Gan Xuehua sat in her room and stared at the closed doors in a daze. She thought nothing would surprise her anymore after being reborn in the Gan Dynasty and possessing the thirteenth princess’s body, but reality had proven her wrong.
She closed her eyes and the events of the Immortal Official Conferment Ceremony vividly repeated themselves in her mind. The awe-inspiring aura, the absolute dominion, the mighty pressure, all of it repeated in her mind. The thing that shocked Gan Xuehua the most was the changing sky. No, not the ephemeral feeling they felt but the appearance of the taiji symbol in the sky.
Gan Xuehua even doubted if this was something a human could do, cultivator or not. No wonder the Buzhou Immortal Sect—no, the Immortal Court dared to declare hegemony over the Huang Realm and no force dared to contradict them. It was because the top echelon understood the absolute and mind-bending might of the Immortal Court.
It was only at this moment that Gan Xuehua understood why those cultivators like to appraise those strong immortals with descriptions like divine might. In those weak cultivators’ eyes, the actions of the strong are akin to a god’s.
She gave a deprecative smile. Was she also one of those weak cultivators? No, compared to them, she was even weaker.
Gan Xuehua’s gaze firmed. She desired strength, the same kind that could change the sky. Without waiting, she closed her eyes and began to cultivate. With luck, she might reach the peak of the Body Transformation Realm before the Young Heavens Tournament.
This wasn’t only because of her talent, but the density of spiritual qi in the residence allotted to them. If this was the amount of spiritual qi given to outsiders, she wondered how much denser the spiritual qi was for the disciples. No wonder they could raise so many experts.
The spiritual qi density on the Immortal Court’s headquarters was indeed one of the reasons why they could produce so many experts and immortals, but the current level of spiritual qi density only appeared after they united the Huang Realm and Tianyi formed the floating island of the Central Region. The rise of the Buzhou Immortal Sect relied more on their deep heritage and foundation.
A knock caused Gan Xuehua to halt her cultivation and open her eyes. “Your highness, it’s almost time for the Young Heavens Tournament.”
“I understand,” Gan Xuehua said. She looked down at her hand and clenched her fist.
If she made any more progress, she would incur the Acupoint Opening Heavenly Tribulation, something she had no intent of. Even if she cultivated the martial path to help her acclimate, it did not mean she did not place importance on it. She wanted to succeed on both the spiritual and martial path. As for whether she could embark on the soul path, it could only depend on luck. After all, a third-rate force like the Gan Dynasty did not have any soul path cultivation methods.
Gan Xuehua didn’t stand up yet and expanded her spiritual sense. Yes, her spiritual sense. After reaching the peak of the Body Transformation Realm, she finally gained control over it, and it no longer pressured her.
The maid outside furrowed her brows, wondering why her highness utilized her spiritual sense, and why it felt so raw and uncontained. Although she was a maid, she was a first-ranked maid of the Gan Dynasty, a grandmaster. However, she didn’t have more time to ponder as the spiritual sense retracted, and Gan Xuehua walked out seconds later. “Your highness.”
“Let’s go,” Gan Xuehua said without looking at the maid.
Naturally, the maid obediently followed with nary a word. Even her expression remained placid.
Not long after, Gan Xuehua met up with her ‘family'. The thirteen siblings, emperor, and three old immortals of the Gan Imperial Family made their way to Ascension Peak, the venue of the Young Heavens Tournament. Along the way, Gan Xuehua habitually stared at her second brother. ‘Why is he so silent? With his personality, he should have said something by now.’
Gan Linyou sensed Gan Xuehua’s gaze and turned toward her with a proud look. He puffed his chest and opened his mouth, but no words came out. Seconds later, he became crestfallen, as if remembering something. Upon seeing this, Gan Xuehua already understood everything. Her gaze turned from her brother to her father.
If it didn’t break her image, she would have given the man a thumbs up.
With a tranquil serenity, Gan Xuehua and the Gan Dynasty entourage arrived at the venue. However, her good mood did not last long as she felt the piercing gaze of her competitors sizing her up. Through her years of experience in the apocalypse, she did not show any change in expression, but inwardly, she couldn’t help but sweat.
The Young Heavens Tournament was nothing more than entertainment for the experts of the Immortal Court. But for the members of first-rate, second-rate, and third-rate forces, this was undoubtedly a rare chance to ascend to the skies in one step. According to rumor, the top ten disciples would receive an immortal-rank pill. Of course, this was only for the disciples in the Nascent Soul Realm or the Soul Nourishing Realm.
Even though the prizes for the core formation and acupoint opening disciples weren’t as good, that was only comparatively. Many of the disciples would still kill for such opportunities.
Now came the problem. Although Gan Xuehua had acclimated to her body, she did not have any fighting experience with it. It was a small matter to lose and be shamed, but what if it made her family question her? Gan Xuehua had already thought about it. She would judge the situation first and then decide to fight or directly give up.
As for attracting Xi Ri’s attention using the tournament, she no longer had such an extravagant hope. In the end, she could only attempt by using the Xiyinet.
Even if her name would be dragged through the mud, that was fine. Safety first.
