Li Yunxian gave Chen Chen a look, signaling her to release the person she was holding and asked, “What kind of cooperation?”
“Cooperate to take down those guys from Capital Prefecture!” Chen Chen said. “If this keeps up, the top hundred on the Qingteng Ranking will all be monopolized by the people from Capital Prefecture.”
“You don’t want to see that happen, do you, Yunxian?”
Li Yunxian’s mind quickly ran through the list—the names of those cities from Capital Prefecture filling the top ranks of the Qingteng Ranking. She grew a little interested. “Just us from Yuehai and Yihua?”
Yihua had quite a few candidates, but they were only mid-tier in the whole of Shenzhou—about sixty in total.
Yuehai was even fewer. Only fifteen people had managed to regroup here on this hill.
Capital Prefecture, from what Li Yunxian had heard here and there, had nearly a hundred candidates.
Together, they weren’t even in the same league.
Chen Chen shook her head. “It’s not just the two of us provinces. There are others too, including a few provinces that barely escaped the Capital Prefecture’s siege.”
“The main organizer is Shanggu Province, currently ranked third, where Qu Yingzi is from.”
“Altogether, the number is already one hundred and fifty.”
Li Yunxian raised her eyebrows in confusion. “There are this many people already? Why still involve Yuehai?”
Chen Chen cleared her throat. “Because someone needs to face Shen Bofeng.”
Sighing, Chen Chen added, “You know, once someone’s strength reaches a certain level, numbers don’t matter that much.”
“Besides, Capital Prefecture also has Ying Qian and Shu Chengyi.”
“Capital Prefecture is, after all, the strongest place in Shenzhou. The geniuses among geniuses are naturally plentiful there.”
“Oh.” Li Yunxian nodded and asked, “So… who exactly are these people?”
It was as if stating these names meant she was already supposed to know them.
Chen Chen replied, “You don’t know?!”
Her tone was incredulous. “Even if you didn’t understand cultivation before, you must have at least seen some news on TV, right?”
Li Yunxian:
Sorry, but after crossing over, she really hadn’t watched much of anything. She wasn’t even used to using a phone.
As for before crossing over…
It had been thousands, nearly ten thousand years. No matter how good her memory was, she wouldn’t remember such trivial details from her past life in the modern world.
But there was no need to explain all that.
Li Yunxian was tired of wasting time, drew her sword, and asked simply, “So, are you going to say it or not?”
Chen Chen instantly became obedient and quickly started briefing Li Yunxian and the others from Yuehai one by one.
Shen Bofeng: Qi Refinement Stage Seven, mutated Wind Spiritual Root. Possesses immortal bones, allowing extremely fast cultivation speed and enhanced power when casting spells.
His usual weapon is a fan, though it only assists in casting. He mainly follows the path of a spell cultivator.
Ying Qian: Qi Refinement Stage Six, Wood-type single spiritual root. His blood bones are mutated, but the injuries aren’t fatal. Uses a spear as his main weapon. Primarily a martial cultivator.
Qu Yingzi: Qi Refinement Stage Six, Water-type single spiritual root…
“If you join, Qu Yingzi will take on Ying Qian, Shu Chengyi will face Xiufeng and others, and the rest will find their own opponents,” Chen Chen explained.
Li Yunxian nodded, indicating she understood, then turned to the others from Yuehai Province. “What do you all think?”
Immediately, a hand shot up. “I want in! Something this exciting, count me in!”
“Start the fight, count me in!”
“I’ve been wanting to beat those guys from the Capital City who look down on everyone!”
There were hesitations, but not out of fear for themselves.
As Driver Zhao said when she brought Li Yunxian to the Capital City, if they were afraid of danger, they wouldn’t have chosen the path of cultivation.
And especially not the path of a cultivation expert.
Cowards wouldn’t even show up in this Selection Trial.
But hesitation wasn’t only due to cowardice; there were other considerations.
Someone looked at Jiang Yuan and suggested, “Jiang Yuan, maybe you shouldn’t go? After we wipe out Capital Prefecture, you should have no problem entering the top hundred.”
He was the only other seed candidate in Yuehai Province besides Li Yunxian who had a shot at the top hundred.
Jiang Yuan didn’t respond.
When the group was arguing endlessly with no conclusion, him choosing to act on his own was one thing.
But when everyone had already made their decision to move forward, if he abandoned the team for his own interests, that was another matter.
“Together,” Jiang Yuan said simply, then looked at Li Yunxian. “The key point is, can you hold back Shen Bofeng?”
Li Yunxian was confirmed at Qi Refinement Stage Two. Her high score had extra points added; it didn’t really mean she was stronger than Shen Bofeng.
Chen Chen blinked at the question.
She hadn’t considered that at all.
***
After the Hunter’s assault incident, everyone in Kui City had reached the point of blindly trusting Li Yunxian’s combat ability.
Li Yunxian thought for a moment, shrugged, and answered frankly, “I don’t know.”
“How can you know if you’ve never fought?”
Yuehai’s crowd: “…” That’s a very reasonable answer.
But Chen Chen’s initial point was correct.
No one wanted the entire top hundred of the Qingteng Ranking to be filled with names from Capital Prefecture, letting the other provinces of Shenzhou be completely overshadowed.
In the future, when junior students joined the Selection Trial, they’d be looked down upon because of this generation.
Who could stand that?
If there was a chance, it had to be tried.
So the people from Yuehai followed Chen Chen to join the main group.
Upon arrival, Li Yunxian was met with countless angry, gritted-teeth stares. Looking closer, she saw a crowd of familiar faces she had “tormented” before.
Li Yunxian:
Are these people gathering to deal with Capital Prefecture, or with me?
“Why didn’t you say people from Pingling and Shenghua are here too?” Li Yunxian asked Chen Chen quietly.
“If I told you, what if you didn’t come?” Chen Chen replied softly.
Li Yunxian chuckled and gave Chen Chen a light tap on the back of her head.
When Qu Yingzi approached, she looked at Li Yunxian’s strike—so fast that no afterimage was visible—and was briefly stunned.
“You’re Li Yunxian?” Qu Yingzi asked curiously. “You’re only Qi Refinement Stage Two and can hold off Shen Bofeng?”
Li Yunxian still didn’t give a definite answer.
She wasn’t the only one in the world capable of crossing levels to kill.
She still remembered Chen Shuzhang’s earlier warning.
There were many participants in the Selection Trial with strength comparable to Foundation Establishment Stage.
Like Qu Yingzi standing before her.
Li Yunxian could feel the threat radiating from the other’s body.
Such a person…
Li Yunxian looked up toward the resting area, densely packed with the prodigies from various provinces.
That terrifying Shen Bofeng, who even with all these people gathered still inspired fear…
Suppressing the fighting spirit in her heart, Li Yunxian smiled. “If I can’t hold him off, I’ll at least buy you all enough time to escape.”
Qu Yingzi couldn’t help but smile at this generous promise, reaching out her hand to Li Yunxian. “Good, then it’s up to you.”
Li Yunxian reached out and clasped it. “Mm.”
The people from Capital Prefecture sat with their eyes closed on the plain, resting and conserving energy.
They were naturally aware of the alliance of so many provinces.
But they weren’t afraid.
If they wanted to fight, then so be it!
Capital Prefecture is the strongest!
These guys are gathering—it’s convenient for them to find all these scattered “fish” at once!
A gentle breeze stirred as Shen Bofeng opened his eyes, looking into the distance.
“They’re here,” Shen Bofeng said.