Chapter 299 - The Four Roads
Numerous martial artists recognized that those rolling human heads, which were being dragged along the rope of that wild man, had familiar appearances. When they carefully looked over, their expressions abruptly changed.
“This is clearly Martial Weaponry Sect’s exceptional genius. How could he have ended up like this?”
“I also recognize that person. He’s the exceptional genius of Truth Seeking Sect!”
“There’s another one! The Cai Family’s Young Master Chang from Yong Province — He was likewise an exceptional genius!”
“The three of them entered the Northern Road to subdue battle slaves for their own uses. I didn’t expect that they would all become like this…”
“Quick, take a look. Wouldn’t the rest of the human heads belong to the retainers brought inside by the three of them?!”
After a burst of low shouts, the members of many organizations here watched on. These few exceptional geniuses originally viewed the geniuses of the Peripheral Continents as coins in their pockets, but unexpectedly, they were killed by the people whom they looked down upon. Their heads, which were all that remained, were humiliatingly dragged out, and became the capital that showcased the strength of this rope-carrying wild man.
These organizations’ members commented in hushed voices. Meanwhile, that wild man walked out in large strides, shook his arm, and threw that rope pulling numerous human heads to the side. He drew back the corners of his mouth and bared his snow-white teeth, revealing a beast-like and sinister smile: “Whose families shall I give these dogs to?!”
After he finished speaking, he walked step by step in another direction.
At this time, the crowd realized that there were also some people following behind this coa.r.s.e and brutish man. These people seemed to have pretty good apt.i.tudes, but they kept their distance from that wild man. Separated by at least several kilometers, they certainly didn’t want to get close to him.
Once the wild man emerged from the narrow and winding road, they also leaped out one after another. They wanted to disperse and leave. Just then, the members of some organizations barred the way, and inquired: “Who is the man who came out just now?”
When they were asked this, all of those geniuses who walked out from the Northern Road had their pupils constrict. At the same time, their eyes bore deep vigilance: “That’s Kuang Tianzhan. A terrifying prodigy!”
Other than that, they didn’t say much at all.
That Kuang Tianzhan had lifted his feet to move, but he couldn’t just walk away.
Soon, several people dropped down from high in the sky. Standing in front of him, they made invitations:
“Kuang Tianzhan, my Dragon Beheading Valley invites you to join us. Are you willing?”
“My Thousand Ren Mountain is the most suitable. How about joining us?”
“Right now, you have offended three iron-ranked organizations, and my Heavenly Thunder Sect is a bronze-ranked organization. With this invitation, all of your future worries will be resolved!”
During this brief period of time, a handful of bronze-ranked organizations extended their hands toward Kuang Tianzhan to rope him in. They all knew that this was a prodigy. Moreover, no matter what prodigy level he was at, if he was properly raised, there was an enormous possibility that their organization could at least preserve their rank or even increase it!
Prodigies always made people water at the mouth.
This Kuang Tianzhan remained silent. His pair of leopard eyes swept across all the organizations present, and finally settled upon one figure among the group. After that, he lifted his feet and walked over.
Kuang Tianzhan had joined the Frenzied Beast Sect!
This prodigy had already joined an organization, so the other forces naturally didn’t try to rope him in any longer. Soon after, they distributed the other geniuses who had walked out of the Northern Road. Most had selected suitable disciples who were taken into their own organizations. And those geniuses also knew that they were alone on the Central Continent like tufts of duckweed without any roots. Consequently, the more outstanding individuals went through a round of selections and picked certain organizations to join, while the less outstanding ones directly joined other organizations. Everything soon became calm and orderly.
Practically not a single person wanted to leave by themselves.
After these people found places to settle down, an extraordinary sight appeared at the Western Road!
One would only see a streak of cold light hurriedly dashing out. This figure was like lightning, whose quick speed even formed virtual images! After this person appeared, he suddenly stood in front of a mound of strange-looking rocks. Numerous people saw him clearly. This person’s figure was slim, his temperament was proud and aloof, and he didn’t spare any words to anyone. After a swift, sweeping glance over this situation, he immediately turned around, and disappeared under everyone’s gazes with extremely fast speed!
At this moment, a streak of saber light rapidly shot out, and blocked that person’s path ahead: “Do you study the saber?”
The slender young man spoke indifferently: “Yes.”
The tall and st.u.r.dy man who blocked his way laughed in a clear and bright voice: “If you study the saber, then you should join my Heavenly Saber Sect!”
While he spoke, the light at the tip of his saber flickered with claps of thunderbolts and flashes of lightning. It was precisely to show off his abilities.
The slender young man’s eyes flickered with a trace of fervency. Finally, he said: “Okay.”
The tall and st.u.r.dy man laughed boisterously again. He directly pulled the young man over, and carried him up and away: “Hahaha! Good! What’s the name of my student?”
The slender young man’s expression regained an undisturbed look: “Teng Yunfei. h.e.l.lo, instructor.”
The crowd of martial artists quickly realized that this was another prodigy.
And this prodigy was roped in by a bronze-ranked organization whose foundations were extremely solid. He had been received as a disciple!
After that, numerous other geniuses walked out from the Western Road. Likewise, all of them were received one by one.
Following this was the Eastern Road.
The one who walked out of the Eastern Road was a gorgeous young lady. She had a snow-like complexion. She also possessed a frigid temperament and an icy path of martial arts.
This was another prodigy. Similarly, she was taken in as a disciple to a bronze-ranked organization.
Shortly thereafter, the other geniuses were divided up.
Ultimately, all that remained was the Southern Road.
The northern, western, and eastern prodigies had already shown themselves. Comparatively outstanding geniuses had also walked out one after another. Yet, why hadn’t anyone seen any figures at the Southern Road?
