By staging this spectacle, Jing Mingxuan was demonstrating his formidable strength—proving he could defeat all of you, or even knock you out of the arena, while remaining seated.
"The Tianyun Grand Competition?" the Empress muttered in confusion.
The Great Elder of the Ye family understood instantly and hurriedly offered a detailed explanation of the grand event.
The Empress gave a slight nod. "This Empress knows what to do!"
The next instant, she unilaterally terminated her secret mental communication with the Great Elder of the Ye family.
The Great Elder had no idea what the Empress planned to do next, but he was certain she would not let this pass quietly.
The corners of his mouth ticked upward into a deeply satisfied smile, and he thought to himself, "Little brat of the Jiang family, enjoy your ease while it lasts. You won't have much time left!"
In the Cloud Realm, within the Rolling Cloud Sword Pavilion.
Rolling Cloud Supreme, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation, suddenly felt an overwhelmingly terrifying and oppressive aura.
He snapped his eyes open, though he managed to maintain a composed expression.
"Her Majesty the Empress! What wind blows you here today? To what do I owe the honor of your visiting this humble elder's abode?"
Without wasting any time, the Empress parted her lips and spoke in an aloof, chilling tone. "Spare me the pleasantries. This Empress wants one hundred entry slots for your Tianyun Grand Competition."
Rolling Cloud Supreme's white eyebrows knitted tightly together.
He could guess that the Empress cared nothing for the Tianyun Grand Competition itself, so there had to be another reason.
On second thought, it most likely had to do with that devilish female Empress—the one who had shattered the laws of heaven and earth to violently forge her own path to emperorship even when an Empress already existed.
Just as he was about to ask what was going on, he sensed that the Empress's aura had grown much fainter; she had clearly already departed.
He couldn't help offering a wry smile as he sighed inwardly.
"The Empress is still the same as before—aloof, treating everyone else beneath her notice."
He personally didn't mind, but many powerful figures held grievances against the Empress.
Had her strength not been so unfathomably great, those cultivators wouldn't have merely harbored their dissatisfaction in secret—they would have rebelled outright.
Inside the Empress's Dao domain.
The Empress shouted coldly, "Stop!"
Instantly, more than five thousand disciples froze in their tracks within three seconds, all turning in unison to gaze at the peerlessly magnificent Empress.
"All disciples whose cultivation is between the Eighth Layer of Dao Entry Realm and the Huaxuan Realm, step forward!"
At her command, an endless sea of disciples stepped out.
After a sweeping glance with her spiritual sense, she counted a total of 1,245.
"Thirty days from now, this master will take one hundred of you to participate in the Tianyun Grand Competition."
The disciples' eyes widened in a daze. This meant they finally had a chance to bring honor to the Empress.
Following that, they might win the Empress's favor and receive even more personal guidance and care in their cultivation.
The opportunity to soar was laid out right before them, setting their blood on fire, stirring their passions, and filling them with intense excitement.
"You now have two choices."
"First: challenge Jing Mingxuan. The victors will secure a slot, and I will grant each winner a customized reward suited to their path. The maximum number of slots for this option is one hundred."
"Second: all of you engage in a free-for-all battle royale. The longer you survive, the higher your chances of qualifying for the Tianyun Grand Competition. Aside from the winners of the first option, however many slots remain out of one hundred will be filled by those who survive the longest."
Compared to the latter option, all the disciples felt that the former—challenging Jing Mingxuan—was much simpler.
Most importantly, there were two chances.
If you lost the first option, you still had the second!
"Master! What is Jing Mingxuan's current cultivation level?" a disciple asked.
The Empress's expression remained calm as she replied indifferently, "Eighth Layer of Dao Entry Realm!"
Silence fell over the disciples.
Ever since Jing Mingxuan had killed You Feng, they had desperately crammed themselves with every scrap of information available on him.
He had simply picked up scraps and risen to prominence by taking a female fiend as his master; otherwise, most of them wouldn't even have deigned to look at him twice.
