Free Web NovelChapter 285: New Players
"I can’t let you jeopardize your standing for my sake."
Wangchen’s expression didn’t change.
He tilted his head slightly, an aura of supremacy and arrogance radiating from his flawless features.
"It’s fine. We’ll let them stockpile their tokens first," Wangchen murmured, his voice dripping with a terrifying, icy disdain for the other protagonists. "When the final hour approaches, I will find the disciples with the highest counts and take them. The ranking is irrelevant to me, Brother Ji’an. The only variable in that realm that holds any value to my Dao... is your safety."
Ji’an’s breath hitched.
There it was again.
That heavy, romantic, suffocatingly intense devotion.
He was casually offering to throw away his prestigious sect ranking, entirely willing to play the villain and rob the other disciples blind at the last minute, purely to ensure he had the free time to protect her. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
She opened her mouth to argue, to tell him he was being ridiculous, but the unyielding sincerity in his ruby eyes silenced her.
He wasn’t negotiating.
It was a fact of his existence.
"What an evil plan. You are a menace to fair competition," Ji’an whispered affectionately, a warm, helpless smile breaking through her anxiety. "Fine. But I am cooking all the meals in the survival zone. If you freeze a river, I expect you to catch the fish first."
"Agreed," Wangchen smiled, the dark shadows in his eyes completely receding, replaced by a radiant, victorious joy at having successfully anchored her back to his side.
He picked up his teacup, taking a slow, elegant sip.
The distraction had worked perfectly. free𝑤ebnovel.com
Her mind was focused on the tournament, focused on their alliance.
But as an immortal who possessed access to the highest echelons of intelligence, Wangchen knew there was one more disruptive variable that he needed to prepare her for.
"While your preparations for the environment are wise, Ji’an," Wangchen said, setting his cup down with a soft click, his tone shifting into something more serious and cautionary. "You must also prepare for the new players upon the board. The tournament has drawn entities back to the mountain that have not walked these paths in years."
Ji’an leaned forward, her tactical brain re-engaging. "New players? You mean besides the regular lunatics like the Sword Lord and the Assassin? Who else is coming back?"
Wangchen’s silver eyebrows drew together slightly in a faint frown of distaste.
"Your brother, the Vanguard Commander of the Lin Estate, was not the only prodigy to return from an extended absence," Wangchen explained, his voice taking on a clinical, objective cadence. "Three days ago, the Grand Gates of the Inner Sect opened to welcome disciples who had been absent from the Sect for five years."
He looked directly at Ji’an.
"Especially, the Senior Apprentice. The first, and until recently, the only direct disciple of the Sect Leader himself."
Ji’an’s eyes widened.
’The Sect Leader’s Senior Apprentice?!’ Her mind reeled, frantically digging through the dusty, fragmented archives of the original web novel’s plot.
She remembered the Sect Leader, a vague, incredibly powerful, largely absentee figurehead who spent most of his time in closed-door cultivation, delegating the running of the sect to the Sovereign Elders.
But a Senior Apprentice?
A direct disciple of the most powerful man on the mountain?
’That is a major plot character,’ Ji’an realized, a cold sweat breaking out. ’If the Sect Leader is the emperor of this mountain, the Senior Apprentice is the crown prince. Why do I not remember him from the novel? Was he a mentor to Gu Zhiwei? Was he a hidden boss? Or was he the original villain that the author sidelined until the tournament arc?!’
"I have never met him," Ji’an admitted, her voice tight with sudden apprehension. "I joined the sect long after he left. What is his name? What is his Dao?"
"His name is Shen Zechuan," Wangchen provided, his tone flat, revealing absolutely no personal affection for the man. "He is an anomaly, much like yourself, though of a significantly darker nature."
Wangchen leaned forward, resting his forearms on the jade table.
"Shen Zechuan did not take a mission to the mortal borders or the coastal wastes. Five years ago, the Sect Leader cast him into the Abyssal Rifts, the subterranean scars beneath the continent where the demonic leylines bleed into the mortal realm. It is an environment of absolute, corruptive madness. He was sent there to forge his Dao in the ultimate crucible of despair."
Ji’an felt a chill run down her spine that had nothing to do with the mountain air. "He survived five years in a demonic rift? Alone?"
"He did more than survive," Wangchen corrected, his ruby eyes narrowing. "He conquered it. The reports state that he returns not just as a Golden Core master, but as a cultivator who has successfully integrated the chaotic, corrosive energy of the abyss into his orthodox foundation. He wields a unique technique that is rumored to have been created by himself. Apparently, he consumes the Qi of his opponents."
Ji’an swallowed hard.
’A guy who absorbs Qi and spent five years in literal hell,’ Ji’an thought, her panic returning with a vengeance. ’That could very well be the potential new villain. That is absolutely, one hundred percent the new major antagonist the World Will has summoned to replace Wangchen. The plot void has been filled by an abyssal vacuum cleaner!’
"He sounds terrifying," Ji’an muttered, rubbing the back of her neck. "If he can absorb Qi, my raw kinetic strikes might just feed him. I’m going to need to rely purely on physical mass and unpredictable momentum."
"He is formidable," Wangchen agreed, though his tone carried a note of supreme, unshakable arrogance. "But he is not invincible. The Mantra is not perfect and has its own set of limits. It cannot consume that which is absolutely pure. Likewise, it cannot consume Flawless Ice. If he crosses our path, I will freeze his core before he can draw a single breath."
