Chapter 1383: Chapter 694: Joining the Church (Part 3)
Unexpectedly, the elder initiated a conversation, but Lin Beichen didn’t want to engage with him. He looked at the elder disdainfully, without saying a word.
No matter how strong the elder’s inner strength was, Lin Beichen only wanted to figure out how to defeat him; nothing else was important.
The atmosphere was somewhat awkward. Seeing that Lin Beichen was unwilling to engage, the elder didn’t mind the awkwardness and laughed, then turned his back to Lin Beichen and said to everyone, "This person is refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit."
This remark completely infuriated Lin Beichen. He leaped into the air, shouting loudly, giving the elder time to react.
The elder turned to look at the leaping Lin Beichen, continuously releasing his inner strength, directly knocking Lin Beichen down. Lin Beichen lightly tapped his toes on the ground.
Relieved, Lin Beichen thought to himself: How is this elder’s inner strength so strong? If I attack head-on, it might not be in my favor; I can only use my wits.
Therefore, Lin Beichen first took out a talisman and rushed at the elder. Unexpectedly, the elder was so agile that he dodged it.
The talisman flew behind the elder; Lin Beichen wanted to use it again to launch an attack from behind the elder. But the elder was no ordinary person.
Obviously, he reacted and once again nimbly dodged Lin Beichen’s attack. This move left everyone on the scene dumbfounded and also greatly surprised Lin Beichen.
This talisman was originally meant to suppress the elder’s inner strength, so that defeating him would be a breeze.
But unexpectedly, the elder dodged the talisman so effortlessly.
"How could you easily dodge my talisman?" Lin Beichen asked in confusion.
Zhou Yi on the sidelines saw everything clearly. Lin Beichen’s ability was evident, but even a young and vigorous man like him did not have the upper hand against such an elderly elder.
This also left Zhou Yi dumbstruck. However, he didn’t speak up and continued to observe the elder’s actions to make judgments based on the situation.
However, the elder did not answer, his lips slightly upturned, and unhurriedly pulled out a talisman, with a flick of his wrist, the talisman flew towards Lin Beichen.
The elder’s talisman spun in the air and with a swoosh sound flew towards Lin Beichen. Lin Beichen dodged it with a backflip, thinking to himself: Perhaps this elder isn’t that terrifying after all.
But clearly, Lin Beichen underestimated him. After dodging the talisman, it seemed as if it had a tracking system, relentlessly following Lin Beichen.
Moreover, the speed of the talisman increased, catching Lin Beichen off guard. Seeing the talisman about to stick to him, he hastily bent down, waved his right hand, and tore the talisman in half.
Only then was the crisis averted. He hadn’t expected it to be so taxing to dodge this talisman, which showed that the elder indeed had some tricks up his sleeve. The two once again fell into a stalemate.
Shocked by the elder’s ability, Lin Beichen asked, "Who exactly are you?" Facing Lin Beichen’s question, the elder did not directly respond but instead praised him. "I truly didn’t expect this young man to have such an ability to summon the wind and rain; it seems we misunderstood him before."
This unexpected compliment from the elder left Lin Beichen feeling baffled. He knew in his heart that he was no match for the elder, and the elder was deliberately giving way to him.
"The winner is already decided; continuing would be meaningless." The elder said as he walked down the stage, scanning the disciples in front of him.
Lin Beichen stood on the stage, utterly confused. He muttered to himself: What is this elder up to? It was so difficult for me to handle his talisman; why did he just stop?
The elder turned to face the disciples and said, "This young man indeed has real skills. We had always doubted his ability to summon the wind and rain; today we just wanted to test him and show everyone."
The elder’s affirmation immediately drew resounding applause from the disciples. But Lin Beichen on the stage did not think so; he felt this was clearly a kind of mockery.
Since he had stepped onto this stage, a victor and vanquished must be determined, and the opponent must be respected. Although the elder praised him and recognized him in front of the disciples, doing so completely disregarded Lin Beichen’s feelings, which made him somewhat angry.
The more Lin Beichen thought about it, the more he felt something was off. He dashed off the stage, wanting to find the elder for an explanation, but the elder had already vanished, leaving him greatly puzzled.
He saw someone with a similar build and attire to the elder, so he rushed up and grabbed that person’s shoulder, asking in confusion, "Who exactly are you? What’s the purpose of doing this?"
But when that person turned around, Lin Beichen found that it wasn’t the elder; the elder had already disappeared into the crowd, leaving Lin Beichen looking around.
Lin Beichen stood dumbfounded in the crowd, still unable to grasp who this suddenly appearing elder really was. Moreover, the missionaries were also nowhere to be found.
Zhou Yi saw Lin Beichen dazed and hurriedly grabbed his hand, saying, "What are you standing around for? The most important thing now is to recruit them into the sect."
Lin Beichen didn’t speak; he was not interested in the matter of recruiting these people into the sect; he only wanted to find out the origin of that group from earlier, as it seemed increasingly strange the more he thought about it.
"Did you see the elder’s strength just now?" Lin Beichen thought, perhaps those involved couldn’t see the situation clearly, while bystanders could, so Zhou Yi from the sidelines might have noticed something.
But Zhou Yi shook his head, stroking his chin, saying, "I couldn’t completely discern his power, but his ease in dodging your talisman didn’t seem like something an elderly man could accomplish."
This was also what worried Lin Beichen; the elder’s ability clearly surpasses his own. He could easily defeat him, yet still helped him speak.
"Don’t you think these matters are very suspicious?" Lin Beichen asked.
Zhou Yi couldn’t care about so much; the ceremony wasn’t finished yet, and the most important thing now was organizing the recruitment into the sect. As for the missionary who appeared just now, treat it as a small episode in the ceremony.
