“Err…” Zhou Weiqing gulped. “L-Let’s enter the city. We should look for the venue of the Mysterious Heavenly Selection. Master Gu Yu said that it will be held in Ubaatar City.”
When Bing’er saw him changing the topic in a rush, she did not press the issue. She only chuckled lightly in response. He tightened his clutch on her hand as he thought to himself, ‘Bing’er is really thoughtful.’
Ubaatar was a port city. It was the final destination that was recorded in the navigation system of the Neptune Shuttle. Now that they had finally arrived in the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland, it was quite a good feeling.
The first thing Zhou Weiqing did was purchase a map. Although he did not have any currency from the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland, Nucleus Cores were a form of universal currency. After selling a few Nucleus Cores he obtained from Zun-tier Heavenly Beasts, the gold coins that he obtained were sufficient to cover their expenses for a period of time.
After wandering around Ubaatar City for a while, Zhou Weiqing noticed that there were not many differences between the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland and the Boundless Mainland. Other than the way they dressed, everything else was essentially the same.
After they found a hotel to stay in, a simple query about the Mysterious Heavenly Selection gave them all the information they needed.
Ubaatar was a strategic port city in the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland. Naturally, the Selection would be held here. Somehow, it seemed like lady luck was on their side. This year’s Selection would be held in a month’s time.
After they received confirmation of the news, Zhou Weiqing decided to temporarily go into closed-door cultivation. Although he did not come across any real danger during their journey, he and Bing’er had suffered terribly during their time at sea. For this reason, both of them gained a deeper understanding of themselves, and they even managed to raise their cultivation bases. It was a good opportunity for them to use the experience they had gained to fuse with their cultivation while waiting for the day of the Selection to arrive.
Needless to say, Bing’er cultivated together with Zhou Weiqing. She had plenty of Saint Energy in her body, and with him by her side, she could use his Saint Energy to help with her cultivation. After she had used up some of her own Saint Energy, all she needed was for Zhou Weiqing to inject a little bit of his Saint Energy to her. This allowed her to raise her cultivation base extremely quickly. On the third day of their closed-door cultivation, she had already broken through to the Seventh Jewel stage.
Zhou Weiqing’s cultivation progress was also advancing rapidly. Despite the fact that the Immortal Deity Technique had been completed, the speed at which his Saint Energy was raised did not seem to slow down at all. Because of that, through the continuous condensation and solidifying process, his cultivation base slowly progressed and increased as the days went by. His Saint Energy was now only a step away from the 37th tier.
However, because he had completed the Immortal Deity Technique, he did not know how to break through to the 37th tier at all. He could only hope that by continuously accumulating energy, and through this accumulation process, his Saint Energy would automatically experience a breakthrough.
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed. Apart from cultivating, Zhou Weiqing and Bing’er would occasionally go out and enjoy the local sights and culture of the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland to further understand it.
Their closed-door cultivation proved to be effective. Over the course of a month, thanks to the powerful effect of the Saint Energy, Shangguan Bing’er managed to raise her cultivation base by one full tier to the 29th tier. And even though Zhou Weiqing did not manage to break through to the 37th tier, not only did the Saint Energy in his body solidify, a little more after a month of experience and cultivation, he had a deeper understanding of the Saint Energy. It seemed like he was just a tiny step away from the 37th tier. Even though he did not know how he should take this last tiny step, he understood that, as long as he kept accumulating and accumulating, he would be able to break through eventually.
…
The city square of Ubaatar city.
The day of the annual selection had finally arrived. The mayor of Ubaatar City had long taken his seat of honor on the podium, eagerly waiting for the celebration to start. The platform that was temporarily erected was swarmed with a huge crowd of people. A large number of soldiers had ensured order among the crowd.
“Lord Mayor, this is the list of participants for the Selection this year.” A guard handed over the list to him.
After taking the list from him, the mayor of Ubaatar did not immediately look at it. Instead, with a respectful look on his face, he passed it over to an old man who was sitting beside him. “Master Er Chun, please have a look.”
“Alright,” the man addressed as Er Chun replied. He wore a blue robe with a silvery crescent moon embroidered near his heart.
Er Chun opened the list and swept through it with a glance. After he was done, he said indifferently, “There are more than 100 participants this time.There are too many people. Pass down the order. Those with a cultivation base of fewer than four Jewels are automatically disqualified.”
Taken aback, Sang Tan said hesitatingly, “M-Master, isn’t this a little too harsh? The rule that we set earlier clearly states three Jewels as the minimum requirement.”
Er Chun glanced at him coldly. Sang Tan instantly felt chills running down his spine. “I don’t want to waste my time here. Just tell them that this is an order from the Mysterious Heavenly Palace. Perhaps, you’re trying to imply that the Mysterious Heavenly Palace have to answer to these unaffiliated cultivators? What’s the point of participating in this selection if they’re not talented enough?”
