The disturbance dissolved without a word.
The collision of family powers was visible only to those who knew where to look.
Xu Xiangqian himself was probably oblivious to any of it.
Running into Jiang Chen before entering the Celestial Secret Realm had put him in excellent spirits.
They had, after all, survived a brief tribulation together. Though given the background Xu Xiangqian had since revealed, the one truly in danger back then had probably been Jiang Chen alone...
"Brother Xu," Jiang Chen said with a half-smile. "No more calling me 'uncle'?"
Xu Xiangqian waved his hand dismissively. "My eyes were poor back then. Simply poor."
With that, he enthusiastically pulled forward a heroic-looking youth with a jade band tied across his forehead, first introducing Jiang Chen: "This is a friend I made in the You Kingdom. He looks older, but it's just premature white hair — he's actually quite young! And a person of excellent character!"
Then introducing the young warrior: "This is Li Longchuan. Quite the archer!"
Jiang Chen and Li Longchuan locked eyes, then both smiled helplessly.
They exchanged pleasantries and had barely begun chatting when Jiang Chen felt Chong Xuan Sheng jabbing him repeatedly.
Chong Xuan Sheng naturally knew Li Longchuan, but rather than greet him directly, he poked Jiang Chen with his fat finger, his voice transmitted secretly to Jiang Chen's ear: "Watch yourself — he's our competition!"
Li Longchuan seemed to notice Chong Xuan Sheng's furtive movements and smiled: "Brother Chong, I trust you've been well?"
"Thanks to you," Chong Xuan Sheng snorted through his nose. "This young master is doing just fine."
Li Longchuan smiled and said nothing further.
Chong Xuan Sheng shot him another sidelong glance: "So even the great Li Longchuan needs to bring in outside help?"
"I certainly don't need any," Li Longchuan replied calmly, radiating powerful confidence. "Brother Xu isn't my helper. In the Celestial Secret Realm, he won't be competing for opportunities on my behalf. Whatever he finds, he keeps — he's more of a rival than anything. And he certainly won't hold back."
"Exactly!" Xu Xiangqian declared righteously. "In a gentleman's contest, one must give one's all!"
Chong Xuan Sheng felt as though he had slapped his own face against theirs. Finding the exchange pointless, he tugged Jiang Chen's sleeve: "Then we'll see each other inside the Celestial Secret Realm. We need to discuss tactics over there."
With that, he practically dragged Jiang Chen toward a corner. Fourteen followed without missing a step.
Jiang Chen could only offer Li Longchuan and Xu Xiangqian an apologetic smile before being hauled away.
There was, of course, nothing tactical left to discuss — they had covered everything earlier. As for the Celestial Secret Realm itself, everyone was equally blind. There was nothing new to deliberate.
Chong Xuan Sheng simply wanted to put distance between himself and Li Longchuan.
Both of them knew it.
Perhaps only Xu Xiangqian was the exception...
He was still waving enthusiastically: "Brother Jiang! See you in the Realm! A gentleman's contest!"
He even pumped his fist for emphasis.
Chong Xuan Sheng pulled Jiang Chen into the corner and whispered urgently: "That Li Longchuan may look ordinary, but his strength is terrifying. Don't let your guard down. Don't stay near him too long — the longer you're around, the more his arrows find your weaknesses automatically."
Jiang Chen was genuinely startled. "That fearsome?"
He had ignored Chong Xuan Sheng's inexplicable confidence in his own appearance. Or rather, he had somehow gotten used to it without realizing.
"Did you think otherwise?" Chong Xuan Sheng rolled his small eyes with considerable effort, then suddenly grew sheepish: "In principle, since we're friends, I shouldn't be asking you to find opportunities for me. But securing the predetermined divine skill Inner Palace breakthrough is extremely important to me. Once I get my opportunity, I'll immediately help you get yours!"
"What's the big deal?" Jiang Chen laughed. "Even blood brothers keep clear accounts. You didn't trick me — I agreed on my own. Besides, even if I wanted to help others find opportunities, would anyone give me a slot?"
Chong Xuan Sheng was visibly moved. He patted Jiang Chen's shoulder: "Being able to think that way... that's wonderful."
Sometimes, people found it surprisingly difficult to distinguish good intentions from bad. The problem of proportionality was the hardest to master.
The saying about "a cup of rice creates gratitude, a bushel creates enmity" — both parties had failed to find the right measure.
Keeping everything bottled up and tallying every debt only widened the rift between people.
