"My heart, remains the same!"
Qin Wentian’s voice was resolute. If time could be reversed, even if he didn’t know of the ill intentions of the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor and Dongsheng Ting, he would still have rejected those conditions.
To immortal kings, a thousand years was a period of time that could be likened to the blink of an eye. But to him who has only lived for less than fifty years, a thousand years was too long.
Qin Wentian also understood the intent in Dongsheng Ting’s words. Maybe Dongsheng Ting was probing him, to see if he knew when to compromise, knowing when to lower his head. If he is willing to lower in head in this matter, he would lower his head in the future again and again.
Hence to Dongsheng Ting, if Qin Wentian was willing to lower his head, he was willing to give Qin Wentian a chance, allowing him to enter the top three and take his royal father as a master. In the future, after his unrestrained nature was slowly grinded away, they would mold him to be someone who knows what loyalty and devotion is.
However, Qin Wentian said that his heart remains the same.
Qin Wentian could bow and act submissively but it has to be of his own will. If he goes against it, why has he been cultivating for all these years? To cultivators, a resolute heart was the most important. So what if he couldn’t be part of the top three?
This recruitment event to him was merely a tempering exercise. Naturally, in order to reap more benefits from this tempering, he went all out and put in all of his effort. But even so he couldn’t betray his heart just for the sake of entering the top three rankings.
The eyes of the immortal kings turned sharp as they stared at Qin Wentian. This young man defeated Hua Taixu. He was ranked last during the first round, but climbed up to third during the second round and given his outstanding performance for the final round, it wasn’t impossible to let him enter the top three. Dongsheng Ting’s words were like giving a hint to him but Qin Wentian actually rejected with no hesitation. His heart still remained the same, unchanged.
"A resolute heart, a talent worthy of nurturing. Not bad." Dongsheng Ting smiled but as to what he really thought about it in his heart, it was naturally unknown.
"The personal disciple of senior Myriad Incarnations Immortal King, Hua Taixu, is also a dragon among humans. Those samsara eyes are extremely terrifying and in the future after he gains more experience, he would surely grow even more powerful, causing enemies to sink into the samsara cycle consigning them to eternal damnation with no hope of reprieve. If my royal father meets him, he would surely like Hua Taixu." Dongsheng Ting smiled as he praised. "Although Hua Taixu is defeated, it’s still an extremely glorious fight. And given his performance in the earlier rounds, only Gusu Tianqi can be compared to him."
The spectators all understood the meaning behind Dongsheng Ting’s words. It was as though he wanted to allow Hua Taixu to be part of the top three.
And if Hua Taixu was part of the top three, Gusu Tianqi naturally would be as well. But then, who would the third person be?
The eyes of many turned to Jun Mengchen. Given the talent Jun Mengchen displayed, Dongsheng Ting would surely allow him to be part of the top three. In that case, there were no more spots remaining.
At this moment, an explosive violent sound echoed from the middle of the air above the platform. Until now, the attention of the spectators, which was on Qin Wentian and Hua Taixu, shifted towards Feather King and Zi Qingxuan. In the air, they fought so savagely and the tempo of their clashes was so quick that cracks appeared in the air. It felt like even the sky was about to collapse. Feather King summoned a winged devil phantom and transformed into a true winged devil king. His body was extremely fearsome to look at but there was no fear in Zi Qingxuan’s eyes at all. In response, the golden flames around her burned even brighter than before.
The golden blazing divine falcon constellation cascaded boundless astral light onto Zi Qingxuan. Right now, she herself was akin to a divine falcon. The winged devil fought against the divine falcon in the air, the impact of their blows causing chaotic streams of qi to ravage the area and finally, the wings of the winged devil were torn apart at the cost of heavy injuries. Zi Qingxuan managed to win this exchange of blows by a narrow margin.
The two of them floated in the air, staring sharply at each other. It was as though their battle intent was still burning.
"Bzz!" Terrifying lightning shot out as Feather King howled. Zi Qingxuan also screamed as the divine falcon behind her back grew increasingly corporeal, as it gained in strength. Numerous falcons, which were manifested by her, hurtled through the air to blast the apart the lightning before ramming straight into Feather King’s body. And finally, under the sharp talons of the divine falcon, Feather King was clutched and flung through the air, blasted off from the platform.
"It has ended. Zi Qingxuan actually defeated Feather King."
The spectators stared in the air, they didn’t expect this battle would be so intense and fascinating. Qin Wentian and his fellow sect members actually were victorious all the way with no defeats.
It was very difficult to imagine that the rankings of these three in the earlier rounds would be ranked at the back.
