The duel between Chen Xingcai and Wang Shuo had already become the most dazzling focal point of today's competition.
Wang Shuo, as the eldest son of the Wang family of Yun Province, was no mediocre opponent.
When he deployed his family's inherited technique, the Cloud Waves Stacking Palms, palm shadows layered upon one another like a churning sea of clouds.
The energy was vast and surging, with waves of attacks following one after another.
An ordinary Return to Origin Realm cultivator would likely have been forced into disarray long ago.
However, Chen Xingcai's movement technique was like a ghost, yet also like an elf beneath the moonlight.
She danced gracefully through that impenetrable storm of palm strikes.
Her movements were beautiful yet efficient.
Every dodge was just right; every counterattack struck precisely at the moments when Wang Shuo's old power had been exhausted and new power had not yet arisen.
She did not employ any earth-shattering techniques.
Relying solely on her exquisite control of spiritual power and her wondrous grasp of battle timing, she had already forced Wang Shuo to gradually reveal signs of fatigue.
In the end, Chen Xingcai seized a tiny gap when Wang Shuo was catching his breath.
A brilliant point of spiritual light appeared at her fingertip.
Like a meteor piercing the sky, it instantly broke through layer upon layer of palm shadows and lightly imprinted upon Wang Shuo's protective spiritual glow.
"Pfft!"
The spiritual glow trembled slightly.
Wang Shuo let out a muffled grunt and staggered backward.
Though uninjured, he had already lost.
He steadied himself, wearing not dejection but a convinced, bitter smile.
He cupped his hands and said, "Holy Maiden, your cultivation is exquisite. I, Wang, accept defeat with complete conviction! Thank you for your instruction!"
"Fellow cultivator Wang was too generous." Chen Xingcai withdrew her stance and smiled radiantly, her elegance captivating.
"Senior Sister Xingcai is invincible!!"
"So powerful! Like a moon palace fairy descended to earth!"
"Hahaha! I knew the Holy Maiden would definitely win!"
In an instant, the entire main venue erupted into mountainous cheers and applause!
The sound waves seemed about to overturn the heavens!
Countless young cultivators were flushed with excitement, frantically calling out Chen Xingcai's name, their eyes filled with worship and fervor.
Chen Xingcai smiled and waved to her supporters on all sides before gracefully descending from the stage.
Xi Yan, who had long been waiting below, immediately rushed up and gave her a big hug.
Her small face beamed with genuine joy and excitement: "Xingcai! You were amazing! That was just so cool!"
Hugging her friend, feeling the pure and fiery atmosphere around her, Xi Yan suddenly felt that life in this lower realm was far more interesting and vivid than the upper realm.
Up there, it seemed ethereal and immortal, but in reality, it was rigidly hierarchical.
Everywhere, one had to be cautious in speech and action.
She had long since cast aside all thoughts of "infiltration missions" and "her master's schemes" to the back of her mind.
At this moment, she was simply and sincerely happy for her friend.
Chen Xingcai hugged her back and said with a giggle, "Just average, just average~"
Just as the atmosphere here was heating up, thunderous cheers suddenly erupted from another arena nearby!
Everyone looked toward the sound and saw that the battle on that arena had already concluded.
Hong Longxiang's burly figure stood on the stage like an iron tower.
His opponent had long since been knocked off the stage, unconscious.
Another single move to defeat an opponent!
Hong Longxiang's domineering, power-filled fighting style had likewise conquered countless spectators.
"Hong Longxiang! Hong Longxiang!"
"Such powerful strength! Simply a human-shaped beast!"
"Another single punch! So fierce!"
Countless people cheered and shouted for this dark horse prodigy who had emerged from nowhere.
Hong Longxiang took a deep breath.
Feeling the surging passion and recognition from below, a heroic spirit rose in his chest.
His gaze was like lightning as he unconsciously swept it toward the main arena.
It happened to meet the eyes of Chen Xingcai, who had just descended and was looking over.
Their gazes collided in the air!
Without words, it was as though invisible sparks of lightning were flying!
Chen Xingcai's eyes held excitement and a competitive spirit eager to try.
