That afternoon, Gu Yuan followed Di Liu back to the First Martial Arts University. After bidding farewell to Di Liu, he returned to his villa.
Gu Yuan planned to rest for a couple of days to adjust his condition and practice the few new techniques he had acquired to prepare for the Martial Arts League.
Xia Jing.
In the Xuanyuan family, the previously still teleportation array suddenly began to fluctuate, startling the guards who were on duty twenty-four hours a day. They immediately sent word to the family head.
Upon receiving the news from the guards, the Xuanyuan patriarch hurried to the teleportation array and began to wait in silence for the return of their Xuanyuan family's "Kirin Son."
Hum!
A humming sound arose. The Xuanyuan patriarch’s spirit lifted. The blue teleportation tunnel before him began to emit a faint blue glow, and finally, a figure emerged from within.
This person had a stern face, a tall build, and wore a profound golden martial robe. His long hair cascaded over his shoulders, and coiled around his shoulder was a golden, four-legged creature, radiating a faint golden light.
The four-legged creature sensed someone approaching and, in a flash, transformed into scattered specks of light, entering Xuanyuan Tianxia’s body.
Seeing this, the Xuanyuan patriarch’s jaw dropped, and he murmured, “The ancestors did not deceive me. It truly exists!”
“Patriarch, I succeeded!” Xuanyuan Tianxia said, his voice filled with excitement.
No matter how mature he was, he couldn’t contain himself at such a moment. This was related to the grand plan for the revival of the entire Xuanyuan clan!
“Tianxia, good, truly good, Hahaha!” The Xuanyuan patriarch was so overjoyed that he didn’t know what to say, resorting to hearty laughter to express his elation.
A golden head, resembling a deer’s with two small horns, poked out from Xuanyuan Tianxia’s shoulder. Two long whiskers fluttered in the wind, and its black eyes were curiously observing the outside world and the somewhat silly-looking human before him.
Gu Yuan, witnessing this, exclaimed in shock: “Holy crap, a golden dragon!”
Human Territory, Azure Palace!
A place dedicated to the grand plans of the Azure Human Race.
“Begin!” a voice commanded.
Hum!
From all directions, over a dozen different energies shot forth, converging onto a massive teleportation gate. Blue array patterns lit up. The entire gate was one hundred meters tall, inscribed with countless profound array patterns. It continuously absorbed the injected power, and the array patterns illuminated one after another.
This was undoubtedly a super-large cross-realm teleportation array!
As energy was continuously infused, all the array patterns on the cross-realm teleportation gate finally lit up, ceasing energy absorption.
Finally, with a hum, the cross-realm teleportation gate erupted with an incredibly powerful beam of light, shooting directly beyond the world. It then connected to a certain line outside the world before slowly disappearing.
“Alright, everyone, let us await the arrival of the great era together!” the voice echoed again.
“Agreed!”
The Azure Palace fell silent once more, only the hum of the cross-realm teleportation gate continuing to resonate.
Simultaneously, in the deepest reaches of the boundless wilderness, a half-beast man seated on a throne seemed to sense the actions of the human race. A sinister smile spread across his ferocious face as he gently tapped the armrest of his throne.
Within moments, a half-beast man appeared, almost indistinguishable from a human, save for certain features that betrayed his beastly nature, such as his ears.
“Your Majesty, what are your commands?” the kneeling half-beast man below asked with reverence.
“Little Eleven, go inform the various Beast Kings to prepare and send our clan’s geniuses into the Starry Sky Myriad Races Battlefield! They are to rendezvous with the main clan!”
“Yes!” the half-beast man named Little Eleven replied respectfully, then transformed into a black mist and vanished from the spot.
The half-beast man on the throne raised his head, as if gazing up at the vast starry sky, a hint of longing in his eyes…
Gu Yuan was tirelessly practicing his martial skills within his villa. This time, he had quite a lot to train.
