Chapter 311 - Always the Limelight
On the square-shaped dojo, Jianghuang sat in the leading spot, while Fang Jian sat on his left. On his right sat a middle-aged man wearing a dark expression, similar to a poisonous snake, who turned out to be the envoy of the Feiyang Sacred Area!
Behind them sat the authorities of Jianghuang City.
In the center of the dojo stood thousands of disciples, who all came from various kingdoms and sects within the lower district. Every single one of them possessed remarkable strength and auras, worthy to be referred to as super geniuses.
Qin Nan stood among them, and quickly scanned the crowd with his left eye of the Divine God of Battle. Following this, his expression turned excited.
“Interesting, there are thirteen people with Xuan ranked Martial Spirits. Besides that, several of them have reached the peak of the Martial Emperor Realm!”
The selection of the two Sacred Areas had no restriction on one’s cultivation. Even Martial Ancestor Realm and Martial Dominator Realm experts were allowed to take part in it. However, these experts would be participating in different trials.
Initially, he did not have high hopes in the selection after meeting Leng Jianxiong and Hong Fu. However, he could feel his blood turning impatient after seeing the geniuses at the scene.
That was his battling blood turning excited!
Having a chance to compete against geniuses from different places, and emerge victorious in the end!
“The first round will be a test of strength, and the second one will be focusing on your Martial Spirits. The third round is a test of sword drawing.” Jianghuang said in a clear tone, “Geniuses of the lower district, the two Sacred Areas have assigned twenty assessing officers here; you are allowed to pick any officer and start the trial!”
After his speech, twenty figures of various ages and both genders appeared from Jianghuang City, who turned out to be the assessing officers from the Feiyang Sacred Area and the Qinglong Sacred Area.
The atmosphere of the scene was lightened up at that instant.
The participating geniuses could no longer withhold their excitement, as they began to take part in the trial.
With a flicker, Qin Nan made his move to take part in the first round of the trial.
At that instant, a rare occurrence took place, as the Inner Core inside his body vibrated vigorously, as if it was being awakened.
“Shit!”
Qin Nan’s face turned pale.
His Inner Core had now merged with the Chaos Qi. If it were to evolve here, it would surely trigger the Tribulation of the Martial Emperor Realm, which would definitely stop the selection from taking place.
“What great timing!”
Qin Nan was left speechless.
Why couldn’t my Inner Core be awakened earlier or later, but rather at such a crucial timing?
While he was lost in his thoughts, Fang Jian immediately shouted after being aware of Qin Nan’s strange behavior, “In the name of the envoy of the Qinglong Sacred Area, I now declare Qin Nan to advance to the next round, without the need to participate in the first round!”
An uproar took place among the crowd after hearing the words.
“What? Advance to the next round straight away? Who is this Qin Nan?”
“Tsk tsk, isn’t this Qin Nan the one who was being surrounded by the Trading Alliance a while ago? I was told that this guy possessed a formidable background. Even the envoy of the Qinglong Sacred Area was utterly respectful toward him!”
“Meh, one who advances by abusing his relationship, not a big deal!”
“That’s right!”
“……”
Many of the geniuses wore unpleasant expressions.
Although ordinary cultivators would normally be respectful toward those who possessed a formidable background, these people were considered the top geniuses in their own countries and sects respectively. Therefore, they had their own pride, and possessed a hint of antipathy toward those who planned to abuse their background.
Qin Nan remained expressionless; although he was not fond of abusing his relationship, under such circumstances, there was no way he could participate in the trial. His first priority now was to stabilize his Inner Core. Otherwise, everyone here would not be able to take part in the selection!
Without any hesitation, he immediately came to Fang Jian’s side and sat down with his eyes closed.
“Tsk tsk, Brother Fang, so this is the genius you are fond of? Why is his cultivation only at the half-Martial Emperor Realm?” At that instant, the middle-aged envoy of the Feiyang Sacred Area smirked and spoke in a mocking tone.
