Liang Chen and Yan Ling continued to sit in front of the two grave markers for a few more minutes, neither of them saying anything. After Yan Ling managed to calm herself and dry the remains of her tears, the two stood up and left the graveyard. Returning to the valley where the sect's abodes were located. As they walked, Liang Chen recalled that there was a question he had intended to ask Yan Ling, so he figured he might as well ask it now.

"I forgot to ask this earlier, but for the upcoming Constellation King's competition, will any of the previous title holders take part? And if so, which one?"

The top five people in the Constellation King's competition received a title based on their rank. These five people were the cream of the crop, the strongest people below the Primordial Immortal realm, perhaps strong enough to fight against Primordial Immortals. Yan Ling placed a finger on her chin, tilting her head for a short moment as she thought before answering.

"I think all five should take part, unless they managed to somehow increase their cultivation in the past 10 years. The fifth-ranked is Wyrm King Huang Dong from the Moon Dragon sect, the fourth-ranked is Turtle Queen Gong Shun from the Nightshield sect, the third-ranked is Senior Brother Jiahao, Tiger King Fang Jiahao, the second-ranked is Phoenix Queen Xie Yahui from the Fiendgod sect, and the top-ranked is Dragon King Liu Bai from the Dawn's Blade Alliance. The Ghost Soul sect had some bad luck in the previous competition, so they were unable to secure themselves a spot in the ranking. Except for Senior Brother Jiahao, you need to make sure to not encounter the other four during the competition."

Fan Jiahao was one of the Storm Wolf sect's top disciples, the one who had mastered the supreme Jade Skin Technique. Liang Chen hadn't had much interaction with this Senior Brother, only talking to him twice before, once when Fan Jiahao threw him out of the library to get some rest and then once when he returned to the library.

Liang Chen nodded his head to show that he understood that he had to stay far away from these people during the competition. The two then split up to resume their cultivation, doing everything they could to prepare for the upcoming competition, which was only around five and a half months away at this point.

Yan Ling headed over to the main building of the Storm Hall, probably to meet up with her father so that he could guide her cultivation. Liang Chen followed her for a bit, but split up with her when he reached his goal, the Myriad Treasures Pagoda, the place where the sect's disciples could spend their contribution points. He had already ordered the items he was looking for as he was walking with Yan Ling, so he only had to enter the pagoda and prove his identity to pick up the items. After picking them up, he returned to the small hidden realm that was his abode and sat down at the side of the small lake to start his cultivation.

Liang Chen bought two items, one that was called Fragile Heart Mushroom and one that was called Nightborne Dew. The Fragile Heart Mushroom was a mushroom that grew from the feces of certain Demonic beasts that could use illusions or control other beings through a special type of mental energy. It was something he had bought for himself, it was a poisonous mushroom that contained a somewhat weak poison that could cause weaker people to become muddle-headed and easily susceptible to suggestions.

The poison was a bit weak on its own, but if Liang Chen mixed it with his other poisons, especially his Anima Essence, he could directly assault other peoples souls and practically control them like puppets, or so was the theory he had come up with at least.

The other item, the Nightborne Dew, was a type of water that could only appear in an environment where there was a lot of Qi that contained the darkness element. The Qi would mix with the moisture in the air, slowly forming several pitch-black drops that contained a highly concentrated Qi of the darkness element. This item was something he had bought for Yumao, as it was the type of item he would need if he wished to increase his strength and properly grow.

He knew that Yumao had taken away several bodies after their most recent mission, storing them away so that he could eat them and use the energy within them to increase his cultivation. Yumao was a Demonic beast, so Liang Chen knew that he could eat the corpses of other cultivators or Demonic beasts to increase his cultivation. Liang Chen had already talked with Yumao about eating the corpses of people, as long as it was people who he didn't consider good or innocent, he wouldn't have a problem with it.

Yumao handed over the interspatial rings and other items that the corpses wore, leaving only their flesh and blood for himself. He then retreated into the darkness to focus on increasing his own cultivation using the Nightborne Dew and the corpses. While Yumao was doing that, Liang Chen absorbed the poison of the Fragile Heart Mushroom and focused on mixing it into the poison that he had fused into his soul.

After doing so, Liang Chen used part of his mind to focus on increasing his cultivation and the other part on thinking about his cultivation. He had finished cultivating the first part of the Lightning God Physique, turning his bone marrow into liquid lightning. The next stage would require him to turn his bones into liquid lightning, but the problem was that Liang Chen only had the first part of the technique, he had no idea how to take the next step.

