547: Favored

"So it's Yan Zhi!"

Upon hearing the name, Lu Li said in realization.

He remembered this person; he was one of his lackeys from outside, and one of the few among them who could follow him in.

His strength among the lackeys could be said to be extremely good, with great potential to break through to the Immortal Law Realm.

Of course, potential was just potential.

Seeing that it was his lackey from outside, Lu Li's attitude immediately changed.

After all, he was someone who could be entrusted with heavy responsibilities here and someone he could trust.

However, before that, he still had to test him a little.

Immediately, Lu Li asked about some matters from their time outside, especially regarding him and Yan Zhi.

These questions were a mix of true and false, some being complete traps.

For example, he would ask about something that had never happened, asking what Yan Zhi did in that situation to earn his trust.

But the actual answer was that he had never been there, or the event never occurred.

If the other party didn't notice the discrepancy in the question, then he'd be finished.

Having cultivated for many years, Lu Li was still very cautious.

Once he started questioning, there were over a hundred questions alone, with countless traps hidden within.

To this, Chen De's solution was simple: just answer truthfully according to Yan Zhi's memories.

Although there were many questions, Lu Li soon finished asking them all one by one.

When Chen De and Yang Chi came out again, he had already been entrusted with heavy responsibilities.

In terms of status alone, he was even higher than Yang Chi, belonging to the rank of people second only to Lu Li.

Although it was a bit different from his initial thought of directly taking over this place, it wasn't a big problem.

As for the current Yang Chi, his expression was a bit more somber than when he had first brought Chen De here.

Simply because Chen De's power here was now basically equivalent to the Vice Leader level.

His actual power was at this level, though his status was nominally still on the same level as theirs.

Only when necessary could he mobilize the forces of their level.

But even if others didn't know, how could Yang Chi not know what this meant?

This meant that from now on, the favorite by Lu Li's side would no longer be him, but Yan Zhi.

As for when it would be "necessary," wasn't that up to Yan Zhi to decide?

"Take me to see the other nine!"

Chen De's voice came from behind Yang Chi, making him grit his teeth even harder.

Don't forget who brought him here; is he already starting to give orders?

Thinking about how he had brought back a major rival, he suddenly felt like he had shot himself in the foot.

But since it had already happened, he didn't dare say no to Chen De's instructions.

After all, Chen De's strength was similar to his, but the man had been appointed by Lu Li.

Lu Li's order—they had just come out of the room; would he dare disobey?

At this moment, Chen De slowly walked up to Yang Chi.

"Brother Yan, what is it..."

Originally, Yang Chi thought Chen De was going to whisper some secrets to him, offer some empty promises, or use a carrot-and-stick approach.

However, what happened next was quite unexpected for him.

Chen De just raised a hand and lightly patted Yang Chi's face. "I've delayed your time; it's fine, right?"

"It's fine."

Yang Chi gritted his teeth and endured such obviously provocative words and actions.

"Is it really fine? Don't force yourself, okay?" Chen De feigned surprise and continued to smile at him.

"We're all working for the Lord; there's no such thing as a delay," Yang Chi continued, gritting his teeth.

"That's good." Chen De lowered his hand and let Yang Chi continue leading the way.

Although Chen De could already determine those people's locations based on their auras, keeping Yang Chi around allowed him to maintain a lower profile.

So Chen De simply stopped walking and said directly to Yang Chi, "Go tell those nine that I plan to get to know them."

"Hmm... it's not too much trouble, is it?" Chen De asked with concern.

Yang Chi shook his head and immediately said, "No trouble at all!"

"Then I'll go first!"

"Go ahead!"

Watching Yang Chi walk away, Chen De pondered how to wipe out this place in one fell swoop.

Perhaps he could... after a while, ten people, including Yang Chi, arrived before him.

Yang Chi had told him where to find this venue.

With ten people coming together, their presence was undoubtedly much stronger.

Although they didn't explicitly want to oppose Chen De, the momentum of wanting to contend with him was obvious.

"Everyone, I've invited you all here at this time mainly to ask: have you eaten?"

Looking at them, Chen De immediately began his speech.

"Man is iron, rice is steel—if you don't eat one meal, you'll feel hungry. As a newcomer, I am very concerned about your health, so I called you here to check on you."

Hearing such a ridiculous reason, the ten couldn't help but frown simultaneously.

Although Chen De was appointed by Lu Li, weren't they all?

Combined, could their weight really be less than Chen De's alone?

But immediately after, Chen De added, "After all, I'm just a messenger for Lord Lu Li. It's only right for me to care for you on his behalf."

As soon as these words were spoken, those who wanted to say something were left speechless.

You've said all the good things; what's left for us to say?

"Eaten!"

"Just finished eating!"

"It was fine!"

"Good enough!"

"Good!"

... "Seeing that everyone has eaten and drunk well, I'm relieved."

"Lord Lu Li trusts me, so I have a responsibility to keep everyone well-fed and healthy."

"Now that I've finished, thank you for your understanding."

"If there's nothing else, everyone can leave now."

Did he really just ask if they had eaten?

He then ignored the ten people and left the venue on his own.

Leaving the ten of them bewildered in the air.

Are you kidding me?

Never did they expect that Chen De was actually serious—he really just gathered them to ask if they had eaten.

There are weirdos every year, but there are especially many this year!

After a brief introduction, he found that everyone was quite enthusiastic.

Chen De was very happy; he hadn't even started the next step of his plan yet.

He directly recruited a King Level squad here to follow him outside on a mission.

As for the squads with Legendary Level members, most of them were already established and had pledged loyalty to others.

So if Chen De wanted to use them, he either had to demand it or have those ten give the order.

However, with his current cultivation, if he wanted to improve, King Level beings would no longer be of much use.

For the Legendary Level, it was best to absorb Legendary Level and above for a significant effect.

However, there were many King Level beings here; if he took them all down, his cultivation would still improve significantly.

So, Chen De prioritized selecting those Legendary Level beings who hadn't pledged loyalty yet, as well as some King Level ones.

The latter were just extras; people with status here wouldn't care much, even if they were the subordinates of some Legendary Level expert.