Journey Of An Unknown - Chapter 21
In the reception hall for the cultivators who had registered with a backer were waiting for the open rounds to end so they could start the main tournament.
Xinling and Ruozhen were looking around with worried and panicked faces. Zou Shen had not yet arrived at the Grand Arena. Ruozhen had even asked to double check if someone by the name of
Zou Shen had come to the entrance to get themselves in after relaying their identity.
While they were worried about Zou Shen, others in the reception hall were checking them out. Many young geniuses and talents were looking at the beautiful Xinling, as they had not seen her before.
Even other backers from clans and sects who came with their disciples were surprised to see a new face like Xinling for the first time. They were also surprised that her backer was the Ren Clan who people were watching very closely due to the Iron Mountain Empire being on the brink of a civil war.
The person who was her backer was the fifth elder of the of Ren Clan Ren Ruozhen. It made others look at Xinling not as a beauty but also as someone who might be a hidden dragon who had just shown herself to the world of cultivation.
Xinling worried face made her look even more beautiful. Many geniuses had tried talking to her only to be given the cold shoulder. They sadly went back to their previous spot with rejected hearts.
Xiaoshan was in the reception hall also took notice of Xinling as when she looked at her, she was reminded of her younger self. She was also surprised that the Ren Clan had brought a beauty like Xinling to the selection tournament.
Soon she a heard cheeky voice beside her teasing, “Are you still thinking about that beggar mortal sister Xiaoshan.”
There was another beauty next to Xiaoshan and Elder Chang who was just enjoying his tea quietly.
She was also beautiful to look at, only when comparing the two they would see she was more boyish than Xiaoshan lessening her beauty when compared to the more feminine Xiaoshan.
Still she was beautiful nonetheless, she had bright eyes, short hair and a tomboyish charm that made butterflies flutter inside others when they saw her smile brightly. She was a childhood friend of Luo Xiaoshan and already entered the Red Rain sect as the core disciple of the current sect leader.
She had come to cheer for her dear sister Xiaoshan. Elder Chang had already filled her in on their journey and how they had met Zou Shen. She had not stopped teasing Xiaoshan ever since thinking she had fallen in love.
Xiaoshan reached towards the beauty and pulled her cheeks as punishment. “What did I tell you before miss Qin Xieren, it is not like that. I just found him interesting. Even Zhou Hanrong is interesting do you think I fall in love with every interesting person I see.”
Xieren pulled away her face from Xiaoshan’s hand. She rubbed her beautiful cheeks while she looked at Xiaoshan.
“Sister Xiaoshan you will die a single lady if you keep being cold to others, even your father is worried about if you will ever present him an heir. Elder Chang can back me up on this.”
Elder Chang hearing his name come up looked elsewhere as he wasn’t even here. The Luo clan was indeed worried about Xiaoshan cold attitude to others. Her father dearly loved her and was overprotective of her but even he knew she had to marry someday and provide an heir for the Luo clan.
Xiaoshan to reply was she would just adopt someone to be her son or daughter and make them the clan heir. She didn’t need to marry to bear an heir, she could just kidnap or adopt one. No one in the
Luo clan could force her to do anything anyway, not even her father. She was a true star of the Luo
clan; her strength and beauty were enough to shut anyone up.
Xieren looking at the cold attitude gave up teasing her, Xiaoshan would stop being her friend if she continued to push her to the limit. She instead looked at the direction where Xiaoshan was looking at.
She also saw Xinling and her beauty, surprising her. She looked back and forth between Xinling and Xiaoshan trying to see if they were both related somehow. She had never heard of or seen Xinling before.
She looked at Xiaoshan asking her in a doubtful tone, “Sister Xiaoshan are you sure that girl and you are not related, the level of both your beauties is strikingly similar making me put my head down in defeat.”
Elder Chang also looked at Xinling and was surprised. He was more surprised to see Ren Ruozhen next to her.
“That girl has the backing of Ren Clan she does not look like a simple beauty. They even sent the fifth elder of the Ren Clan to accompany her. Even with all that is happening in their empire they sent an elder like Ruozhen to accompany her.” Elder Chang informed them as he looked towards Xinling and Ruozhen.
Xiaoshan and Xieren were both surprised by this information, they both knew the strength Ren Clan, Red Rain sect and Luo clan both owed Ren Clan. Also Ren Clan had Lord Ren Song, only the cultivators of the Immortal Realm could challenge him.
They looked at Xinling again, not as someone beautiful but someone who was a strong cultivator. If Xiaoshan met her the tournament it would be best not to underestimate her.
