Painting of the Nine Immortals

“If you participate in the Competition of the Four Paths, it would be same as you obtaining the winning title. I wonder how many people’s hope would be diminished.”

Dong Fang Bi sighed softly, his old face was looking pitiful, as if he felt sorry for all the competitors who were entering the competition.

This was something everyone could predict. If Ling Xian wasn’t there, the competition would be a fight between tigers and dragons. But with him there, there would be no cliff hanger and nothing unexpected would happen.

What could he do? He was just that insane. He was so young yet his craftsmanship skills were extremely profound and was already somewhat greater than grandmasters!

“You are joking with me, Elder Dong Fang.”

Ling Xian softly chuckled, “I am similar in age as those people and we are all new to this field. What makes you say it so sternly that I would get the winning title?”

“You are the one who is joking.”

Dong Fang Bi smiled helplessly. “I’m not too sure about the other paths, but I know the Path of Crafts very well. In the last 10 years, the best pupil is without a doubt, your roommate, Xiang Ru Gu.”

“Oh?”

Ling Xian raised his eyebrow. He didn’t think that the both feminine and masculine person had some abilities.

“Even so, his craftsmanship is only of the seventh realm. Compared to you, you two are like Heaven and Earth, you shouldn’t be categorized together.”

Dong Fang Bi smiled and teased, “This is why there is absolutely no suspense with this year’s competition. Nothing unexpected will happen.”

Ling Xian softly grinned and didn’t say anything.

Just like Dong Fang Bi had said, the best craftsman in the past 10 years was Xiang Ru Gu, who belonged to the seventh realm. Ling Xian wasn’t sure what his actual realm was, but he was certain that he could beat Xiang Ru Gu.

If what was said was true, then the winning seat would be his.

However, Ling Xian wasn’t aiming to win just one title, he planned on sweeping all four winning titles. Therefore, he openly asked, “I wonder who the strong competitors for the other three paths are?”

“Why are you interested in that?” Dong Fang Bi glared at him suspiciously.

Ling Xian smiled. “Please just answer my questions.”

“Let me think.”

Dong Fang Bi was silent for a bit and said, “Based on what I know, there is a rare genius from the Path of Array, his name is Ta Ba Feng. He was gifted with extreme skills and rumor has it that his abilities have surpassed the grandmaster realm.”

Pausing, he continued, “If there are no surprises, then the winning title should go to him. After all, he is considered to be at the grandmaster level and in the entire younger generation of Yunzhou, very few people are considered to be as talented as him.”

Ling Xian frowned, he didn’t think there would be such a genius in the Path of Arrays.

Normally speaking, it would take someone a few hundred years of training to become a grandmaster. However, there are no absolutes in the world. To real geniuses, a few decades would be enough to get to the grandmaster level.

Ta Ba Feng was one of them.

Plus, Ling Xian somewhat remembers this person. He remembered that inside the Hidden Realm, Ta Ba Feng ended up becoming an Array Grandmaster!

“A future grandmaster… interesting.”

Revealing a faint smile, Ling Xian did not at all feel pressured. Instead, he had high hopes.

So what he was a rare genius? So what he will one day be a grandmaster?

Only because such people exist, can Ling Xian remain interested. If the winning title comes too easily, there would be no challenge.

“I almost forgot. You are widely known as multi-talented in both arrays and crafts. So your skills with arrays are rather extraordinary too.”

Dong Fang Bi suddenly remembered something and began to tease, “You and Ta Ba Feng are similar in age, and you are even younger than him. I wonder with arrays, who is weaker.”

“That question might be answered very soon.”

Ling Xian softly grinned. Since he decided to win all four titles, he naturally had to battle against that rare genius.

When that happens, he will see who wins and who loses.

One has to admit that he was truly a rare one. Everyone else would wish for their opponents to be weaker, yet there he was, hoping for a stronger opponent. Because if everyone is weak, he would find it boring.

“Just like the Path of Array, there is also a rare genius from the Path of Alchemy. Her name is Hong Zhuang Luo. She is a woman of history. She was originally the descendant of the Hong Clan from the City of Dan and she only joined the House a few years ago.”

Dong Fang Bi stroke his beard and laughed. “I heard that that woman is already of the fifth realm of alchemy and can already brew seventh rank Dans of the Fifth Realm. She truly is a rare genius.”

“It’s her?”

Ling Xian frowned. He didn’t expect that woman to also join the Shang Qing Sect.

It’s not exactly news for geniuses of the different Clans to join powerful Houses. It was just that Hong Luo Zhuang was originally the strongest descendant of the Hong Clan and logically speaking, she shouldn’t want to join the Shang Qing Sect.

“You know her?” Dong Fang Bi asked.

“I’ve heard of her.” Ling Xian smiled and avoided more suspicion.

