Chapter 1 The Impending Storm

On the plaza, Jiang Xuan was overwhelmed with emotions. At this moment, he was truly on the verge of turning to the dark side. Since the storm was already coming, he would make it even more violent.

"Those who passed the first round, follow me to the palace!"

Just then, a voice rang out. It was a golden-armored imperial guard, with an extraordinary aura. He should be at the Returning Void Earth Immortal realm, a leader-level powerhouse among the imperial guards.

Everyone followed him and flew away, soon arriving before the Heavenly Mandate Palace, standing on a cloud of mist.

After a moment, Celestial Luoyu walked out of the Heavenly Mandate Palace, looked at the many cultivators standing on the cloud of mist, nodded, and gently waved her sleeve. Immediately, some raindrops radiating colorful light fell. The raindrops landed on their bodies and quickly merged into them, instantly healing even severe injuries.

Of course, this was completely useless to Jiang Xuan, because he had no consumption to begin with, let alone injuries.

"You were able to pass the first round, your strength and luck are both good, but in the next second round, only those with extraordinary strength can continue. I hope you are all mentally prepared."

Celestial Luoyu continued, "In the second round of the competition, you will fight in pairs. After two rounds, the top nine will be determined. Each of the top nine will receive three million *jin* of Yuan Liquid."

Across the three realms, one hundred and eight people, the vast majority had red eyes. Three million *jin* of Yuan Liquid could almost buy an Immortal-grade treasure. Apart from Jiang Xuan, a direct descendant of the Celestial, few of the royal descendants present could afford it, so it was naturally envy-inducing.

"The remaining nine people will each fight eight matches, for a total of thirty-six matches. The ranking will be determined by the number of wins. The top three will be able to enter the royal palace treasury and choose one Lower Immortal-grade treasure, one Lower Immortal-grade secret technique scroll, and one bottle of Lower Immortal-grade pills."

Even these royal descendants were equally fanatical. Even if it was only Lower Immortal-grade, it was something that the Heavenly Mandate Great World had accumulated over hundreds of millions of years, and there were definitely special Immortal-grade treasures among them.

"Your battleground will be above the clouds outside the palace."

Just as everyone was immersed in joy, Celestial Luoyu pointed remotely outside the palace.

*Hua…*

A forbidden array covering ten *li* suddenly appeared above the clouds outside the palace. "You will fight within that forbidden array. The end of a battle is when one side dies or concedes."

"First is the Purple Mansion battle. The first match, Jiang Ming of Qi King's lineage versus Jiang Yuan of Li King's lineage." Celestial Luoyu said, "The others wait aside."

Everyone retreated to the side, and the first round of battles officially began.

In the first match, Jiang Yuan fought against Jiang Ming. This battle was exceptionally fierce. Both of them cultivated the Divine Demon Body Refinement technique. Jiang Yuan eventually had to admit defeat when his divine power was almost completely exhausted, but his eyes were clearly full of unwillingness.

"Second match, Jiang Peng of Xun King's lineage versus Jiang Tianyang of Yue King's lineage…"

"Third match…"

"Twelfth match, Jiang Xuan of Zhan King's lineage versus Jiang Miao of Yu King's lineage!" Celestial Luoyu was expressionless, overlooking the world. These low-realm battles could not stir their minds at all.

Even if these disciples were all royal geniuses, they were not worth mentioning in the eyes of beings at their level.

"Finally, it's his turn. Let's see how he escapes this time!"

"Hmph, escape? Jiang Miao is a top genius of Yu King's lineage, and he follows the path of beast taming. He possesses a peak Purple Mansion great demon. How can he win in a two-on-one fight?"

"Heh, he's finally going to be eliminated. He disgusted us so much. Does he really think mastering a complete Dao makes him invincible?"

Above the clouds, within the forbidden array, Jiang Xuan was expressionless, watching Jiang Miao walk towards him.

Yu King's lineage focused on "domination" as their main cultivation path. Demonic beasts, magical treasures, puppets, and so on were all Daos they cultivated. And the Jiang Miao in front of him was the strongest person in the Purple Mansion realm of Yu King's lineage.

Of course, according to the information he had obtained, he was able to get to this point more because he had a Wicked Qilin demon, with the bloodline of the divine beast Qilin, which was definitely considered top-tier in the Purple Mansion realm.

