Chapter 462: Talents of the World Converge Here

Bang!

Inside the magnificent, gold-adorned hall, an exquisite wine glass was smashed fiercely against the floor, shattering into pieces.

It was not the only wine glass that had been smashed on the floor.

"This one doesn't come, that one doesn't come—damn it, they look down on me too much!"

A tall man with thinning hair and a slightly aged appearance pounded the table in anger.

He was Yuwen Yuwen Donghao, who had invited Li Fei and Wang Wang Fengqing to attend the "Peerless Prodigy Banquet."

Yuwen Yuwen Donghao was an eighth-year student at Tianqu University; he hadn't graduated not because he couldn't, but because he could obtain more resources by staying at Tianqu University.

After all, his father was the Vice President of Tianqu University.

Yuwen Yuwen Donghao was 25 years old this year, just meeting the qualifications to participate in this Martial Arts Exchange Tournament.

He had broken through to the Dao Foundation realm at 24, while the "Treatise on Prodigies" stated that "those who break through to the Dao Foundation realm before 23 can be called peerless prodigies."

Therefore, his name was not included in the list of "peerless prodigies," which made Yuwen Yuwen Donghao extremely annoyed:

Damn it, I was just one year late, how am I not a peerless prodigy?!

So, on the evening of September 14th, after all the participants had arrived at Tianqu University, Yuwen Yuwen Donghao prepared to hold a "Peerless Prodigy Banquet" and invited those eight peerless prodigies to attend.

Tonight, he booked the most famous restaurant in the Cang Province capital, "Cangyun Tower," and found newspaper reporters in advance.

He wanted the world to know that he, Yuwen Yuwen Donghao, was also a peerless prodigy!

As it turned out, he invited eight people, and not a single one came.

"Brother Yuwen Donghao, we'll be leaving first then."

The lackey who came to report the news said cautiously, then trotted away.

"Liaoxin, Gan Gan Jiecheng, Li Fei..."

Yuwen Yuwen Donghao recited their names one by one, gritting his teeth, "You all just wait for me!"

"Yuwen Yuwen Donghao!"

A thunderous voice suddenly rang out in the hall.

Yuwen Yuwen Donghao's body trembled. He looked up to see a middle-aged man, also tall, noticeably balding, and bearing a seventy-percent resemblance to him, walking in with a face full of fury.

It was none other than the Vice President of Tianqu University, Yuwen Yuwen Donghao's father, the Martial Arts Master Yuwen Yuwen Xinzhang.

"What are you here for?"

Yuwen Yuwen Donghao looked at his old man with a face full of displeasure.

"Who told you to come out and make a fool of yourself?"

Yuwen Yuwen Xinzhang questioned him without any courtesy.

"How did I make a fool of myself?"

Yuwen Yuwen Donghao had been stepped on a sore spot and immediately jumped up from his seat.

"You dare talk back?!"

Yuwen Yuwen Xinzhang waved his large hand, and a divine ability smashed toward his son.

Judging by the opening move, it was clearly quite practiced.

"Ah!"

"Yuwen Yuwen Xinzhang..."

"You old bastard..."

Yuwen Yuwen Donghao's screams could be heard from Cangyun Tower from time to time.

The newspaper reporters Yuwen Yuwen Donghao had hired in advance were all persuaded to leave by people from Tianqu University, with each of them being handed a large red envelope.

Consequently, the farce-like "Peerless Prodigy Banquet" that night never made it to the papers, though gossip leaked out that Yuwen Yuwen Donghao not only failed to invite anyone but was also severely beaten by his father.

September 15th, 7:00 AM.

The playground of Tianqu University was already packed with people.

This playground was the venue for the upcoming Martial Arts Exchange Tournament, so it had been specially renovated.

A circle of tiered stands was built around the playground, and six pillars were erected at the edge of the circular field, enclosing the entire area.

Eight square arenas were set up on the playground, each measuring 50m x 50m.

These arenas were for the preliminary rounds.

