have the best stealth. You should do the scouting…"

"We're sure that you can outrun your foes…"

"Can you bear to see us taking any risk…"

"Since you're so restless, why don't you scout the terrains for us?"

"This is the time for you to prove your leadership to us…"

"Didn't you always say that you have the sharpest eyesight than any one of us?"

"There are so many dangerous herds of desolate beasts around and their sense of smell is so sharp..."

Ji Yuan muttered. "I don't understand why you are sprinkling perfumes when you know that there are herds of desolate beasts around..."

That was why this dominant alpha leader of the party was now doing the scouting and was now grumbling to himself. "These maidens are all ganging against me because I'm the only male in the group. Luckily I still have Xiang Li on my side."

Xiang Li chuckled. "I am always on Big Brother's side! So when are you going to do your banging? I've been waiting for three days."

Ji Yuan frowned. "Can't you see that Sisi is there? With her around, how do I bang them?"

Xiang Li suggested with a sly look. "Why don't you bang her instead? Make her yours."

Ji Yuan: …

He muttered. "If it is not for that stupid Yin Wei that day, she would already been my woman."

"You can always bang her when you're taking her out for a patrol." Xiang Li chuckled.

Ji Yuan: …

There was a hesitation in his dull countenance before he burst out laughing. "Xiang Li, you're really a genius! Haha. Next time I will do as you've suggested. Haha."

"Hehe. Of course I'm a genius!" Xiang Li laughed.

Ji Yuan was extremely light hearted whenever he was talking to Xiang Li. It was because before he had met Xiang Li, he always had a lot of conflicting thoughts and many heart demons. With Xiang Li acting as his heart demon, he had no more heart demon anymore.

As he neared their hideout, he began to tiptoe slowly.

"Big Brother, what are you doing?" Xiang Li asked curiously. "Why are you moving so quietly? They are waiting for us, you know. We have to share with them the good news of our tremendous find!"

"Maybe they are gossiping about me now. It is best that we don't give them any advance warning." Ji Yuan grinned.

"Why will they gossip about you?" Xiang Li asked.

"Because they love me, that's why. Haha. Remember what Jiajia had said to us?" Ji Yuan laughed.

Xiang Li rolled her eyes and thought; so it is alright for me to gossip about Big Brother too?

When Ji Yuan had nearly approached their hideout where the rest of the maidens were camping inside a grove, he was proven right; they were indeed gossiping about him.

"Sisi, why are you here with us and not going to the trial on your own?" Ling Feiyue was asking Shui Xisi.

"Because Ji Yuan is so fun to be with. Hehe." Shui Sisi replied very frankly. "Do you know that he has that funny expression whenever I hit him?"

Little Princess giggled. "Maybe you have misunderstood or something. He is a narcissistic. So when you have hit him, he must be wondering why he is not being admired by you."

Bai Qianfeng was giggling too. "Maybe he is too thick skin not to know?"

Ji Yuan: …

Ji Yuan: …

Ji Yuan: …

I will be a narcissistic? What rubbish are they talking about? I haven't been narcissistic for a long time ever since I have lost my beautiful beard!

He said to Xiang Li with a jovial chuckle in his soul sea. "Never mind, I can settle them easily because I am smarter than them."

Xiang Li asked curiously. "Oh?"

Ji Yuan grinned. "As long as Jiajia, Qianxue and Yan'Er aren't among them, they are like a pile of loose sands, heh!"

"Why?"

"Because they are three smart maidens. Haha. The rest aren't as smart as them." Ji Yuan laughed.

He continued to say with a grin. "Jiajia is so smart. There is no doubt about this. But Jiajia will never gossip about me because she is always so busy with her own affairs. As for Yan'Er, she isn't in their group so she won't gossip about me. But Qianxue, she is always giving ideas to Feiyue and the rest. Without her around, haha, I will have an easier time."

Qianxue can really persist in asking the same question until she has an answer. Ji Yuan is really scared of her questioning sometimes. And she has made use of Feiyue's boldness to press him for answers all the time.

Qianxue may look as smart as Feiyue but she is smarter and she can really catch Ji Yuan's guards down with her endless smart wiles.

The face of an angel but the cunning of a devil; that is what Ji Yuan's impression of Qianxue is.

"My women are divided into two camps. I call them the MK and the Nsefu. Little Princess, Feiyue, Qianxue, Tianshui and Qianfeng belongs to the MK camp while Chengxi, Yan'Er, Jiajia, Sisi, Wuwu and Baiyue belongs to the Nsefu camp."

Xiang Li: ???

"Therefore we must be wary of the MK camp but right now Qianxue is not around so the MK camp is at its weakest and it is the best time for us to attack them."

Xiang Li: ???

Best time to attack them?

Ji Yuan laughed jovially when he saw Xiang Li's perplexed look in his soul sea. He knew that she did not understand what he was trying to say and he was laughing jovially.

"Do you know what Ji Yuan's weakness is?" Shui Xisi was heard giggling.

"You're asking about our lord weakness in front of you?" Ling Feiyue frowned.

Little Princess laughed softly. "Why do you want to know about our lord's weakness for?"

Bai Qianfeng chuckled. "He is a lecherous cultivator for sure."

No, I am not! Ji Yuan protested silently when he had heard Qianfeng. I actually have no weakness…

"Well, don't let Ji Yuan knows about this." Ling Feiyue chuckled. "I've heard from Sister Yan'Er that Ji Yuan is usually very cautious but he has one fatal weakness."

She had purposely paused to let her message sink in everyone's consciousness.

"What weakness?" All the other maidens were now asking curiously.

Ling Feiyue laughed before she lowered her voice to say. "He gets extremely touchy whenever he learns that someone will green him."

"Is this even a weakness? Aren't all men like this?" Little Princess asked curiously.

"I have heard from Sister Yan'Er that Ji Yuan actually has an ex-sweetheart before…"

Ji Yuan rolled his eyes and he promptly walked within their detection and Ling Feiyue had immediately kept quiet, causing all the other maidens to keep quiet.

He laughed as he returned to camp. "Good news. I have found the trial entrance…"

Ji Yuan did not want anyone to mention his ex-sweetheart. Actually he was fine with their break up since their feeling was not that deep and he had not touched her too. He totally understood why she had chosen to break off with him. After all Jin Yilong was obviously the better choice at that time.

He had lost his first time to Little Princess and the thought that Little Princess was dual cultivating with other men had disgusted him in the past. That was the cause of his heart demon. It was never his ex-sweetheart and that was something that his Yan'Er and even Chengxi had misunderstood as he had never mentioned Little Princess since she was his shame.

Therefore he had blamed all his eccentric behavior on his ex-sweetheart in front of Chengxi and Yan'Er since he could not tell them about Little Princess or Saintess Yuluo (Yuxian).

Ji Yuan was frowning silently. "Even Yan'Er is sharing gossips with Feiyue. This is too ridiculous. They are all one big gang…"

-

-

-

In the secret base of the Evil Cultivation Palace;

The Great Demon Lord was sipping his wines and he was saying to the sentient shadow that was standing next to him. "The two of you have different roles to play but your role is the biggest one. It is time for the dragon to slay the phoenix."

The Dragon King slowly nodded before marching off without a word.

The Great Demon Lord smirked. "For a long time, this pesky phoenix has been screwing our plans. But she did not know that we have been conceding to flush her out. Now it is the time for us to retaliate."

The setbacks of the Evil Cultivation Palace were not a concern to the Great Demon Lord. On the other hand, it was a clever chess move of his to flush out all his hidden enemies that would be a threat to his real scheme.

With that he had raised his chess forward as he said coolly. "Check mate."