Chapter 996: Familiar Faces

Turning his head around, Lin Dong saw three figures with pleasantly surprised expression on their faces, standing near a corner of the pavilion, staring back at him. The leader of the group was a beautiful girl with a slender and soft waist, dressed in a light coloured dress. The person that possessed such delicate and exquisite appearance, was precisely Gu Mengqi of the Gu Clan.

Standing beside Gu Mengqi, were two familiar and beautiful figures. They were Gu Yan as well as the timid young girl and the first person that Lin Dong met when he entered the Chaotic Demon Sea, Gu Ya.

Looking at the three ladies, whose beautiful faces wore a pleasantly surprised expression under the illumination of the candlelight, Lin Dong clearly gawked for a moment. Promptly, a slight joy surged from within his eyes. Seeing some familiar faces in a foreign land was always a heartwarming event.

“I did not expect the three of you to be here as well…” Together with a somewhat puzzled Mu Lingshan, Lin Dong walked over, before he sent a smile at them while he spoke.

“Are you also participating in the competition organised by the Flame Divine Hall? Oh yar, I’ve almost forgotten. You’re no longer a nobody like you were back when we first met.” Gu Mengqi grinned as she stared at Lin Dong. With her eyebrows gently curving like a crescent moon, her exquisite looking face appeared exceeding alluring.

After hearing such playful words from Gu Mengqi, Lin Dong couldn’t help but chuckle. Promptly, he shook his head as he replied, “You think too highly of me.”

“Haha. Brother Lin Dong is as modest as before. The ninth rank on the rookie list isn’t a spot where anyone could casually climb up to.” Gu Yan said with a gentle smile. The gaze she sent towards Lin Dong was filled with a complicated expression, as she recalled the first time she met Lin Dong on the Mysterious Spirit Island. At that time, she and Lin Dong had both broken through to Initial Profound Life Stage. However, in the past year, not only had Lin Dong far surpassed her, he had even established a fairly powerful name for himself in the Chaotic Demon Sea.

Although the Heavenly Wind Sea Region wasn’t a famous sea region like the Flaming Sea Region, the Gu Clan obviously has quite powerful information gathering capabilities. Hence, they knew about the various feats that Lin Dong had accomplished. A few days ago, they even knew about the feat that Lin Dong had accomplished in the Heavenly Lightning Sea Region. At that time, even the elders of their clan were shocked to the point of smacking their lips…

With a smile, Lin Dong looked at Gu Ya, who was still as timid as before. Extending his head out to rub the little girl’s head, Lin Dong smiled while saying, “You’ve grown even prettier, little lass.”

A pink shade appeared on Gu Ya’s little face. However, Lin Dong’s intimate actions caused her to feel happy and elated. Although Lin Dong had established a name for himself in the Chaotic Demon Sea, he was still warm and kind like before. The relationship between them did not become estranged because of the latter’s newfound fame and status.

After greeting the trio, Lin Dong proceeded to introduce Mu Lingshan to them. This little girl appeared even more more petite than Gu Ya. With her two ponytails and her porcelain doll like face, she looked extremely cute. For a moment, the three girls could not resist teasing her, pinching her cheeks while continuously chirping and chattering away.

With a smile, Lin Dong took a seat at the table they were at. Upon hearing the clear and sweet sounding chatter from this group of girls, the smile at the corner of his mouth grew much deeper. What a gentle and peaceful sight.

“You’re quite adept at causing trouble. In just a single year, quite a few major events that occured in Chaotic Demon Sea were all related to you. ” Escaping from the chirping of the other three girls, Gu Mengqi sent her watery eyes looking towards Lin Dong, who was pouring himself a cup of wine, before speaking in a soft voice.

“It’s not like I wanted it this way. I simply wanted to achieve some of my goals, that’s all. Thus, I had no choice but to do so.” Lin Dong smiled as he replied. Changing the topic, he said, “The reason you guys are here, is because of the so-called lightning competition?”

“Yup. The merchant vessels of our Gu Clan just so happened to be in the vicinity. Hence, we conveniently decided to head over to join in the fun. After all, the allure posed by the Thunderbolt Ancestral Symbol is rather powerful.” Gu Mengqi replied with a faint smile.

“Naturally, we’re also aware of our own standing. The only ones who possess the qualifications to fight for that item would be you guys, the fearsome individuals that occupy the top ten rankings on the rookie list. We’ve only came here with the intention of obtaining some combat experience.”

Upon hearing her reply, Lin Dong didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. However, after thinking about it, what she said made sense. He managed to kill five Profound Death Stage experts in the Heavenly Lightning Sea Region. Disregarding Gu Mengqi, who obviously viewed this as a fearsome and vicious feat, even to most elders in the Gu Clan, this feat was rather shocking. Perhaps, even they could have never imagined that the external aid that they hired, had now succeeded till such an extent…

“Looks like news of this competition has truly spread like wildfire across the entire Chaotic Demon Sea, huh.” Lin Dong replied with a sigh. Even the distant Gu Clan from the Heavenly Wind Sea Region had came over. The allure of an Ancestral Symbol is truly terrifying.

“Oh, our Gu Clan aren’t the only ones that have came over from the Heavenly Wind Sea Region. Even the Wei Clan has sent members over… Well, take a look over there.” Gu Mengqi gave a sweet smile as her beautiful eyes turned towards a certain direction.

“The Wei Clan?”

Lin Dong gawked faintly, before turning his head towards the direction of her gaze. This pavilion was extremely vast and expansive and it looked just like a hotel. There were quite a bit of mutually familiar experts grouped together. At the north east side from where Lin Dong was, a group of people was similarly huddled together. In that group, one of them looked rather familiar. Upon closer inspection, it was actually the Wei Clan’s Wei Zhen that Lin Dong had previously met on Martial Island.

