While looking at the man, Zhao Luo and his friends heard another announcement.
"You lot, who followed my teaching and treaded on this long and unfathomable road. A road whose end could only be seen by people who had the heart of a saint and the qualities of a dragon."
Wu Yang, Mite, Feng Mei, and the others had a shine in their eyes.
Each of the lines was a calculated phrase that was like praise being showered on them. This gave them a newfound feeling of achieving an impossible feat.
'Heart of a saint?'
'Qualities of a dragon?'
'Bullshit!'
'Who are you mister, just turn around and introduce yourself?'
Zhao Luo couldn't give two cents about what the Fu Zi was going on about. It was just a setup, no matter who reached the end, the same announcement will be repeated.
The only thing Zhao Luo wanted to know, was the identity of the man who had reached this place before them.
'Is he one of the disciples too?'
Zhao Luo wondered.
It was quite a plausible thought.
While Zhao Luo was guessing the possible identities of the mysterious man in front of him, the announcement continued.
"Since you have upheld my teachings, I will adhere to my promise."
"You all have become superior."
<CLAP>
The announcement ended with a cheering sound.
The red line in their bars which were infinitely close to the end finally hit the bar's limit.
But the next layer, the crimson layer didn't overlap the red one, unlike Zhao Luo's case whose crimson line had reached the end.
Wu Yang and the others were very pleased.
"We did it. We completed the challenge."
Wu Yang exclaimed while looking at the others.
The challenge was about memorizing and learning. They did memorize the teachings of Fu Zi and without understanding them they wouldn't have acted upon them while also clearing the different missions on the dragon road.
They stayed together and since the start, Zhao Luo had helped the other disciples too.
They had done well but was the reward just a clap.
After a while, the echoes of the clapping sound had died down.
Nothing happened after that.
'He will give the reward.'
Zhao Luo remembered what Wu Yang had told him before they had entered the capsule.
(Image of Wu Yang flashing through Zhao Luo's eyes.)
'One of the ranked elders oversees this challenge.'
(Back to the garden)
'So the man in front of me is either an elder or a disciple.'
Zhao Luo stopped thinking as he started walking towards the man.
'Tap, Tap.'
Zhao Luo was standing slightly behind the man's left side.
'He is looking at the sunflowers.'
Zhao Luo could see the sunflowers facing the man.
Zhao Luo took a step towards the man and came to stop right behind him as he tapped his shoulder.
"Kiddo, if it was someone else, they would have lost their hand."
The man said in a cold voice.
'Bang.'
Zhao Luo shuddered as he jumped back.
The voice wasn't just cold, Zhao Luo could feel a menacing aura from the man.
The aura just confirmed what the man had said.
The man turned around to face Zhao Luo and the others.
'Third Elder?'
Wu Yang thought as he saw the face of the man. While the others were shocked for a reason.
Zhao Luo was stunned too as he saw the front profile of the third elder.
The man who was a little taller than Zhao Luo and had a handsome face was weird in more than one way.
Even though he couldn't compare to Zhao Luo's beauty, his hairstyle was a thing that was a wonder.
Zhao Luo had never seen such a ridiculous hairstyle on anyone's head.
The head of the third elder was a puzzle where the front half of the head was bald and the other half had long hair which was falling on the third elder's shoulder.
When the elder was facing them with his back, Zhao Luo could see the shiny hairs but now when the elder turned to look at them, Zhao Luo didn't know if he should stab his eyes or pluck them out for seeing such an abomination of ahead.
"Young man, do you like my style? I can give you one too if you want it.
The third elder asked Zhao Luo with a smirk on his face.
There was a reason behind the weird condition of his head that had something to do with his cultivation technique but he never explained it to others, instead just asked them if they wanted their heads to look like his.
Zhao Luo hurriedly shook his head.
He was the most stunned out of all the others.
'So even though there is no sunlight here, the shine coming from this guy's bald head was providing them the light.'
Zhao Luo speculated as he darted his eyes between the third elder's head and at the sunflowers who were slowly facing down.
"You are not a disciple. Are you?"
Zhao Luo questioned the man as he looked at the third elder.
"Oh-hoo show some respect, young man. I am the third elder of the great Xin Sect, Bao Fei."
The third elder formally introduced himself.
"I pay my respect to the third elder."
Wu Yang walked up and stood next to Zhao Luo before bowing.
The others also followed behind him.
"We pay our respect to the third elder."
"I p-pay my respect to the third elder."
Zhao Luo was still not used to this greeting. Especially when the man who looked as young as him and had a weird head was the third elder.
"Good kids."
Bao Fei laughed as he walked towards Zhao Luo and looked at him.
Right after then he stared at Yan and showed a weird smile.
His smile had a clear message behind it. Both Yan and Zhao Luo understood it.
'I know what you did.'
They could read these words as they watched his smile.
Zhao Luo stared at the third elder while Yan looked down in embarrassment.
"Ahem."
"You will reach great heights."
The elder cleared his throat and nodded at Yan as he moved his sight onto Feng Mei.
'Nod.'
"As expected of the little Queen. The Feng's have a bright future."
Feng Mei was confused while the elder talked about her.
Then he looked at Su Shi.
"Girl from the Su's. Work hard like you have been doing always and you will achieve what your heart has set its aim on."
The elder stopped to look at Su Shi for a moment and as his remark left his mouth his eyes were already looking at the next target of his judgment.
"Too late but still working hard."
The third elder said this about Mite.
'Just one glance and he can tell about the senior.'
Zhao Luo thought while the elder was already looking at Mo Lee.
"You don't have to hide your background. Don't let the pressure change your personality and keep on moving forward."
The elder said while looking at Mo Lee.
'Nod.'
Mo Lee was startled for a moment as he heard the elder's comment. After which, he nodded at the elder with an awkward smile.
"So young yet not falling behind even the royalty. You will be the ones who will lead the sect in the future."
The third elder let out some very responsible words as his eyes were on Wei Bin.
The others looked at Wei Bin. They already knew how special the kid was when they had seen his performance in the moonstone challenge.
The elder had very high expectations of Wei Bin.
The elder looked at the back of Zhao Luo's group as his gaze focused on Long Hing.
"You think you don't deserve to be here. You think you got lucky. But I don't see a lucky person. I see a crouching cub. A cub who is definitely a tiger but has yet to realize his capabilities."
Ling's eyes were wide open. The elder had perfectly read his thoughts.
'Since the moment I had entered this cloud with Brother Wu Yang, no, even before that, I thought didn't deserve to be treated as a companion of Brother Zhao Luo.'
Ling thought.
'But he saw through my confusion and even cleared this frustration of mine with just a few sentences.'
Ling bowed in front of the elder which caused a smile to emerge on his face.
'Woosh.'
Bao Fei turned his head and looked at Wu Yang.
"So you were the chosen one. Hahaha. Nobody knows what goes through his mind. Leaving such a responsibility on your shoulder. But why do I sense this feeling of relief from you?"
Wu Yang stepped back while stumbling as the third elder grabbed his shoulder and brought his face closer to his.
"Have you already found the successor? Do you think, a trainee will be able to stand against the core disciples yet alone the direct disciples?"
Bao Feo whispered in Wu Yang's ear.
Wu Yang tightened his fist as his eyes strayed over to Zhao Luo.
A belief awakened in his eyes when he looked at Zhao Luo.
Wu Yang went closer to the third elder's ear.
"He will destroy them."
Wu Yang whispered with a voice that was filled to the brim brim with confidence.
"Hahahaha."
Bao Fei laughed as he stepped back and walked towards Zhao Luo.
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