The Beauty CEO's Personal Expert

"Hopefully so." Ling Chen smiled and asked, "Elder, I haven't had the chance to ask your name, how should I address you?"

The elder said casually, "You and I haven't even been acquaintances, why bother asking names? Besides, once the martial arts symposium is over, you'll leave here, and we won't have another chance to meet."

Ling Chen felt a bit helpless; he had hoped to get acquainted with the elder and build some rapport, but was directly rejected.

Thinking for a moment, Ling Chen changed the topic and asked, "Elder, do you know Wang Hao?"

Upon hearing Ling Chen mention Wang Hao's name, the elder looked at Ling Chen in surprise and asked, "Do you know him?"

"I know him, we met once when I was at the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion."

"I'm an old friend of Wang Hao's Master, he came specifically to visit me this time."

Indeed!

It seems He Ziyun guessed right; Wang Hao's Master is indeed old acquaintances with the elder.

"Alright, young man, I have other matters to attend to later, so I won't chat more with you." With that, the elder turned around and walked back into the villa.

Just as the elder left, He Ziyun appeared on the rooftop.

"What are you doing here? I've called you several times."

"I didn't hear earlier. Mr. He, are you looking for me?"

"It's about time, the organizers' staff have arrived, let's go, don't waste time."

"Alright."

Coming down from the rooftop, they saw two staff members in suits already waiting at the door. Upon seeing Ling Chen and He Ziyun approaching, one staff member extended his hand in a 'please' gesture, then led them towards the villa's center.

Soon, Ling Chen and He Ziyun arrived outside the venue as before. At this moment, several electric cars were parked outside, each carrying a few people.

Under the staff's arrangement, He Ziyun and Ling Chen got into the last electric car.

As minutes passed, the experts attending the martial arts symposium arrived one after another, boarded the electric cars, all in complete silence, none spoke, their expressions a bit solemn.

Once everyone was there, the electric cars began to move slowly, heading straight out of the villa. However, after a few minutes, Ling Chen noticed that the direction the electric cars were driving was not towards the villa's main entrance but another exit. To be precise, it wasn't considered an exit, but rather a road leading to the back mountain.

Idle chatting with He Ziyun, Ling Chen learned that the group of mountains he saw in the morning was the private property of the villa group, essentially their back garden. However, it was the first time Ling Chen had seen such a large back garden.

He couldn't help but acknowledge that the villa group's owner was very wealthy. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to buy such a vast land in the prime real estate of Beijing.

After about twenty minutes of driving, the electric cars finally reached their destination.

Getting off, Ling Chen scanned his surroundings, noticing not far away was a large forest, the trees towering, some even reaching over twenty meters tall. The branches and leaves intertwined densely, like a thick canopy, covering the forest's top completely.

"Alright! Everyone, please gather over here."

Hearing the supervisor's words, Ling Chen followed He Ziyun to where everyone was congregating.

"Everyone, some of you have attended the martial arts symposium before, and some are participating for the first time; therefore, let me clarify the rules first. Each of you must submit an item to the organizers before the beginning, as this symposium's victory token. The winner will receive the prize offered by everyone. In addition to that, we'll offer the winner generous rewards. We ask everyone to strive for first place."

"Rewards?" Ling Chen was slightly startled and immediately understood the organizer's meaning. No wonder He Ziyun said earlier, the true essence of the martial arts symposium was essentially a gamble.

Using the term gamble to describe the martial arts symposium was very accurate. Before it starts, everyone puts up chips, and the ultimate winner takes all.

"Alright, if no one has objections, please present your prepared tokens and hand them to our organizers for safekeeping."

"Mr. He." Ling Chen quietly asked, "Does everyone have to participate?"

"No need," He Ziyun said, "only those on the Earthly List have the qualification to participate. Of course, the organizers do not compel you to participate, it's entirely up to you." As he spoke, He Ziyun pulled out a silk bag from his pocket and handed it to Ling Chen, "Here, take it."

"What's this?" Ling Chen asked, puzzled.

"This is for you," He Ziyun said, "I won't participate in this martial arts symposium, I've attended several times before. To be honest, the process is very tough; at my age, these old bones aren't suitable for this high-intensity activity anymore. So it's more fitting for you. You just got promoted on the Earthly List not long ago, consider it a challenge."

"Me?" Ling Chen was startled, not expecting He Ziyun to propose such a request.

"Well..." Ling Chen rubbed his nose, appearing somewhat hesitant. Before coming here, he thought it was a simple gathering, not realizing it would involve sparring, and with Earthly List experts no less.

"Alright, stop hesitating, go ahead. As I said, it's just a challenge, don't be too pressured."

Hearing this, Ling Chen nodded, "Fine then, I'll give it a try." With that, Ling Chen picked up the silk bag and asked, "Mr. He, what's inside?"

"Naturally something good. If it's not valuable, even if you dare to present it, the organizers wouldn't accept it. There's a long-standing rule that each participant's token must hold a certain value. If what you bring is insufficient, you won't qualify to compete. What I'm giving you isn't very precious, but it's decent, and there won't be any issue."

Ling Chen acknowledged, walked to the event supervisor, and handed over the silk bag.

The supervisor didn't even glance at it, passing it directly to the few people behind, who Ling Chen had noticed were specifically evaluating and assessing the items provided by everyone.

When the item from the silk bag was taken out, Ling Chen's expression turned a bit puzzled. He had to admit, he had never seen what was inside the silk bag before; it looked quite unique, resembling a stamp, and seemed to have some age.

Could it be an antique?

With this thought, Ling Chen looked at the items others offered, almost everything was there—paintings, antiques, jade, and even martial arts mental methods and martial arts manuals.

Moreover, some people provided multiple items because the value wasn't enough, compensating with quantity for the lack of quality.