Chapter 2330 Prodigies
Ling Han was filled with motivation again.
He wanted that Battle Beast. Thus, he needed to first break into the top 100 of the compet.i.tors. Only by doing so would he have the right to compete for the number one.
The rules for the Thousand Academy Tournament were as followed: in the first round, all of the teams would enter a mystery realm. Many beacons were hidden there, and the teams could search for and collect these beacons. Alternatively, they could s.n.a.t.c.h them from other teams. There was a time limit of one month, and the final ranking would be calculated based on the number of beacons held by each team.
The top 100 teams would enter the second round, which was the round of elimination battles. That would be a compet.i.tion of pure strength.
Moreover, the most impressive member from each of these 100 teams would be chosen to enter the Elite Leaderboard. Those on the leaderboard would then partic.i.p.ate in a compet.i.tion to rank their individual strength.
‘I’ll enter the top 100 and have a battle with Huai Jian,’ Ling Han thought to himself. He didn’t have any aspirations of coming first as a team. In any case, coming first as a team would only win them glory and not much else. However, what use was glory in the Foreign Realm? Perhaps he would defect to the Foreign Realm and fight for them instead?
Thus, he simply wanted to enter the Elite Leaderboard.
He cultivated in seclusion most of the time. Sometimes he would cultivate under the Reincarnation Tree, and sometimes he would cultivate in the Time Cultivation Chamber. The effects of these places would stack with his Greatest Eternity Immortal Physique, allowing the acceleration of time to become even greater. However, the Greatest Eternity Immortal Physique could only be activated for a limited time. This was unlike the Time Cultivation Chamber, which he could use forever as long as he could pay.
Not only he, but the Empress and Hu Niu also cultivated in earnest. They naturally didn’t care about fighting for the Foreign Realm. They were simply cultivating to improve themselves.
In fact, even Xun Feng and Wu Ya were cultivating in earnest. They wished to advance further in the Eighth Lotus. To monarch tiers, advancing to the Ninth Lotus was actually quite a simple task. However, advancing to the Ninth Leaf or Tenth Leaf was as difficult as ascending the heavens. This wasn’t something that could be achieved in a hurry.
A dozen or so years crept by. All of the academies had already arrived, and the commencement of the Thousand Academy Tournament was imminent.
News of You Yuan’s death had already spread to everyone, and this angered many people. Someone actually dared to kill a monarch star, which was an act equivalent to challenging the entire realm!
However, even after an Ancestral King personally joined the hunt, they still failed to capture those five audacious culprits. It was as if they had vanished from the face of the realm.
In fact, this even drew an announcement from a Heavenly Venerate. They issued a decree, ordering the arrest of the five people. However, this naturally couldn’t compare to Ling Han’s feat. At that time, almost all of the Heavenly Venerates had come together to order his arrest, dead or alive. Moreover, they had promised the successful cultivator a smooth journey to becoming an Eighteenth Lotus Ancestral King.
Because the Hundred Battles Academy hadn’t brought an extra member, they could only sign up for this compet.i.tion with nine people.
Fortunately, the Thousand Academy Tournament only had a rule for the maximum number of partic.i.p.ants, not the specific number. As such, they wouldn’t be prevented from joining the tournament even though they only had nine members. However, this put them at a clear disadvantage. After all, who would take fewer than 10 members? Moreover, representing an academy was also a glorious achievement, so who wouldn’t yearn to do so?
When the sign-up finished, the compet.i.tors for the 999 teams were all confirmed.
Apart from Huai Jian, the outstanding prodigies also included Chuan Tian, Qing Hua, Juan, Mo, and so on. They had all ranked within the top 10 in the previous tournament. Everyone was curious about whether they could dethrone Huai Jian from his peerless position this time. Or perhaps they would duke it out for second place.
Of course, there were also some new compet.i.tors who were clenching their fists and rubbing their hands. For example, Ling Han. Many prodigies were prepared to shoot to renown.
Under some waterfall, a demon youth was inhaling and exhaling the essence of heaven and earth. With each breath, the waterfall would also sway in unison as if being moved by a large hand. Looking closely, one would realize that this was no ordinary waterfall. Numerous celestial bodies dazzled within it.