“That’s true. Hong Luo Zhuang is the strongest descendant of the Hong Clan with extraordinary skills. It’s normal that you’ve heard of her.” Dong Fang Bi didn’t question further.

[Not only have I heard of her, I have also beaten her up pretty badly.]

Ling Xian didn’t think Hong Zhuang Luo would appear in the Shang Qing Sect and he didn’t think he would meet that woman again. He found this very interesting.

That time, he defeated Hong Zhuang Luo hard – enough for this Heaven’s Favorite to lose all her confidence. This year, he wondered if he could end all of this with a victory?

“As for cultivation – it is the most exciting show out of all the different paths. This time, all different Paths sent a Heaven’s Favorite and every one of them is very powerful. However, the most probable one to win would the Heaven’s Favorite from the Path of Cultivation.”

Dong Fang Bi said softly, “His name is Leng Feng and his cultivation is of the peak of the foundational level. Out of everyone, he is definitely the strongest.”

Pausing, he continued, “Legend had it that the most glorious record this person has is winning against three people. From this, it is obvious how capable he is. Especially when fighting against people of the same realm, he is absolutely undefeatable.”

“Winning against three?” Ling Xian raised an eyebrow, engrossed.

When fighting against people of the same realm, it was considered impressive to win against two people. Let alone winning against three.

If what Dong Fang Bi said was completely true, then that person’s capabilities was extremely impressive. Though he can’t be named as undefeatable, he was pretty darn close to it!

The correct way to weigh someone’s overall powerfulness wasn’t to just see what level of cultivation they are in. The higher the cultivation doesn’t necessarily mean the more capable. The correct way was to consider the person’s techniques and battling history.

Of course, the most important factor was to see if he could defeat cultivators of the same level.

This was why everyone wanted to enter the undefeatable realm.

When he heard that Leng Feng could defeat three people at once, Ling Xian became extremely interested.

He wanted a very powerful opponent!

Only powerful opponents would make him feel challenged and would make winning the competition more meaningful.

“Interesting. To be able to defeat three people solo… seems like I can finally stretch out my legs.”

Ling Xian quietly chuckled. There was absolutely no fear on his face and on the contrary, it was full of high expectation.

Seeing his hopeful expression, the guess Dong Fang Bi had once again appeared. He asked testingly, “Are you planning… on entering the competition for all four paths?”

“Ah that question… you will know when the time is right.”

Ling Xian softly smiled, “The competition will start in three days. I will need to go and prepare. Please don’t bother me during this time.”

Then, he picked himself up and headed outside the palace.

Watching Ling Xian walk away, Dong Fang Bi frowned and mumbled, “That master… could he really be planning to meddle with the competition for all four paths?”

As he spoke, he shook his head quickly and denied this speculation.

To have achieved greatness in two different paths was already an unbelievable feat. How could someone be glorious on all four paths at the same time?

…..

As Dong Fang Bi was pondering this through, Ling Xian had arrived at his very own stone room.

This room wasn’t big and its design was very simple. Other than a light yellow tatami, there was nothing else.

“There are only three more days until the Competition. It is time for me to improve my cultivation level.”

Mumbling, Ling Xian sat in a lotus position on the tatami and closed his eyes.

He wasn’t worried about the tests for arrays, crafts, and alchemy. After all, his profound knowledge was already there and he had no need to cram anything.

However, cultivation was different. Based on what Dong Fang Bi said, the four most probable descendants were all extremely likely to win. That Leng Feng especially, was already at the peak of the foundational level.

Yet this clone’s cultivation level was only at the beginning stage of the foundational level. Therefore, no matter how heaven defying he was, he cannot cross over three stage and win against him.

Therefore, Ling Xian decided to increase his cultivation level up to the peak of the foundational level within three days’ time.

To other people, this wasn’t something that was possible. Even the reincarnation of a real god wouldn’t be able to achieve this. However, to Ling Xian, this was nothing.

The reason for his speedy cultivation was because his original self had already broken through to the peak of the completion level. Therefore, his muscle memories will allow him to reach the peak of the foundational level in a short period of time.

“Let us start.”

Murmuring to himself, Ling Xian formed a hand seal and manipulated the energy between Heaven and Earth.

Just then, a murky wave of air appeared. Under his control, it entered his organs, his limbs, and his bones.

HOMMMMM!

The moment the spiritual energy from Heaven and Earth entered his body, a tornado was created and exploded with a strong gravitational force that dragged in all the energy around him into his Dantian.

In the next second, his Dantian worked at extreme speeds and transformed all the spiritual energy into his own Qi.

Then, Ling Xian began an unbelievable breakthrough.

Luckily, nobody else was there to witness all of this. If they did, they would all be dead from shock!

Because his breakthrough speed was enough to change the worldview of most cultivators!