Chapter 392

He Ping and the Ninth Imperial Prince had come to the same conclusion.

He too was thinking of the Thirteenth Imperial Prince.

No one else would bother with such a pointless matter.

But there was no evidence.

Forget it!

Liang Shangli pouted and said, "My sister's been waiting for you—go fight her right away!"

He Ping said, "No rush… I'd like to ask you—how exactly will the qualification selection for the Nine Nations Competition be conducted?"

"How will the matches work?"

"Very simple," said the Ninth Imperial Prince. "First, you must be a cultivator from our Liang Kingdom, and your origins must be clean."

"This is most important—otherwise, other nations might exploit you to betray Liang's interests, and that won't be allowed!"

He Ping nodded. "But across all of Liang, there are countless Golden Core cultivators. How exactly will they be filtered?"

"By the Dragon Stele!" said the Ninth Imperial Prince. "Look over there—behind the Dragon Platform, you'll see a massive stone tablet. That's the Dragon Stele!"

He Ping followed the Ninth Imperial Prince's finger. From his angle, behind the Dragon Platform's formation, there indeed stood a towering stone tablet—but all he could see was its backside.

The Ninth Imperial Prince continued: "This tablet records the names of the top one hundred Golden Core cultivators in Liang Kingdom."

"From now on, any Liang cultivator may challenge the top ten on this tablet. Whoever ultimately holds a top-ten position will represent Liang in the Nine Nations Competition at He Wen Shan!"

He Ping asked, "What exactly is this Dragon Stele?"

"A ranking list?"

"Exactly!" said the Ninth Imperial Prince. "Sometimes, Golden Core cultivators' opportunities and imperial rewards are determined by their position on this list."

He Ping understood.

He nodded.

This was similar to the 【Dragon Roar Stele】 and 【Phoenix Roar Stele】 he'd seen in Dingxiang Commandery.

Identical in function.

But those in Dingxiang ranked Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining disciples.

This one in the capital ranked the combat strength of all Golden Core cultivators across Liang Kingdom.

Boom…

As he spoke, He Ping's spiritual sense swept over.

Though his eyes couldn't see the front of the tablet, his vast spiritual sense extended outward—and the top one hundred rankings appeared clearly within his spiritual perception.

Rank One: Liang Huaqiu.

"Huh…" He Ping said curiously, "The top rank is also Liang—could she be some genius from your imperial family?"

"Liang Huaqiu?"

"Is she one of your brothers?"

The Ninth Imperial Prince laughed uncontrollably, shaking like a flower in the wind. "My brother… hahaha… my brother… pfft…"

"Hahaha!"

"That's hilarious!"

The Ninth Imperial Prince finally stifled his laughter and looked at He Ping. "You thought this name belonged to a man, didn't you?"

He Ping countered, "What else would it be?"

The Ninth Imperial Prince pointed again. "There—your chief concubine… that's Liang Huaqiu."

"Huh?" He Ping was stunned.

On one hand, he hadn't realized this was Princess Qinghe's name.

On the other, he was even more shocked that Princess Qinghe was number one on the Dragon Stele.

The strongest Golden Core in Liang Kingdom?

Is she really that strong?

"She's this powerful?" He Ping blurted out.

"Of course she is!" said the Ninth Imperial Prince. "Otherwise, why would my ancestor have insisted she become your chief concubine? Hehehe…"

"Huh…"

He Ping took a deep breath and had to reassess his opponent.

No wonder, back at the Jiaoyi Society, her swordplay had been nearly divine—he could barely dodge.

She'd even pressed her blade to his throat at the end.

Granted, if they truly fought, he wouldn't let her pierce his throat—but it still proved how powerful Princess Qinghe was.

"What's her spiritual root?" He Ping asked. "Is she also a Golden Core Channeler?"

The Ninth Imperial Prince grinned. "Hehe… you two are oddly compatible—you have the Five Elements spiritual root, hehe… and so does she!"

"And she cultivates all five simultaneously!"

"As for the Golden Core Channel, naturally!"

"She achieved the Golden Core Channel the moment she entered Golden Core—but since there was no 【Supplemental Dao Pill】, she spent sixty years refining her foundation before beginning to comprehend the Dao."

"So calling her a Golden Core Channeler now isn't wrong."

He Ping's eyes narrowed slightly.

He now understood her cultivation path.

With the Five Elements spiritual root and simultaneous cultivation, her progress was naturally slow.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have lingered in Golden Core for over sixty years.

But now she'd reached Golden Core Level Twelve, having passed the bottleneck.

Unless she was utterly talentless, she would inevitably reach Nascent Soul.

It was only a matter of time.

Or perhaps she'd long had the chance to break through—but deliberately held back to wait for the Nine Nations Competition.

This next fight was going to be interesting.

"You can go fight now!" said the Ninth Imperial Prince. "My sister's been waiting for you a long time!"

He pointed to the arena.

He Ping said, "No rush—we agreed on today. Any time today's fine. Let her wait a bit longer."

"I have one more very important question."

"Go ahead," said the Ninth Imperial Prince.

He Ping said, "You said any Liang Golden Core cultivator with clean origins can challenge the top ten on the Dragon Stele."

"But what if hundreds challenge your sister Liang Huaqiu at once? How will that work?"

"Can't Princess Qinghe fight them all in a wheel battle?"

"Good question!" said the Ninth Imperial Prince. "The imperial family already anticipated this."

"All challengers on the same day must first fight among themselves to determine their rankings."

"The top-ranked challenger then faces the Stele's guardian."

In short: all challengers compete first, and only the winner challenges the Stele's guardian.

This way, efficiency and speed are both maximized.

"Understood!" He Ping stood up. "Your Highness, I take my leave."

"Watch me knock your sister down!"

He tidied his robes slightly, then strolled calmly out of the Ninth Imperial Prince's private chamber.

One step forward—and he landed on the arena.

Princess Qinghe, who had been meditating cross-legged on the arena, suddenly opened her eyes and smiled faintly. "Good… I thought you wouldn't come."

"You've got courage."