Chapter 584: First and the Last
Translator: Lordbluefire Editor: Lordbluefire
Although Mo Qingcheng didn’t enter the Immortal Martial Realm, her heart had been knotted with anxiousness ever since Qin Wentian entered. Usually there wouldn’t be any expression on her emotionless face, but right now faint traces of worry were evident over at the center of her brow. When she saw Qin Wentian’s name appear on the ranking monument, her tightly clenched fists finally relaxed, revealing palms filled with the cold perspiration of sweat.
The maidens of the Medicine Sovereign Valley also noted the appearance of Qin Wentian’s name. Their eyes flashed with a bright glow as their impression of Qin Wentian increased. It seemed the companion Mo Qingcheng had chosen really wasn’t bad, able to be ranked on the monument. However, they wondered if he would be strong enough to rank within the top thirty.
They glanced at Mo Qingcheng and upon seeing how her happiness formed a corona of radiance around her, the hearts of the maidens all trembled. Such a smile, pure and flawless, so beautiful that it engendered jealousy. They all sighed in their hearts, the love their Holy Maiden had for this man was simply too deep. They couldn’t tell whether was this a good or a bad thing.
As the Holy Maiden of the Medicine Sovereign Valley, Mo Qingcheng’s countenance could even shock the heavens. Naturally there would be many people paying attention to her, especially men from the younger generation. Their gazes would frequently shift in her direction and right now, they were all struck dumb by the sheer beauty of Mo Qingcheng’s smile. After which, they promptly turned their gazes back to the stone monument. Which name was it that had the power to cause such a beautiful smile to appear on the Holy Maiden’s face?
Thinking of this, a faint jealousy appeared in their hearts. If the Holy Maiden of the Medicine Sovereign Valley could smile at them like that, even if they had to give up everything in return, they would have no more regrets in this lifetime.
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Those currently in the Immortal Martial Realm had no idea of what was happening outside. After Qin Wentian and his group had their names engraved onto the same stone monument, they continued on ahead. The monuments exuded a mysterious energy and they could now choose any of them and attempt to communicate with their wills.
Qin Wentian walked to the ancient monuments situated in the first row. These stone monuments radiated scintillating golden light, and emitted a wild and lofty aura which attracted him. This was also the reason why he chose to connect with one of these monuments.
As his perception sank into the stone monument, the golden light radiating from it intensified. Qin Wentian’s mind connected completely with it, and then he appeared in another space within this stone monument.
In this vast space, streams of golden light shone in the sky, illuminating the entire area. These streams of golden light seemed to be formed from runes. Countless numbers of these golden runes had congregated together to form a sentence of ancient words. Words that were so powerful that they shocked the heavens as they hung suspended in the air emitting resplendent light.
Qin Wentian inclined his head back, staring up at the golden runes in the sky. Those resplendent golden symbols trembled slightly, transforming as a long whistling sound echoed in the air. A silhouette in the form of a gigantic golden great roc took shape. It spat out a beam of runic light which enveloped Qin Wentian completely.
The runes directly shot into Qin Wentian’s body and instantly his entire body turned golden as if he was forged from pure gold. A long screech issued from his mouth and as he waved his arms, a gust of wind was actually generated. He discovered that he no longer had arms, he had wings instead. He had transformed into a great golden roc.
The will of the ancient monument assimilated into his body. Right now he was the purest golden-winged roc. He stared at the ancient words in the air, and they imprinted themselves into his brain, transforming into image after image of the golden-winged roc cultivating. Qin Wentian also followed what was shown, cultivating while in the form of that golden-winged great roc. The golden luster of his body grew increasingly resplendent, his wings gradually lengthened, and his talons became even sharper.
RUMBLE!
A thunderous sound echoed out after a while, and an azure dragon appeared in Qin Wentian’s space. This azure dragon was extremely terrifying, glaring at Qin Wentian with its large eyes.
