“Sweet heavens, who would’ve thought that it will be this crowded here?”
“Isn’t that common sense? This is a once in a quarter century kind of event, why wouldn’t people go here?”
“Betting here, try your luck now and you might win!!! Ah, young sir, which genius would you like to bet on??”
“Damn, it’s still a couple of hours before it starts but the crowd is already going wild!!”
“Just how much is the Heavenly Secret City earning from this kind of event?”
“Look!!! Those are some of the participants, right?”
“Man, how lucky are these people to gain quota for the Golden Spirit Pool”
“They are qualified geniuses after all, completely different from normal cultivators like us”
In a large coliseum probably more than enough to hold millions of people, the crowded audience either sits or stands, all of them looking forward to the start of the event as it is the only time they will have the chance to openly mock geniuses falling early in the competition.
As the crowd discusses all sorts of topics, some of the prominent powers of the continent already starts appearing en masse, all of them going with their groups, the presence of geniuses gathering across a single place causing some sort of visions to appear in the more insightful audiences’ eyes, some of them giant animals that towers the entire coliseum, some weapons floating on top of some people’s heads while some sees straight up human silhouettes behind the young geniuses.
Time passes by in the dozens of minutes and the sun already rises up, the stage in the coliseum already filled with hundreds of geniuses from top tier forces waiting for the start of the event, and even the Heavenly Secret Tower has their own team to participate, three young men and two young ladies representing them, Hua Xian’er and Ling Feng outside of this group, waiting somewhere independently.
“Where’s Su Tian?” looking at his older cousin, Ling Feng asks with curiosity in his eyes, wondering how his sworn brother is doing currently as they hardly met during the past month of him living in the Heavenly Secret Tower’s headquarters, his older cousin’s reply causing his excited expression to fade out a bit.
“He’s with Pops and Mum, I heard that Uncle Yang and Aunty Xueyan is meeting him as well” Hua Xian’er replied with a knowing smile on her face, completely aware that the amiable-looking young man in front of her is only going to brag in front of her beloved as he’s about to ascend into a higher cultivation realm now.
‘If he knows just how much stronger Xiaotian is, I wonder how he would react…’ looking at the downcast figure of her cousin, Hua Xian’er decided to cheer him up by promising to set up a blind date for him, the eyes of the young man lighting up as he knows that his older cousin knows a lot of beautiful ladies, making him extremely excited about her promise.
Meanwhile, on top of a tower overseeing the entirety of the Heavenly Secret City, a young man with an immortal-like bearing and appearance is standing in front of four masters possibly within the pinnacle of the continent if the half-step celestial experts are not included, one among them being a bearded, middle-aged looking Advance state Ascension Realm expert, while the rest of them being Intermediate state Ascension Realm experts.
One of them is wielding a white fan with calligraphy of seemingly feminine handwriting on it, a single word, ‘integrity’, painted on it, her appearance obscured by the fan, her eyes being the only thing that strikes a chord with Wu Xiaotian, looking extremely similar to Hua Xian’er’s eyes.
The other lady scrutinizing him, is practically a female version of Hua Jingxian, a charismatic beauty with intelligent eyes, right beside her another man a head taller from the lady beside him, still being short when compared to Hua Jingxian and Wu Xiaotian, his features that of a wandering scholar that seems to already witness a lot of highs and lows, hopes and desolations of the world.
In front of him, four panels from the [True Sight Technique] appears, displaying the data of the four.
[Name: Hua Jingxian]
[Age: 52]
[Affiliation: Heavenly Secret Tower (Tower Master)]
[Cultivation: Advance state Ascension Realm]
[Physique: Golden War Body]
[Stats]
[Strength: 15,200,000 worldly might]
[Agility: 14,400,000 worldly might]
[Intelligence: 10,800,000 worldly might]
[Stamina: 14,400,000 worldly might]
[Vitality: 15,200,000 worldly might]
[Aptitude: Middle Quality Celestial Level]
[Name: Ling Xin]
[Age: 51]
[Affiliation: Heavenly Secret Tower (Tower Mistress, Hua Jingxian’s Dao Companion)]
[Cultivation: Intermediate state Ascension Realm]
[Soul: Wandering Immortal Soul]
[Stats]
[Strength: 1,080,000 worldly might]
[Agility: 1,440,000 worldly might]
[Intelligence: 1,600,000 worldly might]
[Stamina: 1,440,000 worldly might]
[Vitality: 1,440,000 worldly might]
[Aptitude: Middle Quality Celestial Level]
[Name: Ling Yang]
[Age: 52]
[Affiliation: Heavenly Secret Tower (Tower Master)]
[Cultivation: Intermediate state Ascension Realm]
[Soul: Slaughter Immortal Soul]
[Stats]
[Strength: 1,600,000 worldly might (every point of worldly might is equals to 10,000,000 points of innate strength)]
[Agility: 1,440,000 worldly might]
[Intelligence: 1,080,000 worldly might]
[Stamina: 1,440,000 worldly might]
[Vitality: 1,440,000 worldly might]
[Aptitude: Middle Quality Celestial Level]
[Name: Hua Xueyan]
[Age: 51]
[Affiliation: Heavenly Secret Tower (Tower Mistress, Ling Yang’s Dao Companion)]
[Cultivation: Intermediate state Ascension Realm]
[Physique: Silver Sanctuary Physique]
[Stats]
[Strength: 1,160,000 worldly might (every point of worldly might is equals to 10,000,000 points of innate strength)]
[Agility: 1,520,000 worldly might]
[Intelligence: 1,440,000 worldly might]
[Stamina: 1,440,000 worldly might]
[Vitality: 1,440,000 worldly might]
[Aptitude: Middle Quality Celestial Level]
Looking at the stats displayed, Wu Xiaotian couldn’t help but have some disbelief in his mind as all of them are basically monsters capable of suppressing anyone within their realm and state given that they go way beyond the supposed ceiling of the stats for their cultivation level, making him wonder again just how powerful the Heavenly Secret Tower truly is if they are capable of completely nurturing and supporting resource intensive geniuses such as them.
Of course, he is also clearly aware that these people do not only rely on the support of their forces to achieve their current cultivation, this thing he particularly believed in as he feels their gazes in his body, all of them subconsciously checking for any weakness on him, and as someone who had been into the battlefield a lot in his previous life, he knows that this kind of skill can only be developed in an actual combat, not trained in any kind of facility.
“You must be the young man my boy is talking about, you seem to be… even better than his stories” moving to greet him, the amiable looking middle-aged man reaches out a hand at him as he starts speaking in a friendly tone, the middle-aged man even needing to look up due to the difference in their heights.
“Nice to meet you uncle, Ling Feng is a great brother” as he smiles back at the middle-aged man shaking his hands, Wu Xiaotian introduced himself to the four, making them nod their heads in approval as they feel that the young man in front of them is truly someone not only of great talent but also of great character, his non-servile yet respectful tone as if he’s talking to an elder being a plus point to him in their books.
After some more introductions, they proceed to talk about more mundane matters, sometimes Hua Jingxian sidetracking and mentioning the relation between his daughter and the young man, the eyes of the three other people lighting up and asking him all sorts of things happening between him and Hua Xian’er, his smile a bit forced as he couldn’t help but think that old people truly are the same, loving gossips and dramas above everything else.
After being pressed to tell the details, he managed to grasp the opportunity and slip past them as he heard the announcement of the opening ceremony for the Golden Spirit Pool, prompting him to stand immediately and hurriedly waved goodbye to them, the four previous generation cultivators looking at the door stupefied as they never the immortal-like young man escaping from them.
