Chapter 44: When the storm is coming

The hut was not large, only about 20 square meters, with dim candlelight. I could only see a bed, a table, a chair, and a small iron door on the side wall.

The people who went in before me never came out. I guessed that they must have entered the so-called hole through this small iron door.

“Hey, what are you looking at? Write your name and go in through there. The next person is waiting to come in.” An impatient voice rang in my ear, mixed with the sound of ghostly wailing, just like a horror movie scene.

The sound of the ghostly wailing came from behind the iron door, and the impatient voice was that of the owner of the hut, an old man with unkempt hair, who was now peeling peanuts one by one at the table, looking impatient.

I was very surprised that he was right in front of me, but I had a feeling that I couldn’t remember his face.

Although I was puzzled, this was not something I wanted to explore at the moment. I just felt that there were really people who could live in such an environment. Under his urging, I simply picked up my pen and wrote down my new name—Chu Ming. I just felt a little uncomfortable from the bottom of my heart.

After I signed my name, the old man was throwing a peanut into his mouth, enjoying it with his eyes narrowed. I didn’t bother to care what he was doing, and turned to walk towards the iron gate.

“Interesting, he wouldn’t even use his real name here. If he really joined a martial arts school, would he use a fake name for the rest of his life?” The old man’s voice came from behind me.

My spine stiffened and I stopped. How did he know? But I didn’t turn around, and I didn’t say anything. It would have been wrong to say anything at that moment.

“I said someone signed their name, but the strokes all have a hint of guilt. Forget it, just go inside. It’s none of my business.” The old man suddenly sounded bored and lazy, letting me go in.

I was so eager to do so that I quickly walked over, opened the cold iron gate, and walked quickly inside, but I didn’t realize that the old man’s simple words had made me inexplicably break out in a cold sweat. This invisible pressure is really powerful, right? But at that time, I didn’t think about it at all.

After entering the iron gate, there was a passage of bluestone. It felt naturally cold, but after experiencing so much, this kind of cold that could originally invade the soul had no effect on me. I walked in the passage very easily, but in less than a minute, I entered the cave.

At the moment I entered the cave, I already saw at least five visible evil spirits with hideous appearances. If an ordinary person were here, I estimate that in just one moment, the yang fire they carry would be extinguished from fright. It is already very impressive that someone can hold on without fainting.

The people who had entered the cave were now scattered in every corner, but they were all near the entrance, not too deep in. Some were struggling to hold on, while others were relaxed.

Among the two or three people who were relaxed, there was Wei Yu.

It was dark in the cave, and I couldn’t see his expression clearly. I only saw him turning around and around, and knew that he had carried the fierce ghosts in the cave without using any “strength,” and that even the fierce ghosts were avoiding him.

I thought about this big-hearted guy for a moment, and suddenly I felt that he was really a bit mysterious. But I didn’t think about it further because I didn’t want to get too close to him.

Before I knew it, more people had entered the cave. I didn’t want to be too conspicuous, and I didn’t want Wei Yu to find me, so I chose a corner to stand.

Because of the presence of Silly Tiger, my soul was unusually strong, and the ghosts were too afraid to come near me. But in order to keep a low profile, I looked at the time and desperately suppressed Silly Tiger, letting its soul energy hide deeper. Finally, a few ghosts floated over, two of them were still visible.

They quickly surrounded me, and the one closest to me looked at me with sympathy.

I was happy about this, and quickly made a show of being in a state of great danger, struggling to do so, and pretending to make a hand gesture to ward off evil spirits. I muttered to myself, even though these evil spirits could not confuse me at all, let alone possess me.

In this way, I pretended to be in a “stuck” state with the evil spirits, occasionally letting them invade and occasionally forcing them out. Ten minutes passed very quickly, and I calculated that I had delayed for another two minutes before going out.

Ten minutes is too long, and too short. Twelve minutes is a little bad, but definitely not too conspicuous.

After all, the ghosts are ghosts. The occasional intrusion also made my whole body cold. When I went out, my face was inevitably pale, and my lips were probably also pale. I received my own certificate from the old man, and I was able to get away with it.

It was an iron plaque with a unique pattern on it, which was similar to the runes on the talisman issued by the Snow Mountain Sect. I pretended to cherish it and put it in my breast pocket with joy, ready to leave.

At this moment, the old man said, “You’re so incompetent?”

I pretended to be indignant and looked at the old man. The old man waved impatiently and said, “I was wrong. Get out of here, get out of here.”

I have to say that this old man was very rude compared to the man in white, but it was easier to deal with him. After all, his emotions were very direct, and I was a little worried about the man in white. I always felt that he knew something, and I wondered if that would interfere with my plan.

When I went out, there were already quite a few people waiting on the platform. From their expressions, I could tell that most of them had been eliminated, and only a few had qualified.

I stood there waiting, and my body temperature slowly began to return to normal. The man in the white robe came over to me again, as if he hadn’t noticed me.

“Did you get the voucher?” he asked with a smile.

“Luckily, I was lucky,” I answered carefully.

“Sometimes, being too careful can actually be a sign of concealment,” he said with a smile. I looked at him in confusion, but he said, “Forget it. Remember the rules, and I don’t really care about the rest. It’s just human curiosity.”

After saying that, he left. Looking at his back, I thought to myself, if it really was just curiosity, then that would be fine.

In the end, we waited on the platform for more than an hour before we could go up. The reason for the delay was Wei Yu, who had been in the cave for so long.

After he came out, he proudly shouted, “I was the last one to come out of the cave! I was the last one!”

I looked at him speechlessly. Is this kind of person completely without guile? Or is he too deep-seated? But in any case, this kind of showboating is something I would never do if it wasn’t necessary.

We were led up by the white-robed man. Because we had passed, we didn’t return to our previous seats, but were instead led to a row of seats in front of the arena. Here is where all the people who wanted to challenge the arena were located, sitting next to the people from the martial arts schools. It was obvious that those guys looked down on the people.

Wei Yu sat next to me and muttered, probably because he was not convinced. I didn’t think much about it, just waiting quietly for my chance to go on stage, which would probably take a long time.

In the midst of boredom, I began to watch the challenges of the disciples of those sects. Because I have experienced so much, such challenges are mostly unremarkable to me. After all, those who respond to the challenge generally use a maximum of six points of ability according to the unspoken rules. What is there to see in such a challenge?

Only five of the challenges were slightly more interesting for a while, as the challengers were forced to use their full strength, and they were relatively more exciting. There was no doubt that the five were chosen by the ten major forces.

I was looking forward to seeing Han and Zheng Mingyi fight, but they never showed up, not even once. This was a bit disappointing.

Time passed by minute by minute, and soon it was evening. The challenges of the martial arts disciples finally came to an end, and a total of 17 people were selected.

The conference came to a temporary end at this time, and it was announced that there would be a one-hour break for everyone to eat or whatever, and we, as challengers from the general public, would be treated to a free and sumptuous meal.

I also found it funny that Wei Yu, who was sitting next to me, fell asleep at the moment the break was announced. A string of saliva hung at the corner of his mouth. Was he that bored?

An hour passed quickly, and people returned to the venue one after another. The white-robed person in charge of leading us came to inform us once again that we were ready to go on stage.

I gently clenched my fists. According to my plan, I would be the first to go on stage, because I didn’t want to waste any more time. But at this moment, Wei Yu jumped up, his eyes shining, and shouted, “Has it started? I want to be the first to go up! I want to win today’s ‘champion’!”