Sikong Sheng was a name known to everyone in the South Rudra Region, the head disciple of the rank 6 martial institution - the Floating Mountain Martial School. He was the decedent of the Mysterious King, the champion of the last Hidden Dragon Rank, who reached the peak-level Late Clasping Yuan Realm when he was not even twenty. Each one of these facts could make him look down at the crowd and no one would say otherwise.
Maybe he was only slightly weaker than the Mysterious Queen, but in this whole true spirit continent, there was only one martial genius like the Mysterious Queen after one thousand years, definitely the rarest thing. No matter what time or era Sikong Sheng was in, he would still be at the top. Plus he had the blood of a king, which gave him endless potential. It was the kind of advantage most other people did not have.
Once Sikong Sheng appeared in sight, he had immediately stolen everyone's thunder. It was like he was already the king level warrior among the young generation. But of course, it did not mean that he had the definite power to confidently win against everyone. It was just his king blood had given him the advantage in his aura, but fighting was not just about powerful auras.
"These few people are all too powerful. They are even more powerful than my father. How can Clasping Yuan Realm warriors reach this kind of a horrifying level? Are they even Clasping Yuan Realm warriors?" Luo Hanshan's pupils had shrunk into a tiny dot. In his memory, his father Luo Xinglie was also considered as a martial genius in his generation, and his power was way more powerful than normal peak-level Late Clasping Yuan Realm warriors. He and the leaders of the other top four martial institutions had been called the top five Clasping Yuan Realm warriors in the Wind Nation. However, compared to Sikong Sheng and the others, they were still so weak, they could not even compete with the top thirty young warriors in the Hidden Dragon Rank. This meant that if Luo Xinglie and the other four leaders could compete in the competitions, it would only guarantee them a spot in the top seventy-two, and it would be almost impossible to get any higher than that.
The corner of Luo Xinglie twitched. He thought to himself, 'These are indeed martial geniuses! Their strength makes me speechless. In comparison, we are only little ants.'
"Hahaha, thanks for bringing me here to the Hidden Dragon Ancient City, man." Suddenly, two other human figures had appeared in the air. It was a middle-aged man and a teenager with a massive body and a brutal aura. Right then, the teenager was being held by the hands by the middle-aged man, flying at an extremely fast speed.
Shoo!
The wild-looking teenager let go of the middle-aged man's hand and landed right next to Sikong Sheng and the group.
The middle-aged man laughed as he said, "Little bro, you are lucky this time. If you get lost again, you can walk by yourself!"
A lot of people had noticed that the middle-aged man was an Astral Reaching Realm warrior, and he was not a normal one either. His cultivation had obviously reached the Late Astral Reaching Realm, which was definitely the highest level one could get in the Astral Reaching Realm.
The wild teenager was indeed Tuo Baku. After separating with Ye Chen, he carried on rushing and finding people to compete. After few days, he had become completely lost. As for this middle-aged man, he had not known him before. That man was fishing at the time and did not have the kind of powerful aura an Astral Reaching Realm warrior would have. Tuo Baku could tell that he was very powerful, so he wanted to challenge him, and eventually was beaten with all kinds of bruises and swellings. Luckily, the middle-aged man did not mean any harm. Otherwise, he would have been killed. After the middle-aged man learned that Tuo Baku was heading for the Hidden Dragon Rank's competitions, he brought him with him which was exactly what the crowd had witnessed just now.
"Yah!"
Tuo Baku just stood there right next to Sikong Sheng and the group casually, which caused the crowd to stare, especially those young warriors who ranked below top ten. They were staring with angry looks while using aura to pressure him. They thought that even they did not dare to stand over there, who was he to stand in front of them?
It was imaginable how powerful and intense it would be with all those auras from the young warriors locking onto a person, like waves of oceans attacking towards Tuo Baku. They wanted him to suffer and learn a lesson.
