The first round of voting would be held in the Dragon Dance Hall on the 20th floor of the Five Elements Clear Sky Pagoda in 20 days.
After informing Long Chen of all this, Wenren Xi sent Long Chen back to his residence and left after saying a few more words. He was only recommending Long Chen as a candidate. Whether he could succeed or not depended on himself.
Wenren Xi understood that his relationship with Long Chen was completely different from the relationship between Ye Futu and the Young Martial God. Even if Long Chen became the Sacred Martial Emperor, he would not listen to Wenren Xi's orders. At most, he would take more care of Wenren Xi. The person who truly recommended Long Chen was Great Emperor Zhenwu.
Of course, only Wenren Xi understood this.
All he could do was try his best to help Long Chen.
However, Wenren Xi was actually a proud person. This was the difference between him and Ye Futu. He thought that the first round of voting was a foregone conclusion and would not play any tricks.
Long Chen was in a hurry to return to his residence because of Han Yunxing. After refining the immortal essence that Long Chen had given him, Han Yunxing recovered very quickly. His arms and legs had already grown back, and the burnt flesh had also grown back. However, the weakness of his body could not be alleviated for the time being. He needed a long time to recuperate.
After returning to his residence, Nangong Lie had been waiting anxiously. Seeing that Long Chen was safe, he heaved a sigh of relief. This usually carefree man's eyes were bloodshot and filled with tears.
"How is Old Han?" he asked anxiously.
"He's fine."
Long Chen told him not to worry. After a while, he had Han Yunxing safely lie down. He and Nangong Lie stood guard by the bed. In the process of examining Han Yunxing's body, Long Chen took out a black worm from his brain.
This was a bug covered in sharp armor. It was only one centimeter long and looked inconspicuous. However, its teeth were sharp. Long Chen sniffed it carefully. There was a pungent stench on this dead Spirit-eating Insect. Just the smell alone was so special and strong. It could be imagined that if this bug was alive, it must be very ferocious.
Apart from the pungent stench, his ability to devour primordial spirits was also quite terrifying.
Gu was a mutated species that had been passed down since ancient times. Different species had different differences. For example, the Spirit-devouring Gu had been around for a long time and had a powerful bloodline. It was also a terrifying creature that lived in the human body. Ordinary Gu were still fine, but mutated species like the Spirit-devouring Gu could often produce fatal effects if used in real situations.
After crushing the worm, Long Chen took care of Han Yunxing for a while.
By then, Han Yunxing had already woken up. Long Chen told Han Yunxing what had happened recently. Han Yunxing said helplessly, "Little Chen, I'm really sorry to have caused you so much trouble. I've embarrassed you."
Long Chen quickly said, "Let's not talk about this. In the past, you didn't let me be bullied by others. Now that I'm strong, I naturally have to protect you. You're very important to me, so no matter what I do, don't ask if it's worth it or not."
Han Yunxing was not a bashful person, although he did feel bad.
He pondered for a while and said, "Sacred Martial Emperor, you do need to work hard. Putting everything else aside, just this identity alone will make you not have to risk everything when you go to the Sword Spirit Imperial Palace. Besides, no matter what identity you have, as long as you have the God Slaying Sword, you won't be able to avoid the catastrophe that the Imperial Emperor mentioned. It's better to face it together with the Imperial Emperor."
Han Yunxing thought so too, so Long Chen was no longer worried.
While resting and talking, a day passed in the blink of an eye. On the second day, Fu Ling'er arrived. Long Chen gave the space to them and went outside with Nangong Lie.
"Little Chen, your reputation in the Martial God Palace is so bad now. What are you going to do?" Nangong Lie frowned.
Both of them sincerely hoped that Long Chen could soar to the sky and fulfill his wish for the past ten years.
"It's fine." Long Chen wanted to focus on the next two rounds.
At this moment, Wenren Jingtao suddenly came and the three of them sat in the pavilion to discuss.
Wenren Jingtao said, "Ancestor has already told me about your situation. The second round is your strength and the third round is a fight to the death. But Yang Chen is very difficult to deal with, so it will be very difficult to get first place. So if you want to win, you have to defeat Yang Chen in the third round and take the lead in the second round. As for the first round, you can't lose too badly. If you lose too badly, it will be useless no matter how strong you are in the next two rounds."
Long Chen nodded and asked, "What else can we do? Recruit these people one by one."
Wenren Jingtao said, "You're right. Our ancestors disdained to do such a thing, but we can't think the same way as our ancestors. I have a list of those warriors who are not sure about their positions. From today onwards, we will visit them one by one, and try to persuade them with reason. We will try to win as many of them as we can."
