Immortal Martial Emperor

「The next morning.」

The highly anticipated Southern Ten Nations Alliance Martial Competition finally began as scheduled.

The venue for the Southern Ten Nations Alliance competition was not within Yaoyue City, nor was it even within the Yaoyue Kingdom.

Each time the Southern Ten Nations Martial Competition was held, an Inspector sent from the Xiahuang Ancient Kingdom would arrive with a Space Transmission Array. The allied kingdoms only needed to provide enough Elemental Essence Ore to power the array.

Ten kingdoms, dozens of Sects.

And a scattering of Independent Martial Artists had all gathered early before the Yaoyue Kingdom’s royal training grounds.

Because the Primordial Core Realm experts from each kingdom were all accompanying the Inspector in the array’s control center, they were monitoring its various conditions and making micro-adjustments.

Therefore, the training grounds were currently devoid of the older generation’s experts. Only the young geniuses participating in the competition were present.

"Look, it’s the experts from the Shuixiu Kingdom!"

someone suddenly shouted.

The crowd turned to look at the entrance of the training grounds, where a group of young experts dressed in uniform blue robes walked in.

Every one of them had an exceptionally handsome or beautiful face.

The men were handsome, the women gorgeous!

This was the Shuixiu Kingdom, a kingdom renowned for the outstanding looks of both its men and women.

But if anyone thought their good looks meant they were just a group of pretty faces, they were destined to suffer a miserable defeat!

"I heard an extremely strong genius appeared in the Shuixiu Kingdom this year named Shui Rou’Er. Her strength is unmatched in the entire kingdom!"

"I heard that too! Apparently, this Shui Rou’Er possesses the Weak Water Primordial Vein. Her talent and strength are both formidable. She’s a genius qualified to contend for a True Dragon Position!"

Amidst the crowd’s murmurs of admiration,

a young woman in the crowd with a sweet face and a faint blush on her cheeks gently bit her lip, looking somewhat nervous.

"HAHAHA, I have arrived!"

Suddenly, a heaven-shaking roar came from outside the training grounds.

A young man with long, purplish-red hair that billowed in the wind like a purple Demon came striding through the air.

His figure was like a raging inferno, and the air around him seemed to grow scorching and stifling wherever he passed.

This person was none other than the genius of the Li Yang Kingdom.

The expert who placed fourth on the last True Dragon List, Ziyan Wuhen!

As soon as Ziyan Wuhen entered the training grounds, his eyes, which burned like flames, swept across the area, but he didn’t seem to find the person he was looking for.

Two jets of hot air shot from his nostrils.

He grunted with contempt and disdain. ’I thought there might be an opponent worthy of my attention, but it’s just another pack of nobodies...’

The moment Ziyan Wuhen finished speaking, a cold, disdainful snort responded, "Ziyan Wuhen, what right do you have to call others mediocre? It seems your cultivation hasn’t improved much over the years!"

"Who?"

Ziyan Wuhen whipped his head around to see Prince Zhui Ri looking down on him with a scornful expression, standing atop a two-colored disc.

Ziyan Wuhen flew into a rage, and flames genuinely seemed to churn in his eyes.

In his fury, Ziyan Wuhen condensed a ball of purple fire in one hand and, with a WHOOSH, hurled it toward Prince Zhui Ri.

Prince Zhui Ri gave a contemptuous smile. A blue light flashed under his feet, and the disc whizzed forward, shattering the ball of purple fire with a BANG.

In the shockwave of the explosion, Ziyan Wuhen’s robes billowed as if in a gale, flapping loudly.

His long purple hair whipped about furiously.

Suddenly, a bloodthirsty fervor appeared on his face. "Zhui Ri, I was careless and lost to you in our last battle. But I’m not the man I was before. This time, I will kill you on the fighting stage!"

"I’ll be waiting for you to humiliate yourself!"

Prince Zhui Ri sneered.

In his eyes, only Yao Yueye was an opponent worth taking seriously!

Everyone else was nothing more than passing clouds!

"Prince Zhui Ri is so domineering!"