Due to the pre-event hype, this Martial Arts Exchange Tournament attracted a great deal of attention, and many people wanted to watch it on-site.

Thus, Tianqu University sold a portion of "tickets" to the public, and the prices were expensive.

The schedule for this Martial Arts Exchange Tournament would last ten days; just by selling tickets, Tianqu University and the Upper Clarity Sect, as the organizers, could make a fortune!

This was one of the benefits of being an organizer.

At 7:50 AM, the stands, which could accommodate a full thirty thousand people, were already completely full.

Cameras had been placed in advance, and the television station's live broadcast equipment had been set up.

The Inspection Commissioner of Cang Province, the Chief of the Stop-Conflict Department, the Inspector General of the Supervision Department, the Inspector General of the Inspection Department, and other fifth-rank cabinet officials all arrived at the scene!

In addition, there was a group of resident officials, all bigwigs from various departments.

On an occasion like today, imperial court officials didn't even have the qualifications to receive an invitation!

8:00 AM sharp.

The President of Tianqu University, Grandmaster Qi Zhou, and True Person Xuanchen of the Upper Clarity Sect stood up together from the main stand.

"I am Xuanchen of the Upper Clarity Sect; I welcome you all..."

True Person Xuanchen of the Upper Clarity Sect gave the opening remarks first, followed by a speech from the President of Tianqu University, Qi Zhou:

"... Seventeen years ago, His Majesty founded twelve universities to gather all the talents of the world! Today, the cream of the crop of the younger generation from all universities is gathered here!"

Grandmaster Qi Zhou did not channel his internal strength, yet his voice clearly spread across the entire venue:

"For hundreds of years, the Buddhist and Daoist schools have been the leaders of the martial world; today, the elite disciples of the three Daoist sects and Mount Pudu Temple are all gathered here."

"This tournament can be said to be where the talents of the world converge; may all you prodigies show your full brilliance!"

Qi Zhou concluded with a short and powerful sentence, announcing the official start of this Martial Arts Exchange Tournament.

First was the preliminary round stage.

The thirteen universities, the three Daoist sects, and Mount Pudu Temple, in addition to the 9 people who had already reached the Dao Foundation realm, could each select 27 people to enter the main tournament directly.

Together, they occupied 36 spots in the main tournament.

The thirteen universities could send a total of 130 people to participate.

The organizer, the Upper Clarity Sect, held 40 spots, while the Great Luo Sect and the Feathering Sect each had 30 spots.

Mount Pudu Temple also received 30 spots.

Therefore, there were a total of 260 contestants; excluding the 36 who had already entered the main tournament, the remaining 224 would participate in the preliminary rounds.

The preliminary rounds would last three days, and the 224 people would compete for the remaining 28 spots in the main tournament within those three days.

These people were already elites, and the lowest cultivation base among them was a Qi-Transformation mid-stage martial artist.

With over two hundred martial artists having to select the strongest twenty-eight within three days, the intensity of the competition was evident!

Even if one could truly stand out in the preliminary rounds, it was hard to avoid injury.

After three days of bitter fighting, even if their internal strength could recover, their mental state might not.

And the main tournament would begin immediately after the preliminary rounds ended, with no time for rest at all.

Truth be told, this tournament structure was not fair to the contestants participating in the preliminary rounds.

But that was reality.

Fortunately, Li Fei no longer needed to accept such a reality, and he had no interest in staying at the scene to watch the preliminary rounds, planning to return to his room to continue cultivating.

"You go back; I want to stay and watch carefully."

Li Sister Tianyu said to Li Fei.

Li Fei had the qualifications to ignore these Qi-Transformation stage martial artists, but Li Sister Tianyu did not yet have such qualifications.

Although she had already secured a spot in the main tournament, it did not mean her strength was necessarily stronger than these contestants participating in the preliminary rounds.

She wanted to observe their exchanges more and learn from them.

"Alright."

Li Fei nodded and stood up to leave the stands.

He deliberately took a detour and walked toward the area where the Great Luo Sect members were located.