Chong Xuan Sheng's approach — laying everything bare and speaking plainly — was paradoxically less likely to damage their bond.
Amid their mingled anxiety, anticipation, and conversation, time passed slowly.
Then someone noticed: at some point, a full moon's reflection had appeared at the center of the Full Moon Pool.
But the moon in the sky had not yet risen.
Night fell.
The entire outer structure around the Full Moon Pool was a ring-shaped corridor that enclosed the water. Its eaves never crossed the boundary, leaving the pool fully exposed to the night sky.
According to past experience, when the celestial moon aligned with the moon in the water, the Celestial Secret Realm would open.
Jiang Chen glanced at the sky. The moon still had some distance to travel before reaching its zenith.
Then —
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The steady, crisp sound of footsteps entered every ear present.
Chong Xuan Sheng's expression changed. He said to Jiang Chen: "The biggest rival has arrived."
Walking out of the corridor, approaching the Full Moon Pool's edge, was a man in martial attire with an extraordinarily long face.
His face was strikingly long, yet not ugly — rather, his sharp eyes and high, straight nose gave him a distinctive charisma.
Even with the Celestial Secret Realm about to open, the crowd could not suppress their murmurs.
"Why is he here?"
"Wang Yiwu... why would he come?"
"What does he need from this place?"
This was a reaction that even Li Longchuan's entrance had not provoked.
It showed the pressure his presence carried.
"Who is he?" Jiang Chen asked via voice transmission, not wanting to cause trouble.
Chong Xuan Sheng's reply carried barely contained fury: "Wang Yiwu — the youngest closed-door disciple of the Qi Kingdom's God of War, Jiang Mengxiong. The youngest, the lowest in cultivation, yet the one Jiang Mengxiong has designated as the next God of War of Qi! He has absolutely no need for the Celestial Secret Realm. Though he remains at the Heaven-Piercing realm, he perceived his seed of a divine skill the moment he opened his meridians.
His Sea of the Body has long since been cleansed clear, and the Gate of Heaven and Earth is as fragile as paper before him.
All he needs to do is open the Gate, and he can immediately knock on the Inner Palace and pluck the divine skill. There is no need for him to temper himself at the Soaring Dragon realm.
He remains before the Gate of Heaven and Earth purely because he is too powerful. The Gate isn't sturdy enough to contain the force he releases in the instant of his Soaring Dragon transformation — the backlash could damage his Sea of the Body and harm the foundation of his Great Dao. Jiang Mengxiong has been searching for ways to strengthen his Gate."
The Gate of Heaven and Earth was a formidable checkpoint on the path of cultivation, blocking countless practitioners.
Some never opened it in their entire lives. Some opened it but found themselves so depleted that they could not manage the Soaring Dragon transformation, leaving their Soaring Dragon realm permanently crippled.
Yet a genius like Wang Yiwu was forced to delay — because the Gate was too fragile!
From Chong Xuan Sheng's words, Jiang Chen caught another crucial detail.
Wang Yiwu had absolutely no need for the Celestial Secret Realm — yet he had come anyway.
"So..." Jiang Chen asked. "He came for you?"
With Chong Xuan Sheng's true strength unleashed, he could comfortably enter the top hundred of the Heaven-Piercing realm in the Ethereal Realm.
He finally understood: a powerhouse like Chong Xuan Sheng, entering a secret realm where all competitors were limited to the Soaring Dragon realm and below, still needed backup — because of this.
Chong Xuan Sheng's expression was grim beyond belief: "I thought even he wouldn't stoop this low."
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of boots striking the earth hammered against every competitor's heart.
Wang Yiwu walked through the crowd and stopped directly in front of the corner where Chong Xuan Sheng stood.
"Go back now, and there's still time," he said.
At this point, Chong Xuan Sheng's expression was eerily calm.
He narrowed his already small eyes: "You and Chong Xuan Zun really are thick as thieves."
He issued no threats — threats were useless.
He offered no provocations — provocations would only humiliate himself.
But he would not go back.
He would only fight back.
Those who did not know Chong Xuan Sheng well found him a complicated figure — sometimes childish, sometimes profound.
His ruthlessness and tenacity were known to very few.
Regarding Chong Xuan Sheng's response, Wang Yiwu showed neither anger nor amusement.
He said nothing more. He simply turned and stood beside Chong Xuan Sheng, Jiang Chen, and Fourteen.
He spoke not another word.
But nothing further needed to be said.