Chapter 246: You have your mission arrangements, I have my own way of playing

Li Chen's heart stirred, and he decided to go to the Empress Dowager first to test the effect. This woman, the most graceful and peerless in the harem, was truly heart-stirring.

He hadn't seen the Empress Dowager for a while recently, and thinking of this, he became increasingly unable to restrain himself.

Li Chen walked briskly through the winding palace corridors and soon arrived before the Empress Dowager's palace.

The palace gate was slightly ajar, and a touch of soft sunlight shone into the palace.

Li Chen was about to step inside but suddenly stopped his steps.

Where his gaze reached, he saw the Empress Dowager sitting on an exquisite embroidered stool, holding a long, thin silver needle, focused on threading it.

A gentle smile hung on the Empress Dowager's peerless face.

Beside her were all kinds of exquisite fabrics, colorful and dazzling.

Those fabrics seemed to have been given life in her hands, slowly turning into a brand-new garment.

Li Chen looked closely and saw that the pattern embroidered on the fabric was actually the landscape scenery he liked most on weekdays.

The Empress Dowager's technique was skillful and delicate, and every stitch and thread could outline perfect lines.

A warm current surged in his heart, but he was also somewhat puzzled.

Hadn't the Empress Dowager already made a garment for him?

And the one he often wore was sewn by the Empress Dowager herself.

He whispered to the palace maid beside him, "Why does the Empress Dowager still need to sew new clothes for me?"

The palace maid lowered her voice, a smile on her face, "Your Majesty might not know, but now that the season is changing, the Empress Dowager has specially prepared a set of summer clothes for you. For the past few weeks, she has been sewing them carefully every day, saying she wants to give you a big surprise."

The Empress Dowager had also observed that Li Chen especially liked wearing the clothes she made.

It seemed she had also found something she could do for Li Chen, so she started doing needlework seriously in her spare time.

Even if her first time was for the purpose of currying favor, she had been like this her whole life, so she was truly good to Li Chen.

Hearing this, Li Chen was filled with emotion.

Looking at the Empress Dowager's focused and plump figure, an indescribable emotion surged in his heart.

Since the Empress Dowager was preparing a surprise for him so attentively, why should he be in a hurry to disturb her?

Anyway, she couldn't run away; it was just a matter of time.

Thinking of this, Li Chen whispered, "Just pretend I was never here."

The palace maid nodded knowingly, preserving this surprise for the Empress Dowager.

As he spoke, he slowly turned around and left the palace entrance with light steps.

Generally speaking, as long as Li Chen returned from the Empress Dowager's side, the one who suffered the most was Lady Youlan.

Today, Lady Youlan was exceptionally miserable. Li Chen's already terrifying combat power had increased more than tenfold after practicing the "Imperial Dragon Sacred Scripture."

Lady Youlan had even fainted several times in a row, her consciousness somewhat unclear.

By the time she woke up again, several days had passed.

Lady Youlan recalled that at the time, she had even seen her life flash before her eyes.

She remembered the last time she had been unconscious for so long was when she was seriously injured fighting in the Nine-Fold Abyss.

The terrifying creatures there had never made Lady Youlan so afraid.

As Li Sining's cultivation speed accelerated, Li Chen had to go and complete missions again.

The location of this mission was the Illusory Moon Lost Forest in the eastern part of the May Tian Ce Dynasty. As the oldest region of the May Tian Ce Dynasty, there were many immortal sects here, and the cultivators were also very powerful.

It was said that the reason the cultivators in the east were so powerful was because there were particularly many inheritances here.

Li Chen rode the Sacred Tiger toward the east, with the professional wingman Wu Nanzhi by his side.

Her home was in Tiger Crouch City, also in the eastern part of the May Tian Ce Dynasty, but the area of the May Tian Ce Dynasty was truly too vast, so even she had never been to these places where sects stood in great numbers and inheritances were numerous.

To go to the Illusory Moon Lost Forest, one had to pass through the Heavenly Desolate Ancient Plain first.

