Within the Shenwu Sect's Inner Sect region, there stood a towering mountain peak, shrouded in clouds and mist, looking like a fairyland.
In the mountain peak was carved out a gorge, with Inner Sect disciples sitting on both sides. Today was the Inner Sect disciples' biennial ranking competition, the biggest event of the Inner Sect!
In the center of the gorge was an arena over ten acres in size. In front of the arena, dozens of vigorous young men and women entered the scene one by one!
"They are the top 50 disciples of the Inner Sect!"
"For this ranking competition, I'm betting on Senior Sister Zirou. Her Wave Splitting Gale Palm technique can shatter mountains. Just her aura alone can repel more than a dozen of us Inner Sect disciples at the Qi Refining Realm."
"Humph, Senior Brother Tangfeng has a sword in hand. He already killed his way into the top ten in the last ranking competition he participated in. I think he can make it into the top three this time."
"Senior Brother Zeng Yunhai has held the number one spot for two years. I wonder if there are any Inner Sect disciples who can shake his position."
"Speaking of swordsmanship, I look more favorably upon Liao Jianhua. Although that guy is unruly, his talent is simply monstrous. Half a year ago he could already fight with the Elders for dozens of rounds without losing. Clearly he already has the level to be in the Inner Sect's top ten."
"I heard he also practices alchemy. What a freak, he's better than others! People compare themselves to others and feel upset!"
The Outer Sect disciples observing the ranking competition from the sides of the gorge were excitedly discussing.
At the very bottom of the gorge, the participating Inner Sect disciples sat in their assigned seats.
Whoosh~~!
At the entrance, a wild gust of wind swirled up. The person entering was a youth in his twenties, dressed in white robes and carrying a sword. His sharp eyebrows and eyes exuded an arrogant and aloof aura. He strode in lightly as if riding on the wind, causing some female disciples to scream.
"Jianhua, you came."
A beautiful maiden of marriageable age stood up from a special seat. She had a face like the bright moon, watery eyes, and despite her seemingly gentle appearance, she hid an enchanting charm.
"Yes, Qing'er, thanks for gathering those medicinal ingredients for me. They allowed me to improve further."
Liao Jianhua arrived at his designated seat and casually embraced Su Qing'er, shamelessly groping the latter's exquisite and charming body, chuckling wickedly.
"Hehe, Liao Jianhua, I heard this young beauty is an Outer Sect disciple, Lin Chen's old flame. That Lin Chen is not simple now. With one punch he heavily injured Sun Changyan. You may have brought huge trouble upon yourself now."
The burly man in black armor behind Liao Jianhua's seat chuckled strangely. Su Qing'er's expression changed slightly but soon calmed down again as she giggled.
"Lin Chen is just an orphan my uncle adopted, a thorough commoner. Even if he got some stroke of luck, how could he compare with my Jianhua?"
Su Qing'er covered her mouth and laughed lightly, not concealing her disgust for Lin Chen at all.
"Just a worthless nobody who got a bit lucky. If he dares show up, this young master will take care of him with one sword. The number one spot of the Inner Sect will be mine this time for sure."
Liao Jianhua disdainfully said nonchalantly.
...
"So that's Liao Jianhua."
Walking along the back rows of the spectator stands on the sides, Lin Chen's eyes narrowed when he saw Liao Jianhua enter. A flash of killing intent passed through them.
Next, Lin Chen casually picked up an attribute light sphere beside him and absorbed it into his body.
He looked around and found that other than the Qi Refining Realm disciples, there were no attribute light spheres around the Core Formation Realm disciples either weaker or stronger than him.
"It seems that attribute light spheres don't appear for those too weak or too strong compared to me."
Looking at the Elders and Shenwu Sect Leader on the high platform, he also saw no attribute light spheres around them. Lin Chen understood in his heart.
The composed Lin Chen leisurely picked up attribute light spheres from the spectator stands on both sides, waiting to make his move.
...
"So this is the Liao Jianhua that Elder Lu has carefully nurtured. Hmm, his movement technique is excellent, and his sword intent is sharp and domineering. He's a good seedling."
On the spectator platform at the end of the gorge halfway up the mountainside, a man in green robes nodded approvingly.
"Hehe, Sect Leader, this time Jianhua may bring you a pleasant surprise."
A white-haired old man beside him stroked his beard and laughed, looking very proud.
"Then let me see what other cards this kid has."
The Shenwu Sect Leader chuckled and shook his head, then stood up.
