“Rubbish, am I that kind of person?”

Chen Qingyuan’s face turned serious.

“Aren’t you?”

Wu Junyan looked at the drinks on the table and temporarily refrained from drinking, his questioning coming from the depths of his soul.

“Brother Wu, even though we are opponents, we are also friends. There’s no need to be so confrontational!” Chen Qingyuan said.

“Wait, when did we become friends?” Wu Junyan furrowed his brow slightly. “Our relationship hasn’t reached that point yet!”

“The last time we met, we drank and chatted together.”

After thinking for a moment, Chen Qingyuan replied.

“You’re thinking too much. I don’t have any friends.”

Wu Junyan said coldly.

“Really? If you don’t even have a friend, that’s too pitiful.” Chen Qingyuan seemed to have not understood the meaning behind Wu Junyan’s words, and instead put on a sympathetic look. “It’s okay, from now on we are friends.”

“My intention was to keep my distance from you, to treat you as a strong opponent and make you understand the relationship between us. It hasn’t reached the point of being friends.”

Why are you pitying me instead? Can’t you understand human speech?

Wu Junyan was slightly stunned, staring straight at Chen Qingyuan, silent.

“Come on, drink up.”

Without waiting for Wu Junyan to speak, Chen Qingyuan picked up the drink on the table and finished it in one go.

Seeing that Wu Junyan didn’t make any move, Chen Qingyuan gestured and said, “Drink up! Don’t worry, it’s not poisoned.”

After a while, Wu Junyan withdrew his gaze from Chen Qingyuan and looked down at the drink in front of him.

After hesitating for a moment, Wu Junyan picked up the glass and took a sip.

For some reason, when he heard Chen Qingyuan say “we are friends from now on,” Wu Junyan felt a strange feeling in his heart that was hard to describe.

Since Wu Junyan was born, he rarely talked to people, even his own relatives. He was like an unattainable ice lotus on a high mountain.

“Old Wu, we need to talk about business.”

Chen Qingyuan grinned.

“Speak.” Wu Junyan was sparing with his words, his eyes alert.

“In four years, it will be the time for our agreed battle. If I am defeated by someone before that, and then you and I fight at the same level, if you accidentally lose or we end up in a draw, won’t it be a disgrace for both of us?”

Chen Qingyuan pulled a chair closer to Wu Junyan.

“So what?” Wu Junyan wanted to see what Chen Qingyuan was up to, with an indifferent expression.

“So you have to go out and deal with those people. At the very least, you can’t let them run wild for the next few years.”

Chen Qingyuan voiced his thoughts.

“No.” Wu Junyan refused.

“Don’t! Those guys won’t fight me at the same level, that’s just bullying. If they block my door, and if I can’t control my temper and go out to fight, I probably won’t win. Do you still need to spar with me then?”

“I don’t care about these things. Overpowering others in cultivation is the behavior of the weak. For me, only by defeating you at the same level can it be considered a true victory, stabilizing the Dao Heart, and aspiring to the peak.”

Wu Junyan didn’t care about fame and fortune, only seeking to understand his thoughts and step by step towards the pinnacle of the Dao.

“Ah! Because of this, I am mentally exhausted. When we fight, my condition will definitely deteriorate a lot, and your chances of winning will probably increase a lot.”

Faced with this unyielding person, Chen Qingyuan had to hit him where it hurt.

Upon hearing this, Wu Junyan’s face became serious.

Even if he won, it would be meaningless if it wasn’t a fair fight.

He valued promises the most, and as long as he made a promise, he would fulfill it even if it cost him his life. That’s why he and Chen Qingyuan had set a ten-year deadline for their battle, and he had not yet initiated the challenge, willing to wait until the appointed day.

The battle that took place a hundred years ago was invalidated because Chen Qingyuan entered the Sky Abyss.

This time, Wu Junyan didn’t want any more accidents.

Speaking of the matter of the Sky Abyss, it wasn’t that Chen Qingyuan wanted to take the risk, but that he had to. During that time, he felt as if he were in a daze, as if some invisible force was guiding him, compelling him to go.

“Before our battle, no one will disturb you.”

