These lightning bolts were too bizarre and also carried the power of the heavenly dao. Ordinary people couldn’t understand them at all.

The molten iron had completely sealed this man. As the lightning dissipated, the iron hardened. The iron man stood beneath an apricot tree with flowers fluttering everywhere, mixing with the snow. It was a particularly lonely and cold painting!

He had lost all signs of life!

“Could this be a supreme heretical master attacking in secret to take out this Thousand-man Commander?” Many suddenly had this thought.

“The heretics are too despicable! They’re afraid of his power and had to resort to this method to kill him!”

“This is the way of the heretical schools? Soldier fight against soldiers while generals deal with generals! How can the older generation interfere in a battle between youths?!”

The majority of the spectators felt injustice for this Thousand-man Commander. Some were full of remorse and lamented that this great genius who had just started to s.h.i.+ne had been killed in his cradle.

Even Xuezang recalled his swords and coldly glared at the sky before shouting: “Who is meddling in other people’s business!”

The appearance of the lightning bolts was too strange. He himself felt that an expert from the previous generation got involved.

A ripple appeared in the sky. An old man with a black cloak emerged in an illusory manner and spoke with an ethereal voice: “The older generation absolutely does not interfere with the compet.i.tion of youths! Life or death depends on their own fate, death for the losers!”

His words were so firm that no one could doubt them. After he finished speaking, he vanished from the sky. There was indeed some older heretical experts in Radiance!

w.a.n.g Meng furiously roared: “Who can believe him? You heretics do not play by the rules. Watch it or be suppressed by the entire cultivation world!”

The others were angry as well and felt that they were lied to. The old couldn’t interfere with the young — once this rule was violated, it meant that an all-out war would soon begin.

Another voice resounded: “I believe him.” Deep in the apricot forest was a stone platform. Two men dressed in white daoist robes were playing chess. The speaker just now was seated to the left. They were playing since the very beginning, but no one noticed them until now.

The man to the left wore a feathery turban as well as a bronze pen that acted as a hairpin for his bun. He had a piece in his hand, musing his next play while holding a bamboo scroll in the other. 

If someone was mult.i.tasking like this during a match, the opponent would be quite unhappy. One should focus completely while playing. This was an insult to any chess player.

However, the man opposite of him wasn’t angry at all. In fact, he wanted to give him several more scrolls. It would be best to prepare a pretty girl to sit on his lap as well.

As long as his opponent could be distracted and lose, everything was fine. Alas, he had never lost before.

“That’s the number one seer of the Wanxiang’s PaG.o.da, Scholar Heaven Calculating. The youth opposite of him is…” A disciple from the paG.o.da was quite shocked after recognizing the scholar.

Bi Ningshuai was hiding on an apricot tree to the northwest with a straw hat on his head. He peered through the forest and saw the two men playing chess.

“It’s him!” His heart jumped, causing him to trip and roll down the tree: “f.u.c.k! Ow…”

These two men had been here for a long time, but people have only spotted them just now. This was indicative of their incredible cultivation.

“Hmph!” A scowl came from the clouds like thunder: “The Wanxiang PaG.o.da actually has such characters? I’ll see just how strong you are!”

“Boom!” A dark saber slash broke through the clouds. It spanned dozens of meters with a thick yet sharp edge. The air parted due to its coming just like a mountain being split in two.

The weaker cultivators couldn’t handle the aura of this saber. Their skin was cut open and their bodies were forced to the ground.

This was an extraordinary force. One had to at least be at the Heaven’s Mandate realm in order to unleash it.

“Bang!” The scholar’s opponent was still focusing on the chess pieces and thinking about his next move with a slight frown.

He casually stretched out his fingers and directly caught the tip of the saber.

This was a saber condensed from spirit energy that contained boundless power. However, it seemed that the youth didn’t use any strength at all to stop it since he looked very relaxed.

This scene shocked many people; one could hear them taking deep breaths to calm down: “How, how can this be…”

“Bang!” He flicked his finger and the saber shattered. Energy poured down like rain alongside blood. Screams resounded as three men in black robes fell down from the sky.

