Firmament Sword

A plume of black smoke suddenly erupted from Lu Qi. The smoke appeared in a flash, completely enveloping his body before rapidly spreading to blanket the entire room.

The smoke carried an extremely pungent, nauseating odor.

"Courting death!"

Within the smoke, Wang Daoming's eyes blazed like two bright lamps, shooting out two beams of divine light covered in runes. This light could pierce through all illusions and reveal the true essence of things.

However, to the astonishment of Wang Daoming, a Celestial Emperor Elder of the Venerable Realm, Lu Qi's figure had vanished from before his very eyes!

Then, the dense black mist began to spread, seeping out through every crack and crevice.

Wang Daoming's brow furrowed slightly. 'He's turned into the smoke!'

With that, Wang Daoming shot out of the room. He found nothing unusual outside, but just then, a bloodcurdling scream from his great-grandson, Wanghai, echoed from the room behind him.

Enraged, Wang Daoming instantly darted back into the room, only to find it completely clear. It was as if the ink-black mist from moments ago had been nothing but a hallucination.

He then saw Wanghai collapsed on the floor. His eyes were gone, and blood streamed endlessly from the empty sockets.

'I'll kill him!' Wang Daoming's fury blazed. He unleashed his Venerable Divine Sense, spreading it in every direction. He swore he would find the culprit who dared to harm Wanghai right in front of him. Then, he would uncover all his secrets before tearing him limb from limb!

Wanghai let out one miserable, bloodcurdling scream after another.

It was only then that Wang Daoming discovered Wanghai's tongue... had been cut out as well!

Blood streamed from Wanghai's mouth, and its color… was black!

'Poison!' Wang Daoming gritted his teeth, nearly mad with hatred.

He had suffered an unprecedented humiliation today. A young man he hadn't even deigned to notice had, right under his nose, tortured his most beloved great-grandson to such a state...

"I won't let you get away with this!" Wang Daoming seethed, snatching up the nearly unconscious Wanghai. His figure flickered a few times before vanishing into thin air.

He had to get Wanghai treatment immediately, or it would be too late.

After Wang Daoming left, the air suddenly stirred. A ball of black mist appeared, then slowly… coalesced into a human form.

A pale-faced Lu Qi stood in the middle of the room. His body trembled slightly as he coughed up a mouthful of blood, but his icy eyes were filled with mirth. He murmured, "Experts of the Venerable Realm are truly powerful, but… even you can't stop me from taking my revenge!"

With that, Lu Qi's figure once again vanished into thin air.

...

...

The Celestial Brilliance Annual Competition's round of 250 to 125 was about to begin!

At this stage, the arenas were fixed—all of them were massive platforms that could accommodate a million spectators simultaneously.

Viewed from high above, each arena looked like a hollowed-out mountain, magnificent and immense.

This time, Xu Luo faced another challenger: a peerless prodigy from Celestial Brilliance… An Yu!

When the news broke, the Celestial Brilliance People were still quite surprised.

To many, however, it was to be expected. An Yu had previously declared that he would teach Luo Tian a lesson to avenge his junior brother.

"Logically, that business with An Yu's junior brother doesn't really have anything to do with Luo Tian. The rules are the rules of Celestial Brilliance. The guy got lucky and benefited from the ancestral edict, but he hasn't provoked anyone. He hasn't been arrogant or overbearing; in fact, he's always been very low-key. For a disciple of An Yu's status to be so relentless… it's a bit much."

"Luo Tian has his perspective, and An Yu has his. From An Yu's point of view, Luo Tian is the cause. If it weren't for Luo Tian, none of this would have happened. So… I actually think An Yu isn't wrong to do this!"

"After he defeated Wanghai, Luo Tian's strength was recognized. This fight should be a good one!"

"Luo Tian is no match for An Yu. I heard An Yu has already reached the Great Saint Realm! He's an undisputed peerless prodigy among Celestial Brilliance's younger generation!"

The match hadn't even started, but the buzz of discussion was already widespread.

As for Xu Luo, it didn't matter who his opponent was. He would fight his way through them all. He intended to use these battles to constantly temper himself and raise his strength to a new level.

Furthermore, Xu Luo needed to use the Celestial Brilliance Annual Competition to make a name for himself. This wasn't about showing off; it was about proving himself within Celestial Brilliance so he could participate in the search for the second half of the Soul Scripture.

The agreement between Xu Luo and Sect Leader Xiahou Kaiyuan was that he had to win the championship in this year's Celestial Brilliance Annual Competition.

Only then could he join the seniors of Celestial Brilliance in their search for the second half of the Soul Scripture.

Only by obtaining the second half of the Soul Scripture could Qianqian fully recover, and only then could Monkey's uncle… be freed!

But all of this required Xu Luo to possess immense personal strength and influence. Only then would he be qualified… to take part.

