"Hahahaha! Very good! I applaud your wits to accede to the strong. There's no point in siding with the losers, eh? It's no surprise they call you the most powerful youngster in all of the Violet Manor!" Wan Yanyan threw his head back in a roar of laughter while sounding sardonic at the same time.

Wordlessly, Li Muxue, Luo Shangyan and the rest moved with Xiao Chen, following his lead to another side. Qin Xinyan watched with horror and despair as his final shred of hope crumbled. He could almost feel the malicious and savage aura emanating from Wan Yanyan.

The rest of the contestants around watched Xiao Chen leave. "Is he the Xiao Chen from the rumors? Did he not battled the entire household of the Zuoqiu Family and ma.s.sacred them just to save a friend?"

"COWARD!" A voice broke the silence. Despite notorious for having his hands deep in blood, everyone knew that Xiao Chen wrought those savageries, only because he was forced to. He needed to save a friend. He was known as many things, a proud and honorable friend to his allies among all, but definitely not a weakling who would desert anyone in need. In a word, the one in front of them let them down.

But no one knew that Xiao Chen was struggling. His fingers were digging deep into the flesh of his skin while he tried to shut out the cries and insults pelted at him. He willed himself to continue walking. But with every step, his legs felt heavier and more reluctant.

He wanted to save those people. But the safety of his friends and loved ones mattered more to him and there was no way he could risk that.

The Forest of Illusory Moon was a test in Nature's most primal form: the survival of the fittest where the strong preyed on the weak. The ultimate winner would take all and the losers would be left with nothing; not even their life or the right to speak for others.

He scoffed at himself, "Am I finding excuses to cover up my own weakness and callousness?"

Suddenly, he heard a voice; a voice from his distant, long dormant and lost: his teacher. The lessons she taught him, to be compa.s.sionate and courageous, came back to him like a vision. Then he remembered the tearful, pleading eyes of the girl he could have saved and the merriness everyone had shared with him during their journey to the Wuw.a.n.g Wind Cloud City.

Then a realization hit him: "What about Muxue and Senior Sister Luo? What would they do?"

"WAIT!" He shouted. He stopped and turned. "Twenty Hearts for each of them, is it not? I'll pay. I'll take them all," he declared, pointing at Qin Xinyan and his group.

Hope gleamed in the eyes of the hostages. They sat up, the faith of their survival once again renewed as they watched in antic.i.p.ation. Zhou Li, Qingyu, and the rest looked on in silence; it was only by Xiao Chen that they managed to obtain any Hearts of Illusory Moon. No one dared to voice any objections against him.

But Wan Yanyan's expression darkened as quickly as his mood. "You were already leaving. I suggest you walk on, unless you really intend to taste the flavor of Death yourself..."

Xiao Chen fixed him with a resolute stare. "You should not be allowed here. You're a senior and you clearly wield powers beyond all of us. But you'd do well to heed my advice: there's no need for you to take things above and beyond."

Everyone was instantly shocked by Xiao Chen's revelation. Wan Yanyan looked as old as everyone in the Forest, young and exuberant like all of them. "But why did Xiao Chen address him as Senior? Could he be..."

But their doubts were quickly answered; Wan Yanyan chuckled viciously. "So, you've noticed, eh?"

His magic in disguise might be good enough to hoodwink the elders watching the portal into the Forest of Illusory Moon, but it was not enough to escape the Xiao Chen's Divine Sense. His true ident.i.ty was Wan Gufeng, the grandfather of the actual Wan Yanyan.

By pretending to be his grandson, Wan Gufeng had joined the tournament in his stead and entered the Forest of Illusory Moon, hoping to achieve a good score to allow his grandson the admission into the Violet Illusory Land to study magic.

"Rest easy, Senior. I'd just say that I don't know anything about this. But only if this is enough to convince you to change your mind. Can you release them now?"

"Hahahaha!" Wan Gufeng rumbled with laughter. "My name has commanded fear and respect for decades in the Violet Manor! I will not be threatened by a fledgling like you! I will not repeat myself anymore: leave this place at once! Mind your own business!"

His voice was no longer disguised; there was no longer any pretense for masking himself. He was not afraid if anyone might report him nor was he fearful of Xiao Chen, even though he had been feigning a respectful tone only because of the rumors about him.

Everyone was stunned into silence around them, until someone shouted, "That's one of the Elders of the Order of the Divine Fire, Wan Gufeng!"

Xiao Chen flexed his palms, readying himself for a fight. He could feel the cold fury and harrowing thirst for blood exuding from the disguised man before him, better than everyone else in fact. His senses were tingling wildly, begging him to turn and walk away. By leaving, he could spare him and his friends from peril. The Jade Qing Sect team could also avoid being disqualified, at least for now. But he knew that he could not turn back, not with the lives of Qin Xinyan and his group at stake, even though they were hardly friends.

