Some things simply couldn't be kept under wraps.
Especially not from the great powers of the world.
The next day, before dawn, Cao Jie summoned the three prodigies of Qi and told them some shocking news—
Just two days earlier, Jing Kingdom's foremost Inner Palace prodigy... had fallen behind the Gate of Ten Thousand Demons!
So this was the real reason Jing Kingdom had withdrawn from the Inner Palace Arena at the Yellow River Assembly!
In the quiet room where the four of them sat, even Cao Jie, who had brought the news to Jiang Wang and the others, could barely hide his surprise.
It wasn't that prodigies from the various nations had never died on the eve of the main tournament. It was just that such things were exceedingly rare, and usually happened to other nations.
For the six great powers of the world, it was almost unthinkable.
Every nation would strengthen its protection of the prodigies representing it before the Yellow River Assembly.
When Jiang Wang went to Star Moon Plain, for instance, two Divine Presence cultivators from the Capital Patrol Inspection Office accompanied him. When Ji Zhaonan went to train in the Lost Realm, Qi Xiao, who was stationed on Jueming Island, reportedly watched over her personally.
Jing Kingdom certainly wasn't short of strong cultivators, nor would it begrudge its prodigies protection.
And yet its foremost Inner Palace prodigy had still died on the eve of the Yellow River Assembly...
It was impossible not to be shaken by the news.
Cao Jie knew about the battle behind the Gate of Ten Thousand Demons two days ago.
A core area under Jing Kingdom's guard had suddenly come under a large-scale Demon Race invasion, and the two sides had fought a fierce battle of attack and defense. Under the