"Prince Zhui Ri of the Wind Chasing Kingdom is the number one Spirit Cultivator in the Southern Ten Nations. I heard he inherited an Ancient Spiritual Cultivation Secret Technique, the Da Ri Celestial Scripture. If he pushes it to its limit, he can even condense his Spiritual Power into the form of the Great Sun Buddha and use the Tathagata’s momentum to crush an opponent’s spirit!"

"A Demon Fiend like that is truly terrifying. It’s a pity he ran into Yao Yueye..."

"Indeed. Yao Yueye is just too strong. He’s unbeatable!"

Amidst the uninhibited chatter, someone suddenly noticed another large group of experts arriving at the entrance.

The one in the lead had a handsome face. Beneath a pair of long, sword-like brows, his eyes, as vast as the stars, shone with a resolute and dauntless light.

He moved with a Dragon Walk and Tiger Stride, appearing full of vigor and remarkably composed.

Behind him was a man with a stern expression and a slight stoop, his powerful hands hanging at his sides.

He was clearly a master highly proficient in upper-body combat techniques.

This group was vast and mighty, and they projected a powerful aura the moment they arrived.

They...

were the competing experts from the Qin Kingdom, a group of more than three thousand people!

"The people from the Qin Kingdom are here too?"

"Whoa, I recognize the guy in the lead. I think his name is Hong Yu. He’s a genius who just emerged recently!"

"They say he’s killed a Primordial Core Realm expert. I don’t know if it’s true or not!"

"Heh, it’s probably just the Qin Kingdom boasting, right? But the man next to him must be Zheng Tian, right? He was fifth on the last True Dragon List and is strong enough to contend for a True Dragon Position. The fact that he’s willing to stand behind Hong Yu... I’m afraid Hong Yu’s strength is genuinely no joke."

"So what if he’s not weak? In front of Yao Yueye, every other genius is just trash!"

The crowd of experts chattered chaotically.

The experts who had the confidence and qualifications to attend the Ten Kingdoms Alliance Martial Competition were all Celestial Pride Sons, heroes who dominated their own regions. Each possessed their own unique pride.

Naturally, their words held little restraint or apprehension.

As for Hong Yu...

Despite being the subject of everyone’s pointing and gossiping, he acted like an outsider, as if the topic had nothing to do with him.

He just kept walking straight ahead.

The moment he brushed past Prince Zhui Ri, Hong Yu felt a grim coldness in the prince’s eyes. He frowned slightly but didn’t say anything.

Just as he was about to move on, a wave of scorching purple heat flashed before him.

Hong Yu stopped in his tracks. The heat wave halted abruptly, barely a finger’s breadth from his nose.

Ziyan Wuhen’s surprised voice followed. "Tsk tsk, to not even flinch under my probing attack, not even batting an eye. Not bad, not bad!"

Ziyan Wuhen extended his right hand to Hong Yu. "Ziyan Wuhen. Fourth on the last True Dragon List. This time, I’m aiming for the top three!"

"Hong Yu!"

Hong Yu nodded, and their hands locked in a tight grip.

Ziyan Wuhen grinned, his eyes brimming with fighting spirit as the force in his palm increased exponentially.

In the blink of an eye, Ziyan Wuhen was already using fifty percent of his strength.

Hong Yu’s expression remained unchanged as he quietly watched him.

"Not bad. I couldn’t tell that despite your low cultivation, your physical strength is so great!"

Ziyan Wuhen nodded playfully and then applied more force.

Sixty percent!

Seventy percent!

When he increased the force to eighty percent and Hong Yu still just stared at him calmly, the placid look in Ziyan Wuhen’s eyes turned serious. He gritted his teeth. ’Well, I’ll be. You truly are the expert who defeated Zheng Tian. Now, try and take one hundred percent of my strength!’

One hundred percent, a full-power burst!

Although physical strength wasn’t his specialty, Ziyan Wuhen, who had already reached the Early-stage Primordial Core Realm, was extremely confident that his grip was strong enough to crush a Spirit-Level Primordial Weapon.

