Translator: 549690339
Lin Zhen smiled and let go of Zhao Xiaoman. She’s quite pretty, though not as devastatingly beautiful as Su Mingyue, nor as breathtakingly gorgeous as An Ning. Still, she’s a youthful girl, so it doesn’t feel right to hug her like that.
Zhao Xiaoman didn’t seem to care. She happily ran over to the third team and made a face at them. “How about that? How about that? My Brother Lin’s curse is even more powerful than the Old Witch’s, isn’t it?”
Lin Zhen curled the corner of his mouth behind her, his face a mix of amusement and confusion.
“Coincidence, this is just a coincidence. Things like this happen all the time, don’t they? What a bullshit curse! I don’t believe it. We should still be able to get a Constant Star Crystal today. You just wait and see, Zhao Xiaoman.” “Tsk! Keep dreaming, you won’t get it.”
“Whether we get it or not, you guys definitely won’t, because there are only three of you. You can’t even form a proper team. You’ll just have to watch from the sidelines.” Team Leader Wang retaliated.
Zhao Xiaoman was a little unhappy. Their team didn’t have enough people, but it seemed unlikely that any martial artists would join them at this point. What should they do?
Lin Zhen came over at this moment and pulled Zhao Xiaoman away. “Xiao Man, don’t bother arguing with them. They won’t get anything today. I guarantee it.”
“Mmm, I believe in Brother Lin’s curse!” Zhao Xiaoman seemed to have a lot of faith in Lin Zhen’s curse.
Li Changying couldn’t help but interject, “You’re not just bluffing, are you?” “It doesn’t matter if I am or not. As long as I’m right.”
Lin Zhen left them, taking Li Changying and Zhao Xiaoman with him. He figured Jiang Huai and the others should arrive today, so he should go greet them.
As they passed the eastern side, things looked even worse there. There was only a single Constant Star Crystal, and it had been taken by the second team. Zhou Butong’s first team got nothing.
This was quite a normal occurrence. The people who set out first usually encountered the bees’ attack first as well, leaving others to pick up the spoils in their wake. Just because you hold the front position doesn’t necessarily mean you get the Star Crystal.
Lin Zhen smiled as the three of them continued on toward the entrance of the Beehive.
After eating a simple meal, they waited there.
Ever since Su Mingyue had left, Lin Zhen had not cooked for anyone.
In less than 20 minutes, they saw two figures flying towards them in the distance. It was Jiang Huai and Lou Qingfeng.
Seeing Lin Zhen at the entrance to the Beehive, Jiang Huai shouted from afar, “Idol! We’re here!”
“Wow! Brother Lin has so many fans! Brother Lin is so handsome! If I ever get married, I’ll definitely look for a boyfriend according to Brother Lin’s standard.” Zhao Xiaoman could indeed boost a man’s ego sometimes, even someone like Lin Zhen’s, making him feel slightly smug.
“Yeah, I’ll settle for that. As long as he’s as handsome as Brother Lin, just a few years younger than him, and around my age, that’ll be perfect.” As Zhao Xiaoman muttered to herself, Lin Zhen’s smile froze on his face.
At this moment, Jiang Huai and Lou Qingfeng landed in front of Lin Zhen. Jiang Huai was panting, “That Lou Qingfeng woke me up at five in the morning and insisted we come today. He was in such a hurry that I’m exhausted.”
Lou Qingfeng was also gasping for breath. “Don’t just blame me, you were just as anxious as I am! If I hadn’t stopped you yesterday, you would’ve run off already.”
Lin Zhen asked, “How’s the situation at the Ant Nest?”
Lou Qingfeng gave Lin Zhen a big thumbs-up: “Boss Lin, you’re really something! How did you convince Brother Guang? He actually gave those two guys, Ma Mingxing and Sun Tie, some Star Crystals! They all worship you like crazy now.”
“I explained everything with reason and emotion, I guess,” Lin Zhen replied nonchalantly.
“If reason and emotion were enough, we wouldn’t need martial artists like us. You’re just pulling my leg.” Lou Qingfeng didn’t believe it at all.
“I know, Brother Lin must have cursed that Brother Guang, so he’s terrified of Brother Lin from the depths of his soul.” Zhao Xiaoman understood only half of the conversation and unconditionally flattered Lin Zhen, unaware of how close her guess was to the truth.
Jiang Huai glanced at Zhao Xiaoman and then asked Lin Zhen with some surprise, “Lin Zhen, who’s this little sister…?”
“Oh, our new teammate Zhao Xiaoman, a very nice girl.” Lin Zhen replied.
Jiang Huai looked back and forth between the two, his eyes full of suspicion. Lin Zhen glared at him, “Don’t think nonsense, she’s just a little sister.”
“Oh! Then it’s fine, we can all take her as a little sister, but not you, Lin Zhen.
Remember that Su… she’s still waiting for you.”
Lin Zhen nodded. He knew the boundaries, and Zhao Xiaoman was just a little sister to him. Nothing more could happen between them.
It was then that Jiang Huai and Lou Qingfeng noticed Li Changying, and they were immediately astonished. “The Northwest War God, Li Changying?”
Li Changying was a bit annoyed, “Do you guys only have eyes for Lin Zhen and beautiful girls? Can’t my large figure standing here get some attention?”
Standing over 1.9 meters tall with a sturdy build, his presence was like an iron tower, yet he was completely overlooked. It didn’t feel good.
Jiang Huai laughed, “How could we? It’s just that you look much paler than you did two years ago, so I didn’t recognize you at first.”
After saying that, Jiang Huai turned to Lin Zhen. ‘You’re not going to tell me Li
Changying is also on our team, are you?”
