Chapter 281
Chapter 281: The Orthodoxies Made Their Entrances, The Thirteen Prefects Of The First City
Time passed quickly.
Soon, it was time for the Sky-Pride Championship.
Chu Kuangren led a group of disciples to the central square of First City, where there was an enormous battle arena.
After walking through a dark tunnel, Chu Kuangren and his disciples finally entered the battle arena.
The moment they came into the light, they were greeted by the sight of millions of audiences who surrounded the arena.
Some of the audiences were sitting in the spectator’s area, some were standing, others were even suspended in mid-air. The arena was completely packed with people.
Upon Chu Kuangren and the other Black Heaven Sect members’ arrival, the crowd immediately burst into a loud cheer.
“Look, it’s the members of Black Heaven Sect.”
“The one leading them is the Black Heaven Sect Leader, Chu Kuangren! Rumor has it that he has slain three Sages in just this year itself.”
“Gosh, his reputation does precede him. His appearance is extraordinary. How I wish I could live together with him.”
“You can dream on.”
“I heard a few days ago, the predictor released the statement saying ‘only one can lead the sky-prides, Kuangren of the Black Heaven it shall be!’, effectively announcing him as the best of all sky-prides in this world. He’s indeed full of surprises.”
“What a high compliment from the predictor.”
An exciting discussion ensued amongst the countless spectators upon their entrances. Chu Kuangren had especially gained the attention of everyone at the scene.
Aside from his appearance and demeanor, the many rumors surrounding Chu Kuangren had basically made him difficult to ignore.
“Sect Leader, it looks like you’re very well-known.”
Nangong Huang said to Chu Kuangren.
“All of you are the true main characters of this championship. Gear up and let everyone know how capable the Black Heaven Sect truly is.”
Chu Kuangren simply said. He was not at all affected by the crowd’s scorching gazes.
By then, the other sage orthodoxies had also begun to make their appearance.
“Look, it’s the members of Tempest Mountain.”
“The members of the Linghu clan are here too. Other than the Murong clan who just had two of their Sages killed, all the strongest sword Dao sects are here, this championship is going to be exciting.”
“Who else? The Sky Emperor Palace of White Tiger Domain, the Overlord Sage Tribe of Black Warrior Domain, and the Heaven Chord Sect of Scarlet Phoenix Domain are all renowned sage orthodoxies too. What a congregation of sky-prides!”
“Indeed. Looking at the leader of each group, they’re either a Young Emperor or one of the Ten Unparalleled Warriors. More than half of the world’s most outstanding youngsters are here. This is such a rare sight to witness.”
The sage orthodoxies made their entrances in sequence, provoking many reactions from the crowd.
Meanwhile, for each sage orthodoxy that made their entrance, their eyes would inevitably fall onto the people of Black Heaven Sect. More specifically, they were looking at Chu Kuangren.
“Chu Kuangren….” The Young Emperor of the Linghu clan, Linghu Teng, was staring at Chu Kuangren with his eyes filled with vengeance and a hint of fear!
Linghu Teng had utterly lost to Chu Kuangren when they crossed swords in the Sword Gauntlet. Later, when he heard about the incident of Chu Kuangren slaying the two Sages of the Murong clan, Linghu Teng was so shocked that his Daoist core nearly collapsed.
It was then when Linghu Teng knew that the gap between him and Chu Kuangren was so wide that Linghu Teng could never catch up to him even from a lifetime’s worth of effort.
From the direction of the Tempest Mountain’s group.
The Young Emperor, Ling Feng was also staring at Chu Kuangren, but there was a mix of emotions in his gaze.
Back in the Sword Gauntlet, Chu Kuangren’s Sword-based Daoist Rhyme had crushed Ling Feng so hard that he could not even attack. Since then, this incident left a deep scar in his memory.
Then when he heard about Chu Kuangren’s stories, Ling Feng felt that his self-proclaimed title of Sword Lunatic was a nobody in Chu Kuangren’s presence.
Out of all the things that Chu Kuangren had accomplished, it felt like he was more deserving of the title!
