Chapter 42: Invitation (1/2)

Chapter 42: Invitation

Their eyes met amidst the bustling crowd.

Su Chen stared at Gu Qingluo in a daze, as if he were in a beautiful dream.

Gu Qingluo’s expression seemed to melt for an instant, but she snapped out of it a moment later and gave Su Chen a gentle smile.

She then turned around, avoiding his gaze.

A sense of loss welled up in Su Chen’s heart.

However, Su Chen didn’t let it lower his spirits.

This was not the first time, and it would not be the last.

In the past four years, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo had crossed paths numerous times.

Most of the time, they would only smile and brush past each other

“Hey, Ling’er!” A voice pulled Su Chen’s mind back to the present.

A few youths were walking towards their group while waving towards Jin Ling’er.

Su Chen recognized one of them.

Blood Demon Zhong Ding.

He was dressed in a fiery scarlet robe with white clouds embroidered onto it. Wrapped around his waist was a black chain extending to his left arm. A pair of black leopard cloud boots was on his feet, and his hair was messily brushed into a ponytail. He wore a redstone crest on his head, and his eyebrows were thick and sharp. His eyes were quite attractive, his gaze as sharp as an eagle’s. However, the most eye-catching part of him was his pale white skin. It was so pale that it looked like he had a long-term nutrition deficiency.

The person standing next to him was extremely tall, and wore a dark green cape over his shoulders. Underneath the cape was a white embroidered satin gown, which was complemented by a pair of white embroidered satin pants. His boots were made from deerskin, and he wore a dark green felt hat on his head. His appearance was that of an aloof and proud young man. He carried a simple yet strange bow on his back that was particularly eye-catching. The body of the bow was made up of tangled vines from an ancient tree. At the tip of the bow was a small demonness with long hair. The long hair stretched backwards for a long distance, forming the string of the bow.

This bow was where his name originated from.

Treebow Zhang Sheng’an.

Su Chen had heard of him for quite some time, but in his four years at the Institute, he had never interacted with him very much and had only seen him from afar.

The person calling out to Jin Ling’er was Zhang Zheng’an.

Upon arriving near Jin Ling’er, Zhang Sheng’an laughed, “How come you just arrived? Everyone’s been waiting for you for quite some time.”

“I went to get Su Chen, so we got here a little late,” Jin Ling’er replied.

Zhang Sheng’an gazed at Su Chen.

How could he not know about Su Chen?

He had charged into the top ten of the Three Mountains Region exam without a bloodline, obtaining 5th place. His display of talent had surpassed everyone at that time.

However, cheap tricks were in the end cheap tricks. After entering the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen’s glory had begun to fade.

He didn’t have any more outstanding achievements, and he didn’t even attend the end-of-year competitions. He lost his status as a Hidden Dragon Institute seedling after his first year.

The only thing he had done in the past four years that could be considered a significant achievement was convincing the Stormwind Scorpion to be his personal instructor. To convince someone like Shi Kaihuang was pretty impressive, but in the end it didn’t mean very much.

It was just a personal instructor; a personal instructor’s achievements were not one’s own achievements.

Only his own achievements could be considered to have meaning.

Becoming a disciple of a personal instructor that didn’t accept disciples easily hadn’t had any additional effect on raising Su Chen’s strength. This could be clearly seen from the silence he had maintained in the following three years.

He had deteriorated.

Shooting stars in the end were only shooting stars.

Zhang Sheng’an felt his interest fading as he turned his gaze to Wang Doushan and Cloud Leopard. One of them he had defeated before and the other was a commoner without a bloodline.

He turned around to look at Jin Ling’er. “Ling’er, have you given some thought to my proposal?”

Jin Ling’er was swaying her body to the music. Upon hearing Zhang Sheng’an’s question, her large eyes gleamed.

Zhang Sheng’an nodded his head.

“I don’t have anything against it, but I want to bring two friends with me.”

“Them?” Zhang Sheng’an knitted his eyebrows as he gazed at Su Chen and Wang Doushan.

Su Chen didn’t know what they were talking about. Slightly confused, he turned to ask Wang Doushan, “What’s going on at the Thousand Ashes Gorge?”

“Oh, they’re planning on going sometime to the Thousand Ashes Gorge to temper themselves,” Wang Doushan replied.

The Thousand Ashes Gorge was a canyon located in the northern area of the Falling Eagle Mountain. Origin Energy was plentiful there, as were spirit herbs and flowers, but the number of Vicious Beasts there was also the highest. It was the most dangerous location in the entire Falling Eagle Mountain, making it a great place for the students of the Institute to temper themselves.

Every year, large numbers of students would go there to harvest spirit herbs or to hunt Vicious Beasts.