This was a vast, boundless plain. Legend had it that it was once a battlefield of the gods in ancient times, with countless ancient treasures buried underground.

Strange phenomena often appeared on the plain, attracting countless cultivators to come treasure hunting.

When Li Chen rode the Sacred Tiger past, he saw many cultivators practicing on foot.

Wu Nanzhi lamented, "If the orbital train passed through this place, then these people wouldn't have to work so hard on their journey."

Li Chen said, "Sometimes reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. My original intention for building the orbital train was just to facilitate those ordinary people who are traveling. What the people need is the foundation of the country. If it were only needed by cultivators, I wouldn't bother with it."

This sentence made Wu Nanzhi's heart stir. As expected of an Emperor, his ideological pattern was much higher than her own.

Approaching the Illusory Moon Lost Forest, towering immortal mountains rose from the ground before their eyes, shrouded in clouds and mist, like a fairyland.

Those mountain peaks were either steep like swords, pointing straight to the firmament, or gentle and continuous, like winding giant dragons.

Between the mountains, streams gurgled, and waterfalls poured down, nourishing dense forests and exotic flowers and herbs.

Hidden among these immortal mountains were countless mountain ranges and mystical realms.

In the mountain ranges, spirit beasts appeared. They were either fiercely abnormal or gentle and cute, but they all possessed power that could not be underestimated.

Some spirit beasts could spit fire, burning mountains and boiling seas; others could control wind and clouds, traveling a thousand miles in an instant. But sensing the Sacred Tiger passing by, these spirit beasts were all scared and ran everywhere.

This thing was just a mount in front of Li Chen, but a disaster in front of others.

Just as Li Chen approached the target area, it happened to be a grand gathering of major sects here.

The Ethereal Immortal Alliance, as the largest sect alliance in the May Tian Ce Dynasty, was currently bathed in glory, with strong people like clouds and geniuses everywhere.

Stepping into any of these sects, even the seemingly ordinary gatekeeper disciple was a famous genius in the local area.

Ninety percent of the cultivators in the May Tian Ce Dynasty were sword cultivators, but this region was even more so.

Speaking of sects that practiced sword techniques, one had to mention the Heavenly Crying Sword Tomb, and there were four others equally famous as the Heavenly Crying Sword Tomb.

The first was the "Firmament Sword Sect." It was said that the Sect Masters of all generations were peak sword dao experts, and their sword techniques could cut through the firmament.

The second was the "Netherworld Sword Valley." The Sword Valley was the most dark and mysterious. The sword techniques they practiced were soft and ruthless, good at controlling souls with swords, killing people invisibly.

The third was the "Flowing Cloud Sword Pavilion." The area where this force was located was the oldest. According to statistics, five Sect Masters of all generations had ascended to the Immortal Realm, and their foundation was terrifyingly strong.

The fourth was the "Grand Void Sword Palace," the sect most sought after by cultivators in the current world. The He He Zongzhu, Sword Venerable Empty Void, could turn himself into a sword, indestructible, and was hailed as the strongest sword body!

These five major forces were the absolute core of the Ethereal Immortal Alliance, and their inheritances were naturally very powerful.

!

This grand gathering was hosted by the Ethereal Immortal Alliance, the "Eternal Sword Discussion Grand Gathering" held every ten years. This was the 100th Sword Discussion Grand Assembly, which was of extraordinary significance.

The Sword Discussion Grand Assembly had a long history, dating back a thousand years. Before the continent's number one Sword God ascended, he prepared to leave his inheritance to the world and arranged such a Sword Discussion Grand Gathering.

This news was released and caused a sensation at the time.

At that time, it gathered the top sword cultivators of the May Tian Ce Dynasty and even surrounding countries to discuss sword dao together and compete for glory.

It was said that the champion of the first Sword Discussion Grand Assembly had also long since ascended to the Cultivation Immortal Realm.

One could see how high the gold content of the Sword God's inheritance was.

