Lin Chen: I Know, It's That Clown!

"Brother Lin!"

"I'm fine."

"The enemy is nearby. Be careful," Lin Chen reminded him.

As they spoke, dense threads and spinning darts shot toward the two of them.

"Let's get out of here first."

Lin Chen swiftly led Zhou Mingxing to another location. They had barely stopped when Li Renba and Xiao Yang's attacks arrived again.

"Brother Lin, Ma Hongguang must have been following us all along," Zhou Mingxing voiced his deduction.

Lin Chen nodded. He thought the same.

"Let's go!" Lin Chen led Zhou Mingxing into another run.

While leading Zhou Mingxing around to "flee for their lives," Lin Chen fully unleashed his Spiritual Power, constantly monitoring their surroundings.

During his perception, a bundle of balloons caught Lin Chen's attention. No matter where he and Zhou Mingxing fled, the balloons were never far from them. That made Lin Chen suspicious.

Lin Chen immediately used his Spiritual Power to sense the person holding the balloons.

It was someone wearing a clown mask, very close to Lin Chen and Zhou Mingxing. Although the mask's style and colors changed from time to time, his build never changed.

At that point, Lin Chen already had the answer.

He shouted, "I know! It's that clown!"

Then, using Lingbo Weibu, he charged toward the clown holding the balloons at incredible speed.

"Not good, stop him!" the clown shouted.

Li Renba and Xiao Yang revealed themselves at that moment as well. Both attacked Lin Chen, trying to stop him from attacking Ma Hongguang.

"Get lost!"

Immediately afterward, Lin Chen activated his First and Second Soul Skills at once. He first used his Second Soul Skill to enhance himself, then used his First Soul Skill to condense two Seven Kill Swords and send them stabbing separately toward Li Renba and Xiao Yang.

Li Renba and Xiao Yang were only one-ring Soul Masters, so resisting the Soul Skills of two-ring Lin Chen was already difficult. Combined with the Seven Kill Sword Martial Soul's overwhelmingly powerful offensive strength and the enhancement from Lin Chen's own Soul Skills, they had virtually no ability to resist. Both were knocked to the ground. That was only because Lin Chen had restrained his Soul Power at the last moment.

They had no grudge against each other, and this was only a competition. Lin Chen was no bloodthirsty killer, so naturally, he would not kill them.

However, they were now seriously injured, sprawled on the ground unconscious.

Lin Chen's charge did not slow in the slightest as he continued rushing toward Ma Hongguang.

When the Seven Kill Sword reached Ma Hongguang, Lin Chen suddenly felt the scene around him changing. Shrek Academy's Soul Fighting Platform appeared before his eyes again, and the referee blocked the Seven Kill Sword in his hand.

"Freshman Class One, Lin Chen's team wins!" the referee announced.

There really are people who enjoy being clowns, Lin Chen thought. He did not dwell on it further. Winning was all that mattered.

"Little Earth, well done!" Lin Xiaolei said to Lin Chen.

Lin Chen nodded, then went to the spectator stands and sat cross-legged to recover his Soul Power. He left observing their opponents to Lin Xiaolei, since she had consumed the least Soul Power in the previous match.

Three days later

"Freshman Class One, Lin Chen's team wins! Ten victories in total!" As the referee's words fell, it meant that Lin Chen and his team had passed the first stage of the Freshman Assessment Tournament.

Class One classroom

"In the first stage of the Freshman Competition, none of our class's students were eliminated, and fourteen groups advanced to the elimination rounds. Not bad!" Zhou Yi rarely praised the Class One students.

Hearing Teacher Zhou's words, everyone revealed happy expressions. After all, every student hoped to gain their teacher's approval.

"Among them, Huo Yuhao's team and Lin Chen's team achieved records of ten wins in ten matches, so I'm giving them special praise. I hope you continue to achieve great results! Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, go run laps on the field. Everyone else, class begins!"

