<h4>Chapter 1396: Chapter 1704: Fated Rivals (3)</h4>


    "Your strength is too weak." The middle-aged man shook his head and said, "I thought you could at leastst a minute."


    Tong Zhentian looked at the opponent with a grim expression. Although the man’s words made him ufortable, he had to admit that this person in front of him indeed had the right to mock them.


    "All of you step back."


    At this moment, a voice came from the crowd. Upon hearing this voice, Tong Zhentian and the others couldn’t help but feel a surge of spirit and retreated one after another.


    "Oh?" The middle-aged man looked at the crowd in surprise and said to himself, "Is there an expert who hasn’t appeared yet?"


    "Heh! An expert may be too much to say, but I think it’s more appropriate for you to call me an old acquaintance."


    With these words, a man stepped out from the crowd. Upon seeing this man’s appearance, the middle-aged man’s expression suddenly changed,pletely losing the calmness he had before.


    "You... you are actually... alive..." The middle-aged man pointed at the person in disbelief and said.


    "Aren’t you the same? To be honest, I’m more surprised than you; I thought you were long dead. Su Cheng’en, speaking of which... it’s been a few hundred years since west met, hasn’t it?"


    A few hundred years? Upon hearing their conversation, the crowd was somewhat confused. Was it that these two spoke unclearly, or did they hear wrong? A few hundred years... are they even human?


    Compared to the puzzled crowd, Ling Chen and Ling Kun, who knew the inside story, were even more shocked to realize that this person was from the same era as Ling Gengqiu.


    Su Cheng’en... surname Su... could it be! Ling Chen’s expression slightly changed, and he couldn’t help but cast his gaze toward Xu Ming, not far away. At this moment, thetter lowered his head, hiding in the crowd, seeming very afraid of being discovered by Su Cheng’en.


    Perhaps feeling Ling Chen’s gaze, Xu Ming slightly averted his head, looked at Ling Chen, and then gently nodded. Indeed! With Xu Ming’s confirmation, Ling Chen finally affirmed his thoughts.


    Su Cheng’en! This was the person Xu Ming mentioned before. It turns out that the person who kidnapped him was actually Su Cheng’en, no wonder his strength was so terrifying.


    "Are you going to intervene in this matter?" Su Cheng’en asked coldly.


    Ling Gengqiu said lightly, "The person you captured is my person. You causing him trouble is the same as going against me."


    "Hmph!" Su Cheng’en sneered, "Ling Gengqiu, anyway, we have quite a bit of resentment between us already, so it doesn’t matter to add one more, don’t you think?"


    Ling Gengqiu nodded and said, "You’re right. In that case, why don’t we exchange some blows and see if it’s you or me who’s stronger after all these centuries?"


    "I’m not afraid of you." With these words, Su Cheng’en turned and ran towards the luxurious vi. Upon reaching the wall, Su Cheng’en lightly tapped with his toe, his body akin to a shadow, instantly climbed to the top of the vi, and then disappeared.


    Ling Gengqiu turned to Ling Chen and said, "Wait here, I’ll go teach that guy a lesson." After saying that, Ling Gengqiu followed Su Cheng’en’s steps and disappeared on the vi roof.


    Ling Chen knew there was arge terrace atop the vi; Ling Gengqiu and Su Cheng’en didn’t want others to see their duel, so they chose it as their battleground.


    Seeing Ling Gengqiu and Su Cheng’en disappear, Tong Zhentian and the others couldn’t help but feel disappointed. They came along mainly to witness the duel between Ling Gengqiu and Su Cheng’en, but in the end, they couldn’t see anything, only hearing ’bang bang’ sounds from the rooftop and the scattering stones.


    More than ten minutes have passed, and the battle on the rooftop became increasingly intense. Ling Chen and the others grew tense, unable to discern the oue of the fight above.


    A few more minutes passed, and finally, no sound came from the rooftop, nor did anyonee down for a long time.


    "Dad, do you think something happened to him? Should we... go up and see?" Ling Chen asked. He wasn’t worried about anything else, but if Ling Gengqiu and Su Cheng’en both ended up severely injured, they should hurry up and strike.


    Ling Kun apparently thought of this as well and immediately ran towards the vi.


    Before long, Ling Kun and Ling Chen arrived at the terrace of the vi. As soon as they stepped out, they saw therge terrace inplete disarray, the ground entirely cracked with stones scattered everywhere. In the center of the terrace stood Ling Gengqiu alone. Apart from him, there was no trace of Su Cheng’en.


    "Old Ancestor." Ling Chen hurried over and asked, "Are you alright?"


    Ling Gengqiu turned around, looking indifferent, and said, "I’m fine. Haven’t fought in hundreds of years, almost got rusty."


    "Where’s Su Cheng’en?"


    "Ran away." Ling Gengqiu said helplessly, "That guy is still as cowardly as ever, afraid of death, not daring to risk his life against me. Sigh! It’s too boring, I wanted to loosen up my muscles properly, but that guy didn’t even give me a chance."


    "Old Ancestor, how strong is that Su Cheng’en?" Ling Chen asked.


    "Extremely powerful." Mentioning this, Ling Gengqiu’s expression turned solemn instantly, "I’m not kidding, Su Cheng’en’s strength might even surpass mine at my peak. However, from the looks of our recent fight, he seemed to have some concern and didn’t dare to go all out. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had such an easy time."


    Hearing this, Ling Kun couldn’t help feeling strange, "Could he be testing?"


    "Maybe." At this, Ling Gengqiu sighed lightly, "I never expected, after hundreds of years, to still encounter my arch-enemy, seems like we are destined adversaries."


    Ling Chen curiously asked, "Old Ancestor, who exactly is that Su Cheng’en?"


    "He is the founder of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion, the first Pavilion Master, Su Cheng’en." Pausing, Ling Chen added, "The bastard who took my wife."


    Uh...


    Ling Chen was aware of Ling Gengqiu’s romantic past. Back then, because of Ling Gengqiu’s amorous nature, his wife left in anger andter followed the first Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion, probably the source of the grudges between Ling Gengqiu and Su Cheng’en.


    "Old Ancestor, everywhere in the world, there are lovely women, no need to cling to just one flower."


    Ling Gengqiu’s eyes lit up and he patted Ling Chen’s shoulder with a smile, "Well said, very sensible, looks like you have a lot of potential, kid."


    Ling Chen chuckled, then shifted the topic to Ling Gengqiu’s physical condition, "Old Ancestor, how’s your physical recovery?"


    "Not bad, but unfortunately I lost a leg. Luckily, there are quite a few new things in this era, Guo Ming got me a set of exoskeleton armor, usually no big problem. Only, with iplete limbs, my strength is hard to restore to peak levels. Before, with my strength, I could handle all troubles, but things are different now, since Su Cheng’en is still alive, I have to be wary of him."


    Ling Chen nodded and said, "I understand. Rest assured, Old Ancestor, I’ll do my utmost to help you find that lost limb."