"So stingy, it was only a spot for me to stand." Tuo Baku laughed as he spread out an aura that was completely different from Ye Chen's. It was like mountain shattering, mad tornados, exploding volcanos…it contained a Qi that combined a brutal King like Qi, which was fighting against the aura from Sikong Sheng and the rest.
All the young warriors had widened their eyes. They could not believe what they were seeing.
"What? Another tyrant among the young generation!"
"What a unique king aura! Is he also a decent of a King-level warrior?! How is this possible?"
"I have never seen him before, where did he come from?"
The middle-aged man who had brought Tuo Baku laughed to himself, 'This little kid is not simple. His physical defense power is extraordinary, no, it is horrifying. As for whether he carried the bloodline of a King-level warrior, I cannot really tell either. Maybe he is the direct kin of some secret family.'
The second disciple of the Sunset Martial School Qianyun frowned. The head disciple was already twenty-four years old, which meant he was not allowed to join the competitions anymore. Now, the mission of getting into the top ten had landed on his shoulder. Before, he was confident that he could make it easily there, and maybe even get a bit higher. But he had never expected to see another powerful opponent, and his aura was no less than the others, only a little bit weaker than Sikong Sheng's.
Looking at the two people who ranked ninth and tenth on the rank, Qianyun was frightened, not daring to take one step further. He was so stressed out about the situation but had to try his best to restrain himself from being the first one doing something reckless. He knew once he took that step, he would definitely become the target for the young warriors' aura attacks, and he was not confident enough to handle it. Since the official competitions had not even started yet, there was no point in making enemies now.
"I will let them have their ways for a little longer. Besides two or three people, I am not afraid of anyone." Qian Yun tightened his fists.
Today was the day that the gate of the Hidden Dragon Ancient City would open. All of the people who were expected to be there were already there. However, in many people's mind, there was still one missing.
"Why is he still not here? Although I had not really used all my strength when we fought, even if I did, I don't think I could have won him." Tuo Baku thought of Ye Chen.
Murong Qingcheng had exactly the same thoughts, but she did not pay too much attention. She knew that he might have just been held up by something.
"Ye Chen is still not here. Damn it. This year's Hidden Dragon Rank competition is so rare. Once one misses it, there will not be a next time." Luo Xinglie looked very anxious.
The headmaster frowned, "Ye Chen is a man of his word. If he said he would come, then he will definitely make it."
Right then, a booming sound spread out in all directions - the south gate of the Hidden Dragon Ancient City had been opened. It was like the mortals had opened the door to heaven, which was absolutely spectacular.
In front of the south city gate, the ground had cracked open and moved towards the sides. Three miles-long platforms slowly appeared. They were chained together with one-mile-long bridges. Two rock columns were standing where the bridge was connected. The columns were empty in the middle, with a blue light shining from within. The blue light was all twisted together, creating a blue wall blocking the path to the bridge. On the second platform was a square-shaped, weird-looking palace. It seemed like it was made of crystals, shining with a colorful light. On seeing through the crystal wall, one could see a lot of jade tags inside, which had been tied in the air, floating up and down. there was nothing on the third platform. However, between the third platform and the south city gate was a not-so-big deep cliff. There were paintings on the wall of the cliff with the flowers, birds, fishes and insects being on the bottom, and dragons on top. Besides that, the platforms were not on the same height with the south city gate, which was about seventy-two meters tall. It meant that if the contestants wanted to enter the south city gate, they would have to jump up from the third platform, there was no other way.
"The three challenges of the dragon door are here! I wonder if I can make it."
"I doubt more than forty percent of the people would make it through! The challenges would adjust the difficulty itself. If you planned to win it all in a roll, it would not be so easy at all."
As the crowded started discussing, all the young warriors who were eligible to enter the competitions had started moving. Their first target was to get through the three challenges and enter the south city gate. Otherwise, they would be able to do nothing.
Shoo! Shoo! Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!
