At Jin Yaor’s table.
“Hmph!”
Jin Yaor, seeing Lin Yun and Mo Qing chatting and laughing, angrily slammed her wine cup on the table.
At this moment, the commander of the imperial guards flew to the center of the square.
“Everyone, get ready. The Ten Thousand Flowers Competition is about to begin. The rules are simple: enter the magical artifact space, hunt demon beasts to earn points. The competition lasts five hours. After five hours, points will be calculated in real-time, and the top 100 will advance! If you face a life-threatening situation, you may forfeit. In this match, you cannot steal points from other competitors! You cannot rely on magical artifacts, pets, or other external aids!”
After finishing his announcement, the commander waved his hand, and a spatial barrier appeared in front of him.
“The competition begins now. Everyone, enter!” the commander urged.
“Charge!”
The competitors rushed toward the barrier in a frenzy.
With the Star Martial Emperor and the six eternal beings watching, even if these competitors couldn’t make it into the top ten or win first place, what if their performance caught the eye of one of the eternal beings?
For these competitors, aside from striving for the Star Martial Emperor’s rewards, there was also the chance to be taken as a disciple by a powerful figure.
Even if it wasn’t an eternal being, being noticed by a powerful Tribulation Passage expert and taken as a disciple would still be a great opportunity!
Many powerful figures were present today, including some who usually secluded themselves in the mountains, focusing solely on cultivation and rarely appearing in public. It was usually very difficult to meet them.
The Wanderer was also present today, having come to celebrate the Star Martial Emperor’s birthday. He was there as well.
“Senior Sister Mo Qing, Daniel, Zhijin, let’s go.”
After Lin Yun finished speaking, he transformed into a streak of light and charged into the spatial barrier.
As the dazzling light faded, Lin Yun opened his eyes and found himself in a space shrouded in black mist. Ahead was a canyon, seemingly filled with a large number of demon beasts.
“Senior Sister Mo Qing, Daniel, Zhijin?” Lin Yun looked around but didn’t see the three of them.
It seemed they hadn’t been teleported to the same location.
“Let’s start hunting demon beasts!”
After saying this, Lin Yun charged straight toward the canyon ahead.
According to the competition rules, points were earned by hunting demon beasts, and points couldn’t be transferred. So even if Lin Yun wanted to help Mo Qing, Daniel, and Zhijin, he couldn’t. They would have to rely on themselves.
Inside the massive black mist canyon.
When Lin Yun charged in, he found that intense battles were already taking place in the canyon.
Hundreds of competitors were engaged in fierce battles with the demon beasts.
There were about ten thousand competitors, but only a few hundred were here, meaning many others were in different locations.
According to the rules, you couldn’t steal points from other competitors. Even if you attacked another competitor and forced them to forfeit, you wouldn’t gain their points. So attacking other competitors was pointless.
The competitors below were all frantically hunting demon beasts.
Lin Yun didn’t rush to attack immediately. Instead, he hovered in the air to survey the canyon’s layout and the distribution of the demon beasts, ensuring he had a clear understanding.
After his survey, Lin Yun realized that the canyon was overcrowded with competitors, and there weren’t enough demon beasts to go around.
“Let’s begin!”
Lin Yun descended into the canyon.
Roar!
The demon beasts in front of Lin Yun roared at his sudden appearance.
“Flying Snow Sword Array!”
With a wave of his hand, 128 flying swords materialized in front of Lin Yun, emitting a faint white light.
Now that Lin Yun had reached the Mahayana realm and his spiritual awareness had reached the second level of the Void Refining stage, controlling 128 swords was no longer overly strenuous, and the energy consumption wasn’t as severe.
Roar!
At this moment, many demon beasts charged toward Lin Yun.
“Whoosh!”
At Lin Yun’s command, the 128 flying swords shot forward.
Rip!
The Flying Snow Sword Array tore through the air with astonishing power, instantly obliterating over twenty demon beasts in front of Lin Yun.
These demon beasts weren’t particularly strong.
The points were automatically calculated by the spatial artifact. As soon as Lin Yun killed these demon beasts, the points were recorded.
With only three hours left, Lin Yun didn’t have time to waste. After killing these twenty-plus demon beasts, he quickly moved on to hunt the remaining demon beasts in the canyon.
…
Outside, in the banquet square.
There was no live broadcast of the competition. Instead, a massive projected leaderboard, called the Ten Thousand Flowers Leaderboard, hovered in the air.
**Ten Thousand Flowers Leaderboard:**
1. Jiang Fengyu – 431 points
2. Li Shi – 429 points
3. Guan Zishi – 416 points
…
998. Mo Qing – 187 points
…
The leaderboard displayed a total of 1,000 names.
As the competition progressed, the points and rankings constantly updated.
Since the competition had just started, the points were fluctuating wildly, with many competitors having the same score. But the rankings changed rapidly.
Some names that were in the top 100 one moment would drop to the 500s the next.
“That Jiang Fengyu is the closed-door disciple of Old Ghost Huo Chen, right? He’s so fierce! He shot straight to first place and hasn’t dropped since.”
“Who’s that Li Shi? I’ve never heard of him! His points are rising really fast too.”
…
The crowd buzzed with excitement as they watched the leaderboard, the atmosphere lively and intense.
At this moment, the Star Martial Emperor ordered more wine to be served. Each table received a small pot of top-tier wine and a larger pot of second-tier wine.
Though it was called “second-tier,” it was still considered top-quality wine outside the palace, just not as good as the best.
Along with the wine, exquisite dishes were also served, all rare delicacies.
The Star Martial Emperor clearly wanted everyone to enjoy the food and wine while watching the competition.
At the very front.
The Star Martial Emperor and the six eternal beings chatted and drank while observing the competition.
From time to time, the Star Martial Emperor would raise his cup to toast the crowd.
At the Heavenly Sword Sect’s table.
“Why hasn’t Lin Yun’s name appeared yet?” Elder Mei Gu exclaimed in surprise.
This qualifying round didn’t have a live broadcast. Only the leaderboard was displayed, so they had no idea what was happening inside. They could only speculate based on the rankings.
“I don’t know. Mo Qing is currently in the 900s, but Lin Yun’s name hasn’t appeared yet. Let’s keep watching,” the sect master said, his eyes fixed on the leaderboard.
The Ten Thousand Flowers Leaderboard only displayed 1,000 names, and Lin Yun’s name hadn’t appeared on it yet.
At the royal family’s seating area, Jin Yaor’s beautiful eyes were also locked on the leaderboard.
“What’s going on with him? He hasn’t even made it into the top 1,000? No way!” Jin Yaor exclaimed in disbelief.