First was the most crucial physical explosive technique: the Thunder-Fire Whale Fiend Body!
He hadn’t yet cultivated it to perfection.
The Nine Slashes of the Divine Firmament Imperial Thunder consumed too much energy to be used as a regular technique; it could only serve as a trump card. Used in conjunction with the blade intent contained within Hei Kun, it would undoubtedly instantly kill many geniuses. However, if it were blocked, he would be left with no means of counterattack.
The Blade Nurturing Art could be used normally, but with Hei Kun, one slash would instantly drain him. Thus, he had to temporarily abandon his dream of being an armor summoner and maintain the Blood Refinement Gold in the form of Qiushui for blade nurturing.
The remaining techniques were all ones Gu Yuan had yet to reveal. These could serve as surprise tactics, primarily aiming to catch opponents off guard.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
During these three days, he had also visited Elder Wang, explicitly stating his eagerness to learn array formations and requesting Elder Wang to take him as a student. Of course, the previous informal lesson didn't count.
Although it was a formal teacher-student relationship, Gu Yuan knew that given Elder Wang’s age, it was practically equivalent to a personal disciple. Therefore, Gu Yuan took this apprenticeship very seriously.
He not only invited Di Liu as a witness and followed the strict apprenticeship rituals but also presented the traditional six gifts.
After all this, Gu Yuan gained a teacher, a teacher who could block an eighth-tier cultivator while being at the seventh tier!
He truly had a backer now, even if that backer appeared rather aged.
Three days later.
It was time again for the quadrennial Martial Arts League.
News was flying everywhere, but the martial artists who garnered the most attention always remained popular. Gu Yuan, the foremost among commoner martial artists, was one such figure.
The Martial Arts League was the highest-level competition in all of Tianxia.
It primarily featured competitions between two realms: the True Qi realm and the Qi Sea realm, divided into two tiers.
Upon reaching the Inner Vision realm, a martial artist's power would rise dramatically. While such competitions had been held before, the cost of constructing the arenas alone had consumed a significant portion of the official revenue, nearly leading to a loss that year. Since then, only competitions for the True Qi and Qi Sea realms were held.
Gu Yuan was considered a flagship figure of the First Martial Arts University this year. He hadn’t met the other True Qi realm martial artists from the First Martial Arts University and was unsure of their capabilities.
However, he had browsed online for the past three days. The most talked-about figure was the young master of the Xuanyuan family, Xuanyuan Tianxia, who was also the foremost among the Myriad Dragon Mansion.
Gu Yuan also intended to search for information on Yang Tiankui. However, Yang Tiankui seemed to have vanished into thin air, with almost no news of him online, and his current cultivation realm was unknown.
Gu Yuan had a particularly deep impression of Yang Tiankui. The pressure exerted by a reincarnation of a powerful being had forced him to exert himself to the fullest. He had never forgotten the oppressive feeling he experienced then, and this time, he wanted to engage in a full-force duel with him to test the prowess of a reincarnation of a powerful being!
After packing his belongings, Gu Yuan went directly to Di Liu's office. Gu Yuan wasn't the only one arriving at Di Liu's office; fifteen others were participating in the competition. Including Gu Yuan, there were about nine people present.
These eight individuals, both male and female, had different physiques and emanated varying degrees of aura, unlike Gu Yuan, who appeared as ordinary as any common person.
Upon seeing Gu Yuan, who seemed like an ordinary person with no aura leaking out, the others secretly became wary, thinking, “This guy is definitely a dark horse.”
After waiting for about ten more minutes, the remaining participants arrived. Di Liu led the sixteen individuals to a dedicated teleportation array. This time, they were heading to an arena in Xia Jing for the competition.
Even with teleportation arrays, it would take a considerable amount of time to reach their destination.
As Gu Yuan watched the constantly flowing blue light, his heart was filled with anticipation for the Martial Arts League!
He yearned for battles against the strong!