Aside from Linghu Teng and Ling Feng, many other sky-prides were paying close attention to Chu Kuangren as well.
They were incredibly curious about this particular individual.
What made him so outstanding? After all, they were all sky-prides.
Not only was Chu Kuangren a Sect Leader, but he had also slain Sages and had been acknowledged by a Godly Phoenix as its Master. Chu Kuangren’s reputation had soared as he defeated all cultivators of his generation.
Amongst this group of sky-prides, there were some who stared in envy, some in anger, and some others even stared with a curious battle intent…
In the Overlord Sage Tribe’s direction, when Bachelor Sage Chang Yuan noticed Little Red who was resting above Chu Kuangren’s shoulder, he immediately gasped in shock.
“It’s him!”
“That’s the person I was talking about the other day!”
Bachelor Sage Chang Yuan was shaken.
Upon noticing his peculiar behavior, a black-clothed elder beside asked puzzledly, “Bachelor Sage Chang Yuan, what’s wrong?”
“Elder, that’s the person I told you about the other day.” The Bachelor Sage Chang Yuan gulped and said in fear.
The complexion of the black-clothed elder immediately changed, and he said to Bachelor Sage Chang Yuan, “You’re lucky that you’re still standing.”
“Greetings, elder.”
At that moment, the School of White Lotus members came forward, bowed, and greeted Chu Kuangren.
“Leader, you’re here too.”
“Yes.”
The group began to chat away.
At the same time, Chu Kuangren was quietly observing the others too, but his interest soon dwindled after a glance. Most of the cultivators leading the teams of all sage orthodoxies were their respective Sect Leaders. There were no Sages at all.
Perhaps the Sages had yet to appear as they remained hidden in the dark.
“It’s such a shame that you’re not able to participate in this championship. Otherwise, this will surely be in the bag for you,” said the White Lotus Leader with a smile.
Chu Kuangren laughed and said, “As Sect Leaders, it won’t be appropriate for us to fight with the younger generations.”
Those who were close enough to hear it rolled their eyes.
‘Younger generations?’
‘Please, wake up. Could you just take a look at your age?’
Despite their complaints, no one dared to openly rebuke Chu Kuangren. In a way, they were glad that Chu Kuangren had thought that way.
Otherwise, if Chu Kuangren were to come out and compete with the other sky-prides, who could possibly put on a fight? They would surely be decimated right there and then.
Although the other Sect Leaders could see the bigger picture, some sky-prides were still incredibly unhappy with Chu Kuangren.
“Is that bastard looking down on us just because of his status? Does he mean that we don’t deserve to be of equal grounds with him?”
“Younger generations? My foot.”
“When the chance arises, I’d surely want to test his abilities.”
These were some of the most exceptional youngsters of their generations, so naturally, it was difficult for them to swallow their pride. Even if they knew that they would surely lose to Chu Kuangren, they still could not help but compare Chu Kuangren to themselves.
They had probably not gone through the harsh realities of this world.
At that moment.
Three rays of light descended from above and landed before the entire crowd.
Two men and one lady appeared from the light rays, each of them beaming with mighty Daoist Rhymes. They were all Supreme Honorables!
The crowd was astonished when they saw the trio.
“It’s them, three of the First City’s Thirteen Prefects.”
“It’s the Eleventh Prefect, Twelfth Prefect, and the Thirteenth Prefect.”
“They’re the adjudicators of this championship.”
“Word has it that there are thirteen prefects in First City. Each of them is an exceptional cultivator, especially the first few ones who rarely showed themselves. Rumors have it that the first three prefects are all… Sages!”
“Indeed, First City’s extremely reputable position in the White Tiger Domain is all due to the Thirteen Prefects. Perhaps even more reputable than the Sky Emperor Palace. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be called First City in the first place.”
Chu Kuangren activated the Eye of Revelation and scanned the prefects before him. The lady was the Eleventh Prefect, whereas the remaining two men were the Twelfth Prefect and Thirteenth Prefect respectively. Their abilities were way stronger than typical Supreme Honorables.
