Ling Han returned, and when he related these words from Mao Dai to the Empress, she was immediately incredibly overjoyed.
What she valued the most was naturally her relations.h.i.+p with Ling Han, and that was something that she could not possibly sever, and this filled her with resolve to rather never advance into the Severing Mundane Tier, and be in love with Ling Han until the end of her life.
However, in an unexpected turn of events, there was actually an alternative.
Striking the heaven and earth was definitely more difficult than dealing a strike to oneself, and the difficulty level was possibly not just a little bit harder, but rather 10 times to over 100 times higher, but she would be able to preserve the emotions she had for Ling Han, and would also be capable of surpa.s.sing any ordinary Severing Mundane Tier in terms of battle prowess. To the incredibly proud Empress, this was her only choice, and was also the best choice for her.
Without Ding Hu there, Ling Han’s days naturally became considerably better than before, but there were also many people that were very cautious, and still maintained a distance from Ling Han—who knew, they might have to join the White Tiger Army in future, right?
Their training continued, but only five days later, Ling Han, Mao Shuyu, and the others were all gathered. Aside from Ding Xiaochen, who was not a captain, the other nine were all captains.
Long Gaofei was seated, and he cast his eye on the gathered 10, and said, “I have gathered you today to inform you that you all will be partic.i.p.ating in a tournament, and your opponent will be a team from the Azure Dragon Army, White Tiger Army, and Vermilion Bird Army.”
“Tu Kang.” He paused, and looked to his side. “You will be in charge of explaining the subsequent details.”
“Yes, sir!” Tu Kang agreed respectfully first, and only then did he begin his explanation.
As it turned out, there were a total of 237 One Star Cities under the jurisdiction of the Black Moon Sect, and every few hundred or thousand years or so, they could have these forces under their reign form a team of 10 members to partic.i.p.ate in a tournament in Black Moon City, and this was only limited to the Genesis Tier.
This was the so-called chance for entering into the Dark Moon Army, and if one could rise above the others, and gain the recognition of some higher-up of the Black Moon Sect, they would have a chance of staying in a Two Star City. In future, it was possible that they might even have a chance of going to a Three Star City, and gain the notice of the Fu Clan.
However, it would usually be three teams of official troops battling directly. After drawing lots, one of the teams would be skipped over, while the two teams that had been drawn would battle first, and the victor would be fighting the team that had been pa.s.sed over. This final victor would then be able to represent Dark Moon City, and partic.i.p.ate in the tournament.
This time, for the sake of “fairness”, they decided to add another team, but it was very obvious that if any of the three teams of official troops drew Ling Han and his group, they clearly had a ma.s.sive advantage on their side.
…Would the official troops be unable to defeat the reserve troops?
Ling Han naturally would not think that. Perhaps there were prodigies among prodigies in the official troops, but what would they be worth against him?
Too bad, the Empress could not partic.i.p.ate. This time, they only chose the captains of the 10 teams.
Then why could Ding Xiaochen be here?
The captain of his team claimed to be unwell, so Ding Xiaochen managed to replace him.
Claiming to be unwell? It must have only been the Ding Clan using threats and rewards to compel that person to give up his place.
If they could win, and represented the Dark Moon Army in the tournament, every person would be able to get 100 Star Stones as reward, and if they could attain a better ranking in the battles in Black Moon City, the reward would be even higher.
And the three great clans had even announced that if they could get first, every person on their team would be rewarded with a One Star Pseudo-Divine Metal!
You shouldn’t think that a One Star Pseudo-Divine Metal was cheap. On the other hand, if one wanted to perfectly fuse two pieces of Level 20 G.o.dly metal together, the price that had to be paid was huge, and it needed a Severing Mundane Tier elite to temper it for a very long time.
Moreover, it was not every Severing Mundane Ancestor that could do it. He had to have extremely high accomplishments in the art of blacksmithing, and this ensured that any One Star Pseudo-Divine Metal was an incredibly valuable item.
