<h4>Chapter 73 Huiling Grass</h4>
At the gathering point of the Turquoise Sun Hall, there was a hill designated for training. Tens of iron doors lined both sides of the hill. Beyond the iron gates on the shaded side of the hill was an expansive za with several people sitting in a row of chairs, watching the hill with cool gazes.
There was first silence, but as the hour slowly passed, the doors were pushed open one at a time. Various disheveled folks walked out, some even bearing severe injuries. When they saw the sunlight outside, they all looked excited despite the severity of their injuries.
Huang Feiyang looked at the dozen or so people who had exited. He cocked an eyebrow, then turned to a young teenager next to him and said, “Give some Huiling Grass to the ones with severe injuries so they can recuperate.” The teenager obeyed hurriedly.
He then turned to the young man next to him and smiled. “Brother Wen, it’s been an hour already, right? The participants this time aren’t bad at all; there are about twenty people here. About a dozen exited from the other side, which means only a dozen or so people died. “
Wen Ya’s gaze swept across the group as he said, “There’s still a bit of time left. We will lock the doors as soon as the hour is up. Anyone who hasn’t exited by then, if they are alive, will probably be on the verge of death anyway. After all, it isn’t easy to enter the Lingwu family.
“Right, Brother Huang, your younger brother is performing well. He doesn’t look like he sustained any injuries at all. He might do the best out of all of them. Everyone else looks like they’ve at least sustained some injury.”
Huang Feiyang disyed a rare moment of pride when he heard him mention Huang Xiang. “My younger brother’s personability has always been simr to mine. Hardworking and resilient. I’m sure he will be as sessful as I am in the future.”
Wen Ya nodded. After a long, silent pause, he said, “Time is almost up. Shall we lock the doors and start counting the steel hearts?”
Huang Feiyang was looking at his younger brother. Huang Xiang gave him a reassuring look and so he nodded with a smile.
Huang Xiang looked at the group of twenty who had passed. When he noticed that Long Chen wasn’t there, his brows furrowed.<i> His physical body was quite strong at Yuanyang City, and he managed to withstand my Wheel of Glory. There’s no reason why he couldn’t pass the first round. Did he really die in there ...</i>
But the Lingwu family members had already started locking the doors. Huang Xiang smiled, exasperated.<i> Huang Xiang, Huang Xiang. You have greatly overestimated him. Your peers are prodigies from the four main inner Lingwu families. That small-town nobody wasn’t worth worrying about at all ...</i>
Huang Xiang then turned his attention to the experts of the Lingwu family and stopped thinking about Long Chen.
To him, Long Chen dying inside was not at all surprising.
On the other hand, Liu Fengfeng was surveying the group. When he realized that Long Chen was not out yet, he smirked. <i>I hope he knew his limits and gave up. If he died inside, he only has himself to me for not listening to my warnings. You can’t me anyone! I knew you’d die just from the way you acted!</i>
When he thought about the number of steel hearts he retrieved, Liu Fengfeng was extremely pleased.<i> Twenty-three steel hearts in total. This should be enough to put me in the top ten, right?</i>
He drew in a sharp breath when he thought about the terrifying steel puppets in the tunnel. If he hadn’t prepared so thoroughly, he probably would’ve died inside. <i>But I’ve already spent half of my Qi. The second round won’t be easy... </i>Liu Fengfeng eyed everyone around him and felt much better when he realized that everyone was as disheveled as himself. <i>All these people are like me too. I still have a chance.</i>
As the iron doors were closed one by one, Huang Feiyang had already stood up and was about to announce the end of the first round. Suddenly, one of the doors that was about to be locked was suddenly sted open. The person locking the door was thrown a few steps back by the st, then he peered inside in annoyance. No one had expected a participant to exit right at thest moment!
The hugemotion attracted everyone’s attention.
A silhouette slowly exited the dark tunnel. When everyone finally saw the foreign, young face, they were stunned.
But Huang Xiang and Liu Fengfeng were more than surprised.
Liu Fengfeng was speechless, his mind going nk. After a long time, he finally epted that this was reality. <i>How lucky did he get? Escaping the tunnel at thest second? Just based on how he looks, he probably didn’t get more than a few steel hearts. It’s useless even though he made it out.</i>
This was what he thought, but even he couldn’t exin why Long Chen had made it out without a scratch. He frowned.<i> Maybe there were very few steel puppets in his tunnel? </i>
When Huang Xiang saw Long Chen exit, his eyes turned cold, though he had another thought. <i>Anyone who can withstand my attack should be able to pass this test. It’s a good thing you didn’t die in there, because now I get to kill you! Let’s just hope you have enough steel hearts to be in the top ten!</i>
Long Chen was startled to see so many people grouped together as soon as he came out. He quickly joined them. <i>Damn, I was focused too hard on killing. If I had been just a little slower, it would’ve been all over for me!</i>
He smiled coldly in response to Huang Xiang’s re filled with killing intent.