"Eighth Layer of Dao Entry Realm? It hasn't even been half a year! That cultivation speed is simply terrifying!"
"Exactly! Just half a year ago, he was nothing more than a trashy Second Layer of Transcendent Realm weakling."
"Based on what we know about him, we must treat dealing with Jing Mingxuan with utmost caution, or we'll suffer a huge loss."
"When someone breaks through so fast, their foundation is bound to be a complete mess. There's no way he can unleash the full combat power of the Eighth Layer of Dao Entry Realm."
...
The disciples all had their own opinions, and the majority felt that Jing Mingxuan was all show and no substance, nothing to be feared.
The Empress sighed inwardly. Among this group of disciples, those who refused to follow the herd and possessed independent judgment were pitifully few.
Her gaze inevitably fell upon the one disciple standing among the crowd who was impossible to ignore.
He stood over eight chi tall, with a face like polished jade, and a fresh, refined demeanor that made him look like an exiled immortal.
Gu Qingyuan!
He was the disciple she held the highest hopes for in this batch.
And the man who had once sent a ripple through her heart.
Tianyan City, entrance to the Tianyun Grand Competition trials.
In the blink of an eye, over a thousand cultivators materialized at the location.
The already crowded selection entrance instantly became even more congested.
Feeling the commotion, Jing Mingxuan opened his eyes without the slightest rush and looked toward the entrance.
After sweeping his gaze around, he immediately spotted the most dazzling man in the group.
Gu Qingyuan!
Jing Mingxuan's eyes flickered slightly.
He recognized the man as Gu Qingyuan, not because of his status as the young master of the Jiang family, but because on the day they had entered the Immortal Ascension Path to take their oaths to their masters, Gu Qingyuan and other talented youths from the top hundred clans had been fawned over endlessly. It would have been harder not to know who he was.
Just then, the Empress walked up to Su Muchan and said with a faint smile, "I've brought my disciples to challenge Jing Mingxuan. Do you have any objections?"
Su Muchan knew the visitor meant no good, but she trusted her disciple's strength and believed she could step in to save him at a moment's notice.
Therefore, this would serve as good combat practice for her disciple.
"None," Su Muchan replied indifferently.
The Empress gave a slight nod, then turned to her disciples. "Go on!"
A staff member stepped forward to block their path.
"Apologies! Registration closed long ago; you cannot participate."
The Empress's gaze turned frosty and her delicate brows furrowed. "Whatever happens, this Empress takes full responsibility."
The staff member nodded slightly and stepped aside.
As the disciples entered the arena, Gu Qingyuan and Su Muchan accidentally locked eyes.
Gu Qingyuan's heart instantly fluttered wildly; he felt as though he had fallen in love at first sight with this female fiend.
Watching this scene, Jing Mingxuan felt his heart leap into his throat.
*Stay calm! Keep a calm mind!*
*I have to trust Master. Master would certainly never be seduced by the likes of him just from a single glance.*
Chapter 27: Brutal Beating
Standing right beside Su Muchan, the Empress happened to witness the exchange as well.
*Could this female fiend possibly have her eyes on Gu Qingyuan?*
Just as that thought crossed her mind, a violent gale whipped up, roaring straight toward Gu Qingyuan.
Neither Gu Qingyuan nor the Empress had time to react.
By the time they came to their senses, Gu Qingyuan had already been blasted ten thousand meters up into the sky.
Su Muchan wore an irritated expression as she muttered disdainfully, "Does your disciple have something wrong with his head? He kept blocking my view of my disciple. Do that again and you die!"
The Empress stood frozen in place.
A youth with Gu Qingyuan's appearance and temperament should have been completely irresistible to an innocent young woman, yet he couldn't attract even half a shred of the female fiend's attention?
Wasn't the female fiend supposed to be pure-minded?
In that case, shouldn't she find it impossible to ignore someone like Gu Qingyuan?
Then why did she strike so decisively, and follow it up with such a ruthless threat?
The Empress found herself completely baffled.
