"You too. Good luck in the preliminaries," Yue Shen said to Long Haochen and Li Xin. Then he headed straight for the Knight Temple's Registration Desk, passing Ye Hua, who was waiting nearby for Long Haochen.
Ye Hua, who had been waiting at the Registration Desk for Long Haochen to arrive, noticed Yue Shen as well. His expression immediately turned rather odd.
Why did this fellow come here to register with Haochen and the others?
"Teacher Ye Hua." Long Haochen and Li Xin approached to greet him.
"Mm." Ye Hua wore his usual expressionless look and gave only a faint acknowledgment.
"Why did that fellow come here with you?" Ye Hua glanced toward Yue Shen, full of questions.
"Well, it went like this..." Long Haochen stepped forward to explain how Yue Shen had temporarily joined their team.
"The assessment mission for fifth-tier contestants was different from yours, wasn't it?" Ye Hua's expression grew strange. "You went with him to hunt fifth-tier demons?"
Long Haochen shook his head slightly, then recounted how Yue Shen had rescued Lin Jialu during their assessment mission, single-handedly dealt with a nearly sixth-tier Gold-Patterned Twin-Blade Demon and a Skeleton Mammoth, and more.
"Hello, I'm here to register for the selection tournament preliminaries." Yue Shen walked up to the Registration Desk, took his Identity Token from inside his clothes, and handed it to the staff member.
"Fifth tier?"
The staff member behind the desk was clearly surprised. But after checking that the Identity Token was valid, he took out a Competition Token for the Knight Temple preliminaries and handed it to Yue Shen, then filled out his registration details.
"Fifth-tier contestants receive byes for the first two elimination rounds of the preliminaries," the staff member reminded him.
"Thank you." Yue Shen accepted the Identity Token the staff member handed over and looked down at its number.
Five.
That meant that, including him, five fifth-tier Earth Knights had already appeared in the Knight Temple's preliminaries for this Demon Hunt Squad Selection Tournament.
Yue Shen smiled faintly, then put the Identity Token into his Storage Ring.
Just as he was about to leave, Long Haochen and Li Xin arrived at the Registration Desk behind the expressionless Ye Hua.
"Brother Yue, where are you headed now?" Standing behind Li Xin in line, Long Haochen asked Yue Shen, "We're going to check into our hotel after registering. Would you like to come with us?"
Ye Hua frowned slightly at that, but said nothing.
"I'll pass." Yue Shen waved a hand. "I still need to report to the Holy Knight Commander. My accommodations have already been arranged."
"Really?" Long Haochen sounded a little disappointed, but still smiled. "Then I'll see you at the preliminaries, Brother Yue."
"Mm." Yue Shen nodded lightly, then left the Temple Alliance Grand Trial Grounds and headed straight for the Government Office.
Once Long Haochen had taken his Competition Token from the staff member and finished registering,
"Let's go. I've already checked you into the hotel," Ye Hua said in a low voice from beside him. "There are still a few days before the preliminaries begin, so you two need to focus on cultivating your internal spiritual power. Every bit of spiritual power you can gain counts. Try not to go out over the next few days. Settle down and prepare for the preliminaries."
"Huh?" Li Xin said cautiously, "Uncle Ye Hua, we only just arrived in the Holy City today. Do we really need to rush so much...?"
"Of course you do!" Ye Hua looked exasperated with her. "Besides, before I left for the Holy City, your father asked me to look after you. So I'll be supervising your training over the next few days too."
Li Xin's face fell. She had been thinking that, since she finally had the chance to visit the Holy City, she ought to explore it first.
Seeing her reaction, Ye Hua sighed softly. Then he led Long Haochen and Li Xin to the hotel he had booked in advance and brought them into his room.
"Tell me about him.
"Ye Hua sat in a chair. "Haochen, how much do you know about this fellow named Yue Shen?" "Teacher, Brother Yue has helped me many times already." Long Haochen seemed somewhat displeased with Ye Hua's attitude toward Yue Shen. "Brother Yue is very strong. Without him, I doubt we would have passed our assessment mission so easily."
"But from now on, he's your opponent." Ye Hua shook his head slightly. "Never mind Yue Shen-even Li Xin might end up facing you."
Long Haochen froze at those words, unsure what to say.
"Forget it." Ye Hua sighed. "You've always been like this. Keep telling me about Yue Shen. Tell me everything he told you and everything you know about him."
After hearing what Long Haochen and the others had experienced over the past few days, Ye Hua was speechless for a long time.
"Could my training have been too gentle?" Ye Hua shook his head, then barked, "Both of you, get out there and train! That Yue Shen has surely already started cultivating and preparing to win the finals of this Demon Hunt Squad Selection Tournament. What are you two still doing here?"
"Yes!"
The two sworn siblings hastily fled Ye Hua's room and returned to their own rooms to begin cultivating.
After informing Han Qian that he had returned, Yue Shen went back to his old dorm room in the Knight Department.
With the selection tournament preliminaries fast approaching, Han Qian, the Knight Temple's tireless model worker, had been extremely busy these past few days. He had no time to spare for Yue Shen and merely told him to prepare well.
Looking around the spacious, cozy dorm room, Yue Shen decided to take a bath before doing anything else.
After having Sol teleport over, Yue Shen settled into the bathtub for a soak.
He opened his Status Panel and looked at the field displaying his tier.
[Tier: Fifth tier, level seven]
Although he had not deliberately cultivated over the past few days, the natural growth of his spiritual power alone had already brought him to the seventh level of the fifth tier.
At his current cultivation speed, it would not take long to break through to the sixth tier, but he was in no hurry.
After all, breaking through to the sixth tier now would interfere with his later plans.
"Sol, want to try Cloud Shopping?" Yue Shen suddenly asked.
"Hmm?" Sol looked at Yue Shen in confusion.
The Registration Desk at the Temple Alliance Grand Trial Grounds.
After putting away her Competition Token, Xue Meng stepped aside to wait for Gandalf, who had come to register with her.
"Hey, Dried Tofu," Xue Meng asked curiously, "why are you entering this Demon Hunt Squad Selection Tournament, anyway? Don't you know that with this world's protagonist taking part, your chances of placing well and getting a Spirit Furnace reward are pretty slim?"
"Huh?" Gandalf seemed puzzled, then replied, "I'm not entering for the rewards. I just want to become a Demon Hunter and go take a look at demon territory."
"I see." Xue Meng nodded in agreement. "There really isn't much fun to be had at this stage."
"What about you, Sister Xue Meng?" Gandalf asked. "Entering this Demon Hunt Squad Selection Tournament is one thing, but you even picked the priest class. Wouldn't getting a good placing be even harder for you than for me?"
"That's where you're missing the point." Xue Meng chuckled. "I'm here to ride someone's coattails."
"Huh?" Gandalf failed to catch on for a moment. "Where would any of us players find someone whose coattails we could ride?"
Before you continue