Chapter 40: If I really can't win, will you step in to bail me out?

The scene was a chaotic mess.

Tang Shuo walked up to Li Nian. "Is everyone alright?"

Li Nian shook his head, then balled his hand into a fist and playfully jabbed Tang Shuo’s shoulder. "Thanks for handling the aftermath, brother. I’m going to take them back for a medical check-up."

Two of them had sustained serious injuries.

Li Nian had initially intended to say something to Xu Zhiting, but seeing the two of them not far off, looking so naturally and perfectly matched, he realized an outsider could hardly wedge a word in.

Yan Ye coughed lightly and shifted to the side.

"Compared to you, what am I? You dared to take such a huge risk selling it, so why wouldn’t I dare to buy it?" Anthony replied with a curl of his lip, listening to his old friend.

It seemed their alliance could still hold; the union formed by the four major guilds—Sentiment, Future Century, Dragon Soars Century, and Dragon Soars the World—was immensely powerful.

"Is there some sort of change in my body?" Chu Tianyu couldn't help but examine himself, but to his disappointment, he discovered nothing.

With the three of them working in tandem, the bulges vanished completely in less than half an hour. With a thunderous boom, the ripples on the mountainside suddenly dissipated, revealing a semi-circular cave hidden behind them.

"Heh, that’s assuming he can survive the Jing River Dragon King. Back when the Dragon King churned the seas and overturned rivers, chasing waves to the nine heavens and flooding Kunlun, it was a truly fearsome sight. As long as he remains in the Jing River, he will forever be under the Dragon King's dominion," the deity of Cuiping Mountain said with a light chuckle.

Those closer to him called out the moment Li Chen turned his head, their voices laced with both worry and a hint of distance. Li Chen’s gaze drifted past them, falling upon the thick, swirling snowflakes outside the temple—a scene that remained unchanged for a thousand years at Luofu.

Although the Wind and Rain Pavilion was nothing more than a roof overhead, Yan Luoniang felt not a single breeze; the inside and outside of the pavilion felt like two different worlds.

Long Yuntian’s body, however, was the complete opposite; it was pale, having shed all of the terrifying and peculiar colors from before.

Just then, Old Man Song San walked up, his back hunched, carrying liquor in one hand and beef in the other. He glanced at Long Tianwei but said nothing, setting the food and drink on the table before turning to leave.

Several days later, the Great Red Shrimp returned from Mount Qianluo. He reported to Chen Jing that a green vine near the hut where the Goddess of Mount Qianluo practiced had attained sentience and possessed formidable magic; it had bound him for a full day and night before allowing him to leave the mountain.

Murong Changqing felt his fists itching. He had never been this physically close to anyone—except, of course, for Yumi.

"If you like it, just look at it more." Qin Heng said this in a flat tone, pulled his hand away from her tight grip, and headed straight for the bathroom.

A man in a dark blue long coat stepped out of the car. He was tall and powerfully built, with a resolute and cold-featured face.

"Who was it that just mentioned holding a talent selection?" Li Yue glanced at the person on the dragon throne but remained silent, turning instead to look at the ministers below, her eyes seemingly capable of seeing through everything.

"You brat, did you come here with an agenda? Speak up, what is it?" Mu Yibo sighed, feeling utterly helpless against this girl.

On the way back, Xiao Tao drove again. This time, it was at Xiao Tao’s own request; he had become addicted to driving.

"Oh—!" Xiao Yiqin groaned in pain, completely caught off guard. He clutched his lower body with both hands, his face turning a deathly shade of pale.

The patrol soldier in the enemy camp was overwhelmed with sleepiness. His eyes barely open, he caught a glimpse of something but didn't realize what it was until, while mulling over the source of that red light, he suddenly snapped to full consciousness.

He hadn't felt this way before, but ever since last night, he suddenly felt as though he could no longer live without him.

The other category consisted of three hundred disciples selected through the recent examination. These disciples would be trained under the new, reformed curriculum, and they would also take an additional course called "Nature" that their two hundred peers would not.

When the bold and uninhibited Fang Yiwei was fast asleep, he looked just like a peaceful infant, his breathing steady and warm.