Huh!
At this moment, only after those people before the Pill Assembly had recovered from their daze did they come to their senses. Exclamations rose one after another!
There had actually been two dark horses in this pill competition!?
Liu Yunxi forcefully surpassing Wen Yuyan had already been shocking enough.
Who would have thought that Ye Xuan of the Violet Firmament Sect would be even stronger!?
Yet many people had never even heard Ye Xuan's name before this.
"Impossible! Why should Ye Xuan be the champion?"
"He cheated!"
At this moment, Liu Ruoxi, who had finally recovered her senses, roared with a twisted expression.
She couldn't accept this result. Why should Ye Xuan rank above her?
Moreover, didn't that mean the words she had spoken publicly just now had become a laughingstock?
Where did that leave her dignity!?
"Heh heh, Liu Yunxi, and you still refuse to admit defeat?"
"You don't know this, do you? The top-grade Essence Nurturing Pill from my Hundred Herbs Pill House was refined by Ye Xuan!"
"This is the second time you've lost to Ye Xuan!"
Lin Churan didn't forget to twist the knife at this moment.
"What did you say?"
Liu Yunxi's expression changed drastically when she heard this.
The previous top-grade Essence Nurturing Pill had come from Ye Xuan's hands. Didn't that mean Ye Xuan also possessed a second-grade Exotic Fire!?
He couldn't cultivate, yet he possessed an Exotic Fire. Why hadn't he said so earlier!?
At the same time, before the Artificer Guild.
"Fei'er, those were all your father's private savings! You bet them all on Ye Xuan?"
"That's right. What, are you reluctant?" Nangong Fei said with her arms crossed, completely unconcerned.
"You've really gone mad. Who doesn't know that the Artificer Competition champion is already in Ji Fengliu's bag? Who can compete with him? Who would dare to compete with him!?"
"Those were your father's private savings!" Nangong Shou covered his face. "Do you know how hard it was for your father to save up these spirit stones behind your mother's back?"
"Oh, Father, stop nagging. Bet on Ye Xuan at one to twenty. If we win, it's all yours—I don't want any of it!" Nangong Fei waved her hand and stared intently at the ranking light screen slowly appearing before the Artificer Guild's building.
"Win!?"
"How could he beat Ji Fengliu? He..."
But at this moment, Nangong Shou suddenly noticed the sharp gasps rising around him. He followed everyone's gaze toward the Artificer Guild.
The next moment, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
The rankings had appeared. Ji Fengliu, the Holy Son of the Lin Tian Sword Sect, had actually fallen to second place, while the champion was none other than Ye Xuan of the Violet Firmament Sect!?
"I... I didn't read that wrong, did I?"
Nangong Shou even rubbed his eyes hard.
"No mistake. Ye Xuan really won!"
"I've never lost a bet. He really is amazing!" Nangong Fei said with her arms crossed, laughing.
Ye Xuan was Xuan Ye. This Sect Tournament was getting more and more interesting!
"Hahaha, we struck it rich! We really struck it rich this time!" Nangong Shou danced with joy as he hurried to the betting counter to collect his spirit stones.
At this moment, the Sword Sect's Holy Son, Ji Fengliu, walked out holding a brand-new silver sword that shimmered with flowing light.
He glanced up at the rankings and merely furrowed his brows slightly, showing no loss of composure.
Then his gaze lowered, and he saw Ye Xuan walking out of the Artificer Guild.
The two exchanged glances, but Ye Xuan merely smiled faintly before looking away. Together with Chu Wan'er, he headed straight for the main venue.
Now that he had taken both the Pill Competition and Artificer Competition championships, the Violet Firmament Sect would receive resource support from Cloud Palace Academy.
"Senior Brother!"
"Fengliu!"
"What happened?"
At this moment, Wen Yuyan and the Sect Master of the Lin Tian Sword Sect arrived as well.
They had remained at the Pill Assembly because they had been most confident about the Artificer Competition. Who would have thought that Ji Fengliu would actually lose it!?
