AGM 563 – Floating Bridges
The eight absolute era-suppressing geniuses were undoubtedly the most dazzling among the various geniuses. The vast majority of the gazes were all riveted onto them.
Ji Feixue and Qin Wentian soared towards the stone pillars together. They were both acquainted and were members of the same sect. Naturally they would be closer compared to the other strangers. The two of them stood on stone pillars that were right next to each other.
Other than them, there were two other members, a man and a woman, of the Battle Sword Sect who also received the medallions.
These two of them were none other than the other personal disciples under the nine Sword Sovereigns. The icy-looking maiden stood underneath the sunlight, giving off a quiet and cold demeanor as though she was the goddess from the moon, untouchable. Qin Wentian stood on the left of Ji Feixue while she stood on the right.
“Lou Bingyu.” Qin Wentian noticed her because her master was none other than the Plum Mountain Sword Sovereigness. This maiden was none other than the Plum Mountain Sword Sovereigness’s favorite disciple, Lou Bingyu.
In the Immortal Martial Realm, treasures and divine weapons weren’t allowed. The Immortal Martial Realm was a separate dimension that was a world of its own, and it would reject external energies that didn’t have its mark on them. The Plum Mountain Sword Sovereigness, in order to allow Lou Bingyu to have a more powerful trump card allowing her to gain greater advantage compared to others in the Immortal Martial Realm, didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the Human Emperor’s precarious position, forcing him to dig into his own flesh to take out his treasure, before she gifted it to Lou Bingyu.
And now this treasure had already melded into Lou Bingyu’s flesh and become a part of her body. Qin Wentian silently mused, nothing of what he was thinking could be seen in his eyes. But ever since the Plum Mountain Sword Sovereigness did that to the Human Emperor Ye Qingyun, rivalry between Qin Wentian and Lou Bingyu was already destined. Although they were members of the same sect, they weren’t allies, but enemies.
Other than these eight era-suppressing geniuses, the spectators also silently studied the remaining medallion holders. Out of these eighty-one holders, the Nine Great Sects only made up of a third of the numbers. The others were from the other major powers in the Royal Sacred Region, numbering one or two at most.
Although there were some people similar to Qin Wentian whose faces and names weren’t known to all, the spectators didn’t question too much about Qin Wentian being among the eighty-one. After all, every time the deed of him slaying Ye Kongfan as well as Di Yu from the supreme Di Clan was mentioned, it wasn’t strange for him to be a holder of a medallion. Ye Kongfan was two levels higher compared to him, while slaying Di Yu infront of Di Shi showed that he was a spirited man filled with boldness.
The only thing that was a pity was that his cultivation level was indeed lower compared to the other geniuses. Although it was rumored that the true test in the Immortal Martial Realm would be set up in such a way that people of different level cultivation bases were able to compete fairly, there was no such thing as absolute fairness. At the very end, the participants had to depend on absolute strength to acquire what they desire.
This could said to be a magnificent feast that eliminated many.
“Immortal Martial Realm, activate!” the envoys standing on the top of the stone monument spoke. Instantly, huge rumbling sounds echoed out as the entrance of the incomparably vast Immortal Martial Realm pulled open. The gazes of countless people peered into it, wanting to see for themselves what exactly this separate world was.
They saw many floating islands with twisted roots and intertwined joints akin to floating cities . That shocking scene only required a single glance to remain unforgettable in this lifetime.
“Is that the eighty-one floating bridges of the Immortal Martial Realm?” Although many in the crowd had asked for details from those experts who had entered the Immortal Martial Realm before, truly seeing it with their own eyes were still an extremely shocking thing.
Although the eighty-one floating bridges were termed bridges, each and every one of them could be considered an individual world, a kind of tempering test.
This eighty-one floating bridges corresponded with the eighty-one medallion holders. It was precisely because of these floating bridges that the eighty-one medallions existed. The Immortal Martial Realm envoys chose eighty-one participants and didn’t wish for them to meet each other too early. Naturally, if the eighty-one selected individuals lost to some others on their own bridge, it could only be said that they were useless.
“The eighty-one of you listen up. Each of you will walk to one bridge, and every bridge will bring you a different encounter. As for the danger level, it’s the same no matter which bridge you take. Your destiny shall depend on yourself, and as for the others without a medallion, just go to whichever bridge you want to.” An envoy waved his hands and spoke. Instantly, the eighty-one selected individuals flickered as they entered the Immortal Martial Realm.
Qin Wentian and Ji Feixue advanced together side by side. In the instant they stepped into the Immortal Martial Realm, a formless heavenly might descended from the skies. The great dao had no form, yet the pressure from it would envelop all who stepped into the Immortal Martial Realm. The majority of the eighty-one individuals had no change to their countenance. Evidently, they had already roughly knew about the situation in here.
In addition, those eighty-one selected individuals all had extremely strong hearts and minds and were long prepared. With their capabilities, so what even if their cultivation realms were suppressed?
Characters that were Heaven Chosen didn’t merely depend on superiority of their cultivation bases. Regardless of combat strength, comprehension, strength of will, they were all much higher compared to ordinary people.
Qin Wentian roughly knew the happenings within. He had heard that entering the Immortal Realm meant stepping across one of the eighty-one floating bridges and was something that would never change, but the dangers and opportunities one faced would change. As for their suppressed cultivation base, it would slowly be unlocked sooner or later, and so what he had to do before the suppression was lifted was to use this pressure by the Immortal Martial Realm to constantly elevate his strength, fighting to raise his cultivation base up another level before the suppression was lifted.
