“You?” Zhang Xuan frowned.
Sun Qiang had never been too interested in cultivation. Despite that, he had still managed to reach the Semi-Divinity realm after putting in much effort in the Azure. That being said, he still did not feel too assured letting him compete with the geniuses of the Firmament.
Understanding Zhang Xuan’s considerations, Sun Qiang added, “I don’t think that they are worthy of fighting Zhao Ya and the others. In the worst-case scenario, you can have Zhao Ya fight them after I lose!”
“Alright then,” Zhang Xuan said with a wave of his hand.
“I will be your opponent!”
A young man with sharp eyes and an air of valiance stepped forth to accept Sun Qiang’s challenge.
“Tian Heng, it’ll do for you to just defeat him. Make sure not to cause any injuries,” the middle-aged man said.
“Yes!” the young man known as Tian Heng replied before walking up to Sun Qiang. With disdain in his eyes, he raised his hand and beckoned, “Let’s not waste any time and get down to it then.”
A middle-aged man who had not reached godhood yet had already missed the ideal timing for a breakthrough. Even if he obtained the Aura of Divinity, there was no guarantee that he would be able to succeed.
“You are going to challenge me alone?” Instead of making a move right away, Sun Qiang lazily pointed at the others behind him and said, “Why don’t all of you come at me together instead?”
“I alone will suffice!” Tian Heng harrumphed coldly as he struck a fist out.
The fast momentum of his punch caused the air to be severely compressed, producing a sound reminiscent of the lash of a whip.
Even though he was only in his teens, he was still rather skilled. He had a sharp grasp over his strength and the timing of battle.
In response, Sun Qiang shook his head as he pulled out his left arm from his back. The next moment, his left arm suddenly blurred into a flurry of punches, producing innumerable after images in its wake.
Peng!
Before Tian Heng could even react, he was already struck in his chest, forcing him to retreat three steps before he stumbled and landed on his bottom.
Seeing this, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief.
Even though Sun Qiang was not diligent in his cultivation, he was, at the very least, still a practitioner of the simplified Heaven’s Path Divine Art and Heaven’s Path battle techniques. Furthermore, he had been through quite a few battles back in his time on the Master Teacher Continent and the Azure.
Even though the young man was considerably talented, he was still far from matching Sun Qiang.
“Like I said, you aren’t a match for me. It would be so much easier if all of you were to come at me together!”
After defeating Tian Heng with a single strike, Sun Qiang looked at the remaining young men with the forlorn expression of an undefeatable expert.
Yuan Tao stepped out and said, “Uncle Sun, you have already fought a battle. Shouldn’t I take the next battle instead?”
“Hey, that’s enough of you all! Take a look at where you are, alright? Let me do it instead!” Zheng Yang whipped out his spear and stood valiantly. “Of course, all of you can come at me together as well. Otherwise, if the elders wish to make a move too, you can lower your cultivation and come at me. Don’t worry, I won’t get any help from the others.”
“Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? I haven’t made a move for a very long time either!” Wei Ruyan said with a chilling smile on her lips.
…
Zhang Xuan clasped his face.
Zhang Jia looked over with a dumbfounded expression on its face.
Did its master not tell it that he liked to maintain a low profile? If that was the case, why were his students such troublemakers?
No matter how it looked at it, none of them came close to fitting the idea of ‘low profile’.
“How conceited! Fine, I’ll be your opponent then!”
“I want to fight that green-robed girl!”
“Heh, I’ll teach that fatty a lesson. His words are simply too maddening! It’s as if he thinks that he’s the best in the world…”
…
The actions of Zheng Yang and the others had really invoked the rage of the youths in the room. With a ferocious roar, all of them charged at them.
A few breaths later though, they were all left lying on the floor.
Even though they were considered above average among the cultivators in Twilight City, they were nothing in comparison to Zhao Ya and the others. Even Sun Qiang was more than enough to deal with them!
