Gu Liufeng’s gaze turned as he stared at Jun Mengchen and Zi Qingxuan. He then asked with a smile, "These two are?"
"My junior apprentice brother Jun Mengchen and junior apprentice sister Zi Qingxuan." Qin Wentian laughed as he introduced. He pointed to Gu Liufeng and stated, "This man is Gu Liufeng, a friend of mine from my particle world."
"Haha! Since it’s the friend of senior Qin, it means that you are my, Jun Mengchen’s friend as well." Jun Mengchen gave a carefree laugh. Zi Qingxuan also nodded lightly to Gu Liufeng. When she initially saw Qin Wentian and Jun Mengchen, she adopted a cool demeanor around them. But after this period of time of travelling and interacting together, she warmed up much more and apparently, both of them had already gained her recognition and that their level of outstandingness wasn’t anyway inferior to hers.
Zi Qingxuan was also extremely bewildered, she didn’t really expect that Qin Wentian hailed from a particle world. In that case, him and Gu Liufeng should have been considered the most dazzling characters of their particle world.
"Being able to encounter you, Qin Wentian, again in the vast immortal realms, it’s truly not easy. In addition, I also heard that Hua Taixu might appear here today. If that’s the case, we who are the top three rankers of the Immortal Martial Realm Ranking have all gathered. Fate is such a mysterious thing, given how vast the immortal realms are, the three of us actually appear here at this location." Gu Liufeng’s personality seemed to have changed. In the past, he was taciturn and preferred silence, and was a lone ranger. But now when he met Qin Wentian again in the immortal realms, he suddenly seemed to become a lot more chatty.
"Hua Taixu." Qin Wentian’s heart involuntarily felt a warm emotion upon hearing the name of this old acquaintance. He was long acquainted with Hua Taixu during his youth. Back then, Hua Taixu was the top ranker of the Heavenly Fate Rankings and was the idol of countless people, exuding an unmatched impressiveness. Later on, when he too became the top ranker on the Heavenly Fate Rankings, he hunted Hua Taixu’s little brother down and partic.i.p.ated with him together in the Immortal Martial Realm’s test before reconciling their grudges. To think that they actually would meet each other again in the vast immortal realms and once more, they would be compet.i.tors. Fate was truly a mysterious thing.
However, Qin Wentian truly admired Hua Taixu. Hua Taixu entered the tutelage of the Myriad Incarnations Immortal King and with the personal guidance from an immortal king character, he would definitely be even more extraordinary than before.
"Let’s go and find an inn to take a break. The inns and taverns in this area are all controlled by the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect and are all considered businesses owned by them. Just flas.h.i.+ng this medallion will render all food and services to be free of charge, we don’t need to pay any prices to eat the food or to reside there." Gu Liufeng came earlier hence he understood more. Qin Wentian had already seen the medallion pinned on Gu Liufeng’s robes, Gu Liufeng was ranked number 33 from the Qian Prefecture.
Gu Liufeng also glanced at the medallions pinned on the robes of these three as he sighed in admiration in his heart. Qin Wentian definitely had an extraordinary encounter. The three of them, other than Qin Wentian who was ranked 27 in the Cloud Prefecture, Zi Qingxuan was number 5 while their youngest junior brother Jun Mengchen was number 2.
These three fellow sect members, their results were more and more outstanding one after another.
"Okay." Qin Wentian nodded as they found a tavern and sat down. Since these two were old acquaintances, they naturally had many things to chat about. And since they were two geniuses from the same world meeting each other again in the vast immortal realms, they naturally had a sense of closeness when they saw each other again.
Gu Liufeng chatted quite a lot. The Immortal Martial Realm was an immortal king-tier power in the immortal realms and had an immortal king expert at its foundation. They paid close attention and valued geniuses from particle worlds, setting up the Immortal Martial Realms over there to select elites to join their ranks. This was also the reason why the Royal Sacred Sect could only silently allow the Immortal Martial Realm to continue existing despite knowing their purpose. The Immortal Martial Realm was too strong and had a deep foundation, it can be considered a supreme power in the Qian Prefecture.
"Because the majority of the disciples were recruited from the particle worlds, all of them began from zero when they entered the immortal realms. We were all heaven chosen from different particle worlds and the compet.i.tion within the sect was extremely intense. The weaklings would all be eliminated while the stronger ones would remain. Your compet.i.tors are all geniuses of the same tier as you and it was much more difficult compared to the tests in the particle worlds. Now thinking about it, the eight era-suppressing geniuses truly weren’t nothing much in comparison." Gu Liufeng sighed as he sipped a mouthful of wine.
