บท 107: To the Fiend King's Tomb.
Liang Chen and Yan Ling continued to tour the city until the sun set and night arrived, retreating to the part of the city where the Storm Wolf sect disciples lived. The disciples who were here to take part in the competition all lived inside a single tall pagoda, so the two of them found a room on the lowest floor and locked themselves up for the night.
Yan Ling knew that Liang Chen no longer slept, so she used him as free labor, having him keep watch over their room while she slept. She knew Liang Chen, so she wasn't worried that he would try anything funny with her while she slept. This also wasn't the first time they had done something like this, what with the two of them flying around on her golden chariot when they were doing missions. Of course, with Liang Chen entering the same room as Yan Ling, he received quite a few stares, some that were borderline glares and some that seemed to be cheering him on. Faced with all these stares, Liang Chen went with his tried and true method of completely ignoring them.
Just like Yan Ling expected, Liang Chen didn't do anything to her while she slept, quietly cultivating while also keeping an eye on the pagoda and the area around it. With Yan Wuhan and two other elders residing within this pagoda, there was nearly no chance of anyone sneaking up on them, but Liang Chen would only feel safe if either he or someone else he fully trusted was keeping watch.
But, just as expected, no one dared even get close to the pagoda throughout the night, dawn arriving without any incident. Shortly before the sun rose, Yan Ling woke up, sitting up in her bed and stretching her body. She looked at Liang Chen with bleary eyes and spoke up, her voice trailing slightly as she wasn't fully awake yet.
"Lil' Freak...Breakfast..."
She didn't even form a proper sentence, but it was enough for Liang Chen to know what she was getting at, she wanted him to make some breakfast. Liang Chen halted his surveillance and cultivation, casting a sideways glance at Yan Ling, his lips curling up slightly.
"Right, wouldn't want to die, would we?"
Liang Chen had many good things to say about Yan Ling, but her cooking skills were not among those good things. Her cooking was borderline poisonous, to the point where Liang Chen worried that even his poison absorbing abilities wouldn't be enough to keep him safe. If cooking was left to Yan Ling, no one would be safe. Yan Ling tried to wave her fists in protest at the teasing starting so early, but she wasn't exactly a morning person, so her efforts only resulted in her weakly flailing her arms.
"Bring it... Beat you..."
Yan Ling seemed like she wanted to stand up and step forward, but she seemed to forget that she had to stand up to do so, her entire body leaning forward and heading over the edge of the bed. Liang Chen took a quick step forward, his palm touching Yan Ling's forehead and pushing her back into a proper sitting position as he made sure to retort to her half-finished statement.
"Yeah yeah, you can beat me up later on. If you are strong enough, that is. But knowing you, my undefeated streak will only continue to grow."
After making sure that Yan Ling wouldn't almost fall off the bed again, Liang Chen walked over to the center of the room and sat down. The room they had picked was a rather simple one, containing only a single large bed, a closet where one could store clothing, and a single table and three chairs. Because of this, the center of the room was completely empty, giving Liang Chen ample space to prepare breakfast.
He took out a watermelon-sized metal plate covered in runes from his interspatial ring, putting it down on the ground and channeling some of his Qi into it. Once it received his Qi, the runes lit up and a bright flame sparked into existence above the plate. Liang Chen then took out a large pot from his interspatial ring and placed it on top of the metal plate, allowing the flame to heat it up.
He then took out pieces of meat and vegetables that he kept ready in his interspatial ring, tossing them into the pot and pouring some water and self-made stock into it. The vegetables came from a small garden Yan Ling made him plant inside his interspatial ring, ensuring that he always had fresh vegetables at hand should they end up needing them. The pot of soup he made now was far too large for just breakfast, but the rest could simply be stored inside their interspatial rings and saved for consumption during the competition.
The soup was ready before long, Liang Chen spooning some into a bowl for Yan Ling and then preparing a bowl for himself. He put the rest of the soup into his interspatial ring and then handed Yan Ling her bowl and a spoon, allowing her to dig into the bowl of soup like she was a desert wanderer seeing water for the first time in days. After finishing the soup, Yan Ling leaned her head against the wall that the head-end of the bed was placed against, letting out a satisfied sigh.
"Ahh, I'm alive again."
She moved a bit closer to the head-end of the bed, leaning her entire back against the wall and stretching her body. Liang Chen cast a quick glance at her, and unable to resist the temptation, he let out a light scoff.
"That's up for debate."
The moment his words sounded out, Yan Ling ended her stretching and cast a glare at Liang Chen. She stretched out her arm slightly, pointing at him with the wooden spoon that she was holding, acting as if it was a sword.
"You dare comment on a maiden's appearance in the morning, after she was so gracious as to let you share a room with her? Are you looking to get stabbed?"
