Chapter 4310 — Utterly Shocked

Wei Zhao could never have dreamed that this spur-of-the-moment trip to South Island would first bring him all manner of gains in the Lu Feng Forest, then let him witness the eye-opening spectacle of Morning Star Academy, and now, on top of everything, allow him to stumble upon Wang Xinyan!

"How could she be here? How could she be sitting with the academy's upper echelon?" Wei Zhao's head was full of question marks, and he could not contain the shock and excitement surging in his heart.

Strictly speaking, Wang Xinyan was the first beauty Wei Zhao had met after he left the secular world to take on bodyguard missions—he had known her even earlier than Gu Mengyao. His concern for her had never been any less than for any of the other women, so it was no wonder that a man usually as composed as he was should lose his composure so badly at the sudden sight of her.

Wei Zhao watched the stage in utter shock, every movement of Wang Xinyan's fixed in his gaze. He saw her take her seat with perfect composure, then lean in and murmur a few words to the woman vice-principal beside her—a cultivator of the same Opening-Mountain stage as Ling Yuanqing and Wei Hebei. The woman nodded with a smile and patted her hand, and her manner suggested she doted on Wang Xinyan a great deal.

At this sight Wei Zhao was more astonished and dazed than ever, and his heart brimmed with wonder. Just what was the relationship between Wang Xinyan and this woman vice-principal? Master and disciple? Or, like Di Xingdao and Tian Chan, did some blood tie bind them?

Be that as it may, Wei Zhao breathed a sigh of relief at this moment. For all his doubts, one thing at least was certain: Wang Xinyan was doing very well now, not being bullied on Mid Island the way Tian Chan and Xue Li had been. That was enough.

First Tian Chan, then Xue Li, and now Wang Xinyan. Despite the many twists and turns along the way, Wei Zhao had finally found all three women, and all of them were in decent circumstances. The heart that had hung suspended for a year could finally relax a little—though he could not rest entirely easy yet, for Han Jingyi and the others had still not been found.

While Wei Zhao stood stunned and dazed, the rest of the crowd, after their initial dazzled astonishment, had by now stopped paying attention to Wang Xinyan on the stage.

A woman so breathtakingly beautiful and of such lofty standing was most likely a second-generation cultivator with academy connections, or else a prodigy of extraordinary talent—otherwise she would never receive such exceptional treatment.

But none of this had much to do with the crowd. At most they got an eyeful for their trouble. They had not come today for the sake of a beauty; the selection was the only thing on their minds!

"Water, wood, and earth—three-element spiritual root attributes. Not bad. Hurry along to the third test!" At that moment, a word from an academy staff member drew the attention of everyone present.

Three-element spiritual root attributes! Looking at the refined man who had just finished his test, everyone could not help but be filled with envy. So far, quite a few cultivators had been found to possess dual-element spiritual root attributes, but a three-element spiritual root—this was the first in the whole hall!

Just as Ge Wei's examination-clearance guidebook said: the more spiritual root attributes one had, the better one's innate talent and aptitude, and the greater one's advantage over others when one reached the higher realms above the Nascent Soul stage.

Never mind the rest—at least in the matter of spiritual root attributes, the refined man was already a long way ahead of everyone else. That sort of innate capital was simply not something others could envy their way into. Had they not noticed that even the academy staff spoke to him in a noticeably friendlier tone than to anyone else?

Amid the crowd, Wei Zhao's feelings gradually calmed from the shock of first seeing Wang Xinyan. Hearing this, he glanced at the refined man, and his brows could not help but knit slightly. Why did this man's face look somewhat familiar?

The man wore a robe of blue. Both his features and his refined air struck Wei Zhao as very familiar—he resembled the man he had encountered before. But clearly they were only alike, not the same person, for the man Wei Zhao knew had already died in the Lu Feng Forest.

"Eh, isn't that Chu Muqing? So he's a prodigy with three-element spiritual root attributes—no wonder he's so monstrously strong!" Someone nearby suddenly recognized the man.

"Right, right—if you hadn't said it, I wouldn't have placed him for a moment. This fellow's a real celebrity in our Zhen Duan sea region. Word is that challenging opponents above his level is meat and drink to him, and the fine cultivators who've died at his hands these past few years are not one or two!" Another chimed in.

"Quite so, quite so. A month ago, when he got into a fight, I happened to be passing by and saw it. He was a Golden Core consummate, up against a Nascent Soul early-stage expert, a Golden Core consummate expert, and a Golden Core late-stage peak expert—and in the end he actually fought them to a mutual wreck. Apart from the Nascent Soul early-stage expert, the other two were beaten to death by him outright. The scene was utterly savage!" Another man rattled on, sharing and showing off to the crowd.

"What do you mean a month ago? It was clearly two months ago, all right? I saw it that time too—I even know that Nascent Soul early-stage expert. He's always been the type who bows to no one and walks with a swagger, but running into this Chu Muqing was the worst luck of his eight lifetimes. He nearly lost his own life too—damn terrifying!" the first man argued back.

"Yeah, this Chu Muqing really is absurdly formidable. I hear that every time the Lu Feng Forest has opened these past years, he's gone in, and he always heads deep into the forest. Every time, his teammates all die off clean, and only he manages to fight his way out alive. Could he do that without the strength for it?" Another shared a rumor.

"That's right, that's right. A few days ago I saw his elder brother head into the Lu Feng Forest too, but he hasn't come out after all this time. Who knows whether he's fallen in there. After all, a place like the Lu Feng Forest is no trifling matter—however strong you are, there's always a chance of dying inside..." someone muttered off to the side.

"His elder brother? Who's his elder brother? I don't think I've ever heard anyone mention him?" The people around were curious. They had heard of Chu Muqing's great name, but who Chu Muqing's elder brother was—that they truly had never heard much about.

"His elder brother is called Chu Bubai. His reputation isn't as resounding as Chu Muqing's, but he seems to have real strength too. A while back I saw with my own eyes as he led a group to the Lu Feng Road teleportation array. For some reason, though, this time he put together his own team rather than going with Chu Muqing..." The man explained to the crowd. (To be continued) R655