Chapter 675: Troops Gather

Eastern Shallow Ocean covered a vast expanse, almost one-fifth of the entire continent. Dragon God Celestial Palace, being the strongest of the region, naturally occupied the greatest area. Thus, even the conveyor gate couldn't allow them to reach the Azure Dragon Hall in an instant. They had to wait a little.

Fifteen million Li away from Dragon God Island was a huge island, with towering buildings rising and falling in successions. These buildings were mostly in azure color. If one looked at these buildings from high above, they looked like the scales of an Azure Dragon. Under the sunlight, the azure buildings reflected a peculiar radiance; and when looked at as a whole, they seemed like a coiling Azure Dragon.

This island was called Azure Dragon Island, and the force occupying this island was none other than one of the five great halls of Dragon God Celestial Palace—the Azure Dragon Hall.

In a huge hall in the core region, the remaining two deputies were waiting, accompanied by dozens of head attendants. Apart from Azure Dragon Leader, all the higher-ups of Azure Dragon Hall were waiting to welcome the newly appointed deputy and his group.

They knew that this deputy was certainly not ordinary, and might even be the palace's hidden expert. Therefore, they were treating this affair with enough importance.

"Brother Wu, who do you think the higher-ups are going to send?" One deputy said to the deputy beside him.

The deputy surnamed Wu analyzed, "If his strength is too low, he won't be convincing, and if it is too high, then they're not many such people. Could it be the prime disciple Lin Canghai or second disciple Li Feng?"

"Lin Canghai's strength is sufficient, but war cannot be fought by relying on one man's strength. He must have certain traits of a leader. In this aspect, Lin Canghai is somewhat of a loner. As for Li Feng, although he looks gentle and amiable on outside, he is incredibly haughty inside and thinks of everyone with contempt."

"If these two are not possible, it should be someone we don't know of."

"I think the same, Eh! They are here!"

As the two were conversing, the conveyor gate in the center of the hall shone out, emitting dazzling light rays as dozens of people suddenly came out.

"Eh...!"

Seeing the group before them, it was simply impossible for them to not be astonished. Never did they think that their reinforcements would be so young. The oldest among them was Lin Canghai, who merely seemed around thirty years old.

"Lin Canghai, congratulations!"

After being momentarily stunned, Deputy Wu revealed a faint smile. Although Lin Changhai was somewhat of a loner and unfit for the position of a deputy, since it was the decision of Elders Association, he would not oppose it. Furthermore, a leader's ability could also be fostered. Who could say that he would not emerge as a great deputy?

"Lin Canghai, we're comrades from now on." The other deputy also smiled.

Lin Canghai was somewhat dumbstruck from their words. But the incisive person he was, he immediately realized and said indifferently, "I'm not."

Chen Yuxin promptly resolved the situation, "It's a misunderstanding! This is Senior Brother Ye Chen, the individual to assume the position of deputy."

"This gentleman is?"

The two deputies were somewhat embarrassed. Actually, they couldn't be blamed either. They habitually inclined toward one with the strongest first impression. Adding Ye Chen's appearance which seemed the youngest, they involuntarily treated Lin Canghai as the group leader. After all, they were only able to take a cursory glance at the group.

"I'm Ye Chen." Ye Chen said in a neither servile nor overbearing tone.

The two sized up Ye Chen and said inwardly, "A fine youngster!"

Ye Chen was already twenty-six years old, but since his cultivation had increased too fast—entering Astral Reaching Realm merely a year behind Mysterious Queen and Sea of Soul realm one year earlier than her—his appearance still looked around that at twenty years of age. Without his aura, he looked like a youngster who had just left his home and entered the world, a gentle and delicate young genius.

However, they obviously wouldn't overlook Ye Chen's aura. If Lin Canghai seemed like an unsheathed sword, Ye Chen seemed like a half-unsheathed peerless sword, seeming sharp yet contained, giving a deep and immeasurable feeling.

"Good!"

The two of them, who had engaged in slaughter with the four great hostile forces, had a knack for judging people. It was true that Lin Canghai's sharpness amazed them, but Ye Chen's deepness made them apprehensive.

"I'm Wu Chuan, and this is Xu Danian." Deputy Wu introduced themselves.

Ye Chen faintly nodded and said, "We're already aware of Azure Dragon Hall's situation. Our aim for coming here is precisely to resolve this situation. Take us to see Hall Leader Wei Longtao." He needed to get the deputy token from the latter. Otherwise, his position wouldn't be legitimized.

"Alright, follow me!"

Wu Chuan and Xu Danian turned around and led them outside.

Passing through the group of attendants, Ye Chen glanced at the head attendant Yao Yifeng. The latter had his head lowered, treating as if he didn't see Ye Chen.

At this moment, Yao Yifeng's mind was in chaos. He murmured, "How could it be him? How can he become a deputy of Azure Dragon Hall? It hasn't even been two years. He can't have gained the strength of Azure Dragon Deputy, which is even stronger than Yellow Dragon Hall Leader Zhang Zhenguang! Hmph! His strength certainly can't be that high. His visit is probably a scheme of the higher-ups, trying to have him temper himself."

