The spectators didn't expect Jiang Mang to win after his death qi wave proved to be quite ineffective, and they hoped that Bai Han would trample on him. Unfortunately, the match ended in only a couple of seconds with Bai Han's defeat. This shocked the crowd into silence.
Jiang Mang, the winner, remained undisturbed and left the arena as his presence wasn't needed anymore. This action stunned headteacher Zhu, but it wasn't completely unsuspected for the old man as he knows Jiang Mang's character. There were also other people in the crowd paying attention to the boy, one of them was a girl around the age of fourteen who hid her face behind a veil. The girl was incredibly interested in the boy, and people would see sparkles in her eyes if they could look into them. She muttered some words to herself before leaving the spectator stands without being noticed.
The tournament ended in a rather undramatic way and the students returned to their daily training and cultivation under the teachers. It was already the next day, and Jiang Mang headed towards the technique department to choose a technique. When he arrived, he was guided by a vice-head to the floor just below the top floor where all peak Xuan tier techniques were kept.
Jiang Mang searched the entire floor and found two suitable techniques. The first was called needle compression, which allowed the user to compress any type of qi into a needle whose penetration power would be equivalent to the peak of their realm as long as the user is beneath the saint stage. The second was called yin daggers, which required the user to possess a yin attributed qi like Jiang Mang's death qi to form one or multiple flying daggers. These flying dagger will poison the target with the concentrated yin qi, which can only be overcome by a yang attribute qi of equivalent quality or the qi from a saint realm cultivator and above.
Jiang Mang chose the second technique due to his familiarity with throwing knives and its poison attribute, which is effective to those in the manifestation realm if the daggers manage to wound the target. While he was returning to the musician's house, he was obstructed by a person. He wanted to avoid that person but he was unable to.
The obstructor spoke to him: " You are prince Jiang Mang from the Kingdom of swords, who has awakened twin spirits right? I want to converse with you in private so follow me to my private room."
The obstructor was a young girl who he didn't know but was stronger than him, or else he could have avoided her. This aspect piqued his interest, which made him agree to her command.
The two persons went towards a secluded residence on campus. The girl went inside and sat down before permitting Jiang Mang to sit down. Jiang Mang was not okay with her arrogant tone but kept his thoughts to himself. The girl introduced herself as the little princess Chu Lingxin who is known as the greatest talent on the Xuan continent. Chu Lingxin has already entered the manifestation realm three months ago, which explained Jiang Mang's loss while her identity explains her manner of speech.
She then brought up her reason for inviting him. She brought up the fact that both of them would not find opponents of their age on the Xuan continent and should thus try to aim higher. She explained that there was a world outside of the Xuan continent with much more talented people and stronger powers. She explained the 81 small and 9 large continents and their origin which he already knew and was thus disinterested in.
When she finished her initial explanation she expected to see astonished on the boy's face but it remained indifferent which irked her. She thus continued flaunting her knowledge in the hope of changing the boy's face.
She elaborated on the power structure of this world, which caught his interest as he didn't know this. She told him that the oceans and forests where spirit beast territory while the plains involved the human territory. Both parties ruled about over 40 percent of the world's territory while the remaining 20 percent were deemed death zones. The humans were led by nine powers which were helmed by peak emperor realm cultivators. These nine powers were known as the four empires, three palaces, and two sects. The four empires are called the Sun empire, the Moon empire, the Beast empire, and the Heaven empire. The three palaces are collectively known as the Zither palace, the Sword palace, and the Five elements palace, while the two sects are called the Holy maiden sect and the Devil sect.
The Sun and Moon empire are long-standing allies who specialize in Yang and Yin attributed qi. The Sun empire is known for its archers while the Moon empire is known for its water and ice techniques. The Beast empire is ruled by noble families who deem bloodlines and bloodline purity as the highest priority. The Heaven empire is known for its heritage in body cultivation techniques and close combat techniques.
The two sects are enemies since primordial times where the Holy maiden sect only accepts females with extraordinary beauty and requires them to remain pure, whereas the devil sect is known for its sinister techniques and usage of cultivation cauldrons of which the Holy maiden's disciples are the most sought after.
Then there are the three palaces left of which the Sword palace only accepts sword cultivators in contrast to the Five elements palace who accept any type of cultivator as long as they are talented enough. The Five elements palace is also known for its greatest variety of techniques and its mastery over elemental control. The most mysterious power is the Zither palace as they only accept musician cultivators, which are amongst the rarest type of talented cultivators. The Zither palace specializes in qi songs and has the least amount of people but is also known as the most troublesome of all powers as each disciple is extraordinarily talented in illusions, mental attacks, and sound attacks which are invisible to the eye and thus most difficult to avoid.
The 9 powers mass recruit new disciples from the 81 small continents each decade, and only those who have reached the saint stage and are below the age of twenty are eligible to participate in the recruitment. This was the actual reason why Chu Lingxin invited him as the next recruitment would take place in less than five years. She wants Jiang Mang to breakthrough to the saint stage in five years to ally with her during the recruitment and increase their chances of being recruited.