Chapter 1302: Nine Leaf Skylotus (2)

At the moment, Wan Mingze was facing an old Skysoar in one of the rings. Unfortunately for the Skysoar, he was fully sealed right at the start of the match. This was what Wan Mingze had always been known for.

All his characters were related to sealing. With his numerous apertures and characters, the Skysoar was completely helpless against him.

Wan Mingze did not even bother to attack. He merely sealed his opponent for a short moment before releasing the seal. Just as his opponent was about to attack, he sealed his opponent again.

After several repetitions, the Skysoar was forced to surrender. Ji Hong and the other higher-ups watched silently.

Meanwhile, Wu Yuehua frowned as she raised her head to look at Wan Mingze. Suddenly, she asked, "It feels like this kid...lacks something."

When the others looked at her, she explained, "From that youth army he formed, it is clear he has great ideals. And he is also quite capable. However, in the path of cultivation, can one truly win the acknowledgment of everyone with such soft methods? Compared to the likes of Su Yu or even Huang Teng, Wan Mingze seems to lack a certain decisiveness and ruthlessness."

At that, Ji Hong returned his gaze to the ring. After a while, he said, "Decisiveness...some people won't act lightly. And when they finally act, they will act in a manner that will catch the world by surprise. Perhaps the time has yet to arrive for him to do anything. As a family member of Principal Wan, I find it hard to believe he's a soft and indecisive man."

How could the nephew of someone like Wan Tiansheng be a soft and indecisive man? Ji Hong greatly doubted that.

They stopped talking and continued observing the youngsters in the rings. Jiang Mu, someone who had accompanied Wan Mingze throughout the Human Realm, Zhan Hai, who once reigned at the top of the Top 100 Ranking, Zhang Hao, a previous partner of Su Yu who had also joined the Mutual Aid Club, and many others.

They might all be newcomers in the academy, and their cultivation levels varied between the third to the sixth stage of the Skysoar Realm, but their actual combat strength was very impressive.

For example, Zhang Hao of the Talisman Faculty was able to send over a hundred high-quality talismans mixed with the blood essence of soul devouring bug with a single wave of his hand. This was a suggestion Su Yu had given him back then. Interestingly, he had successfully implemented something that was merely a theory back then.

After winning the competition for the slots, they could be sent to the Nanyuan Ruin for some time. Coupled with some additional resources supplied by Great Xia, they could probably reach the Cloudbreach Realm or at least the late stage of the Skysoar Realm by the time the mansion was open.

Strictly speaking, they were all benefiting from Su Yu's contributions.

Thanks to the incomplete Five Elemental Art Su Yu had released in the Human Realm, many students were able to start opening their apertures at the Mental Tempering Stage. As long as they could keep up in the cultivation of their willpower and characters, it wouldn't take these people long to reach the late stage of the Skysoar Realm or even the Cloudbreach Realm.

Thanks to Su Yu's Acupoint Fusion Art, many of them were able to speed through the Infinite Strength Realm. A year after Su Yu released all these cultivation methods, the results were starting to become apparent.

A lot of the top experts had nearly forgotten about these cultivation methods by now, but among the lower-level cultivators, things had changed drastically. A large number of new geniuses had emerged among the younger generation. In fact, nowadays, one would be ashamed to call oneself a warrior before opening over a hundred acupoints.

Coincidentally, the source qi density of the Human Realm had increased significantly recently. Those who were lucky or talented enough were even able to break through repeatedly after the recent battle.

It was indeed true that a crisis was also a form of opportunity. With the emergence of so many young geniuses, the future seemed bright for Great Xia.

In the past, even reaching the fourth or fifth stage of the Source Opening Realm was considered a difficult feat for many students. Nowadays, many of them were able to reach the Great Strength Realm before even graduating from their secondary school. And the price of this? The lives of several Invincibles.

***

At the same time, Great Ming was also finalizing their list of candidates.

But their method of doing so was different.

Including the slots allocated to Niu Baidao, Great Ming had received sixty slots as well. In the past, they would only receive ten slots to allocate. Thus, this was a massive improvement from the past.

And this sudden improvement was giving Zhu Tiandao a massive headache. He finally understood what it meant to be burdened by too much wealth.

Sixty slots. Prior to this, they had already selected their ten candidates. What should he do with the rest of the slots? The people of Great Ming were too laid back and lazy. These people might not be willing to go even if they were given the slots.

Sure, he could pick more warriors to make up the numbers. But he still needed to pick some cultural researchers, right?

Zhu Tiandao was deep in thought while rubbing his chin. After a long while, he looked at the crowd before him and said, "Of the younger generation, we do have a few decent geniuses. But the number is too small. We simply don't have enough of them to fill all sixty of our slots. But we can't waste the slots, right? Perhaps...we should send some elderly over as well? Yes, it might get dangerous. But since they are already old enough to die, they might as well take the risk. Who knows? They might get lucky and end up living longer."

Zhu Tiandao grinned and said, "The strength of our prefecture lies not in our youth. Rather, it lies on our elderly. The older they are, the better they are. This time, humanity might take a risk and go further than the lowest three levels. Those elderly will be better equipped to deal with the increased danger of the higher levels."

He looked around before beaming at someone among the crowd. "Old Hu, why don't you lead by example?"

"..."

Hu Xiansheng continued stroking his white beard sagely. He looked completely unsurprised. He had guessed long ago that they would set their eyes on him.

