Chapter 420

"Are all the people in the Virgin Kingdom women?"

In a bright grand hall, He Pingsheng sat at one side of a spirit-wood small table, reached out, took a spirit fruit from the table, and swallowed it whole.

His eyes, however, were fixed on the woman across the table.

The woman wore a deep purple Dao robe today—beautiful, pale…

Especially the two delicate tendons exposed along her collarbone when she slightly lifted her head—truly tempting to the imagination.

"Pfft…" Liang Huaqiu said: "How could that be?"

"If there are no men, how do you have children? You're asking a ridiculous question…"

"I despise you!"

Liang Huaqiu gave He Pingsheng a look of contempt.

He Pingsheng himself felt his earlier question had been foolish.

"The Virgin Kingdom's customs are just different from ours—they reverse the heavens, invert yin and yang!"

"Women hold higher status—whether as sect leaders, prefects of each commandery, or even the nation's Emperor—all are women!"

"That's why it's called the Virgin Kingdom!"

With that explanation, He Pingsheng finally understood.

No wonder there were so many women.

So in this country, women are the rulers.

"What are your plans next?" Liang Huaqiu looked at He Pingsheng.

He Pingsheng replied lazily: "No plans. I'll just close off here. If you ever get stuck later, just call me out to fight."

Don't waste time closing off.

The Nine Kingdoms Competition lasts three months!

Liang's upcoming matches are simpler—just fight one by one. If you meet someone you can't beat, you can still call He Pingsheng out in time.

After that, He Pingsheng didn't appear, yet swept through three matches.

Then, in the battle against Chu, Liang couldn't win—only then did He Pingsheng intervene, crushing all six Chu prodigies at once, forcing Chu to surrender immediately.

Coincidentally, the final major match was against the Virgin Kingdom.

At first, Wang Dun swept through opponents effortlessly.

In the end, Wang Dun even hoped to fight He Pingsheng—but after defeating Liang Huaqiu, Zhenyu the Ancestor directly chose to surrender.

No more fighting.

So He Pingsheng never stepped onto the battlefield.

"Why didn't you let that kid named He fight?" Liang Huaqiu found Zhenyu, questioning him with dissatisfaction.

Zhenyu smiled and said: "First or second place—there's little real difference. Our Liang Kingdom doesn't border the Virgin Kingdom, and we've had no conflicts in a hundred years, so victory or defeat isn't that important!"

"The rewards for first and second aren't much different either!"

"More importantly, He Pingsheng and Wang Dun are fellow disciples. If he were to fight Wang Dun, it'd be better not to fight at all!"

"That's my reasoning."

"Oh!" Liang Huaqiu said: "So that's how it is!"

"Three days from now we enter the Sacred Realm to listen to the teachings. Go tell that kid to stop closing off—relax properly, prepare for the upcoming listening."

"Yes!"

Liang Huaqiu went straight to He Pingsheng's cultivation ground.

"Huh?" After hearing Liang Huaqiu's description, He Pingsheng said: "Second place… gave up?"

"Fine… second place isn't bad either!"

"Also, take a look at this!" Liang Huaqiu pulled out a jade tablet and placed it before He Pingsheng.

It showed the rankings of all nations!

And individual rankings too.

In the national rankings, first was naturally the Virgin Kingdom, second was Liang, third was Chu…

Qi, however, ranked last.

But that was expected.

He Pingsheng had rendered Xiao Xuan unfit to compete, and directly slain the other two top-ranked competitors.

Effectively, he had ruined Qi's top three.

Of course they ended up last!

Below the national rankings came the individual rankings.

No need to say—first was Wang Dun.

Wang Dun had swept through every match without a single defeat.

After him came a Chu prodigy.

He Pingsheng scanned the list: among all 108 competitors, he ranked sixth.

This ranking wasn't based on strength, but on individual win-loss records.

There was nothing he could do—he'd fought few matches, so sixth place was fine.

"Don't worry!" Liang Huaqiu said: "I heard everything. When we enter the Sacred Realm to listen, the 108 people will be arranged in eighteen rows, six per row!"

"So even though you're sixth, you're still in the first row!"

He Pingsheng didn't care.

First row or second row—he doubted there'd be much difference.

Hmm…

They say time flows in the Sacred Realm at over twice the speed of the outside world, just under three times.

Ten years of teaching here equals over twenty years for the listeners.

You still need to prepare properly.

For example, Mingwu Pills.

He Pingsheng had plenty of supreme-grade Mingwu Pills—one lasts three years, so ten would easily cover the entire listening period.

Also, the 【Juyuan Pills】—during the listening, you're not just listening; you can also divert your spirit to cultivate.

Besides, He Pingsheng's internal 【Five Elements Mixed Heaven Scripture】 runs automatically, absorbing pills and boosting his cultivation base without any effort from him.

So he needed enough Juyuan Pills too.

He Pingsheng took out all his Juyuan Pills and checked them.

Enough!

More than enough.

As long as these two were sufficient, everything else didn't matter.

Three days later, the Sacred Realm opened, and the teachings began.

He Pingsheng followed Zhenyu to a massive array entrance.

Here, disciples from other nations arrived, all visibly excited.

He Pingsheng scanned the crowd, searching for Long Yuan—but didn't see him.

No idea what that old rascal was up to.

"Ladies and gentlemen…" A black-robed Jin Dan female cultivator approached and addressed them: "The Sacred Master's teachings are about to begin. All competitors may listen. Follow me inside!"

"Substitutes are also considered competitors!"

"Note!"

"Non-competitors are forbidden to enter!"

There were originally 108 rankings—but there weren't 108 people.

Some had been killed during the matches.

But it didn't matter—just sit according to rank.

Before them, the array's light membrane roared open a gap. He Pingsheng and the others followed the Jin Dan woman into the array.

Inside the array was another world.

No sky, no earth, no sun, moon, or stars.

Only countless runes floated in this fabricated space.

Massive golden runes flashed past one after another.

As He Pingsheng walked, he studied the runes surrounding the space—his brow slowly furrowed.

Because he recognized one type of rune here.

It was a golden rune.

Mysterious, profound.

He remembered where he'd seen it: the array disc.

He owned a damaged array disc, bought from a roadside stall at the entrance of a secret realm; he'd tried reinforcing it many times, but to no avail.

He remembered the old disc bore fragments of runes similar to these golden patterns.

Uh… brothers and sisters, please love me, please send electricity.