I am a high-level martial arts master.

The capital of the Xia Kingdom, the Imperial City, stands majestically.

As the core of the entire Xia Kingdom's hundred cities, it is boundless in prosperity and exudes the aura of a golden age.

But within the palace, an invisible sense of solemnity emanated from the main hall.

Emperor Xia Changhan of the Xia Dynasty sat atop a nine-tiered dragon.

He wore a bright yellow dragon robe, his face still maintaining the majesty befitting an emperor, and gazed at the assembled ministers before him, saying:

"The Grand Tournament of the Immortal Sect, held once every ten years, is about to begin. Have the participants already been chosen?"

The Grand Tutor, the highest-ranking official among all officials, an elderly minister with white hair and beard, his face etched with the wrinkles of time, stepped forward upon hearing the call:

"Your Majesty, I have drafted a preliminary list of the ten candidates for this National Fortune Tournament."

He paused, then took out a gilded memorial from his sleeve and presented it with both hands:

"The list is here. I respectfully request Your Majesty's review. I have already begun making arrangements for the relevant matters, hoping that in the next tournament ten years from now, the ten of them can fight for the country."

Below, the assembled officials fell silent, their hearts filled with tension over the matter.

The National Fortune Tournament has become a taboo subject in the Xia Kingdom.

Imagine what the Xia Dynasty was like a hundred years ago?

With its vast territory, surrounded by thousands of cities, and abundant spiritual energy that has nurtured countless heroes, this land is blessed with a rich cultural heritage.

Acquired martial artists are as numerous as carp crossing a river, while those with innate martial arts are even more numerous, numbering in the hundreds.

However, seemingly overnight, an invisible curse descended.

The nation's fortunes are slipping away like sand through an hourglass, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is becoming increasingly scarce.

The talents of the younger generation seem to be stifled by an invisible hand, each generation is worse than the last, and the speed at which talent is fading is alarming.

Without a constant supply of new blood, the Xia Kingdom's value in the eyes of the Immortal Sect plummeted.

For the immortal sects, the role of the various kingdoms is to stably produce a sufficient number of prodigies.

Without the supply of Tianjiao, it naturally lost its effectiveness and failed in the national destiny competition time and time again.

With each failure, the entire country shrinks by a fraction, its spiritual energy diminishes by a tenth, and its environment deteriorates slightly.

After a century of consecutive defeats, the Xia Kingdom suffered repeated setbacks, and its cultivation environment and territory deteriorated day by day, even becoming unsuitable for innate cultivation.

Currently, there are tens of thousands of people in the Later Heaven Perfection realm throughout the entire Xia Kingdom.

However, with only five people born with the same constitution, and each of them residing in the capital, their strength is more than a hundred times weaker than it was a hundred years ago.

Therefore, in the eyes of the court officials, the selection of participants for the national destiny contest was merely a matter of choosing who would lose, and there was no need for further discussion. The morning court session ended in a somber atmosphere.

The Grand Tutor dragged his weary body back to his residence, where his study was already piled high with scrolls.

That's a photo album of the outstanding individuals who emerged from the grand competition of a thousand cities in the Xia Kingdom.

On the desk, a solitary lamp illuminated his deeply lined face.

What he needs to do is to select the 100 most promising talents from this vast collection of records, bring them back to Kyoto for intensive training, and hope that there will be a glimmer of hope in the next tournament ten years from now.

As for the current cohort?

In the eyes of the Grand Tutor, it was already a situation where defeat was inevitable.

Half a month ago, the greatest genius of our time, nurtured with ten years of painstaking effort and the resources of the entire nation, was utterly defeated by the prodigy of the neighboring country, Li, foreshadowing his fate.

The Grand Tutor sighed deeply, forced himself to stay focused, and buried himself in the illustrated book.

The candlelight flickered, and the night passed quietly.

As the first rays of morning light pierced through the window, a hundred photo albums were finally sorted out on the table.

He rubbed his aching temples, feeling the stagnation of his internal energy and the decline of his blood and qi.

Before reaching the Innate Realm, after the age of one hundred, one's vital energy and blood will rapidly decline, lifespan will be like a candle flickering in the wind, combat strength will be reduced to less than one-tenth, and one will have only a few years left to live. These hundreds of selected portrait albums were ranked by the Grand Tutor according to the degree of their performance; those with higher talent in the Grand Tutor's eyes were ranked higher. The top three albums of portrait albums featured:

"Zhonghe City! Shengfeng City! Yan City!"

Soon after, the names on these hundred commemorative photographs were recorded and sent from the day after tomorrow to the Xia Kingdom, summoning these prodigies to the capital to meet the Emperor! Guangming City.

More than a month has passed since the blood-soaked carnage that nearly reduced the city to ruins.

Ye Li sat cross-legged in the quiet room, his body enveloped in a faint golden halo.

The true energy condensed by the Azure Dragon Crossing Calamity Technique surged like a mighty river, roaring and rushing through the broad and resilient meridians, constantly impacting the invisible barrier. Finally, accompanied by a soft "pop" sound within the body, the 55th bone acupoint was suddenly opened!

After the bone acupoint opened, a surge of power instantly coursed through his limbs and bones, causing his muscles and skeleton to emit a subtle hum, as if infused with new life. He could clearly feel the power and speed of his flesh and blood taking another solid small step forward with the opening of this bone acupoint. "Hoo..."

Ye Li slowly finished his practice, opened his eyes, and his eyes shone with a sharp light.

He got up, stretched his muscles and bones, and his joints cracked softly.

Stepping out of the quiet courtyard, the warm spring sunshine bathed Ye Li in its warmth. As always, he joked with Jiang Xiyue for a while before taking the initiative to seek out Wei Wanxi, who was cultivating.

