The maple leaves have all fallen, and everything seems as if it never happened, leaving only the old man in nirvana and bare branches.
After the temporary peak brought on by the injection, Meng Chen's body was drained at an even faster rate. His muscles atrophied and twisted, as if all nourishment had been instantly evaporated.
Bai Cha stepped forward and patted Meng Qinghuan's shoulder, whispering, "Let's cremate him and take him back, along with this tree."
After all, Hong Feng had sacrificed his body to this tree, so cremating the tree would be akin to cremating Hong Feng.
"I want to take them back whole," Meng Qinghuan's eyes were a little red as he spoke with a pleading tone.
If it were in the past, Bai Cha would have agreed silently. But this time, Bai Cha refused.
"Qinghuan, have you forgotten Bai Ze?" Bai Cha said softly.
Meng Qinghuan was stunned. How could he forget? When they discovered that the ultimate big boss on Sky Island was Bai Ze, it wasn't just Bai Cha, even he was deeply shocked. No one had expected these scoundrels to be so insane as to dig up Bai Ze's grave.
Meng Qinghuan lowered his head and said no more, his expression grim.
So now they couldn't even leave a complete corpse? It was ironic that they feared grave robbing even when leaving a body.
Since Zhi Yue had been severely injured by Bai Cha's sword, she hadn't dared to utter a sound. Arrogant people truly needed equal arrogance to suppress them. Now, even if she was dissatisfied with Bai Cha, she didn't dare to speak.
What's more, neither Mo Ziye nor Gu Zitan spoke up for her. Especially Gu Zitan, who had protected her before, was now silent.
Mo Ziye simply treated Zhi Yue's wounds. Bai Cha had said that to make subordinates listen, one had to give them candy as well as sufficient warnings. Mo Ziye found this reasonable; he couldn't always be seen as a kind and accommodating benefactor.
On the other hand, Mo Ziye felt he needed to work hard to be worthy of Bai Cha. He believed he needed to become as steady as Bai Cha for a higher chance of successfully pursuing her.
This place was not only the necessary path to the underwater ruins but also the path to the World Competition. Originally, Bai Cha's plan was to deal with the anomalies in the underwater ruins before returning to Jun Yao to organize personnel for the World Competition. However, the situation was different now with Zhi Yue.
Not to mention Zhi Yue's strong opinions of her, but with Zhi Yue's fire attribute, going to the underwater ruins would be pure suicide. It would be better to report to the World Competition first. As for the remaining people, Bai Cha planned to directly text them to gather at the World Competition venue.
Gu Mingze, who only had brains and no strength, certainly couldn't compete. And for a Dragon Rider, the dragon and the person counted as one slot. For example, Bai Cha plus Lucifer or Mo Ziye plus Michael would count as one slot.
The competition required ten people plus one substitute. Major world organizations and countries could send their own teams to compete. Country Z had ten official slots plus one substitute, and the Shadow faction occupied nine of them.
It wasn't that Bai Cha was biased towards her own people. She always acted without prejudice and with impartiality. It was just that some people were too weak. They lacked the combat experience of those who had fought in dangerous battlefields within the Shadow faction, and their lack of combat experience was a significant weakness.
This was a world-class competition. The higher the ranking, the more rare resources were available. In this regard, naturally, face had to be put aside; the resources that could be obtained were tangible.
In the previous World Competition, when Jun Yao selected participants, the people from the Shadow faction beat the others in Jun Yao into submission. Some were so intimidated by the aura of surviving through mountains of corpses and seas of blood emitted by the Shadow faction that they knelt directly upon taking the stage.
At that time, Gong Yuechen represented the neutral faction and observed silently, not knowing how to defend them and the Light faction. The fact that Bai Cha allocated two slots to the neutral and Light factions was already showing them respect.
