Madeju was startled; it seemed he had never considered this before.
“If not, vegetation will wither, leaving a barren wasteland. We call it a Dead Domain!”
Ma Lingling was negotiating with the clan leaders, while Old Mrs. Ma had been resting with her eyes closed.
At this moment, she opened her eyes and answered Chu Tian’s question.
“Dead Domain?” Chu Tian repeated.
“Yes, a Dead Domain, devoid of all life. Those who enter it will contract something inexplicable, something unknown.”
“Those who enter a Dead Domain are certain to die. Even if they escape, they will perish unnaturally soon after.”
Old Mrs. Ma, assuming Chu Tian was asking about the Dead Domain, proceeded to explain it to him.
Chu Tian now knew of another strange phenomenon.
Speaking of this, Chu Tian suddenly had an idea.
Since the Qi Soul Bead was so powerful, what if one directly absorbed it, or ate it?
Wouldn’t that be like taking a divine elixir, instantly becoming a supreme expert?
His eyes began to dart around.
He was contemplating how to acquire a few and eat them like candy.
“By the way, Brother Ma…”
“Other families obtain Qi Soul Beads to sustain their entire clans.”
“The Ma family only has a few members. Wouldn’t it be a waste to put them in the small world?”
He asked this question out of curiosity.
Madeju grinned.
“Heh heh… I can’t tell you that, but…”
“If you truly become my brother-in-law, I’ll tell you this secret!”
He pretended to be mysterious and whispered into Chu Tian’s ear.
In a low voice, he said, “Look at my sister. She’s grown up so much and never even held a boy’s hand.”
“You’re getting off easy, you fellow!”
Chu Tian rolled his eyes at him, taking it as a joke.
Unexpectedly, when he turned his head, he saw Ma Ruolin gazing at him with her big, watery eyes.
Seeing Chu Tian look over, she quickly averted her gaze.
She pretended to be nonchalant, but her stiff posture had already betrayed her.
Seeing this, Chu Tian inwardly thought, this is bad!
Could this little girl actually have feelings for him?
Madeju naturally saw this and continued to chuckle, “My sister always said that whoever could defeat her, she would marry!”
“Uh…?”
Chu Tian was utterly speechless.
While they were chatting casually,
Over there, the distribution of the Qi Soul Beads had been decided.
Each family began reporting their participating members’ names.
The rule was that the eight major families could each send a maximum of three participants.
The final results would be determined by the best ranking among the three.
Various families submitted their lists.
Chu Tian noticed that Qi Shushu and Song Zijing were both on the lists.
When he had spoken with them, they had mentioned they weren’t in the martial combat roster.
Their appearance now likely stemmed from their good performance in the scholarly competition, which allowed them to be inserted into the martial list.
The Zhang family had only one participant, Zhang Cheng.
The Qin family naturally had that young girl, Qin Yao.
Most other families had three participants.
Including the Luo family, all three were named Luo Yi something, their names Chu Tian hadn’t bothered to remember.
After all families had reported, only the Ma family remained silent.
Ma Lingling had a troubled expression. Just as she was about to grit her teeth and say that Madeju would participate alone,
because Ma Ruolin’s Dragon Soul had entered a recuperation period and couldn’t be summoned at all.
Madeju still possessed some combat strength.
At that moment, Chu Tian suddenly spoke, “The Ma family will have only me participating!”
Upon hearing this, Ma Lingling’s eyes lit up, and she met Chu Tian’s gaze.
He nodded, confirming his decision.
The Ma family had no one available to compete, and he was the reason.
Since Old Mrs. Ma had publicly stated he was the Ma family’s son-in-law,
he would use this identity to repay the Ma family.
Receiving Chu Tian’s confirmation, Ma Lingling quickly said, “Yes… the Ma family will have our son-in-law, Chu Tian, as our sole participant.”
Her statement caused the families paying attention to simultaneously brighten their eyes.
“Lingling, are you telling the truth?”
Master Song, with a shameless expression, called out again…
However, Ma Lingling smiled sweetly at Chu Tian, ignoring him.
She secretly thought, how wonderful it would be if this fellow were truly our Ma family’s son-in-law.
But then, her expression turned somber.
She glanced at Ma Ruolin and sighed inwardly, shaking her head.
Master Song’s question received no reply.
Yet, the joyful expressions of the other clan leaders did not fade.
They continued to murmur to the disciples behind them.
As they spoke, their gazes never left Chu Tian.
“What the heck… what do they mean by that?” Chu Tian muttered.
Madeju naturally understood what he was referring to and chuckled, “Heh heh, they see you as a soft persimmon, don’t they!”
“These scoundrels, every tournament, they get beaten by our Ma family. If not for the scholarly competitions,”
“And the rankings from the Dao Discussion Assembly also being factored into the final results,”
“Our Ma family would be the number one family!”
…
With everything settled, the old fellows didn’t disperse and started chatting aimlessly.
The Ma family, on the other hand, was different. These few people, together, didn’t chat with anyone else.
The few of them engaged in casual conversation, a harmonious scene, truly like a family.
In contrast, the disciples of other families stood as stiffly as if at attention.
After a short while, the little girl from the Qin family, at some unknown time, sidled over and nudged him from behind Chu Tian.
Chu Tian was startled and turned around to see this child, who barely reached his chest.
“Hello, big brother…” Qin Yao said with a sweet smile.
“Uh… hello!” Chu Tian replied subconsciously.
As she got closer, he noticed that this little girl’s appearance and face were somewhat familiar!
“Hee hee…” Qin Yao giggled upon seeing his awkward expression.
She tilted her small head, clenched her little fists and placed them on her cheeks, sticking out her tongue in a cute pose.
Then she turned and left, saying, “Goodbye, big brother!”
“Hm?”
Chu Tian was bewildered. Did she just come over to say hello to him?
Even the Ma family members looked at Chu Tian curiously and asked, “Did you know her before?”
He frowned and shook his head.
At this moment, Luo Lingshan stood up and said, “Alright, time is almost up. Everyone, please follow me to the banquet hall!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Old Mrs. Ma suddenly stood up, turned to glance at Chu Tian, and said,
“Let’s go! We’re returning.”
“Returning? Aren’t we waiting for the banquet?” Ma Lingling asked.
The old lady didn’t speak, stood up, and walked towards the main hall entrance.
It turned out these people were waiting for the Luo family’s banquet to begin.
Now that Old Mrs. Ma wanted to leave, she clearly didn’t want to attend.
Chu Tian had been looking forward to it all day.
“Great-Aunt…” he called out from behind.
The old lady turned and gave him a glance, saying, “Go!”
Her tone was unmistakable.
Chu Tian was taken aback. What was going on? this old lady’s mood changed as quickly as flipping a book.
Just moments ago, she was amiable, and now her attitude had suddenly shifted.
He hesitated, then thought to himself that her sudden change must be for a reason.
At the same time, Madeju nudged him from behind, gesturing for him to follow.