Chapter 300 - Meeting a Familiar Person at the Wrong Time

Xiao Chen hurriedly turned his gaze away. At this moment, however, he heard a roar from the Formation Platform. “Xiao Chen! Do you dare to show yourself and fight me!”

The shout was as loud as thunder itself and shook some early-stage Core Forming Realm cultivators so badly that their eardrums hurt and they started to see stars. Xiao Chen was shocked. He turned his attention to the screen beneath the platform to see Zuoqiu Yang on it. His hair was combed downward, and green veins protruded underneath the skin of this face. He was trampling on his opponent at the moment.

“Xiao Chen! How long more are you going to hide like a coward?” Zuoqiu Yang roared again. He increased the force on his leg, causing his opponent to spew blood and faint.

“Good! You don’t dare to show yourself! My Vicious Blood Soul-Searching Curse will be able to track you down, no matter which corner of this world you’re hiding in!”

A commotion had already rung out in the square below. Even the Elders on the tall platform frowned. Zuoqiu Yang had beaten all comers since the competition began seven days ago, each time taking less than three moves. He would always challenge Xiao Chen by transmitting a formation through his hologram with his opponent beneath his feet.

Just as the spectators were going wild with speculation, an emotional sounding voice rang out. “You needn’t search any longer. I’m right here!”

The sudden voice surprised everyone. Many began looking in the direction of the shout, and those that saw Xiao Chen earlier began to exclaim, “It’s Xiao Chen! It’s really him! He’s alive! He’s back!”

The crowd began to react. Earlier on, they had heard rumors that Xiao Chen would never be able to return back alive. After all, even Elders of Nirvana Realm power could not get close to the Area of Chaos within the Violet Illusory Land.

Nearly everyone exclaimed to see him back in one piece. A few Elders of the Immortals’ League flew over, and even the three senior Elders were shocked. “We’ll stop here today!” one of them proclaimed.

It was unnecessary, however. That was the last match to determine the last 10 competitors, and the 10 youths had already been determined.

Su Yue’s expression changed slightly. “That’s Xiao Chen? How do you write his surname?” she asked an Elder beside her, frowning as she said the word “Xiao.”

The Elder laughed respectfully. “Ms. Su Yue, this is how you write his surname,” he explained. “He’s the most troublesome fellow. He’s completely incomparable to your previous glory, Ms. Su Yue,” another Elder said, laughing bitterly.

Su Yue relaxed her brows and asked with a laugh, “Are you saying that I used to be troublesome, Senior He?”

The three experienced Elders shook their heads and laughed bitterly in unison. “What should we do now? The final 10 have already been determined, and now this fellow has appeared suddenly. Should we announce another competition? We only did this once when you took part in this meet, Ms. Su Yue,” asked one of them.

Su Yue seemed to behave more warmly toward the three senior Elders as compared to the others. She smiled gently and replied, “It wouldn’t be much hassle to increase the format of the competition to accommodate 12 finalists. I’d like to see how powerful someone who can lead the top ranked youth in the Zuoqiu family to clamor on about fighting him is.” It was evident from her tone that she was still unaware that Xiao Chen was her nephew.

Zuoqiu Yang strode to the edge of his Floating Platform and gazed downward to see Xiao Chen in the crowd. He tilted his head skyward and laughed loudly, his gaze turning sharp soon after. “Good! You finally dare to appear! Do you dare to fight with me?”

He was the top ranked youth in the Zuoqiu family, yet he lost repeatedly to this man on his own turf and the Legendary Weapon of his family was even seized by Xiao Chen. He could only avenge his shameful defeat by killing Xiao Chen, and lately he had become violent and obsessed after learning occult techniques.

“Whatever! Do you think that I’m afraid of you? Loser!” Xiao Chen said coldly.

He spoke in this manner to draw attention away from the fact that he had escaped from a mystic domain, and not because he really wanted to fight with Zuoqiu Yang. He was sure that the Elders from the Immortals’ League who were flying over were going to ask him about it, and he was unwilling to speak about this in the presence of the spectators.

However, Zuoqiu Yang was enraged upon hearing the word “loser”. The hairs on his head were erect as blood vessels spread rapidly within his eyeballs, and he charged directly toward Xiao Chen.

His movement caused a gale to appear on the square, shaking all the flora around them. The energy from Zuoqiu Yang’s palm transformed into rays of purple Qi in mid air and swooped down upon Xiao Chen.

Many cultivators who were at early Core Forming Realm were shaken by the force. Their ears began to ring and they saw stars as they retreated. Some of them were unable to react in time and were rendered immobile by the force from Zuoqiu Yang’s palm strike, causing them to become incredibly afraid.

Energy from the palm strike drew closer and the stone tiles began to crack. Xiao Chen did not take any defensive measures, however. Zhiluan was so afraid that his fur was standing as he shouted in a strange voice, “We’re doomed! Strike back now, kid!”

