Chapter 79 The Meet Begins (1/2)

The Pure Land of Mount Tai was lush and green. The howls of various animals could be heard, and occasionally unknown birds of prey would swoop across the skies. They were ferocious beasts that came from the line of ancient historical beasts and much stronger that any beast of the present age. They resided in the nine divine peaks, and the divine aura of the main peak was the strongest.

There was a huge parade square on the holy and elegant main peak. It was the location where every meet would be held, and a huge palace was above it. It looked as majestic as royal palaces, and not only was it entirely white, countless rays of white light shot out from within, giving it a holy aura.

The Headmasters, elders and important figures of various sects sat in front of various palaces. Their cultivation base was profound, and they used magic to separate the other practitioners at the parade square. They seemed to solemnly discuss something. Everyone seemed to be especially focused on this Gathering of Practitioners.

The tradition during ancient historical times was to hold the meet once every five centuries, but to live for more than six centuries in the era of the late arts could already be considered as very fortunate. Those that lived for more than a millennium were known as Saints and exceptional talents that could enter the Voiding Realm. As such, the meets were held once every century instead.

Each meet would serve as an opportunity for the young prodigies of their generation to meet and interact with each other. Those that were ranked the top three of each meet would almost definitely be geniuses that could reach the Joint Tao Realm.

There was even a Greater Power during ancient historical times that predicted the emergence of a Great Age two millennia later during the era of late arts. There would be huge turbulence then, and among the strongest batch of geniuses that would rise up, one of them had a chance of attaining immortality in the Age of Dharma Decline!

The elders knew that there were too many exceptional talents attending this year's Gathering of Practitioners. Since the Age of Dharma Decline, there had never been such a huge gathering of prodigies, and unquestionably this was the Great Age prophesied during ancient historical times. Who would stand out among the prodigies? This was their major concern, as it concerned the attainment of immortality after all.

Disciples of various sects had gathered in the parade square below, and the Headmasters and elders in the palaces began to scrutinize them. An elder of the Unfettered Sect nodded and smiled as he said, ”Haha, Xiao Fengyi's cultivation base has improved again. This is surprising.”

”That's Wu Kuang from my sect, he's also a talent that emerges once every few centuries!” Said a Lingwu Sect elder as he laughed.

”Haha, I saw him compete secretly with Lin Yangan of my sect just now, and they were on par with each other,” said a Zhenyang Sect elder.

”Jin Zhan from our Crazy Saber Sect is also no weaker than your disciples,” said an elder from the Crazy Saber Sect.

...

The sects were already competing with each other even before the meet had started. No one was willing to give in, and all of them felt that the talents of their own sects were the strongest. Suddenly, an elder from the Zhenyang Sect who had been resting opened his eyes. He looked below and remarked, ”This swordsman from Shushan already has a Sword Core! They managed to find such a remarkable talent, which I believe will only emerge once every millennium!”

The attention of everyone else turned to the young man carrying a holy sword, and they took good measure of him. An old practitioner, whose hair was completely white, was so shocked that he took two steps back. ”Is that sword he's carrying... Scarlet Heaven, the Emperor's Sword?” He said.

”What did you say?!”

Everyone turned to look at the youth again, and they realized that the sword he was carrying contained an overpowering aura, and its hilt was red. They then turned to look at the Headmaster of Shushan, and he sighed as he explained, ”That's indeed Scarlet Heaven, the Emperor's Sword. I've already passed this ultimate treasure of our sect to Feng Tianming.”

Everyone was shocked upon hearing his statement. Scarlet Heaven was ranked third out of the 10 great swords. As the Emperor's Sword, it would only acknowledge the swordsmanship of exceptional geniuses, and it was recognized by Shushan as its ultimate treasure after the sect obtained it. Only the Headmaster of Shushan could use it, and everyone could easily guess his intentions and determination from his act of passing the sword to this particular disciple.

”Are those the three fairies of the Palace of Hundred Flowers? All of them possess rare physical attributes, and one of them even seems to possess an innate spirit!” Someone exclaimed before the commotion had died down.

They turned to look downward again. The Palace of Hundred Flowers was famous for producing disciples that were great beauties, and they had three exceptional talents in this generation. They were stunning, and countless practitioners were completely head over heels as they watched them walk alongside each other.

The elders observed their physical attributes closely and realized that all three of them possessed exceptional physiques well suited to cultivation. One of them even possessed an innate spirit, and this was an attribute that was rarely seen even during ancient historical times.

The elders kept nodding and felt their emotions stir. Just as they were about to turn away, there was another exclamation. ”That's the secular monk Ning Zhe of the Buddhists, the disciple of the great monk! Rumor has it that he's suspected to be the reincarnation of Buddha himself, and he's so smart that he can understand any Buddhist doctrine. He's already at peak Void Returning Realm strength!”

The elders turned their heads once again and looked at a Buddhist with thick flowing black hair. His forehead was bulging, and a faint gold glow emanated from his body. It was the sign of mastery of the Golden Buddha Manifestation technique, and all of the elders were shocked. Some of them even dropped their tea cups onto the ground.