After all, Ji Fengliu's artificing skills had been praised and personally instructed by Cloud Palace Academy and the Artificer Guild Master. How could he lose?
"The Extreme Thunder Sword?"
Ji Fengliu instead looked at the weapon Ye Xuan had refined on the rankings and murmured.
"It's nothing. Losing the Artificer Competition is just losing it. At least the Sword Sect still has one champion."
Only after a long while did Ji Fengliu smile faintly.
It was merely artificing. He didn't care that much about it.
"Senior Brother, I lost the Pill Competition championship too..." Wen Yuyan pressed her lips together and said dejectedly.
"Hmm?"
In an instant, Ji Fengliu's eyes turned cold. "Who took it?"
"Ye Xuan." Wen Yuyan lowered her head.
"Ye Xuan?!"
Ji Fengliu froze, even wondering whether he had heard incorrectly.
Hadn't Ye Xuan just taken the Artificer Competition championship?
Could it be that he knew some technique of creating clones?
"Fengliu, that Ye Xuan used who knows what method. He participated in the Pill Competition first, finished refining the pills in only an hour, and then came to the Artificer Guild to take part in the Artificer Competition!"
The Sect Master of the Lin Tian Sword Sect frowned. He even suspected that Ye Xuan had cheated.
"In other words, he used half the time to defeat me in artificing?"
Ji Fengliu's pupils contracted slightly. His face, which had always been indifferent, finally showed an obvious change.
He could accept defeat in artificing, but he absolutely couldn't accept being crushed!
Central Plaza of Tianxuan City.
The main venue of the Barren Continent's Sect Tournament was already packed to the brim.
As the Barren Continent's grandest event, nearly every major and minor faction from the four regions had arrived. Hundreds of thousands of cultivators sat around the plaza.
But at this moment, news of the Pill and Artificer Competitions ending reached the venue and stirred up a wave of astonishment.
On a thousand-zhang-high platform in the distance, a young man clad in white-gold armor sat in the central seat. Beautiful attendants surrounded him, while armored guards stood watch. The guards' cultivation was astonishingly all above the Myriad Manifestation Realm.
And the ruler of the Barren Continent, Region Marquis Qi Chuan, could only sit below and attend him.
At this moment, an old man came behind the young man and whispered a few words in his ear. The young man's slightly closed eyes snapped open.
"What did you say? Fengliu lost?"
"Who did he lose to?"
The young man was puzzled.
"Reporting to Young Master, it was a Holy Son from the Northern Region's Violet Firmament Sect. His name is Ye Xuan!" the old man replied.
"Moreover, this person not only defeated Young Master Ji, he also took the Pill Competition championship!" the old man added.
"What!? Are you saying this person won both championships?"
The young man's expression shifted slightly, and a flash of anger crossed his cold eyes.
If so, wouldn't the resources Cloud Palace Academy had allocated to the Lin Tian Sword Sect all be snatched away!?
"Heh heh, Marquis Qi, I never expected that although your Barren Continent isn't very large, it would have quite a few interesting people!"
The young man then looked at Qi Chuan below, smiling without warmth.
"Ah, Young Master Xuan Zhou, I only just found out as well!"
Qi Chuan was even more depressed at this moment.
He knew that the sect Xiao Chengfeng belonged to was supposed to replace the Violet Firmament Sect and become a first-grade sect. Yet now, the Violet Firmament Sect had suddenly risen one wave after another!?
Yesterday, Ye Xuan had already stunned the entire audience before the Inquiry Stele.
Today, he had taken two championships by himself!
He faintly sensed that something was wrong.
But if Xiao Chengfeng lost today, how would he explain himself to Master Ji!?
"Hmph. You'd better truly not have known!"
The young man snorted coldly and closed his eyes again.
At this moment, cultivators from the various top sects also entered the venue one after another.
