Chapter 29: Chen Hao Makes His Move

  It seemed that Xiao Jihan had sensed Chen Hao's gaze, and he slightly turned his head, their eyes meeting for a moment. Xiao Jihan's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a hint of disdain, before he looked away.

  "Five-grade martial artist... He actually advanced to a five-grade martial artist..." Chen Hao thought to himself with some surprise.

  "Xiang Huang... you shouldn't have come back..." Little Ling'er said with concern as she looked at Chen Huang.

  "Don't worry, I'll be fine." Chen Hao said in a low voice, and then slowly closed his eyes.

  He had just returned from a continuous sprint, and although he looked spirited at the moment, his primordial energy in his dantian was almost exhausted. Fortunately, according to the test sequence, he should be the last of all participating disciples, and there was still time to recover.

  ……

  Soon, all fourteen disciples of the Shi generation had finished their tests.

  Although all nine of them had reached the level of martial arts masters, especially Xiao Shijie, Xiao Shifeng and Xiao Shiying who had respectively reached the third-grade martial arts boundary, there was not a hint of pride on their faces.

  The reason is simple: their age.

  This time, the test will be their last. With age approaching twenty, and the boundary between the ranks of martial artists making it basically impossible for them to break through to the peak of ninth rank before the age of twenty. This also means that they are unlikely to become true masters of the Xiao family.

  The year-end ranking of the outer door disciples of the Xiao family didn't hold much significance for them. The reason they had to participate was entirely because of the upcoming Yunzhou Martial Assembly.

  Of course, being able to represent the Xiao family in itself is a symbol of honor. Moreover, they can obtain the reward of entering the Xiao family's sacred training ground "Yuanyang Cave" for a month of closed-door training. Although due to their own talent and enlightenment limitations, they have no hope of entering the ninth-grade warrior realm before the age of 20, being able to enter Yuanyang Cave for training is something that even the inner disciples of the Xiao family look forward to with great anticipation, and the benefits gained are undoubtedly very significant.

  So, no one will hold back.

  ……

  After the disciples of the Shi character generation completed their level test, the entire martial arts arena looked at Xiao Jihai, the first genius of the Ji character generation. Now, he has been promoted to the "first genius" among all the disciples of the Xiao family for decades!

  Xiao Jihan had just stood up, and the martial arts arena was filled with thunderous applause and cheers. His followers were shouting slogans such as "The boss is invincible". Even Xiao Jiyuan, who had been deceived by Xiao Jihan once again, applauded when he looked at her.

  Xiao Jihan's face was filled with a faint smile, exuding an aura of intimidation. He slightly cupped his fists in greeting to the crowd, and then leaped onto the stage in one swift motion.

  His gaze, intentionally or unintentionally, carried a hint of provocation as he looked in Chen Hao's direction, secretly pleased with himself. He thought to himself that when this kid sees his own fifth-grade warrior cultivation, he'll probably be so scared he'll wet his pants.

  But what he didn't expect was that Chen Huan closed his eyes, as if he had entered a state of cultivation, and faced the thunderous applause without any ripple...

  Xiao Jihan didn't know that Chen Huan had entered a state of cultivation shortly after the start of the test for his junior disciples, and thought that Chen Huan was just too proud to watch him on stage. This feeling made Xiao Jihan feel like he had swallowed a fly, extremely stifled...

  At the same time when Xiao Jihan took the stage, many people's eyes also turned to Chen Huan. In their hearts, they couldn't help but admire Chen Huan's calmness and courage...

  "Hmmph!"

  Xiao Jihans face turned cold, and he let out a low hum as he suddenly accelerated the yuan force throughout his body. In an instant, a dazzling layer of fiery red protective aura condensed around him, with powerful yuan force fluctuations that were much stronger than those of the three top-ranking third-class warriors in the world.

  "Wu Pin Dian Feng Wu Shi!" Xiao Jihan said proudly.

  "Good!"

  "Good!"...

  At that moment, on the rostrum, the host Xiao Ding and several guest officials and elders applauded for the first time, nodding their heads in praise.