“The Heaven Chosen of the Divine Dragon Castle, Hei Yan.” The experts on the floating bridges saw two of the stone monuments joining together as two linked-images manifested in the middle of the air. This was none other than a projection cast by the respective stone monuments.
“Hei Yan is the first expert that entered the stone monument of others. The first person he sought out is Qin Wentian, a disciple of the Battle Sword Sect. The Qin Wentian who sent Li Hanyou of the Li Clan flying with a single smack to the face.”
“Hei Yan is a Heaven Chosen of the Divine Dragon Castle, his control over that demonic dragon should be very strong. I’m afraid Qin Wentian has already come to the end of his path,” the crowd mused. The saucer-like eyes of that demonic dragon stared at the golden-winged roc that Qin Wentian had transformed into. A cold laughter flickered within its eyes. Since this was the first time he was attacking, it was obvious that a not so dazzling character would be targeted. Thus, he chose Qin Wentian as his target and directly launched his attack.
The demon dragon spiralled through the air, lunging towards the golden-winged roc. The thick and powerful claws of the dragon directly lunged towards the great roc.
Qin Wentian’s cold eyes were staring at his opponent. Golden light flashed as his own sharp talons similarly reached out towards his opponent. In the clash between the azure dragon and the golden roc, the azure dragon undoubtedly possessed an advantage when it came to strength. The impact directly forced the great roc back.
Qin Wentian’s countenance didn’t change. His eyes shifted to the air, staring at the ancient words while silently cursing this idiot of an azure dragon.
Seeing Qin Wentian ignoring him, Hei Yan’s saucer-like eyes flashed with a malevolent light. He roared in rage, “This first battle shall be your doomsday. Get the fuck out, you don’t belong here!”
As he spoke, the demonic dragon lunged out towards Qin Wentian once more. Qin Wentian’s wings flickered, transforming into a stream of golden light as he soared upwards, choosing not to enter a direct clash with his opponent. His eyes were still staring at the ancient words in the air; he wanted to comprehend more of the golden runes. Gradually, the golden luster on the golden-winged roc grew increasingly brighter and even the edge of his wings were emanating a terrifyingly sharp aura.
“ROAR!”
The demonic dragon howled, Hei Yan naturally understood he couldn’t allow Qin Wentian to comprehend the runes. He had to kill Qin Wentian in the shortest amount of time, using the quickest attack. Only then would he be able to walk further than others on this path.
Hence, the scene of a pursuit appeared on the images in the air. The golden-winged great roc was injured after a few clashes and Qin Wentian, who was standing before the stone monument in reality, let out a few miserable groans. After yet another clash, Qin Wentian was injured to the extent of coughing out blood.
But, the eyes of the golden-winged roc in the image were actually shining. The golden radiance from it illuminated the sky, causing a strange glow to flash through Hei Yan’s eyes. He started to feel pressure, but right now if he abandoned attacking to comprehend the runes, he would definitely lag behind Qin Wentian. Hence, he could only continue to attack Qin Wentian with full force.
At this moment, not only was Hei Yan in combat with Qin Wentian, several images of other ancient stone monuments appeared in the air. This made those spectators on the floating bridges understand that for this test, it was one on one battles.
There weren’t really a lot of people watching Qin Wentian’s battle. The battles of the eight era-suppressing geniuses were what truly drew the attention of the crowd. For example, Gu Liufeng, the stone monument he chose had caused his body to be enveloped in a silvery white armor. With the Shooting-Sun Bow in his hand, he looked extremely handsome, confident, and at ease, with an uninhibited bearing.
Gu Liufeng’s opponent was a Heaven Chosen from the Qinghua Mountain Sect, one of the Nine Great Sects in the Royal Sacred Region. This opponent was naturally chosen by Gu Liufeng, who would even dare to choose him as an opponent?
