It was unexpected that Chu Tianshu, who was usually noble and handsome with a manly demeanor, would act like a spoiled child complaining to his own father.
After the father and son finally finished their conversation, Su Luo and the others burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha! I'm dying of laughter, Second Brother. So you, a grown man, can act spoiled too, 'Father, noooo~! Hahahaha…' Your father actually suspects you like men…" Lu Jixing held his stomach, shaking with laughter, his face almost contorted.
"Second Senior Brother, it seems your father and mother are truly anxious. You need to hurry!"
"Second Senior Brother, you don't actually like men, do you?" Tang Xiaoguo seemed unable to believe it.
Even the Grand Elder patted Chu Tianshu on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Tianshu, as the Crown Prince of the Northern Underworld Kingdom, your safety is too important. You don't have any heirs yet. Why don't you skip this competition?"
Chu Tianshu's handsome face turned bright red with embarrassment, but he couldn't retaliate. "Grand Elder, you're teasing me too? You all laugh at me, and I was gathering information for you, and this is how you treat me…"
"Junior Sister, Little Guo, stop talking!"
"Stinky Third Brother! Try laughing again?"
Chu Tianshu wished there was a hole in front of him to crawl into. He swore he would never talk to his parents in front of them again.
The crowd's laughter subsided after a while.
Despite the laughter, they had learned the most crucial piece of information – the content of the finals.
Returning to the main topic, the Grand Elder said with a grave expression, "I didn't expect the final venue to be so dangerous. Tianshu, no wonder your father advised you not to participate. It requires all the geniuses entering the finals to go to the ancient mining area to eliminate the increasingly prevalent Netherflames. This is too dangerous."
Su Luo and Tang Xiaoguo didn't understand and asked, "Grand Elder, what is Netherflame?"
She only knew of ordinary firewood, spiritual flames possessed by alchemists, or will-o'-the-wisps around graves, or lava in volcanoes, but she had never heard of Netherflame.
The Second Elder explained, "There is no accurate answer to the origin of Netherflame, but it can erode cultivators, causing them to lose their minds, become frenzied, and attack friend and foe indiscriminately, making it extremely dangerous. Many people who entered the ancient mining area to search for ore were eroded by Netherflame, eventually killing their companions and then committing suicide…"
Tang Xiaoguo's delicate face turned a little pale, and Su Luo also became serious.
Netherflame was indeed very strange, but could her Xuanmen techniques restrain it? She would have to try to find out.
Li Tianjue clearly knew about it as well and nodded, "That's right. This is why the ancient mining area is so dangerous. Otherwise, if the ore produced in the mining area sold for so much, why would so few people dare to go in and mine? It's because one can encounter Netherflame at any time in the mining area, and that's not all… The appearance of Netherflame is often accompanied by thick fog, making it easy to lose direction."
"And once you're lost, you might stumble into the Netherflame Marsh, one of the Four Forbidden Zones, where the Netherflames are countless and will directly take your life!"
Su Luo's eyes sharpened, "In other words, the ancient mining area is actually connected to the Netherflame Marsh, one of the Four Forbidden Zones?"
The Grand Elder solemnly warned, "Yes! That's why I said the finals of this Heaven's Chosen Competition are truly too difficult. I fear that at least four-fifths of the geniuses from various families who enter will not be able to come out alive. Tianjue, you need to think carefully. If it's really not possible, you can give up."
Li Tianjue said lightly, "Grand Elder, I will not give up. As for Tianshu and the others…"
Before he could finish, Chu Tianshu snorted, "A mere ancient mining area? Just be careful. If I get scared, won't people laugh their heads off? But Junior Sister, you just broke through to the Venerable cultivation level, isn't it a bit too dangerous?"
Su Luo blinked her eyes, "With several Senior Brothers protecting me, it will definitely be alright."
"That's right, Junior Sister, don't worry. Third Senior Brother will protect you. It's good to go to the ancient mining area to broaden your horizons, and perhaps you can get a lot of precious ore." Lu Jixing patted his chest with a proud look as if it was all on him.
Li Tianjue didn't speak. This girl had many trump cards.
Since she dared to go, she wouldn't be afraid.
Seeing this, the Grand Elder nodded, "Since you've made up your minds, I won't persuade you further. Prepare well these few days. We'll see the outcome of the preliminary competition in three days."
In the evening, Su Luo set up three tables of hot pot in the two-story courtyard of the inn.
The outer disciples helped tidy up all sorts of ingredients, fresh vegetables, and meats. When Su Luo brought out four basins of strange鸳鸯 (Yuan Yang) pot bases, their bright red color and bubbling fragrance wafted out, astonishing everyone.
Being away from home, they were treated to such delicious food?
Even the usually taciturn Zhan Li joined the hot pot feast for the first time, eating silently for over two hours.
The Grand Elder and the Second Elder praised them highly, trying the tomato pot base and then the butter spicy pot base, their eyes lighting up with joy, their chopsticks never stopping. The inner disciples' table was a bit more refined, while the two tables of outer disciples living in another courtyard were practically fighting over the food.
"Who snatched my tripe? I was boiling that! And my duck intestines! My ribs!"
"Who are you being polite to? You're not fast enough."
"Delicious, delicious, truly delicious! I've never eaten such delicious food before!"
"So happy, I want to be a Qingxu Tian disciple in my next life! Woo woo woo…"
Soon, the day of the preliminary competition arrived.
Eight oversized fighting stages were set up on the Sun Moon Plaza. Sects, noble families, and royal families, totaling thirteen thousand six hundred and forty-two young cultivators from over a hundred countries across the continent, began intense one-on-one matches.
The order of appearance was determined by the number on the contestants' tokens. Number one against the last number, number two against thirteen thousand six hundred and forty-one, number three against thirteen thousand six hundred and forty, and so on.
Because the registration times varied, the possibility of cheating was minimized.
By the end of the first day, nearly half the contestants were eliminated.
Three days later, only over seventeen hundred people remained for the rematch. Those who succeeded were overjoyed and encouraged to continue, while those who failed were dejected, only hoping to try again in the next competition.
Most of the contestants who entered the rematch were basically disciples from major forces and prominent families.
Among Qingxu Tian's more than twenty disciples, sixteen were successful. Qin Yuanshu, who had the highest cultivation, was already at the sixth stage of Venerable, so defeating his opponent was a given.
Other disciples who advanced to the rematch included Lin Yao, Gu Chengfeng, Sun Lulu, He Bi'er, and Feng Gang, who had always been diligent.
The two elders were quite satisfied and encouraged them to continue working hard to enter