After Zhang Ji Long, who had been defeated by Duan Ling Tian, swallowed a Healing Medicinal Pill, he snapped at Duan Ling Tian with a solemn face, "Duan Ling Tian, I'll avenge the shame that I feel today!"
His eyes were gleaming with a ferocious luster.
At that moment, Duan Ling Tian felt like as though he was being glared at by a poisonous snake, causing his heart to sink as he realized that this Zhang Ji Long was a dangerous character.
"What? Do you refuse to admit your defeat?" Duan Ling Tian smirked.
Just as Zhang Ji Long was about to say something, a whistling reverberated in the wind and in the next instance, everybody present at the scene noticed that someone had just appeared on the high platform. It was a middle-aged man in silver armor.
This person was not unfamiliar to most of them.
"It's Lord Heavenly Harm Guardian!"
"He's one of the 36 Guardians of Lord City Governor! Lord Heavenly Harm Guardian, who's also ranked 14th, is also the Overseer for our Latent Dragon Camp."
…
A series of whispers entered Duan Ling Tian's ears.
"He's also one of the 36 Guardians under the command of the Governor of Mound Hill City?" Duan Ling Tian recognized the silver-armored man. He was the person who had distributed the Saint Stones to them, but it had never crossed his mind that he was also one of the 6 Guardians under the command of the Governor of Mound Hill City.
On top of that, he was ranked 14th too.
"Lord Heavenly Harm Guardian!"
"Lord Heavenly Harm Guardian!"
…
Many people bowed towards the Lord Heavenly Harm Guardian.
"Heavenly Leader Guardian, the leader of the 36 Guardians, gave out an order that all of the 13 Gangsters are required to go to the assembly hall at the City Governor's Estate now. All of you must be present!" The Heavenly Harm Guardian announced. When he reached the end of his sentence, the True Energy contained in his voice exploded like a blast and spread out to the entire Latent Dragon Camp.
"He's reminding the five out of the 13 Gangsters who have reached the Mortal Shedding Stage Mastery Stage." Duan Ling Tian could tell the intentions of the Heavenly Harm Guardian.
Right now, other than the five Martial or Dao Cultivators who were at the Mortal Shedding Stage Master Stage, almost all of the rest of the 13 Gangsters were already in attendance.
"Haha… Now that the Heavenly Leader Guardian has asked for a meeting in the assembly hall personally, it looks like there must be something interesting going on then." A peal of hearty laughter reverberated as a figure shot out of the second wooden house. Soon, it left the campsite of the Latent Dragon Camp at a speed so fast that even Duan Ling Tian could barely catch it.
"How fast! As expected from the second strongest person among the 13 Gangsters." Duan Ling Tian was taken aback.
In the next instance, Duan Ling Tian saw someone shoot out of the wooden houses with the numbers 3, 4, and 5 each respectively. They followed behind the person who came out of the second wooden house and left the Latent Dragon Camp.
It was apparent that they were heading to the assembly hall.
Whoosh!
At that very second, the Heavenly Harm Guardian had returned to the multi-story pavilion. He had already finished making his announcement.
After Zhang Ji Long threw a cold glance at Duan Ling Tian, he also descended from the high platform and left the Latent Dragon Camp. The other few members of the 13 Gangsters also left one by one.
At once, there were only Duan Ling Tian and Guo Li left.
"Let's go." Guo Li motioned.
"Yes." Duan Ling Tian nodded. However, when he left, he could not help but glance at the first wooden house a few times. Soon, he realized that there still seemed to be no sign of movement at all from that wooden house. Nobody came out of it even after a long time.
"Don't tell me that the owner of the first wooden house, the leader of the 13 Gangsters, dares to obey the order given by the Heavenly Leader Guardian, the leader of the 36 Guardians?" Duan Ling Tian thought to himself.
After Duan Ling Tian left with Guo Li, a commotion broke out in the entire Latent Dragon Camp as all of them were no longer in fear.
