Nong Laohan felt curious about the possible relationship between Nong Zaitian and Lu Yin.
Madam Hong coldly commented, “Elder Nong, your family has really hidden yourselves well.”
Nong Laohan’s brows rose. “What do you mean?’
Madam Hong sneered, “Even Lu Yin’s friends had to qualify to pass his checkpoint on their own, but your descendant was personally sent through by the gatekeeper. Should I ask you to explain their relationship?”
The Sixth Mainland powerhouses all looked over at Nong Laohan, but they did not say anything.
Nong Laohan was considered to be one of the strongest experts present, as he was a Cosmic Imprinter. The only reason why Madam Hong had dared mock him was because she had almost reached the level of a Cosmic Imprinter herself.
“Madam Hong, look closer. Zaitian was thrown through the pass, not sent through. I think that Lu Yin used a considerable amount of force,” Nong Laohan answered.
The coldness did not leave Madam Hong’s voice. “Senior, are you suggesting that your descendant has no relationship with Lu Yin at all?”
Nong Laohan did not answer, as even a fool could tell the two youths knew each other.
Madam Hong merely wanted to taunt the Nong family elder as a means of venting her frustrations over Hong Ying’s injury. She did not actually want to offend Nong Laohan.
The monsters’ invasion of the Sixth Mainland had caused them devastating losses. Although the three Progenitors had managed to reduce the casualties to a minimum, a number of top powerhouses had still been killed, such as Ancestor Di, who had been a Cosmic Imprinter. Overall, the monsters had killed four Cosmic Imprinters.
As the number of Cosmic Imprinters dropped, the importance of the still-living ones reached even greater heights. Although Madam Hong was not intimidated by Nong Laohan, she did not actually dare to truly offend him.
The competitors on the eastern side of Zenith Mountain were preparing to rush into the checkpoint en masse, and the competitors on the other three sides were preparing to do the same.
On the mountain’s eastern face, Bu Kong did not stop the elites from the Fifth Mainland from clearing the checkpoint. Wen Sansi, Jin He, Wu Dan, Mira, Kuang Wang, Liu Xiaoyun, Li Zimo, and even Ku Lei had all passed through successfully.
Bu Kong did not make any attempt at all to stop them, and he watched them go by with a smile.
Many of the people from the Fifth Mainland were confused by his actions, but those who understood Bu Kong knew that he was not being congenial.
It was meaningless for him to eliminate such people at this point in the competition, as Bu Kong wanted to personally defeat them when everyone’s eyes were fixated on him. He had worked hard to create an unforgettable scene when he had simultaneously defeated many powerhouses atop the Champions’ Stage, and he wanted to recreate that situation at ZENITH.
This same sentiment was shared by Zhi Yi, and likely Yao Xuan as well.
The more confident the contestants were, the more willing the gatekeepers were to let the elites pass through the checkpoints.
Still, that was just one of multiple reasons.
Another reason was because the gatekeepers had no idea what special abilities these powerhouses might have kept hidden, and if the gatekeepers insisted on blocking the passes from everyone, the other contestants would feel threatened. Most of the competitors had to possess some kind of hidden abilities.
Instead of stubbornly fighting everyone, it would be better to let the elites clear the first checkpoints and let them face Shang Qing.
After the five gatekeepers had been selected, and after they had learned that Shang Qing had been chosen to be the gatekeeper of the central pass, both Bu Kong and Zhi Yi had been furious.
They had always looked down upon the Fifth Mainland, so they saw it as an insult that someone from the Fifth Mainland had been selected to be the top choice for the champion.
They had initially wanted to simply discredit Shang Qing, but since the Tri-Yang Technique was known to be invincible, and since the Hall of Honor had recognized the First Honor Chosen as the strongest, the two had become curious as to whose strength was greater. They wanted to see if Shang Qing would stop the powerhouses that had been allowed to pass, and if he did so, then it would be possible for them to sense a bit of his strength.
None of the gatekeepers were fools, and even Lu Yin had thought of this idea. He was confident in his own strength, and he knew that, if he used his full power, none of the competitors on his side of the mountain would be able to pass through his checkpoint. However, he was not going to do that, as doing so would only help Shang Qing, and only an idiot would help their future competitors.
Liu Tianmu and the others were by no means weak.
The main purpose of the five gatekeepers was to eliminate about half of the weaker competition, not to fight against the stronger participants. Of course, the gatekeepers also had to not be defeated, as that would be extremely embarrassing.
The strength of the five gatekeepers was essentially the same as the pride of ZENITH.
In just a day, the more powerful competitors had all proceeded past the first checkpoints. The remaining people were basically just filler for the gatekeepers.
The gatekeepers would need to eliminate half of the remaining crowd.
On the eastern side, Lu Yin looked up and saw that Yuhua Mavis was currently the closest person to Shang Qing. Not only had she been the first to pass the eastern checkpoint, but she was also the first to reach Shang Qing’s checkpoint.
Countless people focused on Yuhua Mavis’s progress.
In the central pass, Shang Qing opened his eyes and saw Yuhua Mavis rushing towards him.
Qinmei Mavis grew anxious as she watched from outside Zenith Mountain.
The Mavis family was very powerful and were unafraid of anybody. Even the Hall of Honor was respectful towards the family.
Furthermore, the Mavis family’s Treeheart Descendant had never been scared of the Hall of Honor’s Honor Chosen. However, at this moment, all of that was different as Shang Qing had mastered the Tri-Yang Technique.
With the Tri-Yang Technique, everything against it was useless.
Nobody was capable of defeating a Progenitor with the same realm of cultivation. And since the Tri-Yang Technique essentially forced its opponents to fight against three Progenitor powerhouses at the same realm as the user of the technique, it made all the users of this technique invincible. Thus, both theoretically and practically speaking, nobody could defeat this technique.