Gu Liufeng being able to still appear here today, meant that his status in the Immortal Martial Realm shouldn’t be too bad. It was unknown how many compet.i.tors he had to defeat to reach this point ever since he came to the immortal realms.
"The compet.i.tion here is simply too brutal. Not only must you fight against outsiders, you still had to compete against your fellow sect members for resources and the recognition of the elders," Gu Liufeng continued as he shook his head.
"That’s only natural." Qin Wentian gave a deep nod. Even for the eight era-suppressing geniuses, they had to continuously improve and mature to the point to become more and more outstanding or they would merely be ordinary people when they arrived in the immortal realms. For the geniuses he met now, behind all of them, there were an unknown number of opponents whom they defeated.
For a truly outstanding character to appear, it wasn’t the eruption of talent just for a short period of time. One had to maintain and grow unceasingly, continously making oneself stand above the rest, breaking through their own limits before they can pull away from their peers.
"Jun Mengchen is ranked number 2 of the Cloud Prefecture, he must definitely be extremely outstanding. However, the geniuses attending this banquet are countless and the number of geniuses in the top three prefectures - Eastern, Qian and Li, should be the most famous as well as the strongest. In fact, I’ve been hearing their names the moment I arrived here." Gu Liufeng slowly spoke. Although his eyes still flickered with self-confidence, the l.u.s.ter of absolute certainty of yesteryear has already faded away.
Back then, Gu Liufeng was ranked top of the eight era-suppressing geniuses. Among the countless talents of the Royal Sacred Region, no one could be comparable to him. But when placed in the immortal realms, even a character such as him found it difficult to compete against the fellow geniuses in his sect, let alone the entirety of geniuses in the whole thirteen prefectures. There were simply too many who were more outstanding than him and reality was what blunted his sharpness, causing his character to have a little more prudence and a little less confidence.
"I don’t believe in the saying that geniuses of the Eastern, Qian and Li Prefectures would be the most dazzling. I only know that me, as well as my senior brother and senior sister would all surely be able to walk till the very end." Jun Mengchen unwillingly stated. Their mission was to become the most dazzling three out of these geniuses. Although these three great prefectures were the strongest among the thirteen prefectures, it doesn’t mean that the geniuses here would be superior compared to them.
As the sound of Jun Mengchen’s voice faded, several gazes in the surroundings directed to him while the people silently stated in their hearts that this young man simply didn’t know the immensity of the heavens and earth.
"Gusu Tianqi of the Eastern Prefecture has no equals under the heavens. Although you are ranked second in the Cloud Prefecture and have an extraordinary talent, there’s no way for you to be comparable to Gusu Tianqi. Forcibly comparing yourself to him will only be you grossly overestimating your own capabilities." A citizen from the Emperor City spoke. Upon hearing the name ‘Gusu Tianqi’ spoken, several people in the inn nodded their heads. Someone then laughed, "Whoever it is that compares themselves with Gusu Tianqi is merely courting their own humiliation."
"Yeah. The Gusu Clan only has a sole descendant for nine generations straight. In the first generation there was someone named Gusu Pingjiang, an Immortal Emperor expert and for the next successive generations, all the descendants of the Gusu Clan have reached the immortal king level at the very least, and it can be considered an immortal-king tier aristocrat clan. Right now the descendant of this generation is named Gusu Tianqi, he has a supreme talent and even an immortal-king physique. In fact, he even has a chance to become an immortal emperor. I heard that even the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor favors him and this time, him partic.i.p.ating in this event is merely a formality. He would definitely become the number one and the personal disciple of the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor in the near future."
The atmosphere in the inn suddenly turned lively upon hearing Gusu Tianqi’s name. It was as though this person need not appear personally, just the mention of his name was sufficient to cause such a commotion and from this, one could see how outstanding his talent really was.
In the immortal realms, if one was famous, that person certainly must have some unique aspects that surpa.s.sed others and rarely would it be a case of one having an overblown reputation.
Hence, this Gusu Tianqi was most definitely an extraordinary individual.
"I’ve heard this name the most." Gu Liufeng bitterly smiled.
