Murong Ci's dangerous aura instantly put Bai Jun and Xiao Lin on high alert.
Watching Murong Ci and Bai Lian leave quickly, Bai Jun's expression grew serious.
This small banquet turned out to be a gathering of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. There are still such powerful martial artists in this world?
No wonder it's called the King of Hell Palace...
Xiao Lin breathed a sigh of relief. If it were before, he wouldn't have taken the other party so seriously.
After all, he was not only a genius but also had the Dragon King Jade's boost. He was sure to surpass the other party in no time.
But now, the most important factor that enhanced his cultivation speed was gone.
Although his cultivation speed was still faster than that of ordinary martial artists, it was like comparing heaven and earth to what it used to be.
So...
Xiao Lin's eyes burned with fervor as he looked at Bai Qionglan. He could feel that there was something on her that was of the same origin as his Dragon King Jade.
That means, the other half of the Dragon King Jade is indeed on her!
And he could also sense that Bai Qionglan had no aura of cultivation, in other words, the Jade's greatest effect was useless to her.
Bai Qionglan also felt Xiao Lin's gaze. She frowned, her eyes showing intense disgust.
Bai Jun noticed this too. His expression turned cold as he blocked Xiao Lin's view of Bai Qionglan: "Xiao Lin, I warn you, don't have any crooked thoughts about my sister."
Xiao Lin realized he was being too obvious and quickly retracted his gaze, apologizing: "Sorry, sorry."
He couldn't directly say that Bai Qionglan had what he wanted.
After all, Bai Jun could cultivate. If he found out the Dragon King Jade could accelerate cultivation and took it away, that would be disastrous.
He couldn't afford to lose another Dragon King Jade.
Before leaving the mountain, his masters had told him:
【Lin'er, you are the key to saving the world. Go find the other half of the Dragon King Jade and unite the Dragon King Palace! Find them, and they can help you control the power within your body!】
【Lin'er, you are the chosen one of prophecy. Your masters believe you will succeed.】
Master...
Xiao Lin recalled his masters' teachings in his mind. He must not disappoint them!
The Dragon King Jade must be his!
Since Xiao Lin was facing away from Shen Wan'er, she didn't see his gaze when he looked at Bai Qionglan.
She only felt the atmosphere getting more tense and turned to Gu Yan, saying: "Gu Yan, I'll be leaving first. You guys chat."
Without waiting for Gu Yan's response, she quickly left.
She was afraid Bai Jun might get angry and attack her here.
Seeing this, Xiao Lin quickly followed.
After Shen Wan'er and Xiao Lin left, the atmosphere around Gu Yan eased a bit.
Gu Yan was still a bit confused. He couldn't understand why the seemingly emotionless Murong Ci from the original story suddenly approached him.
However, strange as it was, there was no denying that Murong Ci was the strongest in the organization and also the most loyal and stable member.
Suddenly, Gu Yan thought of something.
His heart sank. Bai Lian was alone at the banquet.
Most likely, she had charmed some man to get in.
But if Murong Ci was also here, the situation was different.
Every time Murong Ci was deployed, it meant Leng Qingqiu had issued an extremely important order.
An order that absolutely could not fail.
That means, Gu Yan subtly glanced at everyone at the banquet.
Many members of the Night Organization had infiltrated here.
Some disguised as waiters, others like Bai Lian, posing as scions of great families.
What were their goals? The same as in the original story?! To control the King of Hell Palace?
Gu Yan felt a headache coming on. He had thought that since Leng Qingqiu's eyes hadn't recovered, she couldn't do what she did in the original story.
But now it seemed that wasn't the case.
It's all the fault of the original author. The antagonist's plot and background were described too vaguely.
Often when reading, like this minor antagonist had Leng Qingqiu's shadow behind them, how did Leng Qingqiu control them?
Sorry, the book didn't write it, readers had to guess.
Leading to him knowing only basic information, not understanding how Leng Qingqiu controlled the King of Hell Palace in the original story, or why she kept controlling one force after another to target the protagonist group.
The reason for targeting Xiao Lin might be because Xiao Lin killed Leng Ling'er, but what about the others? In the original story, many of Xiao Lin's harem were attacked by Leng Qingqiu's forces before meeting Xiao Lin.
