Chapter 455: The Slowest Still Stay in the Front Row

The specifics were actually quite interesting.

After the Void-Return cultivator left behind by the Heaven's Mechanism Palace broke through the encirclement by burning his Primordial Spirit and fled, the competitors who had just been united in defense instantly turned on each other.

Yet everyone immediately targeted the strongest and loudest cultivator from the Long Xiang Qing Tian Sect, the body cultivator.

Even though that Long Xiang Qing Tian Sect body cultivator was slightly stronger than the others, he ultimately could not withstand their combined assault.

The pre-prepared Great Teleportation Talisman suddenly lost its efficacy—someone had set up a forbidden array to seal the sky and lock the void specifically against it.

Even his final curses were drowned out by the torrent of divine techniques.

Fuck!

It's definitely those bastards from the Taishang Dao Sect!

Because he understood the style of those Taishang Dao Sect old schemers, he quickly realized this.

This wasn't just targeting the Great Teleportation Talisman—it was also meant to prevent Void-Return cultivators from escaping…

But the power unleashed by the Void-Return's burning of his Primordial Spirit's essence was too great, so the array failed to restrain that weak Void-Return—and ended up trapping him instead.

The more he thought about it, the more he fumed, his mind exploding with a torrent of curses.

Fuck you, you old schemer!

I fucking!

You fucking coward!

Though unwilling beyond measure, the body cultivator, lacking further trump cards, was eliminated.

【You have been eliminated, ranking pending (Soul Transformation).】

Since he had two points, his final ranking would be determined after the Grand Competition ended, based on the time of elimination and others' point totals.

After the group eliminated the body cultivator, they immediately turned their weapons toward the sword cultivator.

Of course, the sword cultivator realized this too, and the instant he seized the body cultivator's points, he merged with his sword-light and broke outward.

Come on, even that thick-skinned muscle beast got killed—how could he possibly hold out?

But as a heavenly prodigy of the Sword Sect, his sword-dashing speed was unmatched in the world!

Even without the Great Teleportation Talisman, his escape speed was nothing like that brainless tank could match.

Yet as he fled, trouble arose—the female cultivator from Ling Yin Fang instantly disrupted his spiritual perception with her qin melodies.

A ship-mounted spiritual energy cannon, arriving from afar, tore a searing arc through the void and cut off his escape path; in perfect coordination, it drove him straight into a pre-set pill array.

Hundreds of pills hidden within the void exploded simultaneously.

Weakening magic power, corrupting the Primordial Spirit, withering the flesh…

The sword cultivator felt dizzy and blinded, his ears ringing and tongue parched; his Primordial Spirit, clutching the longsword, dimmed to near darkness, and his thoughts slowed by a thousandfold.

Just like before, he too was swallowed by the torrent of divine techniques.

Fuck!

It's all those damn bastards from the Taishang Dao Sect's fault!

Amid the same suffocating frustration and fury toward the Taishang Dao Sect's old schemers, the sword cultivator—the second strongest—was also eliminated.

【You have been eliminated, ranking pending (Soul Transformation).】

The chain of events left the local cultivators within the city utterly bewildered.

First, a Void-Return Immortal was shattered by a group of Soul Transformation Immortals, his body destroyed, leaving only his Primordial Spirit to flee.

That alone was shocking enough.

Then, these Soul Transformation Immortals—who they'd assumed were allies—turned on each other and killed two within moments…

Why?

The local cultivators in the city stared blankly.

They toiled diligently in cultivation just to advance one step further; they rarely even dared fight peers, lest the healing drain too many resources…

Are these Soul Transformation Immortals really that reckless?

Fighting to the death within their own realm is one thing—but they went so far as to attack Void-Return Immortals!

To today's cultivators in this world, this was utterly incomprehensible.

Of course, the participants of the Xian Sect Grand Competition had no intention of explaining…

After jointly eliminating the body cultivator and the sword cultivator, the atmosphere among the remaining competitors turned tense—no one dared strike first.

After all, judging from their earlier displays, everyone's strength was roughly equal.

Plus, there was still one… or several old schemers from the Taishang Dao Sect hiding in the shadows; acting now might just let them snatch the victory.

But this was a rare chance to gather points with so many competitors present—no one wanted to leave lightly…

By the final round of safe zone updates, Lin Changsheng, Chang Xiao, Wu Zhongfeng, and others would be no easy opponents.

The few strongest remaining watched each other warily.

At this moment, Ye Zhiwei, observing from outside the city, noticed the group's prolonged inaction—and a strange unease spread through her heart.

'No, I can't stay here any longer.'

Having made her decision, she immediately turned toward the direction Chi Jiuyu had dashed off in, preparing to warn her.

After all, back outside the safe zone, Chi Jiuyu had warned her when she fled.