Otherwise, based on Jiang Miao's strength alone, he would at most be on the same level as the previous Jiang Xuan.

"So, Prince Jiang Xuan is now a household name…"

Jiang Miao had a smile on his face, looking very easygoing, but Jiang Xuan felt that he was speaking in a sarcastic manner.

"Alas, I wonder when I will be able to bathe in the complete Dao. I am truly envious."

Jiang Xuan's face gradually darkened. He really was rubbing salt in the wound.

"However, this royal competition is not something that can be won just by comprehending a complete Dao. This time, it's a two-on-one fight, so it's a bit of an unfair victory." Jiang Miao smiled.

"Jiang Miao, I have a question for you." At this moment, Jiang Xuan spoke, very calmly, without any anger.

"Prince Jiang Xuan actually has a question to ask me? Please speak!" Jiang Miao pretended to be surprised.

"That Wicked Qilin demon of yours, is it male?"

In the royal competition, external objects can be used to a certain extent, such as weapons and pills, but they cannot exceed the Earth rank, such as demonic beasts and puppets, but they cannot exceed the Purple Mansion realm.

It was precisely because of this that Jiang Miao was able to bring his Wicked Qilin demon into the forbidden array.

Moreover, Celestial Luoyu was overseeing the entire competition, so it was impossible to cheat and bring in prohibited items. Therefore, Jiang Xuan would assume that everything that could appear in the forbidden array was reasonably present.

"Of course, it's male, what's the problem?"

Jiang Miao was full of question marks. What did the gender of the demon beast have to do with Jiang Xuan? Moreover, everyone knew this information, just like him, someone had told him a lot of information about Jiang Xuan before the battle.

"Mm." Jiang Xuan nodded, "I just wanted to confirm."

Jiang Xuan carried his hands behind his back, quite like a lonely expert, looking calmly at Jiang Miao, and slowly said, "Come on, let me see your skills."

Jiang Miao also put away his smile. Although his words were sarcastic towards Jiang Xuan, being able to comprehend a complete Dao meant that his strength could not be underestimated. He didn't want to capsize in the gutter.

With a thought, a fierce beast suddenly escaped from the beast nest magic treasure he carried with him, more than ten *zhang* tall, with two horns on its head, like branches, covered with dark blue fluff, with faint lightning flashing.

But Jiang Xuan didn't care about these things, but glanced again to confirm that this Wicked Qilin demon was male.

"Kill!"

"Roar!"

Jiang Miao shouted loudly, and together with the Wicked Qilin demon, they broke through the air, one on the left and one on the right, forming a pincer attack, and charged towards Jiang Xuan.

At the critical moment, Jiang Xuan threw out two pills, one red and one blue, with both hands at the same time.

"Explode!"

Jiang Xuan shouted loudly, while his body continued to rise, flying towards the sky. At this time, the two pills also exploded with a "bang", turning into powder that filled the sky. Jiang Miao and the Wicked Qilin demon had no time to dodge and crashed directly into the pill powder.

"Poison?!"

Jiang Miao was shocked and quickly took out a Hundred Solutions Pill from his portable immortal mansion. This was the most basic version of the detoxification pill from the Shennong lineage, but it was also the most effective. Below the Celestial rank, all poisons in the world could be suppressed.

As a disciple of the Shennong lineage, it was natural to always have detoxification pills on hand. Otherwise, if he was dealt with by others with poison, it would simply be a disgrace to the reputation of the Shennong lineage.

"Despicable, actually using poison?!"

"This is stupid! This is the Shennong lineage competition, does he really think that pure poison pills will be useful?"

"That's the Hundred Solutions Pill personally created by Old Ancestor Shennong, even if it's just the lowest grade, there is no poison that can't be dissolved below the Celestial rank. He really miscalculated."

Within the forbidden array, Jiang Miao quickly fed a Hundred Solutions Pill to the Wicked Qilin demon, which was lying on the ground trembling, and then looked at Jiang Xuan in the sky, and said sarcastically, "Prince Jiang Xuan, you are also a disciple of my Shennong lineage, do you think poison pills will be useful to us?"

His words resonated with many geniuses, and they looked at Jiang Xuan with sarcasm.

However, Jiang Xuan in the sky was extremely calm, even looking at Jiang Miao with a pitying gaze. After a long time, he said, "Who said those were poison pills?"