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Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, the two major characters of "Legend of the Dao Sect", even had individual chapters dedicated to their stories by Daoist Buyu, truly making their names renowned throughout the world.

Whether it was cultivators from other regions or local cultivators from the Imperial City, all had heard of their great fame.

And local cultivators of the Imperial City knew even more, such as the formidable reputation Meng Jingzhou once held in the Imperial City.

If it hadn't been for his later departure from home, there would be no such thing as the "Four Young Masters of the Imperial City."

Recently, Lu Yang's name had become somewhat more prominent than Meng Jingzhou's, as Daoist Buyu's ascension to the Transcendance Tribulation Stage attracted much attention, inadvertently shining the spotlight on Lu Yang as well.

Lu Yang held his forehead, not expecting to be so famous that Old Meng merely had to shout "Old Lu" for his identity to be guessed.

Since that was the case, there was no need for disguises anymore.

Lu Yang also removed his mask, revealing a face well-known to the people.

"It really is him!"

"You're Lu Yang!" Li Zhuo's attention shifted to Lu Yang.

His grandfather had some entanglements with Daoist Buyu, so he had instructed him that if he should ever encounter Lu Yang, he must teach him a good lesson.

Now, he felt managing to protect himself was good enough.

"Little Zhuo, you're acting quite arrogant, huh? Stealing someone else's seat when you have no place to dine. How come you didn't act like this when you were hanging out with me?"

Li Zhuo awkwardly offered a placating smile, not daring to speak.

"Uncle Xu, don't worry about us. We're going to take another stroll around the Imperial City."

"Alright," Xu You replied with a smile, and left the Tianxiang Tower.

"Young Master Meng, can I leave too?" Li Zhuo cautiously asked, inching backwards.

"Wait a minute, where do you think you're going? When I was bidding earlier, I said I'd pick up today's tab. Since you ended up bidding higher, doesn't that mean you should fulfill that promise?"

"What Young Master Meng says is right, absolutely right." Li Zhuo dared not utter a word of objection, now only wanting to quickly distance himself from Meng Jingzhou, unconcerned about any spirit stones or female companion.

"Alright, get lost."

Li Zhuo, as if granted amnesty, hastily left the Tianxiang Tower.

...

News that Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had shown up quickly spread throughout the Imperial City.

"What, the disciple of Old Buyu has appeared?" Upon hearing this, the Chief of Staff from the Ministry of Personnel couldn't sit still. His cultivation talent was limited, with no hope of reaching the Transcendance Tribulation Stage, thus he did not enter seclusion.

He had never thought he would have a chance to defeat Daoist Buyu, yet fate seemed to have thrown an opportunity his way with the arrival of Daoist Buyu's young disciple.

"Son, come here. How has your cultivation been going lately?" The Chief of Staff called over his youngest son, the most promising of all his children with the best talent for cultivation.

The son of the Chief of Staff was handsome and striking, capable of turning the heads of young ladies when walking down the main street.

"Thanks to the elixirs provided by father, I haven't encountered many bottlenecks, and have now reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage," he said.

The Chief of Staff nodded, then added, "I hear some people are now calling you a genius?"

His son displayed a confident smile, "I dare not claim to be a genius as that is merely the people's high regard, but in terms of battle, I indeed have never been defeated."

"That's good to hear. Daoist Buyu's young disciple, Lu Yang, has come. Your father may not be a match for Old Buyu, but now I'm counting on you. Go and compete with Lu Yang."

"Eh?" The Chief of Staff's son was flabbergasted. Sure, he was talented, but he was not up to competing with a prodigy like Lu Yang who had won the championship at the Dao Seeking Sect's 120,000th anniversary celebration.

After all, that was someone who could fight the Young Sect Master to a draw.

If I were that powerful, what would I be doing in the Imperial City? I'd have joined the Heavenly Court Sect in a heartbeat.

...

"Grandfather, I was bullied by Meng Jingzhou and Lu Yang." As soon as Li Zhuo returned to the Prime Minister's Residence, he cried injustice, growing more indignant with every step along the way. Yet he was no match for Meng Jingzhou and Lu Yang, and he could only seek his grandfather's help.

