Once every ten years, the First Martial Arts Tournament brought together geniuses. It was an age of great contention.
Aside from the two hundred seeded contestants, the entire Human Realm was in turmoil. Though many remained unknown, they were all determined to claim the crown at the First Martial Arts Tournament.
Xiji Prefecture, Five-Finger Mountain.
Thunder roared and divine light blazed. Seen from beyond the Human Realm, one could make out wild lightning intertwining and rumbling, divine light flashing as it formed a gigantic hand that shook heaven and earth, suppressing all creation.
"Boom!"
With a deafening crash, a towering figure appeared outside Five-Finger Mountain. He raised one hand against the sky, then clenched it, annihilating countless bolts of lightning.
Long fists swept across the land, collapsing heaven and earth. Thunder roared in the sky, transforming into long blades, giant swords, and all manner of divine weapons that hacked down, intent on killing and suppressing the figure who had broken free.
"Come! Come! Come!" The figure who had broken free let out a long howl and suddenly threw a punch. Its force pierced the heavens and annihilated the void, divine light sweeping across the vast handprint formed from thunder and lightning. As for the many divine weapons of lightning that came crashing down, he ignored them, taking them head-on with his own body.
The divine weapons of lightning, powerful enough to shatter mountains, struck him with metallic clangs, yet could only leave white marks on his skin. It was a shocking sight.
The man grew wilder still. He stamped his foot and charged straight into the heart of the storm, attacking heaven with his bare hands, tearing through lightning and annihilating divine light. He refused to yield an inch as he fought his way deeper into the thunderous glow.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three resounding booms rang out like great bells. The thunder faded, and the suppressing handprint scattered into glittering specks before vanishing completely. Five-Finger Mountain collapsed, revealing the figure within.
Golden hair draped over his shoulders. Wild and unruly, he stared coldly at the sky, divine light shimmering in his eyes. "You can't keep me imprisoned."
"Not bad." A middle-aged man with the same shoulder-length golden hair stepped down from the sky. He exuded an imposing air without needing to show anger, standing high above all and looking down on the world with the majesty of a ruler.
"For twenty years, I suppressed you. Today, you finally condensed the Battle-Victorious Physique and broke free. Good. Then go forth and fight! Win! Victory!"
The golden-haired middle-aged man stood with his hands behind his back, yet made one feel as though they were facing the heavens themselves—invincible. "I've been away from the Human Realm for a thousand years. I'm sure everyone has forgotten me, Yuan Zhan. Yuan Tiangang, go. Fight! Win! Victory! Let everyone across the Myriad Worlds know that our Battle-Victorious Physique is the strongest!"
Yuan Tiangang gave a cold snort and glared at the golden-haired man. "Yuan Zhan! One day, I'll kill you and avenge my mother!"
The golden-haired middle-aged man laughed aloud. "Good. That's the spirit of Yuan Zhan's son. Thirty years ago, I killed my wife to attain the Dao, but I left you alive, and I couldn't become a deity. You are my son, Yuan Zhan's son. I'll give you sixty years: either you kill your father to attain the Dao, or I kill you and become a deity. Otherwise, how will you claim the crown across the Myriad Worlds in the First Battle of the World, sixty years from now?"
"So now, get out of here. The First Martial Arts Tournament has already begun. Go and take first place. Only then will you be worthy of standing before me."
Yuan Tiangang clenched his fists and glared fiercely at Yuan Zhan. Then he moved, transforming into a streak of light that vanished beyond the horizon.
Rumble! On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, thunder suddenly raged without end across the Human Realm, and rain poured without pause. A streak of sword light shot up, swift as a startled dragon. One sword cast its cold light across nineteen prefectures. On that day, the Dragon-Subduing Prince of Dachan Prefecture was assassinated and fell dead, shaking the world.
"With Upper-Stage Marquis-Sealing cultivation, you assassinated the mid-stage King-Sealing Dragon-Subduing Prince with a single sword strike. Qiu Xue, you've completed your training. Return immediately. The First Martial Arts Tournament begins tomorrow. You must claim victory in a single battle and let the world know that only the way of slaughter reigns supreme among the ten thousand Daos."