Jun Mengchen’s eyes flickered with a dazzling light that was filled with an intense battle intent. He then spoke, "I truly wish to cross path with him. I wonder what his cultivation base is."
"He’s now at the sixth-level of Celestial Phenomenon but I heard that he can surmount three levels of cultivation and fight evenly against ninth-level ascendants." Gu Liufeng’s voice turned heavy. A sixth-level ascendant fighting against a ninth-level one, the concept of this was simply too terrifying. Given how resounding Gusu Tianqi’s name is throughout the Eastern Prefecture, how could he possibly not be strong?
"Other than Gusu Tianqi, there’s also someone named Xia Jiufeng from the Eastern Prefecture, Ye Qianchen from Qian Prefecture, Cang Aochi from the Li Prefecture. These people were the most famous. Xia Jiufeng is ranked number 2 in the Eastern Prefecture, while Ye Qianchen and Cang Aochi were respectively ranked first in the Qian and Li Prefecture. The partic.i.p.ants of these three prefectures have already arrived in this area."
Gu Liufeng continued to introduce, "Other than these, there’s also another batch of geniuses who were pretty famous as well. They are all personal disciples of powerful immortal kings and an example is Hua Taixu. He entered the tutelage of the Myriad Incarnations Immortal King and I believe, with so many monstrous geniuses partic.i.p.ating, the compet.i.tion this time around would surely be extremely intense."
Qin Wentian nodded his head lightly, silently remembering these names. It was within Qin Wentian’s prediction that the compet.i.tion would be intense. With the geniuses of the entire thirteen prefectures gathered, how could it not be intense?
"Now, we have to wait, wait for the start of the compet.i.tion." Qin Wentian’s eyes flickered as he spoke, "Let’s go find a place to stay, I wish to stabilize the foundations of my own cultivation."
"RIght, why don’t we go to to the inn which I’m currently residing in? The environment there isn’t too bad." Gu Liufeng stood up as all of them stepped out of the tavern and led the way. The people outside were all heaven chosen from various powers, and the mutual gaze they had for each other were filled with extreme sharpness.
Not too long later, Qin Wentian and his sect members arrived at the inn where Gu Liufeng resides. The decoration of the place was adorned with many ancient natural trees and the environment is not bad for cultivation. They went to the reception desk and Gu Liufeng spoke out, "I need three more courtyards, do you have sufficient s.p.a.ce?"
"Mhm." The receptionist nodded. "I will get someone to bring you guys over now."
"Okay." Gu Liufeng nodded his head lightly. After which, a waiter led them towards the courtyards they rented. On their way there, the environment was elegant and there was a fragrance in the air from the beautiful flowers planted around here.
This inn was extremely large. Cultivators needed to cultivate hence the atmosphere was very silent, each customer would be able to rent one courtyard, and it’s quite s.p.a.cious as well.
"This inn is also owned by the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect. It’s very quiet and no one will disturb us here." Gu Liufeng and the others walked onto a small bridge and the waiter in charge of them pointed ahead and spoke, "These three individual courtyards are the ones we mentioned. Everyone, your luck isn’t bad, these are the last three courtyards that’s still unrented in our inn."
"Mhm, this place seems pretty nice." Zi QIngxuan nodded. But at this very moment, a silhouette sped over to here as though that person was in a hurry. His figure blocked in front of Qin Wentian and it was actually none other than the receptionist that attended to them earlier. "Everyone please accept my apology, earlier I’ve seen wrongly and these three courtyards are already rented out. Would the three of you please seek residence elsewhere?"
Qin Wentian frowned, how was it possible for a stellar martial cultivator to have such a mistake. There was something fishy going on.
"But there’s no one living in there now?" Gu Liufeng unhappily stated.
"I’m truly sorry, it’s my careless mistake. In fact actually these three courtyards were already booked by someone else in advanced but I’ve forgotten." That receptionist apologized.
At this moment, a group of silhouettes soared through the air. The one leading them then spoke, "Sirs, the courtyards are right ahead."
Qin Wentian and the rest inclined their heads, their countenances turning cold upon seeing this. Evidently, the inn was chasing them out because of this group of cultivators who arrived later and it wasn’t because the receptionist had made a mistake!
Translator Note:
姑苏天奇 Gusu Tianqi --> 姑苏Gusu is a surname 天奇Tianqi can mean Heaven’s Miracle