Seeing this turn of events, the stone hanging in Jing Mingxuan's chest finally dropped.
True, Gu Qingyuan matched Su Muchan's type on paper.
But Su Muchan already had him, and they had built a deep bond—more than enough to crush any stray impulses.
Of course, this was purely his perspective; it didn't mean Su Muchan shared it.
Meanwhile, Gu Qingyuan came plummeting back down like a blazing meteor trailing a fiery tail across the sky.
Sensing his descent, the Empress flicked her slender hand.
Gu Qingyuan materialized right before her, the flames on his body instantly extinguished.
"Disciple! Do not block her sight again, or even this master won't be able to save you," the Empress warned sternly.
Regaining his wits, Gu Qingyuan nodded heavily. "This disciple understands!"
Jing Mingxuan had thought the matter was over, but Xiaoxian's voice suddenly popped into his mind.
"Master's wife! Just now, he kept staring at you with a smug smile on his face, as if he thought his handsome face and peerless temperament would be enough to charm you."
Su Muchan blinked in surprise and muttered to herself, "Handsome face? Peerless temperament? Does he have those?"
Instantly, Gu Qingyuan felt as though he had been struck by lightning. *Could it be that I don't?* her expression seemed to ask.
The Empress's face twitched. *Could this female fiend possibly be completely face-blind?*
The surrounding onlookers were likewise left utterly speechless.
If Gu Qingyuan wasn't considered handsome and refined, then there wasn't a single good-looking man left in the entire world!
Xiaoxian blinked as well, ultimately biting the bullet and chiming in.
"Based on my observations over the years, he does have them. But compared to Master, he's just pure trash."
The first sentence made sense to everyone.
As for the second sentence, everyone knew it was just Xiaoxian's strong self-preservation instinct talking, not her true, heartfelt opinion.
Of course, Jing Mingxuan was also quite handsome; he just wasn't as ridiculously showy as Gu Qingyuan.
Su Muchan nodded lightly, a faint smile gracing her lips. "Xiaoxian, you have the same taste as me. We both know my disciple is the best."
In truth, this was the moment she realized she had absolutely no judgment when it came to men's looks and bearing.
Not that she cared in the least. She already had her disciple; even if other men were handsome enough to shatter the heavens, what did that have to do with her?
Xiaoxian's heart fluttered uneasily; she had no idea whether her mistress genuinely meant that or was just offering polite flattery.
Only Jing Mingxuan knew that Su Muchan was speaking the absolute truth.
Recalling the plot of the original novel, Su Muchan had been drawn to Gu Qingyuan. Now he realized she had never been attracted to Gu Qingyuan's handsome face or ethereal demeanor in the first place; rather, she had been manipulated by Gu Qingyuan's calculated acts.
Combined with Gu Qingyuan's inner monologue after Su Muchan committed suicide in the finale:
All those grand gestures had merely been performances staged for Su Muchan—everything was done solely to possess her exquisite body.
At that thought, anger surged relentlessly within Jing Mingxuan.
*Gu Qingyuan, you scumbag, I am going to cripple you today!*
At that moment, Su Muchan suddenly realized something.
Her previous outburst had undoubtedly been seen crystal-clear by her disciple.
Even though her counterattack had been swift and decisive, her disciple was bound to misunderstand.
*Damn it!*
Su Muchan's face turned icy cold. She slanted a glare at Gu Qingyuan and threatened him furiously, "If you ever dare look at this Empress again, I will gouge out your eyes, cripple your cultivation, and make you wish you were dead!"
Gu Qingyuan's face turned ashen, thoroughly frightened.
Inside, however, he was boiling with rage, secretly vowing to get his hands on Su Muchan no matter what.
Since he couldn't get to her directly, his only option was to strike at the person she treasured most—Jing Mingxuan.
*Hmph!*
*Daring to humiliate me like this? Jing Mingxuan, you're finished!*
*I'll make sure to beat the living daylights out of Jing Mingxuan next, or this hatred in my heart will never be appeased.*
Sensing the increasingly intense hostility in Gu Qingyuan's gaze, Jing Mingxuan maintained a faint smile. He knew the fellow had suffered such a massive blow that he would never let the matter rest.