For this final round, they triumphed in every battle.
Among the ten participants for the top five rankings, other than Gusu Tianqi and Hua Taixu, the other three spots should belong to them.
Qin Wentian glanced at Jun Mengchen and Zi Qingxuan, before turning his gaze onto Gusu Tianqi. This tempering exercise was about to end.
"Senior brother, next I will fight with Hua Taixu and you will fight with Gusu Tianqi. How about it?" At this moment, Jun Mengchen’s eyes gleamed with an intense excitement as he stared at Qin Wentian. It was like he would only be this excited at the prospect of battle.
Jun Mengchen wanted to sweep through all the participants, ravaging them one by one.
Qin Wentian glanced at Jun Mengchen, he didn’t doubt the strength and talent of his junior brother. But...if Jun Mengchen was to fight against Hua Taixu, he didn’t think that Jun Mengchen would win.
Jun Mengchen is proficient in direct attacks, and his strength was overwhelming. With the Clear Sky Worldly Diagram being unleashed, he was like a supreme war king, killing gods and devils who dared block his path. However, what Hua Taixu was proficient in, was illusionary techniques. He wouldn’t match Jun Mengchen’s attacks with brute force and as long as you couldn’t break through his illusions, no matter how powerful your attacks are, it would all be useless.
Naturally, if Hua Taixu fought with Jun Mengchen based on his strength, Jun Mengchen would be stronger. But it was impossible for such a scenario to occur. Hua Taixu would definitely use his illusion-scape to trap him, augmented with the power of that pair of terrifying samsara eyes.
"No need to. My battle has ended, I have no interest in other fights." Hua Taixu calmly interjected, his words causing Qin Wentian to start as a look of puzzlement flashed in his eyes. He glanced over to Hua Taixu, only to see Hua Taixu smiling at him. Qin Wentian instantly understood the intentions in Hua Taixu’s heart.
To Hua Taixu as well, this was also merely a tempering exercise. In addition, Hua Taixu was the personal disciple of the Myriad Incarnations Immortal King and he had no interest to take the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor as a master. The top three rankings didn’t matter to him, and his only purpose here was to fight a good fight with Qin Wentian. That was already sufficient. With his defeat, Hua Taixu understood his weaknesses. His future cultivation path would only improve with the experience gained from this defeat.
"Hua Taixu actually doesn’t intent to continue fighting." The participants felt a little shocked by his decision. Since he didn’t want to, Qin Wentian and his fellow sect members have only one opponent left.
The top ranker of the Eastern Prefecture, Gusu Tianqi.
Gusu Tianqi glanced at the three of them before he slowly replied, "I shall fight with all of you only at the very end.
After that, Gusu Tianqi moved towards those participants he had never challenged before.
His purpose was different from Hua Taixu, he wanted to become the most dazzling existence in this immortal banquet, defeating all those he fought against.
"Let’s take a break then." Qin Wentian, Jun Mengchen and Zi Qingxuan stood on the battle platform and watched the other battles.
Mo Wen defeated Qin Ta and Ye Qianchen, and so did Ruthless. Both Qin Ta and Ye Qianchen became ranked the last two. After which, the two of them clashed and the victor was Qin Ta.
Feather King had defeated Mo Wen before. His ranking should be #6.
For last five rankings, it should be already decided. Feather King, Mo Wen, Ruthless, Qin Ta and Ye Qianchen. There wouldn’t be too many arguments about this.
Naturally this was just speculation. Dongsheng Ting was still the person who decided the ultimate ranking. Maybe he would rank Feather King in front of Zi Qingxuan but no matter what, this last round of testing is almost at its end.
Gusu Tianqi swept all of his opponents and all those ranked at the bottom five were defeated by him.
Next, he didn’t continue to battle but sat there calmly, recovering his energy.
On the battle platform, the atmosphere actually became peaceful and quiet.
In fact, even the atmosphere at the immortal banquet turned silent.
Everyone knew it was about to be concluded.
"Qingxuan, can you win against Gusu Tianqi?" Qin Wentian transmitted his voice and asked. Zi Qingxuan had saw Gusu Tianqi’s battles earlier and should be able to have a good gauge of his strength.
"I will lose." Zi Qingxuan didn’t hide anything and replied directly. It was already not that easy for her to win against Feather King and Gusu Tianqi was on a higher level, able to erupt forth with monstrous strength. If she was to fight with Gusu Tianqi, it would without a doubt, end in her defeat.
"In that case do you still want to continue fighting?" Qin Wentian asked again.
