Time flowed like water, always slipping through people’s fingers when they least expected it. Four days passed in the blink of an eye!
When the morning sun’s radiance fell upon the Great Xia Dynasty once more, blanketing the Imperial City in golden shards of light, the vast city was already boiling with the clamor of voices. Today was the third round of the Four Great Sects’ selection. The young Martial Artists of the dynasty were about to battle it out on the hundred-foot-tall arena!
Only ten people could be selected.
After the Four Great Sects’ selection, there would be an even more highly anticipated battle—the life-and-death duel between Lin Huang and Crown Prince Lingyun. To put it bluntly, this was not just a showdown between two youths, but a contest of power between the two great factions behind them.
Lin Huang arrived at the plaza early. Draped in a pitch-black cloak, he pursed his lips as his bright eyes gazed up at the towering arena.
"I wonder how this third round of selection will be conducted," someone in the crowd muttered.
"How else? One-on-one duels. The winners enter the Four Great Sects, and the losers roll off the arena."
"Looking at the setup on the arena... it doesn’t seem like it!"
The surrounding crowd chattered, making various speculations about today’s matches. After the second round of selection, exactly one hundred people were qualified to enter the third round. However, the Four Great Sects were only recruiting a total of ten disciples this time.
Listening to the crowd’s chatter, Lin Huang also frowned. Last night, Shen Diexin had mentioned to him that this third round might not be as easy as imagined. Furthermore, Qin Xuance had also previously speculated on the format of the third round. If it were one-on-one duels, he would have some confidence. But if those two old foxes, Hann Shan and Qii Lie, came up with some new tricks, it would be hard to say.
While Lin Huang was still deep in thought, a sudden commotion arose in the crowd, and a path was forcefully pushed open. At the end of the path stood two handsome, jade-like youths.
Ming Ao and Lu Wuji!
They were the two most highly regarded youths in the entire Great Xia Dynasty. Not only did they possess Profound Tier Martial Souls, but they also possessed the strength of the Human Element Ninth Heaven. Among all the Martial Artists, they stood alone at the top. Although their thunder had been stolen by Lin Huang and Fatty Bai in the first two rounds, it did not diminish others’ high opinion of them. After all, their Realm and strength were the absolute highest among all the participants.
And this third round of selection was exactly a test of Martial Artists’ combat prowess!
As for Lin Huang, the crowd mostly chose to ignore him. After all, they simply could not believe that someone who was merely at the Human Element Seventh Heaven could actually snatch first place in the previous two rounds. They refused to believe that the Imperial City’s former number one playboy could crush them underfoot after casually undergoing Cultivation for a year.
In the crowd, Lin Huang also turned his head to look forward. Ming Ao wore a water-blue robe embroidered with gold, cinched at the waist by a translucent jade belt. Paired with his softly contoured face, he gave off a spirited and energetic vibe when he smiled. It was a type of confidence, or rather, an arrogance born from strength. Lu Wuji, on the other hand, appeared much more low-key. Wearing a washed-out long robe, his face was ordinary and wooden. His gaze, as he looked at the surrounding crowd, seemed somewhat reserved.
Feeling the gazes of the crowd, including the affectionate looks from quite a few young ladies, Ming Ao couldn’t help but curl his lips upward as he strode forward with a graceful sweep of his sleeves. After sweeping his gaze over the crowd, Ming Ao suddenly smiled. Looking at Lin Huang wrapped in the black cloak, he strolled over and said with a hint of coldness, "Young Master, do you still remember what I said to you seven days ago?"
Hearing the words "Young Master," the surrounding crowd clearly froze for a moment before quietly squeezing backward, distancing themselves from Lin Huang with faces full of disgust and aversion.
"I remember!" Lin Huang nodded, looking very sincere. "I wish you good luck today!"
"Naturally, I will have good luck today, but for you, Young Master, it will be a nightmare." Ming Ao smiled with narrowed eyes, his fists clenching tightly as he couldn’t help but feel excited inwardly. After today, not only would he be able to enter the Four Great Sects, but he would also receive an Earth Element Pill from Crown Prince Lingyun. As long as he broke through to the Earth Element Realm within a short period, he could potentially directly enter the Inner Sect of the Celestial Thunder Sect. From then on, he would leap through the Dragon Gate and soar into the sky!
"I might have had many nightmares in my past life, but those are all things of the past." Lin Huang took off his cloak, looked at Ming Ao, and suddenly revealed a bright and nonchalant smile.
Ming Ao coldly snorted. "I hope you can still smile this brightly later on the arena, Young Master!"
Flicking his sleeves, Ming Ao brushed past Lin Huang. He chose a treasured Feng Shui spot where everyone could see him and stood there quietly, waiting in the wind like a vibrant rooster for the Four Sect Elders to appear.
Not long after, another commotion surged through the crowd. A strong stench of alcohol mixed with the scent of cosmetics permeated the air.
Lin Huang looked up, only to see the servants from the Ministry of War’s Mansion panting heavily as they carried a stretcher. On the stretcher lay a massive ball of meat. Its flesh was spilling over the sides, making it look exactly like a huge sow being sent to the slaughterhouse. It had to weigh a full four hundred pounds.
Lin Huang searched through the meatball for quite a while before finally spotting Fatty Bai’s limbs and his face, which wore a lecherous expression even in his sleep. Lying on the stretcher, Fatty Bai was drooling with a rosy complexion. His chubby hand was still gripping a pink undergarment.