“Fourth Lord, don’t be so impatient. The paG.o.da and the heretical schools will have a fight, but you must wait until the event at the sacred lake. Today is not the day.” The man finally made his move with an apricot petal as the chess piece.

It was the Fourth Lord who attacked earlier, but this man repelled his attack. The remnant energy shot back and killed three older cultivators. They fell down from the sky and turned into meat paste.

The paG.o.da’s disciples were ecstatic and jumped up while shouting: “I know who he is now, he’s rank number one on the Hundred’s List!”

“The lone swallow of snow mountain, Yan Ziyu.” Someone directly called out his name.

“Yes, there’s no mistake. Only Yan Ziyu can play against Scholar Heaven Calculating. These are the top two youths at the paG.o.da in both combat and literacy.”

The paG.o.da’s disciples couldn’t be happier since the heretical schools couldn’t be as insolent with these two here.

Even though s.h.i.+ Yelai was a Grand Historical Genius, he had only reached first level Heaven’s Mandate and couldn’t contend with the top geniuses of the paG.o.da.

Yan Ziyu was from the same generation as the other historical geniuses and had been famous for more than ten years. He once fought against one of the eight, Beiming Potian, for eighty moves without faltering.

“Isn’t he supposed to be in closed cultivation back on the eighth floor of the Immeasurable Tower? He swore to not leave until he reaches the ninth floor, so if he is out today, does that mean…” 

Scholar Heaven Calculating smiled and confirmed this speculation: “Ziyu has entered the ninth floor and obtained an ancient inheritance, allowing him to join the ranks of Grand Historical Geniuses three months ago.”

In a split second, the entire manor was clamoring. This news was simply too shocking. Even the entire cultivation world would be shocked after hearing it.

The birth of a Grand Historical Genius was no joke.

The scholar continued: “The reason why we were late is because Brother Yan met an old friend, so they had a spar that lasted five days and four nights. In the end, the victor was undecided.”

Yan Ziyu was already great enough before making this leap, so someone who could fight him for that long must be an older Grand Historical Genius. Everyone knew that Yan Ziyu and Beiming Potian didn’t get along, so it was probably Potian who fought him.

If the news of the heretical schools’ emergence didn’t come out, maybe these two would continue to fight until a winner was decided.

The heretical lords’ expressions changed. The scholar was definitely not lying. It looked like some powerful enemies have finally appeared.

The scholar slowly declared: “I am here today to compile the list of Grand Historical Genius by adding the 11th and 12th members.”

The crowd fell into an uproar!

The astronomical signs of dragons devouring the sky happened several months ago, so the world would fall into chaos very soon. Grand Historical Geniuses would show up in greater numbers than any of the previous generations.

However, s.h.i.+ Yelai and Little Demoness from the Feng Clan added up to ten. Yan Ziyu was naturally the 11th, so who was the 12th?

Someone at this level would definitely be renowned in the world. Could this be a recent rising star? However, there hasn’t been another promising candidate of this level to appear.

The scholar had a slight smirk on his face. He pointed towards the iron man under the apricot tree and instantly, a quiet sound came from the body inside the armor.

“Crack!” Noises of metal breaking apart could be heard. Cracks appeared on the armor while a white radiance came from inside. It shone like the stars in the night sky.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!” More cracks appeared on the iron man’s body as light gushed out. He looked like an unpolished piece of jade being taken out from a rock. This light made others celebrate joyfully!

“Feng Daniu is not dead! He’s returning from the clutches of death with a vitality like the rising sun.”

“Could he be the 12th Grand Historical Genius?”

“d.a.m.n! So unbelievable!”

The crowd heated up even more this time compared to Yan Ziyu’s revelation because they were watching it with their own eyes.

Yan Ziyu made another play and smiled at the scholar: “The battle today is only just beginning, I wonder if the new talents from the heretical schools will be able to stop him?”

The scholar made his move and heartily laughed: “Haha! Feng… Daniu is not a good person. I worry for the ten prettiest girls of the heretical schools!”

Their laughter echoed as they played chess under the apricot tree.