Chapter 543: Securing the Top Spot, Entering the Ruins

Killed Zhu Ci?

Anytime!

But if you expose your spiritual sense and let others instantly see the mismatch between your cultivation base and your spiritual sense, they'll suspect your Qi Refining realm.

That wouldn't just endanger the Li family.

You'd never get the chance to enter the Heavenly Fire Ruins.

So, you still need to hold back for now.

"Two young cousins, rest for a while!" said the Kong family's Jin Dan. "Next, the Wu and Xuan families will compete!"

Mu Mu Ruolin handed him an elixir: "He Daofriend, this elixir will help you rapidly restore your magical power!"

"Eat it first, then sit and meditate—we'll have more fighting soon!"

The fighting here is somewhat different from the Nine Nations Grand Competition.

In the Nine Nations Grand Competition, you can choose to fight only one match per day.

Here, you cannot.

You must finish all your matches in one day.

If you're injured, it's fine—there's a top-grade 【Golden Bone Elixir】 that can instantly repair your wounds.

If your internal magic power runs low, it can be replenished.

Just fight.

He He Pingsheng took the elixir but didn't swallow it; instead, he consumed a single drop of Golden Bee Sacred Juice.

His internal magic power filled instantly.

He continued fighting.

No suspense.

The Xuan family, Wu family, Gao family, Hu family, Kong family.

He He Pingsheng swept through them all, knocking each one down with a single punch.

If one punch wasn't enough, he gave two.

After all, some have extraordinary talent.

The final results were announced.

The Li family, without doubt, remained first place.

This Zhu Dong kid was indeed formidable—he defeated everyone except He He Pingsheng!

So, the Zhu family came in second.

Next is the Xuan family!

The Kong family!

The Wu family!

The Gao family!

Finally, the Hu family.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the results are in!" said the Kong family's Jin Dan. "As per tradition, first place gets seven slots, second place six, third place five, and so on—last place gets only one slot!"

"Anyone entering the Heavenly Fire Ruins must be at least Foundation Establishment!"

"In three days, we depart for the Heavenly Fire Ruins!"

"Please return to your homes and prepare!"

Then, none of the families left—they all stayed at the Kong family's estate.

Because they needed to regather at the Kong family in three days.

He He Pingsheng returned to the training ground and immediately entered seclusion.

It was time to break through to Foundation Establishment.

Once he reached Foundation Establishment, he'd qualify to enter the Heavenly Fire Ruins.

Since he was reborn, He He Pingsheng didn't need to devour a Foundation Establishment Elixir—he simply swallowed a few Qi Gathering Elixirs at once.

Two days later, his cultivation base reached Foundation Establishment Level One, just as planned.

He couldn't keep cultivating.

If he broke through to Level Two, others might grow suspicious—it wouldn't look right.

Because no one advances this fast under normal circumstances.

On the third day, all families assembled on the square.

The Li family had seven slots.

He He Pingsheng also saw Li family's ancestral elder, Dao Yuan Ancestor.

His spiritual sense subtly scanned Dao Yuan Ancestor and found the old man's cultivation had reached Nascent Soul Level Ten.

Not bad!

Besides Dao Yuan Ancestor, there were also West Lake True Person and two other Jin Dan and two Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Finally, there was He He Pingsheng.

Seven in total.

The Zhu family had six—one fewer than the Li family.

But the Zhu family's Nascent Soul ancestor wasn't here.

"Huh…?" He He Pingsheng asked curiously: "The Heavenly Fire Ruins contain the law force left behind by the Nine Heaven Mystic Fire—why isn't the Zhu family's Nascent Soul ancestor going in to study it?"

"Hehe!" West Lake True Person smiled. "You don't know—this Zhu family ancestor has already reached Nascent Soul Level Eleven and hit a bottleneck."

"What he needs now are heavenly treasures to break through his bottleneck—not enlightenment."

"Enlightenment would be a waste for him—he'd rather leave it to the younger generation."

"Ah!" He He Pingsheng nodded.

West Lake True Person asked: "Any other questions?"

He He Pingsheng glanced at the Li family cultivators and said: "The Heavenly Fire Ruins contain Dao and primordial essence—why doesn't the Li family send in higher-level cultivators?"

That was strange!

The Li family's selected cultivators, besides the ancestor and He He Pingsheng, were three Jin Dan and two Foundation Establishment.

He knew the Li family had over a dozen Jin Dan.

Why send in two Foundation Establishment cultivators at all?

"Hehehe…" This time, it was Li family's ancestor who spoke: "Whether a family or a sect, never forget to pass resources down to lower-level disciples!"

"Only then will talent continuously emerge."

"In our Li family, we cultivate disciples not by kinship or cultivation level, but solely by talent and Dao heart."

"Young He, do you understand what I mean?"

He He Pingsheng instantly bowed deeply in respect: "I understand, I understand!"

The Li family's attitude toward disciples was something the Grand Void Gate should have studied for ten thousand years.

"Elders, Dao friends…" The Kong family's Jin Dan bowed to all. "Everyone is assembled—let's head to the Heavenly Fire Ruins!"

"Please board the ship!"

The Heavenly Fire Ruins lie on Mount Mount Doumi.

Mount Mount Doumi is a vast mountain range over a million li long, with seven major spiritual veins exposed along its length, giving rise to seven cultivation families.

Though they all reside on the same mountain range, each family is separated by over one hundred thousand li.

The Heavenly Fire Ruins lie in the back mountains of Mount Mount Doumi, jointly guarded by cultivators from all seven families.

One by one, they boarded the great ship.

The ship set off, slowly drifting toward the back mountains where the Heavenly Fire Ruins lay.

At the ruins' entrance, the ship halted, and everyone disembarked.

This was a massive array.

The array's entrance was guarded by seven Jin Dan cultivators,

and besides them, two powerful spiritual beasts of Nascent Soul level lay prostrate, aiding in defense.

Boom…

As the group approached, the array at the Heavenly Fire Ruins' entrance opened, revealing a passage.

A crimson fire-element energy surged forth from the entrance.

Like a dragon of flame, it blasted onto the square.

The cultivators seeing this for the first time all jumped back in shock.

"Please, Nascent Soul elders, go down first and suppress the fire energy within the ruins!"

"Otherwise, the fire-element rules are too strong—Foundation Establishment and Jin Dan cultivators cannot enter."

The Kong family Elder bowed to the Nascent Soul cultivators.

Dao Yuan Ancestor and the other Nascent Soul elders exchanged glances, then stepped forward into the ruins.

After entering the array's entrance, they vanished from sight.

But after a dozen breaths, the flaming dragon spewing from the entrance retracted. He He Pingsheng guessed the Nascent Soul elders had suppressed the fire-element rules below.

"Let's go!"

West Lake True Person said: "Our ancestors have suppressed the fire-element rules—we can descend now!"

The three Jin Dan of the Li family walked ahead, followed by the two Foundation Establishment, heading toward the array's entrance.

After entering the formation, He He Pingsheng saw a space ten thousand zhang in diameter.

Everywhere was chaotic red spiritual energy.

On the pitch-black, barren ground, there was a circular gap.

Below the gap was a bottomless abyss.

This was the Heavenly Fire Ruins.