It sounded simple to turn his bone marrow into liquid lightning, but it required him to form tiny strings of pure lightning, twining the strings into every cell of his bone marrow, allowing the strings to slowly fuse with and take over the bone marrow. It was a delicate and intricate process that was far too profound for Liang Chen to properly understand. Without the second part of the technique, he could only try to come up with a continuation on his own, using trial and error to see what worked.

Of course, only when he was completely certain that he had reached a safe conclusion would he try it out on his own body, he wasn't suicidal after all. Luckily he had his law of time to increase the flow of time around him, giving him plenty of time to think about possible solutions that he might be able to use.

Liang Chen continued to mostly focus on his cultivation as time passed, occasionally leaving his abode to meet up with Yan Ling and spend some time with her, the two of them sparring to test out some new moves or ideas they had come up with. Liang Chen wanted to check up on the progress of Yumao, but he had completely sealed himself off in the darkness, which was practically a different dimension that only people who cultivated in the laws affiliated with darkness could access. Those who had enough strength could still discover and send attacks into this dimension, but they couldn't enter it on their own, so it was a good hiding place for those with lower strength.

Like this, time continued to pass, the entire sect preparing for the upcoming competition. Once there was only a single month left before the competition, Liang Chen's monotonous routine was interrupted, someone knocking on the door that led into his hidden realm and calling out to him.

"Junior Brother Chen, this is Fan Jiahao, may I enter?"

Liang Chen stopped his cultivation, one of his eyebrows raising in a mixture of surprise and confusion. Why would Fan Jiahao come looking for him? But still, he could not, and had no reason to, refuse the request of his Senior Brother, so he stood up and allowed Fan Jiahao to step into the small hidden realm that was Liang Chen's abode.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

As the fair-skinned and robust brown-haired Fan Jiahao entered his abode, Liang Chen swiped his interspatial ring and brought out a table and two chairs. He placed them in front of him, sitting down on one side and beckoning Fan Jiahao to the other side, taking out an assortment of drinks.

"Would you like some wine or tea?"

Other than Yan Ling, this was the first visitor Liang Chen had ever gotten to his abode. Fan Jiahao was also the highest ranked disciple in the sect, so Liang Chen had to at least show him some respect and hospitality. Fan Jiahao sat down in the chair Liang Chen beckoned towards, sweeping his gaze over the drinks for a short second before answering.

"I'll have some of this spiced wine, thank you."

Liang Chen nodded his head and poured some of the spiced wine into two cups, handing one to Fan Jiahao and taking the other for himself. He then proceeded to sip the wine and patiently wait for Fan Jiahao to state his business, not too interested in trying to make small talk or flattering this top disciple. Fan Jiahao gently sipped the wine for a bit before raising his eyes and looking directly at Liang Chen.

"Junior Brother Chen, I'll be honest with you. I hate you. I absolutely despise you, just looking at you makes me angry and causes my blood to boil."

Of all the things Liang Chen had expected Fan Jiahao to talk about, him stating his hatred for Liang Chen had never even been up for consideration. Liang Chen had barely ever interacted or even met with Fan Jiahao, so what reason could he have to hate him? Liang Chen raised an eyebrow, but he still didn't say anything, waiting for Fan Jiahao to continue speaking.

"I have been at Yan Ling's side since she was born. I watched her grow up, helped her with her cultivation, I was there when her siblings were born, and I was at her side when tragedy struck and she was at her lowest. Laugh at me if you want, call me disgusting if you want, but I have loved her ever since she was 12 and have since been waiting for her to grow old enough for me to confess my feelings."

Fan Jiahao sipped his wine with a composed expression, his eyes filled with a gentle and distant light. Fan Jiahao was already quite a bit older than Liang Chen, approaching his 200th birthday. Of course, as cultivators had extremely long lifespans, it wasn't uncommon for some cultivation couples to have thousands of years in age difference. As Fan Jiahao continued to talk, the grip he had on the cup grew somewhat tighter, cracks spreading on the cup.

"But even though I have waited for so long, been so close to her for so long, she still treated me the same as everyone else, polite but distant. I did everything I could to get close to her, but she still continued to treat me like that. I thought to myself that this was just how she was, I would just have to accept it and spend even more time trying to get close to her. After all, they do say that love only gets better with age."

Fan Jiahao placed down the cup, taking out a new one and pouring the wine over into it. He then took out another new one and handed it to Liang Chen, politely replacing the one he had just cracked. Once he finished replacing the cup, his gaze once again landed on Liang Chen.

