doitstory Chapter 174 The Curtain Comes To An End
Chapter 174 The Curtain Comes To An End
Chapter 174: The Curtain Falls
In the area where the disciples of the Palace of Calamitous Fate were located, Mei Qingfeng furrowed his brows as he scrutinized the ranking list of the Heavenly Pride Ranking that had been released. He remained silent for a long time, and the surrounding elders also had a heavy expression on their faces, deep in thought.
"...Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace has truly recovered."
After a moment, Mei Qingfeng's somewhat melancholic voice echoed softly.
The others were taken aback, but soon relief appeared on their faces. The words of the Holy Maiden were indeed correct. Previously, the various forces had discussed whether Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace would be able to revive and when it would happen. But now, this topic no longer needed to be discussed.
Because the revival of Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace had become an established fact that could not be changed.
The Emperor of the Xinyu Dynasty represented the ultimate strategic power of the sect. The Falling Phoenix Nebula Tower and the Pinnacle Origin Limitless Soft Water Banner were the supreme treasures of the sect. The restoration of the sect's main altar, the recovery of the nine Star Domains that were lost, and the recovery of many Supreme Elders all represented the restoration of the sect's core strength. As for the five daughters of Xue Bingxuan, it meant that the sect had successors, and the new generation of outstanding talents had the qualifications to carry the sect's legacy and make it flourish.
Therefore, when dealing with Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace now, the various forces could no longer treat it as a declining Supreme Orthodoxy, but rather as an ancient Supreme Orthodoxy at its peak, whether they liked it or not.
Elder Luo Yujue asked softly, "Should we immediately report this news to the Palace Master?"
Mei Qingfeng nodded. Due to her low cultivation level and the lack of powerful Divine Abilities to confront enemies, she, like Qin Muling, wisely decided not to participate in this tournament. Of course, even though the Palace of Calamitous Fate had brought seven monstrous-level Heavenly Pride seeds this time, with the two most powerful ones already stepping into the Origin Immortal Realm, it did not affect the competition for rankings.
After thinking for a moment, Mei Qingfeng slowly said, "Can someone tell me why Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace, which has been weak and impoverished for a long time, suddenly produced such powerful individuals? And not just five... but six?"
The surrounding elders looked at each other. Perhaps not only the Palace of Calamitous Fate, but also the various external forces, the most urgent question now was to figure out the reason behind the great progress in cultivation of the five daughters of Xue Bingxuan. As for Qin Muling, her level of attention might decrease because she did not participate in the competition.
Elder Luo Yujue said, "According to the information gathered by the sect, Xue Bingxuan has found a Dao companion, but it is still unclear who it is. Let me boldly assume that it is Qin Muling. So... is this her biggest secret? After all, Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace's secret library is not lacking in such cultivation techniques and scriptures."
His meaning was simple. Whoever becomes Dao companions and cultivates together with Qin Muling can obtain the benefits of increased cultivation, as well as improvements in their aptitude, destiny, and potential. Mei Qingfeng's expression showed surprise, and after careful consideration, she shook her head.
"It seems to make some sense, but besides Xue Bingxuan, the other four are still in the Primordial Yin stage. Why did their cultivation also improve?"
"It's possible that it's some kind of concealment technique? In fact, they have already become Qin Muling's people?" A senior elder pondered. Extreme Void Starry Sky was not lacking in such secret techniques, especially since Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace was a pure female cultivation sect. It would be too easy for them to manipulate this aspect. Unless there was a thorough inspection, it would be impossible to discover the truth.
"Perhaps, but... it's just too unbelievable."
Mei Qingfeng still had some doubts. After all, such a thing had never been heard of before. Unless it was the malicious cultivation technique of a demonic sect, which sacrificed the cultivation, fortune, and even lives of one party in exchange for the rapid improvement of the other party's cultivation in a short period of time. But the situation with Xue Bingxuan and the others was clearly not like that.
Although the orthodox cultivation technique of cultivating together had good effects, it was impossible to have such a heaven-defying effect. In just a few years, Xue Bingxuan and the others had broken through from the peak of the Destiny Realm, passed through the Immortal Transformation stage, the Immortal Ascension stage, and even crossed the Heavenly Tribulation to grow to the Origin Immortal Realm, even if they had the help of the time acceleration array.
"So, we still need to capture Qin Muling to have a chance to find out the truth?"
Mei Qingfeng muttered to herself, but when she thought of the importance Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace attached to Qin Muling and how even the Emperor regarded him highly, it was not so easy for the Palace of Calamitous Fate to make a move now.
