Urban Martial Saint

Ye Qing couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh. Even if he eventually won, he couldn't marry Shen Qingyi because he had Huangfu Ziyu on his side, and he had to be responsible for this woman.

"In a moment, pay attention to Nalan Tianyu. There's definitely something wrong with this person," Ye Qing whispered to Du Feng.

"Oh?" Du Feng was slightly taken aback, wanting to ask more questions when Ye Qing had already walked out of the room.

Du Feng quickly followed Ye Qing out, but there were already more people outside; it wasn't convenient to ask anything more. He simply followed Ye Qing's instruction and carefully watched Nalan Tianyu ahead.

This time, Nalan Tianyu was remarkably calm, showing not a hint of worry or tension. Observing this, Du Feng also found it strange. Among the crowd, only Li Qianqiu and Ye Qing remained so composed. Ye Qing had the strength for it, and Li Qianqiu presumably wasn't weak either. However, if someone with Nalan Tianyu's strength was this calm, it raised suspicions that something might be amiss.

The five of them reached the foot of the mountain. This mountain was a standalone mountain, with Helian Tiehua and Prince Nalan standing respectively on both sides at the bottom. At the mountaintop stood Southern Fist King Shen Tianjun. The three formed a triangular formation, encircling the mountain and allowing a clear view of the mountain's circumstances. Meanwhile, Joyous Monk, Prince Wan Yan, and Du Longwang were positioned halfway up, each occupying a spot, presumably guarding against any unexpected occurrences.

"There are seven paths to climb the mountain. You can choose the same path or each take your own. How you choose is in your hands!" Shen Da smiled lightly, saying, "Everyone, begin."

As soon as Shen Da finished speaking, Wan Yan Ming at the forefront dashed up the mountain, choosing the middle path, heading straight up.

The remaining people didn't act immediately. Li Qianqiu glanced at the paths, turned and cupped his hands towards the three of Ye Qing, saying, "Everyone, I'll go first."

Li Qianqiu chose the first path on the left, walking along the mountain path towards the summit. He was not slow, yet observed his surroundings meticulously, seemingly searching for map fragments.

With three people left, Nalan Tianyu unusually didn't ascend straight away and instead stood at his spot, staring at the mountain path, contemplating something unknown.

Since Nalan Tianyu didn't move, neither did Ye Qing and Du Feng. Du Feng actually didn't have much hope for this challenge, but since Ye Qing told him to pay close attention to Nalan Tianyu, he did so.

Nalan Tianyu seemed unsure whether he was observing the mountain's situation or waiting for something, but he never ascended. Meanwhile, Ye Qing and Du Feng remained at the base, watching Nalan Tianyu.

This situation persisted for about five minutes, until Nalan Tianyu seemed unable to bear it anymore, turning to look at Ye Qing and Du Feng, asking sternly, "Why aren't you two going up?"

"Didn't you stay put?" Du Feng replied.

"Whether I go or not is my business, what's it got to do with you?" Nalan Tianyu said sternly.

"Then whether we go or not is our business too, and has nothing to do with you," Du Feng replied defiantly.

"You..." Nalan Tianyu was furious, but couldn't argue.

After a silent while, Nalan Tianyu gritted his teeth and chose one of the paths, heading straight up the mountain.

Du Feng was about to follow, but Ye Qing stopped him with an outstretched hand.

"Let's go this way," Ye Qing said in a low voice, leading Du Feng on a different path.

Du Feng didn't understand Ye Qing's intentions. He had been told to keep an eye on Nalan Tianyu, yet now he was choosing this direction instead, and not following Nalan Tianyu. How could he keep an eye on him?

However, Du Feng had no doubt in Ye Qing's words, so he followed Ye Qing up the mountain. After walking about half a mile, Du Feng finally couldn't resist and asked in a low voice, "Ye, aren't we supposed to be chasing Nalan Tianyu?"

"Why chase him?" Ye Qing shook his head and said, "The right path is over here."

"Right path?" Du Feng looked at Ye Qing in surprise, asking, "How do you know this is the right path?"

"Did you not notice?" Ye Qing said, "Nalan Tianyu looked at all the paths earlier, except he did not glance directly at this one once. Seven paths, why did he only look at six and not this one?"

"This..." Du Feng opened his mouth slightly and whispered, "Why is that?"

"Guilty conscience!" Ye Qing said, "I don't know what method he's using to cheat, but since Prince Nalan agreed to this project, it means that Prince Nalan definitely has a way to manipulate the results. So Nalan Tianyu must know something in his heart. Didn't you see him standing at the foot of the mountain and not walking earlier because he didn't want others to follow him on the same path? His attention lingered on other paths but not this one, just to confuse us. But since we didn't move, he had no choice but to randomly pick a path to try to lead us away. In fact, there must be significant clues on this path."

