"Unfortunately, he was far too arrogant."
Seeing Jiang Lu's face brimming with curiosity, he smiled indulgently and pinched her cheek.
"Want to know why?"
Jiang Lu immediately nodded hard, her eyes round and wide, filled with curiosity.
That cultivator who had appeared out of nowhere and crushed all the Heavenly Prodigies—this experience sounded rather familiar.
Once utterly unknown, then suddenly suppressing the Heavenly Prodigies of the Five Domains in a single day... Why did such a melodramatic plot feel so much like the script of a Long Aotian protagonist, or perhaps a system protagonist?
"Hehe, who told you I'm your master? I'll give you a little taste, then."
Ye Qing was brimming with smug satisfaction. At last, it was his turn to tell this tale of the past.
"At the Heaven's Chosen Competition a thousand years ago, the Five Great Domains selected one hundred Heavenly Prodigies to head to the Xuancheng Domain and begin the first round of secret realm trials."
"Zang entered everyone's sight during that very round."
"No one knew where he had come from, but his talent was extraordinary. At merely twenty-seven years old, he had already entered the Nascent Soul realm, far surpassing every chosen prodigy of his generation and standing peerlessly above the entire field."
"In the end, he overwhelmed everyone in the competition and claimed first place."
"But he was arrogant by nature and held himself in high esteem, looking down on the protection and recruitment of every sect. Though the various powers harbored dissatisfaction, none dared offend him lightly. Everyone was certain that, with his peerless talent, he would surely break through to the Tribulation Transcendence Stage and ascend to the Upper Realm within a hundred years. In the end, they could only turn a blind eye."
"Later, at ninety-five years old, he