Lin Huang’s mouth twitched. "This works too?"
Behind the stretcher, a trace of anger seeped through the majestic, square face of Bai Pojun, the Minister of the Ministry of War. In the early morning, when he went to wake Fatty Bai to participate in the Four Great Sects’ selection, he discovered that this idiot wasn’t in his room. He had then rushed to the brothel in a panic. The result was seeing this son of a bitch lounging on a large, soft bed like an Overlord, with each arm wrapped around a coquettish harlot.
He had been smiling so happily in his sleep that even after Bai Pojun kicked him seventeen times and splashed twenty-nine buckets of water on him, Fatty Bai still hadn’t woken up. Left with no other choice, he found a stretcher used for butchering pigs in the brothel and had Fatty Bai carried over.
"Even if you sleep like a log today, I will throw you up onto that arena!" Bai Pojun glared at Fatty Bai, cursing with exasperation at his failure to meet expectations. Facing the gazes of the surrounding crowd, he simply threw his dignity to the wind. After all, his face as the dignified Minister of the Ministry of War had already been thoroughly lost over the years by this terrible son of his.
Seeing this, Lin Huang quietly shrank his head down and hid somewhere Bai Pojun couldn’t see him.
Back in the day, Lin Huang and Fatty Bai were partners in crime who had committed countless misdeeds. They had secretly climbed over the walls of young ladies’ courtyards no fewer than a hundred times. Every time they were caught, a severe scolding was inevitable. Yet, both Lin Huang and Fatty Bai always acted like perfect, obedient children at home.
As time passed, Lin Beichen grew to dislike Fatty Bai. "My grandson is such a well-behaved child, but the moment he steps out the door, he gets corrupted by this little bastard!" he would complain.
Meanwhile, Bai Pojun treated Lin Huang like an enemy whenever they met. "My son used to be so obedient, as gentle as a young girl. But after hanging out with you for just a few days, he doesn’t even recognize his own home anymore. If you weren’t Old Master Beichen’s grandson, I would’ve found a chance to bury you alive," he would mutter.
Even now, Bai Pojun still believed that it was Lin Huang who had taken Fatty Bai to the brothel for the first time. Little did he know that Fatty Bai had matured early, having grown up bathing with his father’s concubines. At the age of eight, he had peeked at all the maidservants’ bodies in the mansion, and by ten, he knew how to sneak off to the brothel. Beneath this guy’s gentle exterior, he had long been utterly lawless.
In the crowd, Bai Pojun ordered his subordinates to carry Fatty Bai up onto the arena. From the looks of it, he was dead set on getting Fatty Bai into a Sect. Watching Fatty Bai inch his way onto the arena while lying on the stretcher, everyone wore dumbfounded expressions. "This works too?"
The moment Fatty Bai’s body landed on the arena, the Four Sect Elders finally appeared. Looking at the soundly sleeping Fatty Bai, they revealed satisfied smiles. Just so Fatty Bai could participate, they had delayed the third round of the competition by half an hour!
When the Elders of the Major Sects appeared, everyone in the plaza shifted their attention. Gazing at the four imposing figures at the front of the arena, they couldn’t help but look shaken. Off to the side, Ming Ao, who had been striking a pose for quite a while, had eyes full of sharp glints.
Lin Huang looked up at the extremely pale-looking Qii Lie and Hann Shan on the arena. An imperceptible sneer flashed across his eyes as he thought, "Now that they know my master has left, they’re probably targeting the Thousand Spirits Sword Formation again."
The Four Sect Elders did not say much. After sweeping their gazes over the crowd, they announced the format for the third round of selection. Their voices thundered, echoing across the plaza: "The third round of selection will take the form of a hundred-person melee, with a time limit of one incense stick. After one incense stick’s time, the ten Martial Artists holding the Tokens of the Four Sects may enter the corresponding Sect on the Token!"
Subsequently, with a wave of Hann Shan’s large hand, ten translucent, jade-like tokens appeared in the void, radiating a soft glow. Each token bore a mark representing the Sect behind it.
The Celestial Thunder Order.
The Wind and Rain Order.
The Floating Snow Order.
The Thousand Sound Order.
In the plaza, the tens of thousands of people stared at the ten tokens floating above the arena. After a moment of astonishment, a wildly boiling uproar of discussion erupted.
"A hundred-person melee? Why would they choose this method of elimination? This is unfair!"
"If it’s done this way, those with high strength might be ganged up on and eliminated. This is undoubtedly a cruel suppression for the top talents!"
"What’s unfair about it? Since ancient times, winners are kings and losers are villains. Does Realm dictate everything?" a burly man coldly snorted. Then, he turned around with a face full of smiles. "Son, you have a chance this time. Later, when you get on the arena, you should do this and that..."
Amidst the crowd’s noisy chatter, Lin Huang’s brows knitted tightly together. His eyes were fixed dead on Hann Shan and Qii Lie. In the eyes of outsiders, he had slain Pang Pang and provoked a war between Great Chu and Great Xia, making him a public enemy that everyone wanted dead. However, due to the imposing might of the Divine General’s Mansion, ordinary people wouldn’t dare make a move.
But today’s melee format gave everyone an excuse to join forces, forcefully pushing him into a dead end.
"Tsk tsk, Qin Xuance really hit the nail on the head!"
In the crowd, the corners of Lin Huang’s mouth curled into a cold smile. "Do they really think they can put me to death like this? They’re underestimating me a bit too much!"