Liu Zongming wore magnificent clothes of colored silk, a white robe patterned with clouds, a golden crown, and a jade belt. Brimming with confidence, he carried the distinctive bearing of a gifted young scion of a prestigious sect. Anyone who saw him would have praised him as a graceful young gentleman, a fine talent of his age.
Behind him stood several young men and women in equally splendid clothes who looked to be children of aristocratic clans. Every one of them was extraordinary, and none looked easy to provoke.
They all came from the Flying Immortal Sect in the Eastern Sea. All were young talents and true disciples, geniuses of prestigious sects among the younger generation at the human rank.
As it happened, Liu Zongming and his companions had come to the Azure Cloud Sect Headquarters by chance. They had left their sect over a year earlier to wander through the various regions.
Over that year, they had crossed a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers, traveling throughout the five regions. They had taken in almost the entire mainland of the human realm, though only as fleetingly as viewing flowers from horseback.
Naturally, their travels had included challenges and magical duels wherever they went, allowing them to meet the heroes of the world.
Liu Zongming was genuinely remarkable. He had begun cultivating at fifteen and reached the tenth transformation in just three years. At eighteen, as a disciple selected for intensive cultivation, he had already begun striving for the earth rank. Five years later, at twenty-three, he was already at the half-step earth rank, on the verge of a breakthrough.
Throughout his journey, he had encountered virtually no match among those at the human rank.
Like Fang Qianyuan, he was a dazzling talent who had won every battle, regarded by