The Prodigies War

Lin Xun slightly narrowed his eyes. This old man was the first person to see through his breakthrough!

Looking around, everyone, including Jintian Xuanyue by his side, was blissfully unaware of the presences of the young and old duo.

Fortunately, the old man took the initiative to conclude it by waving his hand with a smile.

Lin Xun nodded back at him, then turned around and joined Jintian Xuanyue in the teleportation array.

Buzz!

With a loud noise, the ancient array glowed, and everyone in it vanished.

After Lin Xun was gone, the old man softly said, “Did you see that, Young Master? That was a supreme genius with superb dao attainments who cultivates even when walking, sitting, or lying down.

“It is impossible for one to break through in such a natural manner without a great deal of effort and accumulation. Stunning talents like him are precisely what this Great Primordial Chaos World lacks the most.”

The black-clad young man said coldly, “Isn’t this great news, since I came to this world to defeat these so-called heaven prides with my blade!”

The old man laughed, “Shall we start from Cloud State, then?”

The young man nodded. “Good.”

He had ‘blade’ as his last name, and ‘cut the flow’ as his name.

His name was Dao Duanliu.

……

Cloud State was one of the forty-nine states in the Primordial Chaos World, and it was packed with cities in a vast territory that was ten times the size of Qing State!

It was governed by seven major dao lineages. Like seven overlords who each had a share in the state’s territory, they were the holy lands of cultivation in the hearts of countless cultivators.

Xuanji Dao Sect was one of these seven major lineages in Cloud State, and it was ranked in third.

Compared to Qing State, Cloud State’s combined forces were undoubtedly much larger and more powerful. The reason was that it had quite a few ancient imperial clans rooted in its soil!

The Xing Clan of Lin’an City could not even be considered a second-rate power in Cloud State.

In this state, an organization had to have five or more Emperor experts to qualify as a first-rate power!

As for the seven major lineages in Cloud State, they had already developed beyond first-rate. They could be called hegemons, with each possessing a more unfathomable heritage than the other.

Northern Foothill City was a medium city in Cloud State in terms of scale. Several tens of thousands of miles away from this city was the territory of Sky Piercer Sword Sect, which was one of the seven major lineages.

Therefore, this city was extremely prosperous and affluent.

Outside Northern Foothill City, a group of cultivators walked out from an ancient teleportation array accompanied by a strange, loud buzz.

Lin Xun and Jintian Xuanyue were among them.

Having just traveled from Thousand Streams City in Snow State to Northern Foothill City in Cloud State in just snap of the fingers, Lin Xun was still in a bit of a trance.

This was the marvel of ancient teleportation arrays.

However, an array of this level cost a hundred thousand dao crystals per ride. Not everyone had the ability to afford it.

Having studied the route by heart along the way, Jintian Xuanyue quickly informed him, “This should be Northern Foothill City. At our speed, going to Xuanji Dao Sect from here will take at least half a month.”

Lin Xun said as he headed toward the city, “Let’s enter the city and gather information on Cloud State first before we set off, it won’t take too long.”

He was still pondering over the duo of old and young he had seen earlier. Their origins probably were not simple, especially the old man as he was most likely an Emperor!

“It’s definitely a good idea to keep a low profile in this Primordial Chaos World because who knows when you’ll run into an old monster of the Emperor Stage during your walk…” lamented Lin Xun.

“Breaking news, breaking news! The seven major lineages have made a decision to kick off Cloud State’s Dao Debate Contest a month later!

“At that time, a screening process will select the top ten experts from each stage of True Saint, Big Saint, and Saint-King respectively. They then will be sent to Central Plain State to participate in the Dao Debate Assembly hosted by the Great Six Courts!”

“What about Longevity King experts?”

“Are you kidding me? How can Longevity King cultivators be qualified for such a contest?”

As soon as Lin Xun and Jintian Xuanyue entered the city, they heard an excited uproar from the streets.

“Cloud State’s Dao Debate Contest?” Lin Xun was confused.

It didn’t take him long to find out what was going on.

Three years ago, the Great Six Courts had announced that they would hold a Dao Debate Assembly five years later, inviting fellow daoists from all over the world to participate.

However, the conditions were extremely harsh.

Barring Central Plain State, the other forty-eight states of the Great Primordial Chaos World would each have thirty slots to be divided equally among the True Saint, Big Saint, and Saint-King categories.

For example, each state could only send at most ten Saint-Kings to the assembly.

Cloud State’s Dao Debate Contest was to prepare for this.

After all, Cloud State was too vast with seven major lineages competing over the limited number of slots for the Dao Debate Assembly.

Thus, they had decided to convene a Dao Debate Contest as the means of selection.

“The reason why I left White Emperor City for the Primordial Chaos World was to take part in this assembly organized by the Great Six Courts,” said Jintian Xuanyue with a glimpse of desire in her eyes.

