Chapter 15

Amidst a burst of passionate music, the registration for the marriage proposal event finally began. However, this also made Zhan Yi realize one thing: no matter how ancient a nation, it could hardly resist the progress of the times. The music turned out to be an incredibly energetic dance track.

But the people registering were even more energetic than the music. It seemed that after witnessing Mai's beauty, all the men between twenty and thirty years old in the venue began to take action. Some men, as they walked toward the stage, were even being called out by their children: "Dad, what are you going to do?"

There were also some young men being tightly held back by their girlfriends. The most outrageous was an elderly man being dragged by several of his sons in their twenties, who were still struggling and shouting: "Let go, you little brats! I feel like I'm twenty again, I have to give it a try."

All these scenes made Zhan Yi sigh that beauty was indeed a source of trouble. However, reality was always cruel. Although many people went up, when they actually started to lift the 200-pound stone locks, many of them were exhausted and couldn't lift them at all. Some who managed to lift them just barely over their heads fell to the ground with the stone locks.

The scene was chaotic, but the Moer tribe had indeed sent a large number of people. With so many participants, it would be impossible to test everyone if there were too few people.

Zhan Yi wasn't in a hurry. With his current strength, lifting the 200-pound stone lock was effortless. He mainly wanted to observe how many experts were among the registrants to prepare mentally. Although his strength had increased, he hadn't truly trained in combat techniques and could only rely on his body's explosive speed and power to defeat his opponents.

As more and more people went up, four individuals caught Zhan Yi's attention. It wasn't because they were particularly different, but because Zhan Yi felt a non-human aura from them. Moreover, their attire suggested they were a group, all dressed in black suits.

Zhan Yi carefully observed their actions. They walked up to the stage, said a few words at the registration desk, and then started lifting the stone locks. They seemed to be struggling, but Zhan Yi noticed that they were actually not exerting much effort. During the five-minute process, they occasionally took one hand off the stone lock and lifted it with just one arm. It was hard to imagine that such people would be gritting their teeth while lifting.

This made Zhan Yi pay more attention to them, as he felt that from a strength perspective, they were likely his strong opponents. Of course, this didn't mean that others couldn't persist. Many strong and powerful men also passed the test, and a few particularly muscular men did it with ease. However, Zhan Yi wasn't particularly concerned about them because he knew that no matter how strong a person was, their strength had limits, and it couldn't compare to his power, which came from absorbing the soul energy of a thousand ghost demons in the Soul Refining Furnace.

After a while, the number of people going up gradually decreased, especially after everyone saw some extremely strong individuals test. Many people didn't even try, as the marriage proposal event wasn't just about strength; there would be combat later. Just one punch from those bull-like men could cost them half their lives.

At this moment, Zhan Yi also walked toward the stage. Dong Dabao, seeing Zhan Yi finally taking action, quickly followed him and said, "Boss, do you think you can do it? Otherwise, we should think of another way. I'm afraid if you don't get the Five-Element Grass and something happens to you, how will I explain it to Master?"

"Shut up, can't you say something encouraging? Besides, how do you know I can't do it when you haven't seen my strength?" Zhan Yi, who wasn't particularly confident, felt even more depressed after hearing Dong Dabao's words and glared at him.

"Uh... I can say something encouraging. May you live as long as the heavens, may you be happy every day, may you have this day every year, and every year..." Seeing Zhan Yi's unhappy expression, Dong Dabao quickly changed his tone and even started singing.

"Damn, stop it." Zhan Yi, seeing Dong Dabao's antics and the curious looks from the surrounding people, felt they looked like lunatics and quickly stopped Dong Dabao, pretending not to know him as he hurriedly squeezed through the crowd toward the stage.

While squeezing through the crowd, Zhan Yi continued to observe the four individuals he had noticed. He found that they had started the basic knowledge test. As he got closer, the non-human aura he felt from them became stronger.

Once on the stage, he deliberately walked close to the four individuals. At that moment, he suddenly felt the strange vortex in his mind appear. This impression was too deep, as it was the same situation when he absorbed the soul energy of the ghost demons in the Xuanming basement and the soul energy of Xiao Jiao.

