Chapter 184 – I Want to Take First Place
Qin Muxue ground her perfect white teeth, her eyes filled with frustration and unwillingness.
As the waves roared towards her, it gathered more and more of the power of heaven and earth. It crashed upon her like thunder, reducing the blazing aura that had been surrounding her body by more than half.
QIn Muxue took out her jade identity tablet and activated it, unable to block the Controlling Wave technique any longer. She took back her Embroidered Snowflake Scarf, which was still at a deadlock with the Soul Extinguishing Blood Light, before being teleported out of the inner realm of the Luminous Cloud Abyss.
In the enormous screen of light in the sea of clouds, golden light pulsed with a loud rumble, and Xu Disheng’s name appeared in blazing golden script across the sky.
With this, Xu Disheng had entered the top 20 of the Shangqing Sacred Sect’s Eight Mountains Grand Tournament.
Qin Muxue felt stifled and frustrated to the extreme, and hatred for Xu Disheng filled her heart.
She originally came from a large clan in the Jinchang Province, and the last time she went back to her ancestral land, she was chosen to receive her ancestor’s inheritance due to her special body constitution. It was a completely intact Divine Core stage inheritance.
This Divine Core stage inheritance not only had a method that could convert profound qi into ice and snow-aspected qi, but also included one attack and one defense-type Psychic Magic Treasure. Along with a comprehensive set of ice and snow spells, it allowed her to experience an explosive rise in fighting strength, elevating her from an ordinary peak Sea of Qi stage disciple to a half-step Dao Foundation stage genius.
After winning five battles in a row in the Luminous Cloud Abyss’s inner realm, Qin Muxue started to entertain thoughts of entering the top 20. But she just so happened to run into Xu Disheng in the most crucial battle. After getting what could only be called steamrolled, and then finally eliminated with hardly any chance to retaliate, she was as angry and frustrated as one could well imagine.
“As expected, Senior Martial Brother Xu won,” a disciple who bet on Xu Disheng in advance said happily, counting the spirit stones he earned.
“How could an upstart nobody like Qin Muxue even compare to someone like Senior Martial Brother Xu?”
“Senior Martial Brother Xu is a disciple that was trained since childhood by Celestial Tide Spirit Master specifically for this tournament. And now he’s making it big!” Another disciple said brazenly, evidently somewhat misinformed.
“The Sea of Qi division’s top 20 battles will be exciting to watch this time.”
“I agree. Senior Brother Zhang Yangui and Senior Sister Mo Yue aside, Ji Haohan and Xu Disheng will be roughly evenly matched. If they happen to run into one another, this time’s Eight Mountains Grand Tournament will become interesting.”
… …
Mist energy wrapped up Xu Disheng’s body. Teleportation power filled the air around him, then his field of vision changed. A few breaths of time later, he found himself above the sea of clouds in the Luminous Cloud Abyss, standing next to the enormous Cloud Gate.
Countless people turned towards Xu Disheng, sizing up this Sea of Qi stage genius who was comparable to the unparalleled Rank 3 Spiritual Root geniuses like Ji Haohan. In these gazes, there was praise, admiration, respect, envy, and even jealousy, among other complex feelings.
Standing atop a cloud chariot, Cloud Stream Spirit Master glanced over at Xu Disheng, his eyes full of praise. “You can rest for half a day and catch your breath. After half a day, the top 20 battles will commence.”
Xu Disheng cupped his hands and bowed. “Understood, Spirit Master.”
There were several Sea of Qi stage disciples from Affairs Hall standing nearby, who began to lead him towards an extremely large, majestic great hall.
He turned to look at the list of names in the sky, the names inscribed in gold. There were already around a dozen names written on it, meaning there were still some people fighting in the inner realm.
Zhang Yangui, Mo Yue, Ji Haohan, Pu Li, and Mu Hui were on the list, their names glimmering with golden light. These people clearly came out of the inner realm earlier than himself.
There were a few more unfamiliar names on there, but their names hadn’t been on the jade slip that recorded the names of the well-known geniuses. Xu Disheng only skimmed the list before entering the majestic great hall that had been prepared for him beforehand.
There were only a little over a dozen names written in gold on the list, but they weren’t ranked in any particular order. It was only used to display the top 20.
The great hall was extremely peaceful and quiet, the furnishings tasteful and refined. There was also precious incense like concentrating incense burning in the hall, which could slightly raise the cultivation of the mind. This place was very optimal for recuperating.
After only a few moments passed, over 20 jade slips came flying into the hall. Xu Disheng put down the jade identity tablet in his hand and gathered all of the jade slips that had arrived.
This great hall also had an array for transmitting information, which could be temporarily assigned to Xu Disheng for use. All he had to do was use his jade identity tablet to activate the sealing array, and it would dispatch all of the messages left for him at his own courtyard in Morning Dew Peak over to his current location.
There were only two jade slips that had a resplendent dark green glow. Aside from standard jade slips issued by the sect, only Divine Core stage Spirit Masters could send jade slips with this color.
Xu Disheng picked one of them up and submerged his consciousness into it.
One of the dark green jade slips was from Celestial Tide Spirit Master, which didn’t come as any surprise to Xu Disheng.
What was surprising, however, was the other jade slip. It was sent out by the Cloud Ascension Domain of Mingxin Mountain Range. When he opened it, Ruan Xun’s voice entered his ears.