Lin Xun was suddenly reminded of the hemp-clothed Xuan Jiuyin. After arriving in the Primordial Chaos World, that fellow had also clamored to see him again in the Dao Debate Assembly.

Apparently, Xuan Jiuyin had come to this world with the same purpose as Jintian Xuanyue.

Lin Xun was curious. “If cultivators from star fields outside of the Primordial Chaos World also want to take part in this event, what should they do?”

Jintian Xuanyue replied, “There are many ways, but the most direct one is to take part in the corresponding contest organized by each of the forty-eight states to compete for a slot through battles.

“Take Cloud State’s Dao Debate Contest for example, not only the disciples of the seven major lineages, but any cultivator who also meets the qualification can participate.”

Lin Xun understood. He concluded, “In that case, participants of this assembly organized by the Great Six Courts are going to face fierce competition.”

It was hard to even count the number of dao lineages and clans distributed throughout the forty-nine states of the immensely vast Primordial Chaos World.

The number of experts in the three Saint Stages they had was simply incalculable!

Meanwhile, there were only so many slots available. One could already imagine how intense the competition would be when it came down to it.

By adding some of the most powerful Saint cultivators from outside the Great Primordial Chaos World to the mix, the competition would only be even more brutal!

“After all, it’s a debate event jointly organized by the Great Six Courts, how could your average cultivator just jump in as they please?”

Saying that, the desire in Jintian Xuanyue’s eyes flared up. “Through these layers of screening and elimination, every single one of those who gets to take part in the Dao Debate Assembly is bound to be an unparalleled supreme expert!”

Lin Xun thought about it and agreed with her.

However, unlike Jintian Xuanyue, he wasn’t very interested in this assembly and even had to deliberately avoid it.

It couldn’t be helped. If his true identity was discovered by experts of the Great Six Courts, then it would definitely be the start of endless trouble.

Lin Xun asked, “By the way, why does this only apply to the forty-eight states, what about the Central Plain State? Don’t the cultivators there need to be screened?”

Jintian Xuanyue replied, “The Central Plain State is the gathering ground of Emperors and where Dao Ancestors are secluded. It’s occupied by only the topmost forces of the nebula, such as the Great Six Courts and the Great Ten Battle Clans. That place has no need for a Dao Debate Contest at all.

“Because even if it were to be held, then the slots would ultimately be divided among the disciples of those topmost powers anyway.”

After a pause, she continued, “What’s more, the grand assembly was initiated by the Great Six Courts, so there’s no quantity cap on their quota.”

Lin Xun scoffed, “So that’s how it is.”

As unfair to the normal cultivators as this might seem, it was the reality of this world where the Great Six Courts held a great deal of power.

Jintian Xuanyue said, “In truth, no one cares whether this is fair or not. There have been many Dao Debate Assemblies since ancient times, but every time nearly all the top ten have ended up being disciples of the Great Six Courts, the Great Ten Battle Clans, and other major organizations.

“It’s similar to the All Heavens Saint-King Rankings. Ninety percent of the top one hundred are from these great powers.”

Lin Xun laughed, “But you are an exception.”

He hadn’t forgotten that Jintian Xuanyue was ranked forty-ninth on the All Heavens Saint-King Rankings.

Caught off guard, Jintian Xuanyue blushed as she felt a little embarrassed. “You’re making fun of me, Young Master. The fact that someone of your strength isn’t on that list makes it a complete joke.”

Lin Xun was speechless.

A ranking was only a ranking, how could it net all the world’s supreme geniuses so easily?

It was simply impossible!

At the very least, some of whom he had encountered such as Zen Master Wuming or Xuan Jiuyin weren’t any weaker than Jintian Xuanyue in terms of battle power, but their names weren’t on the All Heavens Saint-King Rankings either.

Strictly speaking, since the ranking was issued by Mythical Huang Dao Court, it was certainly authoritative. The experts listed on it were no doubt peerless characters.

However, the Ancient Nebula Road was infinitely large and therefore destined to have many more talents who weren’t at all inferior to the ones on the rankings!

Lin Xun shook his head and no longer focused on this topic.

To his surprise, no matter where he went during his half-day stay in Northern Foothill City, all he heard was discussions on the upcoming state debate contest.

Some people were even nice enough to pick out the famous disciples of the seven major lineages of Cloud State and made a list out of it by analyzing and commenting on them one by one.

For example, Lu Dubu, the strongest disciple of Great Void Sect, was recognized as Cloud State’s number one expert in the Saint-King Stage!

This person was also considered to be among the roster with the highest chances of winning first place in the state’s Dao Debate Contest.

In short, there were an array of prominent figures that were the hot topic everywhere, making it difficult for Lin Xun not to know about them.

One could also tell from this how big the impact of this debate contest had on Cloud State.

Unfortunately, Lin Xun remained uninterested.

On that same day, he left the city with Jintian Xuanyue and headed straight to the location of Xuanji Dao Sect—Sacred Wind Dao Mountain!

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