A loud gong sounded and everyone turned into streaks of light and disappeared. They all manifested on a huge platform and were separated into two groups, those that got a jade slip and those that did not.
The Xia Empire's envoy appeared in the air above them.
"Everyone that got a jade slip will be sent into a secret realm that my Xia Empire had opened. Inside are countless opportunities and dangers. The realm will close and everyone will be sent out in three months. You can eliminate others by destroying their jade slip or some 'other way'. As for you guys"
He turned to the group that had failed to get a jade slip "prepare for the smaller competition"
With a wave of his hand he distributed jade slips to everyone on the passing side and sent them into random locations in the secret realm.
With bitter expressions, the failed powers left the scene and left for their respective powers.
-
Sheng Tian opened his eyes to a wide open plain. To the east was a scorching desert and a volcano. To the west was a snowy mountain. To the north was a dense forest. And to the south was a deep ocean.
"Quite unnatural to have so many different environments in a single place"
With a single swing of his sword, over ten crouched figures were decapitated and tumbled onto the dense grass, dyeing it crimson. His soul moved to gather all of their protective treasures and spatial rings before rushing east.
The Primordial Chaos Dragon Flame had sent Sheng Tian a spiritual message. Though it was young and unable to form proper sentences, he could still feel desire from it whenever he looked east.
Sheng Tian traveled hundreds of miles in a few seconds, quickly reaching the desert region. The violent fire energy was rapidly being sucked by the Primordial Chaos Dragon Flame and its spirituality started growing at a fast pace.
"Hm?"
A faint flame fluctuation appeared in the distance, around five hundred miles away, much too far for a normal cultivator at the Mortal Realms the sense.
"A flame cultivator with a innate flame heart coupled with a essence flame"
Sheng Tian didn't give two shits about righteousness nor morals. Of course, he had his own sense of right and wrong.
He suppressed his aura and flew in the direction of the fluctuations.
There was a beast-like man wielding a golden lion shaped flame covered in crimson light. By his side was the corpse of a three meter tall scorpion.
"Using your heart flame to enhance the combat capabilities of your essence flame. Not a bad way of increasing your strength"
The man perked up at attention and summoned his flames again "Who?!"
He barely stood before his vision went dark.
-
Sheng Tian stood before the corpse of the dead man. The Primordial Chaos Dragon Flame was busy wrapping around the struggling essence flame and absorbing it along with the dead man's heart flame.
He had no qualms about killing the guy because one, Sheng Tian was not a good guy in the first place and two, he could see with his All Seeing Eyes the amount of negative karma the man had. Coupled with the Thirteen Heaven Chaos Scripture's innate ability to sense another's heart, Sheng Tian was a walking lie detector.
"Roar!"
The Primordial Chaos Dragon Flame turned into the form of a hundred meter tall dragon. Its aura had stabilized and grew more condensed. Its black outer flames had gotten darker and the inner purple flame had turned more solid.
"Good job, lets go"
The flame dived into his sleeve and they made their way deeper into the eastern area.
-
"Ack!"
Blood spurted as a young man fell without being able to break his jade slip.
"Humph"
A group of half-bloods stood with bloodied weapons and human corpses around them.\
"Humans, arrogant and weak"
There were a variety of races gathered here. Some had claws, some had wings, some had the heads of an animal. All of them had a humanoid body with some beast-like features.
"Is the entire alliance here?"
The one who spoke was a young man with golden wings and horns at the top of his head. Though everyone who is able to step foot into the competition is a genius, all the half-bloods seem particularly respectful of this one man.
"Pretty much the entire Xuan Beast Alliance has gathered. Only a few people have gone their own ways"
That's right, the half-bloods do not claim to be half-bloods but as "Xuan Beasts" instead. The words "half-blood" seem derogatory to them as it would be saying they are half breeds and hybrids of the human race and the magical beasts.
"Let's go then. I want to see how the human race will handle this"
-
Splash!
Sheng Tian floated above the rim of the volcano. Inside were bubbling lava that threatened to burst and erupt.
"It's in here?"
Sheng Tian asked the Primordial Chaos Dragon Flame that danced on his arm. He looked back at the lava.
This was no ordinary volcano. The lava at the surface was enough to melt and genius in a matter of seconds and the deeper you go, the hotter it gets. Not only that, but the lava contains fire laws, making it harder to deal with.
"This thing should go down to the core of the secret realm. Though it contains a lot of fire energy and fire laws it isn't enough for you to get excited over. Unless..."
He turned to the Primordial Chaos Dragon Flame "It's an essence flame. A core essence flame to be exact"
The Primordial Chaos Dragon Flame seemed to perk up and gotten more energetic than before. It seems that Sheng Tian hit it right on.
"Sigh"
A layer of qi surrounded his clothes and a barrier covered his entire body.
"Thankfully this much is tolerable. If I was anyone else I would have died. Sigh. The troubles I have to go through to sate your hunger"
The Primordial Chaos Dragon Flame pretended not to hear him and crazily absorbed the energy contained in the lava to grow.