The selection test in the Cloud Prefecture was to select the 1,000 most outstanding partic.i.p.ants, sending them to the Eastern Prefecture, allowing them to take part in the banquet organized by the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect.
This test will last a total of eighty-one days and right now, half the time has already pa.s.sed.
The most elite demon-level characters of the Cloud Prefecture have almost all arrived and after 14 days of continuous combat, the most outstanding among them was gradually revealed and recognized by the crowd.
These people were the ones who still remained undefeated, they were all recognized as the strongest among the younger generations in the Cloud Prefecture with the opportunity to head over to the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect or even join it as a disciple. As for acquiring the top three rankings, becoming the most dazzling characters of the whole event and eventually entering the personal tutelage of the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor, these people temporarily didn’t dare to imagine about it.
At the very least, they had to surpa.s.s all others within this Cloud Prefecture’s selection test first before they would have such a chance. And other than the Cloud Prefecture, there are still the demon-level characters from the other twelve prefectures which they must surpa.s.s. n.o.body knew how many supreme experts would be there.
In addition, with so many geniuses of the Cloud Prefectures arriving one batch after another, the speed of the combat also got increasingly faster. All eighty-one battle platforms were fully utilized, the partic.i.p.ants didn’t even have the time to breathe. There were also some geniuses who wanted to use the battle platforms to temper themselves, and kept on fighting despite their defeats. This went on until the other partic.i.p.ants raged as they were taking up the s.p.a.ce on the platforms. Eventually, they instantly aimed to kill those partic.i.p.ants who did that because if they kept plundering their 1 meter battle halo, things would truly be too pointless.
Now, there were quite a number of experts with 10,000 meter battle halos. There were some who remain on the Cloudheaven Arena as though they didn’t know fatigue. And there were also some who loved to plunder, specifically aiming for those with high amounts of battle qi before they took a break and prepared for their next hunt. This cycle continued repeatedly, and the rate of the strong plundering battle qi also became faster.
Hence there were many experts with 100 meter and 1,000 meter battle halos who were scared witless. Because they had no way to guarantee that the size of their battle halos would qualify them for the top 1,000 and had no choice but to partic.i.p.ate in the battle frenzy. However, the presence those partic.i.p.ants resting in the crowd gave these people who were in combat an extremely heavy pressure. Any expert stronger than them could simply soar up and plunder their battle qi. These type of incidents have happened way too many times.
But despite the increasing number of demon-level characters, Qin Wentian and his two sect members still belonged to the tier of the most dazzling geniuses of all.
Up till now, they had not suffered even a defeat. Those proud sons of heaven no longer dared to challenge them easily because once they were defeated, their battle qi would all be plundered away. Hence, everyone was extremely cautious.
Another question also became increasingly obvious. As more geniuses obtained their 10,000 meter battle halo, it was increasingly difficult to defeat them. The strong grew stronger, the difficulty level for those who arrived later who want to defeat them also grew increasingly higher.
The Idlecloud Immortal King sat leisurely on his throne, feeling very satisfied with this selection test. As for the grudges between the various powers, he didn’t really give a d.a.m.n about them. After all, upon reaching his level, such squabbles couldn’t be considered anything. They were too far away from him. Since ancient times, those who could step into the Immortal King Realm within 10,000 years were already considered a supreme demon-level character. These people still had a long long way to go.
Back then when he was young, wasn’t he also filled with arrogance? Roaming the world while exhibiting his radiance.
"Up till now, those truly outstanding geniuses have appeared. Idlecloud Immortal King, whom among them do you think has the potential to head to the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect and contend against the other supreme geniuses from the twelve prefectures? There must also be many outstanding people there." Someone smiled and asked the Idlecloud Immortal King. In fact to cut things short, he wanted to know which of these geniuses obtained the immortal king’s recognition.
"Haha, I’m also keen to know what’s the Idlecloud Immortal King’s opinion. A genius from my Battle Heavens Immortal Manor, Zhou Yu, with a cultivation base at the eighth-level of Celestial Phenomenon. He was born to do battle and has an extraordinary demeanor. He should be able to gain the recognition of Idlecloud Immortal King, right?" Zhou Zhan who was sitting by the side laughed as he spoke. Although he was infuriated by Qin Wentian and the others earlier, he still had the bearing of an immortal king. Since his people had no way to kill the three of them on the battle platform, he could only choose to temporarily forget about them.