Someone suddenly recalled: “Three prodigies went into the Southern Road on a hunt!”
The other martial artists also remembered this, and their expressions became subtle.
Indeed. The Roads of Heaven’s Chosen opened once every three hundred years. Although one could recruit many geniuses, those who paid the most attention to this matter were the iron and bronze-ranked organizations. Merely, they needed a touch of luck to occasionally recruit prodigy-level personages. As for those silver and gold-ranked organizations, they were never short of disciples — Let alone exceptional geniuses and prodigies. Naturally, they didn’t need to pay attention to the Roads of Heaven’s Chosen.
This time around, when the Roads of Heaven’s Chosen opened, some iron and bronze ranked organizations chose to come and wait for the final victors to appear in order to select disciples. Meanwhile, a portion of organizations sent out their own prominent disciples on missions, and ordered them to enter the Roads of Heaven’s Chosen to gain experience.
It was just that the disciples who entered the other three Roads of Heaven’s Chosen were the exceptional geniuses of iron-ranked organizations. Only, for whatever reason, three prodigies from bronze-ranked organizations suddenly made a bet and unexpectedly went into the same entrance!
— And this entrance was the Southern Road of Heaven’s Chosen.
In a split second, the members of numerous forces didn’t feel that it was strange for no one to appear at the Southern Road. Once the prodigies went inside, perhaps all of the geniuses had been captured like fishes in a net, and were divided up among the prodigies to be their battle slaves. How could there still be any geniuses left behind for the other organizations?
This road didn’t need to have expectations placed upon it any more.
In approximately three days, the Roads of Heaven’s Chosen would close. While receiving these disciples, one would have to wait for a little while longer. One could also take advantage of this chance to explain the Central Continent’s situation to these newly-received disciples for the purpose of pa.s.sing the time.
With this thinking, many of the organizations’ members didn’t leave yet.
In the blink of an eye, another two days pa.s.sed.
During this period of time, there were a few more fish that had escaped the net, and walked out from the eastern, western, and northern pathways. Among them, the outstanding ones were quickly divided up, and the somewhat inferior ones were received by others.
Soon, it was precisely the fourteenth day.
At this time, many people felt that something odd was going on — Why hadn’t there been any signs of activity at the Southern Road? If all of the geniuses coming from the Southern Road had been subdued, then those three prodigies should’ve come out by now.
Just like this, everyone waited until nightfall.
The color of the sky darkened. The darkness was dotted with stars, which glinted with errant beams of cold light.
At this moment, the Southern Road finally had a reaction. The five senses of the crowd of martial artists were sharp. They suddenly smelled faint traces of a b.l.o.o.d.y stench. Then, dozens to over a hundred people hurriedly ran out in disorderly steps.
— Eh, this seemed somewhat wrong?
Many martial artists looked over, and saw several robust men swiftly carrying a palanquin. Looking at the armor they wore, someone recognized it extremely quickly.
“The Binglong Army!”
“These are the battle slaves of the Zhao Empire’s Third Prince!”
“How did they end up in this wretched state? Why is the number of people reduced so much? Where is the Third Prince?”
“Could it be that — No, the Third Prince is a prodigy!”
Countless people commented one after another, but they all didn’t dare to believe it.
But from what their vicious gazes could tell, the Third Prince had clearly suffered a loss… Was he on that palanquin?
Innumerable suspicions sprung up in their hearts.
However, the Third Prince’s delegation didn’t linger. That Binglong Army carried the palanquin, and rapidly departed from this place.
Everyone was left baffled.
Not much time had pa.s.sed when Young Master Xin and his battle slaves unhurriedly walked out from that Southern Road. It was a grandiose sight of several hundred people, but they similarly didn’t linger for a single moment.
While someone asked about that Third Prince’s situation, Young Master Xin didn’t say anything. He only took a step, and disappeared far into the distance.
The next day, Prince Zhou finally appeared.
He originally had a peculiar temperament, and usually wasn’t willing to come into contact with others. However, this matter was too strange, and some people couldn’t help asking him to obtain clues.
Prince Zhou commanded his subordinates and left in an ostentatious manner. However, he did leave behind a few words: “Third Zhao failed to kill someone, and was beaten half to death instead. Serves him right!”
Afterwards, these martial artists realized that, while Prince Zhou had gone away, he had also kept one person behind.
A person who seemed like a very clever and eloquent speaker.
Following this, the clever fellow vividly described all sorts of encounters that the Third Prince suffered while on the Southern Road. It really left people…stuck between laughter and tears.
Merely, while they didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, everyone felt that it was inconceivable.
It was said that, along the Southern Road, the Third Prince had failed to recruit someone, and the two had become adversaries. Later on, the opposing party attacked several times and killed many of the Third Prince’s subordinates, which trampled the Third Prince’s face. From adversaries to enemies, and then to mortal-enemies where both sides would fight to the last breath! But after that, even though the Third Prince battled the other out in the open, the Third Prince still couldn’t beat him. It was to the point that, after using a taboo move, the Third Prince instead had been nearly killed by the other side.
An insignificant person from the Peripheral Continents… And what everyone found hard to believe was that the Southern Road prodigy hadn’t even reached the Immortal Realm!
How could they believe this?
Numerous martial artists were bewildered and uncertain.
One after another, their gazes fell upon that Southern Road.
Many geniuses were continuously walked out from that place, but among them, there wasn’t a single prodigy.
These geniuses were received by plenty of organizations. And after being received, some made discreet inquiries about the information that Prince Zhou declared. After this, everyone confirmed it.
These forces were astounded.
Immediately following which, they suddenly discovered that an astonishing feeling was emanating from the Southern Road.
T/N: Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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