A Gathering of Geniuses

Not far away, a tall woman with delicate features frowned as she watched Si Yao, who was ostentatiously displaying her unique talent among the crowd without a hint of humility. A flash of disgust crossed her face.

She was Qian Min, a junior of the Cloud Sea Family and one of the few Planetary Level Fighters capable of competing in the arena today.

She did not like Si Yao, and seeing her vain behavior only made her dislike her more.

Her gaze was completely undisguised; she did not care in the slightest whether Si Yao noticed.

Si Yao was sensitive to such stares and quickly sensed it, looking through the crowd toward her.

When she saw the naked disgust in the other woman's eyes, her delicate brows furrowed instantly.

Who was this person?

Did she know her?

Why was she looking at her like that?

Beside Si Yao, a man who was clearly also from the Cloud Sea Family followed her gaze and quickly spotted the hostile-looking Qian Min. Seeing Si Yao's bewildered expression, he kindly offered a reminder.

"That is Qian Min, the most talented member born into the family in ten thousand years. She is at the Planetary Level and has also comprehended a domain—the Fire Domain, no less."

"She's only thirty-two this year, right? She's already comprehended a domain?" someone remarked in surprise.

"The Cloud Sea Family has produced quite a few outstanding descendants over the years." First there was Gui Jiao, then Qian Min. There was originally one in between, but unfortunately, they fell ten thousand years ago; rumor had it they had also comprehended a domain while still at the Planetary Level.

Genius after genius, coupled with World Lord Ba Zhen, who was on the verge of breaking through to become an Immortal—people nearby who clearly did not belong to the Cloud Sea Family exchanged glances.

"I don't even know her, so why does she hate me?" Si Yao wondered. She had been on Cloud Sea Planet for less than two months in total; where would she have had the chance to offend her?

"It's normal that you don't know," a red-haired Universe Level youth nearby laughed. "Since she was a child, Qian Min has idolized Gui Su the most. Gui Su is a friend of your teacher, so naturally, she views you as a rival." This rivalry was born of the competitive spirit shared by geniuses.

"She has been proud since she was young, and with her outstanding talent, she has always wanted to become a disciple of World Lord Ba Zhen and be ranked alongside Gui Jiao."

In truth, many on Cloud Sea Planet had heard rumors. For instance, while Qian Min claimed she wanted to apprentice under World Lord Ba Zhen, her true feelings for Gui Jiao were different.

It was just that she and Gui Jiao were in the same family, separated by an unknown number of generations—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say Gui Jiao was her ancestor. Her desire to apprentice under World Lord Ba Zhen was simply a way to close the generational gap with Gui Jiao.

Of course, everyone only dared to discuss this in private; no one dared to say it openly.

The man changed the subject, "Qian Min has failed to secure an apprenticeship for years, and the moment you appeared, World Lord Ba Zhen personally offered to take you as a disciple. She is resentful—"

"Qian Min is merely proud and competitive; she doesn't like to be outdone. Do not judge her thoughts with your own narrow-mindedness." Ning Yu, the youth who had been sitting quietly beside Si Yao, interrupted the man, looking at him with a forced, mirthless smile.

"Her failure to apprentice wasn't a matter of her talent; it was simply that her path of cultivation did not align with that of World Lord Ba Zhen. The World Lord did not wish to hinder her, which is why he did not take her on," Ning Yu said, offering a slight smile toward Qian Min in the distance. He was also a participant and not a member of the Cloud Sea Family, though he possessed the family's bloodline because both his grandmother and mother were daughters of the Cloud Sea Family.

Meeting his smile, Qian Min merely swept a calm gaze over him before looking away. His smile stiffened, and a trace of bitterness welled up in his eyes as his memory suddenly returned to ten years ago.

He and Qian Min were of similar age—well, he was actually under twenty-eight, and Qian Min was five years his senior. But in the eyes of elders who were often hundreds or thousands of years old, there was no difference, so they were naturally compared and thus knew each other.

