As the saying goes, a twitching left eye brings fortune, a twitching right eye brings disaster.

The several inexplicable twitches in his right eye interrupted Chen Yuan's cultivation. He frowned. At his level, his control over his physical body was extremely strong.

Such twitching was rare.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Yuan didn't feel anything was wrong. Even if something were to happen, it would likely be another conspiracy from Tang Qian.

This was normal...

It would be strange if Tang Qian didn't make any moves. Therefore, Chen Yuan didn't dwell on it and even cursed under his breath:

"Screw your feudal superstition!"

If it were his left eye twitching for fortune, Chen Yuan would gladly accept it and even feel incredibly lucky. But a right eye twitching for disaster... well, he had been taught differently since he was a child.

Anything bad was just feudal superstition to him.

That was just a minor interlude. Getting back to the main point, in addition to a few minor incidents, Chen Yuan had been constantly refining the Profound Yang Qi within the Profound Yang Divine Crystal and the Extreme Yin Fiendish Qi within the Blood Fiend Blade these past few days.

This had significantly increased the Profound Essence Astral Qi within Chen Yuan's dantian.

Three times the cultivation speed was indeed powerful!

One day of cultivation was equivalent to three days for others. Of course, besides cultivating, the matters he had previously instructed were also progressing. Several people within the Chang Le Gang had died violently.

Some of the families of the gang's higher-ups had also been abducted by the Yun Jiang Four Ghosts. However, Shi Yunlong's family was proving difficult to approach, as they were heavily guarded, and the Yun Jiang Four Ghosts couldn't get close...

They could only wait for another opportunity. Moreover, due to the frequent incidents in recent days, Shi Yunlong had significantly increased security.

Chen Yuan didn't say much about this and even encouraged the Yun Jiang Four Ghosts, telling them not to be too impatient and to proceed slowly.

On the other hand, the several ghost children were doing well, spreading news about the Green Flood Dragon Society far and wide. Even though the Green Flood Dragon Society was conducting a thorough investigation, they couldn't find the children.

But if Tang Qian wasn't stupid, he should suspect Chen Yuan.

Both sides were gathering strength, preparing to kill each other, to see who would succeed.

It was worth mentioning that Tang Qian had successfully contacted the Seven Kill Hall yesterday. To do so, he had paid a huge price to hire an assassin from the Seven Kill Hall.

The Seven Kill Black Post was equivalent to a ticket. Killing Chen Yuan specifically required additional payment, and the price Tang Qian paid was three extremely rare Yuan Crystals.

These were the things Chen Yuan had previously learned about: using heaven-and-earth formations in a blessed land abundant with primordial qi to compress the primordial qi into crystals, allowing martial artists to absorb primordial qi more quickly.

Those things were called "Yuan Crystals."

Their value far exceeded gold and silver, and they were generally used by higher-level martial artists.

It had taken considerable effort for Tang Qian to obtain them.

One Yuan Crystal could be exchanged for at least ten thousand taels of silver, but very few people ever exchanged them. Many people wanted to exchange silver for Yuan Crystals but couldn't find a way.

Three Yuan Crystals was equivalent to thirty thousand taels of silver to buy Chen Yuan's life. This price wasn't cheap. At least Chen Yuan, apart from the mine with a total value of perhaps tens of thousands of taels of silver, had never seen so much silver.

This showed the intensity of Tang Qian's killing intent!

The Seven Kill Hall had given a deadline of one month. Either Chen Yuan would die, satisfying Tang Qian's desire, or the assassination would fail, and Tang Qian would need to issue the mission again.

Of course, for the second attempt, a Seven Kill Black Post would be given free of charge.

Tang Qian was quite confident in the success rate of the assassination. It was rumored that the Seven Kill Hall would tailor an assassination plan to the target, rarely failing.

This was the strength of the number one assassination organization in the world.

The so-called "Seven Kills, No Fate" meant that, according to what Tang Qian had learned, the Seven Kill Hall had never had seven assassination attempts. They would typically kill the target within five attempts at most. Even high-ranking officials and generals of the court had been assassinated.

The imperial court was furious about this but helpless, unable to find the Seven Kill Hall's headquarters. They had only managed to kill a few assassins using the Black Posts.

With the Seven Kill Hall having accepted the mission, Tang Qian breathed a sigh of relief. Now he was just waiting for the news of Chen Yuan's death.

This fellow, who made him feel vaguely uneasy, absolutely couldn't be allowed to live. Even with his current strength, he dared to show his teeth and incite people to spread rumors about the Green Flood Dragon Society. This showed how deep Chen Yuan's killing intent towards him was.

......

......

East of Nanling City, a young man in a blue robe was walking step by step on the street, his pace steady. Each step seemed to have been pre-calculated for distance, without the slightest deviation.

His triangular eyebrows were sharp, and his cheeks were quite gaunt. His clothing appeared to be the same as others, but upon closer inspection, one could notice that it was different from ordinary people.

Moreover, he wore a black ribbon on his forehead to hold back his loose hair.

His name was Ryusheng Zhenyi. He came from a small country outside the East Sea. He had practiced martial arts in his family since he was a child. While he wouldn't say he could sweep aside everyone, he was definitely one of the most famous geniuses far and wide.

Along with his elder brother, he was known as the Ryusheng Twin Blades. Five months ago, he heard that his elder brother had made a great name for himself in the Central Plains. His competitive spirit was strong, and he ignored the warnings of his elders not to enter the Central Plains without reaching the Tongxuan realm. He secretly left Japan and came to the Central Plains.