  "Great, Jihan, a fifth-grade martial artist at the peak of his skills. With such achievements, our Xiao family will surely make a name for itself at the upcoming Yunzhou Martial Arts Conference! Haha... At 16 years old, you can still participate in three more Yunzhou Martial Arts Conferences, not bad, not bad..." Elder Xiao Bo said loudly.

  "The Six Elders have been rewarded!"

  Xiao Jihan bowed with his fists and saluted the chairman's platform, then jumped down from the ring with a elegant posture amidst thunderous applause.

  ……

  Then, the second-ranked Xiao Jishan and other Ji-character generation disciples took the stage one after another.

  Although these disciples' cultivation was far inferior to that of Xiao Jihuan and the Shi character generation, their popularity was far beyond that of the Shi character generation disciples.

  Because they are young, youth has potential, and there is hope!

  Xiao Jishan, who had just entered the realm of a first-rate martial artist, was only fifteen years old. Although he wasn't as good as Xiao Jihan, being one year younger made him extremely outstanding nonetheless.

  Xiao Jifei, who was originally ranked fifth in the Ji character generation, also broke through to the first-class martial artist realm.

  These two are not bad, but they have been overshadowed by Xiao Jicheng's brilliance to some extent and did not cause much sensation.

  Until Xiao Jiyuan appeared...

  Xiao Jiyuan, the darling of the Xiao family's master Xiao Ding, and with this identity alone, everyone, whether sincere or hypocritical, would use all their strength to applaud and cheer her on. Moreover, Xiao Jiyuan also possessed an angelic face, and at the age of only thirteen years old, she was still very young compared to others of the Ji generation.

  So when Xiao Jiyuan showed off his eighth-grade warrior cultivation, he directly triggered a commotion no weaker than Xiao Jihan's!

  Thirteen years old, eighth-rank warrior!

  This is absolutely not inferior to Xiao Jihan's talent. Although it has something to do with starting to practice earlier than Xiao Jie. But being able to start practicing early is also a kind of talent, and it's not that anyone can start practicing early casually. Otherwise, the Xiao family would have recruited five or six-year-old children as disciples long ago, which would have given them more years to practice and more opportunities to advance to inner door disciples before the age of 20.

  After Ji Zi generation disciples finished their tasks, it was finally the turn of Xiang Zi generation.

  Xiangzi generation disciples, just started practicing for half a year. Martial artists start easy and get harder later, although martial students are also ninth-grade, but they can't be compared with the ninth-grade of martial masters. Therefore, the vast majority of Xiangzi generation disciples have entered the seventh or eighth grade of martial students, and only a few talented ones have been promoted to the ninth grade of martial students. The first-ranked young man, Xiao Xiangteng, has even broken through the martial student and promoted to the first-grade warrior. This has caused many people to nod frequently.

  "Xiang Huang..."

  Just as they were about to arrive at Xiaoling'er's place, Xiaoling'er looked at Chen Huan who was still meditating with his eyes closed and softly called out.

  "Uh, I know..." Chen Hao slowly opened his eyes, and the dark, deep pupils shone with a faint glimmer of light. He nodded slightly and said to Xiao Ling'er: "Add oil!"

  "Hmm!"

  ……

  For half a year, Xiaoling has been working very hard. Seeing the test of her fellow disciples in front of her, Xiaoling believes that this time, she will at least be able to rank in the middle. Of course, this is only if they are ranked solely by their martial artist level.

  When Xiao Xiang Ling stepped onto the stage, in a corner of the eastern viewing platform, a middle-aged man with an elegant aura and a middle-aged woman who still had some charm and resembled Little Spirit, lost their initial composure and calmness, gazing intently at Little Spirit with a hint of excitement.

  "Husband, Ling'er has lost even more weight... it's all your fault..."

  "This... madam, how would I know this girl is as stubborn as you were back then..."

  "What did you say?" asked the middle-aged beautiful woman with a frown.

  "Nothing... I didn't say anything. Alright, Ling'er is going to start testing now..."

  ……

  "Eight-grade martial artist, please instruct me!"

