Chapter 246: Ashes Rekindled (Third Update)

The Martial Arts Arena!

Not a single seat left!

Since the three islands of Nansha appeared in Lord Lingxiao City half a month ago and declared their intent to challenge the younger generation of the Daliang Wu Yuan, the news had spread across most of Daliang.

Seven days ago, the Daliang Imperial Court responded, causing a sensation throughout Lord Lingxiao City.

This great battle was different from the martial exchanges between the Sihe Wu Yuan, the Chaoyang Wu Yuan, and the Lord Lingxiao Wu Yuan.

Martial exchanges between academies only compared the newest batch of disciples, and since most of these new disciples had only recently broken through to the Organ Cultivation Stage, they naturally did not attract much attention from experts.

In those sparring matches, most of the participants on the arena were merely at the Open-Acupuncture or Organ Cultivation stages; one could tell at a glance that there were very few Ranked practitioners.

But this time, the people from the three islands of Nansha were challenging the younger generation of Daliang—and the so-called "younger generation" referred to practitioners below the Ranked Tier.

This was a conventional understanding among the Nine Kingdoms.

After all, geniuses in every country were a minority; most practitioners only reached the Ranked Tier at the age of thirty.

As long as one had not reached the Ranked Tier, one was still considered young.

Being young meant having hope, which was also a form of spiritual encouragement for practitioners of all nations.

However, the three islands of Nansha added a caveat: "the geniuses of the younger generation."

The so-called "geniuses of the younger generation" referred to those under twenty years old.

Those under thirty who had not reached the Ranked Tier could only be called young, not geniuses.

This kind of competition between those under twenty who had not reached the Ranked Tier often represented the strongest batch of practitioners below the Ranked Tier in a country, so it was naturally extremely eye-catching.

Not to mention that this competition hid a deeper meaning, and many geniuses from various countries had arrived.

The moment Lin Chen and Elder Murong Yan entered the arena, they happened to hear a burst of exclamations.

The heaven-shaking exclamations echoed, and Lin Chen's gaze immediately turned toward the arena stage.

At this moment, the dust on the stage had just settled. Three identical-looking youths stood on the stage, while opposite them were only two young men; another person had just fallen off the arena stage.

Seeing this, Lin Chen frowned. He didn't need Elder Murong Yan to explain; he knew exactly what the situation was.

Those three identical-looking youths were likely the "Three Lives" from the three islands of Nansha, the Yu Beichen brothers.

And the two opposite them were the three senior brothers from Daliang, but looking at the situation, one senior brother had already fallen off the stage.

Unlike his previous fight with Ben Shanlang and Hu Bing, this arena had been expanded tenfold, reaching a length of a thousand zhang.

"Zhang Jun has fallen off the stage. Relying only on Di Qian and Hong Yao, I fear they are no match for the Yu Beichen brothers."

On the spectator stand, many Daliang practitioners had arrived. Seeing Zhang Jun fall, their expressions were extremely serious.

In terms of individual strength, the three of them were not inferior to the Yu Beichen brothers, but these three brothers shared a single mind, and their coordination was extremely high. Conversely, Zhang Jun and his companions had not fought together before, and their attacks lacked synergy.

Originally, Zhang Jun wanted to rely on his individual combat power to forcibly break the Yu Beichen brothers' coordination and then fight them one by one, not giving them the chance to utilize their combined strength.

But he didn't expect the Yu Beichen brothers to be well-prepared. During the battle, the three brothers gathered together, giving them no chance to split up. In the end, relying on their shared mind, the three of them joined forces to blast Zhang Jun off the stage.

"Is this the genius of Daliang's younger generation? Nothing more than this. Lin Lin Shixiong Yu and his brothers are invincible at the same stage when they join forces."

In the stands, a group of people from the three islands of Nansha were excited and happy.

For so many years, every time they came to Daliang to challenge, they had lost, but this time they finally saw the hope of victory.

"It seems Daliang doesn't have any geniuses worth looking at this year."

Not far away, a youth in fine clothing spoke indifferently. Another person beside him echoed, but with a look of disdain in his eyes: "Isn't Daliang always like this, pursuing so-called martial fairness?"

Daliang's cultivation of young martial artists had always been disdained by other countries, especially by the children of the nobility.

In their view, geniuses should enjoy more resources.

As for what a genius was, it was naturally these noble children who had been exposed to martial arts since childhood.

As for those commoners, those at the bottom, a little bit of resources leaking through their fingers was enough for them to be grateful.

Giving cultivation resources to a hundred common youths would be better spent on geniuses like them with good backgrounds, enough to help their strength reach a higher level.

"I heard that Daliang's new batch of martial academy students produced a few good seedlings. It seems there is one named Lin Chen who recently defeated the geniuses of Zheng Guo and Xiang Guo."

Hearing this, the youth in fine clothing didn't speak, but another youth beside him wearing a felt hat had a cold expression: "Hu Bing lost because he had just cultivated the Divine Elephant Body and it hadn't fully stabilized yet."

More than two months ago, following Hu Bing's defeat at the Lord Lingxiao Wu Yuan, especially being defeated in the most dominant physical confrontation, rumors had been circulating in Lord Lingxiao City that the so-called Divine Elephant Body was not the top-tier hard-body cultivation technique.

The martial artists of Xiang Guo were naturally very dissatisfied, but they had nowhere to refute it.

Hu Bing's defeat was a fact witnessed by everyone.

Practitioners from various countries were discussing in low voices in the stands, while the battle on the arena continued.