Liang Chen simply shrugged his shoulders with a light chuckle, for once choosing to use his right to remain silent. Yan Ling still pointed the spoon at him, waving it around until he pulled out the pot of soup and gave her another portion, appeasing the beast before it decided to assault him.
As Yan Ling was halfway through her second portion of soup, a faint tremor traveled through the space of the entire city, Liang Chen's vigilance instantly rising to the top. But just as he stood up and was about to pull out his spear, Yan Ling waved her hand at him.
"It's nothing to worry about. It's a sign that someone has been sent into the Myriad Convergence, it means that one of the other sects has sent their disciples into the area, starting the competition. Which means, we too will be heading in there very shortly."
Yan Ling had never taken part in a competition like this before, but as her father was the sect master, she had been taught quite a bit about it. She at least knew far more about it than Liang Chen did, so she took it upon herself to teach him what she knew. And just like she said, the order to meet up outside the pagoda was swiftly handed down to all the disciples.
Yan Ling had yet to finish her bowl of soup, so she simply carried it out with her, continuing to eat it as more and more disciples gathered in front of the pagoda, most of them tense and excited. Yan Wuhan and the two other elders also arrived in front of the pagoda before long, their hands behind their backs as Yan Wuhan addressed the disciples.
"I won't say too many words. Don't worry about ranks or rewards, just go in there and do your best. I hope that I will get to see you all again alive in three months when the competition ends. Godspeed my dear disciples."
Yan Wuhan clapped his hands after ending his words, a silver wave of energy spreading out from his hands. The wave surrounded the 1000 disciples, forming a thick cocoon as space around them started to twist and distort, the entire group sent flying into the Myriad Convergence. Liang Chen tried to see through the cocoon, but space was so distorted that he could only see blurry silver shapes.
It was only after about half a minute that the cocoon around them started to grow thinner, the distortion of space getting less severe. Before long, the entire cocoon vanished and allowed the disciples to finally see their surroundings.
Liang Chen saw that the group was now standing at the foot of a strange mountain, it was completely yellow in color and shaped like a trident where the three prongs bent closer and closer to each other the higher into the sky they reached, finally touching tips about 50 kilometers above ground. Other than the strange mountain, the Qi in the area was also a bit strange. It was far denser than in the outside world, but it was also far more chaotic and aggressive, as if all the various elements were trying to force each other into submission and merge together.
Liang Chen also noticed that space was just as unstable as he had heard. From his position, he could see three different rifts in space, black cracks that seemed to be a tear in reality itself. After giving everyone a short second to catch their bearings, Fan Jiahao spoke out in a loud voice, catching everyone's attention.
"Alright, you lot heard the Sect Master, we must do our best to all return alive! Of course, if we can bring back a great number of treasures at the same time, that would be the icing on the cake. This place is incredibly large, so we'll do it like we always do, we'll split up into groups, giving everyone a chance to find some treasures and lucky opportunities. Who wants to go where?"
Fan Jiahao had ranked third in the last Constellation King competition, so he was without a doubt the leader of the Storm Wolf disciples this time around. He was also the one who had the most experience when it came to this competition, so no one rejected him taking the leader position and calling the shots. People started to whisper amongst themselves after Fan Jiahao asked his question, deciding who would go into which group and go where. But before anyone else got to say anything, Yan Ling spoke out.
"I'll be taking Little Freak with me, the two of us will head for the Fiend King's Tomb!"
Yan Ling did as she usually did, not bothering to wait for any response. She grabbed onto Liang Chen's wrist and started dragging him away from the others, rushing away at full speed. To some, it would look like she was eager to find treasures, but as he was the one being dragged away, Liang Chen could clearly see her expression.
She was grinning from ear to ear, quietly giggling to herself. She hadn't the slightest interest in this competition, she was just looking forward to going on a fun treasure hunt where they might be able to increase their strength. The number of treasures they found was secondary to the fun they would have.
But the place she chose for the two of them was a rather appropriate place. The Fiend King's Tomb was one of the more well-known places in this Myriad Convergence, it was a place where an ancient powerhouse had died, something they knew thanks to a few books they found in the location. The Fiend King could use a large variety of laws before his death, and all those laws had seeped into the land after he died, creating a place where herbs and other treasures of all kinds of elements could be born.
For the two of them, who needed treasures of either the lightning, poison, wind, water, or time element, there were few places in this Myriad Convergence that were better. Since Yan Ling wanted to have some fun and look for some treasures, and since he saw no reason to deny her this fun, Liang Chen would, of course, indulge her and do his best to make sure she had some proper fun. And so, the two ran away from the other disciples at full speed, causing quite a few of them to shake their heads and chuckle lightly.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง