Someone arrived early.
At this moment, Shi Che, another martial artist from the Heaven and Earth Palace, stood on the edge of the cliff and suddenly shouted.
The people at the stone table all stood up. Zhuge Wangyue frowned and said, "So fast? It's only been a little over an hour."
"Looks like our formation wasn't set up very well. It's at least an hour faster than we planned." Wei Fenghua patted the dust off his backside and laughed heartily.
Shi Che turned around, a broad smile on his face, and said, "Can you all guess who has arrived?"
"I suspect it's Kang Zuoqing from the Kang Family."
"No, no, it could be Cao Miao from the Cao Family."
"I have high hopes for Kang Zuoqing. It's said that he has mastered the Yunyao Cultivation Technique and is exceptionally strong. Among the younger generation, he should be the most likely candidate to challenge Fan Yingqiu."
The three of them started talking all at once, and the rivalry between the four great families was evident in their words.
However, when they reached the edge of the cliff and looked down, their faces immediately showed astonishment.
Who is this person?
When they saw Gu Chen's actions again, their astonishment deepened. They exchanged glances, and disbelief was evident in each other's eyes!
What is he trying to do?
About an hour later, Gu Chen heard footsteps approaching.
He opened his eyes and looked ahead. The second person to emerge from the forest formation was someone he knew, as he expected— Kang Zuoqing.
Kang Zuoqing always traveled alone. After leaving the woods alone, he thought he would be the first to arrive here, but he didn't expect to see a figure as soon as he reached the bottom of Starfall Cliff.
"You actually arrived ahead of schedule?" Kang Zuoqing's face darkened. "What cheated you using?"
"Cheating?" Gu Chen chuckled, looking at Gu Chen as if he were an idiot. "I've been here for over an hour, arriving at the bottom of the cliff around 11:00. How am I supposed to cheat? Tell me!"
"Impossible!" Kang Zuoqing exclaimed decisively, "You couldn't possibly be that fast!"
Gu Chen's smile deepened. Indeed, someone as arrogant as Kang Zuoqing would naturally refuse to admit that others were better than him, and would therefore assume that Gu Chen's actions were unreasonable and abnormal.
Noticing the contempt in Gu Chen's eyes, Kang Zuoqing felt a surge of anger and said coldly, "I've been looking for you in the woods for ages. I didn't expect you to have arrived ahead of time by cheating. Fine, I'll teach you a lesson once we get to Starfall Cliff."
As Kang Zuoqing was about to sit down cross-legged, he suddenly noticed the wooden planks made of tree trunks and branches tied together on the steps behind Gu Chen and frowned, saying, "What the hell are you doing?"
"You'll know once they arrive," Gu Chen said with a faint smile.
Kang Zuoqing was very displeased and grumbled, "What a charade!"
As time passed, more and more martial artists arrived at the foot of Starfall Cliff. They naturally saw Gu Chen, but none of them greeted Gu Chen. Those martial artists who had suffered losses in the forest dared not approach.
Gu Chen glanced around and saw two familiar faces walking over: Cao Miao and Sun Da.
Sun Da, now completely unlike his previous arrogant self in front of Gu Chen, followed Cao Miao like a shadow. Upon seeing Gu Chen, Sun Da raised an eyebrow and said, "You actually came too."
After saying that, she tried to walk past him and go up to the top of the steps to wait.
"Get down," Gu Chen said calmly.
"What did you say?" Sun Da's face darkened. "Gu Chen, I haven't even settled the score with you for what happened yesterday, for how you slandered my sister's reputation!"
"Say one more word, and I'll teach you a lesson on behalf of your sister." Gu Chen raised his head and gave Sun Da a cold look.
"What did you say?" Sun Da's face instantly turned ugly.
Having come from Mexico, Gu Chen hadn't dared to speak too much to him the entire way. How come he seemed like a completely different person here?
"I told you to get off," Gu Chen said. "I don't want to say it a third time."
