Li Shen examined Gu Jin's demeanor, and he saw how he was trying to hide the prideful look in his eyes when he nodded at the disciple’s question.
‘Either this Gu Jin and these people are God-tier actors, or this is situation is truly genuine.’
And there was one thing that made Li Shen lean toward believing the latter.
His orange petal.
Even though he no longer had his Seven Sins Plum Blossom, Li Shen could still vaguely sense a person’s emotions.
He couldn’t tell if Gu Jin was lying or not, just that his emotions right now were genuine.
‘Looks like this isn’t a trap, it would be strange if they could see through my disguise as well.’
Li Shen concluded.
But this claim wasn’t out of overconfidence, but because one of his Chaos Physique unique abilities he had discovered was that he could imitate any type of Qi Aura. Whether it was a person’s own, a Spiritual Beast, or merely an object.
Li Shen attributed this ability to the fact that Chaos Qi was the origin of all Qi, and his soul and body had been transformed after he absorbed it.
Li Shen visibly showed a relaxed expression and his steps towards Gu Jin sped up.
‘I’ll just hand the storage ring to him and go back. I’ve drawn too much attention to myself. However, I want to see these Formations he’s talking about.’
Li Shen then stealthily sent his Spiritual Sense inside the storage on his finger. He had done a quick once over the items inside when he took it, though he had not touched anything.
But now Li Shen thoroughly examined every item inside, searching for the supposed Formation.
However, he found nothing.
‘Huh? Is it not in here?’
Li Shen was confused and he scanned the storage ring again.
He had wanted to tamper with this Formation, but as he got closer to Gu Jin and he wasn't able to find it, it seemed that wasn’t going to happen.
‘Since a person who surpasses the Soul Transformation Realm is involved, then it’s probably not a surprise I can’t find it. Damn, it.’
Li Shen cursed at this, but as he approached Gu Jin he remained calm and took off his storage before handing it to him.
Gu Jin impatiently took it from him. However, as Gu JIn took the ring, all the hairs on Li Shen’s back stood up and a sense of death loomed over him.
Swish!
Li Shen’s body moved as he instinctively shifted his head to the side.
A sword from behind him came passing by just inches from his face; it even manage to leave a trail of blood on his cheek.
Li Shen unhesitatingly retreated while gasps of shock echoed out among the Fire Empire disciples.
Just before the sword could stab Gu Jin, the person holding it expertly stopped it just inches away from his nose.
As if he couldn't see the sword that almost stabbed him in the face, Gu Jin turned to Li Shen and sneered in contempt.
He also released the storage ring Li Shen handed him along with a piece of torn cloth from his hand.
Looking at Li Shen’s torn sleeve, one could see where the piece of cloth in Gu Jin’s hand came from.
As Li Shen retreated so did the other disciples around him. They couldn’t understand what was going on.
While Gu Jin stared at Li Shen in contempt, he suddenly flipped over his palm and threw something on the ground in front of Li Shen.
Li Shen silently looked at the object. It was merely a broken jade slip.
“Unless you are a ghost, why are you standing here alive when your life-bound jade slip has already been shattered? Did you not think we would create life-bound slips for everyone who is participating in the Chosen Tournament? How else would we know whether or not they died?”
Gu Jin then snorted before saying.
“Kill this spy.”
The person who attacked Li Shen cackled as he stepped forward. As it turns out, the person who attacked him was that bastard of a friend he was planning to kill.
Not only that, it didn’t take long for the disciples who weren’t in the know to realize Li Shen was an enemy spy.
Suddenly, the bloodlust of every Fire Empire disciple in the area was directed towards Li Shen.
‘...Fuck.’
Li Shen cursed internally.
But before anyone called him stupid for not foreseeing this situation happening, one should know he did think of this!
But while in this Sigil's memories, Li Shen had not witnessed an instance where his life-bound jade slip was created.
That meant it must have been created without this Sigil knowledge. It must also be the case for everyone here as well.
