Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

However, looking at her, it seemed like she was not disappointed. One did not have to be victorious in order to benefit from the fight. After so many consecutive battles, Xiao Rou’s combat experience had already significantly increased.

To Xiao Rou, this benefit was great enough.

Xia Xiyan congratulated Xiao Chen first and then reminded him, “You better be careful for the next few days. I have noticed some people looking at you maliciously.”

“Thank you, I will be careful.”

Xiao Chen understood what she meant. Three million Medial Grade Spirit Stones were sufficient for some people to risk their lives for.

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Three days later, all the cultivators who had obtained sixty victories received a notice to gather at Li Xiuzhu’s residence.

Within the great hall, from the original two hundred odd people, there were only about sixty people left. The first round of selections had eliminated two-thirds of the people.

The ones who got eliminated were not necessarily weak. In the various places they came from, they could still be considered individuals with outstanding talents and great potential.

However, in this era, they were like sand being swept away by the waves. Naturally, amongst a group of experts, there would be people who stood out. In the future, if they did not run into any fortuitous encounters, they would forever remain only second-rate geniuses.

The sixty-odd outstanding talents in the hall were all excitedly waiting for Li Xiuzhu to arrive while talking to each other in soft voices.

Their next stop was the famous Desolate City, one of the two cores of the Tianwu Continent, and the city that tied the four Great Nations together.

More than ten thousand years ago, it had been the center of the entire Tianwu Continent. The continent was even named after that dynasty that ruled the entire continent back then. Until today, the name had not been changed.

Several of the people here were just like Xiao Chen; they had not been to Desolate City before. Thus, they were very curious about this mysterious city.

“Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!”

Li Xiuzhu walked out through the back door, followed by four assistants. He swept his gaze over the faces of the crowd.

Li Xiuzhu’s gaze lingered on Xiao Chen’s face for two seconds. Than he snorted coldly and moved on.

Originally, Li Xiuzhu thought that with Gao Yangyu’s interference, Xiao Chen would definitely be eliminated in the first rounds of selection, letting him know that anyone who offended him—Li Xiuzhu—would not have a good end.

However, who knew, that not only did Xiao Chen not get eliminated, but he even miraculously gained a hundred consecutive victories and attracted the attention of the upper echelons of the Heavenly Extermination Union.

When Xiao Chen felt Li Xiuzhu’s gaze, he did not change his expressions at all; he simply ignored him.

Now that he thought about what had happened, Gao Yangyu’s actions against him definitely had something to do with this person.

Li Xiuzhu collected his thoughts and said indifferently, “I shall not speak too much nonsense. Come with me to Desolate City first. After we arrive, someone will inform you of the starting time of the second round of the selection.

“Come with me!”

After they left, Li Xiuzhu, followed by the four assistants, flew into the sky. The crowd quickly followed.

Li Xiuzhu and the others did not fly very fast. If they were to fly at full speed, with their strength of a half-step Martial Monarch, they would be able to lose the crowd in an instant.

“Hu! Hu!”

Surrounded by a strong wind, the outstanding talents from all over the continent continued flying.

Although Martial Kings were capable of flying in the air, doing so exhausted a great amount of Essence.

A regular Martial King would not choose to fly in the air like this for no reason—they would simply not be able to support such a rate of Essence expenditure for a long time.

Only when one truly reached Martial Monarch, they could fly in the air as they pleased. By then, they would only require a small amount of Essence to maintain the flight.

After flying for four hours, the group was already very far from Longyang Island. Some of the cultivators, who were trailing behind, were already finding it hard to keep up. Many of them took out Medicinal Pills for recovering Essence and swallowed them. Otherwise, they would have suffered the embarrassment of falling down, unable to hold on any longer

Xiao Chen executed the Gravity Spell and followed at the back, without any hurry . He seemed to be at ease. The Gravity Spell’s special characteristic, the low expenditure, truly shined here.

After flying for another hour, a black warship appeared before them. The warship was more than two hundred meters long and tens of meters wide.

A black flag fluttered above the warship, making loud sounds.

Several old men stood on the deck. They gazed interestedly at the group of youths.

“We have arrived, let’s board!”

Li Xiuzhu took the lead and jumped onto the deck.

The outstanding talents all heaved a sigh of relief as they quickly followed and boarded. Fortunately, they did not have to fly all the way to Desolate City. Otherwise, they would have exhausted themselves to death.

“Old Li, you are too slow, I have been waiting for an hour already. Who in this group is the one who has obtained one hundred consecutive victories? Call him out for me to take a look,” an old man with high cultivation and extraordinary bearing asked Li Xiuzhu out of curiosity, as he checked out the group of youth.

Li Xiuzhu unwillingly called out, “Xiao Chen, step forward for a moment. This is Old Liu. He is one of the judges for the second round of selection.”

Xiao Chen made his way to the front and cupped his hands in respect, “Xiao Chen greets Senior Liu.”

While Xiao Chen spoke, he also measured up the old man before him. Like Li Xiuzhu, he was also a half-step Martial Monarch.

Xiao Chen did not understand why, but he got a nagging feeling that this old man was stronger than Li Xiuzhu.

Seeing how Xiao Chen spoke with the second round’s judge even before it began, they all revealed looks of envy and jealousy.