After listening to Ye Qing's analysis, Du Feng couldn't help but be stunned, he certainly hadn't thought of all that. But hearing Ye Qing's analysis, it really seemed to make sense.

"So, are you saying there's a map on this path?" Du Feng hurriedly looked around, searching for any clues that might hint at a map.

Ye Qing wasn't looking for these clues himself; he was simply walking while observing the conditions of the mountain, as if searching for something. But with the mountain being so vast, what could he possibly find?

The two of them climbed about halfway up the mountain when Du Feng suddenly let out an excited shout, grabbing a map fragment from the trunk of a big tree.

"Ye, look, look!" Du Feng ran over to Ye Qing holding the map fragment, exclaiming excitedly, "The map! The map!"

Ye Qing glanced at the map and wasn't particularly thrilled, though Du Feng was so excited he couldn't stop grinning. Having walked for so long, finally discovering the first map fragment was indeed exciting.

"Ye, as long as we can piece together a complete map, we can find a wooden plaque." Du Feng looked at Ye Qing with excitement and said, "Ye, then you can take the wooden plaque directly down the mountain. After passing this second challenge, you'll have a chance to marry Miss Shen!"

"Once you get the wooden plaque, you go down the mountain first," Ye Qing said, "I still have a chance."

"Don't say that to me!" Du Feng quickly waved his hand and said, "The fact that I've made it this far is all thanks to your help, Ye. I never thought about marrying Miss Shen, only to do my best in this matter so that my grandfather won't lose face. My grandfather is watching from the side; if I can find a complete map, it'll make my grandfather proud. The marriage challenge is important to you, so don't push it back on me!"

Du Feng indeed is a sincere person, and having a friend like him is really not bad.

Ye Qing chuckled lightly, took the map fragment for a look, and said, "Piecing together a complete map might be even tougher than finding this wooden plaque."

"Oh?" Du Feng paused for a moment, surprised, "How could that be? Isn't the map quite conspicuous? The wooden plaque is hidden, right? When we talk about finding it, we just find it. Looking for the map must be easier than finding the wooden plaque!"

Ye Qing shook his head and said, "Nine map fragments form one map from three pieces. Also, these three can't be wrong, or they won't fit. Think about how long it took us to find the first map fragment. How long will it take to piece together a complete map? Furthermore, there are three other people; if they've gotten other map fragments, we might never be able to piece together a complete map?"

"This..." Du Feng scratched his head and said, "Does that mean we really won't be able to find this wooden plaque?"

"Not necessarily." Ye Qing smiled gently and said, "Since the map is used as a marker, the wooden plaque should be easy to find. If I'm not mistaken, there is definitely a wooden plaque on this path."

"Oh?" Du Feng widened his eyes and asked, "How is it easy to find?"

Ye Qing did not speak, but suddenly ran forward a few steps to the bottom of an oak tree. This oak tree was quite conspicuous on the mountain because oak trees were rare up there.

Ye Qing circled around the oak tree, looking up at the top of the oak tree and at the pile of rocks nearby. After a brief silence, he suddenly turned to Du Feng and said, "You go check the rock pile; I'll climb the tree and have a look."

"Oh." Du Feng immediately went to the rock pile and began examining it.

Meanwhile, Ye Qing nimbly climbed up the tree and searched carefully, yet found nothing. However, at this moment, an excited shout suddenly came from below the tree: "Ye, Ye, quickly come down, found it!"

Ye Qing hurriedly jumped down from the tree, only to see Du Feng holding a wooden plaque, standing under the oak tree in excitement, jumping up and down.

"Ye, found it! Found it!" Du Feng was so excited he almost cried. The wooden plaque had the character 'Shen' on it, one of the three wooden plaques.

"Where did you find it?" Ye Qing asked.

"Under the rock pile, there's a hole where it was hidden," Du Feng said excitedly. "If you hadn't told me to look at the rock pile, I would never have dreamed the wooden plaque was hidden there. Ye, you're amazing, how did you know there was a wooden plaque under the rock pile?"

Ye Qing smiled gently and said, "There's no time to explain now; take this wooden plaque down the mountain, hurry out, and you'll pass the second challenge. I'll go find the second plaque!"

"No way!" Du Feng immediately came over to stop Ye Qing, saying urgently, "We agreed, this wooden plaque is yours. I can't take it. Ye, hurry and take this wooden plaque down the mountain, Miss Shen is waiting for you. Winning or losing doesn't matter to me; my grandfather will definitely be proud of me seeing me get the plaque!"