The provincial governor took two deep breaths, fighting down the urge to kick his subordinate out of the room.
Put guests in jail cells? Do you think the ones arriving are people from the Dao Seeking Sect?!
He glared harshly at his subordinate. "Go and invite the immortal sect disciples over. There are still a few spare guest rooms in the estate. Go clean them up again—set up Spirit Gathering Formations where needed, and place Mind Nourishing Stones where appropriate."
"Yes, sir!"
Before long, three disciples from the immortal sects stepped into the prefectural yamen—two young men and a young woman, radiant with vitality and brimming with confidence.
Watching the three immortal sect disciples, the provincial governor nodded inwardly. As expected of disciples from the immortal sects. One glance was enough to tell they were dragons and phoenixes among men.
To attain Golden Core at such a young age—truly terrifying talent.
The provincial governor could perceive their cultivation realms: they had just achieved Core Formation. According to the letters from their sects, not one of them was even eighteen years old.
Eighteen-year-olds in the Golden Core stage, and all of them possessing first-grade golden cores—such cultivation speed was rare even in history.
In the coming struggle of the Golden Age, outstanding figures like them would surely be the true protagonists of the era.
"Greetings, Lord Governor. This humble one is Lan Ting of the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace." Lan Ting was slender and graceful, dressed in fluttering white robes. Her eyes were bright and dewy, sparkling like stars, the ribbons of her dress dancing as she walked.
"Bai Ming of the Five Elements Sect." Bai Ming wore his usual aloof expression.
"Yan Tianzhi, Prison Suppressing Sect." Yan Tianzhi was a man of few words.
"Tomorrow's tournament commentary will be in the capable hands of you three martial juniors," the provincial governor said, a beaming smile on his face. Although those competing tomorrow were of their generation, as disciples of the immortal sects, their insight and breadth of knowledge were extraordinary, more than enough to commentate on the tournament.
"We will certainly do our best."
"By the way, have you three seen anyone from the Dao Seeking Sect?"
The three shook their heads. They had set out from their respective sects and rendezvoused in Qingzhou, never encountering anyone from the Dao Seeking Sect.
"That is strange. The reply from the Dao Seeking Sect said they were dispatching two people this time—one named Lu Yang and one named Meng Jingzhou, the two most outstanding prodigies of their current generation. Going by the timing, they should have arrived by now." The provincial governor was perplexed, unable to fathom the reason.
Hearing those familiar names, Lan Ting recalled the days when they ran a barbecue shop in Yanjiang Commandery. She had received a mission from her sect to find a way to infiltrate the Immortal Cult, but due to a timing discrepancy, she had missed their recruitment window. Later, she met Lu Yang and his companions and learned that the three of them had successfully joined the Immortal Cult.
In the end, in Yanjiang Commandery, she had joined forces with Lu Yang and his companions to take down the Branch Master of the Yanjiang Branch.
Lu Yang and his companions had even earned the appreciation of the Immortal Cult's higher-ups and received promotions, while she had returned to her sect to report on her mission.
She had even wondered whether she should contact Lu Yang to ask if he needed any help, hoping they could root out another branch hall together.
Who could have expected that less than two months later, news of the Immortal Cult's total annihilation would arrive?
When she first heard the news, she had stood dazed for a long time, thinking it was a false rumor.
Only two months had passed!
Even though the public announcement claimed the Dao Seeking Sect and the imperial court had joined forces to wipe out the Immortal Cult's headquarters, Lan Ting was certain Lu Yang was definitely involved!
Later, when she went to the Dao Seeking Sect for a conference, their Eldest Senior Sister had even proposed that Lan Ting marry Lu Yang. It had frightened her master so badly that she grabbed Lan Ting and fled on the spot, terrified of being forced to stay.
To this day, Lan Ting still didn't understand why her master feared the Dao Seeking Sect's Eldest Senior Sister so much.
"Is that so..." The provincial governor frowned in worry, then quickly relaxed. Since the Dao Seeking Sect's reply said the two would come, they would certainly show up. Perhaps they were enjoying the festivities today and would head straight to the judges' seats tomorrow before the competition began.
That seemed plausible enough.
