Chapter 256: Team Testing

Dongfang Yuan and Gongsun Quan had originally planned to find an outstanding and trustworthy member of the Gold Nobles to use the Blood Covenant Puppet to create a Silver Grade avatar and join the Dragon Seeking Plan.

After all, with a matter as important as searching for the Supreme Heaven, how could they not arrange for one of their own people? But who could have guessed that King Chi would beat them to the punch?

Logically speaking, King Chi was absolutely the most suitable candidate. As the strongest in the Empire, and its King, there was zero chance of her betraying herself. The problem was that her personality was a massive headache.

They strongly suspected that King Chi would mess up the plan. But since things had already come to this, they could only silently accept it. After all, a precious Artifact like the Blood Covenant Puppet was something even the Royal Family would have a hard time producing a second of.

Su Mu stepped forward like a ghost, drifting right past Dongfang Yuan and Gongsun Quan. He carefully scrutinized King Chi's avatar, silently memorizing her appearance.

King Chi's sudden inclusion in the Dragon Seeking Plan was no small variable for him. If he truly wanted to find the Supreme Heaven in the Nightmare World, King Chi's avatar would be his biggest obstacle, even if this avatar only possessed Silver Grade strength.

It was like the soul of a top-tier martial artist entering the body of an elementary schooler. Even though her physical attributes had massively shrunk, she could still crush the entire school relying on her past combat experience.

"Oh, right, tomorrow there's going to be a grouping test for those nightmare apostles, isn't there?" King Chi suddenly asked with a beaming smile.

Dongfang Yuan's face immediately darkened. "No! Absolutely not!"

King Chi furrowed her elegant brows and snapped furiously, "I haven't even said what I'm going to do yet, and you're already saying no, you old geezer?"

"No matter what Your Majesty intends to do, the answer is no!"

"Fuck! You old geezer, am I giving you too much face?" King Chi cursed in anger. Shedding all semblance of ladylike poise, she stood up from the throne, rolled up her sleeves to reveal her slender, pale arms, and cracked her knuckles.

"Your Majesty, this old minister watched you grow up. I naturally know what you are thinking. You simply want to participate in tomorrow's grouping test. But there is absolutely no need for that. Besides you, the nightmare apostles nurtured by the Royal Family over the years will also be participating in the Dragon Seeking Plan. They likewise do not need to take the test. You only need to join the Dragon Seeking Plan as one of them. Please do not create unnecessary complications."

"I refuse! Isn't the grouping test just to form teams? I will naturally pick my own teammates. I refuse to drag a bunch of trash around once I reach the Nightmare World!"

Seeing the two locked in a stalemate, Gongsun Quan began to smooth things over. "Lord Dongfang, what Her Majesty King Chi says is not unreasonable. The Nightmare World is extremely dangerous, and sometimes one cannot overcome it through personal martial prowess alone. Mutual cooperation within a team is even more important than force. Letting Her Majesty scout out teammates in advance is also a good thing.

"However, Your Majesty, this matter is of grave importance. If you participate in tomorrow's test, please do not act recklessly, and above all, do not expose your identity. Otherwise, even if it means risking universal condemnation, Lord Dongfang and I will stop you from participating in the Dragon Seeking Plan."

King Chi beamed with joy, treating the latter threat as if she hadn't heard a word.

"It is getting late. This old minister will not disturb Your Majesty's rest any longer." Feeling a slight headache coming on, Dongfang Yuan directly took his leave.

Soon, only King Chi and her avatar were left in the massive Imperial Palace.

With great interest, King Chi began to control the avatar. She split off a portion of her mental energy and merged it into the avatar's body. The avatar immediately sprang to life. It moved its limbs with a face full of curiosity, looking itself up and down.

"Not bad, not bad. It has a third of my beauty, though the chest is a bit small," the avatar said smugly, taking the opportunity to measure her own bust.

Su Mu did not continue watching the two women play around. He did a sweep of the Imperial Palace, but failing to find the whereabouts of the False Supreme Heaven, he returned home.

Although he hadn't found the False Supreme Heaven, today wasn't a wasted trip. At the very least, he now knew about the existence of King Chi's avatar.

He hadn't chosen to invade King Chi's dreams to find the False Supreme Heaven's location. Being discovered by Specter last time made him realize that some sharp-sensed powerhouses could actually detect when their dreams were being invaded. If even Specter could do it, then King Chi definitely could.

King Chi seemed careless and brash, but for her to become a King, she was definitely not as simple as she appeared on the surface. More often than not, it was exactly these types of people who possessed the sharpest intuition.

Moreover, his method of dream invasion could not be exposed. The main reason he could gather intelligence at will in the dreamscape was because people had no mental defenses against it. Once they found out and put up their guard, the difficulty of obtaining information through dream invasion in the future would drastically increase.

...

...

The next day, a staff member knocked on Su Mu's door. He followed the staff member to a large bus, which had the number 12 plastered on its side.

The vehicle wasn't particularly large, able to accommodate a total of thirty people. When Su Mu boarded, quite a few people had already arrived. Su Mu scanned the interior. He didn't spot King Chi's avatar, but he did see two familiar faces.

Wen Xuan and Yan Wu.

Seeing Su Mu, Wen Xuan calmly nodded in greeting. Yan Wu, on the other hand, paled slightly and turned his head to look out the window without a word. He was clearly still traumatized by yesterday's events, completely afraid to meet Su Mu's eyes.

It wasn't long before the vehicle quickly filled up as the nightmare apostles arrived one after another.

Su Mu realized that the thirty people on this bus were not all Silver 1s from yesterday's tournament. There were also quite a few at Silver 2 and Silver 3.

Soon, the vehicle started. The moment it did, a sharp clack rang out as silver metal plates instantly descended over the windows, sealing them off completely. A silver partition also dropped down to block off the driver's cabin, obscuring everyone's line of sight.

It was obvious that the Law Enforcement Bureau didn't want them to know where they were going.

However, these nightmare apostles did not panic. In the end, it was just a test—albeit a somewhat mysterious one.

After driving for about five minutes, a man with eyes so small he appeared to be constantly squinting suddenly gave a light cough. Wearing an amicable smile, he said, "We're all on the same bus, so it seems this is the Law Enforcement Bureau's temporary grouping for us. Since we're just sitting here bored anyway, why don't we introduce ourselves and get to know each other?"

Silence... The interior of the bus was unusually quiet. No one responded.

Some were resting with their eyes closed, while others cast an expressionless glance at him before looking away.

The squinty-eyed man scratched his head in slight embarrassment. "I'll go first, then. My name is Lan He, from Baishi City, Silver Stage 2."

Silence...

Still, no one paid him any attention.

Lan He grew increasingly awkward, but a gentle voice suddenly rang out from behind him.

"Hello, Mr. Lan. My name is Su Mu."

Su Mu wore an elegant, easygoing smile that felt like a gentle spring breeze, making it hard for anyone to feel any malice toward him.