And that played right into his hands. He had only been worried that the coward would turn tail and refuse to fight him.
To lure Gu Qingyuan onto the stage, Jing Mingxuan patiently and naturally put on an act of heavy, labored breathing.
Su Muchan and Xiaoxian frowned at the exact same time.
Both of them knew it was utterly impossible for Jing Mingxuan to be winded at a time like this.
Therefore, he had to be up to something else.
Just as one of the Empress's disciples was kicked out of the ring by Jing Mingxuan, Gu Qingyuan—clad in azure robes—soared into the sky above the arena and landed with blinding speed, not giving any other disciples of the Empress a chance to enter.
"Damn! Jing Mingxuan is at the end of his rope! Looks like Gu Qingyuan is going to pick up a cheap win!"
"Doesn't matter! Any of us can beat Jing Mingxuan later anyway. He only has this one path left to enter the Tianyun Grand Competition."
"Right! Hahaha! Why didn't I think of that?"
...
Jing Mingxuan had known from the start that the Empress's faction was targeting him, but he hadn't expected her disciples to say it out loud so shamelessly.
Well, it didn't matter. Since you want to defeat me to claim your rewards, I will defeat every single one of you to prove that my strength is peerless—invincible among peers of the same realm, and invincible even across a major boundary.
In an instant, he felt his blood boil and his excitement peak.
Gu Qingyuan looked coldly at Jing Mingxuan, who was still pretending to catch his breath. Tossing his head back arrogantly, he spoke with the haughty air of someone looking down his nose at the world.
"Jing Mingxuan, I'll fight you with one hand tied behind my back, lest people say I bullied you after you were worn down by a wheel of opponents."
Jing Mingxuan said not a word. His figure simply vanished from Gu Qingyuan's field of vision.
Most of the cultivators present assumed their eyesight simply couldn't keep up with Jing Mingxuan's speed.
Only those with genuine hard power—or cultivators at the Huaxuan Realm—revealed looks of shock and disbelief, their eyes wide because they couldn't track him either.
"Old Li, can you see his movements?"
"Can't! He was hiding his strength earlier, or deliberately playing weak."
"No way! Brother Li, you're at the Peak Ninth Layer of Huaxuan Realm and you still can't see him?"
...
The Empress's expression turned grave as well.
She had thought Jing Mingxuan breaking through to the Eighth Layer of Dao Entry Realm was already defying the heavens.
Yet Jing Mingxuan's current display was even more absurd; his speed already rivaled that of heaven-gifted prodigies at the First Layer of Divine Wandering Realm.
*So strong!*
*Absurdly strong!*
*But why reveal this now?*
*Shouldn't he have continued hiding his cards to shock and humiliate her at the Tianyun Grand Competition?*
A moment later, the Empress understood!
Jing Mingxuan was deliberately targeting Gu Qingyuan.
For no other reason than that Gu Qingyuan's earlier behavior had touched Jing Mingxuan's reverse scale.
On the stage, Gu Qingyuan could barely make out Jing Mingxuan's movements. Seeing a palm strike arriving inches from his face, he threw out a counter-palm—only to strike empty air!
Panic flashed across Gu Qingyuan's face as he realized he was no match for Jing Mingxuan at all.
Yet Jing Mingxuan was only at the Eighth Layer of Dao Entry Realm!
How could his combat power be even stronger than his own, when he was at the Fifth Layer of Huaxuan Realm?
Before he could think further, Jing Mingxuan delivered a merciless slap. A series of crisp *pa-pa-pa* sounds echoed across the entire selection grounds.
The onlookers could only watch as Gu Qingyuan's originally handsome face rapidly swelled into a pig's head, mottled with blue, purple, and red bruises.
It looked utterly wretched, sending shivers and cold tremors through the entire crowd.
*Slap!*
Another palm landed.