His grandfather had old scores to settle with both the Meng Family and Daoist Buyu, and any opportunity for payback was sure to be seized!

The Left Chancellor was an old man with white hair. After listening to Li Zhuo's exaggerated account, he pondered for a moment.

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"Are you saying that Old Buyu's disciple has also come?"

"It's mainly that Meng Jingzhou, he's really going too far!" Li Zhuo said indignantly, though he didn't care much for Lu Yang.

The Left Chancellor paid no heed, continuing to mutter to himself: "If you were to take Lu Yang as your big brother, then you and Lu Yang would be of the same generation, and Daoist Buyu would become the generation of my son, isn't that the logic?"

"What?"

"What indeed, go quickly and acknowledge Lu Yang as your big brother!"

...

Upon returning to the Meng Residence, Lu Yang received a snowfall of invitation cards, filling up an entire table.

"So many, quite popular, huh," Meng Jingzhou teased.

Despite having many enemies in the Imperial City, as Meng Family's Young Master, those who disliked him didn't dare to confront him openly.

Lu Yang drew a line in the middle of the table and explained to Meng Jingzhou: "On the left are challenge letters, and on the right are brotherhood pacts."

"The challenge letters are from the younger generation of my master's enemies, and the brotherhood pacts are from the grandchildren generation of my master's enemies."

"What are you afraid of with the challenge letters, just fight," Meng Jingzhou said.

Lu Yang sighed deeply: "I'm naturally not afraid of fighting alone, but the problem is that these are all joint challenge letters."

In other words, they were planning a group beating.

Meng Jingzhou scratched his head, this was indeed a tricky situation. Lu Yang couldn't possibly go into a group fight foolishly, nor could he just start acknowledging a bunch of underlings.

If he ignored these invitations and went out, it didn't rule out the possibility of Lu Yang being ambushed, or swarmed by people wanting to acknowledge him as their big brother.

"I've got an idea," Meng Jingzhou said, a flash of inspiration coming to him.

"What is it?"

...

The Luotian Forest, a small forest within the Imperial City, was a place where cultivators often came to sense the spirit of wood.

Today, Luotian Forest was busier than usual, bustling with the children of officials and disciples of influential families gathered together.

"You received a response from Lu Yang as well?" Li Zhuo chatted with the son of the Chief of Staff, whom he got along with well.

"Yeah, it said to come to Luotian Forest to resolve issues, but how come we haven't seen anyone after half a day?" the son of the Chief of Staff wondered.

Just as everyone was puzzled, they saw Meng Jingzhou leap down from the treetops.

"Quiet down, everyone. If anyone else speaks, I'll make my family raise your interest rates," he threatened.

The crowd immediately fell silent.

"The purpose of gathering everyone today is something you are all well aware of, all of you are here for my brother, Lu Yang."

"Some of you carry the hatred of the older generation and want to challenge Lu Yang, while others want to take advantage of our Sect Leader and take Lu Yang as your big brother. These feelings are understandable," Meng Jingzhou said.

"But there is only one Lu Yang. If you swarm him, he certainly won't be able to beat you all; if you all swarm to acknowledge him as your big brother, he won't be able to accept you either."

"To resolve this issue, Lu Yang and I have discussed and decided to host a grand tournament."

"A tournament?" the crowd frowned, not understanding Meng Jingzhou's intentions.

"As the saying goes, the strong are revered, and the strong have privileges," he explained.

"This tournament is named the First Annual Lu Yang Championship. It's a group competition, with pairs fighting against each other, the winners advancing to the next round until a champion is decided."

As everyone was still digesting Meng Jingzhou's words, suddenly a human-height red box descended from the sky, landing before Meng Jingzhou with exquisite packaging.

Meng Jingyu, standing atop a tree, caught her breath— it was she who had thrown the box.

Meng Jingzhou quickly opened the box, revealing Lu Yang tied to a chair, and introduced with ceremony:

"And this, is the prize of the tournament—Lu Yang."

"Whoever wins the tournament, be it to challenge Lu Yang or to take him as your big brother, will have the opportunity to do so."