Fang Jian’s eyes flickered with a confused look.
What the hell was this guy on about?
Was he trying to mock Qin Nan?
Don’t you know that one of the Peak Leaders of your Feiyang Sacred Area is one of the pillars supporting Qin Nan from behind?
The middle-aged envoy turned furious after his presence was ignored, mainly because he was jealous of Fang Jian’s luck. How did he earn the favor of the first Peak Leader of the Qinglong Sacred Area while he was still unrecognized, despite the fact that they were both envoys?
The middle-aged envoy withheld the anger in his heart, whose eyes flickered as a sudden thought came up to him, before he spoke with a loud voice, “In the name of the envoy of the Feiyang Sacred Area, I now declare Leng Aotian to advance to the next round without the need to participate in the first round!”
The words served as a grenade to the crowd.
The envoys had never declared someone to advance to the next round straight away in the previous years’ selection. However, the two envoys had done so today.
That being said, the reaction of the crowd was totally different, as their faces were filled with astonishment.
“What? Leng Aotian is also taking part in the selection?”
“Damn it, with him participating, how would I be able to come first?”
“Crap, how unlucky; I did not expect him to come out of seclusion this year!”
“……”
The expressions of the geniuses turned exceedingly unpleasant, as if they had encountered a great foe.
Apart from them, even the cultivators of Jianghuang City was startled, before turning excited.
They had not expected Leng Aotian to take part in the selection.
Who was Leng Aotian?
Leng Aotian was Leng Jianxiong’s brother, who possessed a fifth-grade Xuan ranked Martial Spirit. Last year, he had also taken part in the selection of the two Sacred Areas, and ended up being noticed by the two Sacred Areas, allowing his name to be made known to the world. However, another terrifying genius had suddenly appeared last year, who ended up outclassing Leng Aotian. In the end, Leng Aotian chose to reject the offer of the two Sacred Areas and returned to his sect to cultivate in seclusion.
A year later, and Leng Aotian had decided to participate in the selection once again!
On the spectating platform, the authorities were startled, as their faces were filled with a hint of anticipation.
Jianghuang’s eyes flickered with an astonished expression as he exclaimed, “What a surprise to know that your Feiyang Sacred Area has managed to draw Leng Aotian to your side. By the way, where is Leng Aotian? I’ve yet to see him among the participants.”
“Jianghuang, Leng Aotian is still in the city. He had no intention of participating since the selection is quite boring in his eyes.” The envoy of the Feiyang Sacred Area spoke with a prideful expression, who switched his tone as he glanced at Fang Jian, “And since Brother Fang has picked a disciple to advance to the next round, I’ve asked Leng Aotian to come over, so he could compete with Qin Nan in the third round of sword drawing, and we shall see who has the greater talent.”
Jianghuang frowned his eyebrows slightly.
Even though he was not too fond of Leng Aotian, he could not help but admit that he had a great talent among the geniuses of the lower district, a super genius with a bright future ahead of him.
Leaving aside Qin Nan’s Martial Spirit, his cultivation of the half-Martial Emperor Realm alone would result in a disadvantage in the third round.
Although Jianghuang had the urge to say something, he had no idea how he could approach the matter, as there would always be competition between the Feiyang Sacred Area and the Qinglong Sacred Area while fighting over great talents every year. Now that the two envoys had picked their own candidates, it was reasonable for the two to compete against each other, in order to see which one of them would turn out to be the greater talent.
On the other hand, Fang Jian wore a complicated expression.
Was this guy’s brain kicked by a donkey[1]?
Why would you let Leng Aotian compete with Qin Nan?
Fang Jian then recollected the scene last year, in which Leng Aotian was outmatched by the genius. Poor guy, being forced to face Qin Nan this year. The thought caused Fang Jian’s lip to twitch uncontrollably.
Translator: XephiZ
Editor: DOCuinn
[1] TL Note: A saying which means “Are you out of your mind?”