Zhou Hanrong was just sitting quietly and doing nothing. He had looked at everyone in the hall, none had caught his attention. His extreme handsomeness made talking to him very difficult for others. It was a like he was shining brightly forcing others to look away lest the reflection of him in their eyes taint his handsome look.
He came alone to this selection tournament the same as some of the fighters. His backer was the great Red Rain empire itself. He was younger than Xiaoshan by one year being 17.
He looked cold on the outside, but he was a very shy person. This was one of the reasons no one knew of him before his cultivation soared and had given him the title of Sleeping Dragon. More than the news of his cultivation speed being surprising it was his handsomeness which surprised everyone, how did such a person remain hidden from the world for a very long time confused everyone. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com www.webnovel.com for visiting.
Later they knew how he never went out of his room only cultivating non-stop. His father the emperor had even dragged him out many times for his own birthday celebration. Later they just celebrated in his room as he grew up. He only left the palace when he had made a breakthrough in his cultivation, with his cultivation speed increasing quickly. He was a certified cultivating freak, even beauties could not take his mind off cultivation.
He also had a secret that had helped his cultivation soar so quickly and increase his strength in the past two years. Spreading his name throughout the region, it was a ring he wore around his neck with the soul of a very strong cultivator of a bygone ancient era helping him. The ring was given to him by his mother, who had passed away when he was just a child.
Xinling didn’t look at Xiaoshan or Zhou Hanrong. Ruozhen was in panic mode standing beside him, Lord Ren Song would eat him alive if anything happened to Zou Shen.
Soon the large doors to the reception hall opened and a member of the Red Rain sect entered as he apologized to the people in the hall.
“We apologize for making you young prodigies wait for such a long time. The open round has finally ended and we have the winners from each group.”
The first one to enter was the winner of group D Tian Xinfan, then the winner of Group of C and B entered.
Zou Shen was the very last one to enter, he had asked to be last one to enter as he wanted to look around to see the people in the hall.
He had already found Xinling and Ruozhen being worried that they didn’t care to look their way. Xiaoshan was not interested in winners of open round to even look at the direction of the door. No one was interested, they were considered weaklings who would not get very far in the main tournament.
The member of the Red Rain sect looked towards the open round winners and spoke in an unenthusiastic tone.
“Quickly introduce yourselves and try not to bother people.”
Tian Xinfan was angry, but he was familiar with the arrogance these geniuses and talents had as he was once one of them. The other two winners were also angry but even they could not do anything.
They thought of themselves as strong cultivators to reach this far on their own.
Then a loud calm voice entered their ears from behind, “You don’t need to worry about their arrogance or think about their interest in your or not. Just focus on yourself and the tournament ahead. Take pride in your weakness and humility in your strength. I will introduce myself first as no one is interested in my weak self.” Zou Shen spoke as he walked forward.
“My name is Zou Shen, please guide me as I am new to the world of cultivation. I hope you don’t forget this average person.” He smiled and introduced himself loud and clear for everyone to hear in the hall.
Xinling and Ruozhen were the first ones to recognize his voice as they looked towards the direction of the voice to discover Zou Shen smiling while his eyes were closed in meditation. Both were relieved to see him again; it was like a mountain of worry was swept away in an instant.
Xiaoshan was a second late as she only recognized the voice by the way it was spoken. Elder Shang only recognized Zou Shen when looked towards the door when he heard his introduction.
Zhou Hanrong also got up from his seat as he heard the voice from his ring. ‘He is very dangerous, avoid fighting him at all costs if you want to live in this world. I cannot see through his cultivation he looks like a mortal, but I feel deep fear trying to sense him.’
He tried to spiritual sense on Zou Shen but didn’t find out anything, he realized what the soul in his ring said was true. It had never shown fear even when he met a hidden Immortal Cultivator, the soul in the ring was arrogant and prideful looking down on the cultivators of this era.
Every genius and prodigal talent in the hall also looked towards Zou Shen as they heard clearly talks about their arrogance telling the other winners of the open round to not care about their opinions. It really affected their arrogance and pride, they looked towards Zou Shen with hate and scorn.
They had already marked him to beat him senseless if they came across him in the tournament. The backers were also moved a bit as someone had the gall to openly poke at their clan and sects’ disciples. Some were impressed while others wanted to teach Zou Shen a lesson.
He moved aside to make way for Tian Xinfan and the other two winners to introduce themselves.
They were moved by his words and now their introductions carrier pride in the strength they had achieved not caring about what others thought.
Zou Shen was smiling calmly while standing aside, he knew many were trying to kill him with stares right now.
‘If words can easily affect you idiots so much, you will never achieve anything great in your life. Reaching only this much strength and thinking you can afford the price of arrogance and pride in this world, too naïve.’