“O-Okay!” Wiping the beads of sweat on his forehead, Sang Tan thought to himself, ‘Naturally, the Mysterious Heavenly Palace is not afraid of anything! But I, the mayor of Ubaatar, am afraid of those Heavenly Jewel Masters that will complain and create trouble for me later!’
The requirements to participate in the Mysterious Heavenly Selection were extremely harsh. They would not accept Physical Jewel Masters or Elemental Jewel Masters. They only wanted Heavenly Jewel Masters. The original requirements of being below 30 years old and having at least three Jewels were already considered harsh. Now that they had increased it to four Jewels, the masters would obviously be unhappy and unsatisfied. With that being said, nobody would dare to object directly. After all, was there anyone who dared to offend the Mysterious Heavenly Palace?
Sure enough, the moment the announcement was made, a riot immediately broke out among the participants. Cries of discontent could be heard from the Heavenly Jewel Masters who have unlocked the Third Jewel, had above average Consolidated Equipment sets and Stored Techniques. After all, those people had already paid the registration fee. However, just as the mayor thought, although they were complaining and voicing out their dissatisfaction, nobody dared to do anything or create any trouble. Indeed, who dared to go against the Mysterious Heavenly Palace? Er Chun was only a delegate from the Mysterious Heavenly Palace, but he was so arrogant that even his jaw was practically pointed to the direction of the sky.
At that moment, Zhou Weiqing and Bing’er were standing among the crowd. Listening to the voices of dismay among the participants, he whispered to her, “Looks like this Mysterious Heavenly Palace is not that popular among the people even though they’re very powerful.”
Bing’er replied, “Of course. The Mysterious Heavenly Palace is a powerful entity. It’s natural that their disciples are arrogant. It’s no surprise that the people don’t like them. However, because the Mysterious Heavenly Palace is so powerful and influential, these people can only grumble quietly. The Mysterious Heavenly Empire would split eventually if the Mysterious Heavenly Palace were unable to handle matters properly.”
After the announcement was made, there were about 30 participants left after the cut.
On the podium, Sang Tan said to Er Chun, “Master, can we start now?”
Er Chun did not say anything nor did he move, he only snorted in assent.
Sang Tan proceeded to rise up and announce, “The annual Mysterious Heavenly Selection is officially starting now. Experts of Ubaatar, show us your strength and strive to enter the finals in Tian City. Good luck, everyone! For the first round, we’ll be testing your Heavenly Energy!”
On the stage, five stone pillars that were about a meter high each were transported over and erected. A transparent crystal ball was embedded into each pillar. This was obviously used to evaluate the aptitude of the participant’s Heavenly Energy.
Master Er Chun slowly rose up from his seat. Showing off, he walked on air before he descended from the stage. The moment he appeared in front of the crowd, absolute silence fell over the audience.
With his hands held behind him, the arrogant old man instructed nonchalantly, “Participants who have four Jewels or more will come up to the stage one by one to have their Heavenly Energy tested. Let’s start. Five people at once. Record the strength of their Heavenly Energy.”
When he appeared on the stage, a middle-aged man dressed in similar blue robes walked up from the side as well. If one were to look carefully, one could see a silver star embroidered on his chest. It was obvious that his status was not as high as Er Chun’s. He was holding a tome in his hands that was obviously going to be used to record the results.
After that, the disciples below the stage quickly organized the 30 plus participants into teams of five.
Zhou Weiqing and Bing’er we’re standing toward the back. As soon as the first five participants got on the stage, each of them began to place their right hands on the crystal balls that were embedded in the stone pillars. The moment the man with the silverish star embroidery shouted “Start!”, all five of them simultaneously released their Heavenly Energy.
Without warning, the five crystal balls lighted up at the same time. It cast a faint white light on the surrounding area. With the continuous infusion of Heavenly Energy, the white lights gradually rose, exuding the differences between their powers at a glance. The higher the light beam went, the higher the cultivation base.
After about five minutes, when the light columns could not go any higher, the man with the one-star embroidery gestured for them to stop. The second team was quickly ushered on to the stage to be tested.
Zhou Weiqing was laughing slightly as he turned to Bing’er and said, “It’s quite interesting that they are testing our Heavenly Energy first. Anyway, that test is not enough to assess the strength of a Heavenly Jewel Master. I’m sure there’ll be more comprehensive tests later on.”
Bing’er nodded. Just as she was about to say something, a slightly rude voice suddenly interjected from behind, “So what if there are other tests later on? They have nothing to do with you anyway. You two will never be selected.”
His words sounded somewhat biting, causing the listener to feel uncomfortable. Frowning slightly, Zhou Weiqing turned back to have a look. The person he saw was a young man in his twenties who was staring lecherously at Bing’er’s ass. When he saw Zhou Weiqing staring at him, he quickly held his head high and put on a condescending look.
A flash of coldness flashed in Zhou Weiqing’s eyes, but he maintained a smile on his face. “What do you mean, bro? We haven’t even been evaluated yet. How do you know if our cultivation bases will fail to meet the mark?”
