Watch out! Something's wrong with this guard.

Did you fight in Chapter 154? No!

"Senior Brother Zhang, what's going on...?" Lu Yunshi looked at Zhang Quan with a puzzled expression.

"Don't you understand? In the second assessment, you made me a laughingstock." Zhang Quan stared sharply at Lu Yun, his whole body filled with resentment. He clenched his fists, looking like he was gritting his teeth.

"Laughingstock? Who dares to laugh at you?" Lu Yunshi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly shouted angrily.

"Still pretending? Isn't all of this because of you?" Zhang Quan pointed at Lu Yunshi and said.

"Me?" Lu Yunshi's eyes widened, seemingly unable to believe it. "How could it be me? You and I are half-brothers! Could it be... that I would harm you?"

"Hmph, it's no use saying anything now. Let me give you a good beating to vent my anger." Zhang Quan seemed unwilling to continue speaking. Just thinking about how others would laugh at him after the second assessment made him unable to suppress his anger.

The culprit behind all this must be severely punished to resolve the issue.

"Is that so?" Lu Yunshi sighed, his expression calm. "I don't know why you're so angry with me, Brother Zhang, but if you think beating me up will relieve your anger, then come on,"

After saying that, Lu Yunshi closed his eyes, seemingly letting Zhang Quan do as he pleased.

"You bastard..." Zhang Quan's face froze upon seeing this, his anger deepening, but instead of making a move, he shouted angrily, "Do you think I wouldn't dare to lay a hand on you? You bastard, you did that to me, and you expect to be treated like this?"

At this moment, the spectators exchanged glances.

What exactly is going on between them?

"The conversation seems to be filled with a sense of taboo."

"Ha, I see you guys don't understand at all. You can tell at a glance that these two have a very touching past."

"Stop guessing. The truth is that Zhang Quan treated Lu Yunshi like a brother in the second round, but in the end, he was the one who was played by Lu Yunshi."

"To explain in detail how you manipulate things."

"..."

He could vaguely hear the spectators starting to whisper among themselves, which made Zhang Quan even angrier. He immediately pointed at Lu Yunshi.

"You, draw your sword. Aren't you supposed to be very powerful? Otherwise, how could you have entered this assessment? Or are you like you were in the second round of assessment, plotting against me again?"

"Scheme?" Lu Yunshi opened his eyes in confusion. "Brother Zhang, what makes you say that? When have I ever schemed against you? You mustn't listen to the slander of outsiders!"

"You still say you haven't schemed against me?" Zhang Quan took a deep breath, his lips trembling with anger. "I ask you, with such strength, why didn't you take the second round of assessment seriously?"

"Such strength?" Lu Yunshi looked even more puzzled. "What strength? What strength could I, a mere early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, possibly have? In the second round of the assessment, I fought with all my might, but I never truly helped Brother Zhang. Instead, I caused him a lot of trouble. This matter has been weighing on my mind, making me feel extremely guilty."

"After being fortunate enough to advance in the second round of assessments, I practiced diligently every day. My talent is extremely low, and I am still on the path of the extreme realm. I cannot break through again in a short period of time, so I can only make up for it in other ways by putting in a hundred times the effort. That's how I got to where I am today. I just want to be able to avoid repeating the helplessness I felt during that assessment one day. What has sustained me in the new year is the strong bond I formed with you, Brother Zhang, on that day."

Perhaps because Lu Yunshi was talkative, Zhang Quan remained silent for a long time after listening to him, and only spoke again after a long while.

"Nonsense! If that's the case, why didn't you give me medicine after I fell unconscious? Why did you only use those cannons after I was unconscious? You're just using me as a shield, using me like a clown. How could that be false?"

"Of course it's fake," Lu Yunshi denied vehemently, his eyes resolute. "The cannon I bought already required considerable time to set up. As for why I didn't give you the medicine, Brother Zhang..."

Lu Yunshi sighed. "It's my fault."

"Hmph, you really can't keep this up, can you?" Zhang Quan snorted coldly, and was about to say something when he saw Lu Yunshi's apologetic look.

“It’s my fault, Brother Zhang, you’ve been too tired. You’ve carried me through so many battles, even though I’m so weak, you never gave up on me. But I… I felt you were too tired, and I only thought about letting you rest well. I only thought about how I could use those cannons to bear the burden between us and fulfill your wish before you passed away… before you fell into a coma.”

"It was all my overconfidence. I never imagined that the enemies we faced would be so strong. My arrogance almost cost us our chance to advance. Brother Zhang... I apologize to you. Even though I felt the difficulties, I still didn't dare to wake you up. I didn't want you to see my incompetence."

"Huh?" Zhang Quan blinked. This apology was so awkward, not what he wanted, but it inexplicably dispelled the anger he felt towards Lu Yunshi.

"So... you're really doing this for my own good? Besides, I've seen the recording of the assessment. During the subsequent battles, you were sitting in a chair, looking completely relaxed. You didn't seem to be carrying any heavy burdens at all."

"What can the video prove? I did that just to put on a brave face in front of others and pretend to be strong. If I don't act more relaxed, won't people look down on me as soon as I walk in? I didn't expect to be misunderstood in the end. But I don't blame Brother Zhang. I know that Brother Zhang must have been deceived, which is why he misunderstood me."

Lu Yunshi turned his head to the side, looking extremely aggrieved, which left Zhang Quan completely dumbfounded.

"I...I was scammed? Why did they scam me?"

"Brother Zhang, did they tell you that I pushed you to the forefront to fight, but secretly they laughed at you as a clown, treating you like a puppet fighting for me?"

"No...yes, that's about right." Zhang Quan thought for a moment, then nodded. It wasn't exactly the same, but what they said did sound very much like what Lu Yunshi was saying now.

"But have you thought about it carefully? We're sworn brothers, what reason would I have to laugh at you? We're teammates, why would I lie to you? You're stronger than me, smarter than me, why would I let you be a puppet? Besides, in every battle, wasn't it because you're stronger than me, Brother Zhang, that you voluntarily took the front line? Did I force you to do that? If it weren't for the sincere brotherhood between us, would I have that ability?"

"Well... what you say makes sense." Zhang Quan nodded slightly, his brows furrowing. Had he really been deceived? He hesitated. "But why?"

“Jealousy,” Lu Yunshi said decisively. “They are jealous of our advancement, jealous of your strength, Brother Zhang, that you were able to advance even with me, a mere early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, by your side. They are jealous of the genuine bond between us. These are things they lack. It must be some failures in the assessment who are jealous of us, so they spread rumors to try and divide us.”

"It takes only a mouth to spread rumors, but it takes a lot of legwork to refute them. They would never have imagined that the friendship between Brother Zhang and me, the unyielding passion between us, and the brotherhood between us could not be so easily severed. A mere misunderstanding can be resolved with just a few words of explanation."

Did they fight?

In the audience, a student looked at his classmate next to him, who was almost bored to sleep.

"No fight!"

"Haven't started yet?"

"No fight!"

"What are they doing?"

"Hmm... what they're talking about, friendship, passion, bonds and stuff, it's quite interesting, but also quite boring."

"Damn it, I bought the wrong tickets. I came here because I thought Lu Yunshi and Jiang would have a good fight in the last match. I got ripped off."