"No need, although I have no fate with the top three, I have already reaped a lot of benefits. My tempering exercise shall come to an end here. Why must I seek another defeat?" Zi Qingxuan spoke vividly and honestly. It wasn’t that she didn’t have the courage but in her perspective, there was no longer any need for her to do so.
"Who else still wishes to continue battling? If everyone feels they had enough, the rankings can be established already." At this moment, Dongsheng Ting’s eyes flickered with a sharpness as he spoke.
"If we all stop fighting now, who will be currently rank as the top three?" Jun Mengchen glanced at Dongsheng Ting as he asked.
"Gusu Tianqi was ranked #1 and ranked #2 in the earlier rounds and has five victories for this last round, with no one daring to initiate a challenge against him. He will be ranked #1."
"Hua Taixu was also ranked #1 and #2 in the earlier rounds, and although he has a defeat this round, that loss isn’t a representative of his strength. He will be ranked #2."
"Jun Mengchen, although your performances wasn’t that great in the first two rounds, you won all your fights in the last round overwhelmingly. You will be ranked #3."
"Qin Wentian, ranked last during the first round. However, he defeated Hua Taixu and has no losses during this last round. He will be ranked #4."
Dongsheng Ting spoke halfway before he was interrupted by Jun Mengchen. "For the second round, my senior brother was ranked #3 and his performance during this final round isn’t in anyway inferior to me. Why is it that I’m part of the top three and he is not?"
"Also, if I and my senior brother can defeat Gusu Tianqi, what will the ranking be?"
"The final rankings are based on overall strength. The talent and unique physique you exhibited is enough to shock all of us. If you can defeat Gusu Tianqi and Hua Taixu, you will naturally be ranked #1 but if you are defeated, your ranking at #3 wouldn’t change. As for Qin Wentian, even if he defeated Gusu Tianqi and is ranked #1 for this final round, under the overall results, his ranking still wouldn’t be able to compare to Gusu Tianqi or Hua Taixu."
Dongsheng Ting’s words were extremely obvious. He was willing to allow Jun Mengchen to be part of the top three but there was no way Qin Wentian can climb further, he has already ‘locked-in’ the #4 ranking.
The intentional targeting for the first two rounds have finally shown their effect, blocking Qin Wentian from being part of the top three!
"My heart, remains the same!"
Qin Wentian’s voice was resolute. If time could be reversed, even if he didn’t know of the ill intentions of the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor and Dongsheng Ting, he would still have rejected those conditions.
To immortal kings, a thousand years was a period of time that could be likened to the blink of an eye. But to him who has only lived for less than fifty years, a thousand years was too long.
Qin Wentian also understood the intent in Dongsheng Ting’s words. Maybe Dongsheng Ting was probing him, to see if he knew when to compromise, knowing when to lower his head. If he is willing to lower in head in this matter, he would lower his head in the future again and again.
Hence to Dongsheng Ting, if Qin Wentian was willing to lower his head, he was willing to give Qin Wentian a chance, allowing him to enter the top three and take his royal father as a master. In the future, after his unrestrained nature was slowly grinded away, they would mold him to be someone who knows what loyalty and devotion is.
However, Qin Wentian said that his heart remains the same.
Qin Wentian could bow and act submissively but it has to be of his own will. If he goes against it, why has he been cultivating for all these years? To cultivators, a resolute heart was the most important. So what if he couldn’t be part of the top three?
This recruitment event to him was merely a tempering exercise. Naturally, in order to reap more benefits from this tempering, he went all out and put in all of his effort. But even so he couldn’t betray his heart just for the sake of entering the top three rankings.
The eyes of the immortal kings turned sharp as they stared at Qin Wentian. This young man defeated Hua Taixu. He was ranked last during the first round, but climbed up to third during the second round and given his outstanding performance for the final round, it wasn’t impossible to let him enter the top three. Dongsheng Ting’s words were like giving a hint to him but Qin Wentian actually rejected with no hesitation. His heart still remained the same, unchanged.
"A resolute heart, a talent worthy of nurturing. Not bad." Dongsheng Ting smiled but as to what he really thought about it in his heart, it was naturally unknown.
"The personal disciple of senior Myriad Incarnations Immortal King, Hua Taixu, is also a dragon among humans. Those samsara eyes are extremely terrifying and in the future after he gains more experience, he would surely grow even more powerful, causing enemies to sink into the samsara cycle consigning them to eternal damnation with no hope of reprieve. If my royal father meets him, he would surely like Hua Taixu." Dongsheng Ting smiled as he praised. "Although Hua Taixu is defeated, it’s still an extremely glorious fight. And given his performance in the earlier rounds, only Gusu Tianqi can be compared to him."
