Xiao Chen felt some regret at his defeat, but that was all.
Xiao Chen withdrew calmly. The ten defeated people did not need to continue fighting. Lord Mu, who had a seven-petaled plum blossom embroidered on his chest, would determine the ranking based on their performance.
Yun Fei and Nangong Feng walked over. The two fell short of Xiao Chen, not making it into the top twenty.
“To think that he managed to cultivate a strand of Divine Energy. This Gongzi Lan is a monster,” Nangong Feng said with some frustration. After advancing to the Divine Vein Realm, one’s Veritable Essence Energy would evolve to the even stronger Divine Energy.
Before Divine Energy, Veritable Essence Energy was like paper. They were on completely different levels.
There was not much of an opportunity. Xiao Chen thought that he might have a chance if he combined his Heart Flame with the God Shadow Bow.
However, this was not a fight to the death. While Xiao Chen had a Soul Tool, the other party might have one as well.
“It is like a cheat. No wonder he is a heaven-defying Sovereign Personage. This truly makes one despair,” Yun Fei sighed. The four heaven-defying Sovereign Personages—Grim Reaper Lin Feng, Saber Demon Wu Meng, Spear Sovereign Mo Yu, and Sword Venerate Gongzi Feng—none of them were people to provoke.
“If Xiao Chen did not get picked by Gongzi Lan, he might have a place in the top ten,” Nangong Feng said very objectively. At the same time, he wanted to console Xiao Chen, not wanting him to be too depressed.
Xiao Chen smiled and said, “It’s fine. A defeat is a defeat. It does not matter that I did not get into the top ten. In any case, we all will enter the Heavenly Alliance. There will be opportunities in the future.”
“Xiao Chen!”
Just at this moment, a figure walked over to Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen looked and saw that it was Qiong Ying.
The Ink Sea Cluster’s Qiong Ying was the first Peak Sovereign Personage that Xiao Chen met in the Heavenly Alliance’s first stage.
Amazingly, Qiong Ying really managed to kill his way out of the loser’s arena battles. He walked over to Xiao Chen now.
Xiao Chen met him with some pleasant surprise. “This is unexpected. You managed to make it.”
Qiong Ying smiled and said, “I said it before, as long as there is the loser’s arena, I will definitely claw my way up here. I will set you as my goal, and then, I will surpass you.”
Xiao Chen appreciated Qiong Ying’s character. This person came from the outer regions. It must have been challenging for him to reach this step.
Qiong Ying was tough and had an enthusiasm that would never admit defeat.
Xiao Chen smiled and said, “I’ll wait for you. Let me make introductions. This is Yun Fei, a senior follower of the Peach Blossom Sovereign Emperor. This is Nangong Feng; he came from the same test zone as me. This is Qiong Ying. He comes from the Ink Sea Cluster and is the first expert I met in the first stage.”
After the introductions, the four slowly started to get familiar with each other.
Eventually, the topic shifted to the four heaven-defying experts. Qiong Ying said in a low voice, “These four fellows are truly heaven-defying existences. However, the strongest is still Grim Reaper Lin Feng. He is simply too dazzling. Even if we add everyone in the batch together, he would still outshine us. Wu Meng and Mo Yu are about equal. Gongzi Lin is slightly weaker.”
Finding this strange, Yun Fei asked, “What do you mean? This Gongzi Lan managed to cultivate Divine Energy as a Sovereign Personage.”
Qiong Ying explained, “This Gongzi Lan is not weak. Even without Divine Energy, he can rank within the top four, someone stronger than us. However, he is just slightly stronger. He relies on his Divine Energy to be a heaven-defying Sovereign Personage. He definitely did not cultivate the Divine Energy himself. He probably ran into some fortuitous encounter, allowing him to succeed in cultivating Divine Energy by coincidence.
“When we reach the Divine Vein Realm and everyone gets Divine Energy, Gongzi Lan will lose his advantage. It is different for the other three. Lin Feng relies on his Death Dao Domain. Wu Meng relies on his Saber Dao. Mo Yu relies on his Spear Dao. When they become Sovereign Emperors, their advantage will only become stronger.”
