“What?”
“We have to wait until the next Monarch Horoscope Contest?”
“Is it even our fault that something unexpected has happened during the Monarch Horoscope Contest?”
Fury surged in the eyes of s.h.i.+ Qingfan, Dao Qianzhong, and the rest of the geniuses who were still alive when they heard this.
If they did not manage to achieve the Martial Monarch Realm this time, they would have to wait at least eighty years for the next Monarch Horoscope Contest.
How many eighty years would they even have in their lives?
“Those are the rules.” The white-haired old man said calmly with a faint aura.
s.h.i.+ Qingfan and the others were startled, as they suddenly felt like they were suffocating at that instant.
The white-haired old man glanced at Qin Nan and said, “I’ll still keep my promise by giving Tang Qingshan a Monarch Horoscope. Since Jiang Bilan is not here, I’ll give the other one to Ao Cangtian. How’s that?”
The fact that he was still willing to offer them the Monarch Horoscopes was because he had made the promise already. If he were to go against his words, his cultivation would be greatly affected. Besides, Qin Nan was still someone who had surpa.s.sed the rules of cultivation with quite a formidable background, thus he still considered him as a great chess piece, thus he would not mind investing on him.
s.h.i.+ Qingfan and the others almost felt like vomiting blood hearing this.
Rules?
So these were the rules?
Why were Tang Qingshan and Ao Cangtian the exceptions now?
However, despite being furious, they did not have the guts to speak, as they could not afford to offend the white-haired old man.
“Senior Brother, Cangtian, inheriting the Monarch Horoscopes is a big decision, as it’s something provided by the others. Once you refine them, it’s highly possible that you will be restricted and manipulated, becoming someone’s p.a.w.n. Therefore, you have to make your own choice.”
Qin Nan’s eyes flickered. He did not accept the suggestion immediately, but transmitted his voice to Tang Qingshan and Ao Cangtian.
That being said, he did not stop them from accepting the offer either.
After all, everyone had to make their own choices. If Tang Qingshan and Ao Cangtian decided not to inherit the Monarch Horoscopes, it was almost impossible for them to achieve the Martial Monarch Realm on their own since they had not had the chance like Qin Nan to retrieve the primary monarch force of three Monarch Horoscopes.
Tang Qingshan and Ao Cangtian were stunned.
Qin Nan’s words served as a shocking thunder to them.
“Mm?”
The white-haired old man frowned.
“I’m willing.”
Tang Qingshan and Ao Cangtian spoke simultaneously after hesitating for a while.
They could not care less about what would happen after inheriting the Monarch Horoscopes. They would deal with it when the time came.
Qin Nan did not comment any further seeing this.
The white-haired old man nodded and flicked two golden rays into the sky, which descended and entered Tang Qingshan and Ao Cangtian’s bodies, causing their auras to skyrocket.
At that instant, including Sorceress Qian Qian, there were three people inheriting the Monarch Horoscopes on the dojo.
“The Monarch Horoscope Contest has ended. Regarding everything that has happened, apart from the news of them inheriting the Monarch Horoscopes, no one is allowed to tell anyone anything. Those who try to do so will be eliminated! Now, apart from those three, you all shall return to the Middle Continent!”
The white-haired old man scanned the crowd with a sharp gaze before waving his hand, spreading golden gleams onto the partic.i.p.ants.
Whoos.h.!.+
Everyone instantly vanished into thin air.
...The period it took three incense sticks to burn later, at the Touring Dojo of the Middle Continent...
Countless cultivators surrounding the dojo had their eyes fixated onto it, not willing to let their guards down.
Following this, a rare phenomenon took place, as a white dojo with a length of over a few thousand zhang appeared.
The golden glow encapsulating the entire place began to disappear gradually.
The cultivators became energetic seeing this.
The monarch glow vanis.h.i.+ng and the dojo appearing implied that the third stage of the Monarch Horoscope Contest had come to an end.
Whoosh whoosh whoos.h.!.+
A few piercing sounds could be heard!
Numerous figures began to land on the dojo, which summed up to a total of four hundred within the blink of an eye. They were the people that had survived in the first and second stage, but had failed to advance to the third stage. As the Monarch Horoscope Contest had ended, they were teleported out from the place too!
Following this, over thirty figures landed at the front of the dojo!
“Look! Everyone’s out!”
“There aren’t many of them, I wonder how many died in the Monarch Horoscope Contest?”
“d.a.m.n! Isn’t that s.h.i.+ Qingfan? And the Sage, Dao Qianzhong, the Heaven-Yin Daoist, and the Faceless Cultivator?”
The cultivators standing far away from the dojo were astounded when they identified the geniuses among the group. In addition to them, the rest of the partic.i.p.ants who had halted in the first and second stages were dumbfounded too.
Following this, the disciples and elders of various factions immediately went up to the crowd and received the partic.i.p.ants, before returning to their factions, etc.
...A few hours later...
In the Dragon Emperor Clan, the Bodhi Temple, the Misty Immortal Sect, the Heaven-Saber Sect, the Chaos Sect, the Heartless Sect, the Fallen Demon Villa, etc., everyone including the authorities and the disciples were astounded!
Not only that, three hours later, everything regarding the Monarch Horoscope Contest was spread across the entire Middle Continent by the Shadow PaG.o.da and the rogue cultivators, shocking the entire continent!
“My Heavens! There were only three Monarch Horoscopes in the Monarch Horoscope Contest! Those who managed to secure one were Sorceress Qian Qian, Ao Cangtian, and Tang Qingshan!”
“Holy c.r.a.p! Why would there only be three?”
“Gasp, the reincarnated Martial Monarch s.h.i.+ Qingfan, Sage Chen Zilai, Dao Qianzhong, Jiu Jiu, Yang Qi, the Heaven-Yin Daoist, the Faceless Cultivator, Hua Dichen, and the others ranked in the top ten, only two among them inherited the Monarch Horoscopes!”
“d.a.m.n, are you kidding me? What exactly happened?”
“I have no idea, but I do hear that around ten geniuses were trying to tell someone what happened during the Monarch Horoscope Contest, but they were instantly burned to death on the spot. The news was spread across the factions, thus they no longer dared to ask their disciples what happened!”
“It’s real! I even heard that Martial Monarch Huo Ling of the Dark Feather Palace tried to peek into someone’s memory, but a monarch flame fell from the sky and almost burned him to death too!”
“A fire that is able to burn a Martial Monarch to death? Tsk tsk, I wonder what actually happened in the Monarch Horoscope Contest?”
“I guess we’ll never know!”
“There must have been something shocking, what else would it be!”
“However, even s.h.i.+ Qingfan had failed to inherit a Monarch Horoscope, that’s surely a great surprise!”
“I also heard that many geniuses were killed. Including that Death Cultivator!”
“Only three people are going to rise from the ashes. Sorceress Qian Qian, Tang Qingshan, and Ao Cangtian; when they come out from seclusion, they will be Martial Monarchs!”
“Martial Monarchs…”
Countless discussions took place.
Almost every cultivator of the Middle Continent had taken part in them.
It even stirred significant chaos in the half-G.o.d region.
The reason being that the outcome of the Monarch Horoscope Contest had been too bizarre, with the lowest number of Monarch Horoscopes available and only one genius ranked in the top three of the Monarch Ranking had succeeded. Furthermore, no one was allowed to mention anything that had happened...
Something like this had never happened before!