Chapter 118: Face Slapped

  Everyone’s groups had already formed, leaving only a few still looking around. The disciples could tell at a glance that they were among the elites—just by looking at their robes. But one disciple stood out, even among them.

  Xu Mo.

  A disciple in the robes of the outer sect—grey-colored and plain.

  “Has the sect realized they accidentally brought an extra person?”

  “No, I just counted. There are exactly 150 disciples.”

  “Then how... I don’t even remember seeing him participate in the tournament.”

  “What do you mean ‘at least’? No one knows! His name wasn’t even on the list of those who passed.”

  “What?!”

  Many disciples instinctively distanced themselves from Xu Mo, leaving him standing alone while glances—both open and discreet—kept landing on him.

  Clap, clap—

  Long Bai clapped, drawing back the attention of the murmuring disciples.

  “Now, for the remaining disciples: You, you, and you will be in the team with the Saintess.” Coincidentally—or perhaps not—every member of the Saintess's team turned out to be a female disciple. Whether that was deliberate or not, only Long Bai knew.

  “Xu Mo, come here.” Long Bai called.

  Xu Mo instinctively clenched his hand. He knew this day would come. Now that Long Bai had spoken his name aloud, there was no turning back.

  Try to be as low-key as possible.

  Try to be as low-key as possible.

  Xu Mo muttered under his breath and steeled his heart as he stepped forward. The whispering disciples immediately fell silent. They didn’t know why, but they all had a bad premonition—as if they'd done something dangerous without realizing it.

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  Tap—

  Long Bai and Xu Mo stood side by side. Long Bai placed a hand on Xu Mo’s shoulder. Xu Mo’s heart, which had been beating like he was attending someone else’s wedding, finally calmed down a little. The presence of the Head Elder beside him was grounding.

  In the crowd, his eyes briefly met Wei Rong’s before brushing lightly past Mei Xueyin—as if he were simply observing. For a brief moment, he also felt the gaze of one person he desperately wished would neither look his way nor even be present in the same room.

  “Xu Mo,” Long Bai began, his voice clear. “Many of you know him as an outer sect disciple. Some of you even know him as a troublemaker who, in the short span of a year, has visited the Disciplinary Hall three times. But what you don’t know—what none of you were allowed to know—is that Xu Mo is the True Successor of the Hidden Dragon Sect."

  He paused as shocked murmurs broke out. Xu Mo remained motionless.

  “He’s been hiding his identity in the outer sect. But due to a few corrupt elders, his secret was leaked to our enemy sects. You may remember—last year, shortly after the entrance test, an elder was found dead in the outer sect.”

  Long Bai scanned the crowd. Some nodded, remembering the incident. Others, confused, whispered among themselves until the memory reached them too.

  “I was the one who killed him,” Long Bai stated. “That man was the bastard who leaked Xu Mo’s identity as the True Successor of the Hidden Dragon Sect.”

  Gasps erupted from the crowd. Xu Mo noticed the surrounding atmosphere shift. Even the disciples of other sects had gone silent, clearly eavesdropping.

  He just hoped—prayed—that even if they began investigating his background, none of them would discover her or try to dig into her identity in search of information on him, a mere successor of one of the top sects in the region.

  “To prevent alarming the enemy, and to confirm Xu Mo's identity without drawing attention, we deliberately sent him to the Disciplinary Hall multiple times,” Long Bai continued. “Chief Wei of the Wei Clan generously provided Xu Mo with protection, while we handled the enemies hiding beyond our walls.”

  He turned to look at Wei Rong—a member of the Wei Family, albeit only from a branch line. That was enough. Enlightenment dawned across many faces in the crowd. The pieces were starting to fall into place. The reason behind Wei Rong’s mysterious friendship with an unknown outer sect disciple suddenly made sense. The fog that had obscured their understanding was finally lifting.

  Wei Rong maintained a calm exterior, but on the inside, he was punching his past self—his baby version.

  How could I have been so dumb?! he screamed inwardly. He was giving me hints the whole time and I didn’t pick up a single one!

  He discreetly leaned back, turning his head toward Mei Xueyin in the distance with her team. She felt a familiar gaze fall on her and instinctively turned to meet it.

  For a brief moment, Wei Rong’s and Mei Xueyin’s eyes met.

  She wasn’t even surprised.

  Woohoo… Wei Rong cried internally. Seriously? Not even a twitch of the brow?!

  How could someone like him—someone so dense—be suitable for Mei Xueyin?

  Maybe she was right all along.

  Maybe he wasn’t suitable.

  150k Views Successfully. A big reason to celebrate. But I am already pumping out two chapters daily and that needs a lot of creativity combined with extra time, So may be next time, Sorry~