"Oh, right. The Hanging Temple asked us to pass a message to Lord Governor. Originally, the Hanging Temple planned to send Senior Brother Shi Chan, but an unexpected hitch arose while Senior Brother Shi Chan was spreading the Buddhist teachings, making it impossible for him to come. The Hanging Temple has few disciples to begin with, so they could not dispatch anyone else."
Shi Chan was the contemporary true disciple of the Hanging Temple.
"Did he encounter some danger? Does he require me to send men to assist?"
"It's not really danger. It's just that he could never wrap his head around the saying 'put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot,' so he joined a slaughterhouse to see if he could become a Buddha when he put down the butcher's knife."
The provincial governor choked on his words for a long moment, completely at a loss for how to respond. He could only say, "The hour is late. You three young friends should retire to the estate and rest."
After the provincial governor left, Lan Ting suddenly asked, "Senior Brother Bai Ming, your expression shifted when Lord Governor mentioned Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou. Do you know them?"
Bai Ming sighed. "More than just know them—I have crossed swords with him."
"Senior Sister Lan Ting might not know, but four months ago, my Five Elements Sect visited the Dao Seeking Sect for an exchange. In the Foundation Establishment stage matches, Lu Yang successively demonstrated Five Elements spells like the Three-Flavor True Fire and the Earth Escaping Art. I considered myself capable of standing head and shoulders above my peers in Five Elements spells, yet Lu Yang countered me in every single aspect."
"Just as I was about to lose, I had a sudden epiphany, broke through my bottleneck, and achieved a mid-battle breakthrough into late Foundation Establishment. What I never expected was that Lu Yang hadn't been taking me seriously from start to finish. When he saw me break through mid-battle, he was like a completely different person. His gaze and movements shifted entirely, and before I could even make a move, he defeated me in a single strike. If my master hadn't intervened in time, I would have been killed or crippled."
The Five Great Immortal Sects maintained cordial relations, and members of the same generation addressed one another as senior brother or senior sister.
"That strong?!" Lan Ting was astounded. She knew Lu Yang had astounding talent in spellcraft, but she never imagined he could defeat Bai Ming in one blow.
Yan Tianzhi's eyes widened as well, his face filled with sheer disbelief.
He had fought Bai Ming before; Bai Ming was proficient in both spearmanship and Five Elements spells, an absolute nightmare to deal with at both long range and close quarters. Defeated in one move?
"According to my master, what Lu Yang unleashed was a lost ancient divine ability—the Water Avoidance Art. Unless one possesses a specific countermeasure, this technique has no solution; it drains every drop of water from an enemy's body, reducing them to a desiccated corpse." Bai Ming felt a lingering dread whenever he recalled Lu Yang casually casting the Water Avoidance Art.
Judging by the effortless way Lu Yang wielded that ancient divine ability, even if Bai Ming had somehow survived the Water Avoidance Art, there would surely have been other divine abilities waiting for him.
"What is more, the Dao Seeking Sect's Grand Elder personally acknowledged that Lu Yang, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, fought and defeated opponents realms above his own."
Yan Tianzhi gave a slight smile, unimpressed. All three of them could defeat higher-realm opponents; it was hardly something worth bragging about.
Bai Ming said in a solemn voice, "He crossed three whole major cultivation realms! While still in Foundation Establishment, he defeated Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Soul Formation opponents!"
Lan Ting and Yan Tianzhi were struck dumb with shock. Crossing three major realms in combat was pure fantasy.
Lan Ting recalled that battle where she had fought alongside Lu Yang to kill the Branch Master of the Yanjiang Branch. Lu Yang had maintained an easy, nonchalant manner the whole time—so he had never actually fought at full strength!
"I suspect that when fighting across realms, he relied on favorable timing, geographic advantages, formations, medicinal pills, and other conditions," Bai Ming analyzed. Otherwise, he could not fathom how a Foundation Establishment cultivator could possibly defeat a Soul Formation expert.
Even so, being able to fight across three major realms was still utterly terrifying.
At the very least, none of the three of them could ever pull that off.
"What a shame that no one knows where the two of them went."
"Perhaps we'll see them tomorrow during the tournament."
Chapter 352