They chatted as they walked off,pletely ignoring Situ Yu.


    Long Chen’s humiliating words had driven Situ Yu mad. A powerful aura erupted from his body, and Situ Yu red at him coldly. He cried furiously, “Long Chen, stop right there! If you are a man, fight me! Don’t just run your mouth!”


    Unfortunately, Long Chen did not respond at all and left directly.


    “You trash! Stop right now!” roared Situ Yu. A powerful gust of wind flew at Long Chen, causing Long Chen and Suyan’s clothes to p loudly.


    “Big Brother, what now?” Suyan asked a little frantically.


    Long Chen’s gaze darkened. “Go home. Everything will be revealed in ten days. We know our own strengths. There is no need to fight here just to get thest word.”


    Long Chen had matured significantly and would not lose his reason over someone calling him trash.


    Suyan was mesmerized by the teenager. Although Situ Yu was much stronger, she felt like Long Chen could not be defeated.


    This assured her greatly.“Alright. We will just treat them as barking dogs, then. Hehe …”


    The people around Situ Yu started to scold him.


    “What a piece of trash! After he witnesses Brother Situ’s strength, he’s going to flee like a coward?”


    “Yeah! Long Chen is a coward! What talent does he have other than manipting women? People like that cannot be considered men. He is not fit for Princess Suxue, nor does he deserve the Seven Star Lord’s inheritance.”


    “All of it should belong to Brother Situ. He is a true prodigy. Long Chen is nothing! Look, I’m insulting him, yet he doesn’t even dare turn around! Look at him! Ahahaha …”


    The crowd was enjoying themselves as they insulted Long Chen and burst intoughter.


    But Situ Yu’s expression remained cold.


    The barrage of insults had not roused even a slight reaction from Long Chen, as if they had hit nothing. It felt like Situ Yu had missed a punch, and he felt like he was about to vomit blood.


    <em>Long Chen! I have reached the Ninth Earthly Martial Stage and have obtained the Ever Changing Spear. In ten days’ time, I will pulverize you. Everything you own will be mine, including the Seven Star Lord’s inheritance! </em>Situ Yu swore to himself as he gritted his teeth.


    Long Chen had long returned to the inner city by then. Afterforting the little girl Suyan for a while, he prepared to leave so he could resume his cultivation. That was when Suxue walked over to him. She had heard about what happened earlier that day and said worriedly, “You ran into Situ Yu today?”


    “Just some minor bickering. It was nothing,” said Long Chen.


    Suxue’s elegant brows furrowed slightly as she said, “I heard that Situ Yu has reached the Ninth Earthly Martial Stage. Long Chen, what are you going to do about the duel?”


    They looked more anxious than Long Chen was, but to him, there was nothing to worry about. Although he knew that he was no match for Situ Yu in terms of essence, he was not worried. This was the attitude he had practiced for a long time. Fear and anxiety were useless; might as well carry on with his cultivation in a stable, honest manner.


    “I’ll go with the flow,” said Long Chen, leaving Suxue speechless.


    “I can’t stand you. You never should have agreed to Situ Yu’s challenge. That guy obviously wants to manipte you. Your objective now is to focus on cultivating the Seven Star Lord’s inheritance. Was there a need to have thest word?” Suxue looked at Long Chen usingly. Her tone was like a wifeining to her husband.


    “Men always want the dignity of having thest word. Women wouldn’t understand. If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving,” Long Chen said shamelessly, rolling his eyes.


    “You … Go, then. I want to see what you’re going to do. Don’t get yourself killed; my sister still needs you.” Long Chen’s attitude was driving her mad.


    Had the guy eaten a leopard’s galldder?[1]


    Ten days. It was not a long time, but it was not short either. Although the outside world was bustling over him and Situ Yu’s duel, Long Chen was indifferent.


    He nned to spend the next seven days reaching thete stage of the Seven Star Body and then use the remaining time to study the Martial God Tombstone.


    Before the duel, he would also need to feed Suyan dragon blood once.


    Thanks to the nourishment of his blood, the little girl had grown more energetic and was glowing. A strong life force radiated from her body. Even Bai Lan was astonished by this. He asked her several times what pills Long Chen had fed her, but Suyan refused to tell, infuriating her father so much that he kept rolling his eyes.


    That night, Long Chen returned to the peak of the ancient tree.


    This time, he was prepared to reach thete stage of the Seven Star Body.


    ***


    No one knew that there was a meeting going on in the Thunder n. Within a dark room, the seven Thunder Elders were having a meeting that would determine the fate of their n. This was a meeting held by the highest-level members of the n. All of the Ninth Earthly Martial Stage elders were present except for the patriarch, Lei Ji.