Qiu Xue coldly shut off the Celestial Pivot. His single battle had shaken the world: with Upper-Stage Marquis-Sealing cultivation, he had assassinated the mid-stage King-Sealing Dragon-Subduing Prince. Qiu Xue himself had suffered severe injuries, but such a terrifying achievement was enough to shock every King Rank expert.
Numbly tending to his wounds, Qiu Xue opened the Celestial Pivot and tapped on the profiles of the First Martial Arts Tournament's seeded contestants. "So many so-called geniuses. Who should I hunt first?"
"Haha." Qiu Xue laughed wildly. His gaze settled on Heavenly Sword Marquis's profile, and a flash of sword light flickered. "You're the one. Heavenly Sword Marquis, you're my next target. I'll kill you to prove my Sword Dao."
"It's chaos. It's chaos."
At the Law Enforcement Department in White Jade Capital, Spring-Autumn King—back at the department—felt a headache coming on.
The First Martial Arts Tournament would begin tomorrow. Yet this final day had been anything but peaceful. Reports were pouring in from all over, as many previously obscure geniuses stepped into the limelight.
"Sansu Prefecture: a Sun God Physique has appeared."
"Beihai Prefecture: a Sea God Physique has emerged, stirring up violent winds and monstrous waves that swept across seventeen cities."
"Dongwu Prefecture: Ten Suns Across the Sky. Prefectural King Jin Zhao has been gravely wounded. It's suspected that a disciple of the Demigod Wu Yang has emerged..."
Almost every region had produced similar reports. The earliest had arrived ten days ago; the latest had come in today. Spring-Autumn King was relieved that by this afternoon, no further reports of the same kind had come in.
Spring-Autumn King knew the geniuses who had suddenly appeared were all headed for the First Martial Arts Tournament. With the tournament starting tomorrow, it was only natural that they would quiet down.
But the calmer things seemed now, the more Spring-Autumn King knew that once the tournament officially began, a storm beyond anyone's expectations would break loose. The results might surprise many.
"Especially with those out-of-realm geniuses already making their moves."
Spring-Autumn King's expression turned solemn. The geniuses of the Human Realm had used their own methods to announce themselves, but what truly unsettled him were the reports coming from beyond the realm.
He compiled all the reports and sent them up, paying special attention to those concerning the movements of out-of-realm geniuses. After waiting for a long while, the Arbitration Bureau's orders left him sucking in a breath of cold air.
Watch and wait.
That was the Arbitration Bureau's order. Spring-Autumn King was surprised, but since the higher-ups had issued their command, he couldn't be bothered to do more. He would simply follow the rules.
"As long as they don't send me to capture Lin Huang again." Spring-Autumn King tossed the order aside, relieved, then opened the First Martial Arts Tournament's reports and read them with relish.
"They really are peerless geniuses. These profiles are downright shocking. But if Lin Huang's profile were leaked... heh."
Spring-Autumn King laughed. Suddenly, he thought it would be truly interesting if Lin Huang also entered the First Martial Arts Tournament.
Spring-Autumn King's expectations were unknown to Lin Huang. At that moment, Lin Huang had shut off the Celestial Pivot and stopped reading news about the First Martial Arts Tournament, setting it to send automatic alerts instead.
Closing his eyes, Lin Huang began to quietly contemplate what he had gained at the Zhongnan Dojo.
The supreme profundity of the Finger of the Deity.
The individual Dao realms of the Sages of Zhongnan.
He soon made tremendous gains. The deeper his understanding of the Six Paths became, the more he felt his own shortcomings.
Divine light filled the air as Dao and techniques intertwined. Lin Huang sat with a solemn, dignified bearing, contemplating carefully, hoping to meld everything into one and make it his own understanding, laying the foundation of his Dao.
The night passed without incident. The next day, the First Martial Arts Tournament officially began.
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