But as she frowned and looked, the spot where Chi Jiuyu had rushed out was empty—not a soul in sight.

Ye Zhiwei froze.

She turned again—Zhao Ruohan's position was gone too.

The two of them had fled immediately after attacking the Void-Return!

…

…

In the city, beneath the city lord's mansion.

Through the Qianyuan Immortal Unextinguished Yu Qing Xuan Guang, the two finally arrived at a hidden storage chamber.

The walls were inlaid with glowing Spirit Pearls, and the miasmic second-grade spiritual energy permeated the heart and soul.

Bai Xi, fine and delicate, with faint bamboo fiber patterns, three point two inches long and one point two inches wide, stacked into a small mountain of talisman skins.

Inside a three-foot-square box carved from a single piece of spirit jade, piled layer upon layer were brilliant, translucent Blood Essences.

Along rows of spirit wood shelves stretching endlessly forward, countless thumb-sized jade vials held filled with pale yellow Dao Marrow.

Talisman skins are made from human flesh processed into paper.

Blood Essences are produced by practicing the Spirit Blood Method, cultivating one's body to nourish Blood Feeding Worms until their tails fully crystallize, yielding one per cycle.

Dao Marrow is the rarest: one must practice the Banquet Dao Marrow Scripture, carve flesh from bone, crush bones to extract marrow, refill the void with spirit wood, stitch the wound with silkworm silk from cold moths, then apply the marrow-squeezing technique again.

Only high-quality materials can undergo the marrow-squeezing method five times before being fully depleted.

"..."

So many talisman skins, Blood Essences, Dao Marrow in this storage chamber... countless lives must have been lost for them.

Perhaps sensing his inner turmoil, Wu Zhongfeng said coolly, "The Ancestor will not ignore this."

Zhao Ruoming paused, then smiled bitterly. "I know."

He certainly knew they wouldn't ignore it.

But he still wanted to do something himself.

"Remember this: remember what you've seen."

"..." Zhao Ruoming fell silent for two seconds, then changed the subject: "It seems there are still your fellow sect members outside?"

In that fleeting glance, he had spotted another Heaven-Touch cultivator.

Though not as flamboyant as Wu Zhongfeng, nor as powerful...

"Mm."

"Is Lin Changsheng really that strong?"

"Very strong." This time, his tone was unusually serious.

Zhao Ruoming fell silent.

Wu Zhongfeng was the strongest Heaven-Touch cultivator among his peers that Zhao Ruoming had ever met.

Even he thought Lin Changsheng was strong...

Just how high a rank could he possibly achieve in this Xian Sect Grand Competition?

【Name: Zhao Ruoming】

【Age: 25】

【Realm: Soul Transformation Early Stage】

【Current System Load: Amplification Light Type I】

【Current Points: 0】

【Evaluation: It's Not a Sin for a Man to Cry】

He still had zero points!

As they spoke,

the two passed through the rows of shelves filled with Dao Marrow and reached the depths of the storage chamber.

They crossed a boundary layer.

Before them hung a phantom sun against a deep indigo sky, the spiritual energy intensified by several orders of magnitude, mingled with the fragrances of countless spirit herbs.

Stretching before them was a lush peach grove, each fruit as large as a human head, its pink-white skin marked with faint, shimmering golden patterns.

Beneath the trees grew ten-thousand-year snow ginseng shaped like dragon horns, and spirit lingzhi mushrooms covered in dragon scales.

Among clusters of shrubs, thumb-sized crimson spirit fruits glowed like jewels.

In the center of the grove lay a spirit pool formed from condensed spiritual energy, within which floated crystalline formations rich with spiritual essence.

Clearly, it was a Secret Realm!

"As agreed: seven for me, three for you."

"Fine..."

Zhao Ruoming had already prepared himself for the possibility that He would turn on him—claiming all the spirit items and harvesting his points.

Thus, a thread of his spirit remained tightly bound to the array control he had seized via the array virus, ready to activate the Grand Teleportation Talisman at any moment.

The miniature reconnaissance drones he had previously deployed had already confirmed: the anti-flight and space-locking measures of this underground storage chamber could not restrain the latest Grand Teleportation Talisman.

Hmm...

He hadn't expected He'd actually keep his word.

"Next time, I won't hold back," Wu Zhongfeng said coolly.

"Neither will I," Zhao Ruoming replied seriously.

Though not truly an opponent...

Still, he must give it his all.

Hearing this, Wu Zhongfeng merely smiled faintly, illuminating the entire chamber; the entire peach grove seemed to brighten because of His smile.

"I'll be waiting."

As the son of an Immortal, Zhao Ruoming's innate talent was no lesser than anyone else's.

What he lacked now was merely the accumulation of time.

