Chương 9: Darknorth Immortal Dynasty
Azure Mystic Immortal Realm, Northern Region, Darknorth Immortal Dynasty, Redcloud City.
The Darknorth Immortal Dynasty was an ancient power that had stood tall for countless eras in the Northern Region of the immortal realm. Only the most powerful characters from the imperial family were appointed as successors and throughout the eras, their titles had always been the same: the Darknorth Immortal Emperor.
The Immortal Dynasty spanned countless miles, and Redcloud City was one of its largest main cities. A regiment of powerful troops were stationed at the city, and they guarded that area in the eastern side of the Darknorth Immortal Dynasty.
Redcloud City was an 'open city' that was extremely prosperous and had countless experts. It could be considered the hegemon of this region within the empire.
The Darknorth Immortal Emperor bestowed the title of Redcloud Marquis to the immortal general stationed to guard this place. This man was also a powerful peak stage immortal king character that followed the Darknorth Immortal Emperor for numerous years.
Hence, this immortal city could be considered one of the safest main cities in the entire northern regions.
At this moment, in the airspace around the Redcloud City, a dazzling trail descended at full speed akin to a meteor, accompanied by intense immortal fluctuations. Countless people tilted their heads upwards, only to see a flying boat enveloped into immortal flames coming down the skies.
Naturally, these people were none other than Daoist Tan and the thirty or so ascendants from the Sky Pill World.
In the place where gates of the Redcloud City were situated, many guards could be seen patrolling the area. Several guards turned their attention over. The intensity of immortal fluctuations determined the strength of the cultivator. From the light's resplendence, at least one of these newcomers must be at worst a middle tier immortal foundation cultivator which was neither bad nor outstanding.
The Sky Pill World group disembarked their flying boat and headed to the city gates.
Above the city gates were a golden plate with the characters "Redcloud" carved on, a terrifying immortal might radiated from these characters. The one who inscribed those letters was without doubt a truly powerful immortal.
"Where did your group come from?" An armoured guard questioned them. Daoist Tan waved his hand as an invitation card floated before the guard. The guard's eyes gleamed when he saw the invitation.
After which he said, "You are here to participate in the Immortal Ascension Selection. This city is one of the hundred cities hosting the preliminaries, your luck is pretty good. Feel free to enter the city. "
"I have never been to Redcloud City before, there must be some rules. Could you tell me more about them?" Senior Tan asked.
"There are indeed some rules. In the Redcloud City; one cannot commit an act of slaughter, bully the weak because you are strong, or engage in robbery and theft. The Redcloud troops won't interfere in small-scale conflicts but if someone is heavily injured, or if there is damage to city property, you will be liable to answer for your actions" , the guard explained.
"That's the majority of the rules. Also, there's an arena where parties can settle any large-scale disputes if they wanted to. In any case, since you're here for the Immortal Ascension Selection, nobody would be foolish enough to mess with you. It would be spitting on the prestige of the marquis and his majesty!!", another guard continued.
"Many thanks." Daoist Tan smiled and nodded.
After that, the group stepped into Redcloud City together. This city was ancient and majestic, with several constructed buildings clustered within, yet did not give the impression that the city was cramped.
In this place, the experts were as common as clouds. Immortal foundation experts could be seen everywhere. Normally ascendants would be a rare sight in the city but with it hosting the preliminaries for the Immortal Ascension Selection, they were everywhere.
"That group had more than thirty ascendants but oddly enough most are only first or second level ascendants. Since they are not familiar with the city, they most certainly are not from Immortal King-ranked powers. I wonder which power they are from?" the other guards curiously asked when the group left.
"Their invitation card specified they are from the Sky Pill World. I seem to have heard about this particle world before but I cannot remember where." that guard continued in a low voice.
"To think that a particle world could nurture this many geniuses. The other ones that hailed from particle worlds that arrived only had one to three ascendants. How interesting! " The guards around him laughed.
"You guys, shut up!" commanded someone beside them.
"Yes, captain." Everyone had a faint smile on their faces as they went back to their duties.
⚫ ⚫ ⚫
Redcloud City.
The group walked about the city, and when they saw the countless number of majestic buildings before them, they understood why the rules here were so strict.
"Redcloud City is truly a prosperous place. Immortal-ranked treasures can be seen everywhere and are readily available for transaction. How many treasures does this place have exactly? With such wealth, one would no longer need to worry about cultivation resources." Kang Tian sighed in admiration. Behind him the numerous youngsters were busy talking among themselves too.
"It's all relative. For powerful or influential stellar martial cultivators, it's easier for them to obtain rare and valuable treasures. For weaker cultivators like those coming from particle worlds like us, they can only depend on others or risk their lives in adventures. The city naturally derives benefits from its imposed rules. For cultivators who enter this city, they have no need to worry about their safety." Daoist Tan understood the law of the jungle in the immortal realms as he was hundreds of years old and had his fair share of adventures.