As first-grade sects, the Lin Tian Sword Sect, Cloud-Leaving Monastery, Ba Yue Mountain, and Violet Firmament Sect were all seated on the second-highest platform.
Below them were the dozens of second-grade sects from the four regions.
Thus, when the cultivators of the Azure Mist Sect entered and took their seats, they had to look up just to see the Violet Firmament Sect!
A second-grade sect was ultimately still one rank lower than others!
Liu Yunxi sat beside Xiao Chengfeng, but her expression was as gloomy as a cold pool.
Although she had defeated Wen Yuyan in the Pill Competition and become second, she had suffered endless humiliation.
Ye Xuan and Chu Wan'er sitting together on the second-highest platform were even more like a thorn in her eye!
"Yunxi, I'll avenge you!"
"Soon, we'll be able to go up to the second-highest platform and make them look up at us too!"
Xiao Chengfeng's face was taut as he gritted his teeth angrily.
At this moment, Qi Chuan also slowly rose from the highest platform.
"Ahem, since the cultivators of the Northern Region's various sects have all arrived, the Sect Tournament is about to begin!"
As the tournament bell rang out across heaven and earth, the entire venue suddenly fell silent.
"Before the tournament begins, I wish to introduce to all fellow cultivators that this Barren Continent Sect Tournament will be presided over by Young Master Xuan Zhou, Cloud Palace Academy's first chief disciple!"
After Qi Chuan's voice fell, Xuan Zhou, seated in the central position, merely opened his eyes slightly before waving his hand and continuing to rest with his eyes closed.
He didn't even want to say a single word.
This scene left Qi Chuan rather embarrassed.
"Xuan Zhou is only the academy's chief disciple, yet he's this arrogant?"
At the Violet Firmament Sect's seats, Ye Xuan frowned and asked.
Qi Chuan was the ruler of the Barren Continent, after all. Was this man really unwilling to give him even the slightest bit of face!?
"Because his surname is Xuan!"
Sect Master Su Ziyun merely replied with five words.
That's right—simply because his surname was Xuan!
The Xuan Clan was the foremost of the great clans. Even a mere wastrel from it was enough to make outsiders wary.
Not to mention that Xuan Zhou possessed the direct bloodline of the Xuan Clan. Even Qi Chuan could only bow and scrape before him.
Liu Yunxi also narrowed her eyes, but she still couldn't make out Xuan Zhou's appearance.
"Ahem. In that case, this marquis shall announce the rewards for this Sect Tournament!"
"In this Sect Tournament, the Holy Sons and Saintesses of all the first-grade sects will directly obtain student eligibility for the academy and enter Cloud Palace Academy to cultivate!"
"Moreover, among the contenders from the first-grade sects, the strongest Holy Son or Saintess will even obtain the status of a direct disciple of Cloud Palace Academy!"
Qi Chuan's voice rang across the entire plaza. After a brief silence, the enormous plaza erupted into thunderous uproar!
Every sect cultivator's expression changed dramatically!
The Holy Sons and Saintesses of first-grade sects could all directly become academy students!?
Wen Yuyan and the others immediately looked toward Ji Fengliu.
The strongest prodigy of the four sects could become a direct disciple of the academy!?
This was an honor that had never appeared in the Barren Continent's history!
Yet Ji Fengliu merely smiled faintly. He had already learned of this news yesterday.
Although he didn't appear very excited, he was determined to win the Martial Competition championship!
On the third platform, Xiao Chengfeng and Liu Yunxi trembled all over with excitement!
No sect disciple didn't wish to cultivate at Cloud Palace Academy. It was one of the three highest cultivation holy lands in the Great Gan Dynasty, second only to the Imperial Academy!
Previously, only the strongest prodigies of the four regions could compete for student eligibility by passing the examination!
But now, the threshold had actually been lowered!?
Wasn't this precisely their opportunity!?
Thus, Liu Yunxi could no longer wait at all. She immediately rose and looked toward the second-highest platform.
"Chu Wan'er of the Violet Firmament Sect, come down and fight!"
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