Huang Xiang was both speechless and amused that Long Chen dared to act so defiantly. <i>Is this because I killed your horse? Is that even worth being angry over? When I kill you, you’ll know that killing the horse was nothing ...</i>
When Long Chen joined the group, everyone finally saw his face and they were no longer interested in paying him any more attention.
Liu Fengfeng approached and patted his shoulder with a grin. “Good one, kid! You didn’t disappoint me at all! You made it out alive, and that’s good! How many steel hearts did you get?”
Long Chen looked at him and smiled bitterly, shaking his head.
Liu Fengfeng acted like he had expected this response, then he said in an encouraging tone, “That’s fine. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t get a steel heart. At least you’re not hurt! You still have a chance in the next Yuandi City qualifiers!”
In the middle of Liu Fengfeng’s relentless chatter, Huang Feiyang suddenly noticed the cold re between Huang Xiang and Long Chen. He frowned, looked at Long Chen, and thought, <i>Is there some enmity between Huang Xiang and this kid? That brat. He knows I’m here and yet he dares to offend a Huang family member. How bold.</i>
He initially wanted to announce that due to Long Chen’s slightlyte arrival, he would not qualify for the next round. But Wen Ya, who was standing next to him, started his announcement before he spoke. “Alright, the hour is up! Get in line and submit your steel hearts!”
Since Wen Ya had spoken first and Huang Feiyang didn’t want to make him lose face, he kept quiet. <i>Whatever. Even if you get into the top ten, you’ll be deadter.</i>
He sat down and flipped through the registration records on the table to look for Long Chen’s profile.<i> Long Chen. From ... the Yang family of Baiyang Town. Beast Warrior. Eighth Draconic Stage. His Beast Soul is from the Underground Blood Lizard? Huang Xiang hasn’t gotten rid of him yet even though he’s this weak. Looks like my little brother’s strength is stillcking.</i>
Wen Ya started recording the number of steel hearts for each member.
“Chen Wenlong, eighteen hearts!
“Qing Xue, twenty-nine hearts!
“Xiao Yan, eight hearts!”
About twenty people lined up in front of Wen Ya and took out their steel hearts from their Universe Pouches, waiting anxiously. Liu Fengfeng patted Long Chen’s shoulder and said, “Wait here, I’m going to submit my steel hearts first!”
The results were announced very quickly.
“Liu Fengfeng, twenty-three hearts!”
Liu Fengfeng returned to Long Chen with a smug look and said excitedly, “I’m ranked ninth! The remaining few all look severely injured, except for Huang Xiang. I expect to be ranked tenth today! The heavens are kind!”
As he spoke, Huang Xiang cast Long Chen a hostile look and walked up to Wen Ya. When Wen Ya saw that it was his good friend’s younger brother, he smiled warmly. “Are you Huang Xiang? Come, show me your steel hearts and we’ll see how you did!”
Huang Feiyang gazed lovingly at his brother and said, “When Ipeted years ago, I retrieved fifty-eight steel hearts, while Brother Wen Ya had sixty-seven. He was stronger than I was. The highest number right now is forty-one. Huang Xiang, do you have any hopes of getting number one?”
Huang Xiang smiled confidently. “All you have to do is count.”
He then poured a pile of steel hearts out of his Universe Pouch. The other cultivators drew sharp breaths when they saw the shiny rocks, while Wen Ya and Huang Feiyang beamed with approval!
Liu Fengfeng was pale. “I underestimated Huang Xiang’s strength. There’s got to be at least sixty hearts there! Looks like he will be number one and I will be tenth! At least I will get to the second round ...”
Wen Ya counted, then he broke into a grin. “Good one, kid! Not bad! Sixty-eight! That’s one more than I had!”
Huang Feiyang was proud to see his younger brother doing so well.
He nodded at Huang Xiang, who mouthed something. Huang Feiyang nced at Long Chen not far behind and instantly understood what he meant.
Then Huang Feiyang nodded too.
Huang Xiang finally left. At this point, the heavily injured cultivators who were previously being treated with spiritual medicine approached. As Liu Fengfeng expected, their steel heart count rarely exceeded ten, and his grin widened. “I barely managed to qualify. That was close ...”
Long Chen was exasperated by Liu Fengfeng’s relief, because he was the only one left who hadn’t submitted his steel hearts.
When Liu Fengfeng saw Long Chen suddenly heading towards Wen Ya, he was stunned. <i>Does this mean that the kid actually managed to get steel hearts? </i>