Hundred Kingdoms Competition

"Miss has been in seclusion for two and a half days already. Nothing should have happened, right?"

Outside the cultivation chamber, Xiao Qing paced anxiously before the door. If her divine sense had not confirmed that Li Qingping's condition remained stable, she would have charged inside long ago.

Inside the cultivation chamber, Li Qingping was forging her Dao Foundation. After two days, her Dao Foundation had successfully been tempered to a size of ninety-nine zhang. Yet she did not break through then, choosing instead to continue tempering it.

"I have to push harder. Otherwise, I'll never catch up to his footsteps."

Li Qingping thought to herself. It was precisely by relying on this belief that she broke through the bottleneck, successfully surpassing the hundred-zhang barrier with her Dao Foundation. In the end, she tempered it to three hundred and ninety-nine zhang. That was not bad at all.

Rumble! A low roar came from within the cultivation chamber. Xiao Qing halted, then said happily.

"The County Princess has broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm."

After reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, Li Qingping did not leave seclusion. Instead, she continued cultivating to stabilize her realm. Only three days later did she emerge, her cultivation firmly stabilized at Foundation Establishment Early Stage.

"Congratulations on breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, Miss."

The moment Xiao Qing saw Li Qingping emerge, she hurriedly congratulated her. Li Qingping merely shook her head.

"Xiao Qing, thank you for the effort you put into guarding outside these past few days."

"Miss, it is only what I should do."

Xiao Qing spoke with a serious expression, and Li Qingping laughed helplessly.

"I really don't know what to do with you. Now that I've broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, go back and get some proper rest."

Xiao Qing had wanted to refuse, but upon seeing Li Qingping's firm gaze, she could only agree.

"Understood, Miss."

In the capital of the Yuanwu Kingdom, Li Xuanran sat in the imperial palace with a grave expression. Before him stood the upper ranks of the entire Yuanwu Kingdom.

"What do you all think?"

After speaking, Li Xuanran tossed out an envelope. Seven large characters were written upon it.

Invitation to the Hundred Kingdoms Competition.

The moment they saw the invitation to the Hundred Kingdoms Competition, the expressions of Yuanwu Kingdom's upper ranks changed. Clearly, this competition was no good thing.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, our Yuanwu Kingdom ranked poorly in the Hundred Kingdoms Competition ten years ago. Perhaps we should not participate this time."

Very soon, one of the higher-ranking officials stepped forward, only to be swiftly rebutted.

"Li Chengtian, what do you mean by that? If we do not go, would we not disgrace the Yuanwu Kingdom? In the eyes of others, would our Yuanwu Kingdom not become a pack of cowards?"

A burly man with a full beard snorted coldly.

"Cheng Wukou, what would going accomplish? Could it possibly change the Yuanwu Kingdom's current situation?"

Li Chengtian could not help retorting. Cheng Wukou rose to his feet.

"Going to our deaths is better than being called cowards."

As the two argued, the hundreds present began taking sides. The scene instantly descended into utter chaos, while Li Xuanran took a deep breath and allowed them to continue quarreling.

Only in the end did the two men cup their hands toward Li Xuanran.

"Please make the decision in this matter, Your Majesty."

Well, well. I never expected this ball to be kicked back into my court. Li Xuanran raised a brow in thought, but still sighed and spoke.

"In that case, let us begin assigning the five spots for the Hundred Kingdoms Competition. Whoever can place within the top hundred in the competition will be handsomely rewarded by this king."

Li Xuanran stood, and an overbearing aura erupted from him. Upon hearing this, Cheng Wukou said excitedly.

"This minister obeys!"

After all the officials present had left, only Cheng Wukou and Li Chengtian remained.

"Your Majesty, may I ask why you kept us here?"

Li Chengtian cupped his hands, and Cheng Wukou did the same.

"Alas, in recent years, the Yuanwu Kingdom has produced fewer and fewer young prodigies. Compared to other kingdoms, we are weaker by far more than a little. This king is deeply worried."

Li Xuanran sighed, his face filled with sorrow. Cheng Wukou hurriedly said.

"Your Majesty need not worry. To this minister's knowledge, the Yuanwu Kingdom has gained quite a few young prodigies in recent years. Some have even broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm before reaching thirty. Surely they can secure a decent ranking for the Yuanwu Kingdom."

