More than 100,000 geniuses gathered at the imperial palace. Devilish monsters appeared each day so the competition was fierce and ladened with difficulties.
These geniuses would become the topics of discussion, and the demonic successor was one of them.
However, the majority only talked about the gambling hall and didn’t think that highly of his battle power. He was only among the mid-level.
The hottest characters were still Li Xiaonan, Beiming Potian, Dongfang Jingshui, and Prince Hongye. After all, they were historical geniuses, standing at the very top.
Of course, plenty of them tied to steal the two garments from Nangong Hongyan but failed after several attempts. She then disappeared from the capital completely. As long as she had the cloak, no one could find her unless she wished so.
***
The spirit stone hall of the Divine River Guard looked abandoned. Inside were several broken walls, more than ten meters tall. The workers there walked into this courtyard and instantly disappeared from sight. It was as if there was an invisible barrier taking them in.
In the last few days, more and more workers appeared. Some had unfamiliar faces, clearly new recruits.
Suddenly, a black glow flashed inside these broken walls. A youth stood there proudly, cloaked in black. His features were well-defined - brows as sharp as a sword. He stood there with a cold yet warm expression.
“Finally made it to the fourth level after nine days. Give me a sword!” Feiyun shouted.
A black sword with strands of blood circling around the edge flew out from one of the houses. It emitted a terrible power - a murderous tool that devours blood.
Feiyun created a palm to capture the sword. It struggled like a wild and disobedient dragon.
He forcefully subdued it and grabbed the hilt before slashing towards the house.
A plume of flame consisting of dozens of firebirds flew out. They looked quite real, more than ten meters long with a long beak as red as a sword. Its claws were as long as spears. The thing was completely covered in scales, blood-red feathers, and a fiery glow.
They were condensed from sword energy and carried a demonic aura like awakening ancient beasts crossing through the sky.
“Boom!” An old man rushed out of the house. His weapon was a treasure bottle. His long, white beard resembled steel strings. The bottle grew to a hundred meter tall, looking like a golden pagoda.
The sword energy slammed into the bottle and exploded.
The old man’s hair flew everywhere from the shockwave. He grabbed the bottle forced back to its initial size then kneeled: “Congratulation, Divine King. Your cultivation has improved.”
“Elder Mo, rise.” Feiyun ordered.
He was in charge of weaponry for Divine River and had prepared this sword, a first-level spirit treasure, for Feiyun. The workers only gave the battle exchange a quick glance before returning to their task.
Feiyun successfully refined two core pills to reach the fourth level, increasing his spirit energy by a large margin. He was a sleeping dragon. When the right opportunity presented itself, he would soar to the sky.
‘It’s a shame that Myriad Beast Physique hasn’t reached completion yet.’ He tried to cultivate the art again and refined 9,998 beast souls. Alas, this became another bottleneck.
Myriad was a limiting number. For example, kings all wanted to rule for ten thousand years. There were plenty of proverbs and lines using this particular number in literature due to its symbolism.
“Must I cultivate the first phoenix bone before finishing his physique?”
Feiyun’s Immortal Phoenix Physique had two stages. He finished the blood transformation stage but the bone refinement had no result. After all, he had the body of a human, so the difficulty became a hundred times harder than before.
Moreover, the very first bone would act as the heart too. A human’s heart was made of flesh, so how could he turn it into a bone?
“There’s a problem! A big one!” Ningshuai suddenly ran into the spirit stone hall, wearing red trousers, straw shoes, and a big Buddhist hat.
Feiyun asked: “What’s wrong?”
The guy struggled for breath and was happy to see Feiyun: “You’re finally out.”
“What’s happening?”
“After the first round, the one hundred best prodigies became known. The Crown Prince invited them to Supreme Beauty for a feast, acting as the princess’ older brother.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Of course it is fine to have a party, but during the party, people made it hard for Miss Nangong. One said that she had killed his Senior Uncle and stole as spirit treasure. Next, another guy said that she had stolen his clan’s supreme treasure.”
“What a joke, they just want to steal her two garments so they came up with these excuses and crimes. If she really wants something, she just needs to raise her hand and someone will bring it to her.”
“Well yeah, but the guys wouldn’t give up. They couldn’t find Miss Nangong so they decided to capture Xue Wu and Yu Chan in order to force her out. That’s why I’m here to get some backup. If you still haven’t come out, I would have asked several seniors from Divine River to come help.”
Feiyun noticed a red badge hanging on Ningshuai’s waist and became surprised: “You also got through?”
“Obviously, how would I be at that party if I didn’t?” Ningshuai proudly said.
Feiyun grabbed the badge and saw Ningshuai’s name on it, realizing that it wasn’t stolen. This thief was hiding his skills.
“Your Big Bro was able to get through it thanks to your two core pills, allowing me to get to the next level. I was so damn cool on stage, so many girls became my fans… Hey, wait, I’m not finished! Where are you going?” He shouted at the end.
“Supreme Beauty.” Feiyun put on his hat again and started walking in the air while holding his black sword.
“They’re very unreasonable, you don’t want to bring more people?” Ningshuai also put on his hat and gave chase.
***
Supreme Beauty was filled today with many cultivators, mostly female - an unprecedented scene.
It’s just that the place had the top prodigies present. They would go on to become overlords later on. After a hundred years, they would become the leaders, perhaps even an emperor of a dynasty.
This was an apex gathering, unprecedented and might never happen again.
The crowd suddenly became loud: “The demonic successor and Big-head Buddha are here together.”
Ten or so of these prodigies had mysterious backgrounds, such as these two. Though people could recognize their techniques, their true identity was questionable.
The demonic successor and the demonic being behind him instilled great pressure on the clans. This demonic being was on the same level as the ten greatest masters in the contemporary.
More than half of these masters have not shown up for a thousand years or so. Perhaps some have left Jin or died in the wilderness. A few focused on cultivation, rarely showing up in public.
If one were to redo the list, the demonic being would certainly be part of it. Thus, with such a monstrous backer, this successor could do whatever he wanted.
The battle in the underground gambling hall showed off his camp’s power even more - completely unstoppable.
Many girls screamed like crazy after seeing these two. Alas, they could only watch from the distance.
“Big-head Buddha is so mysterious. Don’t underestimate him because he’s short with tanned skin, he has a Dominating Armament so no one can touch him.”
“When he was fighting against a young king, he used this one star-shifting technique, teleporting his opponent outside of the stage. A senior said that this technique is from the Dao Scripture. Two thousand years ago, the eighth volume of this scripture was stolen, so this technique was lost.”
“Dao Scripture, Grave Palace Treasure-seeking Record, and Golden Silk Scripture are the three sacred canons of Jin, the most profound arts available. I wonder if this Buddha has the eighth volume right now.”
Not only were the cultivators outside moved, but the geniuses inside Supreme Beauty became ready too. Their battle intents surged as some of them looked down the balcony to see the duo.