"The Heavenly Leader Guardian, the leader of the 36 Guardians, personally asked the 13 Gangsters to assemble. I wonder what's actually going on... "
"It's been quite some time since I reached this Latent Dragon Camp and I've only seen the Heavenly Harm Guardian before out of all of the 36 Guardians… Let alone Lord Heavenly Leader Guardian, I've never even seen any other Lord Guardians before."
"Who told you to not cultivate harder? Otherwise, you could be part of the 13 Gangsters and go to see Lord Heavenly Leader Guardian together too."
…
Just as the group of Latent Dragon Camp's members buried their heads in a discussion, Duan Ling Tian and Guo Li had also reached the assembly hall in the City Governor's Estate. After they entered, they noticed ten people already standing inside.
Out of the ten people, other than the four new faces, Duan Ling Tian had some impression towards the other six. He had seen them before in the Latent Dragon Camp's campsite earlier. They were the few Mortal Shedding Stage Intermediate Stage Martial and Dao Cultivators of the 13 Gangsters.
"Oh? New faces?" Right at this moment, a sturdy, stocky, young man with an imposing build, who appeared to be crude and slipshod, looked at Duan Ling Tian and Guo Li in astonishment. "Are you two the new members of the 13 Gangsters?"
"Xiong Hu, it looks like you really have shut yourself in the room and are oblivious to whatever happens outside. The two of them are none other than the new Latent Dragon Camp members who replaced Hou Lin and Li Han a month ago." A young, sturdy man, who looked as though he took a cynical attitude towards life, smiled as he chimed in.
"Not bad, not bad." Xiong Hu cast a glance at Duan Ling Tian and Guo Li as he nodded.
"Is he the person who ranks second among the 13 Gangsters?" Looking at Xiong Hu, Duan Ling Tian could tell that the voice of the person who came out of wooden house Number 2 just now was exactly identical to this person. It was apparent that they were the same person.
"Good day to you guys. I'm Jin Yuan Bao who ranks third among the 13 Gangsters, just second only to that freak and that this big block right here." Fanning himself, the luxuriously-clad young man introduced himself as he looked at Duan Ling Tian.
"Guo Li, the 13th of the 13 Gangsters." Seeing how the person who ranked third among the 13 Gangsters took the initiative to introduce himself, Guo Li neither dared to act highly nor slack.
"Duan Ling Tian, the sixth of the 13 Gangsters," Duan Ling Tian continued to introduce himself after Guo Li. He was sort of fond of Jin Yuan Bao who was exceptionally friendly. He was the kind of person who was usually open and poised.
"The sixth of the 13 Gangsters?" Upon hearing that, Jin Yuan Bao could not help but be taken aback. "Isn't the sixth of the 13 Gangsters Zhang Ji Long?"
Then, he instantly looked at Zhang Ji Long and asked in surprise, "Zhang Ji Long, were you… actually defeated by a newbie?"
Even though Zhang Ji Long was reluctant, he still had no other choice but to nod his head in admission. At the same time, he did not leave out his explanation, "If his weapon had not been the archery set, he could've only come to a draw with me at the most."
After battling it out with Duan Ling Tian, of course, Zhang Ji Long knew his weak point. It was also for this reason that he was very dissatisfied.
"Hmph! A loss is a loss… Why do you wanna find so many excuses for? Don't tell me that if you're killed, you can still revive yourself and seek revenge on him!" A plain-clothed, young man who stood at the side snorted in a low voice and snapped in disdain.
"Haha… Sun Ge, Zhang Ji Long is already pissed that he's been defeated, so why did you need to pour salt on his wound again?" The young man, whose eyes had never left Guo Li ever since she entered the door, finally retracted his gaze and shifted it towards the ordinary-clad young man. With a burst of deep laughter, he piped up.
"Zheng Jian, don't be a busybody!" Sun Ge snorted.
"Are those Sun Ge, the fourth of the 13 Gangsters and Zheng Jian, the fifth of the 13 Gangsters, who is also Hu Jie's distant cousin too?" Duan Ling Tian could still remember Sun Ge and Zheng Jian's silhouettes.