Upon arriving at the Azure Dragon Hall, Yao Yifeng was unaware of the matters of the continent, and thus, was completely unaware of Ye Chen's achievements during the past two years. He believed that regardless of how much Ye Chen had improved, he couldn't be strong enough to become the Azure Dragon Deputy. After all, the overall strength of Azure Dragon Hall was much higher than that of the other four halls, whereas Yellow Dragon Hall was at the very bottom.

Once Ye Chen left the hall, he raised his head and coldly glanced in that direction.

...

The Azure Dragon Leader had the appearance of a solemn-looking middle-aged man. He was wearing a pale azure colored long robe, with an Azure Dragon embroidered on it. On the thumb of his right finger was a green jade ring. This ring was oversized, almost the size of a wine cup.

"Greetings, Azure Dragon Leader!" Ye Chen and the rest greeted.

Wei Longtao cast a measuring glance at Ye Chen, his eyes revealing a faint doubt. He could already tell that Ye Chen was a genius that Patriarch Dragon King had his eyes on. However, his cultivation base was only at the peak of mid Sea of Soul realm. Even if his aura seemed somewhat deep, he shouldn't be able to suppress Lin Canghai and become this affair's focus.

As for the affairs of the continent, he'd long since stopped paying any attention. Him being able to recognize Ye Chen at a glance represented that he paid enough attention.

"This is your command token." He didn't say anything and simply took out a Little Azure Dragon Command Token. With a slight force, he threw it toward Ye Chen.

Accepting the token, Ye Chen casually glanced at it before storing it away.

Wei Longtao then said, "Lin Canghai, Chen Yuxin, Luo Yunsong, I appoint you three as head attendants under Ye Chen's command. The rest will be battle attendants, also under Ye Chen's command."

The status of head attendants was only under the deputies, while battle attendants usually comprised of Daoist level Sea of Soul experts. Although only four individuals among the group had cultivation bases of Sea of Soul realm while the rest had late Astral Reaching realm cultivation bases, they were disciples of Dragon God Celestial Palace, not something that normal members of Azure Dragon Hall could compare to. To appoint them as battle attendants was not excessive at all. In any case, they had only come to temper themselves, and wouldn't stay for long.

"Understood!" Lin Canghai and the rest didn't have any opinion.

"Hall Leader Wei, Deputy Hu's troops were almost routed out completely. I'll need to reorganize a little." Ye Chen said.

"You don't need to concern yourself with this matter. New troops have already been gathered—a total of three hundred and fifty members, forty with Sea of Soul realm cultivation bases and three hundred and ten with Astral Reaching realm cultivation bases. Rest today. Tomorrow, I'll instruct them to wait in training grounds. You can get familiar with them at that time."

"Alright! Then, Ye Chen will take his leave first." With that decided upon, Ye Chen's group left.

Once they left, Wei Longtao's brows creased, "Don't tell me they're thinking of resolving this with Ye Chen and three core disciples?"

He couldn't understand the Elders Association's thought process at all.

...

At dawn, three hundred and fifty people were gathered in the eastern training grounds. In front were forty individuals, all having Sea of Soul realm cultivation base. Among the forty, four even had late Sea Of Soul realm cultivation base—one woman and three men.

"Hey, what kind of new deputy do you think we'll get?" The alluring middle-aged woman stretched her waist and inhaled.

The robust man beside her said, "He'd best have strength higher than us. Otherwise, I won't accept him."

"Hehe, you can be rest assured. The higher-ups won't send someone with lower strength than us. It would be at least Deputy Hu's level."

"No, should be much stronger than Deputy Hu. Otherwise, they could have simply picked one from the hall." The long-bearded middle-aged scholar shook his head.

The alluring woman said, "Because of the traitor in upper level of Azure Dragon Hall, the higher ups might personally lead a group."

"Hehe, you all will be disappointed. I know the deputy. He is not that strong, and even acts a little selfish regardless of the consequences." The last person spoke.

"You know him, Yao Yifeng?" The alluring woman was rather astonished.

Yao Yifeng was about to speak, but suddenly closed his mouth. In his line of sight, the blue-robed Ye Chen was heading over, leading the group of Dragon God Celestial Palace disciples. However, Lin Canghai was not present in the group.

"Senior brother Ye, Eldest brother is such a person. Don't mind it too much." Chen Yuxin was explaining Lin Canghai's traits.

Ye Chen said, "You can be at ease. He doesn't need to heed my orders. It will be fine as long as he doesn't influence others."

Ye Chen's objective this time was to resolve Azure Dragon Hall's situation. He didn't care whether Lin Canghai followed his orders or not, and he didn't feel like caring either. To him, one person more or less didn't make a difference, even if his strength was higher than Second Elder Silver Sword's. Of course, if they suffered losses because of him, then the other shouldn't blame him.