At this moment, a ray of gold light suddenly flew over and canceled off the immensely powerful palm strike. Zuoqiu Yang’s master, Perfected Immortal Feng Lan, had arrived.

Perfected Immortal Feng Lan’s expression was stern as he growled, “Enough!”

Even though Zuoqiu Yang had become incredibly unhinged and no longer took anyone seriously, he dared not disrespect his master. He cracked his knuckles and gritted his teeth, speaking in a vengeful tone, “Master, did you not hear what he just said? I want to fight him!”

Perfected Immortal Feng Lan flicked his shirt sleeves and turned to look at Xiao Chen, his gaze sweeping across the youth like two bolts of lightning. “You’re really a talent!” he said with a cold laugh. He was clear that Xiao Chen was taunting Zuoqiu Yang on purpose, and he spoke to the youth in a sarcastic tone.

At this moment, the Elders from the Immortals’ League had also arrived. One of them held Zuoqiu Yang back, saying, “Zuoqiu Yang! All competition for today has ended, and you’re not to cause any trouble!”

Another Elder looked sternly at Xiao Chen. “Xiao Chen, we’ve some questions for you!”

Members of Jade Qing Sect had also arrived at this moment. Murong Xian’er teared up upon seeing that both Zhiluan and he were fine. “Brother Xiao Chen, greedy cat, you’re back, sob…”

Xiao Chen rubbed her hair and replied gently, “Sorry, Xian’er, we’ve caused you to worry…”

Zhiluan went up to her. “Stop crying, girl. Look, I’ve brought many delicious fruits for you.”

Murong Xian’er raised her head to gaze at the huge sack on the cat’s back. She tilted her head and replied, “Humph! It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t thrown a tantrum by running out, Brother Xiao Chen would never…”

Xiao Chen grinned and clasped his hands in deference toward the Elders. “It’s a long story, and I’ll go through it in detail with you seniors later.”

The Elders could tell that his level of cultivation was greatly increased. “Fine, this is a very serious matter, and we hope that you’ll not hide anything from us,” one of them said.

Xiao Chen smiled and nodded before turning his attention back to Yu Yifeng and the others. “Brother Yifeng, I’m sorry to make you guys worry about us.”

Yu Yifeng shook his head and sighed, saying, “It’s alright. It’s good enough that you’re back.” Qingyu said, “Junior Brother Xiao, Senior Brother Yu took much blame for you.”

At this time, many spectators could not help but ask, “Xiao Chen, how did you enter the Chaos that time? What did you encounter?”

Xiao Chen looked around him and replied in a loud voice, “I’ll inform the Elders about this. Please don’t worry, everyone.” Just as his voice fell, another voice rang out from afar, “Young Hero Xiao, is that you?”

Xiao Chen looked in the direction of the voice and saw a middle-aged man in a white robe walking quickly toward him. He seemed to look vaguely familiar, but Xiao Chen had forgotten where he met the man.

The man walked up to him and said emotionally, “Young Hero Xiao, I never expected to see you again. I’m Yang Tianfeng, don’t you remember me?”

It was only now that Xiao Chen remembered that he had met this man at the Immortals Building auction. His son’s level of cultivation was diminishing because of a wilting Spiritual Meridian, and he had given the boy some pills. He cupped his hands respectfully, saying, “So, it’s you, Senior Yang. It’s been a long while. Sorry for not recognizing you earlier on.”

Yang Tianfeng hurriedly stopped him from bowing. “No, no. My son’s much better now. Thanks to the pills you gave him, Young Hero Xiao.”

The people around them looked at each other. The Yang family was one of the 10 great families of Violet Manor, and Yang Tianfeng was an important figure. Why was he being so courteous to a junior?

At this moment, Xiao Chen caught sight of a familiar figure walking slowly toward him. His expression froze for a moment before he relaxed again very quickly.

It was Chu Hanyan, the disciple Three Pure Sect sent to Violet Manor earlier on. She returned to the sect last year to help Mo Yu enter the Manor, and she had married into the Yang family. Coincidentally, it was the same reputable Yang clan.

A handsome man with sharp features stood beside her. It was her husband, Yang Shaochen. He had traveled to the Three Pure Sect with her earlier on and bequeathed the First Elder with a 1000-year-old Spirited Lingzhi.

Life was full of unexpected surprises. No one would have imagined that Xiao Chen, an ordinary disciple of Three Pure Sect who was mere of Qi Refining Realm and who could not even speak up in their presence before, would have become stronger in cultivation than both of them now.

However, Xiao Chen was not pleased with himself because of that. Instead, he felt a sense of danger upon seeing Chu Hanyan. He had never told anyone that he was sent into Violet Manor by the Three Pure Sect, and no one knew about his true background and identity.

He had made many enemies now, and they would surely look for trouble within the Three Pure Sect if they knew he came from the sect.