Firmament Sword

Xu Luo retracted his fist and cupped it toward Lv Di. "A good fight."

Lv Di took a deep breath and cupped his fist at Xu Luo. "I am truly no match for Senior Brother Luo Tian. The gap between us is vast, but I will strive to... to close that distance. Next time, I will win!"

With that, Lv Di turned to the deathly silent stands. He gave a deep bow to each section, four bows in total, before declaring loudly, "To all my brothers and sisters who supported me, thank you! I was defeated today, but I will continue to work hard. See you at the next Celestial Brilliance Annual Competition!"

"Lv Di, you did great!"

"Brother, you didn't lose!"

"You've cultivated the True Dragon Armor! With time, you're bound to shine!"

The quiet stands erupted into a roar at Lv Di's words.

It turned out Lv Di had a massive number of supporters—nearly a million people. Moved by his sincerity, they gave him a thunderous send-off.

Lv Di looked back one last time, cupped his fist at Xu Luo, and then teleported away.

Xu Luo saw the glint of tears in Lv Di's eyes and sighed inwardly. 'In the end, it's still a loss. No one likes to lose.'

In one of the private boxes, Lv Di's master, Feng Venerable, wore a deeply gratified smile. A single victory or defeat meant nothing in his eyes.

What mattered most was that his favored disciple, Lv Di, had... truly matured and grown up through this battle.

This... was what made him happiest!

Not to mention, Lv Di had also cultivated the True Dragon Armor. Before long, he would become a standard-bearer for Celestial Brilliance!

In terms of defense, no one would be his equal!

"The heavens are truly watching over us, to grant Celestial Brilliance such a talent. It seems... we'll have a bit more confidence for the Peak of Jiuzhou in three years!" At some point, Xiahou Kaiyuan had appeared in a private box, surrounded by the true core members of Celestial Brilliance—every one of them a renowned and powerful figure.

"Indeed. But what surprises me even more is Luo Tian. I never expected his strength to be so immense. It looks like he wasn't even going all out in his fight against Andy," Jiang Botao said, his mouth twitching. He then cursed, "That cunning little brat... made me lose a bet!"

"Hahaha." The Elders in the box couldn't help but roar with laughter. It seemed Jiang Botao was still holding a grudge over losing that bet.

Just then, the Referee on the stage announced loudly, "Celestial Brilliance Annual Competition, round of 124 into 62! Luo Tian versus Lv Di... Luo Tian... is the victor!"

BOOM!

The cheers above the arena were deafening. Everyone... rose to their feet, paying their respects to the young man on the stage.

They expressed their feelings with their applause and shouts.

"Luo the Celestial King... lives up to his name!"

After this battle, the title "Luo the Celestial King" spread like wildfire.

However, this title didn't originate from Xu Luo's battle with Lv Di. It came from when Xu Luo had teased Huyan Cyan Mountain of the Heritage Clan, referring to himself with a royal "I."

But with Xu Luo's victory and successful advancement into the top 62 of this year's competition, the name "Luo the Celestial King" truly took off.

Another rumor began to circulate as well... that many of Celestial Brilliance's Heritage Clans had been backing Luo Tian to become this year's champion all along!

Some had even started taking bets privately!

The odds for Jin Ming, who had been the original favorite, were actually slightly higher than Xu Luo's. This meant the bookmakers... were favoring Xu Luo even more!

"Jin Ming might not be able to break through Lv Di's True Dragon Armor so easily. At least... when it comes to shattering that armor with pure physical strength, I don't know who else in Celestial Brilliance's younger generation could do it besides Luo Tian."

"The Heritage Clans have no shortage of geniuses, but you have to admit, Luo Tian is a genius among geniuses! I'm betting on him... to become this year's champion!"

"Right, I'm also betting on Luo Tian to win. What? A grudge? You're mistaken... there's no grudge between the Heritage Clans and Luo Tian! Huyan Cyan Mountain? That's a private matter between them; it has nothing to do with the Heritage Clans!"

Many young masters from the Heritage Clans publicly expressed their support for Luo Tian.

Those who already supported Luo Tian were naturally delighted to hear this, especially the Medicine Garden disciples, who were ecstatic.

How many years had it been... The Medicine Garden finally had a true leader!

"So what if he can't do Alchemy and Medicine Making? Our Senior Brother doesn't need to know that stuff!"

"It's enough that *we* know how! When it comes to Alchemy and Medicine Making... *we're* the real geniuses!"

"With us around, why would Senior Brother ever need to personally handle Alchemy and Medicine Making?"

"Senior Brother is the soul of the Medicine Garden. His presence alone is enough!"

Faced with the outside criticism that Luo Tian didn't know Alchemy and Medicine Making and was unfit to be the Senior Brother of the Medicine Garden, the Medicine Garden's counterattack was quite forceful.

As for Jin Ming's supporters, they despised the very name Luo Tian. Just hearing it was enough to make them want to start cursing.

"How long has Luo Tian even been at Celestial Brilliance? What has he ever truly contributed?"

"All of his prestige was deliberately manufactured by someone!"

"Hmph, the moment Luo Tian faces Senior Brother Jin Ming, he's guaranteed to lose!"

"The Senior Brother of the Medicine Garden... compared to Senior Brother Tianhuang? What right does he have to be mentioned in the same breath as Senior Brother Jin Ming?"

"He beat Lv Di? Ha... Lv Di has faced Senior Brother Jin Ming twice in the annual competitions. Didn't he lose miserably both times?"