“This…”
Seeing how their candidates were defeated before they could even put up a decent fight against their opponents, the middle-aged men who had cast their doubts on Zhang Xuan earlier felt extremely light-headed. They nearly spurted blood from their mouths.
They had thought that Zhang Xuan had relied on his connections in order to obtain his seat, but who could have known that he actually had the strength to back it up!
Since his students were that formidable, why did he still waste his money buying his slots? He should have just had them participate in the fight for it in the first place!
They would have surely dominated the top rankings without fail!
At the same time, even though Wu Fangqing had remained silent as all of this transpired, it had affirmed the thoughts in his mind.
No matter how he looked at it, it was apparent that these youths before him were monstrously talented. It would take great luck to accept one of such cultivator as one’s student, but for so many of them to come under the same person…
There was bound to be something more to it than just luck!
Even if Zhang Xuan did not possess the bloodline of a God Monarch, he likely did not pale too much in comparison to that.
“Is this enough to prove that Young Master Zhang Xuan and his students are qualified to be in here?” Wu Fangqing asked with a smile.
“Of course, of course…” the crowd quickly replied.
It was true that teleporting to the mountain peak or the midpoint gave one a much greater chance of obtaining the Aura of Divinity, but ultimately, whether one really obtained it or not boiled down to one’s strength.
No one would be able to snatch the Aura of Divinity from the one who boasted the greatest strength.
If all fourteen of them were that powerful, there was no way their candidates would be able to snatch the Aura of Divinity from them. Since this was the case, it would be better to sell them this favor instead.
Otherwise, if those fourteen people targeted their candidates on the Celestial Mountain, there would be nothing they could do about it.
“Since everyone is fine with it, let’s begin the teleportation. It’s already about time.”
Wu Fangqing stood up and took out his City Lord Token. With a light tap on it, a pure burst of white light swiftly enveloped the entire square.
Then, a massive gate appeared at the very center of the square, drawing crowds to congregate around it.
“Young Master Zhang Xuan, let them enter first,” Wu Fangqing said with a smile.
Zhang Xuan took a closer look at the gate and noted that it was only a Teleportation Formation, so there was no danger. Heaving a sigh of relief, he beckoned for Zhao Ya and the others to gather around him.
“Take five pills each. I have infused my power inside it, and it’ll help you to overcome your bottlenecks and save you in times of crisis.”
With a flick of his hand, he passed a bottle of God Essence Pills to each of them.
The God Essence Pills were not of much use of him anymore, so he might as well give them to the others. Once they acquired the Aura of Divinity and successfully made a breakthrough, they would be able to immediately push for higher realms with this.
“Thank you, Young Master!”
“Thank you, Xuan-er!”
“Thank you, Teacher!”
Zhang Xuan did not have anything else for them, so he urged them to quickly enter the Teleportation Formation.
The group swiftly passed through the gate and vanished from sight.
As he was already a god, he could not pass through the Teleportation Formation. So, he could only wait for them outside.
In less than an hour, all 1,200 Semi-Divinity realm cultivators in the square had passed through the gate to enter the Celestial Mountain. The gate wavered a little before slowly vanishing from sight.
“The Teleportation Formation will reappear a day from now. If you aren’t in too much of a hurry, City Lord Manor has prepared a banquet so that you can wait there for your kin to return,” Wu Fangqing said with a smile.
“Sounds great!”
The crowd nodded in agreement.
To a cultivator, a day was not too long at all.
Zhang Xuan could not be bothered to make the trip back to his residence, so he followed the group into City Lord Manor.
…
There was slight disorientation from passing through the gate, causing Zhao Ya to stumble out. By the time she regained her balance, she realized that she was already standing amid clouds. Taking a closer look, she realized that she was on top of a mountain.
Unlike the Grand Spirit Mountain, the surroundings were rich in spiritual energy, creating an environment for plants to thrive. Vitality, instead of barrenness, filled the area.
