"Thank you, Senior."
Li Xuantong accepted it with a word of thanks, neither servile nor arrogant.
A gold quality badge...
This meant he had already secured his ticket to the finals. It also made him a seeded contender in the eyes of many powerful figures. Its value was beyond question!
"Hahaha! Brother Li, you truly are extraordinary!"
Just then, a fair-faced young cultivator stepped out of the crowd, clapping in praise with a broad smile:
"I've long heard of your profound mastery of lightning arts, Brother Li. Now that I've seen you today, your talent puts the rest of us to shame as well."
"If I hadn't come merely to broaden my horizons, you really would have shattered my Dao heart today!"
The speaker was the Young Valley Master of the [Scarlet Flame Valley], a first-rate faction in the Southern Realm.
At his words, many of the complicated gazes around them, previously tinged with jealousy and hostility, began to withdraw.
Indeed, Li Xuantong possessed gold-tier talent and was a true inheritor of the Divine Firmament Dao Sect. He certainly had the right to look down on the competition.
"You flatter me."
Li Xuantong smiled and shook his head. Though he appeared modest, a trace of pride lingered in his eyes:
"The Dragon Martial Tournament doesn't judge talent alone."
"Strength and temperament... those are part of the assessment too."
He rubbed the golden badge in his hand and said softly:
"Even someone without the greatest talent might have the last laugh."
"Otherwise, why would I..."
Before he could finish.
BOOM!!!
A deafening roar several times fiercer than the last exploded from the other end of the square!
It shook the ground beneath the entire square!
"What's happening?!"
Everyone turned toward it instinctively, their faces paling in shock.
There, on the other