Damn lazy author, didn't bother to describe the antagonist's side!
Tsk, think, think more.
There must be some key factor.
Just as Gu Yan seemed to be about to figure something out...
"Gu Yan, are you interested in joining the military?"
Bai Jun walked over, smiling.
With Shen Wan'er and the others gone, he naturally didn't need to put on a bad face anymore.
Join the military?
Gu Yan was taken aback, snapping out of his thoughts. He looked at Bai Jun's smiling face.
He immediately understood. Bai Jun's suggestion to join the military probably meant he wanted Gu Yan to join the martial artists' department.
Did his earlier display of strength make Bai Jun think he was a martial artist?
Just as he was about to refuse, but...
Gu Yan seemed to think of something and instead of refusing or agreeing, he vaguely said: "Joining the military, I'll consider it."
Upon hearing this, Leng Ling'er panicked. If Gu Yan joined the military, there would be no man left in the house!
"No way! Brother-in-law, you can't join the military! What will my sister and I do without you!"
Leng Ling'er immediately protested, then glared at Bai Jun: "Hey! Glasses fish, why are you giving my brother-in-law such a bad idea!"
"Ling'er sister~ My brother is such a bad guy, he always comes back and takes someone away to join the military."
"Everyone refuses, but he still drags them away."
Bai Qionglan also hugged Leng Ling'er's arm, selling out her brother.
Bai Jun's mouth twitched. This girl, just now she was shouting how much she loved her brother!
Ah, she was so cute when she was little.
However, out here, it's rare to meet a talent he likes.
He didn't want to give up, so he said to Gu Yan: "Gu Yan, let's talk somewhere else."
Gu Yan nodded: "Sure."
...
...
Arriving at a corner of the banquet.
Bai Jun got straight to the point: "Gu Yan, do you know that in this world, besides ordinary people, there are also beings called Ancient Martial Artists?"
He said this directly because he thought, as the sole heir of the top family in Jiang Hai, Gu Yan wouldn't be kept in the dark about the existence of martial artists or at least some information about them.
Of course, Bai Jun was wrong. Because in the original story, Gu Yan was indeed well-protected and didn't know anything about martial artists.
This led to Gu Yan dying as a powerless waste.
"I know, but what does that have to do with recruiting me into the military?"
Gu Yan smiled faintly: "You're not going to say that you saw my martial talent and want to recruit me into your martial artists' department, right?"
Bai Jun's face showed a hint of embarrassment upon hearing this. He indeed wanted to say that.
Seeing that Gu Yan knew everything, he didn't pretend to be mysterious anymore and continued: "Exactly as you thought."
"When you taught Xie Zhilan a lesson earlier, you should have noticed your strength was quite unusual, right?"
Gu Yan thought for a moment and replied: "I also work out regularly."
Bai Jun: "?"
Working out obviously can't shatter marble! Are you the devil's muscle man or something?!
Bai Jun almost cursed out loud. He took a deep breath, pushed his glasses, and said with a smile: "Hehe, that has nothing to do with working out."
"It's very likely that you've awakened your internal energy."
"Awakened internal energy?"
Gu Yan pretended to be puzzled.
Bai Jun patiently explained: "This is a phenomenon, or rather a conclusion, our Ancient Martial Artists' department has discovered in recent decades."
"A long time ago, we always believed that if one wanted to become a martial artist, they had to follow the steps and study the ancient texts left by our ancestors to cultivate genuine qi."
"But in recent decades, this idea has been overturned because..."
At this point, Bai Jun's tone became a bit excited as he looked at Gu Yan: "We discovered that some ordinary people, under certain circumstances, can spontaneously awaken genuine qi within their bodies!"
"Thus becoming natural martial artists!! One of the main tasks of our department is to find these spontaneously awakened natural martial artists and bring them back for training."
"To become heroes who maintain social stability!"
Hearing this, Gu Yan nodded: "So, I am what you call a pure natural martial artist?"

lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...

't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.

grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)

] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"