  Xiao Ling'er, after exerting her full strength to stimulate the yuan force in her dantian, emitted waves of white yuan force from her eyes and palms, saying softly.

  "Hmm, not bad... Xiang Ling is it? Ranked 98th, relatively poor foundation, half a year's time, able to reach 8th rank warrior, looks like you've put in some effort, quite good, keep it up... continue to cultivate diligently!" The rarely speaking family head Xiao Ding, at this moment, gazed at Little Ling with a slight smile, with a hint of praise.

  This made many of the Xiao family disciples feel astonished and envious. Especially some of the disciples who performed much better than Xiaoling, felt a bit resentful, why did the master praise her?

  "The host has given me an award, thank you!" Xiaoling said in a low voice, after bowing and cupping her hands, she walked down from the stage, just in time to meet Chen Huan.

  Chen Hao naturally and gently patted Xiaoling's head, saying "Little girl, you're making good progress, very good..." before quickly stepping up onto the stage.

  Xiao Ling'er touched her own head in a daze, and the host praised her for not having any feelings. Although she had been to Xiao's house for half a year, she hadn't seen the host even once, but she wasn't unfamiliar with him. On the contrary, Chen Huan's casual movement made Xiao Ling'er's small face suddenly turn bright red...

  Xiao Ling'er pouted, clearly dissatisfied with Chen Huan calling her Xiao Yatou.

  But between the lines, Xiaoling felt that Chen Huan, although of the same age as herself, seemed to have grown much older, a feeling that was not present when she first met him but emerged later. Xiaoling couldn't understand why she had this strange feeling. Moreover, after Chen Huan's return this time, the feeling became even more pronounced...

  The calm and composed aura on Chen Hao's body, especially his eyes, made him stand out from his peers.

  "This handsome little guy, isn't he the one who was with the old ancestor of the Xiao family? He seems to have a good relationship with our Ling'er... How can he be ranked last? Not even as good as our Ling'er..." The middle-aged beautiful woman asked in a puzzled tone, leaning close to the elegant middle-aged man's ear.

  "Just listen to what people around you are saying and you'll know." The refined middle-aged man said in a low voice.

  At this moment, as Chen Huan stepped onto the stage, the entire martial arts arena also began to buzz with discussion. When he arrived with Xiao Lao, some people who had rushed back from afar started inquiring about Chen Huan's situation. Now, throughout the entire martial arts arena, there were probably only a few people who didn't know of Chen Huan.

  There are various views on this, some say Chen Huan is ignorant of the height of heaven and the thickness of the earth, some pity him, and some admire Chen Huan's fearless and courageous spirit. However, whether it is praise or criticism, they all acknowledge one fact: Chen Huan must die.

  ……

  Chen Hao walked onto the stage, under everyone's gaze, without cheers or applause, only murmurs of discussion.

  But Chen Hao didn't seem to mind at all, his clear and handsome face showed no emotional fluctuations, that calmness, even indifference, made people like Xiao Lao and Chairman Xiao Ding on the stage feel quite surprised, this was a demeanor and aura that completely did not match his age...

  Especially when it is clear that a life-and-death battle with Xiao Jihan is inevitable.

  "Good luck, Xianghao!"

  But just then, a loud shout came from Xiaoling. Xiaoling also knew that she would attract many people's attention by doing so, although she didn't like the feeling, but looking at Chen Huan's calm face, it made her feel deeply in her heart that Chen Huan was very lonely, especially when thinking of the life-and-death battle that Chen Huan was about to face, this feeling became even stronger...

  So she plucked up the courage and shouted it out loud. Even if everyone looked down on Chen Huan, he was still her friend, not for anything else, she just wanted Chen Huan to know that there was still her supporting him...

  "Go for it, little brother!"

  Almost at the same time, Xue Jiyuan's voice also sounded.

  (Second update. More than 900,000 characters... The recommendation votes are really not enough... Brothers, is this all our power? Please, I know everyone likes more than one book, but I sincerely hope that during Wu Shan's new book period, give some support, recommendation votes, and temporarily vote for Wu Shan, please...)