Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

Jiang Zimo had already done everything he could. Unfortunately, Xiao Chen was not as lucky. He was fated to have nothing to do with this Ancient Desolate Tower.

Xiao Chen smiled helplessly, “It looks like the Ancient Desolate Tower does not welcome me. In just making an Ancient Desolate Pass, unexpectedly, a Dazzling Shadow Panther King had attacked me.”

Xiao Chen calmed himself and walked over to the Heavenly Extermination Union branch. Since there were no more chances, he should not remain dispirited.

Not entering the Heavenly Extermination Union did not mean Xiao Chen could not reach the peak of cultivation. Regardless of the situation, he could not let this affect his mental state.

Today, there were more people entering the Heavenly Extermination Union than when Xiao Chen had arrived yesterday. This was quite surprising.

When the old man behind the counter saw Xiao Chen, he had a surprised look. He received the Illusionary Yin Grass from Xiao Chen and smiled, “Brat, your strength is pretty impressive. You managed to escape from the Dazzling Shadow Panther King.”

Xiao Chen’s expression changed. He said angrily, “You knew about it? Why did you not tell me about the Dazzling Shadow Panther King? I could have died!”

The old man waved it off. He had an innocent look as he smiled, “Young man, don’t be so quick to anger. Did you ask me about it?”

Xiao Chen felt very depressed. This concerned his life. Even if he had not asked, the old man should have warned him.

The old man was just acting dumb. Since Xiao Chen could not do anything about it, he could not be bothered. He said, “Stop speaking nonsense, and just give me the Ancient Desolate Pass!”

The black-robed old man laughed. Then he took out a white medallion and handed it to Xiao Chen. He said, “All newly made medallions are the same rank. However, even though your mission did not have any reward, the mission is recorded in there.”

Xiao Chen received the medallion and looked at it. The white medallion had the words ‘Heavenly Extermination Union’ carved on the front and his name on the back.

After the black-robed old man handed Xiao Chen the Ancient Desolate Pass, he took out an engraved card. He said, “This engraved card is an extra reward from me. After all, this Illusionary Yin Grass mission was somewhat of a headache for us. You have helped settle this problem for us.”

“What is this?” Xiao Chen asked, feeling suspicious as he looked at the old man.

The old man used the engraved card and rapped it on the table gently. He smiled and said, “What is this? It is what you want most at the moment.”

Xiao Chen could not help but laugh hoarsely. He looked at the old man with interest and smiled, “Interesting, do you know what I want the most now?”

The old man casually responded, “The Ancient Desolate Tower,”

Xiao Chen’s expression shifted. He did even bother to think about how the old man knew. He pointed at the card and asked, “This thing can get me into the Ancient Desolate Tower?”

The old man shook his head and said, “No, it can only give you a chance to compete fairly with the rest. Do you know why you did not receive an invitation from the Ancient Desolate Land?

“It was because your cultivation is too low. White Robed Bladesman Xiao Chen, you are quite famous in the Great Qin Nation. The upper echelons of the Heavenly Extermination Union noticed you long ago.

“However, at that time, your cultivation was too low. Even now, you are only an Inferior Grade Martial King. For you to receive an invitation, the minimum requirement is Medial Grade Martial King.

“As for whether to give you an invitation or not, the Heavenly Extermination Union split into two factions and discussed for a long time. You are very lucky. I happened to be a part of the faction that supports you.”

Xiao Chen did not expect that there were so many issues with just getting a small invitation. He said, “So, the reason you did not remind me when I took the Illusionary Yin Grass mission is that it is a test?”

The old man nodded. He said, “That’s right. In reality, to get this Ancient Desolate Pass, you can complete any of the ordinary missions there. However, no matter what you chose, I would have pushed this mission onto you.

“You have not disappointed me. If you can flee from the hands of the Dazzling Shadow Panther King, you are definitely strong enough.”

Xiao Chen felt as if he had found something he had lost. He originally thought that the Ancient Desolate Tower was something out of his reach. He had not expected a chance that was more reliable than Jiang Zimo.

Xiao Chen stretched his hand out, wanting to take the engraved card. However, the old man was in no rush to give it to him. He smiled and said, “Don’t blame me for not warning you this time. Receiving this card just means you have a chance. It does not guarantee entry into the Ancient Desolate Tower. The examinations involved might result in your death.”

Xiao Chen did not hesitate to take the engraved card. He said resolutely, “Don’t worry; I know my limits. Tell me the details.”

The black-robed old man muttered to himself for a while before he told Xiao Chen the rules for this round of selection in detail.

This time, there were too many geniuses in the four great nations and the Ancient Desolate Land. Even after they restricted it to Medial Grade Martial Kings below the age of 24, there were still thousands of contenders.

There were at least triple of the previous time. Hence, they now held two rounds of selection. Previously, they only held one.

The geniuses from the four great nations were divided into four groups. Then, they were led to the four main islands of the different groups in the Heavenly Extermination Lake.

The first round of required sixty victories in the Rank A wrestling rings of the main island’s Wrestling City. Everyone had a hundred attempts.

The old man said, “The Rank A wrestling rings are only second to the Rank S wrestling rings. Aside from half-step Martial Monarchs and above, cultivators of any realm and Demonic Beasts can appear. Furthermore, one needs to obtain these sixty victories within six days.”

