Chapter 1636: Rising Geniuses
With the three Hall Masters present, along with more than a dozen Inner Sect elders traveling with them, the atmosphere was naturally solemn.
The disciples could only wait quietly. No one dared speak loudly, and at most, a few exchanged hushed words in private or whispered among themselves.
At that moment, the Void Heaven Hall Master, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly flicked his sleeve.
Streams of jade slips shot forth and landed in the hands of every participating disciple.
"The jade slips contain information on most of the elite disciples from Yunluo Sacred Land and Wulei Sacred Land. Study them carefully. If you encounter these people in battle, knowing your opponent beforehand will only benefit you."
The Void Heaven Hall Master's face was cold as frost.
Originally, the disciple he had placed the highest hopes on was naturally the Unrivaled Young Emperor. Unfortunately, that disciple had now lost even the qualification to participate. It was no wonder his expression was grim.
When his gaze passed over Ling Feng, he clearly frowned.
Still, he said nothing.
At a time like this, the sect's greater interests came first. Besides, Ling Feng's battle with the Unrivaled Young Emperor had been fair and open, won purely through strength. Even as the Unrivaled Young Emperor's master, he had nothing he could criticize.
Noticing the Void Heaven Hall Master glance at him, Ling Feng pursed his lips slightly.
Fortunately, this Hall Master did not seem to harbor any ill will toward him. Otherwise, if a peak Great Emperor truly set his sights on him, trouble would certainly follow.
Shrugging, Ling Feng reached out and caught the jade slip flying toward him.
He sent a strand of spiritual consciousness into it and began reading its contents.
A long while later, understanding dawned in his eyes.
The jade slip recorded the participant list from the Sunset Heaven Selection ten years ago, with especially detailed information on the top hundred finishers.
After excluding those who had already passed fifty and lost eligibility, roughly sixty percent of them could still participate in this year's selection.
Aside from that, the list also included rising stars from the various sacred lands, newly emerged talents marked as key figures to watch in this competition.
Among everyone listed, the weakest were already at third-stage Extreme Human Emperor.
The strongest had reached third level Divine Destiny Realm.
As for fourth level Divine Destiny Realm cultivators, none had been discovered so far.
After all, once cultivation reached the Great Emperor realm, every breakthrough became extraordinarily difficult. Reaching fourth level Divine Destiny Realm before the age of fifty was nearly impossible.
Still, even though the highest listed cultivation was only third level Divine Destiny Realm, Ling Feng did not lower his guard.
At the same cultivation level, true geniuses could fight above their realm and kill stronger opponents.
Ling Feng had never believed that possessing unusual advantages gave him reason to look down on the heroes of the world.
The world was vast.
The Dongling Region was vast.
If he could obtain opportunities, others naturally could as well.
Take Tuoba Yan, for example.
Her cultivation was only at third-stage Extreme Human Emperor, yet with her current strength, defeating middle ranked members of the Ten Young Emperors would be effortless.
For true geniuses, realm was rarely the deciding factor.
Only when the gap in cultivation became overwhelmingly large would it truly matter.
Ling Feng quickly skimmed through the rest of the list.
He did not care much about the others.
What interested him most was the strength of the top ten.
Last time, even with Dongling Immortal Pool's immense foundation, they had only barely secured five spots in the top ten.
Wulei Sacred Land followed with three.
Yunluo Sacred Land had the fewest, with only two.
Yet Yunluo Sacred Land's two representatives had claimed second and third place.
That alone made their achievement carry far more weight.
As for Dongling Immortal Pool, although they had taken first place, many of the remaining top rankings were seized by the other sacred lands.
For a force regarded as the region's overlord, that result was still somewhat embarrassing.
That was why Dongling Immortal Pool had come this time determined to wash away that shame.
Not only did they aim to seize as many top ten positions as possible, they intended to sweep the top three entirely.
What made Ling Feng sigh inwardly, however, was this.