"Zhou Yu should be your descendent, right? He has cultivated the various immortal arts of your Battle Heavens Immortal Manor and has an extremely high comprehension ability. In addition to his battle-type astral soul, his talent is truly dazzling and could be said to rank among those most outstanding among the Cloudheaven Arena." The Idlecloud Immortal King commented, his words causing Zhou Zhan to smile with satisfaction. Given his level, the Idlecloud Immortal King had no need to go all out to fawn on him, if a partic.i.p.ant was strong, he was strong and if he was weak, he was weak. He wouldn’t have purposely agree if he didn’t think Zhou Yu was one of the most outstanding individuals.
"That fellow Mu Yun isn’t bad as well, his radiance is starting to show and he would definitely be a character within the top 10 rankings." The Idlecloud Immortal King laughed again, his gaze on a certain battle platform in the Cloudheaven Arena. His descendant Mu Yun was currently there, and Mu Yun’s cultivation is at the seventh-level of Celestial Phenomenon.
"That little fellow Mu Yun is powerful indeed, and has an opportunity to enter the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect." Those at the side nodded.
"The Myriad Sage Academy have two characters that aren’t bad at all. Yi Changfeng and Qi Fan. They should both be from the Sage Court, right?" The Idlecloud Immortal King smiled. Yi Changfeng is a sixth-level ascendant while Qi Fan is at the fifth-level.
"Idlecloud Immortal King truly has good judgement, those two are disciples from the Sage Court of my Myriad Sage Academy and are both extremely outstanding." The expert from the Myriad Sage Academy nodded.
"Xia Hanjiang from the Cloud Tower isn’t bad as well." The Idlecloud Immortal King continued. Xia Hanjiang has a cultivation base at the sixth-level of Celestial Phenomenon.
"Hu Shanyue from the Suppression Immortal Sect has tyrannical combat strength."
"The two heaven chosen from the Immorseize Residence, the Zhuge siblings, Zhuge Yi and Zhuge Yue both are very powerful as well. The Immorsize Residence is the wealthiest power in the Cloud Prefecture, you guys should have spared no expense to nurture the both of them, right?" The Idlecloud Immortal King glanced to his side.
"Haha it’s only because this pair of siblings have the potential." The experts from the Immorsize Residence laughed.
"How about Gu Chen? Isn’t he pretty strong as well?" Someone else asked.
"Although Gu Chen isn’t bad, he’s still slightly inferior to these people. In addition, there are still three youngsters that are of the same sect standing undefeated on the Cloudheaven Arena. The talent of any of those three far surpa.s.sed him and his talent at the very most can only be comparable to the disciple of the Saberlord of Death." The Idlecloud Immortal King pointed to Qin Wentian and his fellow sect members, smiling as he spoke.
"Naturally, other than these people named. That Gu Zhantian, although he wasn’t nurtured by any powerful masters, his strength is truly startling. You know how tyrannical he is just by hearing his name. I suspect that he is the descendant of that madman Gu whom we are acquainted with many years ago."
The eyes of the people in the surrounding stiffened for a moment before they focused on the silhouette of a young man below the Cloudheaven Arena. A fearsome battle qi radiated from him and although he wasn’t currently partic.i.p.ating in any battles, he was still extremely dazzling. There was no one standing around him, everyone stood three feet away from him at least due to fear or respect.
"Now that you put it this way, there is truly some resemblance." Beside him, those immortals from the older generations replied. Madman Gu was a legendary character of yesteryear and had once caused a storm of immense commotion in the Cloud Prefecture. Once, he fought against many major powers with his strength alone, eradicating many of them, annihilating entire clans and sects before he finally committed suicide due to being surrounded by overwhelming forces.
If Gu Zhantian truly was his descendant, this person was most definitely an extremely dangerous character.
"There’s also Xiao Hong and Su Yeqing. Although I don’t know where they originated from, their strengths are without question and their talent belongs at the top as well." The Idlecloud Immortal King listed out those whom he had a good opinion of one by one.