From the perspective of the Palace of Calamitous Fate, the sect was actually being used as a pawn. They were not willing to see the first Immortal Sacred Land swallow up all the orthodoxy forces and truly unify the entire Extreme Void Starry Sky.
"Never mind, let's discuss this matter later!"
Mei Qingfeng sighed and his spiritual consciousness returned to the spatial arena.
At this moment, Cheng Yulan faced another matching result and chose to give up with some frustration because her opponent was Qi Yalan.
Although forfeiting did not affect her ability to continue participating, it would deduct a certain amount of points, which would ultimately affect her ranking on the leaderboard.
By now, as the number of participants decreased, the chances of encountering talented individuals from the same sect increased. Therefore, the opportunity to forfeit was actually prepared for such situations, to prevent excessive internal conflicts within the sect. However, each cultivator only had two chances, and once they were used up, there would be no more.
The results of the new round of matches quickly came out, with Qi Yalan against Luo Huan.
Luo Huan looked helpless and said, "I forfeit."
There was no other reason than the fact that Qi Yalan had already used up her two chances to forfeit, so other sisters had to make way for her.
Now, there were only ten remaining talented individuals in the arena, with Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace occupying five of them. As for the Chiye Ling from the Ancient Qilin Clan, she was forced to be eliminated early due to encountering Qi Yalan.
In the battles on the arena, besides strength and strategic skills, luck was also an essential factor that could often determine the outcome of the battle unintentionally. The senior sisters from Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace had been quite lucky in this tournament.
Among the remaining five talented individuals, three were human and two were from different races. Their strengths were equally formidable, but they did not have an advantage when facing Xue Bingxuan and her sisters.
"...It seems that the top three positions will definitely be decided within Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace? This is a bit difficult to handle. What do you think is the best arrangement?" Princess Longyi's gaze turned to Qin Muling across from her.
Qin Muling remained calm and said, "This is the matter of the senior sisters. They can discuss and handle it themselves. What say does a junior like me have?"
"Hehe, as long as you say a word, do you think they dare not listen to you? Unless they don't want to cultivate with you in the future and don't want to improve their cultivation!" Princess Longyi continued to probe relentlessly.
Qin Muling innocently looked back at her and said, "Senior sister, what are you talking about? Why can't I understand?"
Hehe, you can continue pretending!
Princess Longyi smiled, and in her heart, she was almost certain that Xue Bingxuan and her sisters' cultivation improvements were related to Qin Muling.
Evidence? There was no evidence, just a woman's instinct.
Soon, the results of the next few battles came out one after another, until the final battle, which was between Xue Bingxuan and Luo Wanqing for the first place.
Although the rewards for first and second place seemed similar, there were actually some differences, especially in terms of the huge gains in reputation and status.
"Let's discuss it," Luo Wanqing said to Xue Bingxuan through her spiritual consciousness during the interval before the teleportation. "I can forfeit and give the first place to you as an exchange. In return, let me have the junior brother for thirty days."
"Is that possible?" Xue Bingxuan looked at her with a smile that was not a smile. "Even if you don't give up, in a direct confrontation, I might still be able to defeat you."
Originally, everything was in my plate. Why should I share it with you?
Luo Wanqing hummed and said, "Senior Sister, you're too domineering, aren't you? Is my request unreasonable? Isn't there any sense of camaraderie among fellow disciples? How about ten days?"
"No way!"
"Three days?"
"Impossible!"
"One day?"
"Let me think about it..."
Just as the transmission was about to begin, the two women finally reached an agreement. Luo Wanqing voluntarily gave up, and according to the rules, Xue Bingxuan naturally became the first place in this year's martial arts competition.
When the voice of the Xuan Yin Emperor resounded in the hall, millions of cultivators couldn't believe their ears. It wasn't until they repeatedly confirmed with their companions that they accepted this unbelievable result.
"...How is this possible? I remember in previous martial arts competitions, most of the top positions were occupied by geniuses from ancient tribes. But now, it's actually the women from Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace who took the lead! It's simply...unbelievable!"
"Yes, even if it's not those ancient alien races, it's the top disciples from ancient prestigious sects, immortal sacred lands, and supreme lineages who usually divide the benefits."
"Wasn't Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace already in decline? How did such powerful individuals suddenly emerge? And there are five of them, it's simply unimaginable."
"Who knows? Maybe they obtained some unprecedented heaven-defying opportunities?"
"It's a pity that so many benefits ended up in the hands of a group of women."
"Forget it, even if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have gotten those benefits anyway."
...
Qin Muling withdrew her divine sense and looked again at the radiant Dragon Yi Princess in front of her. "I won. How much of the bet belongs to me? Bring it all."
"Well, indeed, you won."