Old Liu carefully measured Xiao Chen up and revealed an astonished expression. He said, “You really are just an Inferior Grade Martial King. How unbelievable. You have not joined a sect right? Are you interested in joining the Blood Wolf Gang?

“My Blood Wolf Gang is one of the peak powers in the Ancient Desolate Lands. It is no weaker than the peak sects of the various nations.”

Xiao Chen felt very embarrassed. He had never met someone so direct before. This Old Liu had immediately invited him to join his sect the first time he met him.

Blood Wolf Gang…the first time Xiao Chen met Xia Xiyan, she had mentioned them before.

At that time, the Blood Wolf Gang were at war with the remnants of the Dark Church. It was unknown if that had come to a conclusion yet.

The Blood Wolf Gang was indeed a strong power in the Ancient Desolate Lands. They were much stronger than the Holy Fire Manor.

If Xiao Chen joined the Blood Wolf Gang, even if the Holy Fire Manor’s Manor Lord wanted to do something against him, the Manor Lord would be helpless.

However, Xiao Chen did not have any thoughts of joining another sect yet. If he did, he would have accepted the Supreme Sky Sect’s Supreme Elder’s invitation on Qianren Island.

Even though the Blood Wolf Gang was very strong, they were still quite a distance away from the Supreme Sky Sect.

Liu Xiuzhu felt somewhat nervous. If Xiao Chen joined the Blood Wolf Gang, it would be very difficult for him to do anything to him in the Ancient Desolate Lands.

Xiao Chen immediately rejected Old Liu, “I’m sorry, for now, this junior does not have the intentions of joining a sect. Thank you for Senior Liu’s kind intentions.”

Old Liu said, “There is no rush, you can take your time and make your decision!”

The warship quickly flew towards Desolate City amidst the clouds. It was much faster than the flying speed of the group. Xiao Chen stood on the deck, watching the scenery and feeling bored.

“Ha ha! Xiao Chen, your are really popular. Even at first sight, there is already someone rushing to invite you to their sect,” a melodious voice came from behind Xiao Chen.

When he turned back, he saw that it belonged to Xia Xiyan, who was currently walking towards him.

Xiao Rou, who had been following behind her, had to go back on her own, because she had not obtained sixty victories.

Xiao Chen smiled gently and said, “In that case, are you here to invite me to the Thousand Sword Pavilion on their behalf?”

Xia Xiyan said straightforwardly, “That’s right. As long as you change to using swords, I will immediately write a recommendation for you. I guarantee that you will be able to get the status of a core disciple.”

Xiao Chen smiled and did not reply. He knew that the other party was merely joking.

“Don’t think that I am joking. I am serious about this. As long as you change to using a sword, I can write you a recommendation immediately.”

Seeing Xia Xiyan’s somewhat serious expression, Xiao Chen asked softly, “Why?”

Xia Xiyan nodded and said, “I believe that after you left the Great Qin Nation, you must have received invitations from quite a few sects. Have you ever thought why?”

When Xiao Chen heard this, he was stunned for a while. He said, “I definitely thought about it before. Aside from having good talent, could there be some other reason?”

“Of course!”

Xia Xiyan explained, “The most important reason would be the next Five Nations Youth Competition. If you can obtain a high rank, you would be able to obtain an intangible Luck. This Luck can bring the sect several unimaginable benefits.

“That is to say that they believe you have a good chance of getting a high rank, and would be able to bring the sect more Luck.”

Xiao Chen frowned. Although he believed in the existence of Luck, he could not understand how gaining Luck in a competition worked.

“Luck…something so ethereal as this can actually be obtained through such a method?”

Xia Xiyan nodded, “There is no doubt about it. It is something that has already been verified. The mysterious thing is the Wind Cloud Arena being used for the competition. Rumor says that it is a mysterious space that is connected to the upper realms.”

Xiao Chen fell deep in thought. If what Xia Xiyan said was true, he definitely had to go to the Five Nation Youth Competition.

From a certain point of view, in many cases, what makes a cultivator successful was not talent, resources, or comprehension. Instead, it was the boundless and somewhat ethereal Luck.

Up in the clouds, the black warship flew at Mach 4 all the way.

After four hours, the silhouette of a city appeared before everyone.

It was a city built on water. It was incredibly vast and grand. The walls stood tall and thick.

The city looked very simple. Six Ancient Demonic Energy Cannons, each ten meters apart, were lined up on the wall at the entrance.

That meant more than three thousand Ancient Demonic Energy Cannons on the more than 2 kilometers long wall. There were also many holes of various sizes along the wall.

Unexpectedly, inside the holes, there were more Ancient Demonic Energy Cannons. Adding all of them together, there were at least ten thousand Ancient Demonic Energy Cannons on the city wall.

Attacked by ten thousands of such cannons, even a peak Martial Monarch would fall immediately. Just thinking about it made one tremble in fear.

There were eighteen gates opened in front. Countless ships were entering through the main city gates in an extremely orderly fashion, watched by rows of soldiers standing on the water.

They were standing as though they were on flat land, maintaining the order at the city gates.

The black warship slowly descended and did not fly over the city waters directly. Xiao Chen took a look and saw that the other flying Spirit Beasts or merchant ships also descended to the same level, heading for the water surface. Apparently, Desolate City did not permit any ships or Spirit Beasts to fly over it.

“Pa!”

The warship landed on the surface of the Heavenly Extermination Lake, creating large splashes. Then, they slowly headed for the main gate.