The sudden dream last night made him realize that he might have truly been involved in some incident.

It was a pity that although he used the Nightmare Sect's techniques to disrupt the dream, he only gained a little more information before the dream shattered.

Early this morning, Li Fei inquired about who the leader for the Great Luo Sect was this time—True Person Qingxia of Falling Glow Peak.

This was also the only True Person of the Great Luo Sect that Li Fei had contacted face-to-face.

He had not entered that dream again since leaving Great Luo Peak, until he suddenly entered the dream again last night.

True Person Qingxia was on Great Luo Peak, and True Person Qingxia was also near Li Fei's residence last night.

If this dream was truly man-made, then this True Person Qingxia was the biggest suspect!

Therefore, Li Fei was intentionally walking toward the area where the Great Luo Sect members were located; he wanted to see if that True Person Qingxia would have any special reaction to him.

"Senior Brother, look."

On the stands, a handsome young Daoist priest nudged his Senior Brother beside him, "It seems to be Li Fei."

The Senior Brother beside him had an ordinary appearance, but his eyes were like unsheathed sharp swords, giving people a feeling of piercing sharpness.

The Senior Brother raised an eyebrow, looked at Li Fei who was walking toward them, and sized him up:

"It's a pity he's still too young. He is your opponent; if you encounter him, you must defeat him."

"Huh?"

The delicate-featured junior brother wore a troubled expression, "But being first in history feels so impressive."

"So what if he's first in history? He's only integrated two implants. You carry the peerless inheritance of my Grand Luo Sect, what are you afraid of?"

The senior brother looked at him with an expression of frustration at his lack of ambition.

These two, one with the Daoist name Ning Tang Chuan and the other with the Daoist name Ning Xing, were both peerless prodigies written about in the "Treatise on Heaven's Pride."

Senior brother Ning Tang Chuan entered the Dao Foundation realm at 21; he is 24 this year and has already integrated four implants.

Junior brother Ning Xing entered the Dao Foundation realm at 23; he is 24 this year and has already integrated two implants.

Though both were peerless prodigies, their personalities were completely different.

"He seems to be heading toward us?"

Ning Xing said in a low, nervous voice.

"Oh."

Ning Tang Chuan adjusted his expression.

Just as he prepared his words, he saw Li Fei merely glance at them before looking away.

"Senior brother, he doesn't seem to recognize us."

Ning Xing whispered, feeling relieved.

Seeing this, Ning Tang Chuan immediately shifted his gaze as well, no longer looking at Li Fei.

If you don't look at me, I won't look at you either.

"My sword will make him remember me."

He said this.

At the same time, Li Fei's gaze fell upon True Person Qingxia on the viewing platform.

The other party was conversing with an old friend and did not notice Li Fei.

It wasn't until Li Fei was about to leave the area that True Person Qingxia turned her head to glance at Li Fei's back, then continued chatting with her old friend with a smile on her face.

"Junior Martial Uncle, is that person Li Fei?"

"Yes."

In another area of the viewing platform, where the Upper Clarity Sect was located, True Person Xuanchen had returned from the main platform.

Sitting next to him was a man with a thick beard.

The man was clearly very young, but because of this full beard, he appeared somewhat old.

His name was Gan Jingcheng, and he was a lay disciple of the Upper Clarity Sect.

The Upper Clarity Sect was different from the other two sects; its disciples were divided into Dao-lineage disciples and lay disciples.

Lay disciples came from the outside world, while Dao-lineage disciples came from the few families that had held the Upper Clarity Sect's inheritance for hundreds of years.

The Upper Clarity Sect was composed of several families from the very beginning.

Disputes between Dao-lineage disciples and lay disciples had always existed, and they had intensified over these years.

The Grand Luo Sect had been constantly courting several surnames within the Upper Clarity Sect to help them suppress the lay disciple faction.

Therefore, the fact that the Upper Clarity Sect suddenly jumped out to publicly oppose the Grand Luo Sect this time was actually a victory for the lay disciples.