Nangong Feng nodded and said, “That’s true. However, this Gongzi Lan might have other means, as well.”
“True.”
As the group softly discussed, the ranking battles ended on a relatively peaceful tone. After all, they were just some exchanges. The atmosphere remained friendly.
Lord Mu started calling out names. With every person he called out, he told them their rank and also gave them a Heavenly Alliance medallion.
“Xiao Chen!”
Xiao Chen stepped forward when he heard his name, performed a cupped-fist salute, and greeted Lord Mu.
The azure-clad man looked at Xiao Chen and sized him up. Then, he nodded slightly. “Not bad. You live up to being the youngest member of my Heavenly Alliance. I had long wanted to meet you. I heard that you even rejected Lord Suiren Ji’s invitation. I’m quite curious. Will you tell me why?”
Xiao Chen muttered, “Freedom.”
Freedom!
Lord Mu felt startled. When the Heavenly Alliance was first established, it was a very loose alliance. At that time, the Heavenly Alliance’s cultivators were the freest existences, moving about freely. The atmosphere then was different than what it was now.
Now, common practices significantly differed from before.
Time slowly changed a person; age eroded one’s heart. Under the baptism of time, the Heavenly Alliance had gradually changed.
One aged with time; who could do anything about it?
Lord Mu handed a Heavenly Alliance medallion to Xiao Chen. Then, he said softly, “The rank I am assigning you is the eleventh rank. If not for meeting Gongzi Lan, you could be in the top ten, even possibly the top five. The prize for the eleventh rank is in there, as well as the uniform for the Heavenly Alliance members and inherited Dao Tool.”
“Thank you, Lord Mu.”
Xiao Chen accepted the medallion and withdrew. As he toyed with the medallion, he found it quite heavy.
There was a storage space inside the medallion. The medallion itself seemed to be a treasure.
There were restrictions on the medallion, and Xiao Chen could not open the storage space. When Xiao Chen saw the others dripping their blood on the medallion to claim it, he followed suit, squeezing out a drop of essence blood and dripping it onto the medallion.
Immediately, the black surface of the medallion slowly melted like snow, revealing its true face. The obverse showed seven golden fragments perfectly matching each other, forming an ancient divine character, with a blazing ancient bronze mirror serving as a background.
The reverse of the medallion was smooth and exquisite, showing a vast snowy scene with an indistinct eight-petal plum blossom in the foreground. However, that plum blossom had only one petal lit up; the rest were dim.
Xiao Chen thought about the seven-petal emblem embroidered on the chest of Lord Mu’s clothes and figured that this might represent his grade.
After Xiao Chen sent in his Soul Energy, he perfectly bound this Heavenly Alliance medallion.
There were some things in the storage space within the medallion, including the prize for his ranking. However, Xiao Chen did not have time to continue checking.
Lord Mu said loudly, “Congratulations on formally becoming members of the Heavenly Alliance. Do you see the plum blossom on the back of the Heavenly Alliance medallion? There is only one petal lit up. In the future, you need to contribute to the Heavenly Alliance to light up more petals. With every petal you light up, your grade in the Heavenly Alliance will increase. Right now, you are only junior members of the Heavenly Alliance. The authority and resources you have are minimal.”
It was as Xiao Chen guessed. The plum blossom’s petals represented his grade. However, he did not know what the seven golden fragments and the ancient bronze mirror meant.
After giving out some instructions, Lord Mu had everyone board the silver warship, and they set off for the Heavenly Alliance’s headquarters.
After Xiao Chen boarded, someone informed him that due to the limited number of cabins, four people needed to share one.
If there were no cultivators that one was on good terms with, the Heavenly Alliance would make random assignments. Coincidentally, Xiao Chen, Yun Fei, Nangong Fei, and Qiong Ying made up four people, so they shared a room.
After entering their cabin, the four felt startled. They had expected the space to be tight.
The decorations were exquisite, making the cabin look elegant. Everything looked perfect, pleasing to the eyes.
The paintings on the wall and the furniture made of divine wood clearly showed a grandmaster’s craftsmanship.
