Among the over 100 towns in Cloud Margin City's territory, 10 stood above all others. These were also the top 10 towns during the previous Battle of Towns. They were respectively Cloud Dragon Town's Cloud Dragon Pavilion, Cloud Tiger Town's Cloud Tiger Palace, Vortex Town's Divine Wind Academy, True Martial Town's True Martial Pavilion, Sea Serpent Town's Sea Tundra Academy, Jadewater Town's Jadewater Hall, Blackhill Town's Blackhill Sect, Yellow House Town's Yellow House Academy, Justice Town's Justice Hall, and Jade Mountain Town's Jade Mountain Academy.
The 10 academies of these 10 towns were the strongest powers in Cloud Margin City. That was especially true for the academies with higher rankings that always had King Realm cultivators in their academies.
Because of that, the disciples of these academies were also much stronger than the disciples of other academies. It was not hard for them to get into the top 10 during each Battle of Towns.
After the conflict between the Martial Hall Palace and Gateflag Academy, they docked separately instead of working together like they had agreed on earlier. The young disciples were extremely excited and kept looking around after disembarking the ship, trying to find out what kind of opponents they were going to face.
"Boss, there are so many people here! There are a lot of beauties as well!" Xia Liuhui kept looking around and cried out when he saw the pretty girls everywhere.
"Stop embarrassing yourself," Xiang Shaoyun said with contempt.
"Xia Liuhui, don't lead Shaoyun astray. He is not a pervert like you," Lu Xiaoqing said.
Ever since Xiang Shaoyun had further showed his strength, Lu Xiaoqing had been sticking to him all the time, afraid that other women would approach him. There were a few times where Gong Qinyin wanted to have a chat with Xiang Shaoyun. But when she saw Lu Xiaoqing sticking to him, she decided against it.
"Yes, sister-in-law. My boss is indeed a gentleman. It was my fault," Xia Liuhui said, quickly slapping his face.
Inwardly, he was thinking something entirely different, If even my boss is a gentleman, nobody else is a gentleman.
The Martial Hall Palace picked an empty spot and set up camp. When they were done, Tan Guanghua said, "The competition will start in three days. Just stay here during this period and don't go anywhere. Also remember to not create trouble."
Then, he told them more about the situation in the Golden River Valley and told them the various rules of the competition. He had already told them all that on their way here, but this time, he was merely reminding them. He also made it clear that Mo Zhu would be their leader during the competition. Many disciples were dissatisfied as they felt that Tan Guanghua was being partial here.
Mo Zhu, being an honorable person, stepped forth and asked, "Vice palace master, is this proper?"
He then looked at Xiang Shaoyun, his meaning clear.
"Hehe, I am gratified that you can say that. Don't worry. I have a different arrangement for Xiang Shaoyun. Alright, you may all leave now," Tan Guanghua said with a smile.
After everyone left, Tan Guanghua looked at Xiang Shaoyun and asked, "Do you share their thoughts?"
He was trying to ask if Xiang Shaoyun also thought he was being partial.
Xiang Shaoyun smiled and replied, "I understand the vice palace master did that for my sake."
"Oh? Tell me more," Tan Guanghua said, his interest piqued. He had heard many rumors about Xiang Shaoyun, but he had always believed that the rumors were exaggerations and had never thought much about it. But after the conflict with Gateflag Academy, he was looking at Xiang Shaoyun in a new light.
"You just want me to keep being the dark horse, right?" Xiang Shaoyun went straight to the point.
"Looks like your accomplishments have not been due to luck. You have a sharp mind as well," Tan Guanghua nodded praisingly before he continued, "That's right. You will be our super dark horse. I want you to help the Martial Hall Palace reach the top 10. Are you confident you can do that?"
"Hehe, I'll just do my best." Xiang Shaoyun did not make any promises. He did not know the strength of his competitors. Thus, he wouldn’t make any blind promises.
"You are a slippery one, aren't you? If you can enter the top 10, you will be rewarded by the Cloud Margin City. The rich rewards will help you easily reach the Transformation Realm. So long as you can enter the top 10 individually and our other disciples work harder, the Martial Palace Hall might be able to place top 10 overall as well," Tan Guanghua said.
"Um. I'll try my best," Xiang Shaoyun was still unmoved.
Seeing how Xiang Shaoyun was behaving, Tan Guanghua was forced to pull out his trump card, "If you can enter the top 10, I will also reward you with a tier-4 battle technique! Bear in mind, that is a true king-grade technique!"
Such an attractive offer was sufficient to drive many disciples mad. But who was Xiang Shaoyun? For him, king-grade techniques were no different than common vegetables. Would he need a reward like that at all?
"Alright. How about this? If I can get top 10, just give me an additional 100 mid-grade spirit crystals. That's all," Xiang Shaoyun did not want to drag the negotiation on so he made a random request. No matter what, he was a member of the Martial Hall Palace. It was reasonable to expect him to fight for their glory. In any case, he was not worried that his identity would be revealed in a competition at a small city like this.
More importantly, this place was very far from where he came from, and this territory belonged to an opposing power of his previous sect. Thus, it wouldn't be easy for them to find him here. That was why he had the confidence to keep his identity hidden.
"A hundred mid-grade spirit crystals? That won't be easy to gather, but 1,000 low-grade spirit crystals won't be a problem. Alright, I agree," Tan Guanghua said. He paused slightly before continuing, "This Golden River Valley used to belong to an organization attached to the Cloud Margin City. Although it has been destroyed for many years, there might still be some opportunities waiting for you inside. Be on the lookout for those opportunities."
Meanwhile, Luo Lin and the few Gateflag Academy elders were in a meeting.
"Do you have a way of killing that kid?" Luo Lin asked. Others might not know who “that kid” referred to, but the people here knew clearly.
One of them answered, "That kid is the treasure of Martial Hall Palace. If we touch him, I'm afraid an actual war will break out between us."
"I'm not saying we kill him. I'm saying we make an accident happen. If we allow that kid to grow, our Gateflag Academy will forever be unable to raise our head before them," Luo Lin said.
"Vice principal, an old friend of mine is an elder at the Blackhill Sect. He's here as well. If I get him to tell his disciples to pay special attention to the Martial Hall Palace, I doubt they will mind doing us this favor," said another elder.
"Yes, that is a good idea. The Blackhill Sect is also a top 10 academy. Their disciples should be enough to kill that kid," Luo Lin said joyfully. He then added, "Remind our disciples to help the Blackhill Sect disciples if needed. It would be even better if we can slaughter all the Martial Hall Palace disciples in the Golden River Valley."