Chapter 1194: The Beginning
“Even Chris barely managed to make the fallen angel open her eyes. Let’s go!”
In the crowd—Hai Tuo, Huan Lieshen and the other Ascendants from Silvy saw the test results of some of their old friends. Some made them feel pressured, while others amused them.
“I may not be the best, but I’m definitely better than Chris. He always acts arrogant whenever we meet. We almost ended up fighting when we competed over the purple crystal mines,” said Hai Tuo with a smile.
Huan Lieshen glanced at him and said, “Being the lord of our galaxy, you must not embarrass yourself.”
“Tsk. Why don’t you go as representatives of Silvy to inspire awe then? Su Ping, the talented little fellow, is from our place. You must not embarrass yourselves!” Hai Tuo chuckled.
“You’re wasting my time. I’ll go.” You Ying rose and stepped up.
You Ying’s result was out soon after; he only made the fallen angel open one of her eyes.
“Was that your best?” Hai Tuo’s eyes widened.
You Ying coughed. “I’m more of an assassin, you know; my skills are better than my strength. It was a given that my reading couldn’t have been too high.”
Hai Tuo rolled his eyes angrily, then urged Huan Lieshen and the other Ascendants to step up. He didn’t want You Ying to bring shame to their galaxy.
All of them took part in the testing, Huan Lieshen being the most impressive of all. Not only did he make the fallen angel open her eyes, the lower half of a wing was also glittering!
“You’ve been hiding yourself well.”
Everybody was astonished by Huan Lieshen’s performance.
Hai Tuo completed his test too, and his result was similar to Huan Lieshen’s. It was above average when compared with all the Ascendant cultivators.
Those who had activated the wing’s lower half were above-average.
Activating half a wing placed them among the top Ascendants.
The better ones could activate a whole wing, and were very close to becoming Heavenly Lords.
As for managing two wings, only Heavenly Lords could do it.
Song Yuan—who had activated almost both wings—was at the top even among all the Heavenly Lords!
Hai Tuo was quite satisfied with his result. He didn’t forget to drop a taunting look at his old opponents from the neighboring galaxies.
They simply sneered back at him with equal intent.
Once half of the participants took the test, those present could reckon the average performance. Those who activated two eyes were already remarkable, and could be appointed as secondary generals.
As for the main generals, the Heavenly Lords would probably assume those positions.
In the crowd—the Heavenly Lords of the Loulan family had solemn faces. “It’s about time. The Loulan family should participate.”
“Let me go first.” Jian Lan looked at the people next to her. Some of them were her brothers, some her nephews, and others were even her extremely gifted grandchildren.
There were altogether five Heavenly Lords in the Loulan family!
Theirs was a top force with the most Heavenly Lords, except for the organizations run by the twelve Celestials.
Furthermore, the five Heavenly Lords were family members. They weren’t guest experts.
The upcoming war would affect the entire universe. Aside from the saints on the Original Planet, almost all the forces had been involved; few could remain neutral.
For various reasons—including their connection to Su Ping—the Loulan family had decided to join Shen Huang’s alliance.
“Grandmother.” Loulan Lin looked at Jian Lan with light in her eyes. “Grandmother, go for it!”
Jian Lan chuckled. She had lived countless years, and had participated in various sorts of matches when she was young; she didn’t need any cheering.
She petted Loulan Lin and said, “I will show that little kid that the Loulans are worthy of him!”
Loulan Lin felt dazed, then she blushed.
Jian Lan rose and dashed toward the statue. The participation of a Heavenly Lord had instantly caught a lot of attention.
“She’s Heavenly Lord Jian Lan of the Loulan family!”
“Heavenly Lord Jian Lan is as graceful as ever.”
“She might seem pretty, but she once slashed apart a river of stars. That area is still desolate to this day; her sword aura has lingered there for tens of thousands of years, without ever fading.”
Many Ascendants whispered.