“I should look for the Aura of Divinity…”
Knowing her priority for going to the Celestial Mountain, Zhao Ya swiftly flitted toward the peak.
She swiftly realized that the concentration of spiritual energy increased the higher she ascended, making it more likely for her to find the Aura of Divinity.
After traveling several hundred meters, she suddenly heard the moaning of the wind echoing not too far away. She quickly hid behind a tree before looking in the direction where the sound had come from.
It was from an arrow.
Following that, a frightened white animal reminiscent of a rabbit quickly dashed away, as if fleeing from a hunter.
“Is that… the Aura of Divinity?” Zhao Ya’s eyes lit up.
Sun Qiang had gathered some information regarding the Celestial Mountain and relayed it to them the day before. According to him, the Aura of Divinity could morph itself into lifeforms on the Celestial Mountain, making it highly difficult to capture.
“Stop it!”
Two silhouettes dashed out from the woods to chase the rabbit.
They were the ones who had shot the arrow before.
Sou sou sou sou!
Another volley of arrows shot forth and struck the fleeing rabbit. The rabbit struggled on the ground for a moment before dissipating into a bundle of golden fluid.
“I’ll go first!”
One of the silhouettes who shot the arrows rushed forward to grab the golden fluid and swallowed it.
The next moment, Zhao Ya sensed the other party’s cultivation swiftly surging. From the looks of it, it seemed like it would not take too long for him to overcome his current bottleneck and become a real god.
“I should hurry up!”
Seeing that it was not too difficult for hunt down the Aura of Divinity, Zhao Ya unhesitatingly continued to charge up the mountain.
Along the way, she encountered quite a few rabbit-shaped Auras of Divinity, but as there were already cultivators hunting them down, she could not be bothered to snatch from them.
It did not take her too long to reach the peak.
The atmospheric pressure was clearly much stronger at the top of the Celestial Mountain compared to elsewhere.
Zhao Ya took a look around, but there did not seem to be anyone in the area. This made her frown a little. Nevertheless, she quickly analyzed the tracks on the ground to search for traces of the Aura of Divinity.
She had assessed the footprints left behind by the rabbits on her way there, so she had a good idea of how she could locate them.
“This trail seems a bit off. It’s a bit too big to be a rabbit… but it doesn’t matter!”
Having located her target, she drove her Pure Yin Body to its limits and followed the trail.
Hu!
At the end of the trail, a white tiger carrying an imposing aura suddenly leaped out.
“This…” Zhao Ya was shocked.
While the Auras of Divinity that others found were all rabbits, why did she end up stumbling onto this large, ferocious fellow instead?
However, she did not think that it would make much of a difference to her. So, with a flick of her wrist, she charged forth and began her assault on the white tiger.
As the First Senior of all of Zhang Xuan’s direct disciples, Zhao Ya had always been very strict on herself. Her diligence paired with the prowess of her unique constitution made her undefeatable among her peers such that even Zheng Yang was not a match for her.
With her exerting her full force, the area swiftly turned frosty cold.
…
“This fellow is powerful…”
After fighting for a while, cold sweat began dripping from Zhao Ya’s forehead.
If it had been the rabbits before, as long as she could catch up with them, she would have been able to subdue them with a single finger of hers. Otherwise, there was no way they would have been subdued by arrows so easily.
On the other hand, the white tiger that she was facing was extremely powerful, stronger than her even. In terms of strength, it was at least comparable to a low-tier God.
In other words, she was facing a true God despite only possessing the strength of a Semi-Divinity!
Under normal circumstances, it would be extremely difficult for her to achieve victory. She knew this as well, but it was already too late to escape. She could only attempt to push her way through.
Thus, gritting her teeth, she swallowed the pill given to her by her teacher.
The pill swiftly melted in her mouth, filling her body with the Heaven’s Path zhenqi.
In an instant, the fatigue and injuries she had accumulated throughout the battle vanished without a trace.
