A few moments after Sheng Tian left, countless other people followed after him. This was the first part of the competition where every sect fights for a jade slip containing information on the competition. If one were not able to procure a jade slip then they are out of the competition.
The reason for this is because there were simply too many powers participating in the competition. This trial will eliminate all but fifty powers and the rest will be set up in a smaller competition after.
The elders and leaders of the myriad of powers flew to a floating platform in the sky. It was an unspoken rule to stick to one's own factions here and everyone split up into four groups.
The ones that stuck out the most were the half-bloods who had a humanoid body with beast-like features.
The second was the Wicked powers that know nothing but cruelty and slaughter. They gave off a baleful aura due to their cultivation techniques.
Then there are the Righteous powers who claim to protect the secular world and uphold rules when half of them are more scheming and vicious than the wicked practitioners.
And finally there were the neutral powers who took no side. The Sky Sword Sect is a part of this group and is called an "orthodox sect" because their cultivation style is conventional. There were also the "unorthodox powers" that sat with the orthodox ones. Unorthodox does not mean that they are evil but that their way of cultivation and techniques are weird and not usually seen.
These weird and unconventional powers include dual cultivation, beast taming, painting, calligraphy, music, etc.
They sat in chairs organized in a circle around a large crystal so they could monitor the competition. Currently it is showing Sheng Tian at the front and rapidly approaching a cluster of buildings covered in formations.
"The Sky Sword Sect truly nurtured a monster this time" a sect master from another neutral sect commented.
Long Chen sighed "the young surpasses the old. Even though everyone here was a peerless genius many years ago, we are all tied down by heart devils and unable to advance"
Everyone, no matter who they were, sighed. While many geniuses are able to advance and ascend to the next realm, over double of them are unable to and stay in the lower realms until they die.
They looked back at the crystal.
-
"Stop right there!"
Naturally, Sheng Tian didn't and continued to fly. Only idiots would try to stop someone like this and only idiots would actually stop.
"Fucking bastard, taste my Golden Yuan Sect's secret technique. Yang Gold Light Saber!"
A saber of light flew forward at Sheng Tian with great speed. Sheng Tian responded with a kick that contained half his strength at the saber and used its momentum to speed forward at greater speeds. The saber bounced back with even greater power and directly obliterated the man from the Golden Yuan Sect.
A few youths who had not seen such a gruesome scene before either fainted or vomited on the ground. Although talent is innate one's will is not and needs to go through countless tribulations.
Sheng Tian didn't slow down nor did he look back at the unfortunate young man. He didn't even slow down as he neared the protective formations around the buildings.
The old generation spectating couldn't help but ask what he was doing and even Long Chen was a bit worried.
Meanwhile, the hundreds of people behind Sheng Tian sneered.
"At that speed he'll explode into smithereens" one commented.
However, contrary to what everyone thought would happen, Sheng Tian's body turned ethereal and passed right through every single formation and snatched a jade slip before dashing out.
A few people wanted to take advantage of Sheng Tian and lunged towards him with their weapons drawn and techniques prepared.
BOOM!
The fastest to react dashed forward before the dust settled to look for the jade slip.
BOOM!
Another explosion occurred and blew away all the dust obstructing their view. When they opened their eyes they stared wide eyed at Sheng Tian without a single scratch on him and the young man who dashed in dead on the ground.
Sheng Tian then melted away right in front of their eyes.
-
"That's. . . two of the Sky Sword Sect's Spirit ranked techniques! The Ether Spirit Body and the Spirit Phantom Steps!"
"And it seems he had comprehended it to a great degree"
Long Chen simply sat there with a slight smile on his face. In truth, he hadn't known that Sheng Tian had comprehended two of the sect's Spirit ranked techniques. Now that he found out he was much more confident in their victory.
Of course, Long Chen and everyone was in for a huge surprise later.
-
"Ack!"
"M-monster"
Cries of pain rang out as Sheng Tian moved around like a ghost, completely neutralizing the people who attacked him and basically rendering them unable to continue to participate in the competition.
This first part of the competition will last three days and Sheng Tian found a tall tree to sit on. No one went after him after witnessing his strength while others wanted to get a jade slip with their own strength.
An hour later, two figures appeared and sat next to Sheng Tian.
He smiled "to what I owe the pleasure of having two beauties accompany me?"
Xiao Hua pouted "humph, you were so domineering when you charged in to get a jade slip, couldn't you have gotten us one as well?"
"Well I thought you would want to get it with your own strength"
"If you helped I wouldn't have had to suffer!"
Sheng Tian couldn't help but remember what Xiao Hua did to those who wanted to take their jade slip and shivered. Those poor souls probably wouldn't even be able to reincarnate after getting hit by her attack.
"Enough"
Bing Xue rapped her knuckles on Xiao Hua's head "OW! what was that for?"
"A bit of suffering now saves a lot of troubles later" she replied sagely.
Sheng Tian smiled, Xiao Hua may act childish but she is actually really intelligent.
Suddenly, Sheng Tian looked in a certain direction and punched the air in front of him.
BOOM!
An instant later, he brought the two ladies several meters away and saw a bloodied figure lying in the remains of the tree that sat on.
"Cough, it seems you are more than a pretty face"