Sikong Sheng and the rest of the top young warriors had landed on that first platform first, only after which did the rest follow. The number of the total contestants was more than two thousand, which was a scary figure.
Boom!
The blue light wall had been cracked open with a huge hole, and Sikong Sheng had gone through. Then the Fire Spirit Prince, Lin Yun and the group had also all passed through. They had flown towards the second platform through the bridge.
"Leader, we will go now."
Luo Hanshan and the other two had to join the challenges before they were able to wait for Ye Chen.
Luo Xinglie nodded as he looked into the distance.
The first challenge was called the wall breaking challenge. That hundred-meter-thick blue light wall had the defense power of a peak-level Early Clasping Yuan Realm warrior. Only by making a hole on the light wall would the contestants then be able to make it to the second platform.
Luo Hanshan and Zhu Mei had passed with some effort. As for Xu Jing, she had just causally made a tearing motion, then the blue light wall had been torn apart and revealed a huge passage like it was nothing.
'Xu Jing is very powerful.' Luo Hanshan was a little bit relieved.
The fourth master said, "Xu Jing is always a comforting kid. But where is Ye Chen that little brat? God, this is so stressful."
Shoo!
In the distance, a beam of light shot out towards them.
The headmaster unconsciously looked up, and his lips shook a little, "Leader, it is Ye Chen. He is really here!"
"He's here?"
Luo Xinglie and all the masters of the Sky Cloud Martial School looked over towards that direction.
Pushing his Separating Shadow Flying Art to its limit, each flash of Ye Chen's was more than four hundred meters, leaving an odd looking line in the air.
"Leader, masters, I am so sorry that I am late."
Landing on the ground, Ye Chen said apologetically. In the last two days, he had pushed his speed more than once, but he was still a bit too late. He wanted to try to come here a bit early, but the Hidden Dragon Ancient Place was way bigger than he thought, and he ended up taking one extra day for traveling.
"As long as you made it, it's fine. Now, go! You have already wasted quite a bit of time." Because of the running time, none of them had realized that Ye Chen had already reached the Late Clasping Yuan Realm.
Ye Chen had also realized that the three challenges of the dragon door had already started, so he dared not to waste more time. He extended his body and flew towards the first platform.
"Eh? I thought there was something not right. It turned out that Ye Chen had already reached the Late Clasping Yuan Realm!" After Ye Chen had left, the fourth master finally felt relieved, then he found out about the shocking fact.
Luo Xinglie and the headmaster exchanged a look. They were so shocked that they did not know what to say. They clearly remembered that when Ye Chen had left last time, he was only at the Early Clasping Yuan Realm, and now he was already at Late Clasping Yuan Realm.
"Hahaha! He has lived up to our expectation. With this kind of power, what do we have to worry about."
"Yah! With him and Xu Jing being here, our Sky Cloud Martial School will definitely get some good luck from the dragon fountain."
"Don't jump your guns yet. The speed of going through the challenges can tell us a little about a warrior's true power. I want to see what kind of surprise this little brat can bring us."
Although the wall breaking challenge was the first challenge of the three, but it had still stopped two hundred young warriors. They were all looking very upset and disappointed. They kept on attacking the blue light wall, hoping that they could open a tiny hole and make it to the second platform.
Getting on the first platform, Ye Chen did not even slow down. He ran directly towards that blue light wall. It was like he did not even see the wall, which had caused some of the young warriors to sneer at him. They were waiting to see how Ye Chen would make a fool of himself.
What shocked them was that Ye Chen looked like he had the power of walking through walls. He had gone through the blue light wall directly without even throwing a single attack.
"What the heck?! Maybe his body was not in solid form somehow?"
"Just went through directly?! Is there something wrong with my eyes?"
All the people from the Sky Cloud Martial School were also shocked. But of course, not only them, so was everyone else in the crowd. They had not noticed any difference with Ye Chen. Since there were quite a lot of Late Clasping Yuan Realm warriors already in the young generation, power was the only thing that mattered.