Chapter 156 - 156: The Combat Power of the New Team (Third Update)
The central tree branch was the largest of the three branches, and the ant nest’s central mountain peak it faced was also the place with the most advanced star crystals.
Therefore, among the three branches, the central branch was the best position, and the teams here were relatively superior.
Zhang Sicheng was in the third team of the central branch. During this time, he had been washing clothes, cooking, and massaging people’s legs every day, gaining the recognition of this team. Occasionally, they would give him a low-level star crystal, which helped him recover a lot from his injuries. Although he could not restore his previous combat power, he was still much stronger than ordinary people.
It was another day for the challenge, and Liu Dong, the captain of the central third team, asked, “Is there any team that wants to challenge us?”
Zhang Sicheng had just finished cooking breakfast and immediately complimented, “Captain Liu, there won’t be anyone that blind, right? Our team hasn’t received a challenge for months. Those bullies often just challenge the teams on the left and right sides. Who doesn’t know that our central third team is even stronger than the second teams of other branches?”
Liu Dong seemed quite pleased with Zhang Sicheng’s flattery and laughed, “Days like these are so boring. Besides Sunday, when we can receive some star crystals, there’s nothing else happening. When that fairy girl was here, we could occasionally gaze at her, but now there’s nothing left.”
Zhang Sicheng pouted, “Lin Zhen is such a waste, he couldn’t even protect his girlfriend. He didn’t even dare to fart when she was taken away. Now he’s been in low spirits and seeing him makes me want to kick him a few times.”
“Zhang Sicheng, I know you have a grudge against Lin Zhen, but you don’t have to belittle him like that. Although he is indeed very useless, haha!” Liu Dong laughed out loud.
Anotner martial artist joined In, “Lin znen IS really not good. At nrst, ne seemed very strong, and I thought we had found a worthy opponent. But losing his girlfriend caused him to collapse like this. A martial artist like this has no future.”
Another martial artist deliberately said, “Don’t be so harsh, maybe he’s secretly planning to regroup and challenge. After all, his previous teammates were indeed dragging him down.”
Zhang Sicheng chimed in, “Even if he borrowed a few guts, he wouldn’t dare. Brother Guang secretly warned everyone not to team up with Lin Zhen, who can he find? Besides, even if he does reassemble a team, he wouldn’t dare challenge our central team. If he dares, I, Zhang Sicheng, will write my name backwards!”
“I’ll write mine backwards too.”
“I’ll do three flips and write mine backwards…”
The martial artists all talked and laughed. When Su Mingyue was around, they all envied Lin Zhen so much. Now that she was gone, more people were eager to kick him when he was down.
Just as they were laughing with abandon, someone outside suddenly shouted, “Captain Liu, someone is challenging your team, prepare to accept the challenge!”
The laughter inside the tree hole abruptly stopped, and everyone looked at each other. Liu Dong suddenly burst into laughter, “Haha! I didn’t expect someone to really have the guts to challenge me, Liu Dong. Let’s go, brothers, our fun has arrived.
The four advanced war generals, along with Zhang Sicheng, followed Liu Dong and walked out.
When they arrived near the arena, Liu Dong asked Brother Guang, “Brother Guang, who dares to challenge me?”
“Over there, Lin Zhen’s team.”
“Lin Zhen… Wasn’t his team disbanded?”
“It’s been a month, they’ve regrouped. The first person they named was your team. You guys should get ready; it’s about to start.”
Liu Dong and Zhang Sicheng looked over and saw that Lin Zhen’s team was already in place, with five people in total.
Lin Zhen, Jiang Huai, Lou Qingfeng, Ma Mingxing, and Sun Tie.
Ma Mingxing and Sun Tie were both Lin Zhen’s roommates. Now, Ma Mingxing had reached the early stage of the Seventh-level War General, which was quite impressive, while Sun Tie had reached the late stage of the Fifth-level War General, slightly stronger than Lin Zhen’s early stage.
Seeing Lin Zhen’s new team, Liu Dong and the others were stunned.
“Captain, I know that guy. His name is Jiang Huai, and he’s very strong. He nearly overturned the third team on the right by himself. I didn’t expect him to team up with Lin Zhen.”
“That skinny guy doesn’t look simple either. He’s a Level 8 War General and seems to be a Spiritual Mind Master.”
“I knew Ma Mingxing before, and he has improved quite a lot. In this team, only Sun Tie is the weakest link.”
Liu Dong and the others didn’t say anything about writing their names backwards anymore. Instead, they were studying the strength of the opponents.
The challenge soon began, with Lin Zhen’s side proposing a team battle.
Since they didn’t expect someone to actually dare to challenge them, Liu Dong’s team hadn’t prepared any Planet Crystals, so they had to accept Lin Zhen’s challenge.
Both sides’ fighters went up on stage, Brother Guang shouted for the fight to begin, and the battle immediately commenced.
The first person to rush out from Lin Zhen’s side was not Lin Zhen or Jiang Huai but the newly joined team member, Lou Qingfeng.
Lou Qingfeng had also figured it out now. After breaking through to the War
God level inside the Star Fruit Tree, he would no longer listen to Li Wanfeng’s
commands atter leaving. Instead of fighting Lin Zhen to the death, it was better to work together and make a name for themselves in the world.
