Chapter 1038: Receiving Rewards

Liang Xue's looks also couldn't help Xia Tianqiong think further.

Ye Liuyun saw them all staring at him and helplessly retorted, "Do I have to kill someone to be normal?"

He then explained, "Xing Yao is a Shadow member, so I had to strike. You don't all think I'm addicted to killing, do you?"

Hearing this and recalling Liang Yufeng earlier, Xia Tianqiong felt relieved. It seemed Ye Liuyun's ruthless actions always had reasons.

Li Qingyun and the other Elders didn't really care about what Ye Liuyun said. They only cared about the result.

Ye Liuyun earned first place in his tier, which was the honor of their Qian Long Academy.

Also taking first place in the same tier were Crown Prince Xia Tianjiao, who ranked first in the Ninth Level of Creation, and another disciple who ranked first in Sixfold Creation.

Three more disciples also made it into the top ten.

In a competition among over five hundred Sects, Qian Long Academy's results made those Elders' faces shine.

And the reward for first place was especially generous.

The prizes, supplied jointly by the over five hundred Sects, gave each winner a Divine Rank weapon, a Divine Rank treasure, and a Broken Zun Pill usable at the Ninth Level of Creation.

There were also one billion top‑grade Spirit Stones and a chance to enter the Zhanlong Mijing for cultivation.

The final item: all top‑ten disciples receive rewards, so ninety people will enter the secret realm this time.

The prizes for other rankings differ from first to tenth, but everyone still gets a share.

"Damn, it'll be even harder to kill him later!"

During the award ceremony, Ye Liuyun saw Crown Prince Xia Tianjiao's eyes flash as he looked at the Broken Zun Pill.

That Broken Zun Pill was perfect for him to break through to the First Realm of Life and Death. Moreover, Xia Tianjiao chose as his treasure a cloak of invisibility, and his Divine Rank weapon was a long spear.

"A pill, a weapon, a treasure—these three are just perfect for boosting his strength!"

Although Ye Liuyun wasn't watching Xia Tianjiao, his Divine Sense kept monitoring what he chose.

He himself did not select a sword for his Divine Rank weapon.

His swords were already sufficient. From the Cheng Clan chief's Storage Ring alone, he found two Divine Rank swords, and from many Venerables' Storage Rings he also uncovered several artifacts.

One Divine Rank demon sword had already been given to his clone, swapping out the flame sword for a backup.

He also found a detection‑preventing mask and gave it to the clone.

These various pieces of equipment for the clone were all Demon Cultivator gear; with the mask on, it became even harder to tell the clone apart from Ye Liuyun.

Thus Ye Liuyun chose a bow for this time, keeping it for his clone. The bow, imbued with a blood‑lust attribute, was named the Blood‑thirsty Divine Bow.

For a treasure, he selected a Storage Yuan Stone that can store True Essence; it normally holds the equivalent of ten Yuan Pills of True Essence.

With that, he could ensure his True Essence wouldn't deplete during battle.

Ye Liuyun tested it and found it worked equally for his Mysterious Origin, so he directly stored the Mysterious Origin from one of his Yuan Pills into the Storage Yuan Stone.

Ye Liuyun's name was remembered by all the audience, destined to become famous across Zhongyang Dalu.

But after finding his parents, he no longer valued fame as much.

Once the rewards were distributed, aside from the winning Sects, the other teams could return directly to their Sects.

Some Sects left the War Dragon Sect's base immediately, while others, seeing that night had fallen, prepared to depart early the next morning.

After Ye Liuyun returned to the base with everyone, Li Qingyun and Xia Tianqiong both advised him to beware shadow assassinations after entering the Zhanlong Mijing.

Ye Liuyun also knew this was a perfect chance for a shadow assassin to strike, and they would definitely act.

"I wonder if it's the Zhanlong Mijing I slipped into before?" Ye Liuyun asked Li Qingyun via Transmission Voice.

"That's even better; go get more Primordial Power and aim to break through another First Realm!" Li Qingyun replied nonchalantly.

That reminded Ye Liuyun to quickly consume as much Qi from the Xuan Kong Shi and the Space World as possible, so he could later gather more True Essence of the True Dragon.

He sent his clone, along with all the ferocious beasts, to temporarily cultivate inside the Xuan Kong Shi, accelerating consumption.

He himself began to gulp aggressively, first filling the Storage Yuan Stone, then saturating his own Yuan Pills.

Next, he and his clone jointly used the Primordial Spirit Secret Technique to attack the beasts.

After becoming familiar, Ye Liuyun and his clone together could rip apart any beast below Yin Yang Liu Chong.

Alone, however, one could only handle beasts of the Heavenly Gang Realm.

"No, this cultivation is too slow. I'm afraid the Primordial Spirit Secret Technique won't be usable in this secret realm." Ye Liuyun complained about the slow pace.

"Try using poison?" the clone suggested.

So Ye Liuyun, while employing the Primordial Spirit Secret Technique, released toxic gas.

The clone observed and guided from the side.

At first, after several trials, the toxic gas Ye Liuyun emitted was black and visible to the naked eye.

Such an attack would be preemptively defended against by opponents.

He then gradually reduced the amount of poison used.

In the end, the toxic gas became invisible, but its effect waned; poisoned victims took much longer for the toxin to manifest.

Finally, Ye Liuyun had to abandon the plan; using the Primordial Spirit Secret Technique to poison was slower than his Golden Pupil.

Thereafter, he and his clone jointly practiced using the cross‑space Golden Pupil to inject poison directly into the opponent's body.

The opponent might sense it, but by the time they did, it was already too late. Thus the attack was far more effective than using the Primordial Spirit Secret Technique.

Lei Ming, Long Nv, and Ye Tiandao were at this moment cultivating the Shadow Concealment Technique.

Ye Liuyun decided to send them out to fight and spar with the shadows, so the Shadow Concealment Technique required them to master it beforehand, at least to detect an approaching shadow.

Outside the base, Cheng Yu also stayed busy; that night he mobilized all nearby Shadow members, sending them into the secret realm to await an assassination of Ye Liuyun.

He even entered the secret realm himself.

The Crown Prince was diligently cultivating, preparing to break through to the Divine Rank.

But because he had been injured earlier, he still lacked a bit of strength that night to breakthrough.

He wasn't in a hurry, planning to wait until he could breakthrough, then ingest the Broken Zun Pill to ensure a successful breakthrough.

With the time left, he took out that Invisibility Cloak and began to familiarize himself with its functions.

He already knew that the shadow would kill Ye Liuyun inside the Secret Realm. One of his goals for this trip was also to kill Ye Liuyun.