The six members of Huo Yuhao's team and Lin Chen's team nodded.

"Alright, that's all for this morning's theory class. You may cultivate on your own during this afternoon's physical training class and prepare for tomorrow's second-stage matches. Class dismissed!"

Tianlin City, Wang Mansion

"Patriarch, we have found him. The person from the Lin Family who escaped by chance back then is now at Shrek Academy. He is one of this year's freshmen." In the main hall, a servant respectfully reported to Wang Lei.

"Mm, I understand. You may leave," Wang Lei said, waving his hand.

"Yes."

At that moment, a woman emerged from the back room and said, "Brother Lei, now that we have found the Lin Family remnant, what are you planning to do?"

"What else? Uproot the weeds and eliminate the roots, leaving no future trouble!" Wang Lei said coldly.

"But that Lin Family remnant is at Shrek Academy," the woman said worriedly.

Wang Lei slammed his hand on the table and stood up. "Do you think the Seven Kill Sword Martial Soul has poor talent? If his Martial Soul were the same longsword as his father's, I might consider sparing him. But it isn't. His Martial Soul mutated into the Seven Kill Sword. Haven't you heard the legend of that Seven Kill Sword Martial Soul wielder from Ten Thousand Years Ago? In this life, I can at most become a Soul Douluo. I absolutely cannot allow a genius youth with the potential to become a Title Douluo to grow up. Otherwise, it will be a devastating blow to my Wang Family."

"But..." The woman was still worried.

"Say no more. I have my ways."

After saying that, Wang Lei entered the back room.

"It seems I'll have to ask that lord to make a move," Wang Lei muttered.

That night, Shrek City's east gate

Lin Chen, Zhou Mingxing, Lin Xiaolei, and Xiao Xiao sat at the seats by Lin Chen's stall.

"Sigh, it's rare that we don't have physical training today. We can finally relax properly," Lin Chen said comfortably.

"Yeah. Old Lady Zhou usually trains us half to death," Xiao Xiao agreed.

"By the way, Xiao Xiao, why aren't you with Squad Leader and the others? Why did you come over here?"

"Squad Leader and Wang Dong are glued together every day. I even suspect something is wrong with that sort of thing between them. What, you don't welcome me?"

Lin Chen quickly waved his hands. This little girl might be pretty, but her temper was anything but pretty.

"Alright, Xiao Xiao, don't listen to Lin Chen's nonsense. You can't beat him when it comes to talking," Lin Xiaolei said, affectionately hugging her close friend.

"By the way, wasn't there an Inner Court senior who nearly roasted Squad Leader and Wang Dong alive a few days ago?" Lin Chen suddenly recalled something and asked Xiao Xiao.

"Huh? Was there? Why have I never heard Squad Leader or the others mention it?" Xiao Xiao asked in surprise.

"Then I must have heard wrong."

The four of them continued chatting idly like that.

For Lin Chen, who had lived on Blue Star in his previous life, he truly liked this kind of everyday warmth. After finishing work, gathering with good friends, chatting about life and ordinary matters—this was an immense satisfaction to Lin Chen.

It was just that this was Douluo Continent, and they were all cultivators, so there were far fewer topics they could talk about.

Still, there should be no Red Dust Tribulation here, right?

Relaxing moments always passed quickly. After eating and drinking their fill, the four of them returned to their Dormitories to cultivate.

Lin Chen had ultimately become a butterfly, because their first elimination-round match was against Ning Tian's team.

"First-year Class Nine, Ning Tian."

"First-year Class Nine, Wu Feng."

"First-year Class Nine, Nanmen Yun'er."

"The match begins."

However, the three people opposite them did not attack. Ning Tian slowly stepped forward and said, "Classmate, you should know that the Seven Kill Sword and the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda originally came from the same family. Rather than killing each other here, why not return to us? My Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect guarantees that we will devote every resource to nurturing you."