The next morning, drums thundered across the central plaza of the Great Li Imperial City as the once-in-thirty-years Martial Arts Tournament officially kicked off.
Su Yueli, wearing a cold, white-carved mask, arrived early at the elevated spectator stands.
By now, the venue was already packed with a dense, dark crowd of people. In the preparation area below, mundane martial artists and experts from various secular noble families had all gathered, their sabers, spears, swords, and halberds glinting coldly in the morning light.
Su Yueli sat in a corner, sweeping her cold gaze across the area below. Her eyes quickly locked onto a section adorned with a black eagle banner.
The Pang family.
Looking at the familiar emblem, a cold smirk played on Su Yueli's lips.
The young contestants sent by the Pang family were currently bursting with blood qi. Judging by their strength, they were all around the Fourth Realm.
This standard was practically identical to the one from the tournament she had participated in sixty years ago.
After a sixty-year cycle, the foundation of a mundane family ultimately still ran in the same circles.
Su Yueli averted her gaze and looked toward the very center of the Pang family's spectator area.
Sitting there was a middle-aged man dressed in luxurious robes, sitting upright with a majestic expression.
Su Yueli used her Delusion Breaker Rank intuition to probe him, only to find her perception somewhat blurred. Surprisingly, she could not see through the middle-aged man's martial arts cultivation at a single glance.
Not only that, but a faint, almost imperceptible trace of cool energy lingered around his body.
“Spiritual energy fluctuations?”
Su Yueli raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised.
The current patriarch of a mundane martial arts family was actually a cultivator?
“Hey guys, do you see the one sitting in the Pang family's main seat?”
While Su Yueli was lost in thought, a few martial artists dressed as traveling doctors and escort guards not far from her side began to chatter animatedly, spit flying.
One of them, a bearded swordsman, lowered his voice and said, “The Pang family is really pulling out all the stops this time. See that middle-aged man? He's no ordinary martial artist. He's a prominent figure the Pang family brought back from an immortal sect!”
“I heard he's been cultivating in an immortal sect for decades, and is now a powerful cultivator at around the Eighth Realm of the immortal path!”
The man next to him gasped. “Hiss... Eighth Realm of the immortal path? Doesn't that mean he can crush a Tenth Realm Martial God with a flick of his finger? How did the Pang family manage to invite such an old monster back?”
“Heh, you wouldn't know about that.”
The bearded swordsman looked left and right before saying mysteriously, “It's all because of what happened sixty years ago! The Pang family used to be so glorious, but they completely lost face in the tournament two sessions ago.”
“The champion of that session was a mysterious black-robed woman. Not only did she turn the Pang family upside down on the stage, but later, even the old patriarch of the Pang family—a peak Eighth Realm martial grandmaster—mysteriously died outside the city.”
“Rumor has it that he was beaten to death by that very black-robed woman!”
Hearing this, Su Yueli, who was sitting nearby, couldn't help but twitch her lips beneath her mask.
Eighth Realm of the immortal path.
She felt a lingering sense of dread in her heart.
It was a good thing she had patted her butt and run fast enough after killing the old guy back then. If the Pang family had called back this cultivator trump card at that time...
With her strength back then, having just broken through to the Tenth Realm Martial God level, she probably wouldn't even have had a chance to escape when facing a Seventh or Eighth Realm cultivator.
“So there was such a secret behind it.”
Su Yueli's mind stirred slightly, and she chimed in, following their train of thought, “According to what you all say, that black-robed champion from sixty years ago was truly an extraordinary woman. I wonder where she went afterward?”
Seeing someone join the conversation, the bearded swordsman instantly grew excited. He slapped his thigh and said, “More than extraordinary! She was practically the savior of our Great Li's mundane martial path!”
“Back then, she single-handedly fought the top martial artists of several great families, beating those usually high-and-mighty family geniuses to a pulp. It was incredibly satisfying!”
Another mundane doctor carrying a medicine basket leaned in and sighed, “Yes, unfortunately, after that battle, that black-robed female Martial God completely vanished off the face of the earth.”
“Some say she was ambushed by the Pang family and the imperial court, others say she saw through the world and lived in seclusion deep in the mountains, and there are even rumors that she entered the Dao through martial arts, shattered the limits of the martial path, and ascended in broad daylight!”
Su Yueli took a sip of the harsh shaojiu, a strange look in her eyes beneath her mask.
Ascended?
She had merely struggled and slept in the muddy pits of a secret realm for thirty years, yet these rumors in the martial world were getting more ridiculous by the second.
“Ascending seems a bit far-fetched,” Su Yueli remarked casually. “Maybe she was just heavily injured and hid in some deserted cave for decades. By now, she might have turned into a wrinkled old hag, sunbathing somewhere.”
“Pah, pah, pah! Little brother, you must not disrespect a legend!”
The swordsman was displeased and countered, “To practice martial arts to the Tenth Realm Martial God level, how robust must one's blood qi be? Living past a hundred is definitely not a problem. Even if that female Martial God is still alive today, she must be a peerless powerhouse of the martial path!”
“She is the only beacon of hope for us vulgar martial artists without Bone Talent. If she were alive today and saw the Pang family using a cultivator to hold the fort, she might just descend from the sky again and smash that Pang family patriarch into the ground with a single punch!”
Su Yueli chuckled in spite of herself.
She touched the cold mask on her face and shook her head.
She was sitting right next to them...
This feeling of having others brag about her old legend right to her face while she quietly watched from the sidelines gave her an inexplicably subtle sense of satisfaction.
It caused a ripple of emotion to stir in her long-dormant heart.
As the group chatted idly, a deafening gong suddenly rang out across the central plaza.
Dong—!
A young official wearing a bright yellow python robe, flanked by countless armed guards, walked slowly onto the highest viewing platform in the very center.
Unfurling the golden imperial decree in his hand, he channeled his internal true qi, and his voice instantly echoed throughout the entire venue:
“The Great Li Dynasty's once-in-thirty-years Martial Arts Tournament officially begins today! All contestants must give their all. The victors shall receive rewards from the national treasury...”
From her elevated spectator seat, Su Yueli looked at the young official reading the rules, her brow furrowing slightly.
It was a completely unfamiliar face.
“Hey friend, I haven't returned to the imperial city in a long time.”
Su Yueli turned her head and asked the swordsman beside her, pretending to be highly puzzled, “I recall that Great Li's Martial Arts Tournament used to be personally hosted by the Fourth Prince. Why is there a new face this time?”
Hearing the words 'Fourth Prince', the swordsman's face paled instantly. Terrified, he quickly whispered:
“Shh! Do you want to die? Why are you mentioning that person in a place like this!”
The swordsman looked around. Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, he lowered his voice and gritted his teeth. “Your information is way too outdated! The Fourth Prince is old history from thirty years ago.”
“The struggle for the throne back then was incredibly brutal. The Fourth Prince ultimately failed in his bid for succession. The current Emperor stripped him of all his titles and military power, banishing him directly to the most desolate northern border to build the Great Wall!”
The mundane doctor beside him also sighed and chimed in softly, “The northern border is no good place these days. The Great Wei Dynasty has been repeatedly invading in recent years. There's fighting at the border every single day, with countless casualties.”
“That Fourth Prince has no power or influence now. Although he is a cultivator, his life in the northern border is probably far from easy.”
“Alright, alright! You actually dare to talk about treasonous topics like imperial succession struggles and border wars in the middle of the venue? Do you really want to lose your heads!”
A one-eyed old man sitting in the row behind them suddenly snorted coldly, glaring fiercely at the two loudmouths.
Rate on N.U.