"You bastard!" Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Sun Da was unwilling to lose face. He angrily retorted, "You're nothing but a dog my sister rescued. Bringing you up to Leisurely Mountain was already more than enough! What do you want? To bite your master?"
As he spoke, Sun Da kicked Gu Chen!
In his mind, Gu Chen couldn't even withstand one of his punches. He had used seventy or eighty percent of his strength in this kick, and Gu Chen should at least be seriously injured!
But this was just a thought to him, because Gu Chen grabbed his leg and stared at him coldly with a devilish murderous intent in his eyes.
"What... what do you want to do?" Sun Da swallowed hard, feeling Gu Chen's intense gaze.
"If you've got the guts, say what you just said again." Gu Chen's killing intent clearly reached Sun Da's mind at that moment. Sun Da lost his footing and was lifted up by Gu Chen!
"Let me go! What are you doing!" Sun Da shouted angrily.
But the next moment, Gu Chen reached out and threw him away violently!
Bang!
Sun Da crashed to the ground, his back aching and his internal organs churning.
"If you weren't Sun Jiangman's brother, you'd be a cripple by now!" Gu Chen said, then sat down again as if he hadn't done anything.
But his ruthless act stunned everyone around him.
Isn't Sun Da Sun Jiangman's younger brother? Gu Chen actually attacked Sun Da, and so violently that Sun Da couldn't get up for a long time!
Those martial artists from aristocratic families who had been disciplined by Gu Chen in the woods were all trembling with fear. They knew that compared to before, Gu Chen was now being quite lenient!
Cao Miao helped Sun Da up and glared angrily at Gu Chen.
Sun Da had come with him, and along the way, he had asked Sun Da about him. He knew that Sun Da was a guy with no background, yet he dared to be so arrogant!
"Don't look at me like that, or you'll end up worse off than him!" Gu Chen glanced at Cao Miao and said coldly, "Take your little tagalong and sit over there!"
That's overbearing, absolutely overbearing!
Gu Chen's words caused everyone to gasp in shock. This guy, even under the emperor's nose, was so lawless!
"Very good!" Cao Miao took a deep breath and said, "Once we get to Starfall Cliff, I'll make you regret ever being born!"
Cao Miao was furious! Utterly furious!
He will kill Gu Chen in the duel on Starfall Cliff!
Soon, the martial artists arrived one after another, including Sun Jiangman. When she saw that Sun Da was injured, and that it was Gu Chen who had done it, her eyes were filled with complicated emotions. She glanced at Gu Chen but did not go over to sit next to him.
And the last one to arrive was Tang Miaomiao.
This ethereal figure, even after yesterday's events, remained calm and composed, as if she had stepped out of a painting. She saw Gu Chen, hesitated for a moment, and then chose a secluded spot to stand quietly to the side.
From then on, a total of forty-six martial artists emerged from the forest and all arrived.
Time slowly ticked down to three o'clock.
"Time is up!"
Kang Zuoqing was the first to stand up, looking up at the top of Starfall Cliff, his eyes filled with fighting spirit!
Ascending the Starfall Cliff to re-rank on the Tiger Ranking —that was his purpose in attending the Aristocratic Family Assembly! Not only him, but also Sun Jiangman and other martial artists shared this goal: to compete for resources for their families!
However, someone was faster. Just as the time reached three o'clock, two martial artists rushed towards the steps, trying to overtake Gu Chen and go up!
"Bang!"
Gu Chen punched each of them once, knocking them to the ground before they could even react!
"Gu Chen, what are you doing!"
The two martial artists lay on the ground, glaring angrily at Gu Chen. "Time's up!"
At this moment, Gu Chen stood up, patted the wooden plank behind him, smiled faintly, and said, "Everyone see this wooden plank? I'm sorry, this road has been blocked by me!"
Everyone was taken aback, and before they could understand what he meant, Gu Chen had already answered them.
In other words, nobody's going up there today!