“That’s right, he’s also our teammate. Starting today, our team is complete with five members. We’re now ready to take on the challenge at the Beehive.”
“That’s amazing!” Lou Qingfeng exclaimed excitedly, pumping his fist. This team’s strength was just too formidable.
Lin Zhen, Jiang Huai, and Li Changying were all top-notch martial artists, each capable of standing on their own.
Only Zhao Xiaoman’s strength might be slightly weaker. Although she had compressed her Dantian Qi by one-fold, in Lou Qingfeng’s eyes, Zhao
Xiaoman’s strength wasn’t really up to par. If she were replaced with Su Mingyue, their team would be truly invincible.
But now they had enough members, and having one more or less didn’t really matter. Lou Qingfeng was eager to challenge the Beehive nest.
“Alright, let’s get going, find Tong Huan to form a team, and once the team is formed, we’ll challenge the Beehive. Our goal for today is to get at least two Constant Star Crystals!”
Jiang Huai, Zhao Xiaoman, and Lou Qingfeng followed behind Lin Zhen as they moved forward. Lou Qingfeng, who was the last one, pulled Li Changying:
“Hey, let’s go. What are you doing?”
Li Changying was using the shiny side of the Iron Cavalry Spear as a mirror to check her reflection. After looking for a long time, she said to Lou Qingfeng, “Jiang Huai lied to me. I didn’t get any paler; I even got a bit darker.” Lou Qingfeng was speechless.
Lin Zhen and his group arrived at Tong Huan’s place, quickly formed a team with Lin Zhen as the leader.
After forming the team, Tong Huan led them to the west side of the Beehive nest.
“Members of Group Five, come forward; someone is challenging you.”
Group Five members were sitting there, waiting for Star Crystals to appear on the dirt piles. Hearing there’s a challenge, they turned their heads to see Lin Zhen’s group.
“Hey, they just formed a team, and they dare to challenge us? Great, entertainment has arrived.”
The members of Group Five stood up, smiling at Lin Zhen’s group with full confidence.
Generally speaking, newly formed teams were not very cohesive and their combat power wouldn’t be very strong.
Especially when looking at this team, Li Changying was indeed quite strong, and Zhao Xiaoman was acceptable. That was what they knew.
However, the other three didn’t seem too reliable. Lin Zhen didn’t have any compressed Dantian Qi, and Lou Qingfeng was the same. Jiang Huai was a bit better, with his Dantian Qi compressed two-fold. But compressing two-fold didn’t necessarily mean great strength. Of their group, three members had compressed their Dantian Qi two-fold, and the other two had compressed it one-fold. They seemed to be stronger than Lin Zhen’s group no matter how you looked at it.
“We originally wanted to challenge Group Four, but you guys showed up at our doorstep. We might have to teach you a lesson today, let the other martial artists witness our strength, and prevent any random stray cats or dogs from challenging us.”
The team leader stepped forward: “Tell us, do you want a team battle or an individual battle? I advise you to choose a team battle. Relying on Li Changying’s strength, your chances of winning are slightly higher. In individual battles, you’ve got no chance at all.”
In his opinion, the main force of this team was Li Changying, and the others were not worth mentioning.
He said this with the intention of provoking Lin Zhen and his group into choosing individual battles, which would increase their chances of winning.
Upon hearing this, Lin Zhen smiled slightly: “Alright, since you all say so, it seems like we’d be bullying you if we choose a team battle. So let’s do individual battles. Let’s start right now!”
The faces of Group Five lit up; they didn’t expect this team leader to be gullible. They slightly provoked him, and he took the bait. It seemed that Group Five was going to make a name for themselves today.
After agreeing on individual battles, they reported to Tong Huan, who led them to a distant challenge platform specially designed for this purpose.
Those waiting to pick Star Crystals didn’t move, but many others who weren’t able to get a spot simply followed along to watch.
Arriving at the challenge platform, both sides began discussing the order of appearance.
Li Changying volunteered first: “I failed here, and I want to rise again here. Let me go first in this first round. I want to show them that Li Changying is back.” Lin Zhen nodded in agreement; her request was reasonable.
Zhao Xiaoman chimed in: “I want to go too. I still want to challenge Group
Three and let those guys know that girls aren’t useless.”
Lin Zhen had seen Zhao Xiaoman’s impressive performance in picking Star Crystals the day before. Actually, her strength wasn’t much worse than Lou Qingfeng’s, and her chances of winning weren’t small. Lin Zhen nodded in agreement.
Lou Qingfeng said: “I’ll be the third then. It’s my first time in the Beehive, and I want a beautiful victory.”
Jiang Huai said: “Generally speaking, the top fighters appear last. I don’t think
I’m a match for the top fighters, so the last opportunity should go to you, Captain Lin. I’ll go fourth.”
With the others having chosen, Lin Zhen had no choice but to go last.
After discussing their order, the other side also came up with their own order. The first one to appear was the weakest member of their team.
They thought Lin Zhen’s team would most likely try to win the first battle, so they used the ancient story of Tian Ji’s horse race, sending out their weakest member first. They would rather lose the first round to ensure the victories of the subsequent rounds.
When they saw Li Changying step onto the platform, a cheer burst out from Group Five.
“Haha! We won!”
“Our leader’s strategy is superb! I admire him to death!”
“They are really dumb, sending their top fighter out first. No need to play the rest of the rounds.”
Seeing the other side’s crazy cheering, Zhao Xiaoman looked at Lin Zhen, puzzled: “Brother Lin, are they sick?”
Lin Zhen nodded: “Quite sick..”
