Light Cultivation
Eps. 37 — Step Alone
The arrival of Jian Chen and Meily to the camp made everyone's eyes fixed on the two.
Because they realized Meily was not in the tent all night but unexpectedly was the Snow Lotus Goddess who came along with a man.
Ziyun was the first to ask, why they could go alone. Meily only explained that she was practicing the sword together with Jian Chen.
The explanation was enough to make people who heard it surprised, they all realized that Niu Meily disliked being with men the most.
Jian Chen felt all the people's gazes on him especially among the men, they looked resentful towards Jian Chen for daring to be close to the Goddess.
Jian Chen smiled awkwardly, he turned his head to Ziyun and Meily who were chatting.
“Nona Ziyun, Sister Meily, then I leave..”.
“For a while, where are you going?” Ziyun asked.
“I have to get to my faxes, they might still be waiting for me back so I can't make them worry any further.”
“You've got a clue where your fax is now?”
Jian Chen nodded, glancing at Meily who was beside him.
Previously Jian Chen had explained many things to Meily on the way, starting from her academy disciple until she joined the Two Swords faction.
Jian Chen explained that he was with Ziyun's entourage and was also separated from his faction. Meily was surprised to hear it all especially in the part of Jian Chen who joined the lower ranked faction.
Fortunately Meily had apparently encountered the Two Swords faction two days before, they were moving towards the hill in the middle of the Lonely Forest.
After knowing that, Jian Chen planned to go and look for his faction back.
“So, yes, thank goodness..” Ziyun smiled then turned to the deer that was being roasted by the campfire. “I can't hold you but at least you eat first before leaving.”
There are plenty of food besides venison, the all-female Meily campground even cooks soups and curries.
“Eat first here, my faxes have cooked a lot of good things. Maybe you'll like?” Meily came along and hoped Jian Chen would accept it.
Meily's words made everyone in the camp shocked even Ziyun though.
Ziyun as her little best friend never saw Meily the attention of the opposite sex, this was arguably the first time. Ziyun became curious, what the two did until the relationship became like this.
Jian Chen thought for a while before finally nodding, he was also indeed feeling hungry.
The morning meal felt different because all points of view were directed at one table. Especially men, they put jealousy on Jian Chen who ate together with the two beautiful women.
“Who is that man, why is the Snow Goddess so considerate of him?”
“Say he was the one who hitched a ride with Miss Ziyun here. He got lost because he parted with his faction.”
“Their relationship is close enough? I never expected Chairman Ziyun to be familiar with him either.”
“Not only Chairman Ziyun but Chairman Meily follows too. This young man must have an unusual status.”
The whispers of the Snow Lotus faction members crept out like the buzzing of bees, all of the women were so curious about the man sitting with the Chief of his faction. As followers of Meily for a long time, of course they know the character of the chairman.
Jian Chen did not care about the whispers, he focused on immediately finishing his meal.
When he was done, Jian Chen escorted Ziyun and Meily a few meters away from the camp. Jian Chen bade back at the two while thanking Ziyun for letting herself be with her faction in some time.
“Then see you again at the Academy.” Jian Chen turned his back and prepared to leave but Meily suddenly held him back.
“Wait a minute! I've made you this box.”.
Far away, Meily stared at the young man's back, in fact she felt too short of meeting Jian Chen yet she also could not help it, at least Meily had known the young man's identity.
“Ehm! Looks like someone drunk misses.” Ziyun whispered near Meily's ear, smiling to tease her.
“K-Kak Ziyun..” Meily was slightly misbehaved as she looked towards Jian Chen's departure for so long.
“Husshh, relax, don't be shy.” Ziyun chuckled, “It looks like he is the young man you met at the waterfall wasn't he?”
Meily nodded, her face flushed red.
“Just right he can fight a bunch of rats own land, it turns out he is not a young man carelessly.” Mumbled Ziyun quietly.
“I mean Brother Ziyun, Jian Chen is the one who killed the mole of rats himself?”
“Yes, and I'm sure that man is actually stronger than I saw. Although I helped him while he was being cornered, Jian Chen looked not exhausted at all.” Ziyun suspected that Jian Chen could actually kill the horde of earth rats by himself.
“Despite his abilities, why would he want to join the bottom faction. With his strength, Jian Chen could have joined Liu Yanyi's faction or at least joined the 10 strongest factions.”.
Ye Ziyun was not sure that he would win against Jian Chen especially since he could not read the young man's cultivation. Moreover, Jian Chen was a new disciple, he did not expect his strength to match the top 10 ranked disciples.
***
Five kilometers away from the encampment, Jian Chen had already obtained 20 gems after killing a herd of wild boars that had become stealth.
Jian Chen slightly lied about he was going to look for his faction, to be exact was not entirely true. Jian Chen might be going to the Two Swords faction but that later, Jian Chen's initial intention was just to travel by himself.
The reason he had been with Ziyun for some time only wanted to recognize the situation about the other factions as well as the state of this competition.
It turns out that the demons in the Silent Forest on average are far from the estimation of the participants, some of them told of having met demons hundreds of years ago, which means that this competition is more difficult in the previous year.
‘What academy elders realize this competition is very dangerous for the students?’
Jian Chen sighed softly, hoping that Miou Yue and the others would be okay. Jian Chen was running between the branches of the tree until he suddenly realized that something was approaching him.
“Hm? There's another demon? It seemed like the Silent Forest was indeed rich in demons.” Jian Chen stopped his steps on one branch, he turned his head to one direction point.
A 2-meter-long white gorilla was shortly in sight, swinging nimbly and landing before Jian Chen. The white gorilla has hard muscles in his chest and hands, blue eyes and sharp fangs.
The white gorilla looked at Jian Chen for a moment before shouting and banging his chest, Jian Chen felt that the gorilla was angry with him.
Sure enough, a few seconds later the white gorilla jumped up, giving Jian Chen a fists firmly.
Simultaneously, Jian Chen used his fists until the two fists clashed. Jian Chen or the white gorilla both retreated a few steps.
“You turned out to be stronger than I thought.”Jian Chen smiled wryly when he felt the power of the gorilla. The gorilla roared furiously, then gave Jian Chen another fist. “Oh, you want to pit against power..”.
This time Jian Chen put deep energy into his right hand, when the two fists clashed, the white gorilla bounced quite a distance while Jian Chen only retreated two steps away from him.
“This girl is almost 100 years old.” Jian Chen smiled thinly, even though using his inner strength he was still bouncing backwards.
Jian Chen was about to come forward to kill the demon but his steps came to a halt when a boisterous sound approached him. The voice appeared to coincide with 20 white gorillas moving towards him, besieging Jian Chen from all sides.
When they saw his leader get injured all the gorillas roared loudly as well as furiously at Jian Chen.
Jian Chen smiled wryly as he was surrounded, the group of gorillas were on average over 50 years old.
“Mm...Can we forget this incident?” Jian Chen smiled awkwardly, asking the gorilla which actually made them roar even more furiously. “I think that means no...”