Staring at the eighty-one floating bridges akin to heavenly palaces caused Qin Wentian to be thunderstruck. Each of the eighty-one bridges was like a world onto their own and would lead to different places with different dangerous tests and fortuitous encounters.
An intense killing intent landed onto Qin Wentian. Qin Wentian’s sharp perception naturally sensed it, these killing intents came from different places. Other than Di Shi, there were also those from the Violet Thunder Sect.
Qin Wentian didn’t glance at them; he would face these people sooner or later, but there were more immediate dangers waiting for him ahead. If he wished to walk all the way to the end, it wasn’t so simple as simply facing against Di Shi and those from the Violet Thunder Sect.
The silhouettes of the majority of the participants all flickered as they soared towards the different floating bridges.
“Junior brother Qin, choose a bridge first. One bridge, one world, we have to depend on our luck,” Ji Feixue spoke.
“Ji Feixue.” At this moment, a voice drifted over from Ji Feixue’s side, it was the voice of Lou Bingyu. Turning his gaze over, Ji Feixue stared at the quiet and cold countenance.
“My name shall be placed before yours in the ranking monument of the Immortal Martial Realm,” Lou Bingyu calmly stated. After which, her silhouette flashed as she soared towards one of the floating bridges.
“Good confidence,” Ji Feixue smiled before similarly flying towards one of the bridges.
Lou Bingyu didn’t even glance at Qin Wentian. Maybe she didn’t know of the relationship between Qin Wentian and the Human Emperor.
Turning his gaze towards the sky, Qin Wentian soared up, his movements akin to a gust of wind as he approached one of the empty floating bridges. As the holder of a medallion, he was the first to step upon this bridge. The other eighty geniuses had already chosen their own, this way it would ensure that these selected individuals wouldn’t cross each other’s path too early.
The floating bridge Qin Wentian was on was a lone existence, parallel to the other eighty bridges yet they each led to a different place. He stared at the many never seen before scenes ahead of him as he breathed deeply.
A bridge was a world of its own.
By this time, the other participants also entered the Immortal Martial Realm and were soaring towards the eighty-one floating bridges.
Despite the fact that there were eighty-one bridges, the number of participants was simply too high. There were thousands of participants entering each of the eighty-one bridges.
Qin Wentian slowly walked out on the bridge he had chosen, his steps slow and steady.
The Immortal Martial Realm was considered a sacred place in the Royal Sacred Region. He had to grab hold of this opportunity to increase his strength.
“Halt!”
From behind, a thunderous voice roared. It was none other than a participant who came to the bridge he had chosen, the second person to set foot on the bridge. Evidently, the participant chose this bridge because he saw Qin Wentian choosing it.
The eighty-one selected individuals were all Heaven Chosen. Although Qin Wentian had an exemplary battle achievement record, the threat he posed was much less compared to the others.
At least, this was what Shi Kuang from the Heaven Crippling sect felt. He was the one that roared for Qin Wentian to stop.
Qin Wentian paused, turning back and saw Shi Kuang on the bridge as well. Behind Shi Kuang, sounds of a large approaching army drew closer and closer.
Qin Wentian didn’t say anything, he merely continue staring at Shi Kuang. Looking at that deep and clear eyes of Qin Wentian, Shi Kuang’s heart involuntarily bloomed with panic. This sort of feeling was extremely fatal, especially in the Immortal Martial Realm. How could fear appear in his heart just because of a glance from a single person?
“Although you are a holder of the Immortal Martial Medallion, why don’t you wait for more people before proceeding across the bridge together?” Shi Kuang controlled his emotions, yet he didn’t dare to say anything impolite. It was as though he feared that calm gaze of Qin Wentian. Shi Kuang could feel that within that calmness, there was a terrifying unruly wildness that could erupt at the slightest provocation.
“Wentian.” Ye Lingshuang also arrived at this bridge. After seeing Qin Wentian, her silhouette flickered as she appeared next to Qin Wentian. After which, Fan Le and the others appeared. They naturally would choose to walk the same path as Qin Wentian, hence all of them came to this floating bridge.
Only then did Qin Wentian retract the gaze he stared at Shi Kuang with. He glanced towards Ye Lingshuang and smiled, “Sister Lingshuang, let’s proceed together.”
The number of people on the floating bridges increased to the point where this space seemed to be unable to contain them all. Qin Wentian and his friends proceeded ahead with trepidation and caution.
In this world of the floating bridges, there were ancient trees that reached high up to the skies, and so many ancient buildings and constructs. But regardless of how magnificent the scenery and landscape was, there was only one path ahead of them that stretched out continuously with seemingly no end to it.
The participants behind all started to form alliances, and many of them were from the same sect, choosing to band together and hence all of them went up to the same floating bridge. This way, they would have more leverage to protect themselves should danger arise.
Shi Kuang and a few other members from the Heaven Crippling Sect all banded together in an alliance. This was the same for the other members, including those from the Nine Great Sects.
Duan Han didn’t chose this floating bridge; he was very clear of Qin Wentian’s combat strength. Since everyone’s cultivation bases were already suppressed, there was no worries if he left Qin Wentian to lead here on this floating bridge. He brought a few other members along as they entered another bridge. The other participants who were members of the Battle Sword Sect didn’t have that much trust in Qin Wentian compared to Duan Han. Hence, they formed into their own groups, with none joining Qin Wentian’s alliance.