If you are weak in the immortal realms, you wouldn't even dare to take out a rare treasure to do business with. This is the reason why the Darknorth Immortal Dynasty wanted several places like this to exist; a place governed by its fair laws. Having a lawful location would only serve to make businesses in the city prosper.
"Mhm, as expected of an ancient grand empire. For those cultivators with families, they would naturally prefer to stay inside such a city where the safety of their family members are guaranteed. Only then could they continue roaming the immortal realms with peace in their hearts," Ji Bolin then added.
"You are right, little brats. There are countless people living in the immortal realms, who wouldn't want to stay in such a city! But most probably, only subordinates from the Redcloud Marquis would be able to own land here. Also, the guards said that it is prohibited to cause damage to properties. The value of constructing such a prosperous city far exceeds our imaginations." Daoist Tan laughed.
"Guys, watch over there!" Kang Tian pointed ahead. Over there, a faint shadow of a turtle could be seen shimmering in the air.
"Let's take a look", all of their silhouettes flickered, as they moved towards that location. Not long after, they saw two combatants fighting in a turtle-shaped battle platform.
"The Arena." some ascendants spoke at the same time, instantly understanding that this must be the grudge arena the guard had referred to earlier. Only when both parties willingly stepped up onto the arena, could a life-and-death battle be held. There would always be cultivators with immense deep rooted hatred for each other.
The city needed a place like this arena for them to vent their emotions.
"Let's go." After watching for a moment, victory was decided. One of the combatants had been killed. Once two parties headed up onto the grudge Arena, this was an indication of the depth of their mutual grudge. Why would anyone show mercy?
Senior Tan made discreet enquiries and used an immortal-ranked treasure to speed towards where the preliminaries were held. Ergo, the city was beyond huge, so huge that a mortal would have a hard time picturing how vast the city was.
Redcloud City spanned over more than ten times the total surface area as big as the combined area of all land masses from Ji Bolin's previous native world, Earth. Without immortal-ranked treasures, the journey would be far too cumbersome and the group Senior Tan did not want to waste time.
⚫ ⚫ ⚫
There were eighty-one districts in the Redcloud City. The name of the most luxurious district of all naturally was the Redcloud district. Right now, countless experts were all heading to the Redcloud district. In the middle of the streets, there would frequently be people speeding by since flying was forbidden. It was clear all of them were here for the preliminary round.
This was an opportunity that came by every hundred years, the geniuses were naturally unwilling to let this slip by their fingers. It was a well known fact that the Redcloud Marquis was once a winner of the Immortal Ascension Selection thousands of years ago, and this only fuelled every preselected participant.
However, since this opportunity is so rare, how could ordinary geniuses be able to grab it? How many talented people were there in the entire territory of the Darknorth Immortal Dynasty? There were so many that the amount was inconceivable.
Despite the confidence Daoist Tan had in his world's geniuses, there was no actual guarantee that they would even be able to go through this preliminary round. It was too difficult, there were too many demon-level geniuses in the sole area under the control of the Redcloud Marquis much less in the entire Darknorth Immortal Dynasty.
One third of the entire Northern Regions of the immortal realms was under their control and one city was already that big so one could only imagine the inexhaustible pool of geniuses available. The method to cull their number would most definitely be extremely tyrannical.
Nobody knew who would stand out among them.
"The Immortal Ascension Selection is conducted in various rounds every 100 years. The first pre-preliminaries are conducted by the many respective powers themselves. Immortal King-ranked powers are allowed 1000 spots, peak Immortal Foundation-ranked powers are awarded 100 spots, normal Immortal Foundation-ranked powers are granted 10 spots, non-immortal ranked powers such as normal particle worlds are awarded anything between 3 to 1 spots. In addition, many geniuses from higher ranked powers that failed to qualify would then enter particle worlds and snatch their spots. Do you understand?" Senior Tan explained.
The group of thirty or so heaven chosen naturally understood what he meant. The competition would be beyond cruel and this was only if they could pass that preliminary round. The entire pool of geniuses from one third of the northern regions would be battling it out. This was simply unimaginable.
"In this Redcloud City alone, there are millions of geniuses competing for the only 1000 qualifying spots available. Even if you fail, do not be too headstrong and die for nothing. Instead you should treat it as an opportunity to broaden your horizons. You must always remember that cultivation is not about going the fastest but the farthest." Daoist Tan gave one last piece of advice before they all headed towards the testing site.
The group finally arrived at a large passageway leading to one of the several designated areas for the testing and Senior Tan did not enter but waited outside as only the participants were allowed in.
"The rules for the preliminaries is to fight against combat puppets and win against puppets of three higher levels than yourselves." The group of thirty or so geniuses heard an immortal-foundation expert explaining the details as soon as they entered
Rows of combat puppets could be seen behind him. Evidently, everyone instantly understood that because the number of participants were too many, the preliminary test of fighting someone three cultivation levels above yours would already become an obstacle that would block the majority of these people.