Putting aside others, even Ding Xiaochen felt greed that could not be restrained. If he could obtain a Pseudo-Celestial Tool while he was in the Genesis Tier, just how awesome would that be?
He had self-awareness; it was possible that he could only advance into the Severing Mundane Tier after more than 100,000,000 years. Thus, the temptation of a Pseudo-Celestial Tool was naturally ma.s.sive. Otherwise, he would have to wait until he had advanced into the Severing Mundane Tier to be bestowed with a Pseudo-Celestial Tool by his clan.
But there was a realistic problem; how were they supposed to compete with the official troops? The latter had cultivated innumerable more years than them, and were very cohesive and coordinated at that, so they were able to fully unleash the maximum battle prowess of all their members, or even higher than that. And them?
It had just been a few days, so what kind of cooperation could they have managed to nurture? Furthermore, out of those that could rise above the others in the official troops, which one of them wasn’t an invincible elite even among Genesis Tiers?
There was no end to the Genesis Tier, and it was only needed to form a total of ten billion stars, and that would mean that they had acc.u.mulated enough Origin Power. If their comprehension of the cultivation level was also enough, they could attempt to break through to the Severing Mundane Tier.
Thus, power was absolutely the limit before breaking through to ten billion stars, and it was still a considerable advantage to have a few more million or billion years to cultivate. Of course, after ten billion stars, it would be increasingly harder to form new stars, just like how every step forward was incredibly difficult after an Eternal River Tier had formed 1,000,000 stars. Only a prodigy would be able to continue their triumphant progress.
The gap in power, and the gap in cooperation. Did they even have any hopes of emerging victorious?
Even Ding Xiaochen and Mao Shuyu were shaking their heads. They were only going to be accompanying the victors, and there was no need for them to consider the possibility of winning at all.
After returning to make some preparations, they set out on their journey, heading to the camp of the Dark Moon Army.
Though they were only characters to accompany the victors, the other three teams were not, so it was natural that the members had to be chosen wisely. They were going to represent Dark Moon City in the tournament, and the three great clans were also very serious, wanting to get the highest possible accomplishment.
From a certain aspect, this was also a display of strength of a major city, and was extremely important.
The tournament would be held three days later, and taking advantage of these three days, Ling Han’s team of reserve troops would also be making some last-minute preparations. Before the battles began, they still had to have a slight bit of hope that they could win.
But it was only a mere three days; how could it possibly help them to achieve full-fledged cooperation?
Putting aside other issues, merely with the conflict between Ling Han and Ding Xiaochen, it was impossible for them to achieve any kind of cooperation.
Three days later, they entered into the battlegrounds with expressions of disappointment. They could only think of this as mere procedure.
The four teams drew lots to decide their respective opponents. Ling Han and his group were represented by Tu Kang, and the final result was that the Azure Dragon Army would face the Vermilion Bird Army, and the White Tiger Army would face the reserve troops.
Seeing this kind of result, the Ding Clan and the White Tiger Army all smiled. This was equivalent to them having already achieved victory.
Unless the Azure Dragon Army and the Vermilion Bird Army reached some kind of agreement, if they really put everything on the line, whichever team won could only possibly be a narrow victory, and if they fought the White Tiger Army next, it was natural that they would lose.
This kind of tournament could not possibly alert any powerful figures, but three vice commanders had still appeared, and the Severing Mundane Tier elite of the Ding Clan was Ding Hu. When his eyes swept over Ling Han, a flash of killing intent flickered.
A mighty Severing Mundane Ancestor actually couldn’t do anything to a mere Great Saint!
Humph, if he did not kill this boy, what face would he have left?
“Begin.”
The four teams came on at the same time. There were 10 people in each team, and the rules were very simple. It would be a battle royale, right until all the members of one side collapsed.
“Let’s admit defeat,” Ding Xiaochen said immediately. Since their opponent was a team from his own clan, he naturally hoped that the White Tiger Army could have as easy a victory as possible.