Bright light flashed from the bow in his hand, the rune light sparkled as a faint shadow projected out from his weapon. With the twanging of his bowstring, the sound of his arrow whistling through space could be heard. The fired arrow was as beautiful and as fast as a shooting star.
Puchi...
A crisp sound echoed out in that manifested image, the Heaven Chosen from the Qinghua Mountain Sect had a hole pierced through the center of his brow. The stone monument which was in front of him fell into darkness. That Heaven Chosen’s eyes snapped open, he turned and glanced at Gu Liufeng, his eyes containing a bleak desolateness to them. The sound of a cry echoed out as that Heaven Chosen consecutively vomited out fresh blood several times, before turning and leaving the area.
Gu Liufeng similarly opened his eyes. He stepped forth and continued heading forward, coming to a halt in front of another stone monument. His perception drifted into the chosen stone monument as he started cultivating once more.
“I finally understand the rules,” Fan Le murmured from on the floating bridge. “Sinking one’s perception into the stone monument to cultivate the energy in each stone monument. When they are in that space, they can only use the art of the stone monument they cultivated for combat and have no way to use any of their own innate techniques. This way, the starting point of everyone is the same.”
“That’s right! Only after defeating an opponent would one be eligible to choose the second stone monument. Gu Liufeng must have already fully comprehended the technique in his first chosen stone monument, resulting in him defeating an opponent and subsequently choosing a second monument and cultivating a second technique within. This will undoubtedly grant him a key advantage.” The eyes of Ouyang Kuangsheng gleamed sharply. If Gu Liufeng also finished comprehending the power from the second monument, and fought with another opponent, it would definitely be effortless, the distance between him and the slower ones would only be pulled further and further apart.
“The stronger one is, the further he can walk on this path, up until the point where he has left all the others behind and becoming the only one remaining.” Ye Lingshuang’s eyes flashed with a bright glow as she stared in the direction of Qin Wentian nervously.
Hei Yan was still unceasingly attacking Qin Wentian, but now he was already unable to threaten Qin Wentian. The golden-winged great roc was getting stronger and stronger.
“He’s going to counterattack.” Qin Zheng spoke. After which, the others only saw the golden-winged roc which Qin Wentian transformed to spreading its wings and soaring through the sky. The golden light lit up the entire sky as the golden feathers shone with resplendent runic light. His wings tore space as he flew downwards like a mad cyclone, and instantly appeared below Hei Yan. An instant later, the demonic azure dragon which Hei Yan transformed into was cleanly severed, forcibly chopped into two pieces.
Pu!
Hei Yan spat out blood onto his monument as the light from it dimmed and faded away. He opened his eyes and stared in the direction of Qin Wentian, his countenance growing incredibly unsightly.
Qin Wentian’s eyes were still closed, his perception immersed in his own stone monument. There were many also like him, acting extremely cautiously and weren’t willing to fight, choosing to keep a low profile instead. Nevertheless, as time flowed by, the number of participants advancing to a new monument only increased.
In the blink of an eye three days had passed. The number of participants from the original seventy-plus dwindled down to only thirty-six.
Gu Liufeng had already consecutively defeated three opponents and was now at his fourth monument. Right now, he was the only one who had advanced to the fourth row of monuments. The spectators all had looks of awe on their faces. This Gu Liufeng was too awesome; every time he gained a rough comprehension of the power within, he would choose an opponent to fight against before winning and advancing to the next row of monuments.
In addition, the spectators also discovered that stronger ones were like Gu Liufeng, constantly seeking combat. For geniuses at the peak like them, there was no way they would slow down and wait for others.
All the geniuses started this test at the same time, and this was an absolutely fair setting. Who could they blame if they lagged behind and were defeated?!
Three days later, the spectators also discovered a strange scene. Qin Wentian was actually still at the first row of stone monuments. This caused many to have strange expressions on their faces. Right now, truly, there was no one who didn’t know of the name ‘Qin Wentian.’
Gu Liufeng, was the number one while Qin Wentian was ranked the last!