"The way of formation arrays is profound and extensive. I refuse to believe she can win again!"
The top-tier formation master facing off against Mo Tianxiao consoled himself inwardly.
However, as time passed, the formation masters of the Supreme Dao Sect realized that today would be a nightmare for their sect.
"Four Symbols Sealing Array! Seven Stars Sword Array! Nine Dragon Vein Array?!"
"I... have been defeated..."
After setting up three top-tier formation arrays, the Supreme Dao Sect's master was left completely subdued.
"The Righteous Spirit Sect wins again!"
"Holy crap! Elder Nan is unmatched under heaven!"
"This Li has never seen such a prodigy. Today, I have truly gained new insight!"
Without exception, based on Mo Tianxiao's dominance over the Supreme Dao Sect's formation masters, the other disciples of the Righteous Spirit Sect also performed strongly, securing another victory in the formation competition.
With this, the scores lost by the Righteous Spirit Sect in the earlier combat competition were finally tied up.
Zhou Muxi, who had looked somewhat worried earlier, now tensed up with anticipation. Whether the Righteous Spirit Sect could claim victory would come down to the final round.
The atmosphere on the Righteous Spirit Sect's side was electric, and the crowd was brimming with excitement. Could the Supreme Dao Sect, which had dominated for so many editions, finally see its championship throne shift?
"Where on earth did the Righteous Spirit Sect dig up such a freak?!"
Zhang Wudao clenched his fists tightly, his expression dark and grim. Was the Supreme Dao Sect, which had held the righteous championship for multiple consecutive editions, about to have its streak broken here?
He desperately wanted to pause the competition and find a way to halt the Righteous Spirit Sect's momentum, but he couldn't find a good excuse.
With over a million spectators watching, if the Supreme Dao Sect resorted to any underhanded tactics, even if they managed to keep the title of Righteous Champion, their reputation would surely take a heavy hit.
"The final round of the Righteous Champion competition! Contestants for artifact refining, please step forward!"
As the presiding elder finished speaking, the crowd, as well as the members of the Supreme Dao Sect, all turned their eyes to Mo Tianxiao in the Righteous Spirit Sect's camp.
Under the eager gazes of countless cultivators, Mo Tianxiao slowly rose from her seat once again.
"As expected! Since Elder Nan is so skilled in alchemy, talismans, and formations, she must not be weak in artifact refining either!"
"It's rare to see a woman like Elder Nan take up artifact refining."
"The Righteous Spirit Sect is incredibly fortunate to have such an extraordinary woman. With Elder Nan's talents, her future achievements will surely make her renowned throughout the entire Xuanhuang Realm."
When the contestants from both sides took to the competition stage, the four members of the Supreme Dao Sect were visibly downtrodden and tense after losing three consecutive rounds, accentuated by Mo Tianxiao's crushing defeat of their lead elder.
"Elder Nan, please go easy on us," the Supreme Dao Sect's top artifact refiner said with a helpless smile and a tone of flattery.
He didn't think he was any different from the Supreme Dao Sect's other top-tier deputy-profession elders. He had no advantages.
Mo Tianxiao just smiled lightly and said, "Let's begin."
With that, the synergistic fire of heaven and earth, merged from three sources, ignited once again. Alchemy required fire, and so did artifact refining. Such heavenly fire was a godsend for the craft.
Even in terms of equipment, the Supreme Dao Sect's top artifact refiner was already at a disadvantage.
Under the watchful eyes of over a million spectators, the high-spirited Righteous Spirit Sect faced the demoralized Supreme Dao Sect. As expected, they secured victory without any surprises.
Once again, Mo Tianxiao crushed the competition by forging a top-tier dao-grade weapon and claiming victory.
"They won! They really won! The Righteous Spirit Sect has won!"
"The Righteous Spirit Sect truly snatched the Righteous Champion title from the Supreme Dao Sect!"
"This is karma—the Supreme Dao Sect took the title from the Righteous Spirit Sect back then and held it for several editions. Now it's returned to the Righteous Spirit Sect. Who knows how long they'll hold it."
"With Elder Nan here, I doubt the Supreme Dao Sect will have a chance next edition either."
"That's not certain. What if Elder Nan advances to become a Saint-level alchemist, formation master, talisman master, or artifact refiner in two hundred years? Then she'd be disqualified from competing."
"That's easier said than done. If that happens, Elder Nan would become the most all-round cultivator in the Xuanhuang Realm."
Amid the buzz of the crowd, Zhang Wudao suppressed his various emotions and forced a smile. "Congratulations to the Righteous Spirit Sect for winning this edition's Righteous Champion title!"
Zhou Muxi, radiant with triumph, clasped her hands toward the audience and the Supreme Dao Sect. "You flatter us."
"To have a genius like Elder Nan is truly rare for the Righteous Spirit Sect. It's a pity that I, Zhang, had never heard of the legendary talent Nan Mo before, or I would have tried to recruit her into the Supreme Dao Sect early on," Zhang Wudao said with a mix of regret and reluctance.
He lamented that while heroes were as numerous as carp crossing the river, not all could join his Supreme Dao Sect.
With the Righteous Champion decided, the remaining participating factions had to compete for their rankings. Since the Righteous Spirit Sect had already secured the top spot, they could relax and watch until the end before leaving.
"Sis Muxi, how are you going to thank me?" Mo Tianxiao picked up her teacup, blew on it gently, and asked Zhou Muxi with a teasing tone.
Zhou Muxi broke into a rare smile. "Dear sister, I underestimated this alliance of mine. It seems your background is even more mysterious than I imagined."
She studied Mo Tianxiao carefully, as if trying to see through her alluring exterior. The original plan in her mind began to shift slightly.
Originally, she had considered treating Mo Tianxiao and her companions as temporary allies, to be abandoned after use.
But now, it seemed this alliance was full of potential and worth maintaining for the long term, especially for the upcoming plan to seize control of the Blood God Palace, which required their help.
"You flatter me, sister. I just happen to know a bit more. As for our identities, before becoming elders of the Righteous Spirit Sect, we were nothing more than a group of wandering cultivators, hiding and surviving with no one to rely on."
As long as her true origins weren't exposed, claiming to be a wandering cultivator was perfectly fine.
Mo Tianxiao had long perfected the art of having a face as thick as a city wall. No matter what she said, there wasn't a single crack in her facade.
Yun Sangyi, however, felt embarrassed listening on the sidelines.
These three—one was from the Chaotic Star Sea with close ties to a quasi-emperor-level powerhouse, one was a princess from the Ten Thousand Mountains and a quasi-emperor's daughter, and the other was the young master of a demonic sect, protected by a quasi-emperor master.
If they could be considered wandering cultivators, then she, as the eldest daughter of the Yun family from the Western Domain, might as well be a beggar.
Zhou Muxi clearly didn't believe Mo Tianxiao either, but she didn't care who she really was. As long as she could help, that was enough.
"When this event is over, I plan to break through to the Saint King realm. After I finish my secluded cultivation, I'll proceed with the next phase of the plan. That's when I'll truly need your help, sister."
Mo Tianxiao set down her teacup. "Same here—I'll need to go into secluded cultivation for a while when I get back. Who knows, I might have quite a few things I need your help with too, sister."
Zhou Muxi looked at Mo Tianxiao with a meaningful gaze, extending her fair hand. "Since that's the case, let's have a pleasant cooperation."
"Pleasant cooperation!"
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.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
