Haoyue City

"Haochen, are you ready yet? Hall Master Nalan said he was giving us contestants a send-off today, and he wants us to get to know one another."

Outside Long Haochen's room, a girl with her long hair tied in a high ponytail knocked on his door, urging him to hurry.

"I'm ready." Having changed his clothes, Long Haochen opened the door and smiled at her. "Sis, let's go."

After saying that, Long Haochen turned back and stroked both of Haoyue's heads, which had poked out of the room.

"Be good. I'll be back tonight." Seeing that Haoyue had no intention of going back inside, Long Haochen could only say helplessly, "If you go back inside, I'll bring you dried fish tonight."

He and Haoyue had been together for almost half a year, so he naturally knew which words worked best.

Sure enough, the moment Haoyue heard Long Haochen promise to buy dried fish, Haoyue turned around and ducked back into the room.

"There we go. Sis, let's go," Long Haochen said.

"All right." Before leaving, the girl glanced back at Haoyue's two heads hiding behind the window and couldn't help laughing. "Haoyue is so clever."

The girl Long Haochen called his sister was actually only his sworn sister. They were not related by blood.

She was quite famous in Haoyue City, though. Rather than call her by her name, Li Xin, people preferred to call her the "Hell Rose."

Although her fiery temper was partly responsible for that title, it was mostly a recognition of her strength.

The siblings chatted as they walked toward Haoyue City's Government Office.

As they neared the entrance to the Government Office, they spotted a girl in blue walking ahead of them.

"What rotten luck," Li Xin said, pursing her lips. "We actually have to work with that Lin Jialu."

Fortunately, Li Xin hadn't spoken very loudly. Lin Jialu didn't hear her and walked straight into the Government Office.

Long Haochen felt a headache coming on when Li Xin said that.

Thankfully, Lin Jialu hadn't heard her. Otherwise, the two might well have started fighting right there.

"Sis, you really can't say things like that anymore," Long Haochen said, still a little rattled. "Jialu is going to be our teammate, after all. You can't bring your personal grudges onto the battlefield."

"Oh, I won't." Li Xin lowered her head sheepishly, clearly realizing her mistake. "Let's just go inside."

"Right! Uncle said he'd treat us to a feast today." Long Haochen immediately changed the subject. "I heard several important people from Haoyue City will be there too."

Their send-off was being hosted not only by Hall Master Nalan of the Knight Temple's Haoyue Branch Hall, but also by Li Xin's father, Li Aoxiao, who was Haoyue City's Military Commander-in-Chief.

There was also Lin Jialu's father, Lin Yinjia, Haoyue City's Governing Official.

The other two were Bai Yu, Hall Master of the Magic Temple's Haoyue Branch Hall, and Chen Chunhua, Hall Master of the Warrior Temple's Haoyue Branch Hall.

These important figures had arranged tonight's banquet to give a rousing send-off to the young people who would undergo the assessment for the Demon Hunt Squad Selection Tournament tomorrow.

After all, the higher they placed and the better they performed in the tournament, the higher Haoyue City's standing in the Human Federation would rise. It might even be promoted to a major city.

Thus, every Demon Hunt Squad Selection Tournament was also a competition between the cities, to see which produced more talented people of higher caliber.

The two had arrived at the Government Office a little late. Almost everyone was already there, and exquisite dishes had been laid out on the table.

Seeing them arrive, Li Xin's father, Li Aoxiao, called out, "Xin'er, take Haochen to his seat. The banquet is about to begin."

"Hello, Uncle." Long Haochen greeted him politely,

then found a seat with Li Xin and sat down. "Huh?" After looking around at everyone present, Long Haochen noticed an extra empty chair.

"Haochen, is something wrong?" Sitting beside him, Lin Jialu turned toward him and asked curiously.

Long Haochen shook his head gently. "Nothing. There's just an extra chair."

"Lin Jialu! Shut..."

Seeing her rival, Lin Jialu, dare to chat up her little brother right in front of her, Li Xin could no longer sit still.

Before she could finish, however, she suddenly remembered Long Haochen's earlier warning and fell silent.

"Shut what?" Thinking Li Xin wanted to argue with her, Lin Jialu naturally refused to back down.

"Shut... shut the window on your side. It's a little windy," Li Xin said through gritted teeth. In the end, she decided to let it go this time.

Watching this, Li Aoxiao nodded in satisfaction. His daughter had truly grown up, he thought. She finally understood that taking a step back could open up a world of possibilities.

Li Aoxiao turned to Nalan Shu. "Hall Master Nalan, the banquet is about to begin. Didn't you say you wanted to introduce us to a young man from the Holy City?"

"He should be here soon. I told him the time." Nalan Shu nodded slightly, then turned toward the entrance and smiled. "Look, here he is."

Just then, Yue Shen entered the Government Office's reception hall, guided by a staff member.

"Hall Master Nalan." Yue Shen stepped forward and bowed.

Nalan Shu chuckled and introduced him. "The man beside me is Haoyue City's Military Commander-in-Chief. You can just call him Uncle Li."

"Hello, Uncle Li. My name is Yue Shen."

"Hall Master Nalan has mentioned you several times already." Li Aoxiao laughed heartily. "You certainly are an impressive young man-a fine young talent."

After Yue Shen greeted Li Aoxiao, Nalan Shu had him take a seat. There were hall masters from other temples' branch halls present, after all, and he had no intention of introducing Yue Shen to them.

The moment Long Haochen saw the newcomer, he froze.

"Haochen, is something wrong?" Li Xin looked at Long Haochen's stunned expression, then at Yue Shen, who had just entered, and asked in confusion.

Long Haochen had actually intended to introduce Yue Shen to Li Xin. But when he saw Yue Shen simply find an empty seat and sit down, with no apparent intention of coming over to talk to him, he abandoned the idea.

"It's nothing." Long Haochen shook his head with a faint smile.

"Really?" Li Xin asked skeptically.

One look at Long Haochen's earlier reaction told her that her little brother was lying.

What puzzled her, though, was that Long Haochen had stayed in Haoyue City all these years. How had he met this person?

Still, she didn't keep pressing him about his reaction, because she noticed Lin Jialu a short distance away, signaling with her eyes for her to come over. Lin Jialu also pointed at the person who had just arrived.

Although the two had never gotten along, Li Xin's curiosity had already been piqued.

After a moment's thought, she rose from her seat and walked toward Lin Jialu.

"What?" Remembering how she had just swallowed her pride in front of Lin Jialu, Li Xin asked irritably, "If you're going to ask me about that person, don't bother. I don't know him either."