In pure white, Heavenly Lord Jian Lan flew toward the fallen angel. She casually extended two fingers like a sword, which concentrated Ascendant power at the tips. She then pointed at the Divine Descent Stone moments later.
A dazzling golden light was instantly spread by the stone. The fallen angel quickly opened her eyes; then, the wings behind her back unfolded and became brilliant.
One and a half wings were glowing after only a short while. Ascendants only needed a quick glance to count 1623 feathers in total!
“Almost two wings. Heavenly Lord Jian Lan turns out to be among the top of her peers!”
“No wonder the Loulan family had her take the test first.”
“Heavenly Lord Jian Lan always keeps a low profile. I always thought that she was just mediocre among those of her level. I didn’t know that she was this strong!”
Many Ascendants were astounded. Her performance definitely placed her among the top ten.
All the top experts of the three star zones were present; her result was already remarkable.
“Everybody is fighting for positions in the army; the Loulan family cannot wait any longer,” observed Senior Brother Han.
Ji Xueqing narrowed her eyes. “I fought against her 80,000 years ago. She wasn’t this terrifying back then.”
“I heard the rumor that she left for Mirror City in the ninth space. Seems like the rumor is true,” said Song Yuan calmly.
“The Loulan family is not bad,” remarked the taciturn Chunyu.
Su Ping looked at the Loulan Lin family. He remembered that Heavenly Lord Jian Lan was Loulan Lin’s grandmother, but he didn’t know she was that tough.
Loulan Lin happened to be looking back at Su Ping. Their eyes met; she quickly turned away out of fright.
Heavenly Lord Jian Lan was casually returning to where her family was.
The other Heavenly Lords of the Loulan family also took the test. Even their weakest had also activated one and a half wings. In terms of Ascendant State value, their readings were around 7,000.
Some of the experts from the Void Star Zone stepped up after the Loulans finished. They were from the Yuantian family, one of the seven biggest families in the universe.
The Yuantians were really close to Xu Kong, but they had huge conflicts with the Loulans. They took action right after the Loulans were done.
Su Ping learned about the Yuantian family business from his senior brothers and sisters. They were focused on selling and managing both mines and planets, whereas the Loulans’ forte was on developing armor for pets and battle pet warriors. Both families did have additional reach in other markets, though.
“Huh?”
Su Ping suddenly saw a petite girl amongst Yuantians and found her familiar.
“Lulu, what’s wrong?”
Next to that girl was a plump and elegant Ascendant State woman. Noticing the girl’s reaction, she turned to find the cause and only saw Shen Huang’s disciples, including the unparalleled genius who had become the center of attention in recent times.
“N-Nothing.”
Yuan Linglu quickly shook her head while having conflicting emotions.
She had the idea that she would never see Su Ping again after she left the Blue Planet. But then she met him during the Universe Geniuses’ Contest, and was left far behind.
She thought that would be it; they were worlds apart and would never meet again. However, she was noticed by the Yuantian family thanks to her performance in the Universe Geniuses’ Contest. They realized that she carried the Yuantian family’s bloodline.
They received her in the family, and activated her bloodline through various rituals and secret techniques. Her latent power was activated, replacing her former physique with the Void Mountain Constitution, one of the top ten in the universe.
Because of that, the Yuantian family started to invest a lot of resources on her. She was even admitted by the Divine Dome Academy, becoming one of the institution’s goddesses.
She thought that her life would be brilliant henceforth, but she heard Su Ping’s name time and again, until she got to see him there; he was like a shadow in her life.
“I heard that Su Ping came from one of the Original Planet’s duplicates, just like you. Did you know each other back then?” asked the Ascendant woman softly, too shrewd to be fooled.
Yuan Linglu bit her lips and nodded.
“Was he… your enemy?” The Ascendant State woman looked away as she asked in a low voice.
Countless incidents from the past flashed in Yuan Linglu’s head. In the end, she shook her head and gnashed her teeth. “No. He never thought I was a big deal. I…”
She felt bitter. She didn’t think she was Su Ping’s enemy, mainly because the gap between them was too wide.