As expected, in the previous World Competition, even the worst substitute from the Shadow faction ranked forty-third in the world. Gu Zitan was slightly better, ranking fiftieth. Zhi Yue's ranking was lower, only ninety-eighth in the world, barely avoiding dropping out of the top one hundred.
The expressions of the higher-ups were grim during those days. If Bai Cha hadn't deducted two slots for the other two factions, they could have obtained one-third more reward resources from the World Competition.
After all, how could a substitute be more powerful than a formal team member? To save face for the other two factions, Bai Cha had picked the weakest among the generals in the Shadow faction. She didn't expect him to rank higher than Gu Zitan.
Although Gu Zitan and Zhi Yue were only in their early twenties at the time, considered young newcomers, there was no harm in comparison.
The rewards for the World Competition decreased exponentially every twenty ranks, with the top three receiving the highest rewards. From sixty-first to one hundredth place, only consolation prizes remained.
As for those below one hundred, they were souvenirs that no one, not even a dog, would want.
Gu Zitan's performance was actually quite good. Bai Cha spoke a few good words at the conference, saying that it was quite good for Gu Zitan, who had just debuted at twenty and reached the top fifty in the world, which was beyond her expectations. This prevented a greater storm, and Gu Zitan was quite grateful to Bai Cha.
Of course, Bai Cha was only fifteen at the time and had just undergone surgery before being parachuted in as the deputy captain. A fifteen-year-old girl praising a twenty-year-old young man with such maturity felt a bit incongruous. However, after all, he had reached the top three, only a few moves away from second place, so no one dared to question it.
As for Zhi Yue, Bai Cha thought for a long time at the conference and said two words: "Passable."
This attitude was as perfunctory as it could be. Anyone could tell that if Bai Cha hadn't wanted to sour the factional relations, she wouldn't have even said those two words.
A mineral... it could only be considered better than nothing. Bai Cha really didn't want to comment further.
At that moment, Mo Yuntian's old face almost couldn't be kept.
This time, as Bai Cha expected, the academy selection results were sent by Li Rong within half a day. They had, as expected, crushed those who challenged them and were already on their way to the World Competition venue.
"You three." Bai Cha looked behind her. Zhi Yue had intended to shrink back, but when she looked up, she met Bai Cha's eyes directly, so she had to step out with a stiffened neck. As for Gu Zitan and Mo Ziye, they were more sensible and obediently took a step forward.
Gu Zitan wasn't worried that Bai Cha would be in a bad mood and suddenly criticize him. Although Bai Cha had lured his brother to the Shadow faction, he actually had a good impression of Bai Cha. At least she wasn't someone who threw tantrums unreasonably. She would likely save him some face in public.
"Your strength is a bit lacking. When we reach the training grounds in the Z country's resting area at the World Competition, I will give you special training," Bai Cha said, feeling a headache at Zhi Yue's timid appearance.
Zhi Yue's personality was truly extreme. When she wasn't being treated, she was arrogant and fierce. After being treated harshly once, she became timid and couldn't hold her head up. Bai Cha had encountered wolf cubs among the children she adopted, but none had Zhi Yue's temperament.
She was somewhat coddled.
"I won't look for trouble for no reason, but Zhi Yue, you know your ranking from the last World Competition. If you have any opinions about me, you can wait until Gu Zitan finishes his studies and then have him teach you," Bai Cha said, pressing her temples as her attitude softened. "At least you need to get into the top fifty."
There was only one mineral from the top hundred, and it wasn't enough to make two bullets. After all, the World Competition was an important event. When necessary, Bai Cha didn't want to cause any trouble. Since Zhi Yue was willing to lower her head and concede, she should be able to listen. If she still couldn't be persuaded, she would find others to help with her psychological work.
"I, I have no problem," Zhi Yue quickly stated. Although she was a little afraid of Bai Cha now, she still had some pride.
No matter what, Bai Cha was still the leader. Although Gu Zitan was the principal, his actual status was not high. If Bai Cha taught her, she could still tolerate it for a while. If Gu Zitan taught her, she was a million times unwilling.