"He has True Dragon Armor? It's newly cultivated. Even if it's powerful... just how powerful can it be?"

"Enough with the nonsense. Luo Tian is simply no match for Senior Brother Jin Ming! Luo the Celestial King? Pfft!"

Soon, the supporters of both sides were locked in a heated debate.

Those who supported Luo Tian argued that he had spurred the rise of the entire Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden while also demonstrating immense personal strength.

As for his contributions to Celestial Brilliance... wasn't causing the entire Medicine Garden to rise enough? Besides, he'd only been here a short time. And how many contributions has *your* Senior Brother Jin Ming made?

And how many of those did he complete on his own?

Jin Ming's supporters felt that he was Senior Brother Tianhuang, the number one of the younger generation. He had done much for Celestial Brilliance over the years and had always been the benchmark and role model for the youth. A newcomer like Luo Tian was simply not in the same league!

The rise of the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden had nothing to do with Luo Tian! He hadn't done anything at all!

While the two sides argued heatedly, the two main figures at the center of it all, Luo Tian and Jin Ming... remained completely silent.

Xu Luo couldn't be bothered with any of it. He had never intended to compete with Jin Ming for anything. He'd rather spend that time cultivating.

It wasn't that Jin Ming didn't want to speak out, but that he *couldn't*.

His status was too prominent. Every word he said, every action he took, could be magnified a thousand times over.

Although he had many supporters, there were just as many people looking to nitpick... waiting for him to make a mistake.

There was a simple way to prove who was the strongest: see who could make it to the finals and emerge victorious in the ultimate battle of the annual competition!

Whoever won would be... the strongest of Celestial Brilliance's younger generation!

「The round of 62 into 31.」

For this battle, Xu Luo's opponent was unexpectedly one of his own from the Medicine Garden—a disciple of Sixth Elder Cui Shu, and a youth of only seventeen or eighteen years old at that!

Xu Luo felt a bit helpless after drawing this opponent. He couldn't possibly back down, but his opponent... had also come this far through great effort and couldn't be expected to yield either.

That meant only one of them could advance to the top 32.

This way, the Medicine Garden was guaranteed to lose one spot in the top 32.

The thought made Xu Luo clench his fists in frustration.

However, for the Medicine Garden disciples, just being able to enter the top 62... was already a stroke of immense luck!

In the past, they were the ones who finished last every single year!

Forget the top 100 list, even making it into the top 1,000 was a pipe dream for most Medicine Garden disciples.

Any disciple from outside the Medicine Garden who drew an opponent from their ranks would be grinning from ear to ear.

What disciple who had been in the Medicine Garden for more than three years hadn't experienced that scene?

This year, under their Senior Brother's leadership, an unprecedented number of Medicine Garden disciples had... charged into the top 1,000!

Then, many more broke into the top 500... the top 250... the top 100... It was already a miracle!

Reaching this stage was something that not even the Medicine Garden's Elders had ever imagined, let alone the disciples themselves!

If someone had said before the competition that over thirty Medicine Garden disciples would make it into the top 100 this year, no one would have believed them.

In fact, many would have laughed their heads off!

But now... it was a fact!

Cui Shu's disciple was named Shao Zheng. At only eighteen years old, he was a true young genius!

In the field of Alchemy and Medicine Making, he possessed an incredible and unimaginable talent.

Ever since Xu Luo had opened up their way of thinking, all sorts of offensive Elixirs had emerged from the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden. Among them, the offensive Elixirs created by Shao Zheng... had yet to be completely countered by anyone!

One could say that Shao Zheng had relied entirely on the offensive Elixirs in his hands to fight his way to the astonishing rank of the top 62!

There were even rumors that Shao Zheng still held a much stronger trump card that he hadn't revealed. As for what it was, no one knew.

Having had his mind opened, Shao Zheng had already made a name for himself among Celestial Brilliance's younger generation!

Before the battle, Shao Zheng came to pay Xu Luo a visit.

The eighteen-year-old was very reserved, even a little shy. As he bowed to Xu Luo, his bright eyes secretly sized up the now-famous Senior Brother of Celestial Brilliance, his gaze filled with adoration.

"Senior Brother, I was inspired by Lv Di's True Dragon Armor and created a Simulation Dragon Armor Elixir. For one hour, it has power comparable to the real True Dragon Armor!"

"I also have an offensive..."

After bowing, the kid got straight to the point, preparing to reveal all of his trump cards directly to Xu Luo.

"Stop, stop, stop... you little rascal, who told you to come and tell me all this?" Xu Luo asked with a wry smile.

It was true he wanted to keep winning, but he'd never thought of doing it like this!

Especially when his opponent was his own junior brother, a kid of only seventeen or eighteen...

"No one told me... It... it was my own idea," Shao Zheng said shyly. "Senior Brother is the standard-bearer of the Medicine Garden. No matter what, Senior Brother can't lose to me..."

"Alright, alright... you brat, hurry up and get back to your preparations. If you can actually beat me in the annual competition, I'll ask the Medicine Garden to reward you! If you lose, I'll have your master punish you!"

Xu Luo bared his teeth, trying to scare him.

"Senior Brother is just trying to scare me!" Although Shao Zheng was young, he wasn't stupid. His eyes darted about cleverly as he grinned at Xu Luo. "Senior Brother really is as righteous as they say. Actually, what I just said... was a lie!"

"..." Lines of frustration appeared on Xu Luo's forehead. He looked at the little rascal, completely speechless.

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