Chapter 337: After Joy Comes Sadness for Guo Ren
The group of Purple Sun Sect disciples were gathered in Guo Ren’s residence.
“Cheng Lan, are you certain that those two weren’t in the rooms?” Guo Ren laughed sinisterly as he asked.
Cheng Lan hated Jiang Chen with a burning passion after his cousin had been beaten up, so he nodded very affirmatively, “Senior brother Guo, I took the risk of being beaten to sneak peeks twice, and there was no one in their rooms. I looked all over the residence, there was no one.”
Guo Ren frowned, “Odd, where could they have gone?”
Cheng Lan leered, “Perhaps they couldn’t withstand their hunger and ran out, running afoul of the restrictions in the mystic quadrant and were destroyed?”
Apart from the residences in the quadrant, only free access was given to the Hundred Challenges Arena. The other areas were restricted areas that not even the examiners dared venture into. If candidates barged into them, only death would await them!
Xiao Yu didn’t care at all as he said with an uncaring expression, “Senior brother Guo, don’t you waste effort worrying about this. Even the gods are unable to withstand the Goddess Smile poison, not to mention a mundane cultivator. In my opinion, those two have probably exploded somewhere already and died.”
Guo Ren was a cautious one. He wanted to see the person if they were alive, or their corpse if they were dead. If he didn’t, he’d always feel a bit uneasy in his heart.
“Indeed, senior brother Guo, that aphrodisiac is so domineering that those two are definitely dead without a doubt since they couldn’t find women. I feel that we shouldn’t gather here anymore. What if an examiner finds that they’re missing and traces it to us in their investigation?”
Guo Ren wasn’t worried about this and smiled coldly, “The f*ck will they investigate about? The dead can’t bear witness, how will the investigate?”
Another disciple said, “The time is about now, let’s go to the Arena first. We’ll be docked if we’re late.”
All of the candidates nodded and headed towards the Hundred Challenges Arena.
When they’d reached the outskirts of the Arena, Guo Ren at the front suddenly halted his footsteps.
There was a figure by the side of the road that was stately and reserved, his presence quite dominating.
“It’s him?” The Purple Sun Sect disciples behind Guo Ren were all flabbergasted. How was it possibly him? Shouldn’t he have been afflicted with the Goddess Smile and exploded from its effects?
Had that kid found a woman to vent his energies into last night?
That wasn’t right either! None of the Flowing Wind Sect female disciples had been plucked last night.
Not to mention that they had set up plants everywhere last night. This fellow would’ve been discovered if he’d dared approach a female disciple.
Since he hadn’t plucked a female disciple, then how had he dispelled the effects of the Goddess Smile?
Guo Ren remained calm as he waved his hand and indicated for his peers behind him to remain calm and not reveal their weak points. Don’t confess everything without receiving a single blow from the cane!
“Guo Ren.” Jiang Chen’s tone was remote, but anyone could hear the unbounded killing intent embodied in this voice.
“Don’t explain and don’t try to deny. Admit it if you’re a man.”
“Admit what?” Guo Ren smiled coldly. He wasn’t a fool.
“It’s fine if you deny it. Whether or not you did it, I’m marking your name down as the responsible party. You better pray every minute and second from now on that you don’t select me. Otherwise, you’ll end up worse than Cheng Zhen.”
Jiang Chen snorted coldly as he pushed off his feet and vanished like the wind from the vision of those assembled.
His warning sounded again in the air, “If any of you assembled here today can come to me and admit your faults, I will be able to forgive you. Otherwise, if any of you meet me in the ring, you better pray for yourselves.”
This wasn’t a warning anymore, but a naked threat.
“The hell, he’s so damn cocky!” A Purple Sun Sect disciple couldn’t help but curse.
“How is this possible? He… he seems completely fine?” Xiao Yu stammered as his face was ashen.
He’d been the one to think of this plan and offer up the aphrodisiac. He’d tried the Goddess Smile before, it was absolutely a terrifying thing.
He’d brought out his precious treasure in order to fawn on Guo Ren. If it hadn’t been for kissing up to his senior brother, he wouldn’t have wanted to bring out something so precious at all.
But, when he saw the other brimming with energy, Xiao Yu knew that his plan had failed.
As he looked at his peers cast interrogative glances at him, Xiao Yu angrily retorted back, “What are you looking at me for? Can it be that my medicine was fake? Anyone who doesn’t believe me can try it for themselves!”
“Shut up!” Guo Ren spat out. Wasn’t it to voluntarily confess by discussing this matter openly in a public space?!
With the other’s strength, if they were hidden in the shadows not too far away, he might’ve already heard Xiao Yu’s words.
Xiao Yu had also seemed to realize that he had lost his composure and muttered, “”Anyways, there’s definitely nothing wrong with it, there must be something else at play here.”
Guo Ren actually didn’t suspect the aphrodisiac either. His guess was that the fellow had indeed found a woman to vent himself.
Could it be that all his plants hadn’t been enough to keep an eye on that fellow from making a visit to the Flowing Wind Sect?
Guo Ren became paranoid all of a sudden as well.
“This is the end of the matter. No one may bring this up again.” Guo Ren ordered.