Gu Qingyuan's body spun 360 degrees in mid-air before crashing heavily onto the ground.
By this point, Gu Qingyuan had lost consciousness, signifying Jing Mingxuan's victory.
However, Jing Mingxuan didn't knock him out of the ring. Instead, he strolled leisurely over and stopped right between Gu Qingyuan's legs.
Staring down at the lower half of his body covered by clothing, a vicious look crossed his eyes. Then, he raised his foot and began to stomp wildly on Gu Qingyuan's fifth limb.
Instantly, everyone present was struck dumb.
The men instinctively crossed their legs; even so, they felt a phantom ache in their groins.
The Empress was shocked!
Yet she made no move to stop him. Under her healing abilities, Gu Qingyuan would recover completely anyway.
It would serve as a good lesson for him, while planting the seeds of a deep, bitter hatred toward Jing Mingxuan and Su Muchan.
After a long while—seemingly having grown tired of stomping—
Jing Mingxuan finally halted his assault.
The braver souls among the crowd with a taste for the macabre craned their necks to look, only to find that Gu Qingyuan's lower half had been reduced to a horrifying, shocking crimson mess.
Clearly, he was ruined for life!
The men crossed their legs even tighter, secretly swearing never to gaze upon Jing Mingxuan's master ever again.
At that moment, Jing Mingxuan wore a deeply conflicted expression.
He desperately wanted to kill Gu Qingyuan, but the Empress would certainly not allow it.
And right now, his master didn't possess a hundred-percent certainty of suppressing the Empress.
As far as he was concerned, as long as a shred of risk remained, he could not let his master take any chances. Therefore, he had to use alternative methods.
Soon, an idea popped into his head: wouldn't it solve everything just to make Gu Qingyuan lose all interest in women?
*But how? And how to do it without leaving a trace?*
At that moment, a line of text glowing with golden, divine radiance flashed through his mind.
"Master! You can modify him using the Divine Healing Technique."
Chapter 28: Permanent Peace of Mind
What! There was such a trick?
Jing Mingxuan was startled inwardly, and immediately comprehension of how to alter someone using the Divine Healing Technique flooded his mind.
Watching the half-dead Gu Qingyuan, the Empress felt immensely pleased; this provided her with the perfect excuse to lecture Jing Mingxuan.
"Jing Mingxuan! It was just a spar, why resort to venting your spleen like this?"
Many people realized the Empress was using public opinion as a weapon to pressure Jing Mingxuan.
Although Su Muchan was no weaker than the Empress, with the Empress present, they weren't as terrified.
Thus, one by one, they began to chime in with criticisms.
"That's right! Young Master Jiang, you went way too far. You've completely crippled Gu Qingyuan!"
"My poor boy! Just for taking a single look, he ends up in this state? Is there no justice left in the world? Where is the law?"
"Jing Mingxuan, if you still have a shred of conscience, take responsibility for this!"
At that moment, Su Muchan unleashed her full aura. Her willow brows knitted together, and her mesmerizing red pupils radiated a razor-sharp, chilling light.
The crowd instantly snapped their mouths shut, not daring to utter another word.
The corner of Jing Mingxuan's mouth curled into a faint smile. "As it happens, I happen to know a powerful healing spell. I guarantee I'll restore Gu Qingyuan good as new."
The onlookers were startled. They couldn't figure out what medicine Jing Mingxuan was selling in his gourd.
Judging by past events, though, it certainly wasn't going to be anything good.
The Empress also suspected a trap, but she wasn't the one being treated.
Moreover, in broad daylight, it would be difficult for Jing Mingxuan to pull any fast ones—unless he could blind even her eyes.
The possibility of that happening existed, but it was practically negligible.
"Fine! Go ahead and heal him. If he isn't restored completely, I won't let this rest."
Jing Mingxuan gave a slight nod. He pressed his right index and middle fingers together and jerked them upward, causing the unconscious Gu Qingyuan to snap straight up into a standing position.
*Divine Healing Technique!*