The rewards for this Sword Discussion Grand Assembly were even more tempting. In addition to entering the Sword God's inheritance land to comprehend supreme sword intent, the champion could also obtain a peerless immortal sword unearthed from ancient ruins.

This sword contained ancient and mysterious power. It hadn't been publicly announced what grade of immortal sword it was yet, but what the Ethereal Immortal Alliance could take out was enough to make any sword cultivator go crazy.

In addition, the winner would also obtain the opportunity to enter the Spirit Spring Mystical Realm to practice. The spiritual energy in that mystical realm was rich, and treasures were everywhere. It was an excellent place for cultivators, enough to make their cultivation base advance by leaps and bounds.

Precisely because of this, young cultivators came in an endless stream from all directions, just to show their edge and make a name for themselves at this Eternal Sword Discussion Grand Gathering.

The ordinary cultivators Li Chen saw riding the Sacred Beast just now were here to participate or watch this grand gathering that only happened once every ten years.

This grand gathering was actually a grand gathering of sects in the current world. Hidden sects had their own inheritances and no disciples participated in this grand gathering.

There were quite a few experts from hidden sects who came to watch. If they saw a disciple they liked, they would recruit them into their sect.

When Li Chen arrived here, he was thinking, wouldn't this mission be to let me participate in the Sword Discussion Grand Assembly?

Because he searched around the area and didn't seem to find any Sword Tomb inheritance, and in a few days, it would be the day of the Sword Discussion Grand Assembly.

Li Chen inquired a bit; this assembly didn't compare strength, but sword intent.

All participants must suppress their cultivation to the Soul Spirit Realm, because this level was the most suitable stage to show sword intent and wouldn't cause huge destruction.

This was the requirement put forward by the Sword God back then. His purpose was to let more people participate and discover more talents.

Otherwise, every session would just be those few Heavenly Abyss Realm experts fighting back and forth, which wasn't very interesting.

Then a situation would arise where some Heavenly Abyss Realm experts' sword intent wasn't as good as lower-level cultivators, and they would be very embarrassed after being defeated.

So those who came to participate basically reported their cultivation very low to avoid such an embarrassing situation.

The champion's reward was to enter the inheritance land opened by the Sword God. Other top ten cultivators could enter the mysterious Sword Tomb and also obtain some inheritances.

Having inquired up to here, Li Chen roughly understood that the system was letting him strive to enter the top ten.

It would be best to win the championship; the inheritance land opened by the Sword God definitely counted as a "Sword Tomb."

But it was also afraid that the host wouldn't be able to win the championship, so it only required the host to enter the Sword Tomb.

Li Chen felt that he was truly underestimated by the system.

With his level, even if he suppressed it to the Soul Spirit Realm, he didn't think anyone could withstand his fight.

But then again, this was a Soul Spirit Realm fighting method. As a Sage Realm Great Perfection, going to participate in this competition that lasted for many days, wouldn't it be a waste of time?

At the registration office, he had already seen more than 20,000 cultivators registered.

Other cultivators were still coming in an endless stream.

Just the registration fee alone was enough for the organizer to break even.

No wonder the rewards were so generous; it turned out there was a registration fee.

Li Chen also inquired that the highest session had 70,000 sword cultivators registered, and the lowest session had 30,000.

Then they had to conduct various preliminary selections. The so-called preliminary selection was to get their own number and enter the martial arts arenas of the surrounding major sects to compete.

Finally, one hundred cultivators with extraordinary sword intent were selected to hold the finals at the magnificent station of the Ethereal Immortal Alliance to compete for the championship.

Li Chen roughly understood the situation, but Li Chen had his own ideas.

"The system only asked me to obtain the Sword Tomb inheritance, it didn't say I had to get into the top ten."

As long as he thought of this, Li Chen felt that as long as he found the Sword God's inheritance land, he could just break in by force. Why bother to compete with these guys for no reason?

Anyway, you system have your mission arrangements, I have my own way of playing!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 247 =====