To complete the task within six days, they had to fight at least ten matches in a day. Furthermore, the opponents of these ten matches would not be much weaker than themselves.

Xiao Chen thought to himself, Given this, probably half of the people will be eliminated in the first round.

The old man continued, “After the first round, the remaining cultivators will gather in Desolate City.

“After that, they will undergo fights in arenas and accumulate points. The top twenty contenders will qualify to enter the Ancient Desolate Tower.”

By choosing only twenty out of at least a thousand geniuses, the odds were pretty low. One could imagine how intense the fights would be.

Xiao Chen felt somewhat suspicious as he asked, “Why are the geniuses of the Great Jin Nation not invited to the Ancient Desolate Tower?”

This time, those invited were the cultivators of the other four great nations and the clans of the Ancient Desolate Land. None were geniuses of the Great Jin Nation. Xiao Chen had been suspicious about this for a while.

The old man smiled. After he explained, Xiao Chen understood.

Aside from the Great Jin Nation, the other four nations had a pitiful amount of Spirit Veins. The density of the Spiritual Energy in those places was a far cry from what was available in the Great Jin Nation.

As a result, in every round of the Five Nation Youth Competition, the top hundred of the Tianwu Rankings were mostly from the Great Jin Nation.

The further up the rank, the number of people from the four nations lessened. As for the top ten contenders, cultivators from the Great Jin Nation dominated almost every round.

As for cultivators from the other four nations, no matter how impressive their talent was, few could break through the limitations they faced and move into the top twenty.

“As for the governing force behind the Heavenly Extermination Union, the Myriad Fiend Palace occupy half, and the four great nations occupy the other half. The Great Jin Nation is not involved in any way. Given that the Great Jin Nation holds an overwhelming advantage and suppresses them, would they allow them into the Ancient Desolate Tower?”

Xiao Chen said with some disbelief, “Are the geniuses of the Great Jin Nation that strong?”

The old man’s expression turned grave as he said, “They are stronger than you imagine. With your current strength, you would find it hard to enter the top five hundred of the Great Jin Nation’s younger generation.”

Xiao Chen did not refute; he acknowledged this point as well. However, it did not discourage him overmuch.

All the while, Xiao Chen never thought himself as worse than others, not even the geniuses from the Great Jin Nation. All he needed was time.

With enough time, Xiao Chen could trample these people under his feet and rise up from the rest in this era of genius cultivators.

“That is enough nonsense from me. I shall not go on. Go to the Wrestling City and hand this card to the Heavenly Extermination Union leading the group. He will make arrangements for you,” The old man waved his hand and dismissed Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen did not linger. He took his leave and quickly flew towards Longyang Island.

Longyang Island was the core of the southern group of islands. It was like the provincial capital of the Great Qin Nation. It was more than 2,500 kilometers away from Heavenly Spring Island.

Xiao Chen looked at the map and muttered to himself, “Jiang Zimo and the others should have only left about six hours ago. Given the number of people, they should not be very fast. Maybe I can catch up to them.”

After Xiao Chen left the city, he flew into the sky and removed his blue headband.

“Xiu!”

With a thought, a red light lit up. The scarlet Massacre Throne appeared from nowhere. A thick layer of scarlet clouds churned under the throne.

The Massacre Throne only exhausted the state of massacre contained within and could maintain a very fast flying speed.

If Xiao Chen did not care about exhausting the state of massacre, the highest speed he could achieve was Mach 4. In the future, when the state of massacre advanced, its speed could increase further.

However, Xiao Chen normally needed the state of massacre for combat. If he exhausted it by flying, then he would be weaker in fights. Hence, normally, he would not use the scarlet throne for flying.

However, the current situation was urgent. Xiao Chen could not care so much about this. He sat on the throne and soared into the clouds.

Strong winds blew from the front. Xiao Chen leaned on the armrest and supported his chin, looking very relaxed.

After all, Xiao Chen did not need to exhaust any Essence. All he needed to exhaust was the scarlet pool inside the throne. As he had obtained it by killing others, it was not connected to him.

To avoid meeting other cultivators and attracting unnecessary trouble, Xiao Chen flew to a height of at least ten thousand meters.

As Xiao Chen rushed forward at full speed, the scarlet pool in the throne visibly shrank.

After flying for a long time, when a small portion of the scarlet pool remained, Xiao Chen recalled the scarlet throne into his sea of consciousness.

It was not easy to replenish the scarlet fluid. If he used it all, it would be quite difficult to replenish. Fortunately, Xiao Chen had arrived at Longyang Island.

Even if Xiao Chen did not catch up with Jiang Zimo’s group, there was no need to push himself. It was best to reserve some of the state of massacre as a backup.

Xiao Chen slowly descended, and the silhouette of a huge island appeared before him. This was the main island of the south, Longyang Island.

The number of cultivators in the air increased. Most of them moved in groups of two or three as they rushed towards the island.

Xiao Chen looked around and discovered that all of the cultivators coming to the Longyang Island headed in the same direction.

Their aim was the famous Wrestling City of Longyang Island. It was a city made of wrestling rings of various sizes. Violence and blood filled the entire city.