With a push of his palm, even a hundred-meter-tall hill would be shaken to its core.

The fiercely competitive Ziyan Wuhen had used a handshake to mess with people more than once. Even some other Primordial Core Realm experts had lost to him when he used only eighty percent of his strength.

Now, unleashing one hundred percent of his power, Ziyan Wuhen was fully prepared to crush Hong Yu’s hand.

Other experts were thinking the same thing.

Everyone watched Hong Yu with smirks and expressions of schadenfreude, eagerly anticipating the scene of his hand being crushed to a pulp, followed by his miserable screams and wails.

Unfortunately for them, they were destined to be disappointed this time.

When Ziyan Wuhen’s face was already red with exertion and he could muster no more strength, Hong Yu yawned and asked nonchalantly, "You’re holding my hand so enthusiastically. Don’t you plan on letting go?"

"Hehe, ’is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?’"

The light in Ziyan Wuhen’s eyes grew colder and colder.

As he circulated his Profound Skill, his Cultivation Technique focused on his five fingers, and his one hundred percent strength was further enhanced by his Elemental Power.

’How could a dignified True Dragon Genius like me lose face in front of such a large crowd?’

Unfortunately...

Ziyan Wuhen had picked the wrong person this time!

A playful sneer flickered in Hong Yu’s eyes. "Oh, ’is it not a joy to have friends come from afar,’ is it?"

"Huh?"

Ziyan Wuhen froze.

He found Hong Yu’s gaze unfathomable and felt a faint sense of unease.

He soon understood the source of his unease.

A tremendous force suddenly erupted from the hand he was gripping, a power so great it easily broke his hold.

Immediately after, this force grew stronger and stronger, reaching a level that made Ziyan Wuhen, the dignified fourth-ranked True Dragon, feel a sense of despair.

"CR-CRACK!"

The sound of grinding bones echoed crisply.

A fine layer of cold sweat broke out on Ziyan Wuhen’s forehead. He felt as if his hand no longer belonged to him, and the sharp pain of shattering bones made him want to cry out in agony.

But the dignity of a True Dragon Genius forced him to grit his teeth and endure it.

Forcing a pained, ugly smile, Ziyan Wuhen said, "H-Hong Yu, w-well... the competition is about to start. W-we should go and wait!"

"Oh? Is that so? Alright then!"

Hong Yu nodded, a look of regret on his face. "I feel like Brother Ziyan and I are kindred spirits. If we have the chance in the future, we must have more of these ’joyful’ moments!"

"Ah, aha, y-yes, of course!"

Ziyan Wuhen laughed dryly and fled in disarray.

Watching Ziyan Wuhen’s departing figure, a playful smile touched Hong Yu’s lips. ’This Ziyan Wuhen may be flamboyant, but at least he’s straightforward. I can probably get along with someone like that.’

As he was thinking, Hong Yu suddenly saw the experts from the Fengyue Kingdom walking into the training grounds.

Hong Renjie was in the lead, flanked by Hong Gang and Feng Xue Xin.

Feng Xue Xin looked completely dejected. As if sensing Hong Yu’s gaze, all the experts from the Fengyue Kingdom turned to look at him.

An invisible clash of spirits erupted between the two sides.

A cruel, mocking smile appeared on Hong Renjie’s face. He made a throat-slitting gesture at Hong Yu before leading the Fengyue Kingdom’s experts away to the other side.

From beginning to end, Feng Xue Xin never once looked up at Hong Yu.

A sea of fire raged in Hong Yu’s heart, burning fiercely.

At the same time...

A melodious bell chimed. In the center of the training grounds, space trembled, and a massive Space Gate tore through the void, appearing before everyone.

A vast, ancient voice boomed out, "The Southern Ten Nations Martial Competition has officially begun! All participating prodigies, enter the Land of Trial!"

Gazing at the massive Space Gate, Hong Yu took a deep breath, his eyes burning with soaring fighting spirit. ’I must kill Hong Renjie and restore freedom to Senior Brother Feng and the others!’