Tianyan Mountain Range.
The mountain range had once been sparsely populated, with countless demonic beasts roaming unchecked. But now, because the Ancient Tomb Mansion had emerged, people were arriving in an endless stream, particularly with the Four Great Clans of the Great Yan Dynasty all sending people at once.
High in the sky, Lin Langtian stood atop an eagle, looking down at Qin Shi and Wang Yan as they approached, his presence contending with theirs.
"Waiting for whom? Didn't the Huangfu Family say they weren't sending anyone?" Wang Yan asked, taken aback and frowning.
"The Huangfu Family doesn't intend to send anyone, but they invited someone more formidable to come."
Lin Langtian smiled as he spoke.
"Oh? Who is it? There aren't many people in the Great Yan Dynasty whom you would call formidable, are there?" Wang Yan immediately grew curious.
"Hehe, Brother Langtian, you flatter me too much. With the finest of the Great Yan Dynasty's younger generation here, I'm afraid I'll have little to gain this time."
Just as Wang Yan's voice fell, a clear, ethereal voice suddenly rang out between heaven and earth.
Everyone turned to look and saw a streak of green light sweep in from the distant sky, finally transforming into a Green Lotus.
Upon the Green Lotus stood a figure with a graceful silhouette. Though a veil covered her face, her eyes, clear as crystal, made the world around her dim in an instant.
The woman wore a plain, light-colored dress. Her brows resembled kingfisher feathers, her skin was white as snow, and her waist was slender as a silken sash. Above the veil covering her face, her clear eyes moved in a glance that made heaven and earth pale in comparison.
A woman of such bearing and beauty was a rarity under heaven.
Qin Shi also seemed to know who she was. He bowed with a hint of respect and said, "So it's you, Miss Qingzhu!"
Wang Yan, too, seemed to know a little about her identity.
Ling Qingzhu offered a modest reply and was about to suggest joining forces to break the seal when, at that moment-
Ling Qingzhu suddenly looked toward a certain spot in the Tianyan Mountain Range. Lin Langtian and the other two did the same, while golden Origin Energy burst from Wang Yan!
"Who goes there?" he shouted.
Hidden in the shadows, Lin Dong watched their reactions in surprise. Who could have made these four foremost young talents react like this?
He looked in that direction.
A streak of rainbow light came flying at incredible speed, like a Flying Immortal from beyond the heavens, sacred and inviolable. Yet it was also like a raging thunderbolt, carrying a ferocity that could break through anything.
It was like an awakening dragon, bearing an irresistible, tyrannical power.
"I didn't expect to see you here too, Qingzhu!"
While everyone was still wondering who it was, the rainbow light faded, revealing a heroic-looking young man with handsome features, his countenance radiant as the sun.
Lin Langtian and the other two all sensed a tremendous threat from him.
The moment he opened his mouth, it was clear he was an old acquaintance.
Lin Langtian and Qin Shi narrowed their eyes. He actually knew Ling Qingzhu. Could he be one of those people too?
That would be troublesome. Because of Ling Qingzhu's relationship with the Huangfu Family, she might still show them some consideration in the contest.
But this man, they feared, would be difficult to deal with.
Seeing someone so arrogant, Wang Yan said coldly, "Who are you? This place belongs to our Four Great Clans..."
"Noisy!"
The young man glanced at Wang Yan. "I'm speaking to Qingzhu. Why are you butting in?"
In an instant-
Everyone sensed terrifying fluctuations of Origin Energy surging in all directions. A wave of purple Origin Energy swept out, leaving even Lin Langtian and Qin Shi speechless.
In the blink of an eye, it formed a gigantic claw. Purple light flashed, and the claw tore through the sky, as though an unseen, monstrously ferocious beast had suddenly swiped at them.
"Not good!"
Wang Yan's whole body shuddered. In an instant, he swung the Great Luo Golden Spear in his hand.
Origin Energy burst forth around him, the pressure of the Form Creation Realm joining with the high-grade Spirit Treasure, the Great Luo Golden Spear.