All the other prefectures were busy selecting youngsters for the coming expedition, and here they were, selecting the elderly instead.

How...speechless.

Zhu Tiandao smiled and said, "We need to send the right people. In fact, we should send more elderly. They are so old that they will die soon anyway. They might as well take this risk, right?"

Hu Xiansheng said, "I can go, but can you subsidize me for the reconstruction of my teleportation door? I need at least my trump card if I'm doing something so dangerous, right?"

At that, Zhu Tiandao laughed and said, "You need to ask Old Niu about that. Didn't you kill a Pseudo Invincible for him? That was how he got his carrier treasure. He needs to reward you for that, right?"

"You have no idea!"

Hu Xiansheng said, "I did look for him. But he claimed that he was no longer in charge of his house. Ye Hongyan took everything he had. What am I supposed to do about that?" Well, there was nothing they could say.

Ye Hongyan had returned. She had taken control of all his assets. Hu Xiansheng had not been able to get anything from Niu Baidao.

As Zhu Tiandao laughed with amusement, Hu Xiansheng said, "By the way, that Wu girl...no, the two Wu girls are demanding to go. Prefect, this could get really messy so I didn't dare to agree. You should decide on this instead."

Wu Jia and Wu Lan.

Wu Jia had been sent to Great Ming before the previous conflict. Since Liu City wasn't exactly a safe place, Liu Wenyan and the others had not taken her with them when they left the Human Realm.

In a way, Great Ming had somehow turned into a sort of refuge for the endangered. That gave Zhu Tiandao another headache. He said, "This...is indeed tricky. We do have the slots to spare, but both of them are fresh Skysoars. Going there with their strength is the same as suicide."

This could indeed get very messy. Even the lowermost three levels would be too dangerous for those below the high-stage Skysoar Realm. In prior openings, humanity had mostly focused on the lowermost three levels. Even then, the bulk of those they sent were Cloudbreaches.

Wu Lan and Wu Jia might be multiple character cultivators with character techniques, and both were also quite accomplished in physical cultivation, but they were still too weak compared to the other top geniuses. Furthermore, they were also quite inexperienced in combat.

Both were also quite close to Su Yu. One had followed Su Yu all the way from Great Xia to Great Ming. The other was Su Yu's senior sister. They were too important to endanger.

After thinking about it, Zhu Tiandao said, "We need to communicate with those in Liu City about this before making a decision. How about this? Take them with you until you reach Liu City. When we're there, we can decide if those in Liu City don't object. If they object, that's as far as those two will go.

"Additionally, make sure Bai Junsheng and Cui Lang go as well. I'm confident Su Yu will be going. Maybe those two will receive some help from him because of what he owes them. In fact, I wish I could go myself to get some benefits from Su Yu. What a pity that I can no longer move around without attracting too much attention nowadays."

He sounded both gloomy and helpless.

Damn it!

He had not killed four Invincibles. Anyone with a brain could see that he wasn't that strong. Alas, even with such suspicion, people would not stop keeping an eye on him anymore. After the recent string of dao affirmations, there weren't too many existing potential Invincibles left among humanity.

He was one of them. Yun Chen was one. Xia Xiao'er was one as well. But with Xia Xiao'er's recent injuries, full recovery would be challenging. Thus, the myriad races would be looking forward to getting rid of both him and Yun Chen.

The more Zhu Tiandao thought about it, the more sullen he became. He said, "Take those demonic beasts of Su Yu with you as well. He can decide what he wants to do with them. Why are we wasting food feeding them here? They are living so good that they are starting to get fat. Two days ago, I saw that suanni. He has doubled in size since Su Yu left."

That suanni had been living a very comfortable life. With Su Yu absent, he had been mostly ignored. The research center did not lack resources. Whenever he said that he was hungry, Wu Lan and Wu Jia would give him some food. After living a few months like that, he had doubled in size.

Hu Xiansheng couldn't help laughing in amusement as he suggested, "Prefect, if we really have too many slots, I think we can give them to some of the demonic beasts living in Great Ming. For example, those looping turtles. That iron devourer can get one as well."

No matter what, these slots were actually very valuable. Even one of these slots would be invaluable for a minor race.

Previously, the majority of the slots would be monopolized by the major races, who would allocate some to their subsidiary slots. As for the human race, they had never been able to get too many of these slots. But this time, humanity had received a surprisingly large number of slots, to the point they could also be generous and give some of the slots away as well.

Zhu Tiandao nodded, "I find that agreeable. I won't be able to lead our team this time. The other races will definitely have their Invincibles escort their teams. When you're at the Allheaven Battlefield, discuss this with Old Niu. Tell him Great Ming's team should try to operate separately from the other prefectures."

"Sure."

The allocation of Great Ming's slots was very peaceful and calm.

A few days later, the human race had finalized the list of candidates.

The various prefectures started helping the chosen candidates to grow as much as possible before entering the Luminous Domain Mansion. Humanity hoped to get a lot more than what they had been able to get in the past. Thus, they had to be very serious about this.

***

The various races were preparing for the coming opening of the Luminous Domain Mansion. The mansion would open once every ten years. It was the best source of treasures and resources for the myriad races.

One could say that the Luminous Domain Mansion was akin to an unending deposit of treasures. One would never leave it empty-handed.

In fact, many of the carrier treasures, heaven weapons, cultivation methods, and precious fruits presently in circulation had been obtained from the mansion in the past. Even the dragonblood fruit tree that was currently in Su Yu's possession originated from the mansion.