During this time, his luck had been exceptionally good, having discovered several advanced Star Crystals consecutively. He advanced from a Seventh -level War General to Level Eight, elevating his spiritual power to the Golden Middle Stage. Recently, he had been eager to display his prowess.
As he charged forward, he leaped into the air, and the disc-shaped scabbard behind him opened. Five long swords flew out simultaneously, attacking his five opponents in an instant!
“Damn! This newcomer is so arrogant!”
“How dare he challenge all of us, let’s take him down together!”
Liu Dong and the others were furious, attacking together in an attempt to shatter Lou Qingfeng’s resolve.
However, Lou Qingfeng’s long swords were extraordinary. Controlled by his spiritual power, they shone brilliantly and forcefully attacked, causing all five people to retreat. Two of their weapons were even directly cut apart!
Lin Zhen and Jiang Huai’s eyes lit up. They hadn’t expected Lou Qingfeng to be so fierce. If there were another assessment, he might have the strength to be in the top five.
They couldn’t just stand by, naturally. They both leaped in from left and right, targeting the two martial artists whose weapons had been broken.
Being weaponless, their morale drops, and they stood no chance against Lin Zhen and Jiang Huai’s sudden attack. In a short time, they were knocked off the stage.
During this process, Lou Qingfeng’s swords danced in the air, holding off the three advanced War Generals, giving Lin Zhen and the others an opportunity to take action.
Lin Zhen and Jiang Huai dispatched their opponents almost simultaneously, then split up and joined forces again to intercept an advanced War General each.
With two fewer enemies, Lou Qingfeng’s morale soared. His five long swords, like dragons, morphed into a rolling Sword River, ferociously assaulting Liu Dong.
He had used this move against Lin Zhen before, but Lin Zhen had not chosen to fight against it directly. At that time, Lin Zhen knew it was not easy to handle.
As expected, Liu Dong was somewhat flustered in the face of Lou Qingfeng’s Sword River, and the clouds of defeat had already started looming over him.
At this moment, Ma Mingxing and Sun Tie saw an opportunity and quietly lurked behind him, surrounding Liu Dong with three people.
The battle ended practically at the same time. Lin Zhen’s spear swept away one person, Jiang Huai’s three connected swords slashed another person off the stage, while Liu Dong was the most miserable. To avoid Lou Qingfeng’s Sword
River, he was swept off his feet by Ma Mingxing and then kicked off by Sun Tie.
Having defeated an opponent for the first time, Sun Tie couldn’t help but shout excitedly.
When the battle was over, Brother Guang immediately announced the result. Lin Zhen’s team had won the challenge, becoming the third seed group on the central branch.
Liu Dong and the others left injured, supporting each other.
Meanwhile, Zhang Sicheng stood there helplessly. Liu Dong had clearly abandoned him, and he was left without shelter once more.
At this point, Lin Zhen stepped off the stage and approached Zhang Sicheng.
“If you want to stay alive, follow me.”
With no other choice, Zhang Sicheng obediently followed Lin Zhen, leaving the Ant Nest area.
“Why did Su Mingyue’s senior sister come to you? Who are you asking for help?” Lin Zhen asked bluntly as soon as they met.
Zhang Sicheng dared not lie and quickly revealed the matter of Brother Guang’s help. Now that he had no value, Brother Guang would not help him anymore, so he had no choice but to yield to Lin Zhen.
“What’s the situation in Sky Dome?” Lin Zhen asked again.
Zhang Sicheng thought for a moment: “The Sky Dome area is controlled by the seniors, and it has the highest output of Constant Star Crystals in the entire Star Fruit Tree. Su Mingyue’s senior sister ranks second there, while the first is named Yue Feng, known as Little Overlord, from Capital Base City. He has spent five years in the Star Fruit Tree.”
“How strong is Yue Feng?”
“He is very powerful. I heard that he has already compressed a lot of Dantian gas. In fact, many people in the Sky Dome have done so due to the abundance of harvested Constant Star Crystals. Even in the Beehive area, there are quite a few. It’s just that Ant Nest has the least Constant Star Crystals, making compressed martial artists a rare sight around here.”
“You mean compressing Dantian gas?” Lin Zhen was slightly surprised.
Zhang Sicheng said, “Yes, when reaching the pinnacle of Level 9 Martial
Generals and unable to increase Dantian gas, one can advance to War God.
However, at this stage, the consumption of external substances can compress
Dantian gas. In the Star Fruit Tree, the only external substance available is Star
Crystals, and only Constant Star Crystals are useful. Our goal as Level 9 Martial Generals here is not only to find a Constant Star Crystal containing special energy but also to obtain more ordinary Constant Star Crystals to compress Dantian gas.”
“With compressed Dantian gas, the fighting power should be very strong.” Lin Zhen replied.
“That’s right. It is said that Dantian gas can be compressed up to ten times, and fighting power can be increased by as much as ten times. But that’s only a legend. I have never seen anyone with tenfold compressed Dantian gas. It seems that only Brother Guang and a few people in the first group have compressed theirs.”
Zhang Sicheng continued, “Martial artists in the Star Fruit Tree will leave before they turn thirty. If they haven’t advanced to War God by then, their bodies will start to decline, and their Dantian gas will begin to dissipate. Thus, we will all try to advance to War God and leave before turning thirty. I estimate that Su Mingyue’s senior sister will leave with her, and her senior sister is already 25 or 26 years old. So, if you want to save Su Mingyue, there isn’t much time left..”