Even though she was a star of the Yuantian family and could become a Heavenly Lord in the future, she wasn’t nearly as brilliant as Su Ping.
“That’s great.” The Ascendant woman was secretly relieved and was no longer tense. “And even if he was, you must make peace with him. There is perhaps an unknown Celestial supporting him. He is also as valuable as a top Heavenly Lord thanks to his technique for cultivating multiple small worlds!”
Yuan Linglu bit her lips. She had heard of Su Ping’s value a million times. The geniuses she was acquainted with and those in the academy would talk about him all the time.
Su Ping’s name had spread throughout the universe ever since the geniuses’ contest. It seemed that Su Ping’s era had dawned upon the whole cosmos.
Wherever she went, she would hear people talking about the unparalleled genius.
“I know,” said Yuan Linglu in a low voice.
Deep down in her heart, she hoped she could learn the unprecedented method to cultivate multiple small worlds too, being a Star Lord herself!
The Yuantian family’s tests were over. They were on par with the Loulan family.
Time went by, one Ascendant after the other took the test. Some of them were unknown, but achieved remarkable results, while some of the considered famous had performed mediocrely.
Finally, the tests were over.
Shen Huang retrieved the fallen angel statue holding the Divine Descent Stone. Su Ping had learned from his seniors during the testing that the statue was an artifact recovered from some ruins in the depths of the universe. The ruins had been explored by Celestials, but no one knew what else they had found.
“Here’s a ranking based on your performance just now; you should know your capabilities well,” said Shen Huang on the throne, “Every army needs a commander, and the strongest among you shall be appointed. Now, please step out if you want to compete for the position.”
Everyone was exchanging looks after hearing that.
All of them had thought that the commander would be picked before the generals were, so they were more excited than surprised. The show was finally on.
The fight for the commandery would undoubtedly be the fiercest.
Song Yuan chuckled after hearing his master’s announcement. “It’s our turn. Just stand up; no need to be courteous.”
“Honest we shall be then, first senior brother. I hope you won’t go easy on me if we run into each other,” said Ji Xueqing while chuckling, then she stood up.
“I would also like to try,” said Senior Brother Han with a smile.
Chunyu rose in silence.
Most of the seats around Su Ping were empty after they stood. He had been sitting between his third senior brother and fourth senior sister. Many of his seniors were Heavenly Lords.
Altogether nine of his seniors stood up.
“Senior Brother You Long, go for it!” Su Ping cheered.
The latter smiled. “I should be able to win as long as I don’t encounter the monsters that sat next to you.”
The nearby Zhu Feng said angrily, “Stop being pretentious; everybody knows that you’re as sly as a leech.”
The Heavenly Lords from the other forces had also moved by then.
As for the Ascendants who weren’t Heavenly Lords, most were sensible enough to sit that one out. Only three of them chose to join the competition, which caught a lot of attention.
All those present looked around to see the participants, seeing more than forty Heavenly Lords in total!
Only thirteen of them stayed in the auditorium. They had obviously chosen to save their strength after considering their odds.
“All right. Everyone will enter the void battlefield where we left our clones. You’ll be qualified to join the following contest if you can endure one punch given by a clone; those who fail will be eliminated. You can come out and wait for the next competition round.”
Everybody was calm. They had clearly been previously briefed about the selection process.
All the Heavenly Lords rushed into the bubbly battlefield.
The fog in the partial bubble was dispersed when they entered, revealing the vast terrains inside. All the participants were as small as ants inside. It seemed that the inner space had been expanded hundreds of times.
Everybody then saw the three Celestials inside. They were actually clones with Celestial power.
Endure one punch from a Celestial? Su Ping’s eyes glittered. He looked at his master hovering above. With how sturdy my body is, it shouldn’t be a problem for me to take a punch from my master, right?