Hong Longxiang's eyes held burning fighting spirit and a challenge he made no attempt to hide!
...
The day's competition soon passed once more.
At dusk, the Immortal Spirit Valley was silent, save for the chirping of insects that made it seem even more tranquil.
Chen Chang'an had just finished handling the day's miscellaneous affairs and was preparing to rest.
Suddenly, he felt something.
His gaze turned toward the empty space before the window.
There, space rippled like water.
A figure quietly emerged—a child, exquisitely carved like jade, with hair tied in two buns, wearing a pale blue Daoist robe.
It was the same one who had come to deliver a message last time.
The child's expression was even more solemn than before.
He bowed and spoke in a crisp voice that carried an undeniable authority:
"The Master invites you."
Chen Chang'an's gaze narrowed slightly as he nodded, asking no further questions.
He rose and took a single step, already arriving beside the child.
The child waved his horsetail whisk, and a hazy clear light enveloped them both.
The laws of space shifted and flowed.
In the next moment, they had vanished from the quiet Immortal Spirit Valley.
The scene before them abruptly transformed.
No longer the leisurely rustic charm of the valley, but a place within a palace hall whose magnificence and solemnity could not be described in words.
Behold: ten thousand paths of auspicious light rolling with rainbows, a thousand streams of purple mist spouting forth.
Dark, deep glaze formed its substance; bright, gleaming precious jade made its adornment.
Upon the hall's pillars coiled golden-scaled, sun-dazzling red-whiskered dragons; beneath several long bridges spiraled colorful-feathered, sky-soaring red-crowned phoenixes.
Bright haze swirled, reflecting heavenly light; green mist shrouded the pinnacle.
The floor of the hall was paved with neither gold nor jade, yet smooth as a mirror.
It reflected the endless revolutions of stars upon the vault above, as if encompassing an entire starry sky.
All around, golden bells rang and jade chimes softly swayed, emitting profound Dao tones.
Hearing them brought peace to the heart and mind, yet also involuntarily inspired a sense of awe.
This place's atmosphere was far more formal, more magnificent, and more... inviolable than the location of their previous meeting.
Chen Chang'an looked up.
At the far end of the great hall, upon a high cloud platform, sat a figure.
That figure was shrouded in endless celebratory clouds and auspicious vapors, its features indistinct.
One could only feel a supreme, transcendent majesty that looked down indifferently upon the myriad realms of existence.
He seemed to be the Great Dao itself, the source of all rules.
Merely by existing here, he caused the surrounding time and space to solidify and bow in submission.
Chen Chang'an understood clearly—this time, the other party had put on quite a display.
That lofty figure did not engage in pleasantries.
He cut straight to the chase.
His voice was flat yet like the solemn tones of the Great Dao, resonating directly in Chen Chang'an's heart:
"The tribulation fortune has risen; heaven and earth are about to overturn. For the sake of all living beings under heaven, abandon futile resistance and comply with destiny—that is the proper path."
Chen Chang'an's brows furrowed slightly, but he did not immediately refute.
The voice continued: "Those two in the lower realm were deliberately sent to you by me."
A flash of insight crossed Chen Chang'an's eyes—so it was as he had suspected!
"The situation in the upper realm is far more corrupt than what you have witnessed."
The voice carried an almost imperceptible gravity.
"The remaining tribulation power erodes ever deeper day by day. Cultivators' minds are disturbed; those behaving bizarrely and perversely increase in number, nearly reaching an uncontrollable state.
"If this continues, not only will the upper realm cease to exist, but the tribulation power will surge downward.
"The lower realm too will see all spirits annihilated, returning to chaos."
He paused briefly.
In his tone, rarely, there emerged a trace of emotion belonging to a "person": "I, too, have selfish motives. My friends, my disciples—I, too, wish to preserve them."
Chen Chang'an was silent for a moment.
Finally, he spoke, his voice calm yet firm:
"The weight of all living beings is not one person's burden.
"If sacrifice is truly necessary, it should be those of us who have enjoyed eons of lifespan, who wield power and authority, who were meant to protect the multitudes, who should be the first to face death.
"Not the younger generations of disciples, not the common people who have never known much prosperity, pushed to the front lines."
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