As the start of the Top-100-talent Competition was getting closer, the entire Hong Domain was in a frenzy.
Apart from the hundreds of sects of varying capacities, tens of thousands of martial artists were also rushing toward the Holy City of Top 100 in the Great Hong Empire.
Some powerful sects were extremely concerned about the List of Top 100 Talents this time. So many geniuses had appeared in the Hong Domain in the past few years, making this Top-100-talent Competition, the grandest one in several hundred years. It was likely that the Firmament Divine Realm could be open this time.
Firmament Divine Realm that originated from the ancient time, was one of the most powerful and ancient places of inheritance in the Firmament and Continent.
It could be said that the development of martial arts on the East Continent since countless years ago had depended greatly on the Firmament Divine Realm.
The Firmament Divine Realm was connected to more than a hundred domains in the East Continent, and every domain had a chance to open it in its Top-100-talent Competition and inherit the ancient martial arts within.
Some powerful domains were able to enter the Firmament Divine Realm almost every competition.
However, Hong Domain was so weak that it had not opened the Firmament Divine Realm in the past thousand years. Being unable to inherit the ancient martial arts within resulted in the downfall of Hong Domain, increasing the gap between Hong Domain and the other domains.
After eight days of traveling, Su Mo rode the Iron-feathered Hawk across almost half of the Great Hong Empire before finally reaching the Holy City of Top 100.
The city was built amidst a stretch of Barbaric Mountains. Su Mo could feel an air of ancientness and vicissitude before he was even close.
After entering the Barbaric Mountains, he saw more martial artists. Some were in groups and some were alone. They were all heading for the Holy City of Top 100.
In the center of the Barbaric Mountains, amidst hundreds of sky-breaking mountain peaks, was an ancient and gigantic city that lay on the ground like an ancient beast.
That was the Holy City of Top 100 which would be hosting the Top-100-talent Competition.
The city had stood erect here for countless years. Some said that it dated back to the post-archean era, others claimed that it came from the ancient era. However, its true origin and history were no longer in the record.
This city only had one gate, the South City Gate, which was on a vast plain.
At this moment, there were more than 100,000 martial artists gathering on the plain. One could not even see the end of the crowd.
All sorts of noises and Genuine Vitality gathered into a mighty air blast and soared into the sky.
Su Mo gasped after glancing around. Almost 90% of the martial artists here were in the True Spirit Realm and there were hardly any in the Spiritual Martial Realm. A dozen of them even had auras that felt as heavy as a mountain, and they were obviously beyond the True Spirit Realm.
Su Mo released the Iron-feathered Hawk and flew to the plain. He looked around and soon found the Gale Island crowd on a small hill.
Apart from Su Mo and Duan Jingtian, only five other core disciples had received the rights to participate in the competition. However, there were many people that came along.
All the core disciples were here. In addition, the First, Second, and Third Elder, Elder Wei, Wang Hui and 20 other elders were all present.
However, Su Mo did not see Duan Jingtian, who had yet to arrive.
Swoosh!
Su Mo flew toward them and then descended on the hill.
“Junior Brother Su Mo!”
“Su Mo!”
Wang Hui, Elder Wei, the Second Elder and those in the same faction were delighted to see Su Mo.
“Su Mo, you’ve reached Peak Lv 3 True Spirit Realm?” Elder Wei glanced at Su Mo before asking in surprise.
Some of the other disciples were awestruck as well.
“Su Mo’s speed of cultivating is ridiculous!”
“Yes!” Su Mo nodded. He was actually at Lv 4, but he had concealed his cultivation by 1 Lv with Triple Breathing Techniques. To the others, his cultivation only appeared to be at Peak Lv 3.
“Haha! Great! With your improvement, your chance in the competition will be even greater!” Elder Wei laughed and said.
Meanwhile, the people who sided with the island owner, including the First and Third Elder, were looking unhappy.
“Su Mo, even if you have reached Lv 3, you only have a faint chance of entering the list!” the First Elder sneered and continued, “there are too many geniuses this time around, and many of them are at Lv 4 True Spirit Realm. Take a look at that guy.”
Su Mo looked toward where the First Elder had pointed and saw a purple-robed young man meditating.
“That’s Luo Ning, who ranked 41th previously. He’s reached the Peak Lv 4 already!” the First Elder said.
Su Mo smiled indifferently. He was extremely confident in his strength.
He then sat down and started cultivating since there were still three days left before the competition started.
Su Mo’s strength had truly rocketed recently. He had reached Lv 4, achieved the Great Completion for Infinite Sword Art, and gotten extremely close to the Grand Completion of Wind sword will.
Of course, during the eight days of traveling, he did not leave Nirvana Cultivation Method behind as well and reached the limit for the Third Realm.
He was determined to hit the fourth realm within three days in order to form the overpowering Nirvana Sword Qi. Once that was done, Su Mo was confident that he could enter top 10, or even win the first place in the competition.
Time flew by as Su Mo was cultivating. After a day, Duan Jingtian had arrived.
Duan Jingtian glanced at Su Mo before a chilling flash appeared in his eyes.
In the following days, massive numbers of martial artists came. The entire plain was almost crowded.
“Look, it’s Han Yijian who was ranked 53th previously. His Deadly Swordplay is extremely lethal.”
“Jia Yuanji at the 49th position is also here.”
Su Mo ignored the discussions around him. His Nirvana Cultivation Method had been in the fourth realm and he was trying his best to form Nirvana Sword Qi.
Nirvana Sword Qi was formed from the Nirvana Qi contained within Nirvana Genuine Vitality.
The first three realms of Nirvana Cultivation Method were just the simple basics. From the fourth realm onward, it would become harder to cultivate, but its true strength would start to show as well.
At the fourth realm, a stream of Nirvana Sword Qi could be formed in the Spiritual Spiral. But since Su Mo had nine Spiritual Spirals, he could form nine streams of Nirvana Sword Qi.
Whoosh!!!
A massive wave of fire approached from the horizon in the distance.
A group of dozens of experts came from the sky. All of them displayed massive fire auras, and some were even covered in flames.
“It’s Firecloud Mountain!”
“Look, that’s the Prince of Flaming Cloud—Huo Ling!”
There was an instant outburst on the plain as cries of astonishment were heard everywhere.
Firecloud Mountain was one of the seven superpowers in Hong Domain. With dozens of experts in the Enlightenment Realm, it was a formidable sect.
The seven superpowers in Hong Domain, excluding Firecloud Mountain, were Heaven Sect, the imperial family of Great Hong Empire, Icynorth Sect, Cold-blood Hall, Divine Sword Sect, and the Duanmus.
Su Mo could not help but glance toward them when he heard the noise.
There was a burly young man with crimson hair and brows in the Firecloud Mountain group. Everything on him was bright red except his eyeballs.
His aura was like a pulsating volcano. It was likely that the weaker martial artists in the True Spirit Realm could not even get close to him.
“This man is the Prince of Flaming Cloud?” Su Mo squinted his eyes at him. He had definitely cultivated skills of the Fire System, just like Jin Yang from the Scorching Sun Sect.
However, he was much stronger than Jin Yang.