This was called the Celestial Waterfall. It indeed contained countless celestial bodies, and its downstream was connected to the Ancient Realm of the Foreign Realm. Each drop of water that flowed out would transform into a star.
It was also because of this that the force of the Celestial Waterfall was terrifying. Even Ninth Lotus elites wouldn’t dare to stay under it for too long. Otherwise, their s.h.i.+elds would be annihilated by the eternal punishment of the waterfall, after which their bodies would be struck by millions upon billions of celestial bodies. They would be severely wounded.
If anyone witnessed this youth’s actions, they would definitely feel numb with shock. This was far too terrifying. Just his breathing alone was able to influence the movement of the Celestial Waterfall. Just how devastating was his power?
He suddenly stood up, with his eyes gazing at the distant sky. “The number one monarch star in this realm definitely isn’t you, Huai Jian. Instead, it’s me, Xu Xing!” As he said this, he beat his wings. Boom! The Celestial Waterfall instantly flowed backward.
***
Amid a vast sea, an unfathomably beautiful female angel stood with her feet bare. She held a glazed sword in her right hand, one that was still dripping with blood. Behind her was a fish that was as large as a mountain, with its belly upturned. Even though it was already dead, it still radiated with a petrifying
aura.
“It’s almost time to return,” the woman murmured to herself. With a slash, she sliced the void apart. She then strode inside, and it was as if she weren’t afraid of the void windstorms at all.
Meanwhile, her final murmur lightly swept over the vast sea. “Huai Jian, is it? It’s said that he was born with the fortune of heaven and earth. I wonder if he has the ability to rival me, Jing Zhongyue.”
***
On a primitive mountain, a Holy Beast was lying on the ground, with blood pooled around it. An insect suddenly flew out from its head, measuring only a measly three inches in length. An overwhelming and violent aura instantly surged into the surroundings, causing the nearby trees to instantly shrivel and wilt.
“Seven breaths,” the insect said in human tongue. “That’s one-tenth of a breath better than last time.”
It wore a proud expression. It had killed a Holy Beast at the First Leaf of the Ninth Lotus in just seven breaths. Could any other Eighth Lotus cultivator achieve such a feat?
“Thousand Academy Tournament… I, Xue Ge, will personally defeat Huai Jian!”
***
Ling Han and the others were woken early in the morning. Qi Shuang and Yuan were going to give them the final speech of encouragement.
“This time… You Yuan isn’t here. So, our goal is to maintain a rank inside the top 200. We’ll fight to enter the top 100,” Qi Shuang said loudly. “Is everyone confident?”
“Yes!” Wu Ya, Xun Feng, and the others shouted in reply.
Even though monarch stars possessed formidable battle prowess, this was still dependent on their cultivation level. For example, if Ling Han didn’t use his Divine Sword, which of them would be afraid of him? Moreover, strength was indeed important for the first round. However, one also couldn’t discount the importance of luck.
If a team were fortunate enough, entering the top 100 wouldn’t be too difficult.
Of course, if they entered the second round thanks to luck, they wouldn’t need to dream about progressing any further. Without the help of a monarch star, they would certainly lose in the first round of knock-out battles.
Yuan also gave some words of encouragement. The team then set off for the compet.i.tion grounds.
The 1000 teams gathered, and they were all composed of supreme prodigies. Almost everyone was a monarch tier. Only a small number of teams had emperor tier members, and this was only because they truly couldn’t find 10 emperor tiers in their academy. Thus, they could only make up the numbers with emperor tiers. Otherwise, it would be a waste of their team quota.
“I won’t ramble on about the rules. Killing people is forbidden, and drawing on any external power is also forbidden. Otherwise, a life will be paid with a life. Those who deserve to be disqualified will also be disqualified. Don’t harbor any thoughts of getting lucky.” These words were spoken by an Ancestral King at the Tenth Lotus. He was radiating with a mighty and dignified aura.
“Begin.” He waved his hand, not bothering to speak any more nonsense. In the eyes of Ancestral Kings, the cultivators here were as if nothing more than toddlers. Even though almost all of them would surpa.s.s him in the future, that would be a matter heaven knew how many years later.