Since Inquisitive Sky Hall Master was not too willing to tell the other four teachers of the convention, Xue Ying would naturally not oppose him.
Even though there were rumors about this, firstly, rumors were rumors and would only be temporary and secondly, it was the minority who felt that Xue Ying’s decision of selecting Xing Huo Xun Yi was unfair!
The talented cultivators who participated in the convention would usually be concerned about this and would tend to collect information about it. They would understand that Xing Huo Xun Yi was the son of ‘Monarch Xing Huo’, and had cultivated for more than 500 billion years. He was merely ranked at about 3,600th, and they would feel that it wasn’t fair… there were also some of the higher-ups from the six great holy grounds who were concerned about this convention who would try to understand the matter.
But many ordinary cultivators did not have a detailed intelligence of Xing Huo Xun Yi. They even thought that ‘Xing Huo Xun Yi’ was a loose cultivator!
As a result, it was only the minority who felt that what Xue Ying did was ugly. Primarily, they were just a small part of the talented cultivators as well as members of the six great holy grounds.
…
After the 200 cultivators were selected from the Star Pagoda selection and by the teachers of the convention, they would be qualified to enter the ‘Time Pagoda’ of Blade Emperor City to undergo training at a hundred-times time-accelerated environment. In reality, it would be a total of one million years of cultivation period. Furthermore, they could read many books at any time–these books were some of the more fundamental ones provided by the six great holy grounds.
Since these 200 cultivators would eventually enter the six great holy grounds, they were still willing to share some fundamental cultivation scriptures.
Other than that, the holy grounds would also provide precious materials.
Cultivating for a million years with many books and teachers to ask for help… this period was a dream come true for many loose cultivators. These loose cultivators would usually have to risk their lives and depend on luck to even get an absolute formidable art! But now, a large number of absolute arts were placed in front of them.
Xing Huo Xun Yi also had to obediently follow the rules. He would similarly be cultivating under a hundred-times time-accelerated environment along with the other selected cultivators.
******
Ont his day.
Xue Ying watched as the sun rose: ‘10,000 years have passed. Today is the day of battle for these brats.’ 10,000 years was considered short to them. If not for the occasional talented cultivators coming to seek for his help, if Xue Ying were to really concentrate on cultivating, he would feel that these 10,000 years passed like a flash.
“Sou.”
After exiting the cavern-dwelling, Xue Ying traveled through the sky. Inquisitive Sky Hall Master flew over as well.
“Dong Bo.” Inquisitive Sky Hall Master flew alongside Xue Ying, “This 10,000 years might be short, but there are really some chaps gossiping about this matter still, especially that cultivator called Ba Yun Palace Master. I heard that he was idly chatting with several other Primal Chaos giants, saying that they should wait and see how you become a joke during the ranking battle this time.”
“Ba Yun?” Xue Ying shook his head.
The other party was really narrow-minded and selfish.
But there were all kinds of cultivators. Those who were extremely selfish were common too. There were also those who followed the ideology of ‘submit to me and prosper, or oppose me and perish’. It was normal for Ba Yun Palace Master to hate Xue Ying because of this matter as well.
“See how I become a joke?” Xue Ying chuckled, “He will not have a chance at all.”
“Right.” Inquisitive Sky Hall Master revealed a grin too.
“Sou sou.”
The two of them flew over to the gathering field of the Star Convention. The seating arrangements were the same as during the start of the convention. Xue Ying was seated on the corner of the five seats to the left of Heart Imitation Religious Master.
Primal Chaos giants were coming one after another. As for the talented cultivators who were participating in the convention this time, they had long arrived. Even though they were not chosen, they wanted to come and observe the battle too and see how wide the gap in their strengths was! There were also many cultivators living within the Blade Emperor City and children who came to watch the battles.
“The five teachers of the convention have chosen 100 cultivators. The other 99 are fine, but that Xing Huo Xun Yi should have depended on his background, and is the one with the least qualifications.” Many talented cultivators felt all the more unfair after understanding the selections.
“I’ve long said before that he should not a teacher of the convention. After all, his foresight is far weaker than the other four teachers.”
“It isn’t his foresight, but he is more easily bought over.”
Many talented cultivators were surreptitiously discussing with one another through voice transmissions. Many of them were filled with resentment.
If that Xing Huo Xun Yi weren’t chosen, one lucky cultivator among them would be selected into the next round.
“Let’s see.”
“In a while, the true strength of Xing Huo Xun Yi who was ranked at 3,600th in the Star Pagoda selection will be revealed.”
…
Heart Imitation Religious Master projected his majestic voice. It reverberated by the ears of every single cultivator across the entire Star Convention place, and even in their hearts: “At this moment, the 200 selected cultivators will be split into five groups. Every group will have two winners, and the ten winners will proceed into the final one-on-one duels… according to the battle results, the top five would be chosen. This top five cultivators could select any of the six great holy grounds they want to enter. They would naturally become the core members of the holy grounds and would be nurtured well. For now, the first group will begin its battle.”
Heart Imitation Religious Master’s voice was gentle, yet it was enough to cause all spectators to quieten down.
Their gazes landed on the battle platform spanning a full 50,000 kilometers long. At this moment ‘sou sou sou’, many figures flew up to the battle platform. There were a total of 40 of them. They belonged to the first group.
As for the arrangement of the battles…
Heart Imitation Religious Master was responsible for it. He would usually separate the extremely strong cultivators apart into five different groups. Even so, every group would only have two final winners.
And even if many talented cultivators were congregated in a particular group, all 200 cultivators would still have to go through the Star Pagoda trial, and the teachers of the convention would select another five out of them!