Long Chen felt quite embarrassed. Yesterday, he was so mighty, but today, for the sake of Imperial Lord Sacred Martial, he had to go and curry favor with those people.
However, this was the Zhenwu Emperor Palace's ancestral teachings. Even the Great Emperor Zhenwu couldn't do anything about it, let alone him.
"Those who achieve great things don't care about trifles. I'll go."
Long Chen didn't hesitate and stood up. Wenren Jingtao couldn't help but praise his courage. If it was Wenren Jingtao himself, he would never put his face down.
Basically, those who had reached the second stage of Nirvana Tribulation were more than ten thousand years old. To put it bluntly, they were all stubborn old men with deep-rooted loyalty to the Zhenwu Emperor Palace. Persuading them was more difficult than ascending to the heavens. Therefore, even if they set off, Long Chen didn't have much hope.
According to the list, Long Chen and Wenren Jingtao found the residence of the first voter. They were all people that Wenren Jingtao knew. After knocking on the door, a junior came out to open the door and told them that the person Long Chen was looking for wasn't there.
It was normal that the first person wasn't there, but when they went around and visited more than a dozen people, they found that none of them were in the residence. This was a problem.
"They are indeed not in the residence, but where did they go? Could it be that they knew we would come to visit in advance? So they all hid for this daddy?" Wenren Jingtao cursed in exasperation.
Long Chen thought for a while and said, "It doesn't matter. They probably left for something, but as long as they are still in the Five Elements Clear Sky Pagoda, they will definitely return. We will visit the others first. Let's wait for this' Shi Bo 'to return."
"Shi Bo, another hot-tempered old thing. If it wasn't for this matter, this daddy wouldn't even bother with this trash." Wenren Jingtao scolded.
His patience was limited. After visiting more than a dozen people, he couldn't bear it any longer.
Long Chen, on the other hand, was still fine. He had always been extremely patient, and paying a visit was the only way. If he couldn't even do such a simple thing and couldn't put down his pride, then what ability did he have to be a leader and decide the fate and future of billions of people?
Some things, even if he was unwilling, even if it was difficult, even if he would be rejected, as long as he was brave enough to do it, Long Chen had no regrets.
It didn't matter whether he succeeded or not. What mattered was that he didn't back down.
Compared to the time when he only knew how to fight and kill, he felt that he had grown. Sometimes, groveling was also a kind of growth.
After waiting for half a day, the second tier Nirvana Tribulation realm Shi Bo finally returned.
He was a skinny man with a sinister expression. Of course, he was originally smiling, but when he saw Long Chen and Wenren Jingtao guarding his door, his expression changed immediately. He walked over with a cold smile and shouted, "Yo, I was wondering who it was. So it's Wenren Jingtao. And this one, isn't he the guy who killed my brother Fu Hai? Why, are you here to kill me today, or am I here to ask for votes? Fine, beat me half to death, and in 20 days, I'll give all the votes to you. I'll say that you're strong enough to kill one person.
What do you think? "Before Long Chen could speak, the man was already pointing at his chest arrogantly, telling Long Chen to beat him up.
Long Chen had never seen such a despicable person. Just from hearing the man's words, he knew that there was no hope for this person. He didn't want to continue being humiliated, so he called out to Wenren Jingtao and prepared to leave.
"Wait, do you think I'm a place where you can come and go as you please?" Shi Bo blocked Long Chen's path.
He was acting crazy a moment ago, but now he was cold. He stared at Long Chen and said word by word, "To be honest, I'm not familiar with Fu Hai. I just feel sad for him. Long Chen, if you're just an ordinary disciple, I won't target you. But you're competing for the Martial Saint Emperor who will decide the future of my True Martial Emperor Palace, so I have no choice but to speak up. I've read through all your information. You've been in the True Martial Emperor Palace for less than two years, and although you're not evil, you've killed too many people. You're too scheming. You're extremely protective of those close to you, but you don't necessarily care about the overall situation. How can my True Martial Emperor Palace be in the hands of someone like you? I'm sorry, but I can't do it because my life belongs to the True Martial Emperor Palace."
Long Chen took a deep breath. The other party was right.
He knew that Shi Bo was already a hopeless person, so he didn't need to waste any effort. He said, "Please make way. We walk different paths, so we can't make plans together."
Shi Bo still wanted to grumble, but Wenren Jingtao was enraged. He directly grabbed Shi Bo and threw him back. After that, he left with Long Chen.
As expected, he still got a nose full of dust.
However, Long Chen wasn't discouraged. He believed that not everyone's thoughts were so extreme. There was definitely a chance to salvage the situation. He would fight for as much as he could.
Shi Bo looked at their backs and scolded them in a righteous manner.