The spectators all understood the meaning behind Dongsheng Ting’s words. It was as though he wanted to allow Hua Taixu to be part of the top three.
And if Hua Taixu was part of the top three, Gusu Tianqi naturally would be as well. But then, who would the third person be?
The eyes of many turned to Jun Mengchen. Given the talent Jun Mengchen displayed, Dongsheng Ting would surely allow him to be part of the top three. In that case, there were no more spots remaining.
At this moment, an explosive violent sound echoed from the middle of the air above the platform. Until now, the attention of the spectators, which was on Qin Wentian and Hua Taixu, shifted towards Feather King and Zi Qingxuan. In the air, they fought so savagely and the tempo of their clashes was so quick that cracks appeared in the air. It felt like even the sky was about to collapse. Feather King summoned a winged devil phantom and transformed into a true winged devil king. His body was extremely fearsome to look at but there was no fear in Zi Qingxuan’s eyes at all. In response, the golden flames around her burned even brighter than before.
The golden blazing divine falcon constellation cascaded boundless astral light onto Zi Qingxuan. Right now, she herself was akin to a divine falcon. The winged devil fought against the divine falcon in the air, the impact of their blows causing chaotic streams of qi to ravage the area and finally, the wings of the winged devil were torn apart at the cost of heavy injuries. Zi Qingxuan managed to win this exchange of blows by a narrow margin.
The two of them floated in the air, staring sharply at each other. It was as though their battle intent was still burning.
"Bzz!" Terrifying lightning shot out as Feather King howled. Zi Qingxuan also screamed as the divine falcon behind her back grew increasingly corporeal, as it gained in strength. Numerous falcons, which were manifested by her, hurtled through the air to blast the apart the lightning before ramming straight into Feather King’s body. And finally, under the sharp talons of the divine falcon, Feather King was clutched and flung through the air, blasted off from the platform.
"It has ended. Zi Qingxuan actually defeated Feather King."
The spectators stared in the air, they didn’t expect this battle would be so intense and fascinating. Qin Wentian and his fellow sect members actually were victorious all the way with no defeats.
It was very difficult to imagine that the rankings of these three in the earlier rounds would be ranked at the back.
For this final round, they triumphed in every battle.
Among the ten participants for the top five rankings, other than Gusu Tianqi and Hua Taixu, the other three spots should belong to them.
Qin Wentian glanced at Jun Mengchen and Zi Qingxuan, before turning his gaze onto Gusu Tianqi. This tempering exercise was about to end.
"Senior brother, next I will fight with Hua Taixu and you will fight with Gusu Tianqi. How about it?" At this moment, Jun Mengchen’s eyes gleamed with an intense excitement as he stared at Qin Wentian. It was like he would only be this excited at the prospect of battle.
Jun Mengchen wanted to sweep through all the participants, ravaging them one by one.
Qin Wentian glanced at Jun Mengchen, he didn’t doubt the strength and talent of his junior brother. But...if Jun Mengchen was to fight against Hua Taixu, he didn’t think that Jun Mengchen would win.
Jun Mengchen is proficient in direct attacks, and his strength was overwhelming. With the Clear Sky Worldly Diagram being unleashed, he was like a supreme war king, killing gods and devils who dared block his path. However, what Hua Taixu was proficient in, was illusionary techniques. He wouldn’t match Jun Mengchen’s attacks with brute force and as long as you couldn’t break through his illusions, no matter how powerful your attacks are, it would all be useless.
Naturally, if Hua Taixu fought with Jun Mengchen based on his strength, Jun Mengchen would be stronger. But it was impossible for such a scenario to occur. Hua Taixu would definitely use his illusion-scape to trap him, augmented with the power of that pair of terrifying samsara eyes.
"No need to. My battle has ended, I have no interest in other fights." Hua Taixu calmly interjected, his words causing Qin Wentian to start as a look of puzzlement flashed in his eyes. He glanced over to Hua Taixu, only to see Hua Taixu smiling at him. Qin Wentian instantly understood the intentions in Hua Taixu’s heart.
To Hua Taixu as well, this was also merely a tempering exercise. In addition, Hua Taixu was the personal disciple of the Myriad Incarnations Immortal King and he had no interest to take the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor as a master. The top three rankings didn’t matter to him, and his only purpose here was to fight a good fight with Qin Wentian. That was already sufficient. With his defeat, Hua Taixu understood his weaknesses. His future cultivation path would only improve with the experience gained from this defeat.