For Di Qian and Hong Yao, even though Zhang Jun had fallen off the stage and they were down one person, they would not give up this battle. Unfortunately, even if Di Qian and Hong Yao were determined to risk serious injury and didn't care about their own safety when attacking, hoping to turn the tide, the Yu Beichen brothers simply wouldn't engage them head-on.

Relying on their shared mind, their figures shifted rapidly; often, when one retreated, another would strike from the side.

"Di Qian and Hong Yao are going to lose."

Elder Murong Yan whispered. Lin Chen was also staring intently. Unlike the others who were watching the two sides fight, Lin Chen's attention was on the feet of the three Yu brothers.

Bang!

Thirty breaths later, Di Qian's movements slowed down significantly. This desperate, all-out fighting style consumed a massive amount of Qi and blood. The Yu Beichen brothers seized this opportunity and struck simultaneously like lightning.

Di Qian was blasted off the arena. Facing the now lone Hong Yao, the Yu Beichen brothers didn't rush to finish him off.

The three surrounded Hong Yao, and whenever Hong Yao desperately tried to fight one of them to the death, that brother would immediately retreat, while the other two would strike from the sides, giving Hong Yao no chance.

Mockery!

Everyone could see that the Yu Beichen brothers were deliberately keeping Hong Yao on the stage to toy with him.

On the side of Daliang's Lord Lingxiao Wu Yuan, many youths had gathered, and they all had angry expressions seeing this.

"This is too bullying!"

"Dean, let Hong Yao come down, let us go up."

Many youths looked at Hou Zhan Tian. This time there were three battles. Hong Yao and the others lost, but there were two more, so it wasn't that there was no chance.

The Yu Beichen brothers were strong, but after one battle, their Qi and blood were depleted. Although they weren't as good as Lin Lin Shixiong Di and the others, they still had the strength to fight.

Meng Xing, not far away, was silent. Their strength gap was a bit too large; even if they wanted to fight, it wouldn't work.

"Hong Yao, come down."

Hou Zhan Tian finally spoke. With one shout, although Hong Yao was unwilling, he knew that staying on the stage would only result in humiliation by the Yu Beichen brothers.

The three Yu brothers didn't stop Hong Yao from leaving the stage. After Hong Yao stepped down, they scanned the Lord Lingxiao Wu Yuan side, their eyes filled with regret: "Daliang's geniuses are still a bit weak."

As soon as these words were spoken, the Daliang practitioners at the scene had angry expressions. They only won by relying on the advantage of being triplets; what right did they have to be so arrogant?

"Saying my Daliang has no one is truly a joke!"

Just as the Daliang practitioners at the scene were angry, at another entrance to the arena, several young figures slowly walked in. Seeing these figures, Elder Murong Yan's beautiful eyes narrowed, and she whispered in Lin Chen's ear: "These are the genius martial artists of your Daliang who grew up in other countries."

"In other countries?"

Lin Chen thought of the conversation he had with Minister Kong by the lake in Linhu Village.

A bad premonition suddenly arose in his heart.

This duel is more like a conspiracy.

But according to what the teacher told him, following his seven times leaving his name on Mount Wudao and becoming a model for Daliang martial arts students, the contest between those Daliang dignitaries and Department Head Kong has come to an end, and it ended with a complete victory for Department Head Kong's side.

How could these genius martial artists who grew up in other countries return to Daliang at this time?

For the sake of Daliang's face?

Lin Chen denied this speculation in his heart.

He would not be so naive as to think that these people rushed here to preserve Daliang's face after learning that the three brothers from the Nansha San Dao had come to Daliang to provoke them.

Among them, there must be inside information he is unaware of.

Did something happen in the two-plus months since he entered the Lord Lingxiao Main Hall?

Lin Chen looked at Elder Murong Yan, who rolled her eyes: "I don't know everything; this is Daliang, not Dayan."

Women are truly amazing creatures.

After that hour of intimate connection, Elder Murong Yan no longer hid her identity in front of Lin Chen.

Seeing the look Lin Chen just cast her way, she knew he wanted to learn something from her again.

But she didn't know much about what had happened in Daliang.

"It is highly likely related to the Snow Region. I only know that a month ago, your Daliang and the Xiang Kingdom had a conflict in the Snow Region, but neither Daliang nor the Xiang Kingdom has mentioned it since."

Elder Murong Yan finally revealed a piece of information to Lin Chen: the conflict between the Xiang Kingdom and Daliang in the Snow Region could not be hidden from the other countries; their Yan Kingdom was also investigating the inside story and had even sent martial artists to sneak into the Snow Region, but it would take some time to find out clearly.

While Elder Murong Yan and Lin Chen whispered, the Daliang martial artists on the stands were also curious about the identities of the five youths who had just entered.

"These five are also geniuses from our Daliang; they look so unfamiliar."

"Children of the five clans of Guanzhong—Cui, Xie, Li, Zheng, Zhao... You find them unfamiliar because these children of the five clans have been cultivating in other countries since they were young."

Some martial artists recognized the identities of these five youths, but Hou Zhan Tian's expression was somewhat ugly at this moment; he hadn't expected that the five clans of Guanzhong, having been suppressed by Department Head Kong some time ago, were still waiting here when he had assumed they had already backed down.

What a clever move to strike while the iron is hot!

What exactly happened in the Snow Region that could make the imperial court change its stance, to the point that even Department Head Kong has become silent?

(End of chapter)