They were none other than the people who had come out of wooden houses Number 4 and 5.
"Junior Sister Guo!" Somehow, Zheng Jian had already gone to stand in front of Guo Li and greeted her with enthusiasm without the temperament of a Mortal Shedding Stage Mastery Stage Martial Cultivator at all. However, there was a horny luster beaming in the depths of his gaze, revealing signs of his evil intentions.
Of course, Guo Li noticed this. Coldly, she replied, "I don't know you."
"You don't know me, but I know you." Zheng Jian grinned. "You're the darling daughter of the Guo Clan in Fuyu town and not only that, but you're also the strongest among the young generation of Fuyu Town too… I was lucky to have had the opportunity to accompany my father to visit your estate before."
"So?" Guo Li's reaction remained as calm as just now.
"Junior Sister Guo, let me introduce myself first. I'm Zheng Jian, the eldest son of the Zheng Clan in the New South Town who also ranks fifth among the 13 Gangsters of the Latent Dragon Camp," Zheng Jian introduced himself patiently.
This time, Guo Li completely ignored him. No matter how much sweet talk Zheng Jian poured out, she completely ignored him nevertheless. In the end, Zheng Jian's expression changed to become extremely grave.
"You bitch! Don't force me to get rough with you!" Frostiness leaked out of Zheng Jian's eyes as he snapped in his heart.
"Haha… Zheng Jian, I realize that you can be quite despicable, huh? Can't you see that Miss Guo Li isn't interested in you at all? Yet, you can still talk so much… I really admire you, dude!" Jin Yuan Bao threw his head behind as he guffawed unscrupulously, mocking Zheng Jian.
"Jin Yuan Bao, don't you push me too far!" The moment Jin Yuan Bao's words left his mouth, Zheng Jian was so pissed that he glared at him ferociously with an extremely sour expression.
"Don't push you too far? So what if I push you too far? Come on, I'll give you a chance to defeat me. How about that?" Upon hearing Zheng Jian's words, Jin Yuan Bao released a peal of brilliant laughter.
With just one sentence, he pissed Zheng Jian off so much that his body kept trembling. HIs face was completely flushed and his eyes were bloodshot as though he was about to erupt anytime.
Whoosh!
Right at this moment, a draft blew into the assembly hall and caused the robes on the twelve people to flutter for a while before they finally stopped.
The next instant, a figure appeared in the assembly hall. It was a plain-looking young man who carried a long sheathed sword on his back.
Standing right there, he was extremely quiet. He did not make any sound at all.
"Is h-he the leader of the 13 Gangsters?" When the young man in green made his appearance, Duan Ling Tian did not sense anything at all prior and even when the wind blew past, he did not notice that it was actually a person. Instead, he thought that it was really just the wind.
At once, he was taken by astonishment.
The Divine Eye!
In his curiosity, Duan Ling Tian looked at the green-clad man and narrowed his eyes.
30 years old.
Mortal Shedding Stage… Perfection Stage!
Upon probing the young man's age and cultivation base, Duan Ling Tian was completely astounded.
Mortal Shedding Stage Perfection Stage at 30 years old?
What kind of freak was this?
"Freak! You finally came… And here I thought that you were going to disobey Lord Heavenly Leader Guardian's order." The friendly Jin Yuan Bao squinted his eyes at the man in green and smiled.
"I'm not a freak," the man finally responded. His voice was so cold that it seemed to be able to turn water into ice.
Freak?
Upon hearing Jin Yuan Bao greet the green-clad young man, Duan Ling Tian could not help but be reminded by the sentence that Jin Yuan Bao had uttered earlier: "Good day to you guys. I'm Jin Yuan Bao who ranks third among the 13 Gangsters, just second only to that freak and that this big block right here."
The "big block" in this sentence was none other than Xiong Hu, the person who ranked second among the 13 Gangsters.
"He's Ling Yun, the leader of the 13 Gangsters!" At this moment, Duan Ling Tian finally got his confirmation.