No doubt this was a trap meant for the Water Empire. But instead of Mai Rong falling into it, the person who did was Li Shen.
“Hoo…”
Li Shen suddenly released a breath of air.
Despite being in this deadly situation, he was relatively calm.
Matching Gu Jin’s ridiculing gaze, Li Shen said.
“You think my Water Empire doesn’t know what you bastards were planning? By the time the Chosen Tournament is over, not only will none of your members be in the Chosen Tournament, all the Major Powers outside will be against the Fire Empire.”
When the disciples in the surroundings heard Li Shen, most of them had their expressions changed.
However, Gu Jin only bursted out laughing.
With mockery he then said.
“Dai Hee! Or should I call you Li Shen as the rumors claim? You think I don’t know it’s you and not someone from the Water Empire?”
Li Shen’s expression couldn't help but stiffen upon hearing that.
Shiming who was off to the side snickered in amusement.
“To think he would deliver those pills to us, how about I take the Nascent Soul Formation pill and you take the Soul Nourishing pill?”
“Deal.”
Gu Jin readily agreed with Shiming suggestion. He then pointed at Li Shen and said with a vicious expression.
“Everyone... KILL HIM!!”
With that command, one out of the nearly three hundred Fire Empire disciples all rushed towards Li Shen with killing intent in their eyes.
Li Shen didn’t hesitate to make a move. He raised his foot which was releasing a black starry glow before he viciously stomp down.
With a loud bang, the ground below him cracked and numerous fissures formed. The ground for several hundred meters had even begun to split apart into large rocks before raising into the air.
“Ahhh!”
“Fuck!”
“Damn it!”
Fearful and enraged yells came from the Fire Empire disciples who were thrown off balance by the ground being destroyed.
“This-How is his stomp so powerful? Is he even human?!”
The ones who manage to fly up into the sky cried out in shock when they got an aerial view of the destruction Li Shen caused with a single stomp of his foot.
Meanwhile, Li Shen used the moment of his stomp to shoot towards the sky like a bolt of lightning.
“Bastard! He's getting away, chase after him!!”
The Fire Empire disciples immediately gave chase, but several wretched screams suddenly echoed out.
Gu Jin who was in the air look on with a frown.
The screams were coming from the disciples who were being burnt alive by the pillars of boiling hot lava that came from the ground.
“He made use of the lake of lava below the ground to escape. He’s smart.”
Shiming said from next to Gu Jin.
Gu Jin himself only snorted and watched Li Shen as he escape. Weirdly, he was easily dodging the many pillars of lava that randomly erupted from the ground.
“Does he really have some sort of Spirit Artifact that allows him to predict the future?”
“I don’t know, either that or he has some Godly technique that allows him to.”
“…The latter would be best.”
“I agree.”
After Shiming said that, Gu Jin turned and gave him a smile. He then released a laugh and said.
“Shiming was it? I enjoy your company. After this Tournament is over, let's go look for some treasures inside your Continent’s Hidden Fragmented Realm. You said you had a more detailed map than our Fire Empire, right?”
Shiming nodded, and the two turned a flew off, ignoring Li Shen. It seemed they weren’t as interested in him or the pills as they had shown previously.
However, as the two flew side by side.
Gu Jin turned to Shiming and said.
“You should know, I don’t allow many people to stay by my side. Don’t disappoint me.”
Gu Jin said that with a smile, but a mysterious look appeared in his eyes.
There was an underlying warning in his words, and Shiming was smart enough to notice it.
Smiling back, Shiming responded.
“My Ming Clan has already thrown our lot in with the Fire Empire. If the Fire Empire succeeds so will we, but if not, then our downfall is right around the corner. So we are unable to back out of this cooperation even if we wanted to.”
Gu Jin nodded in satisfaction at Shiming’s statement, before he turned his head forward.
However, this inadvertently caused him to miss the contempt that briefly flashed within Shiming’s eyes.
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