Dongling Immortal Pool's first place champion from the previous selection had already passed the age of fifty and could no longer compete.
Meanwhile, Yunluo Sacred Land's second and third place champions were both still eligible.
That was terrible news for Dongling Immortal Pool.
After all, no one could predict how much stronger those two had become after ten more years of cultivation.
"Li Yanluo, last selection's second place."
"Ao Jue, last selection's third place."
Ling Feng silently committed those two names to memory.
They would very likely become his fiercest opponents in this Sunset Heaven Selection.
Then suddenly, his pupils contracted slightly.
He saw a familiar name.
"Yue Huaqing!"
Ling Feng immediately remembered.
Back when he had secretly infiltrated the demon race's sacred land in order to end the war between Tianbai Empire and the Nanjiang demon clans, he had encountered Yue Huaqing there.
By a fortunate twist of fate, he had saved her life and obtained the first Five Emperors Seal, the Yellow Emperor Seal.
He had not expected her to appear in this Sunset Heaven Selection as well.
Ling Feng rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Back when Yue Huaqing was only at Human Emperor level, she had dared to infiltrate the demon race's sacred land alone and seize a Five Emperors Seal.
That courage was no less than his own.
A year had passed since then.
He had no idea what level her strength had reached, but since her name appeared in this jade slip and she was listed among Yunluo Sacred Land's Ten Rising Talents, her strength was certainly not weak.
"If I run into her during the competition, that may become troublesome."
Ling Feng's brows furrowed slightly.
As far as he knew, Yue Huaqing was probably the only person in the world who knew the Yellow Emperor Seal was in his possession.
If she asked for it back, what excuse was he supposed to make?
Back then, she had only temporarily entrusted the Yellow Emperor Seal to him. In return, she had even gifted him a full set of spirit infusion treasures.
If he simply refused outright, that would be shameless even by his standards.
Yet Ling Feng had now gathered three of the Five Emperors Seals.
Returning one so easily was something he was equally unwilling to do.
"Forget it. I'll deal with it if I actually meet Yue Huaqing. Worst comes to worst, I'll say the demon race stole it."
Having made up his mind, Ling Feng stopped dwelling on it and continued reading.
Then another name caught his eye.
"Wulei Sacred Land, Ye Ting!"
Judging from the jade slip's records, Ye Ting was also considered a rising talent.
No, that description fell short.
He was the kind of unparalleled monster who stood far above his generation, someone whose brilliance would make every genius of the same era pale in comparison.
Five years ago, Ye Ting had challenged his senior brother Gongsun Long, who had ranked sixth in the previous Sunset Heaven Selection.
He had crushed him completely.
Not narrowly defeated him.
Not struggled to win.
He had utterly overwhelmed him.
Five years had passed since then.
How powerful had Ye Ting become now?
"Besides that, Dongling Immortal Pool's current Inner Sect top three. First ranked Shi Haoxuan, second ranked Gu Changfeng, third ranked Murong Bai..."
Of those three, Ling Feng had already met Murong Bai.
He was indeed a remarkable genius.
As for Shi Haoxuan and Gu Changfeng, Ling Feng had no concept at all of how strong they truly were.
After a moment's thought, he turned toward Fairy Qingping and asked in a low voice, "Senior Sister Yu, there are some things I'd like to ask. Would you be willing to tell me?"
Fairy Qingping sat right beside him.
When Ling Feng suddenly leaned closer, the warmth of his breath brushed lightly against her ear.
Her cheeks instantly flushed red.
She shot him an annoyed glance, then bit her lip before answering, "Ask. If I know, I'll tell you."
Seeing Ling Feng and Fairy Qingping speaking so closely, as though whispering secrets, Tuoba Yan opened her beautiful eyes and quietly leaned in to listen.
Nearby, Li Fei, Feng Ling, Chu Tiange, and the others also turned their attention over with clear interest.
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