Wu Junyan pondered for a moment and made a promise.

“That’s right, that’s what friends do.”

Chen Qingyuan smiled happily.

“Tastes bad.”

After taking another sip of the drink, Wu Junyan said seriously, as if expressing his dissatisfaction.

“This is the best brew of my Mystic Azure Sect.”

Chen Qingyuan said.

“It was okay just now, but not anymore.”

The implication was that it wasn’t the drink that tasted bad, but that you, Chen Qingyuan, had made it taste bad.

Wu Junyan’s insults were relatively mild, leaving Chen Qingyuan stunned for a moment.

Chen Qingyuan didn’t take such words to heart at all, as long as Wu Junyan could solve these problems.

“Leaving already?”

Seeing Wu Junyan getting up to leave, Chen Qingyuan asked.

“I won’t go back on my word.”

Leaving behind these words, Wu Junyan stepped out of the courtyard and left gracefully.

“So handsome.”

Chen Qingyuan praised.

To be honest, when he was with Wu Junyan, Chen Qingyuan felt more at ease, without having to think about scheming. If he had to deal with a sly old fox, he would have to tread carefully.

“Fighting him at the same level, at the very least, I won’t be tortured, and there’s a good chance of winning. If I were to fight those unfair guys, with a huge gap in cultivation level, I would just be beaten up.”

Chen Qingyuan was prepared to have a fair fight with Wu Junyan. Since neither of them would go all out, as long as the outcome was determined, there wouldn’t be a problem.Outside the gates of Mystic Azure Sect, Wu Junyan stood amidst the clouds, casting a glance in all directions with an indifferent expression. His voice carried across realms, “From this moment on, peers shall not challenge Chen Qingyuan, nor block the gates of Mystic Azure Sect. Should anyone refuse to comply, they may challenge me instead.”

Whoosh—

As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar, and exclamations thundered like a storm.

“What’s going on?”

Heaven’s Pride from all corners were dumbfounded.

“Is Wu Junyan backing Chen Qingyuan? What’s their relationship?”

Those Heaven’s Pride who had hoped to rise above by stepping on Chen Qingyuan were filled with question marks.

“In my memory, Wu Junyan rarely stands up for others.”

A cultivator from the Northern Cang Star Domain, who was quite familiar with Wu Junyan, knew well that he was a loner by nature, preferring solitude and reluctant to associate with anyone.

The most outrageous incident, it was rumored, involved a sect’s saintess from the Northern Cang Star Domain who had gone to great lengths to trap herself and Wu Junyan in a secret chamber, lighting an enchanting incense to stir up the primal instincts of a man.

The saintess had no ill intentions; she merely wished to share a fleeting union with Wu Junyan, hoping at best to become Dao Companions. If Wu Junyan reached the pinnacle in the future, she hoped he would remember her, given their spiritual connection that day.

However, contrary to the saintess’s expectations, Wu Junyan resisted and remained clear-headed.

Looking at the saintess before him, who was not wearing a thread, Wu Junyan did not utter a word, his eyes clear and lucid. Then, he walked to the entrance of the secret chamber and began to punch it, over and over again.

Knowing full well that the chamber was extremely sturdy, engraved with countless ancient laws and principles, Wu Junyan did not stop.

With his hands bloodied and flesh blurred, his vital energy churning within, Wu Junyan forcefully broke through the stone door of the secret chamber, leaving behind a solitary and desolate silhouette.

There are no walls that do not let the wind pass through, and this incident reached the ears of many. From then on, the news of Wu Junyan’s indifference to women spread far and wide, causing quite a stir.

A powerful figure exclaimed, “If this young man does not die prematurely, he is destined to stand at the pinnacle of this era.”

It was evident that Wu Junyan was famously aloof, paying little attention to anyone in the world.

Yet, Wu Junyan’s current actions overturned countless people’s perceptions.

“What the hell is going on?!”

Many were even driven to madness, utterly baffled.

In the void, Yan Qianling, who was once among the Ten Heroes of the Northern Wilderness, furrowed his brows, turned to Wu Junyan, and asked, “What do you mean by saying that peers cannot challenge him?”