Precious Spirit Fruits sat on a plate placed on the table. Everything in the room made one marvel at the wealth of the ship’s owner.
“This Lord Mu is really rich. Just the Spirit Fruits on this plate are already worth millions of Primeval Heavenly Pills.” Yun Fei could not help praising as he casually picked up a Spirit Fruit and placed it in his mouth.
The maidservant responsible for serving their group smiled faintly and said, “These Spirit Fruits are for everyone to enjoy. If you need more, you can call this servant to replenish them. Everything in the room is for the enjoyment of the various lords. There is no need to stand on ceremony. There is still quite some time before we arrive at the Heavenly Alliance’s headquarters.”
After performing introductions, Xiao Chen nodded slightly and said, “You may withdraw first. We will call you if we need anything.”
“Very well. This servant will wait outside the door. If you have any instructions, I will come immediately when you call.” The maidservant smiled faintly as she bowed and left. Her graceful figure appeared indistinctly as she bowed, inspiring fantasy.
“This is luxurious. My master is also from the Heavenly Alliance, but his grade is one lower than Lord Mu. It is just one grade, and there is a world’s difference. No wonder Master dreams of becoming a Doyen.”
Nangong Feng sent the graceful maidservant off with his eyes. As he spoke, a tone of reluctance appeared in his words.
Yun Fei guffawed and said, “Nangong Feng, I could not tell. So, this is your taste. She seemed to have said that we can call her if we have any instructions. Although the four of us are sharing this room, if you need to, we can go somewhere else for a while. Of course, if you don’t mind us watching, that is possible as well.”
Nangong Feng looked at Yun Fei in disdain, covering up the embarrassment on his face. Then, he said, “Scram!”
Seeing Nangong Feng’s embarrassed appearance, Xiao Chen and the others could not help laughing.
“Everyone, look at what I discovered.”
Qiong Ying had poked around in the room and opened up a secret room. It was a cultivation room.
The others quickly put down what they were doing and entered. They immediately gasped in amazement at the sight of it.
This cultivation room had a peak Spirit Gathering Formation laid under it. There were gems on the ceiling that made it look like the Starry Heavens. With one glance, it appeared as though the vast Starry Heavens had materialized in a beautiful painting.
It felt like one could pluck the stars by just raising one’s hand.
The fire in the lamps on the wall gave off a faint fragrance. Breathing in the scent made the soul and the body feel very comfortable; the effect was stupefying. It cleared up the minds of the four, and they immediately forgot about all their worries. The oil in the lamp should have extraordinary origins. It was just that their ken was too low, so they did not know what it was.
Nangong Feng stepped forward and observed. Then, he said, “My master once said that the Ruthless Demonic Profound Spirit—a deep-sea ferocious beast that lives in the Bitter Sea, one of the seven forbidden seas—has a kind of perfume in its body that can be refined into the best lamp oil in the world. Many large temples of the Buddhist sects use it. I suspect this is that oil.”
The Bitter Sea was one of the seven great forbidden seas.
This place gathered the seven bitternesses of life, such as dying of age and illness, grudges, separation from loved ones, and reluctance. That was a vast and endless sea of bitterness, filled with unknown dangers. If one got careless, one would sink deeply into it, unable to come back out.
Qiong Ying pointed to the Primeval Heavenly Pills in the Spirit Gathering Formation, which were deeper in color than those in everyone’s hands. These pills’ spiritual nature appeared nearly substantial; a visible mist rose from the pills.
“These are Primeval Heavenly Pills refined from Medial Grade or Superior Grade Spirit Jades. They are completely different from the Primeval Heavenly Pills we have, which are refined from Inferior Grade Spirit Jades.”
Primeval Heavenly Pills were Heavenly Pills refined by Alchemists using Spirit Jades and supplementary herbs.
Primeval Heavenly Pills refined from Inferior Grade Spirit Jades served as currency in the Central Great Realm. This was because Medial Grade Spirit Jades and Superior Grade Spirit Jades were much rarer.
Yun Fei let out a drawn-out sigh. “This Lord Mu is extraordinary. He is definitely not an ordinary Doyen!”