Li Xuanran merely shook his head upon hearing this.

"I hope so. But in the previous Hundred Kingdoms Competition, there were even prodigies at the Nascent Soul Middle Stage. Who knows what kind of freaks may appear this time?"

Li Xuanran's words rendered Cheng Wukou speechless as well. In the previous Hundred Kingdoms Competition, the Yuanwu Kingdom had suffered a crushing defeat.

They had originally thought that sending Golden Core Stage cultivators would be enough to obtain a respectable ranking. Yet they had never expected Golden Core Stage cultivators under thirty to be as common as carp crossing a river. There had even been Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.

The Hundred Kingdoms Competition was organized by the nearby fourth-rate power, the Tianquan Kingdom. As a fifth-rate power, the Yuanwu Kingdom was naturally among those invited.

Its purpose was to rank the prodigies of the various powers, and its targets were prodigies below the age of thirty.

The Tianquan Kingdom had a great expert at the peak of the Human Immortal Realm overseeing it. Naturally, Li Xuanran had to show it some respect.

Before long, news of the Hundred Kingdoms Competition spread throughout the Yuanwu Kingdom, and many young prodigies became quite interested.

Deep in the mountains and old forests, a ten-meter-tall giant bear charged toward a thin figure. At first glance, it was actually a young man. Facing the bear's attack, the young man showed no fear and assumed his opening stance.

When the giant bear reached him, opening its jaws to bite down, the young man struck after his opponent had moved. His fist slammed directly into the bear's head, and the terrifying force shattered its skull.

As the giant bear's corpse fell to the ground, an old man appeared at some unknown moment, pride filling his eyes as he looked at the young man.

"Tian'er, you have now broken through to Golden Core Peak. It is time for you to leave the mountains."

The old man spoke calmly. Looking again at the giant bear's corpse, it emitted a faint Golden Core aura.

"Yes, Master. But where should I go after leaving the mountains?"

The young man put on his clothes and asked respectfully.

"Very well. The Hundred Kingdoms Competition is about to begin, and not many people from the Yuanwu Kingdom have gone to participate. I shall secure a spot for you."

After thinking for a moment, the old man spoke. He was none other than the Yuanwu Kingdom's renowned early Tribulation Transcendence cultivator, Zhe Jianren.

Sword Immortal Sect of the Yuanwu Kingdom.

Within the Sword Immortal Sect, a young man was practicing swordsmanship. His movements were extremely slow at first, but they soon accelerated. In the end, only afterimages could be seen. It even seemed as though the young man stood motionless in place, yet Sword Qi had already spread across his entire body.

Only when an elder of the Sword Immortal Sect arrived before him did the young man stop.

"Elder Wu, what is it?"

The young man asked neither humbly nor arrogantly. Elder Wu's gaze, however, held a trace of respect.

"Sword Child, the Sect Master requests your presence."

Before long, the young man followed Elder Wu into the sect hall, where the elders had already been waiting for quite some time.

"Zhang Chengfeng greets the elders and pays respects to the Sect Master."

In the Sect Master's seat sat an old man with flowing white whiskers, smiling as he looked at Zhang Chengfeng.

"Chengfeng, if I recall correctly, you seem to have already broken through to Golden Core Peak."

"Reporting to the Sect Master, I was fortunate enough to break through to Golden Core Peak some time ago."

Zhang Chengfeng replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Very good. Are you willing to win a share of glory for the Sword Immortal Sect?"

With that, Xie Jianxian, the Sect Master of the Sword Immortal Sect, explained the matter of the Hundred Kingdoms Competition.

"With my reputation, securing an opportunity for you will be easy enough."

Xie Jianxian spoke with a solemn expression. Yet what Zhang Chengfeng cared about was not that, but whether there would be prodigies at the Hundred Kingdoms Competition.

"Will there be prodigies?"

"Of course there will."

"Then what is there to fear? I accept."

Zhang Chengfeng slung his sword across his back and immediately hurried toward the capital.

At the same time, the major powers of the Yuanwu Kingdom all sent their own prodigies rushing toward the capital. Clearly, they all wanted to make a name for themselves at the Hundred Kingdoms Competition and, incidentally, obtain Li Xuanran's reward. Obviously, they did not believe anything Li Xuanran gave could be worthless.

As the Princess of the Yuanwu Kingdom, Li Qingping naturally received the news as well.