Yang Zhen's move to take the task caught everyone off guard. He was so fast that no one had time to react; before a cry of surprise could escape, the paper was already in his hand.
Throughout the main hall of the Long Moon Pavilion, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared rigidly at Yang Zhen and the paper in his hand.
Of everyone in the crowd, Ma Yuan was the most stunned. Yang Zhen's words, "I'm the most low-key person there is," were still ringing in his ears. Before Ma Yuan had time to change his impression of him, Yang Zhen had slapped Ding Keqi in front of him, offending the man no one in Raging Fire City wanted to offend.
If Lan Fangyue hadn't appeared in time, Yang Zhen would probably have died at Ding Keqi's hands.
That matter wasn't even over, yet Yang Zhen had now torn down and accepted the task no one dared take, right in front of so many people.
Was Yang Zhen a madman?
Low-key? Like hell I believe you!
At first, the many people who took the task had merely wanted to try their luck. Most of them had never expected to comprehend even one sentence of the martial technique.
After all, even Hua Youyue, the master of the Long Moon Pavilion and a woman universally acknowledged as extraordinary, had failed to comprehend the martial technique. How could ordinary people see through it so easily?
Aside from those hoping for a stroke of dogshit luck, the people who took the task had done so out of curiosity. Plenty of people were curious about a martial technique that could stump Hua Youyue.
But things were different now. Ever since the sudden death, no one had dared take the task again.
Since many people who had taken the task felt they couldn't grasp anything from a single sentence, the Long Moon Pavilion had decided to reveal ninety percent of the martial technique. Apart from the marked passages, which didn't need to be deciphered, anyone who deciphered a single sentence would be able to join the Long Moon Pavilion as an honored guest of at least silver rank.
Once that news came out, someone else immediately took the task. He was also the only person who had read ninety percent of the martial technique and suddenly dropped dead in the secret chamber.
From then on, everyone in Raging Fire City understood that this saint-grade martial technique was not something an ordinary person could read. In other words, taking the task now could cost a person their life.
Lan Fangyue looked at Yang Zhen with a strange expression and asked in astonishment, "Do you know what you've done?"
Yang Zhen naturally knew what he had done. He had also heard a little about the Long Moon Pavilion's martial technique, but he had complete confidence in his comprehension and was curious what sort of martial technique could actually kill someone who read it.
Besides, it was a saint-grade martial technique. How could Yang Zhen pass up such a good opportunity? Things obtained for free were always the sweetest.
"Am I not allowed to take it?" Yang Zhen looked at Lan Fangyue. "I thought it was posted here for people to take."
Lan Fangyue looked at Yang Zhen, at a loss for words. "You can take it, but people can die after taking it."
"I know!" Yang Zhen said indifferently.
"You..." Lan Fangyue froze, then pursed her lips. "You might not understand how dangerous it is. I've been considering this task for a long time, but even now I don't dare take it."
"Oh," Yang Zhen said. "Could it be that you don't think your comprehension is very good?"
Her comprehension wasn't very good?
Everyone present was stunned by Yang Zhen's words.
"What kind of joke is that? If Miss Lan's comprehension isn't good, whose in all of Raging Fire City is?"
"Where did this person come from? Could he be a fool? Even a fool knows Miss Lan has the best comprehension of the younger generation in Raging Fire City. She's known as 'Lan Youyue.'"
A group of people denounced Yang Zhen in righteous indignation. Ma Yuan wore a bitter smile. He didn't even dare step forward now and could only hope Yang Zhen would quit while he was ahead or retreat in the face of difficulty.
Talking about comprehension in front of Lan Fangyue and Ding Keqi left people not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Ding Keqi suddenly burst out laughing. He raised his head and looked at Yang Zhen. "I thought I, Ding Keqi, was the most arrogant person in Raging Fire City, but I didn't expect you to be even more arrogant than me. You're the first person who's dared say Lan Youyue's comprehension isn't good. For those words alone, I won't kill you now."
A trace of resentment and frustration flashed across Lan Fangyue's face. She stared at Yang Zhen and gave a soft snort, plainly furious with him.
As if he hadn't seen Lan Fangyue's expression, Yang Zhen looked down at Ding Keqi and said, "Are you stupid? Next time you brag, do me a favor and look where you are. This is the Long Moon Pavilion. Even if you wanted to kill me right now, could you pull it off? Come on, come on, kill me. Let me see you do it."
"You..." Ding Keqi's face turned livid, but he had no answer.
Lan Fangyue burst out laughing. She glared at Yang Zhen and said, "You really do make enemies everywhere you go. Since you've taken the task, come with me."
Ding Keqi snorted. "Don't worry. Whether I kill you now no longer matters. You'll drop dead once you're in the secret chamber anyway."
Yang Zhen laughed and followed Lan Fangyue upstairs as the crowd stared in astonishment. "I don't have many strengths. My only strength is that I'm a little talented. With such a good martial technique sitting right there, only a fool would turn it down."
Holy crap!
Hearing Yang Zhen's words, everyone in the Long Moon Pavilion's main hall went mad.
"What does he mean?"
"Are you stupid? He's saying we're all fools."
"But it really is a very powerful martial technique. A saint-grade martial technique-we might never get to see one in our entire lives."
"Get out of here. You really are stupid. Even with a saint-grade martial technique, you have to be alive to learn it."
"Oh!"
"Idiot!"
"Try calling me that one more time!"
"What, idiot? You want to fight?"
"Get out here, you bastard!"
Ding Keqi's face was livid with anger, and his teeth ground together.
That was vicious. Yang Zhen was simply too vicious, and his mouth was even worse than he was.
Even Lan Fangyue, who was still climbing the stairs, stumbled and looked back at Yang Zhen with a strange expression.
Yang Zhen hurriedly moved his gaze away from Lan Fangyue and looked around as though nothing had happened.
"You..." Flushing with anger and embarrassment, Lan Fangyue glared hard at him. "If you keep looking where you shouldn't, I'll gouge your eyes out, Long Moon Pavilion rules or not."
Yang Zhen jumped and said guiltily, "What? Am I not allowed to look around in the Long Moon Pavilion? Then I won't look."
Lan Fangyue: "..."
Putting on a solemn expression, Yang Zhen hurried after Lan Fangyue as she strode upstairs.
News of Yang Zhen offending Ding Keqi and taking the Long Moon Pavilion's task swept through Raging Fire City like a storm.
Countless cultivators were dumbfounded when they heard it.
There were far too many cultivators from elsewhere in Raging Fire City now. After arriving, the thing they heard most often was never to provoke the Ding Lineage or the Lan Household, while the thing people spoke of most eagerly was the mysterious martial technique in the Long Moon Pavilion that no one had managed to comprehend.
People passed these two pieces of news around, finding them even more interesting than the Three Kingdoms Trial and the opening of the ninth floor of the Nine Realms Exquisite Pagoda.
Now, hearing this news all at once, everyone in Raging Fire City regarded Yang Zhen as an extraordinary character. Those eager for a spectacle called him "Raging Fire City's Number One Madman."
"Hmph, what extraordinary character? If you ask me, that man's a lunatic. Offending Ding Keqi in Raging Fire City is the same as offending the Ding Lineage. I reckon he'll die for no apparent reason before the Three Kingdoms Trial even begins."
"You're thinking too far ahead. We might hear tomorrow that he's dropped dead."
"I heard Tower Master Hua will be back soon. I wonder if she'll make it in time to see that man study the martial technique."
"What? Tower Master Hua is coming back?" Everyone was surprised. "I hear Tower Master Hua's beauty is unmatched. If I could just see her once, this trip wouldn't have been in vain."