Dragon Yi Princess smiled freely and gestured to the maid beside her. The beautiful woman with Golden Immortal cultivation stood up, slightly bowed, and left. Moments later, she returned with an exquisite jade tray in her hands.
On the jade tray lay a thick, heavy, and imposing golden seal emitting an endless aura of power. Qin Muling easily sensed the aura of heavenly merit.
"You've won quite a lot of resources, and it's troublesome to count them. So, as your sister, I've decided to exchange them for five billion heavenly merits. What do you think?"
Dragon Yi Princess said calmly.
"Then, thank you, Senior Sister!"
Qin Muling said contentedly. This was indeed the benefit she needed the most at the moment, whether to keep it for herself or give it to the Emperor Xin Yu, it was a good choice.
Dragon Yi Princess nodded slightly and said, "Su Yi, take some people to escort Qin Junior Brother and the disciples of Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace back. If anyone dares to cause trouble on the way, you know what to do."
"Yes, Your Highness," Su Yi agreed, smiling gently as she invited Qin Muling to follow her.
After a while, the starship carrying the disciples and followers of Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace ascended once again and safely returned to their temporary residence on the floating land.
On the way, Su Yi found a moment alone and spoke to Qin Muling for quite some time. The implications in her words were quite clear.
However, Qin Muling had decided to play dumb, so she never responded, leaving Su Yi somewhat frustrated and speechless.
Not long after they arrived at the residence, the special envoy team from the Dao Court arrived, bringing the rewards for the tournament.
The first-place reward list included two custom-made Acquired Spiritual Treasures, a bottle of twelve Heavenly Rank Spirit Pills, the opportunity to choose three suitable martial arts scriptures from the Dao Court's secret library, and the chance to bathe in the blood of an ancient true dragon for body tempering, creating a perfect physical body.
Originally, the top thirty winners also had the opportunity to join the Dao Court, choose an Emperor as their mentor, receive the full support of the Dao Court's resources, and be appointed to important positions, gaining high status and power.
Of course, the senior sisters would not choose to join the Dao Court, so this opportunity was automatically ignored.
Therefore, what Xue Bingxuan ultimately received was a long-necked green jade pill bottle, along with two jade talismans refined by the Emperors.
Inside the green jade pill bottle were twelve Supreme Primordial Heavenly Origin Pills, which were genuine Heavenly Rank pills. Taking one pill was enough to increase one's cultivation by thousands of years, and they could be taken multiple times without any hidden dangers to one's foundation. The two jade talismans served as passes to enter the Dao Court's secret treasury and the Dragon Blood Marrow Pool.
As for the Acquired Spiritual Treasures, there was a fairy dress made of flowing silk and a pill cauldron, but it would take a few days to obtain them because the embryos of the Spiritual Treasures needed time to fully form. Even with the acceleration array, it was impossible to complete the process in an instant.
From this, Qin Muling gained a deeper understanding of the terrifying heritage of the Dao Court. She wondered how many embryos of Acquired Spiritual Treasures were stored in the Court's treasure trove, waiting to be refined and turned into instant combat power.
Luo Wanqing ranked second, and Qi Yalan ranked third. They each received one Acquired Spiritual Treasure, while the other rewards were the same as the senior sister's.
Luo Huan and Cheng Yulan did not receive Acquired Spiritual Treasures. They only received nine Supreme Primordial Heavenly Origin Pills, the opportunity to choose two martial arts scriptures, and the chance to bathe in the blood of an ancient true dragon for body tempering, creating a perfect physical body.
"Can these rewards be transferred?" Xue Bingxuan asked, as she was not familiar with the hidden rules since it was her first time receiving such rewards.
"In the early days, it was allowed, but later it was prohibited," Su Yi explained. "Mainly because some high-level forces of certain sects used the pretext of righteousness to force grassroots geniuses to give up their rewards and fulfill their preferred successors. After the higher-ups of the Dao Court realized this, they explicitly banned it and took a series of measures to prevent those old guys from acting out of selfishness."
"I understand," Qin Muling nodded in agreement. It was no wonder that so many grassroots geniuses were willing to join the Dao Court. If she had been treated unfairly like that, she would have chosen to change her allegiance without hesitation. Fortunately, Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace had never mistreated her.
"There's no time to waste. Have you all consumed those pills?" Su Yi continued. "Just remember to temporarily suppress your cultivation and not immediately break through to the True Immortal level. After the ten-day rest period, the next stage of the Immortal Gathering will begin, which will test your alchemy, artifact refining, Spirit Medicine cultivation, and divination abilities. The restriction is the same: those above the True Immortal level are not allowed to participate."
(End of this chapter)