In the secluded courtyard, Wei Wanxi stood quietly under the paulownia tree, dressed in a plain white Taoist robe, her posture as upright as a solitary snow lotus, concentrating on the ancient longsword in her hand.

"Miss Wei."

Ye Li's calm voice broke the silence of the courtyard: "I have good news for you."

Wei Wanxi sheathed her sword with fluid and natural movements, and said somewhat impatiently:

"Yi Yangfan has been found?"

"That's right, his meridians have been severed, and he's been imprisoned on death row."

Ye Li smiled and nodded, saying, "I'll just wait for you to avenge your enemies, return to the Ji Kingdom, and become your celestial fairy."

Upon receiving the confirmation, Wei Wanxi breathed a sigh of relief, her heart filled with the joy of returning home.

But upon seeing the smiling young man before him, for some reason, his longing to go home suddenly diminished and became less urgent.

With a hint of melancholy she herself couldn't understand, Wei Wanxi slowly said:

"Please take me to where Yi Yangfan is, Young Master Ye."

"Why don't you stay and let us give you a final send-off party or something?" Ye Li said with a smile.

"No, parting is painful and only adds to my worries. I am not a citizen of Xia Kingdom, and I am partly responsible for the disaster here. It would be better to leave as soon as possible to avoid inviting disaster by fate." Wei Wanxi slowly shook her head.

"God willing?"

Ye Li's expression shifted; upon first hearing this term, he couldn't help but ask curiously:

What is destiny?

"It is the will and rules of this universe."

Wei Wanxi was born in the State of Ji and knew a great deal, hence the explanation:

"Martial artists who defy the heavens incur the envy of the heavens and are tormented by others."

"Strong individuals attract each other, and their terms naturally gravitate towards each other. The stronger a term is, the stronger its fortune is, and the more likely it is to attract nearby strong individuals to gather."

"The golden entry means that even a hermit who wishes to live in seclusion will find that his village is full of hidden masters." "Therefore, in the universe, there is no reason for martial artists to live a life of compromise. Only by defying the heavens and seizing life from the heavens can they achieve longevity."

"Simply enduring the situation will only lead to disasters accumulating like a snowball until they become insurmountable."

Ye Li's lips twitched; he hadn't expected there to be such a thing.

Damn it, why is fate so cruel, not allowing Gou Daoliu to survive?

He was thinking of staying in Guangming for a few years after this matter was over, and then emerging from seclusion when he was at the Xiantian level. But Wei Wanxi said that staying too long would lead to encountering high-level monsters? "So, the entire universe will never have a peaceful day?" Ye Li said.

Wei Wanxi nodded and said, "From the moment you embark on the path of martial arts, only by constantly strengthening yourself can you cope with many calamities."

"Sometimes when powerful people meet, a battle breaks out in an instant, destroying areas within tens of thousands of miles. It is common for them to wipe out many small countries in a short time." "For example, the Ji Kingdom where I am located constantly sends its people to fight in the four borders, diverting disasters outward. Guangming suffered this undeserved calamity." On the way, Ye Li's mouth twitched as he listened to Wei Wanxi's description.

As he walked, he led Wei Wanxi into the dungeon.

Looking at the graceful figure of the woman beside him, her white Taoist robe revealing slender branches laden with fruit, Ye Li clenched his fists tightly.

My own arduous practice over the past month.

They locked Yi Yangfan up for over a month just for this crucial moment!

Ye Li was not after beautiful women, but only to overcome his inner demons.

Wei Wanxi led Yi Yangfan into the gloomy dungeon. In a cell deep inside, Yi Yangfan lay sprawled on the cold, damp ground like a lump of mud. As one of the culprits behind the Guangming Blood Corpse, he naturally didn't have a good life; he just clung to life every day, and after a month, he was emaciated. Seeing Yi Yangfan's appearance, Wei Wanxi subtly became suspicious.

This appearance is rather stern, not at all like someone who was just locked up.

But the girl didn't ask any more questions. In an instant, she beheaded Yi Yangfan, giving him a quick death.

As the white rainbow swept across his neck, a look of relief flashed in Yi Yangfan's eyes.

Ye Li could sense it.

The fear deep within his soul caused by the "Dao Heart Transformation into Demon" completely dissipated with Yi Yangfan's death. In other words!

Now, without the fear and trembling of his prime, Ye Li has officially returned!

With Yi Yangfan's death, the barrier covering the entire Guangming area completely disappeared.

Wei Wanxi recalled the news that she would be returning in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, and looked at the young man beside her with his head down, saying:

"Young Master Ye, this is goodbye forever."

Wei Wanxi didn't notice as they were talking.

His own tone carried a hint of reluctance that he himself was unaware of.

At this moment, she is not in the completed state of "Dao Heart Clarity".

As time goes by, her talent and ability will increase day by day, never ceasing to improve.

From now on, she will return to Ji Kingdom and may never care about this small town again in her life. She will gradually become a Xiantian, a Grandmaster, a Martial Saint... As for the young man in front of her, he is exceptionally talented and is second to none in Xia Kingdom, but reaching the Grandmaster realm may be his limit.

Faced with a young man who had taken liberties with her twice, she might quickly become indifferent and then devote herself wholeheartedly to martial arts.

If Ye Li is fortunate enough to become a Grandmaster, he will be able to rely on his long lifespan and status.

Perhaps one day the two will have a chance to meet again, but by then everything will have changed.

"Young Master Ye, I may never forget you in this lifetime, but that's all."

Wei Wanxi thought to herself silently, filled with the sadness of parting.

But in the next instant, the moment Yi Yangfan died.

Wei Wanxi's heart sank suddenly as a hand climbed up and squeezed it until it was deformed!

Ye Li's usually somber face broke into a smile: "Plan succeeded!"

Ohhhhhhhh!!!

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