As his words faded, a tiny black hole appeared above the peach grove, slowly opening, swallowing all spiritual energy and spirit herbs alike.

The supreme technique of the Hehuan Sect—One Thought, Infinite Worlds.

Zhao Ruoming is the son of an immortal, and Chi Jiuyu, who defeated him in the Golden Core division of the last Xian Sect Grand Competition, is the youngest Soul Transformation in history.

But he has confidence—he is no worse than anyone else!

At this moment, Zhao Ruoming also moved to collect some spiritual items, gazing into the distance with a thoughtful expression.

Speaking of which…

All people hold a mistaken belief: that if they can just muster the courage to inflict pain upon themselves, they can leap directly to the level of the Xian Sect's prodigies.

In truth, it is not so!

Not all Celestial Cultivators are that powerful.

The lower limit of Celestial Cultivators is indeed somewhat higher than that of ordinary cultivators, but nothing more.

What one ultimately achieves still depends on oneself.

Thinking of this, he could not help but sigh.

Aah~

I wonder how Zhiwei's elder sister and younger sister are doing.

With this batch of spiritual herbs, they should be able to recover.

When that time comes…

I must fight Chi Jiuyu again, fairly and squarely, to clear my name!

As he thought this, Zhao Ruoming's eyes blazed with battle intent.

…………

Meanwhile.

Far from 【Zhitui Xiancheng】, in a remote, desolate forest under the jurisdiction of Tianling Sect, where spiritual energy is extremely scarce.

Hum~!

A bluish-golden sword light emerged from the void and plunged into the desolate forest.

Ga! Ga!

Several strange birds shrieked and flapped their wings to flee.

Shh!

A single invisible sword slash precisely pierced the fattest of them; the bird froze instantly, its life force vanished, and it fell from the sky.

But it did not hit the ground—instead, a hand suddenly reached out and caught it precisely.

"I wonder if Xiao Zhao and Xiao Ye have run far enough."

A mutter rose from within the forest.

It was Chi Jiuyu, now holding upside down the strange bird she had just killed.

"Xiao Ye has been through this once; she shouldn't be that slow…" Chi Jiuyu continued muttering.

If Xiao Zhao doesn't react in time, it'll be a real disaster.

Don't be fooled by how united they were when fighting the Void Reversal; after the matter is over, those old bastards will absolutely turn their backs on you!

If it were her, she would never miss such a perfect opportunity.

Her Insight had already seen through everything!

So the clever Hehuan Laozu dashed out, slashed once to boost her participation rate, then slipped away.

She looked up at her surroundings.

"This damned world only has places like this where you can hide."

Running into forests all the time—she was turning into a mouse!

As she complained about this cursed world, she chopped down some branches to use as firewood.

After gathering enough branches, she began processing the strange bird she had slain.

With a self-created feather-removal technique, the bird's black feathers and skin writhed and fell off entirely.

Then came the gutting, the removal of organs, the severing of the head, followed by careful washing with clean water… As the Sword Lord's top disciple who frequently undertook missions, this was child's play!

She was the Fish with the scent of fireworks, not some ethereal fairy like Xiao Zhao.

More than ten minutes later, the strange bird, coated in various sauces, was placed over the fire, and a spiritual rotation rune was set to ensure even roasting on all sides.

"Huuu~!"

Chi Jiuyu exhaled softly and sat down on a chair beside the fire, crossing her legs.

"It's a bit tough."

This Grand Competition is truly not ordinary.

【Name: Chi Jiuyu】

【Age: 23】

【Realm: Soul Transformation Early Stage】

【Current System Loaded: Scale of Ages】

【Current Points: 1】

【Current Ranking: 6】

【Remaining Time: 18:46:23】

She, the number one prodigy of the myriad worlds, still had not earned a second point so far.

Her ranking had already slipped all the way down to sixth place!

It was truly frustrating for Yu.

"They still haven't asked me about what they owe me."

On this point, Hehuan Laozu was deeply displeased.

Every time something crucial happens, something always comes up…

Now it's uncertain whether I'll even meet him before the Grand Competition ends; I'll have to wait until it's over to add Xiao Ye as a friend and ask.

emm…

I absolutely must beat Brother Dog senseless again!

Chi Jiuyu muttered to herself for a long while, until the strange bird roasting over the fire was finally done.

She quickly pulled it off, grabbed one leg, and tugged gently.

A burst of steam rose instantly; juices flowed from the tender meat, filling the air with a fragrant aroma.

Hehe!

My cooking is still just as good!

She immediately took a big bite, not even worrying whether the bird was edible…

Back when I was on missions, I ate plenty of insects!

What's this?

Just as she was enjoying her meal, a pale blue translucent screen suddenly appeared before her.

【System-wide announcement: revealing the number of surviving participants, rankings, and points】

Oh! (End of Chapter)