"The Inner Sect ranking competition officially begins! This sect leader won't say much extra. All Inner Sect disciples, draw lots and compete. Also, all disciples have one chance to challenge any of the Inner Sect disciples in the ranking competition!"
The scene erupted. Many Inner Sect disciples were raring to go, their fighting spirit surging!
"The top 50 Inner Sect disciples, come out and draw lots!"
A Elder slowly walked out holding a box for drawing lots and announced loudly.
The top 50 Inner Sect disciples came out in a line and drew their lots one by one, then went to the arena with the number they drew.
Whoosh~~!!
At this moment, the whole scene erupted!
At Arena 7, there stood a youth in silver robes carrying a single saber. He had fierce eyes and saber-like eyebrows, domineering and cold.
The Inner Sect's number one, Zeng Yunhai!
His opponent turned out to be the rising star Liao Jianhua!
The best dark horse against the strongest of the Inner Sect!
Two of the most watched Inner Sect top experts were facing off in the first round!
"Senior Brother Zeng Yunhai is already at the eighth stage of the Qi Refining Realm. Liao Jianhua at only the fifth stage of Qi Refining shouldn't be his match, right?"
Many Inner Sect disciples swallowed their saliva. This fight was simply eye-popping!
Zeng Yunhai leaped into the arena. Liao Jianhua rose into the air and the two entered the arena together!
"No matter who you are as number one, this young master will destroy everything with one sword."
Liao Jianhua stood holding his sword, calmly saying while facing the wind.
"Show me what you've got."
Zeng Yunhai blandly responded, then suddenly drew his saber!
Even the Elders were paying close attention to this fight. It was practically a showdown at the top ten level happening early!
As the saber left its sheath, its sharp white radiance criss-crossed the arena!
Wielding the saber with both hands, Zeng Yunhai's saber technique was like raging, astounding waves, swirling up the entire arena in winds and clouds!
"Raging Wave Shocking Kill Blade!"
The swirling waves chopped out a stretch of white radiance over ten feet long, its killing intent piercing the heavens!
The power of this strike was exceptionally formidable. Even when facing the Demon Flood Dragon that Lin Chen had encountered before, it could probably directly repel it!
He went all out with a killing move from the very start! Zeng Yunhai didn't look down on Liao Jianhua at all!
"Cloud Thunder Sword Technique!"
The sword shot out like a dragon, the battle aura sword radiance angrily piercing through the white slash hidden within Zeng Yunhai's saber technique. Liao Jianhua activated his movement technique like a raging gale, instantly closing in on Zeng Yunhai!
"A green grade combat skill! Those two started off using green grade combat skills!"
The Inner Sect disciples without rankings shouted excitedly.
Saber and sword shadows danced chaotically. The combat experience of the two was crafty and vicious. Between the clashes of their eyes, throats, hearts, saber edges and sword tips, there was only killing intent, watching which made the Inner Sect disciples' hearts twitch nervously!
Their shadows flashed rapidly, both having top-tier movement techniques in the Inner Sect. Aside from a minority who could follow, most of the disciples could only see two blurred shadows howling!
The battles happening on the other arenas were far less enthralling than this one. Everyone held their breaths, not daring to miss any detail!
Eyes slightly narrowed, Lin Chen formed the Pill Refinement hand seal and absorbed spiritual force attribute light spheres. With that, his perception was several times that of cultivators at the same level. Liao Jianhua's movements were all within his eyes!
"His swordsmanship attainment is very high, but I may not necessarily have no chance of defeating him."
The corners of his mouth rose in a confident smile. While everyone else was focused on the battle, he had already quietly slipped into the Inner Sect disciples' area and gathered large quantities of attribute light spheres!
Arena 7;
"Lightning Execution!"
"Saber Three Thousand Layers!"
As the battle intensified, the sky filled with saber shadows and the sword light flashed like lightning. The two collided with a boom, the entire arena shuddering and shivering!
The sword tip glimmering with lightning was seemingly weakened, but in truth concealed its sharpness. With a sudden flick, the sword edge shot out three arms-thick bolts of lightning sweeping toward Zeng Yunhai!
"What?"
Zeng Yunhai's expression changed slightly. His figure spun in the air, barely dodging this follow-up strike. Then Liao Jianhua's sword qi came surging violently like a storm of plum blossom rain!
Swish swish swish~~~!
The sounds of splitting wind shrieked as faint traces of blood continuously appeared on Zeng Yunhai's body!
Boom~~!
The sword light spun and an extremely mighty force transmitted from the sword tip, striking Zeng Yunhai's body with one sword!