Yuhua Mavis stared at Shang Qing. She then leaped forward and ran past Shang Qing in one motion, who did not move.
Qinmei Mavis and many others felt relieved, as this proved that Shang Qing was not going to stop everyone who approached his pass.
Yuhua Mavis suddenly stopped, after passing by Shang Qing, she turned around and said, “Everyone wants to know who your third strand of qi will summon. There haven’t been many Progenitors throughout all of history, and there have been even fewer who were comparable to Progenitor Chen. Or, could it be that all three of your qi strands are of Progenitor Chen?”
Shang Qing calmly closed his eyes. “If you want to know, then you should force me to use my third strand of qi. But-”
Shang Qing paused, and the tone of his voice suddenly changed. It was still calm, but his voice rang out across the entirety of Zenith Mountain. “Nobody in ZENITH is able to force me use my third strand of qi, and nobody can force me to use my full strength.”
Yuhua Mavis’ eyes flashed; Shang Qing was too arrogant.
Everyone on Zenith Mountain was surprised by these words, and some of them looked as though they were already defeated while others seemed unfazed. Shang Qing’s statement had included absolutely everyone on the mountain, and his statement was insanely arrogant.
“All of you can try to force out my full strength, as I’m actually feeling quite bored,” Shang Qing continued to say in a calm voice. The screens throughout the universe only provided a video feed of the events on Zenith Mountain, and there was no audio. However, Shang Qing’s voice had been incredibly loud, and even people outside of Zenith Mountain had been able to clearly hear him.
An uproar broke out across the Zenith Mountain. The people outside Zenith Mountain, and everyone in the universe who had heard Shang Qing’s words were all stunned.
ZENITH was the first competition of its kind, and countless young powerhouses were participating. Despite that, Shang Qing had claimed to be bored, which blatantly disregarded everybody in the competition.
Many people throughout the universe, in places such as the Great Eastern Alliance, the Innerverse’s major powers, and the Sixth Mainland, scolded Shang Qing for his arrogance. The people in these places were supporting those known as the strongest of their generation, but all of them had been completely disregarded by Shang Qing.
In contrast, many of the people who supported the Hall of Honor and Shang Qing cheered excitedly.
The more arrogant Shang Qing behaved, the more confident they all became
Liu Tianmu and the others paused at where they were on Zenith Mountain and looked up at Shang Qing. When he had used the Tri-Yang Technique in the Mountain and Seas Zone, they had all felt helpless, but he had not been this arrogant back then.
Those who actually understood Shang Qing knew that he was a truly arrogant person and that he had only said what he actually thought. He really was bored.
He was lonely, as it was always lonely at the top.
Bu Kong took a deep breath, and his expression grew sullen. Even as one of the Daosource Three Skies, he had never been as arrogant as this man.
Zhi Yi was also upset. She wished that Shang Qing had taken part in the battle of the Cosmic Sea, as that would have reduced his arrogance.
Yao Xuan looked at Shang Qing. Humans were always arrogant, but the Tri-Yang Technique was a truly powerful technique.
Lu Yin cracked his neck. Shang Qing had challenged everyone all at once, and he probably really did feel extremely bored.
Was Shang Qing truly unfazed by what people had demonstrated so far? Lu Yin thought about the invincible Progenitor Chen and the fact that Shang Qing was able to summon two of Progenitor Chen’s clones to fight for him, which was truly disgusting.
As he looked at Shang Qing, Lu Yin felt that he could vaguely see three silhouettes standing behind the young man. Three Progenitors were standing high up on the mountain and waiting for people to challenge Shang Qing. This era was too boring, and nobody qualified to have this era named after themselves. Shang Qing could only create his own era after dealing with this obstacle.
A long time ago, Progenitor Chen had represented an era, and both the Rune Progenitor and Progenitor Wushang had similarly represented an era themselves. Progenitors were invincible among their generation, and each one represented an entire era. It has been a long time since such a person had appeared.
Lu Yin took a deep breath; he wanted this to be the Lu era.
A terrible roar was heard from the base of the mountain. When Lu Yin turned around, he saw that the crowd was finally rushing towards his checkpoint.
Away from the eastern side of the mountain, the competitors on the other sides were also rushing their checkpoints at the same moment.
Everyone had seemingly been triggered by Shang Qing’s words, becoming determined to clear the first checkpoints.
Determination was one thing, but reality was something else entirely.
Lu Yin responded by unleashing his domain and covering the entire mountain pass. The first few hundred competitors to reach the checkpoint directly flew off of the mountain. Only a few people managed to hold their ground, but they were still forced to squat low.
Lu Yin continued leaning against the mountainside, and he looked at the various people with curiosity.
A few people had gone pale and were panting heavily as they met Lu Yin’s eyes.
At this moment, the contestants all rushed forward, one after another. Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, and he flexed his domain. To the contestants, it felt as though the sky had fallen down and the earth had shattered. As a result, most of the people flew off of the mountain or tumbled down to its base.
Additionally, of the few people who had withstood Lu Yin’s domain, some were unable to endure the second attack, also flying off of the mountain. There was only one person who was able to continue forcing their way forward: Yue Xianzi.
She was surrounded by whirlpools, which came from the battle technique that she had comprehended in the Three Realms Six Daos: Water God’s Armor.
Yue Xianzi had become an Explorer and was actually nearly a Cruiser. With the Water God’s Armor, she was indeed qualified to pass through the checkpoint even with the suppression from Lu Yin’s domain. There were not many competitors left with her level of strength, and she should have cleared the checkpoint much earlier based on her power level.