Besides, although she didn't like Bai Cha, she wasn't ungrateful. She was aware of Bai Cha's strength. The calm Zhi Yue didn't want to cause trouble.
Gu Zitan naturally knew the reason for Zhi Yue's refusal, which was due to status and face. However, he didn't care about such minor matters. He just smiled and patted his belly before agreeing.
"As long as I eat well, it's fine," Gu Zitan looked like a ball. Although traveling wasn't tiring, his head sweated profusely under the sun. However, even so, he still smiled foolishly. "I don't really want to lose weight."
He and Gu Mingze, the two brothers, could be considered extremes in terms of physique. He was round like a ball, with narrow eyes like a Maitreya Buddha. Gu Mingze was a pale, thin, small otaku. If one didn't know, they wouldn't think they were brothers.
However, it turned out that as soon as the group arrived at the World Competition venue, another problem arose.
The World Competition was an important event, and most countries would bring their people to report in advance. Including civilian organizations and official state organizations, there were thousands, totaling tens of thousands of people. Except for the top sixteen from the previous session, others needed to go through several rounds of intense competition, which would take at least a month or two.
The opening ceremony was in four days. Although most people had already arrived, the venue was large and luxurious. There were still many empty seats in the vast hall. Newcomers from various teams were being led by their captains to familiarize themselves with the venue. Freya had gone ahead to meet up with the balance beam people, while Bai Cha had been standing in front of her designated spot for a full three minutes without moving.
The opening ceremony hall was very large, with two rows of benches for each team. Bai Cha stood in front of Z country's benches, her expression unpredictable. She picked up her phone and made a call to the higher-ups.
"Hey! What do you mean by this? Do I have to ask for instructions from my superiors for such a small matter? If you have the guts, go find another seat yourself." Tu Qingqiu, sitting on a bench with a group of people, saw Bai Cha making a call and quickly stood up to rush towards Bai Cha. "Each country can only have one team in the World Competition. Your Shadow faction has dominated for so many years, is there any fairness..."
"Bang!"
Before he could finish speaking, Tu Qingqiu was kicked flying by Bai Cha, falling onto his teammates behind him and smashing the chairs made of precious minerals along with them.
The hall fell silent. Those who wanted to watch the excitement formed a circle, but they all kept their distance from Bai Cha, afraid of provoking this malevolent star. Although they sympathized with this unknown person from Z country for daring to go against the world's third-ranked faction, there were many who wanted to see Z country make a fool of themselves.
The top ten strongest individuals in the world were all notoriously difficult to deal with. Who was this? Did she want to die?
But then again...
Who wouldn't want more drama? Of course, they would bring their own benches and enjoy the show.
[Bai Cha? What's wrong?]
The higher-ups answered the phone with some confusion.
He was in a meeting. He and Bai Cha usually communicated via text messages and rarely made phone calls. He assumed it was an emergency. With this thought, the higher-ups couldn't bother with the meeting and quickly answered the phone.
"What's wrong? Your dear other faction has sent a team to force me to give up my seat. The news is quite delayed?" Bai Cha said coldly, looking at Tu Qingqiu lying on the ground, her eyes filled with icy light. "Tu Qingqiu, do you recognize him?"
The higher-ups' expressions changed upon hearing this. He immediately looked up at the people in the conference room, almost getting sick from anger. "The Light faction has sent another team to the World Competition? Why wasn't I informed of such an important matter?"
This was related to national prestige; how could it be treated as a child's play of factional disputes?
If it were previous private disputes between the two factions, the higher-ups would have turned a blind eye. But now that such a major problem had arisen, who would believe that the neutral faction was clean? At that moment, the higher-ups' eyes turned cold.
[Stop saying useless things. I'm just notifying you.] Bai Cha's clear and cold voice came from the receiver, startling the higher-ups.
[Since they are unjust and unrighteous, I will not be polite either.]