“Primordial Lord Yangze orders Xu Disheng of Morning Dew Peak to proceed to the Cloud Ascension Domain after the Eight Mountains Grand Tournament for an audience.”
Although Ruan Xun was a Sea of Qi stage genius, he was also a descendent of a Primordial Lord, so he was never registered on the directory of Shangqing Sacred Sect’s disciples. As a result, he couldn’t participate in the Eight Mountains Grand Tournament.
Aside from him, there were others that lived in the Shangqing Mountain Range’s Yuluo Realm and were geniuses that resided in the domain of some Primordial Lord. They also weren’t registered as disciples and thus couldn’t participate in the tournament.
Primordial Lord Yangze was one of the Mountain Masters of Mingxin Mountain Range. Xu Disheng knew of this matter, but he hadn’t had any prior interaction with him before.
It was rather abrupt for Ruan Xun to send a jade slip out of the blue containing Primordial Lord Yangze’s orders, telling him to come to the Cloud Ascension Domain to have an audience with the Primordial Lord after the tournament.
Subconsciously, Xu Disheng suddenly thought of Lu Wen and the terrifying Bodhisattva phantom image, as well as that gray divine light that had swept across heaven and earth. Inwardly, some guesses began to surface in his mind.
As Xu Disheng was deep in his thoughts, he felt a ripple in the protective array outside the great hall. Without hesitation, Xu Disheng activated his jade identity tablet and opened the restrictive array outside the hall.
“All those buzzing rumors about that Fierce Specter War Chariot… So it was you who got your hands on it in the end, Junior Martial Brother Xu?” He Junyu said, striding into the hall. He was dressed in a black Daoist robe, and the look in his eyes was a bit complex.
“Yes, that was me,” Xu Disheng replied, lifting his gaze. He could sense the aura of a water element spell around He Junyu’s body which hadn’t completely dissipated. “Did you also make it to the top 20, Senior Martial Brother He?”
“I got lucky. Several times in a row, I didn’t run into any of those unparalleled geniuses. Although I ended up facing Liu Pengyun from the Mountain of Law in the very last match, I was somehow able to fight my way to victory,” He Junyu said. Although his words were downplaying his accomplishment quite a bit, Xu Disheng knew the difficulties within, and was well aware that it was no simple feat.
Liu Pengyun of the Mountain of Law was one of the geniuses listed on the ranking jade slip!
Even though Liu Pengyun was only evaluated as ‘relatively strong’, He Junyu shouldn’t have been able to stand a chance based on what Xu Disheng knew about his prior strength.
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However, at the border between the Shan Mountain Territory and the He Yin Territory, He Junyu had obtained Vast Ocean Primordial Lord’s water element inheritance. Now, no one knew for certain how strong he truly was.
Unwittingly, He Junyu and Celestial Tide Spirit Master’s attitude toward Xu Disheng, and the way they treated them, had undergone a subtle but significant change.
In this tournament, Xu Disheng had not only displayed an unparalleled power of comprehension, but had also demonstrated his ability to use Dao Foundation stage spells beyond his cultivation realm. He was no longer limited to the Mingxin Mountain Range, and had firmly entered the eyes of everyone in the eight Mountains of the Shangqing Sacred Sect.
“Are you interested in the title of Sacred Son, Senior Martial Brother He?”
He Junyu looked startled for a moment, then shook his head and replied, “Even though my strength has improved greatly since obtaining Vast Ocean Primordial Lord’s secret water Dao techniques, I still don’t stand a chance against people like Zhang Yangui and Mo Yue. Even though the title of Sacred Son seems so close, I’m still worlds away from being able to get my hands on it.”
Xu Disheng stood up, the small soul-suppressing Evil Spirit skull above his shoulder flitting about constantly. With a flick of his sleeve, he declared, “I want to take first place!”
“Junior Martial Brother Xu?!” He Junyu exclaimed, flabbergasted and speechless.
In his mind, Xu Disheng was someone who always played it low-key and had a very reserved and indifferent temperament. He was never the kind of person to resort to crazed ramblings.
But if he wanted to win against geniuses like Zhang Yangui and Mo Yue, merely putting it in words wasn’t enough. The difficulty these words implied was enormous and was hardly something any ordinary disciple could imagine.
But when the youth in the white and blue robe looked up, a light wind swept up, in spite of the fact that the two of them were inside a great hall. He Junyu could feel the intense desire to fight coming off of Xu Disheng, flaring up like a raging inferno.
“From the Ruyang Region to the You Province, from the Chu Territory to the Mingxin Mountain Range… I have cultivated so hard for nearly twenty years. I’ve remained silent long enough. With the enormous share of cultivation resources that the title of Sacred Son promises, I refuse to miss this opportunity,” Xu Disheng said quietly. He wasn’t looking at He Junyu. Instead, he’d walked to the gate of the great hall, where he looked out over the sea of clouds outside the restrictive array.
He had been reincarnated in the Chu Territory with a heavy fog obscuring his mind, and for nearly twenty years, until he stood where he stood now, he found that his past life’s memories were covered in layers upon layers of fabrications. On top of that, there seemed to be an ancient being hibernating within the cyan jade flute.
Only by becoming stronger could he completely unravel the mysteries and find the truth within.
And thus, for the first time, Xu Disheng finally wanted to reveal his true strength.
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