Emperor Feng Ming Wu Liang sat there with a face full of joy, showing no sign at all that his son had died the previous night.
It is often said that emperors are heartless, and this saying might truly be correct.
Feng Yin Shan and Feng Ming Qi Shan were also present on the scene, showing just how much attention they paid to this competition.
In addition, the Righteous Alliance’s Alliance Leader Jia, the Peacock Clan’s patriarch, Medicine King Sun Ran, and Feng Ming Xiao were all there.
Jia Tian Feng, Kong Ming, Ji Luo Yu, and even Feng Xi Dao, whose arm was crippled by Ling Xiao last night, had also come.
All of them were here to compete for the position of Phoenix Son.
Of course, Shangguan Hong would not be absent either.
But strangely, this fellow had still not appeared even now.
Ling Xiao stood among the crowd, listening to the discussions around him. Some people said Shangguan Hong was afraid.
But Ling Xiao did not agree.
A person as arrogant as Shangguan Hong would never be afraid.
Moments later, in the clear sky, a rainbow bridge suddenly appeared. Shangguan Hong stepped onto the rainbow bridge and arrived, looking down proudly at the crowd below. He truly looked extremely flashy.
Ling Xiao could not help but smile.
He was also confident and arrogant, but he would absolutely never show off in such an ostentatious way like Shangguan Hong.
Because apart from drawing screams and cheers from the crowd, it had almost no practical meaning.
“This Shangguan Hong is truly so pretentious. Those few people’s cultivations are similar to his. What makes him think he can definitely defeat all those young geniuses?”
“Exactly, especially that Feng Xi Dao. He is a silver-ranked second-level assassin from the Dark God Hall, who has killed countless people. His martial soul is a flying knife martial soul that perfectly matches his weapon. How can Shangguan Hong win?”
People looked up at the proud figure standing on the rainbow bridge, feeling somewhat puzzled.
But they were not anxious, because the answer would soon be revealed.
In today’s battle, they would see exactly what Shangguan Hong relied on.
Shangguan Hong’s eyes carried sharpness and dominance, looking arrogantly down on the world as if he would give face to no one.
Today, right here, he would take one Phoenix Son position, laying the groundwork for the upcoming Dragon-Phoenix selection.
“Who wants to come first?”
Shangguan Hong asked faintly. His attitude of looking down on everything showed he did not take those young talents seriously at all.
Ling Xiao was actually very curious about what exactly he relied on.
“I will go first!”
Feng Xi Dao’s voice rang out, and a terrifying blade intent instantly spread across the entire square.
A delicate flying knife appeared behind him.
Though small, it contained terrifying power capable of tearing space apart.
The crowd had no doubt that this flying knife martial soul could easily kill them.
“Why is Feng Xi Dao missing an arm?”
“Yes, who could have severed his arm?”
“Never mind that. Maybe he accidentally broke it during training. Today, what we need to focus on is his battle against Shangguan Hong.”
“Indeed, although he lost an arm, it is just the unimportant left one. It does not affect his combat power.”
Feng Xi Dao controlled his domain elemental force and levitated into the air.
With him at the centre, a Cave Heaven domain formed from interwoven flying knives appeared, and that flying knife martial soul was the core of this domain.
Feng Xi Dao’s sharpness remained undiminished.
Although he lost to Ling Xiao last night, he seemed to think it was only natural because Ling Xiao was too strong.
But facing Shangguan Hong, he felt no fear at all.
He hovered in mid-air like a flying knife, his body almost merging completely with the blade.
“This fellow has actually improved again after last night’s battle.”
Ling Xiao smiled faintly.
To be able to break through again after defeat, Ling Xiao still admired such people quite a bit.
“It should be a fierce dragon-tiger battle. Who will ultimately get the Phoenix Son position?”
People were full of anticipation.
Even the extremely powerful figures sitting on the main platform were watching intently.
Shangguan Hong stood proudly alone, looking down on everything!
Feng Xi Dao was sharp as a blade edge, fearless!
When these two clashed, it was truly a case of evenly matched opponents meeting worthy adversaries, so everyone was very excited.
However, Ling Xiao had a different view.
“Feng Xi Dao will definitely lose.”
He sighed softly.
For Cave Heaven realm martial artists, there were too many things to perfect, including cultivation, Cave Heaven domain, martial soul, martial techniques, soul power, internal force, and so on.
Clearly, in terms of fusing and controlling the martial soul with the Cave Heaven domain, Shangguan Hong was far superior to Feng Xi Dao.
Feng Xi Dao focused too much on martial techniques and had taken a lower path.
“You brat, I do not know where you came from, spouting such nonsense.”
Not everyone in the crowd recognised Ling Xiao.
For example, the middle-aged martial artist standing beside Ling Xiao scoffed at his words.
Ling Xiao smiled and did not argue. Facts would prove everything. There was no need to debate with a random passer-by.
“Feng Xi Dao, I admire your courage for daring to be the first to challenge me. But unfortunately, you are not my opponent.”
Even after seeing Feng Xi Dao’s sharpness and dominance, Shangguan Hong’s tone remained calm and breezy, even carrying a hint of disdain.
He was far too confident!
“Whether I am your opponent or not is not up to you or me to say. We will know only after fighting!”
Feng Xi Dao said faintly, “In the Divine Phoenix Empire, the title of Phoenix Son is the highest honour for a young martial artist. I will not give it up easily, and of course, you cannot take it from me either.”
As a silver-ranked second-level assassin of the Dark God Hall who had even killed fourth Cave Heaven realm martial artists, how could Feng Xi Dao possibly admit he was inferior to Shangguan Hong?
Shangguan Hong’s contempt was an insult to him.
“Heh, your courage is truly admirable. Then let us begin quickly. After defeating you, I still need to defeat Jia Tian Feng, Kong Ming, the little Medicine King Ji Luo Yu, and of course that self-conceited Ling Xiao, if he dares to show up.”
Shangguan Hong chuckled lightly, as if Ling Xiao had just been casually thrown into the list and was not worth mentioning at all.
“Self-conceited?”
Feng Xi Dao was momentarily stunned. “You dare to call Ling Xiao self-conceited? Hahaha, you really do not know how high the sky is.
Let me tell you frankly, I have fought Jia Tian Feng, Kong Ming, and Ji Luo Yu before. They could not gain the slightest advantage over me. If you defeat me, it would be equivalent to defeating them.
But as for Ling Xiao, let me inform you, this left arm of mine was crippled by Ling Xiao.”
This revelation truly stirred up a thousand waves.
People had been guessing who severed Feng Xi Dao’s left arm, but no one had thought of Ling Xiao.
They truly had not expected it.
“Is Ling Xiao really that terrifying? Has he actually become a Cave Heaven realm martial artist too?”
“Feng Xi Dao exposing his own shame like this means it cannot be false.”
“You actually lost to Ling Xiao?”
Shangguan Hong’s gaze became even more contemptuous as he asked coldly.
“Yes, I lost. So unless you can defeat me, you have no qualification to fight Ling Xiao.”
When Feng Xi Dao thought back to the soul-shaking scene from last night, his heart still trembled with fear.
If he had not escaped quickly, he probably would not be able to speak to anyone now.
The crowd, however, became extremely excited because of this revelation.