    The seven Thunder Elders were actually the elders of the Thunder n. All of them were aged two hundred and fifty and above. They could be considered antiques in the Thunder n. The Great Sect Elder was more than four hundred years old. If he didn’t break into the Heavenly Martial Stage soon, then he would not remain alive for long.


    Despite that, the Great Sect Elder of the Thunder n, a man named Lei Yuan, held a positionparable to that of the current patriarch. Lei Yuan belonged to Lei Ji’s father’s generation. When he was young, he made countless significant contributions to the Thunder n and was considered one of the n’s heroes.


    This meeting was hosted by Lei Yuan, who had summoned the seven Thunder Elders here without Patriarch Lei Ji’s knowledge.


    The group had been silent for fifteen minutes when Lei Yuan gently knocked on the wooden table with his knuckles.


    “Everyone, I called everyone here without informing Patriarch Lei Ji. I’m sure everyone knows what I am thinking. What are your thoughts?” asked the old Lei Yuan in his hoarse voice.


    Everyone looked at each other. No one spoke at first, but after Lei Yuan’s gaze swept across the room, a muscr man finally said, “We must admit that this is the chance for the Thunder n to rise, and even the n’s chance to no longer rely on the Demon n.”


    “Well said.” Lei Yuan pped, then everyone quickly pped too.


    “Since you have mentioned it already, I will speak directly. The Thunder n has been living in the Demon n’s shadow for many years. Every decision was led by the Demon n as if we were their servants. Wherever they go, we follow. We’ve had enough of living like that. I believe everyone other than the Patriarch has had enough too, right?”


    Everyone listened to Lei Yuan solemnly.


    “I think everyone knows what I mean,” he continued.


    One of the men said, “Great Sect Elder, we indeed understand. I agree with your opinion too. I will raise my hand first. What about the others?”


    When this man raised his arm high, the others gritted their teeth and raised their hands too.


    Lei Yuan smiled and said, “Since everyone is in agreement, then I will not waste time on nonsense. The Seven Star Lord’s inheritance is the most important opportunity for the Thunder n. It does not matter what Lei Ji thinks; we must take it for ourselves. Then we will break free from the Demon n and find our own base in the Ancient Graveyard. As for Lei Ji … If he still stands on the Demon n’s side after we take the Seven Star Lord’s inheritance and lead the n away, then we no longer need a patriarch like him.”


    Lei Yuan was the only elder who could utter such words.


    “How will the Thunder n survive without a Heavenly Martial Realm master?” asked one of the elders.


    “Don’t worry. Lei Ji isn’t that stupid. His roots are in the Thunder n; do you think he could leave it? Most importantly, we must execute this n fast and end all fights quickly. Once we have broken free from the Demon n and retrieved the Seven Star Lord’s inheritance, he will pick the correct side. As long as he does, the Seven Star Lord’s inheritance will belong to him,” said Lei Yuan with a dark gaze.


    It was true. The Demon n had the Divine Demon Lord’s inheritance, while the Divine n had the White Lotus Fairy’s inheritance. If they could get the Seven Star Lord’s inheritance, they would be on equal footing with the other ns.


    “We, the Thunder Elders, are not betraying the n. I summoned everyone here today only for the good of the Thunder n and Patriarch Lei Ji. He may be talented at cultivation, but he constantly follows Bai Lan and will not amount to anything great. We must do this to force Lei Ji to break the brotherly rtionship between them, so he will be a true Thunder patriarch!”


    Lei Yuan’s thoughts were the same as the other Elders.


    “Great Sect Elder, just tell us what to do. Indeed, the Patriarch rarely thinks about the benefit of the n. We will do as you say.”


    Lei Yuan shook his head. “I am old. I can no longer hold the whole n up. The Thunder n still needs Lei Ji to lead it. The only thing I want to do before I die is to turn Lei Ji vicious, break free from the Demon n, and make the Thunder n as great as them!


    After a pause, he added, “I have alreadye up with a n.”


    “When do we move? Long Chen spends his days cultivating the Seven Star Body. Bai Lan and the Patriarch are both standing guard nearby.”


    Lei Yuan said, “I have already nned the date, which will be in ten days. During the duel between Long Chen and Situ Yu, the Thunder n shall give them a surprise.


    The group was surprised and asked, “Won’t there be arge number of people present during that time? The Demon n has many experts; how could we seed?”


    Lei Yuan smiled mysteriously and said, “Have you all forgotten about the Thunder n’s ultimate treasure? When all their masters are standing together, our Thunder Prison will give them a surprise!”


    1. The terms for galldder and courage have the same Chinese character, 胆 (dan). ording to traditional Chinese medicine, the galldder has the function of making judgements and determines one’s courage ?