Gan Xuehua scanned her competitors. The first one to stand out was the newest genius of the Dustveil Sect, Slothless. He was a rather tall man with an ever-present drowsy look. According to the Gan Dynasty’s intelligence—or rather, rumors—the grand elder of the Dustveil Sect had returned one day with a child in his hand, and this child was Slothless.
Slothless showed incredible talent for cultivation and reached the peak of the Core Formation Realm at age twenty. That was ten years ago, and Slothless was still at the Core Formation Realm, but no one doubted his strength. Compared to Xi Tianyi, he was on a level lower, but all geniuses were. Xi Tianyi was a monster that became an immortal emperor in two hundred years!
Gan Xuehua didn’t understand how monstrous that was, but she suspected that she would soon.
She turned her attention from Slothless to a girl in a fiery red dress with a phoenix embroidered on it. To the shock of many forces, this generation’s Bright Ascension Saintess wasn’t a nascent soul grandmaster but a core formation master. Her name was Ji Fengyin, and the air around her constantly distorted like a heat mirage.
Next on the to-watch-for list was actually an elderly man with gray hair and a slumped back. His age was actually older than his appearance. His name was Luo Peishan. Despite his current age, he had only started cultivation ten years ago, and he only needed five years to reach the peak of the Core Formation Realm.
Normally, cultivation had to start at a young age. No matter how good the talent is, if the person started cultivation as an old man, it would be wasted. However, Luo Peishan broke that common sense. There could only be two reasons: one, Luo Peishan was just that talented; two, Luo Peishan used rare treasures.
It wasn’t unheard of for forces to help a cultivator raise his realm with resources after he passed the prime time to start cultivating if he showed enough talent. As a participant of the Young Heavens Tournament, Gan Xuehua did not underestimate him.
There was another reason she paid attention to Luo Peishan, and that was because he came from the Xi Dynasty. The Xi Dynasty wasn’t even a ranked force, yet they had the prestige to come here for two reasons: Xi Mengfei and Xi Tianyi.
Xi Mengfei’s brother, the former Xi Emperor, had already passed away, and the current emperor was Xi Ri’s brother, Xi Chen.
Gan Xuehua couldn’t help but think if she could use Luo Peishan to get into contact with Xi Chen, and contact Xi Ri through him. She shook her head. She didn’t want to make it too obvious, and the best way would be to contact Luo Peishan if they were matched against each other. At the same time, she really didn’t want to face Luo Peishan.
Fourth on her list was a man wearing slovenly clothes. His loose robes allowed many people to see his chiseled chest. Gan Xuehua also noticed a few girls peeking at him secretly with red faces. She sneered, but she still had to admit that Gui Qianglin was a threat. According to rumors, he was a martial prodigy and possessed a unique physique, the rising star of Boundless Mountain.
Gan Xuehua continued to glance at the top-tier geniuses. Overall, there were fifteen or so, but who knew how many hidden ones would reveal themselves? She planned to directly forfeit if she met any of them. No one would blame her.
Not just those geniuses, but she planned to surrender to the ten disciples of the Immortal Court that would participate. Among the participants, first-rate sects had ten slots, second-rate sects had five, and third-rate forces like the Gan Dynasty only had two. The Immortal Court also limited themselves to ten to keep it fair, but no one would doubt their supremacy.
She continued to observe her foes, hoping to pick up any hints or traits that could be useful. Unfortunately, there were simply too many she had to watch out for, and before she could even commit all of them to memory, a pressure descended.
Gan Xuehua snapped her neck at the peak of the mountain to see three figures. First was the Huang Realm’s strongest immortal, Sword Sovereign Xi Mengfei, next was the peerless genius, the Nine Heavens Emperor, Xi Tianyi. Although not as radiant as the other two, Immortal Emperor Xia Meng was not someone the people present can take lightly.
Even if hundreds of immortal monarchs and the other four immortal emperors disappeared from the Immortal Court, none of the forces present dared to go against them because of the three of them. All three descended and sat the highest seats of honor, with Xi Mengfei sitting half a level higher.
With the last people finally present, the Young Heavens Tournament officially began.
The tournament was divided into two levels: the master and grandmaster levels. Naturally, the master-level tournament began first. Each disciple would draw a stick with a number on it. Contestant one would face contestant two, and contestant three would face contestant four, and so on. In other words, it was a bracket style tournament.
Gan Xuehua followed the other disciples and lined up to draw her stick. When she finally drew it, she stared long and hard at it. She had originally hoped to get one of the later numbers so she could scout her competition, but fate mocked and ridiculed her.
She sighed and regrouped with the Gan Dynasty.
After everyone drew their number, the tournament began. A true immortal stepped up to referee the match and loudly said, “Would number one and number two come forward?”
Gan Xuehua had thought she was already unlucky, but reality let her know there was no worst, only worse.
“Dustveil Sect’s Slothless, please advise,” her opponent said with half-lidded eyes, seeming able to fall asleep at any moment.
She copied his movements and cupped her fist. “Gan Dynasty’s Gan Xuehua, likewise.”
Gan Xuehua already planned to forfeit. She didn’t want to expose herself for a fight she couldn’t win. So when the referee announced the start, she prepared to shout her intentions, but she never expected Slothless would suddenly become so excited. Without waiting for her to even say a word, he shot towards her.