All the other disciples nodded in agreement. They really would reveal their involvement if they kept discussing it. Although this wasn’t a big deal, someone would have to be the unlucky one and take the fall if an investigation was mounted.
Cheng Lan asked timidly, “Senior brother Guo, that kid threatened us just now. Although the chances of our group meeting them in the ring aren’t high, it’s still a possibility. If we truly meet him in the ring, this kid is vicious and ruthless…”
Guo Ren snorted, “What, you want to be a traitor and sell out your brethren?”
Cheng Lan hastened to say, “There is undying enmity between me and him, how is that possible? Senior brother Guo, I’m worried that there will be others who can’t stand up to this and secretly tattle.”
Guo Ren’s gaze darkened as he swept his eyes in a circle. “Remember, whoever goes behind my back to be an informant is to make an enemy of the entire Purple Sun Sect. Watch yourselves!”
The other Purple Sun Disciples all had distressed expressions on their faces as they were caught between a rock and a hard place.
If they didn’t turn informant, they would definitely be beaten to death if they met in the ring. The other had said that he would make them end up worse than Cheng Zhen.
Half of Cheng Zhen’s body was basically paralyzed. If they were worse off than him, then wouldn’t that be beaten to death?
If they turned informant however, they was betraying their own and their peers would definitely beat them to death when all came to light.
In the span of a moment, all the disciples who had participated in this matter were incredibly conflicted. No one had thought that a mere secular disciple would be able to inflict such agony on them.
Upon returning to the Hundred Challenges Arena, Jiang Chen’s demeanor was noticeably more frosty.
After the accident of last night, he had calmed down much more. He had always gone about things cautiously before, but hadn’t thought that he would still accidentally fall victim to a plot.
The hearts of those in the sects were wicked and malicious indeed.
It seemed that he’d underestimated just how treacherous the sects and sect disciples would be.
Dan Fei also sat cross legged by Jiang Chen’s side, but could feel the coldness emanating from him. She knew that Jiang Chen had been thoroughly enraged by these sect disciples.
A maddened Jiang Chen, a truly enraged man made even Dan Fei’s heart palpitate. She knew that the Purple Sun Sect disciples were in for it now.
However, things were a bit strange over the next couple of days. Jiang Chen’s name always appeared only when the day was about to end.
There was only three to five challenges worth of time left to him at that time.
Therefore, after five days had passed, Jiang Chen had only achieved 45 successive victories when adding together the 30 from the first two days.
No matter how dense Jiang Chen could be, he could detect that someone must’ve done something to his name. One day could be deemed an accident, two days could be coincidence.
To be selected only when the day was close to its end five to six days in a row meant that someone was purposefully compressing his time.
They didn’t want him to be selected early and complete another frightening round of straight wins.
As long as he was selected late in the day, he wouldn’t have much time to issue challenges. He would at most obtain three successive wins before the day was up.
His name would be shuffled in again on the second day.
“Huh! Using these methods to shorten the tempo of my challenges and compress my time, the Purple Sun Sect is truly all powerful huh!”
Jiang Chen wasn’t the sort to swallow insult and humiliation silently. When the day’s contests were over, he made straight for the keeper, Master Fang.
“Master Fang.” Jiang Chen’s gaze was faint as he looked at this expressionless keeper.
“Heh heh, the secular genius, freak genius of the boulder’s heart. 45 successive wins. Not bad, not bad!” Master Fang was rather polite. “Tell me, what do you need?”
“I just want to ask if shortening my time in the ring and making my name appear in the last moments everyday is Master Fang’s wishes or the wishes of some other organizers?” Jiang Chen cut straight to the point.
Master Fang was a bit surprised and looked at Jiang Chen for a while before chuckling, “Are you guessing? Or have evidence?”
Jiang Chen responded noncommittally, “It wouldn’t be hard to find evidence either.”
Master Fang couldn’t help but smile as he nodded forthrightly. “I will explain since you know. It is indeed my hand behind this matter.”
Jiang Chen was rather surprised, he’d thought that Master Fang would never admit to things.
He creased his brow upon hearing this confession, “Is there a reason?”
“Yes, but it will certainly be different from what you’re thinking.” Master Fang smiled faintly. “I guess you must think since I’m of the sects, I’m shortening your time to suppress your rise and am indirectly helping the other sect disciples cheat, am I right?”
“Is that not so?” Jiang Chen asked unceremoniously back.
Master Fang sighed slightly, “Forget it if that’s what you think. I won’t do so starting from tomorrow and treat you fairly. However, young man, have you discovered that although your momentum has been restricted and your time compressed, thus far there is no one who has been able to surpass your results and the speed of your challenges?”
Jiang Chen thought carefully and felt that this was indeed the case.
A thought struck him, was Master Fang doing so not to suppress me?
“Your advantages are too apparent in the mystic quadrant and since you’re already firmly sitting on number one, why use such exaggerated methods to place first? Why invite so much hate from all sides? The relationships between the four sects and their disciples are complex and intertwined. If your reputation is too great here and travels to the earth and sky quadrants, do you wish to attract boundless enmity before you even set foot into those two areas?”