The only difference was that this time the vortex didn't generate a strong suction but released a strange energy to his eyes, making them itch. When he looked at the four individuals again, he saw black smoke surrounding them, and in the black smoke, they were emitting a yellow light.

Zhan Yi was startled and quickly shook his head. The vortex in his mind disappeared, and the black smoke around the four individuals vanished, returning to the scene before the vortex appeared. However, he was now certain that there was something strange about the four individuals.

He had studied the vortex in his mind and understood that it was the ability gained from the Yin-Yang Five-Element Soul Refining Furnace. When the vortex activated, it was like the Yin-Yang Five-Element Soul Refining Furnace was activated. This ability only appeared when he encountered demons or wanted to absorb someone's soul.

The strange phenomenon he saw on the four individuals was likely a special method of the Soul Refining Furnace to identify demons. Therefore, he was now almost certain that the four individuals were not human, though he couldn't determine what kind of demons they were.

Thinking of this, Zhan Yi suddenly remembered the black smoke he saw on the second floor of the hotel last night. At the time, he felt a strong demonic aura. Could those be the same four individuals he saw now?

"Boss, what are you thinking about? Are you going to test or not?" Dong Dabao finally spoke, not understanding why Zhan Yi looked so preoccupied after getting on the stage.

"Uh, of course, I'm going to test. Why else would we come up here?" Zhan Yi was pulled back to reality by Dong Dabao's words. Seeing that there weren't many people left on the stage, he walked over to the stone lock lifting area.

He found a tester and, with a single hand, lifted the stone lock over his head, saying, "Sigh... this is too light, there's no challenge at all."

Zhan Yi's action immediately drew a crowd, and even those who were testing turned to look. When they saw a young man in his twenties lifting the stone lock with one hand, their expressions were filled with disbelief.

Many people rubbed their eyes, thinking it was too incredible. They could accept a muscular man lifting it with one hand, but this young man, who looked like an ordinary person, lifted the 200-pound stone lock as easily as a brick, which was too demoralizing. After all, it wasn't a brick but 200 pounds of stone.

Worse still, a few people testing were so shocked that they dropped the stone locks and ran away, covering their faces and crying.

"Damn, Boss, are you even human?" Dong Dabao, who didn't expect Zhan Yi to be so strong, couldn't help but ask.

"Dabao, if you doubt me again, do you think I won't smash this stone lock on your head?" Zhan Yi, seeing the amazed and admiring looks from the crowd, felt a bit proud. But he was annoyed by Dong Dabao's comment. It seemed he had never heard the boy speak normally since they met.

In fact, Zhan Yi's performance was deliberate. He believed that instead of slowly competing with everyone, it was better to showcase his strength first. Since he hadn't trained in combat techniques, this would create significant psychological pressure on future opponents, making them more cautious in the combat rounds. By then, he could use his speed to surprise and defeat them, achieving unexpected results.

Another point was that he believed the Moer tribe's first beauty, Mai, was watching the stage from somewhere. Since this was her marriage proposal, she couldn't ignore it. By doing this, he could leave a deep impression on her, achieving a first-mover advantage.

However, the most important reason was that he wanted to show his strength to the four non-human individuals. He believed that his display would pique their curiosity, making them approach him. Then, he might be able to deal with them before the combat rounds.

Zhan Yi's strategy was undoubtedly successful. Once he made his move, all those who passed the test remembered him and reminded themselves to be extra cautious if they faced him in combat, not to attack first, and to assess his strength first to avoid being at a disadvantage.

Meanwhile, in a room behind the stage, the Moer tribe's first beauty, Mai, was watching Zhan Yi on a monitor, her small mouth open in surprise, seemingly both excited and disbelieving.

After a while, she replayed the scene of Zhan Yi lifting the stone lock, focusing on his face, and kept looking at it, thinking, "This young man is so special. Not only is he strong, but he also has a handsome face with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, exuding a mysterious aura. Who is he, really?"