Battling Wan Gufeng was not a matter of victory; it was a matter of honor.

Unnatural breezes began to blow around them, growing stronger by the second as their energies churned. The aura of blood and malice slowly filled the area. Yu Yifeng drew his sword and barked at Mu Shao'ai, "Shao'ai, bring juniors to safety!"

But Mu Shao'ai was petrified with fear, his eyes frozen upon the seething Wan Gufeng. He shook himself awake and snorted defiantly. "Since when do I take orders from you!?" He drew his sword and hissed at Zhou Li and Qingyu instead. "Go away! You're no good staying here!"

Zhou Li and Qingyu traded swift looks. They knew that they were too powerless to support their seniors. Their presence would be nothing more than distractions to them. But they could not bear to leave, knowing that their seniors were up against a conjurer of the Nascent Soul Realm.

The winds tossed ferociously around them, las.h.i.+ng at their clothes and battered at them that they found it hard to stand straight. Wan Gufeng's roaring howls resounded through the winds that whipped at their faces, reducing their visibility drastically. "None of you will escape today! You'd all either leave your lives or the Hearts!"

Knowing that an inevitable battle was at hand, Xiao Chen began weaving the spell of his magical formations. Nine little fireb.a.l.l.s burst to life upon his palm. Qin Xinyan and his cohorts immediately took their stand beside Xiao Chen and Yu Yifeng, preparing themselves. Realizing that the battle would determine the survival of everyone present, the disciples of other schools and sect snarled at Wan Gufeng hatefully, "How dare you, an esteemed elder of the Orthodox Path! Not only you've violated the rules of the tournament, but you even tried to terrorize everybody here! Come, fight us all! We do not fear you!"

More and more people united with the contingent of the Jade Qing Sect against a common foe in Wan Gufeng. For decades and centuries, students of lesser schools and sects had always hoped to attain admission into the Violet Illusory Land to study and train in hopes of propelling themselves to better future prospects. But Wan Gufeng's ruthless plan to h.o.a.rd all of the Hearts of Illusory Moon would dash all the hopes of the contestants today. Defeating him was the only way to salvage any possibility of success.

With two remaining days of intense compet.i.tion, most of them pessimistic towards any aspirations of acc.u.mulating another fifty Hearts to pa.s.s the test. They would rather fight now than to tolerate further two days of suffering and torment. More so, since lethal blows would only see them being disqualified and safely transported outside; there was no risk of danger.

The very same thoughts flashed through the minds of the remaining contestants, and everyone chose to stand with Xiao Chen against Wan Gufeng. Unfazed by the superior numbers, Wan Gufeng threw his head back and guffawed proudly. "Very good!" He hissed insidiously. "A bunch of rats and scoundrels! I'll bury you all here today!" A red, gigantic palm, made up of fire, appeared over the crowd and slammed down on the contestants, immediately vanquis.h.i.+ng several of them.

The destructive force of the blow destroyed the magical jade notes of those being struck. Instead of dying, they were cast out of the Forest, effectively disqualified. For five days, these young aspirants had battled and struggled against all odds, only to be disqualified by a selfish, rule-breaking old man who wielded strong power than every one of them. The tears, sweat, and blood they shed during this crucible had been rendered an utter waste.

Xiao Chen and his allies watched the few contestants being forcibly removed with livid eyes. Had this been an actual battle, the several contestants would have already been dead by now. As an elder and a senior, Wan Gufeng had shown no sign of honor, leniency, and compa.s.sion. Enraged by his behavior, everyone drew their swords and attacked!

But their attacks were mere child's play to Wan Gufeng; there was no way common weapons and conjurers of the Core Forming Realm could defeat him so easily. One by one, they were all beaten back, their bodies sore with pain and their swords broken into splinters.

Only a few could withstand his relentless onslaught; Yu Yifeng being one of them. Armed with his sword, he could still hold his ground against a conjurer of the Nascent Soul Realm, but barely. The blistering heat gave off by his opponent's blows and the churning winds threatening to slice at him were already crippling his defenses.

Zhou Li produced the Bagua Mirror of the Cosmos which Moxuan Zi had originally given to Xiao Chen. The magical mirror glowed with an entrancing sheen on its surface; it could reflect magical attacks by turning its surface into white, and absorb an enemy's magical bolts by turning into black. But even Xiao Chen at his full strength could only summon one-tenth of the Mirror's true power. Together with Qingyu, Zhou Li did his best to wield the magical instrument, but to lamentable efficacy; they could only hold themselves against one or two blows from the formidable Wan Gufeng.