"Are there no characters at the first level and the ninth level of Celestial Phenomenon?" Someone asked in curiousity.
"I haven’t discovered any demon-level characters among those two levels. For ninth-level ascendants, they had it easy at the preliminary because we couldn’t possibly make them fight against immortal-ranked puppets. Hence, many of them pa.s.sed as they have no problems fighting against opponents of the same level. And similarly, there are also many partic.i.p.ants at the first-level of Celestial Phenomenon. Although quite a few of them acc.u.mulated a 10,000 meter battle halo, it’s somewhat regretful that there’s not even one who could truly shock me with his talent. Let’s hope that such an individual would appear before this selection ends." The Idlecloud Immortal King replied.
"I agreed with the Idlecloud Immortal King’s views. They are pretty accurate, those individuals who were named by him all clearly possessed outstanding talent that loses out to no one. However I wonder, what are their rankings in Idlecloud Immortal King’s heart?" An expert curiously probed.
"This is quite a difficult question. The three characters I feel that would be the most outstanding are: Gu Zhantian, Jun Mengchen and Mu Yun. Gu Zhantian give me a feeling that he’s overwhelmingly strong. Jun Mengchen because of his terrifying potential relative to his young age. He seems to be different from others, and is likely an innate king born from his birth. And as for Mu Yun, as my descendant, I would naturally grant him my recognition."
The Idlecloud King laughed as he spoke. "Next, I feel Zhou Yu, the Zhuge siblings, Qi Fan, Zi Qingxuan, and Xiao Hong would all have exemplary results as well. All of them are extraordinary individuals."
"Lastly, Yi Changfeng, Xia Hanjiang, Hu Yueshan, Su Yeqing and Qin Wentian." The Idlecloud King slowly continued with a laugh, "Naturally, these people also haven’t shown the limits of their strength. What I can tell is only from a surface judgement from the strength they have shown when they fought their battles earlier. There’s a chance my judgement might be off. For example, that Qin Wentian...at times he gave me the feeling that he’s merely someone ordinary but somehow, within this kind of ordinariness, there is also a startling sharpness that makes him hard to gauge. At the very least as of now, there’s no one who could defeat him yet. But even so I don’t sense the same awestruck feeling from him that his junior brother Jun Mengchen exuded. Given the magnitude of commotion he caused in the Driftsnow City, I’m actually filled with antic.i.p.ation about his final ranking. Let’s hope he can achieve some results and that my judgement isn’t off about him."
"Maybe, this is the furthest he could go." An expert from the Ninepeak Immortal Court interjected spitefully. Not a single individual from their sect was recognized by the Idlecloud Immortal King but they had no way to refute the Idlecloud Immortal King’s judgement. Their disciples were truly inferior compared to these people.
The combat on the battle platforms continued unceasingly. Already sixty-three days out of the eighty-one days have pa.s.sed, and only eighteen days remained.
In these days, the various powers also realized how accurate the Idlecloud Immortal King’s judgement was. Other than a few other demon-level characters who appeared as time flowed by, those he named earlier still hadn’t been defeated yet, progressing triumphantly and the weakest battle halo these people acc.u.mulated was at the very least 50,000 meters. How terrifying was this?
The strong grows stronger, with their original strength and the augmentation effect provided by their battle halos, the difficulty to defeat them was sky high. Unless, these demon-level characters fought against each other.
"Senior brother you have to work harder. Me and senior sister Qingxuan already have a battle halo of 100,000 meters." At this moment, Jun Mengchen smiled at Qin Wentian. He naturally didn’t doubt Qin Wentian’s strength but instead, he felt that Qin Wentian was too low-profile. After all right now Qin Wentian only had a battle halo of 60,000 meters and there are many others who already caught up with him.
"Okay." Qin Wentian nodded his head. His gaze roamed the battle platforms in the air and a moment later, it landed upon a demon-level character who was at the same cultivation level as him that also possessed a 60,000 meters battle halo. The target he chose was none other than Xiao Hong!
Translator Notes:
古战天 Gu Zhantian, Gu古 is a surname, Zhantian战天 = warring/fighting against the heavens.