Brilliant golden light gathered rapidly at the spear's tip, transforming into a golden spear-light over a hundred feet long that shot explosively forward!
"Boom! Boom!"
The spear-light surged forth with astonishing force.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The claw slammed down, and the Great Luo Spear Qi, enough to command the attention of even a Qi Creation Realm cultivator, shattered in an instant. The claw's momentum did not diminish as it pressed down upon Wang Yan.
Wang Yan hurriedly formed an Origin Energy shield, but the claw tore through it as easily as a sheet of paper.
At the sight, everyone present changed expression.
Wang Yan might not have been as gifted as his elder brother Wang Zhong, but he was still a genius at the Form Creation Realm.
Yet he couldn't even stop a single strike?
Wang Yan only had time to hold the Great Luo Golden Spear in front of him, hoping to use the sturdiness of the high-grade Spirit Treasure to block the claw.
But then-
The Great Luo Golden Spear was split cleanly in two, its halves falling to the ground, and the Origin Energy claw struck Wang Yan squarely in the chest.
"Crack! Crack!"
A violent succession of cracking bones rang out. Wang Yan was sent flying backward, spewing blood, most of his chest caved in. He could breathe in but barely breathe out.
Silence fell over everyone present.
Wang Yan, one of the strongest contenders for the Ancient Tomb Mansion this time, had been killed just like that?
"You-!"
Someone from the Wang Clan growled. Wang Pan, another of their leaders, wore a savage expression. Wang Yan was the clan leader's son, after all.
He had died just like that. Even if Wang Pan made it back safely, he would surely bear the brunt of the clan leader's anger!!
But sensing someone's gaze, his heart went cold. He saw the young man staring at him, seemingly waiting for something.
The thought that had just arisen in Wang Pan's mind, of having the Wang Clan members attack together, vanished.
I can't die. I have to live!
Otherwise, who will tell the clan leader that Wang Yan is dead?
Meanwhile, Lin Dong remained safely hidden, his eyes narrowing as he listened to Little Marten.
The peak of Fortune?
This young man looked scarcely older than him, yet he had already reached the peak of Fortune?
"What's more, this man has probably cultivated an extremely terrifying body-refining martial art. That strike just now contained not only Origin Energy, but also pure physical strength."
"That's why even that high-grade Spirit Treasure couldn't stop it. Although he can't fight someone at the Nirvana stage, he isn't far from it."
Little Marten's words left Lin Dong even more dazzled. Almost able to fight someone at the Nirvana stage?
Who exactly was this man?
As everyone wondered, Ling Qingzhu finally spoke. "Xiang Yun, why are you here?"
"If you can be here, why can't I?"
Xiang Yun smiled and dispersed the purple Origin Energy. It was as though casually killing Wang Yan just now had been no different from crushing an ant.
To him, however, it really was like crushing an ant.
With the Heavenly Tyrant Body and cultivation at the peak of Fortune,
if he couldn't crush someone at the Form Creation Realm, then his physique would have been wasted on him.
Xiang Yun looked at the Ancient Tomb Mansion, a trace of eagerness flashing through his tiger-like eyes.
He had finally made it in time for the "feast" from the original story. It was just that Ling Qingzhu was the main course.
He was a transmigrator.
After finishing overtime, he had been watching the Martial Universe anime on his phone on his way home when the Blue Rider, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, sent him to another world.
He was reborn as a baby and taken in by a burly man.
When he was five or six, he leafed through the books in his adoptive father Xiang Huang's home and discovered that the place he lived in was called the Tianxuan Continent.
The part of it where he lived was called the Great Desolate Region.
At first, he thought he had merely transmigrated into a world of cultivation. Without giving it much thought, he obediently cultivated under Xiang Huang.
The moment Xiang Huang taught him to begin cultivating and he entered the Body Tempering Realm,
three spheres of light appeared before him, and a steady stream of information entered his mind.
[Heavenly Tyrant Body], [Divine King Body], [Heavenly Demon Physique].