His grandmother had been quite talented in her youth, and combined with her beauty, she had caught the eye of his grandfather, who was passing through Cloud Sea Planet while traveling the universe. It was love at first sight.

His grandfather was a member of the Qiuman Planet race, a fifth-tier bloodline, and was a Planetary Level fighter upon reaching adulthood. He was talented and had just broken through to the Universe Level at the time. His grandmother admired strength, and since his grandfather was powerful and fond of her, they naturally became a couple.

His father was their only child and was doted upon. Unfortunately, his grandparents loved adventure, and even having an only child could not stop them from their travels.

Shortly after his father was born, he was sent back to Cloud Sea Planet to live. His grandparents would return every few years to see if their son was still alive and to bring back cultivation resources; the rest of the time, they only met in the Virtual Universe.

By the time his father reached adulthood, fell in love with his mother—who was born into the Cloud Sea Family—married, and had him, his grandparents had only returned three times.

He was born on Cloud Sea Planet, and his mother and Qian Min's mother were best friends; they could be said to have grown up as childhood sweethearts.

But as the saying goes, two tigers cannot share the same mountain. Both he and Qian Min inherited excellent bloodline talents from their elders and were doted upon, so they naturally disliked each other, feeling that the other was stealing the attention of their elders and ignoring them.

He inherited his grandfather's bloodline and possessed the strength of a third-tier Apprentice Level at birth; by the time he was twelve, he was already at the Planetary Level.

At that time, seventeen-year-old Qian Min had only just broken through to the Planetary Level.

She could not beat him.

In their first battle when both were at the first stage of the Planetary Level, Qian Min was defeated by him for the first time.

A youth's spirit is always so proud. Having been suppressed by Qian Min for years due to her age, he was inevitably puffed up with pride after defeating her.

After he beat her, he pinned her to the ground and said proudly, "See? You're just not as good as me. You were stronger than me before only because you were older."

"Now that I've won, you'll never beat me again. I am the strongest."

"Do you admit defeat?"

Qian Min didn't speak, only struggling. He was immersed in the ecstasy of defeating his long-standing rival and, never giving her a chance to break free, kept pressing down on her with all his might. It wasn't until his mother rushed over that he was pulled away.

Only after being pulled away did he see that her eyes were red, and because of her desperate struggle, her hair was disheveled, making her look as wretched as a madwoman—at the time, he didn't understand. He only thought she couldn't accept being defeated and felt guilty that he hadn't been more careful, causing her to be so disheveled.

She was proud and always cared about her image; she would never let her clothes get messy, let alone her hair.

He had always wanted to find a chance to apologize to her and had even prepared a gift.

But in the ten years that followed, he never saw her again. That gift remained in his ring, unopened.

Ten years later, he saw her again.

At that time, it was her twenty-seventh birthday. The moment she appeared, she was at the ninth stage of the Planetary Level and had comprehended the Fire Domain.

He didn't know what she had gone through for her strength to change so drastically, but he knew she must have suffered greatly to achieve it.

But in her heart, there was no longer a place for him.

She simply viewed him as an ordinary clansman. When they met, she would even smile and nod at him, discuss problems encountered in cultivation, or even mention which planet had a mission suitable for broadening one's horizons—

Such topics were mundane and ordinary, as if they had always been this way.

But she would never again jump out from some corner holding all sorts of bizarre little bugs just to give him a fright; she would never again stand with her hands on her hips, sword slung over her shoulder, haughtily declaring that he must obey her; she would never again drag him into a room to plot their schemes whenever she wanted to stir up some trouble—

He shook his head, letting the memories ripple across the ocean of his mind, and could not help but lift his gaze once more to look at that figure, so familiar yet so strange.

She sat quietly in her chair, waiting for the Grand Tournament to begin, with no one on either side of her, making her already slender back appear even more desolate.

Didn't she hate being alone the most? Why wasn't she sitting with her friends?

He found it hard to remain seated.