Regardless, there would be a total of ten talented cultivators who would be nurtured greatly by the holy grounds.
“Hong.”
“Hua.”
The 40 talented cultivators proceeded with a free-for-all battle on the battle platform. Some were forced out of the platform, and some immediately activated their protective treasures.
All of them had temporarily obtained a set of protective treasure which could be activated any time. But activating it meant that they lost their qualification! And they had to leave the platform obediently. Being forced out of the stage represented defeat as well. The two remaining cultivators would eventually be crowned the winners.
In just a few breaths of time, there were only eight talented cultivators who were still battling. The others had been eliminated.
And after two breaths later, there were just three talented cultivators.
“Hong.”
Black cloud began rolling out onto the body of a cultivator, causing him to spurt blood and fly out of the platform. As he flew out, he stared at the tall and huge teenager on the platform while thinking: ‘Cang Qiong Tian Yun, consider yourself ruthless.’
In the first group, there was Cang Qiong Tian Yun. He was the only expert who crossed the fourth level Star Pagoda during the preliminary Star Pagoda selections. He was clearly stronger than the others.
Previously, there were just three left behind. Cang Qiong Tian Yun was the strongest, and the other two were about the same. This cultivator who was struck out had even requested Cang Qiong Tian Yun for help, bribing him with 20 Origin World Rocks at the end.
Who would have thought…
Cang Qiong Tian Yun had simply blasted him down.
“Cang Qiong Tian Yun is truly formidable.”
“The advantage is huge.”
“The first group is unquestionably the strongest one.” Even though the battle happened extremely quick, everyone could perceive the strength of Cang Qiong Tian Yun.
…
“Second group.”
…
“Third group.”
The filtering of cultivators in each group happened really quickly. Soon, it was the third group. The 40 cultivators of the third group flew up the battle platform, and amongst them included a golden-robed young man, ‘Xing Huo Xun Yi’. Just by depending on his appearance and temperament, he was clearly the most dazzling amongst them.
“Xing Huo Xun Yi has come.”
“Let us pay close attention to him. In a while, his skills will be exposed to the rest.” Those talented cultivators who weren’t chosen felt that things were unfair. They wanted that unjust teacher of the convention, ‘Xue Ying’ to lose his face. If the one he chose, Xing Huo Xun Yi lost terribly, it would naturally testify to his unfairness and poor judgment skills.
Not just those below were paying close notice to the battle.
Even many Primal Chaos giants situated in the high platform were paying close notice to this. They had long heard of many rumors and had subconsciously glanced at ‘Xue Ying’ who was seated by the boundary of the five teachers of the convention.
Yet Xue Ying was calmly seated there watching as the battle was about to begin.
General Heaven Light glanced at Xue Ying who was by his side for a moment before turning back to the battle that was about to begin.
“Hong~”
The battle immediately erupted.
The golden-robed young man, Xing Huo Xun Yi, suddenly let out a layer of dimmed white light. This white light illusory realm enveloped the other 39 experts on the battle platform. This was none other than Xing Huo Xun Yi’s ancient cultivation illusory realm! After he had improved his attainments in the Dao of Mirage–grasping the ‘Mirage Annihilation’ created by Xue Ying–he had naturally brought his original ancient cultivation illusory realm to a whole new level. This horrifying illusory realm had felled close to half the talented cultivators on the platform. A minority was struggling to maintain consciousness, and even fewer were able to maintain full awareness.
At the same time he displayed the illusory realm, Xing Huo Xun Yi waved his hands.
“Hong~”
A fiery light rushed out on all the talented cultivators. The Dao of Mirage contained a fourth level Star Pagoda strength, and his bloodline cultivation had also become much stronger, though it was only at the third level strength. Nevertheless, currently, as he unleashed his group attack, those who were struggling to stay awake could hardly defend against his attack.
The fiery impact blasted out, throwing many talented cultivators out of the battle platform. There were only eight left who could still defend themselves. They were either strong, or that their cultivation hearts were formidable. But all eight were looking with shock and disbelief at Xing Huo Xun Yi.
Not just them.
Many others who wished to see Xing Huo Xun Yi’s poor performance to validate the unfairness of ‘Xue Ying’ as a teacher of the convention, were at this moment looking with their mouths wide open.
This, this, this?
Was this a cultivator ranked at 3,600th in the Star Pagoda selection? Why did he seem more tyrannical than the first ranked Cang Qiong Tian Yun?
…
And on the high platform, many Primal Chaos giants felt their mind trembling. Many were shocked and had even turned towards that white-robed teenager.
“Congratulations Monarch Xing Huo, congratulations!” Some of the Primal Chaos giants had begun chatting with Monarch Xing Huo. They had great foresight and knew that this control of the illusory realm was absolutely the strength of the user. It did not belong to something external.
And over at the side of the five teachers of the convention.
General Hatchet Palace Master looked at the leftmost Xue Ying with interest. He revealed a strand of a grin while thinking: ‘Interesting. Xing Huo Xun Yi is able to improve so much within 10,000 years. And it is even in the illusory realm? Dong Bo Xue Ying is most famous for his illusory realm.’
“Elder Dong Bo.”
Violet Slaughter Palace Master’s smile was absolutely beautiful. It contained a frightening charm, “Truly formidable. No wonder you have chosen that Xing Huo Xun Yi. In my opinion, he might even be stronger than Cang Qiong Tian Yun.”
Xue Ying merely stated: “The illusory realm is specialized in dealing against a group of enemies. Ultimately, it is still up to the final duel between Xun Yi this brat with Cang Qiong Tian Yun to determine who is the victor.”