Gan Jingcheng was a leader among the younger generation of the Upper Clarity Sect's lay disciple faction, and many people pinned their hopes on him.

"First in history, it's truly enviable."

Gan Jingcheng looked at Li Fei's back and sighed.

True Person Xuanchen glanced at him: "You have your own path, why envy others?"

"Junior Martial Uncle is right."

Gan Jingcheng said solemnly.

"Your opponent this time is not him, but that person from Mount Pudu Temple."

Xuanchen continued.

Among the eight peerless prodigies mentioned in the "Treatise on Heaven's Pride," only Gan Jingcheng of the Upper Clarity Sect and Ming Qi of Mount Pudu Temple had integrated five implants.

Being peerless prodigies with similar inheritances, there was a simple and crude way to judge the strength of their combat power:

Whoever has more implants is stronger!

Therefore, the Upper Clarity Sect wanted to win the championship this time, so they regarded that Buddhist son from Mount Pudu Temple as their greatest competitor.

"However, it wouldn't be bad if you could meet Li Fei in the main tournament."

Xuanchen said.

Gan Jingcheng understood his Junior Martial Uncle's meaning.

Whoever could publicly defeat this 'first in history' would be able to 'seize' the other's reputation to a certain extent!

"That would indeed be quite interesting."

Gan Jingcheng smiled.

For the next three days, Li Fei barely stepped out, spending the vast majority of his time cultivating in his room.

During these days, he did not enter any dreams while practicing the 'Green Wood Facing Heaven' meditation technique.

He had integrated the 【Flame Core】 on September 11th, and by September 18th, in just one week, he had already trained the 【Flame Core】 to the Body-Breaking stage!

Inside the room, Li Fei raised his right hand, palm upward, and a bright flame generated out of thin air in his palm.

This was the extraordinary ability of the 【Flame Core】—Flame Control.

Li Fei could consume the power of the implant to generate flames himself, or he could control natural flames from the outside world.

At the current stage, 'Flame Control' at the Body-Breaking stage did not significantly increase his combat power; what truly provided a significant boost was the physical enhancement brought by the growth of the 【Flame Core】 and the enhancement of the extraordinary abilities of 【Steel Armor】 and 【Ghost Feet】.

The physical enhancement caused Li Fei's blood soul count to increase again, bringing the total number of blood souls to 356!

When the total number of blood souls exceeded 350, Li Fei gained another opportunity to strengthen a blood soul technique.

He had previously strengthened 【Blood Spring】 and 【Blood Rage】, and the remaining choices were 【Blood Fiend】 and 【Blood Might】.

Strengthening 【Blood Fiend】 would increase the duration and quantity of the blood fiend energy generated.

Strengthening 【Blood Might】 would transform this move from a single-target attack into an area-of-effect attack.

After pondering for a moment, Li Fei ultimately decided to strengthen 【Blood Fiend】.

As the opponents he faced became stronger, the effect of 【Blood Might】 became smaller and smaller.

It was almost impossible for experts who had trained Dao power to be affected by pure techniques.

Therefore, for Li Fei, 【Blood Might】 changing from single-target to area-of-effect would at most increase his ability to 'clear mobs.'

He did not currently need this ability.

As for 【Blood Fiend】, it required the consumption of blood fiend energy converted from 20 blood souls at once to fuse with Vajra Power to become Primordial Dark Vajra Power.

And the blood fiend energy converted from 20 blood souls could only exist for about ten minutes without being consumed.

If he could increase the duration of the fiend energy and the quantity generated, Li Fei could save a large amount of blood souls when using Primordial Dark Vajra Power.

After completing the strengthening, the display for 【Blood Fiend】 also changed to 【Blood Fiend】 (Strong).

The next morning, Li Fei walked out of his room and headed toward the training ground.

Today, the main tournament of the Martial Arts Exchange Competition began!

PS: A bit of writer's block, only one update today, will make up for it tomorrow.

(End of chapter)