“Ha, it seems like enemies often cross each other’s path.” Looking at Wei Zhen, Lin Dong started to chuckle. Speaking of which, he had a bit of a grudge with the Wei Clan. If it were not for their actions previously, he wouldn’t be forced by Nefarious Bone Old Man till such a miserable state. Although he ruthlessly blew that old fellow into a human stick, Lin Dong still wound up with pretty severe injuries as a result.

When Lin Dong looked at Wei Zhen, the latter seemed to have realized it as well. Turning his head around, his face instantly froze the moment he saw Lin Dong staring back at him with a faint smile. A flash sparkled within his eyes as he hastily evaded the former’s gaze.

Since Gu Mengqi and the others were able to learn of Lin Dong’s accomplishments, how could Wei Zhen, a member of a similarly powerful clan, not catch wind of it? If they were on the Martial Island now, that Lin Dong wasn’t frightening. However, right now, the current Lin Dong caused his heart to tighten in fear. After all, Lin Dong bore the ominous title of having slaughtered five Profound Death stage experts. That was indeed quite terrifying. Furthermore, he knew that the current him was on a completely different realm.

Seeing that evasive gaze from Wei Zhen, who had chosen to avoid his gaze, Lin Dong faintly smiled. He did not plan to intentionally cause trouble. After all, he disliked doing so. Furthermore, the current Wei Zhen was hardly worthy of his attention.

With this thought in mind, Lin Dong turned around and continued chatting with Gu Mengqi and the other three ladies.

There were various experts from different locations gathered together in this guest welcoming pavilion. Hence, it was quite crowded and lively. Although Lin Dong sat at a corner, due the Gu Mengqi and the other three’s beautiful looks, they had attracted quite a few attentive gazes. Regardless, beautiful ladies always attracted attention.

However, Gu Mengqi and the rest didn’t care about those gazes. As they continued talking silently, an uproar suddenly rang out from outside the large doors of the pavilion. In the next instant, rustling noises started to scatter about.

Tilting his head over, Lin Dong looked at the large doors. At that spot, a group of people had rushed through. At the very front of the group, was a man in a black vest. The male stood tall and straight, with a fairly handsome face. His lips was thin and straight, akin to the edges of a blade, while a chilling aura faintly pervaded out from him.

When this group of people appeared, faint clamouring noises rang out within the pavilion. Obviously, they had a fairly powerful reputation and background.

Shooting a look at the black vested male, Lin Dong proceeded to turn his head back. However, he was faintly startled when he saw that the eyebrows of Gu Mengqi and the other two suddenly knit up.

“Who are they?” Lin Dong asked with a smile.

“Covering Sea Sect’s Huang Ling… ninth place on the rookie list. Oh, he’s now been pushed to the tenth place, thanks to you…” Gu Mengqi replied.

“Do you guys know him?” Placing the wine cup in his hands gently down on the table, Lin Dong inquired.

“We don’t.” After hesitating for a moment, Gu Mengqi replied with a smile.

“Is there a need for secrets between friends?” Looking at Gu Mengqi, whose smile appeared somewhat stiff, Lin Dong asked quietly.

Gu Mengqi and Gu Yan looked at each other before the latter replied, “It isn’t much. I previously mentioned that our merchant vessels are nearby, right? While we were out at sea, we just happened to bump into the Covering Sea Sect and their group of people. And, it just so happened to be the group led by Huang Ling…”

“Initially, our Gu Clan didn’t have any grudge or grievances with the Covering Sea Sect. However, after he saw elder sis Mengqi, that Huang Ling’s eyes started to turn red. You should be able to guess what happened next. Elder sis Mengqi didn’t have a favorable impression of him and thus ignored him. Perhaps, that Huang Lin turned his embarrassment into rage, as he forcefully detained several of our vessels…”

“It’s only a few merchant vessels. It isn’t a big deal.” Gu Mengqi replied with a smile. After seeing Lin Dong’s expression, she became slightly nervous. She knew that the current him was much more powerful than before. However, Huang Ling was also no slouch. Furthermore, he had vast and expansive connections and there were even a few fearsome individuals, who were ranked top ten on the rookie list, that had a relationship with him. As of now, Lin Dong was still by his own loneself. If any conflicts were to occur, it would be disadvantageous for him.

“Oh.” Lin Dong nodded his head, proceeding to stop talking about this matter. Raising another question, they started to talk about other matters.

Right after Lin Dong changed the topic, Huang Ling walked straight into the pavilion. Promptly, he headed towards a group of people. Coincidentally, that group was where Wei Zhen was located.

It seems like Wei Zhen was acquainted Huang Ling. When he saw the latter approaching him, the former hastily came forward and greeted him with a smile. With a sparking gaze, he shot a vague glance towards the direction of Lin Dong and the rest, before whispering into Huang Ling’s ear.

After he heard Wei Zhen’s words, Huang Ling proceeded to pan his head and look towards the direction of Lin Dong. In the next moment, he noticed Gu Mengqi, sitting uneasily under the candle light, while gently biting her lips.

“Ah.”

With a gentle smile, a playful expression emerged on Huang Ling’s face. Grabbing his wine cup, he immediately turned around, walking straight towards the group, consisting of one man and four ladies.

Huang Ling was clearly one of the more dazzling individuals here and quite a few individuals were paying close attention to his actions. Therefore, when they saw what he was doing, quite a few of their eyebrows faintly lifted…