Otherwise, even with a status equal to the Sect Leader, no one would pay him any attention.

In a place where strength was paramount, relying on status alone was simply not an option.

Xu Luo simply smiled at the news of An Yu's challenge.

He had been in Celestial Brilliance for some time now. While he hadn't had much contact with these peerless prodigies, he had learned a fair amount about them from Xie Yurou.

In Celestial Brilliance, those called "peerless prodigies" were almost exclusively top-tier geniuses capable of reaching the Great Saint Realm before the age of fifty.

Someone like Wanghai, for example, would have had no problem reaching the Great Saint Realm before he turned fifty, barring any accidents. That was why, despite being just an Inner Sect Disciple, he could still be considered a peerless prodigy.

Someone like Jin Ming, who reached the Great Saint Realm before he was even thirty, was a prodigy among prodigies. As such… Jin Ming had always been the role model for Celestial Brilliance's entire younger generation.

That is, until Xu Luo arrived in Celestial Brilliance under the name Luo Tian and stole much of the limelight that had once belonged solely to Jin Ming.

He had also stolen the thunder from many other prodigies.

Therefore, An Yu's challenge to Xu Luo wasn't so much about avenging his junior brother as it was an excuse. More than anything… he wanted to use Xu Luo as a stepping stone to drastically boost his own fame.

Because in the eyes of the Celestial Brilliance People, Luo Tian… was now a peerless prodigy on par with the very top geniuses.

Before the competition, Xie Yurou found Xu Luo and told him the time for her match in the round of 250 to 125, insisting that he come and cheer her on.

Xu Luo readily agreed with a smile. Qi Yue, who was also making her first attempt to break into the top 125, agreed to go as well.

As for the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden, they had already made history.

Of the 250 contestants, nearly half of them… came from the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden!

This was an astonishing number, a fact that was almost impossible to accept for the Heavenly Brilliance Disciples who had never taken the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden seriously.

"The underdogs are staging a comeback!"

"The weak have risen!"

"The Medicine Garden is having a breakout year! It's unbelievable!"

"Out of the 250 contestants, a hundred and eight are from the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden! Heavens… I hope they all get matched up against each other in the round of 125!"

"Idiot, wouldn't that be exactly what they want? No matter who wins, that means more than fifty of them will make it into the top 100!"

"But what if…"

"There are no more 'what ifs.' Everyone is taking the Medicine Garden Disciples seriously now, studying their specific tactics. Practically every single Medicine Garden Disciple in the top 250 is being analyzed by countless people!"

"So… it'll be impossible for them to win as easily as they did before, just by using their offensive Elixirs!"

"Sigh, even so, there will still be quite a few Medicine Garden Disciples in the top 100. In the past… not a single one of them ever made it that far!"

"I once had a chance to join the Medicine Garden, but I didn't take it. Now, I regret it more than anything…"

...

...

"You need to be careful with An Yu's challenge," Qi Yue said softly, sitting quietly across from Xu Luo. "I know a little about him from before. He's not as simple as he appears on the surface."

"Oh?" Xu Luo gave Qi Yue a wry smile. "To be honest… I don't really know what he's like on the surface either."

Qi Yue rolled her eyes at Xu Luo. "And you call yourself a senior brother? You don't pay any attention to the sect's affairs."

Still, she explained, "An Yu has always been very high-profile, unlike most Heavenly Brilliance Disciples who keep a low profile. He's extremely arrogant."

"I've gotten that impression," Xu Luo said.

After all, Xu Luo was well aware that An Yu had publicly expressed his disdain for him early on.

"But in reality, he's an extremely cautious person at his core. A few years ago, I went on a mission with him and a few other Heavenly Brilliance Disciples. The one leading the team was Senior Brother Jin Ming."

Qi Yue looked at Xu Luo and sighed softly. "I saw a lot of things with my own eyes on that mission. It gave me a whole new perspective on many of Celestial Brilliance's peerless prodigies."

"Senior Brother Jin Ming is the strongest, handles matters with fairness, and carries himself like a leader. His interactions with others always feel as pleasant as a spring breeze, putting everyone at ease. But in reality… I discovered that at his core, Jin Ming is selfish, cold, and extremely jealous."

"Just because someone mentioned that An Yu might be qualified to compete with him for the Sect Leader position in the future, he subtly tried to set An Yu up to fail multiple times during that mission!"

"Jin Ming's methods were so sophisticated that an ordinary person would never have noticed, but I'm sure… An Yu definitely saw through it."

"And yet… despite being young and seeing through it all, An Yu didn't make a sound. Instead, he became even more low-key. He started playing dumb, acting simple, feigning innocence and naivete… he even acted like a coward! But he showed absolutely no intention of ever exposing what had happened."

Qi Yue raised her head and stared intently at Xu Luo. "Isn't a person like that terrifying?"

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