"So many combat puppets, that's unreal!" Kang Tian, once more, was the one to break the silence with his enthusiasm.
"Cultivation base detection here." The group walked in front of a row of immortal-foundation experts. Two immortals turned their gazes into all of them and an instant later with a wave of their hands, a badge appeared on their robes besides their Sky Pill Medallion. Ji Bolin's badge had the number '2' on it just as many others like Kang Tian and Xu Wenling whilst Lu Yanlong was '3.' These numbers were directly related to their level of cultivation.
"Go over." One of the immortals spoke. The many of them walked through yet another passageway and entered the combat puppets area. There were already many people waiting here, and these were all participants for this first initial preliminary test.
"Combat puppets with overwhelming offensive and defensive aspects, very balanced and that could clearly suppress ordinary ascendants of the same level. Wanting to jump not one but three levels to win against these puppets is going to be hell of hard" Ji Bolin heard the now infamously talkative Kang Tian standing by his side commenting.
However this time they were surrounded by numerous strangers and someone from the crowd emotionlessly replied, "If you are useless, don't come here and waste time and throw away your face. In the Immortal Ascension Selection there are countless fate changing opportunities, who would want to give weaklings those."
This person who spoke sounded truly arrogant. Beside her, there were many other experts and everyone of them exuded an extraordinary demeanour. They were obviously from the same power. Yet two individuals among them still stood out, they were like the sun and the moon completely overshadowing the dazzling brilliance of the nearby stars.
"Not everyone knows their true limits. Forget about opportunities. If you meet a true genius during the selection whilst being weak, only death awaits you. Those who are disqualified should be happy instead as they get to preserve their worthless lives." One among them indifferently stated.
These punks were saying truthful words but they were far too arrogant and many of the young individuals present were thoroughly displeased. However, the two strongest among them didn't say anything, they were content to watch on silently, spectating the battles of others against the combat puppets.
⚫ ⚫ ⚫
Redcloud City, Recloud District, Testing Area 51.
"You, your turn" an immortal expert pointed at the arrogant young maiden that called out Kang Tian earlier. She was a 7th level ascendant and immediately walked towards the free combat puppet which was at the 9th level.
A fool would think that higher cultivation cultivators would be favoured as they cannot possibly fight against Immortal-ranked puppets but they couldn't be more wrong. The selection is aimed at finding true demon-level geniuses amongst a flock of fake ones so naturally they would not make such an oversight.
The puppets at the 9th level of the Celestial Phenomenon realm had access to wisps of law energies and depending on the cultivation of the examinee, would use various degrees of it. How tyrannical is an ascendant that had cultivated traces of law energies, that little punk was about to find out.
Before her, there was a human-form puppet whose eyes gleamed with sharpness. Human-form puppets usually are the strongest in both attacks and defence.
The young maiden released her constellation as a number of humongous mountains appeared in the air. Each mountain was at least 1,500 metres tall and with a wave of her hands, the mountains shot forth like comets, aiming straight for the combat puppet. Terrifying deafening sound echoed out from the impacts but suddenly the huge mountains were pulverised as the puppet broke through them.
The puppet had already appeared beside her.
The puppet blasted out a palm strike and the young maiden was sent flying, she had been completely defeated in a single strike. The arrogant words she previously said ironically applied to herself.
Yet she was by no means weak and thus the crowd of geniuses could not help but gasp, a solemn gleam flashed through the eyes of many of them. Those combat puppets possessed the might of ordinary geniuses of their respective cultivation state, it was bad news.
One of the two strongest individuals of her group criticked, "Trash!"
The crowd did not prevent themselves from sneering in disdain at the young maiden's defeat. "This is what you get for being cocky" was the collective thoughts of many of them.
The preliminaries continued and as they watched around themselves, many geniuses witnessed their fellowmen getting their ass beaten. They were all high ranking disciples of various powers but still could not even clear a simple preliminary round.
"You, Your turn to go", this time it was Ji Bolin that was designated. He leisurely walked up to his enemy combat puppet which was also a human-formed one and at the 5th level of the Celestial Phenomenon realm.
Ji Bolin released his constellation that instantly covered a stretch of the skies in frigid clouds. His hands formed a seal and a giant foot imprint manifested which then stomped the puppet. The latter blasted a tyrannical fist strike in counterattack but it was inconsequential, it was instantly and thoroughly overpowered.
A booming thunderous sound rang out as the body of the combat puppet was nailed to the floor under the might of the enormous foot imprint, it instantly cracked. However, Ji Bolin did not continue his offensive but retracted his strength after that so that he didn't completely shatter the combat puppet.
The remaining crowd's eyes widened as they gleamed with sharpness.
That young man could one shot a genius calibre combat puppet at three levels higher than himself, he was a true demon-level character.
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