Chapter 40: Less than 100,000, and this conversation is off the table.

Bang, bang.

At the appointed time, Xiao Yuanbing and Ni Fang knocked on Wang Changzhi's door. Wang Changzhi had been waiting for them and immediately ushered them inside upon hearing the commotion.

"Come in, come in. You must be tired after the long journey from Xinxian."

Xiao Yuanbing could not be bothered with pleasantries. "Where is the copper coin? Let us see it first. I must confirm its existence and verify its authenticity before I can comfortably discuss anything with you."

Since the head of the academy believed that the matter of Xu Shi examining the young master Xuan was merely a dispute between student and teacher and not a transgression, he felt there was no room for him to intervene, and thus remained at ease.

Peering through the gap Yan Poyue had left, Xiao Yunjie saw a boulder resting three or four meters ahead, four or five times larger than a basketball. It must have weighed over a hundred pounds, lying quietly in the two-foot-wide trench like an iron chain blocking their path across the river.

"You actually poisoned him?" Seeing the pained expression on the cute girl Wu Qianyu's face begin to subside, I turned to the instructor and demanded coldly.

Mo Yitian’s hand touched her beautifully contoured back through the soft bath towel; his Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice deepened.

There was nothing wrong with his eyes; he could not have been mistaken, for the difference between red and black was far too great.

"People may need a motive to kill, but one doesn't need so many reasons to save someone," An Zei said, sounding perfectly righteous and matter-of-fact.

Everyone began to eat. The meal that night was sumptuous: a basin of tofu and loach soup, a bowl of stir-fried eggs with scallions, a plate of red-braised pork belly, and, in addition to that, a large basin of greens and wild vegetables.

Such unreasonable behavior caused an uproar across the Great Hua Kingdom. They had barely recovered from the excitement of discovering large quantities of iron ore in the uninhabited territory before being stunned by the coordinated assault launched by their enemies alongside the Quanrong.

"It seems that the red dots marked by Master must all represent fatal dangers. The illusion array in the first trial was already so perilous; I wonder how I will cope with what lies ahead." Lin Yun sighed. If every stage of the Eight Trigrams Array were merely an illusion or maze, he would have nothing to fear with the protection of the Soul-Suppressing Bell.

"Roar—" After the Three-Dragon Seal Array was activated, the surrounding Two-Dragon Seal Arrays began to shimmer with blue light, and over a dozen ice dragons rose into the sky with thunderous roars.

Unexpectedly, upon learning that they needed to twist a very long rope, Grandma Ma had helped them twist it for a long time after they fell asleep, which was how it reached such a length.

"What's wrong? You should drink, too." The person who shouldn't have been drinking was surprisingly more eager than the one who should, and he questioned Xia Tian.

Mo Hen led his troops back from the Dao-Proving System. Upon learning that Su Jiu had destroyed the divine temple and that Tianguang had been exiled to You Mountain, Mo Hen spurred his horse in a frantic rush, intercepting Tianguang at the city gate just as he was about to leave.

Once the two reached an agreement, they tested their bows, drew the strings, wiped the arrowheads, and then, in silent unison, nocked their arrows.

"Why..." Veins bulged on Lin Yun's forehead, yet his eyes held a trace of a subtle, imperceptible smile.

Lin Qinghuan finished a can of beer, crushed the empty can, threw it on the ground, rested his arms on his knees, and buried his chin in his arms, remaining silent.

But just as he squatted down in front of the second pot, he felt a sharp gaze fixed on his back. Er Niu pretended nothing was amiss and took out the water bag the man in black had given him to refill it.

Xiao Jian looked at the white tiger and the cyan wolf, a look of solemnity flashing in his eyes. The spiritual power in his dantian surged wildly, converging toward the edge of his blade.

After a long while, Ye Hao finally suppressed the shock in his heart and spoke in a dry voice. The terrifying scene before him was no less daunting than the Graveyard of Supremes he had once seen in the Kunlun Forbidden Zone.

"Then just tell us. We worry about you, but we have never stopped you, because we want to believe in you," Shen Lei said, her eyes as brilliant as the stars in the sky.