"Hua Taixu actually doesn’t intent to continue fighting." The participants felt a little shocked by his decision. Since he didn’t want to, Qin Wentian and his fellow sect members have only one opponent left.
The top ranker of the Eastern Prefecture, Gusu Tianqi.
Gusu Tianqi glanced at the three of them before he slowly replied, "I shall fight with all of you only at the very end.
After that, Gusu Tianqi moved towards those participants he had never challenged before.
His purpose was different from Hua Taixu, he wanted to become the most dazzling existence in this immortal banquet, defeating all those he fought against.
"Let’s take a break then." Qin Wentian, Jun Mengchen and Zi Qingxuan stood on the battle platform and watched the other battles.
Mo Wen defeated Qin Ta and Ye Qianchen, and so did Ruthless. Both Qin Ta and Ye Qianchen became ranked the last two. After which, the two of them clashed and the victor was Qin Ta.
Feather King had defeated Mo Wen before. His ranking should be #6.
For last five rankings, it should be already decided. Feather King, Mo Wen, Ruthless, Qin Ta and Ye Qianchen. There wouldn’t be too many arguments about this.
Naturally this was just speculation. Dongsheng Ting was still the person who decided the ultimate ranking. Maybe he would rank Feather King in front of Zi Qingxuan but no matter what, this last round of testing is almost at its end.
Gusu Tianqi swept all of his opponents and all those ranked at the bottom five were defeated by him.
Next, he didn’t continue to battle but sat there calmly, recovering his energy.
On the battle platform, the atmosphere actually became peaceful and quiet.
In fact, even the atmosphere at the immortal banquet turned silent.
Everyone knew it was about to be concluded.
"Qingxuan, can you win against Gusu Tianqi?" Qin Wentian transmitted his voice and asked. Zi Qingxuan had saw Gusu Tianqi’s battles earlier and should be able to have a good gauge of his strength.
"I will lose." Zi Qingxuan didn’t hide anything and replied directly. It was already not that easy for her to win against Feather King and Gusu Tianqi was on a higher level, able to erupt forth with monstrous strength. If she was to fight with Gusu Tianqi, it would without a doubt, end in her defeat.
"In that case do you still want to continue fighting?" Qin Wentian asked again.
"No need, although I have no fate with the top three, I have already reaped a lot of benefits. My tempering exercise shall come to an end here. Why must I seek another defeat?" Zi Qingxuan spoke vividly and honestly. It wasn’t that she didn’t have the courage but in her perspective, there was no longer any need for her to do so.
"Who else still wishes to continue battling? If everyone feels they had enough, the rankings can be established already." At this moment, Dongsheng Ting’s eyes flickered with a sharpness as he spoke.
"If we all stop fighting now, who will be currently rank as the top three?" Jun Mengchen glanced at Dongsheng Ting as he asked.
"Gusu Tianqi was ranked #1 and ranked #2 in the earlier rounds and has five victories for this last round, with no one daring to initiate a challenge against him. He will be ranked #1."
"Hua Taixu was also ranked #1 and #2 in the earlier rounds, and although he has a defeat this round, that loss isn’t a representative of his strength. He will be ranked #2."
"Jun Mengchen, although your performances wasn’t that great in the first two rounds, you won all your fights in the last round overwhelmingly. You will be ranked #3."
"Qin Wentian, ranked last during the first round. However, he defeated Hua Taixu and has no losses during this last round. He will be ranked #4."
Dongsheng Ting spoke halfway before he was interrupted by Jun Mengchen. "For the second round, my senior brother was ranked #3 and his performance during this final round isn’t in anyway inferior to me. Why is it that I’m part of the top three and he is not?"
"Also, if I and my senior brother can defeat Gusu Tianqi, what will the ranking be?"
"The final rankings are based on overall strength. The talent and unique physique you exhibited is enough to shock all of us. If you can defeat Gusu Tianqi and Hua Taixu, you will naturally be ranked #1 but if you are defeated, your ranking at #3 wouldn’t change. As for Qin Wentian, even if he defeated Gusu Tianqi and is ranked #1 for this final round, under the overall results, his ranking still wouldn’t be able to compare to Gusu Tianqi or Hua Taixu."
Dongsheng Ting’s words were extremely obvious. He was willing to allow Jun Mengchen to be part of the top three but there was no way Qin Wentian can climb further, he has already ‘locked-in’ the #4 ranking.
The intentional targeting for the first two rounds have finally shown their effect, blocking Qin Wentian from being part of the top three!