He decided to leave the East Sea to challenge the sword users on the Hidden Dragon List.

After witnessing several competitions between geniuses in the Central Plains, Ryusheng Zhenyi felt like a frog jumping out of a well, seeing the abundance of talent and resources in the Central Plains. At the same time, he secretly set a goal to reach the top of the Hidden Dragon List and spread Japanese swordsmanship in the Central Plains.

Thus, Ryusheng Zhenyi began the process of challenging each person on the list, starting from the bottom. In three months, he had forcefully entered the top 100 of the Hidden Dragon List from over 300th place. Although he was only ranked 100th, his reputation was already considerable.

On one hand, he was constantly improving his ranking by stepping on the geniuses of the Central Plains, and on the other hand, he was taking the opportunity to hone his swordsmanship...

Recently, after entering Qing Province, the name he heard most often was the Demonic Blade Chen Yuan. After investigating, he learned that Chen Yuan had extraordinary talent and had even reached the top 100 of the Hidden Dragon List in a shorter time than he had.

Moreover, Chen Yuan happened to be ranked 99th, pushing him out of the top 100 of the Hidden Dragon List. So... he had come to challenge this Chen Yuan.

He would defeat this Demonic Blade with his own sword!

He would step on Chen Yuan's reputation to climb to a higher rank.

After casually finding an inn, Ryusheng Zhenyi ate and decided to go to the Dengxian Tower in Nanling Prefecture to formally challenge this Chen Yuan in the name of the Hidden Dragon List.

He had already found out that Chen Yuan wasn't a person who liked to be challenged. Previously, anyone who wanted to challenge him had been rejected. Chen Yuan didn't seem to be too interested in fame.

Therefore, he could only issue a challenge through the Dengxian Tower to fight in front of the Dengxian Tower.

He didn't choose to challenge Chen Yuan in front of the Sky Patrol Department, because that might lead to being suppressed by a Tongxuan realm expert. He had come to challenge, not to die.

During his time in the Central Plains, he had understood the power of the Sky Patrol Department and had even witnessed the experts within the Sky Patrol Department take action, knowing that he wasn't yet capable of fighting Tongxuan realm experts.

Competing against a Demonic Blade of the same realm was what excited him the most. Although it was said that Chen Yuan's strength was only at the Condensing Fiend stage, Ryusheng Zhenyi felt that this was definitely wrong.

This Chen Yuan had definitely hidden his strength, just like he had done, revealing it step by step.

When Ryusheng Zhenyi arrived at the Dengxian Tower and told the owner, Ye Chenbai, that he wanted to challenge Chen Yuan, Ye Chenbai looked Ryusheng Zhenyi up and down and told him very seriously that Chen Yuan's fights usually ended in death.

Since Chen Yuan had entered the top 100 of the Hidden Dragon List a few days ago, there had been no shortage of Qing Province talents and geniuses outside the top 100 of the Hidden Dragon List who wanted to compete with Chen Yuan.

Their plan was that winning would naturally be the best, allowing them to step on Chen Yuan to ascend to a higher position. Losing wouldn't be anything, after all, many people's reputations weren't as good as Chen Yuan's.

If they could be praised by him, it would be worth the trip.

But Chen Yuan saw through their intentions. Unable to stand the harassment, he directly announced to the public that anyone who wanted to challenge him could, but it had to be a death match, regardless of life or death.

These words calmed down the previously restless people, and no one dared to challenge him anymore.

Ryusheng Zhenyi was silent for a long time, and then said lightly:

"Send the challenge!"

Taking a deep look at the Japanese martial artist in front of him, Ye Chenbai nodded:

"Alright, but whether he accepts it or not is beyond the control of the Dengxian Tower."

The Dengxian Tower and the geniuses on the Hidden Dragon List weren't subordinate, and they couldn't control them at all. Some people didn't care about these rankings at all, and Chen Yuan seemed to have such an inclination.

"If the Demonic Blade doesn't accept it, then I can only challenge him in person."

......

......

Chen Mansion, within the backyard.

Chen Yuan squinted slightly, assuming a strange posture, refining the primordial qi wandering in the world. His breathing was extremely regular.

He was not only refining qi, but also refining his body.

The physical body was like a container. The stronger the container, the stronger the foundation, and the more water it could hold.

"My lord..."

Li Dongshan walked into the backyard with a solemn expression. Seeing that Chen Yuan was cultivating, he quickly walked to his side.

The relationship between the Yun Jiang Four Ghosts and Chen Yuan was pretty much known to everyone, so Chen Yuan didn't need to hide anything anymore and directly had them act as his guards and stewards.

Today was Li Dongshan's day on duty.

After exhaling a long, white stream of air, Chen Yuan lowered his qi to his dantian, slowly stood up, looked at him, and asked:

"What is it?"

"Someone sent a challenge, wanting to challenge you!" Li Dongshan presented the golden challenge letter to Chen Yuan with both hands for him to read, but Chen Yuan discarded it like worn-out shoes, throwing it on the table and saying:

"Do you know my rules? There is no such thing as a friendly match. Only life and death are distinguished."

After returning to the prefecture city a few days ago, Chen Yuan could be said to have been annoyed to no end. Everyone wanted to exchange two moves with him. If he hadn't directly set the rule of a death match, there would probably be people challenging him outside the door.

This was one of the downsides of becoming famous, especially for someone like Chen Yuan who had risen suddenly. He would inevitably be scrutinized and challenged by many people who felt that Chen Yuan might not be that strong and wanted to share in his reputation.