Puchi!
Blood sprayed into the sky. Zeng Yunhai was blown away by the sword, falling to the ground like a broken kite, his chest dyed in blood!
Many Outer Sect disciples stood up! Could there be a major upset today?
"Your swordsmanship, could it be...at the Transformation Realm?"
Zeng Yunhai coughed up blood, losing his voice in disbelief!
The Transformation Realm is the pinnacle of martial arts cultivation. Martial arts move according to one's will, issuing forth and withdrawing at a thought. Even the Elders of the Shenwu Sect have few who have attained this realm!
"You are nothing but an extension of a common mortal, while I, young master, am a true genius. I'll give you one chance to roll off the stage yourself, otherwise I'll cripple you on the spot!"
Liao Jianhua pointed his sword at Zeng Yunhai from afar, his brows and eyes exhibiting terrible confidence and disdain, not putting him in his eyes at all!
"I, I admit defeat..."
Zeng Yunhai gritted his teeth extremely reluctantly and lowered his head.
In terms of martial arts, he believed that even if he was inferior to Liao Jianhua, the gap would not be too big, but if the other's swordsmanship had attained the Transformation Realm, then he would have no possibility of winning!
"Elder Brother Zeng Yunhai actually lost?"
The many Inner Sect disciples still in midst of their battles couldn't help but look over. The strongest of the Inner Sect, Zeng Yunhai, had actually lost to Liao Jianhua, who was ranked only 40th two years ago.
"Hahaha, good, very good! Swordsmanship of the Transformation Realm, in the more than 40 generations of my Shenwu Sect's disciples, there has yet to be a single disciple who could comprehend Transformation Realm swordsmanship before their twenties. This Liao Jianhua is indeed the number one genius of Shenwu Sect!"
The Sect Leader of Shenwu Sect stroked his beard and laughed heartily, extremely appreciative of Liao Jianhua. The Elders immediately fawned and congratulated.
Pa pa pa!
Just as everyone was still immersed in shock, clear and leisurely sounds of clapping rang throughout the arena!
"What a Transformation Realm swordsmanship. I wonder if esteemed genius Liao would be interested in exchanging a bout with me?"
All eyes looked towards the resting area for Inner Sect's ranked disciples, where a black-clothed youth with an evilly confident smile hooked on the corners of his lips stepped out unhurriedly.
"Little one, who are you?"
The referee Elder asked doubtfully. He didn't have any impressions of this Inner Sect disciple.
"Outer Sect disciple, Lin Chen."
Neither servile nor overbearing, Lin Chen replied with a smile and clasped his fist in greeting.
An Outer Sect disciple? Not just the referee Elder, even the ten thousand plus disciples in the spectator stands were taken aback!
"Lin Chen? It's actually him, he has already entered the Qi Condensation Realm?"
Su Qing'er's delicate body quivered as she looked at his back figure with incredulity and uncertainty, standing up.
"An Outer Sect disciple wants to challenge Liao Jianhua who just defeated the strongest Inner Sect disciple? Little brother Lin Chen, are you serious?"
The referee Elder knitted his brows with a questioning tone.
Although not against the rules, this was undoubtedly tantamount to seeking death!
"So he's that Lin Chen?"
"Hahaha, I remember this guy now. I heard that when Su Qing'er went looking for Liao Jianhua, he was weeping and begging all the way into the Inner Sect. I cracked up laughing."
"I remember Liao Jianhua senior brother wasn't around then because he went into secluded cultivation, otherwise a slap could have killed him. Hahaha."
"He's probably desperate now. Using an egg to hit a rock, how ridiculous."
The Outer Sect disciples in the spectator stands laughed uproariously, even Liao Jianhua shook his head with an amused smile.
"I'm still wondering if you've gone mad. You don't even have the qualifications to touch the heels of this young master. Or is this woman really so important to you?"
Liao Jianhua raised a brow, looking mockingly at Su Qing'er, then at Lin Chen.
"Why don't you kneel down and call me grandfather now? Maybe I'll be magnanimous and tell you what she's like in bed. Hahaha!"
Liao Jianhua emanated wildly arrogant laughter up at the heavens!
Lin Chen remained unruffled as ever; leisurely smiling, he said:
"Times have changed. Trash like you now don't even deserve to polish my shoes, let alone you, Liao Jianhua."
A trace of chilling murderous aura emerged from beneath the still childishly tender face!
"I will torment you until even your own mother can't recognize you!"
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