"But then you came along and everything changed. She doesn't treat you like everyone else, she is far closer and more intimate with you. She doesn't even like others casually touching her but does it so easily when it's with you. Every time I see the two of you together, it feels like someone is stabbing me in the side with a burning blade, it infuriates me."

Fan Jiahao had never expected that the moment Yan Ling left the clan, she would return with a man who she was far closer to than anyone else. He had been certain that she would end up being his wife, so how could he not get angry when he saw her close with another man. But even though he was angry, he still maintained his composure, showing his age and experience as he continued to talk.

"I don't know how you feel about her, whether you love her or not, if you intend to treat her right or if you are just playing with her. Honestly, I just want to beat you down and rip her away from your side, to return everything to how it was. What do you think?"

He wanted so desperately to break down Liang Chen and take back Yan Ling, to return her to how she had been before, at least then he would feel like he still had a chance. Liang Chen tapped his cup of wine slightly for a short moment, the only thing breaking the silence being the sound of his finger hitting the cup. After thinking for a bit, he raised his head slightly, letting out a light breath.

"Love, huh? I can't say that I know too much about that emotion. The only experience that I have with that emotion is the love I felt towards my parents and the girl who acted like my older sister. But that love will never go past a familial love, so it's probably not the love that you are talking about. So even if you ask me, I don't know if what I feel towards Yan Ling is love."

Liang Chen hadn't really had much time to think about something like love. The closest he had ever gotten would be what he felt towards Qing Chun, but he was certain that what he felt towards her wasn't that type of love. Even if he had ended up marrying her in the illusion he experienced in the Mystic's Hidden Realm, he would never be able to see her as anything else than a close big sister.

Fan Jiahao didn't seem too pleased with Liang Chen's answer, but Liang Chen simply ignored him and closed his eyes. In the past, whenever he closed his eyes, he would be forced to relive the execution of his parents, but that had slowly changed over time. Now, whenever he closed his eyes, he would see the proud and challenging Yan Ling had when she faced the heavenly tribulation when she tried to awaken her bloodline. She was wounded and weak, certain to die as she faced the wrath of the heavens.

But still, she looked so proud, even daring to challenge the heavens. Ever since he saw it, that smile had been burned into his mind. At other times he saw her teasing smile, the smirk she had when she felt victorious, her embarrassed look when she teased him, her tears when she talked about her siblings, how lonely she looked when he met her in the third trial of the Mystic's Hidden Realm.

Countless expressions and smiles, each one as wonderful as the last. And then he thought about her vanishing from his sight, leaving his side. And just like it was when he thought about this during the time she faced the heavenly tribulation, he came to the same answer. He didn't want that, he didn't want her to leave his side. Just the thought of someone taking her away from his side filled him with so much anger that it felt like even his Heaven Devouring Dragon bloodline was starting to move. He opened his eyes again, his pupils unknowingly having turned into slits. His gaze landed on Fan Jiahao, who seemed like he was about to say something due to his annoyance, but his words caught in his throat when he saw Liang Chen's eyes.

"But what I do know is that if you, or anyone else, were to try to take her away from my side, I would kill you all and tear you apart without caring in the slightest for the repercussions."

As Liang Chen spoke, Fan Jiahao felt like he saw an illusion appearing behind Liang Chen. A massive gray serpentine dragon so large that it could coil around and crush a planet appeared behind him, one eye a beautiful emerald green and the other a gloriously golden. The dragon seemed to be staring directly through Fan Jiahao, its gaze the judgment of the god of death. The illusion vanished as quickly as it appeared, Fan Jiahao letting out a deep breath.

"Then there you have it, your answer, what your emotions are."

Fan Jiahao downed the rest of the wine in his cup and stood up, his body looking as if it had gotten lighter. He turned around and started to head towards the door that led out of the hidden realm, his composed voice sounding out.

"I only came here to vent my feelings, to release these emotions before they suffocated me. Well, that and to receive your reply. I won't do anything to you, Junior Brother Chen, because she is happier with you then she would be with me. But be warned, if you ever make her cry or make her sad, I will be there to pick her up, I will be there to punish you."

Liang Chen didn't stand up to see Fan Jiahao out, remaining in his chair and sipping the wine. He raised his head slightly upon hearing Fan Jiahao's voice, speaking out in a voice that was hardened with determination.

"I don't need you to tell me that, I will never allow her to be sad."

Fan Jiahao stopped slightly, his hand on the knob of the door. After a short moment, he opened the door and nodded his head, leaving the hidden realm and leaving behind a few words.

"Good, make sure you keep that promise."