I Am Supreme

Around the same time, many sects and schools that possessed the Celestial Luck Banner had received information, nor the least of which was the exact particulars of the challenger sects. The details could be withheld before the contest, but once the registration was completed to become a challenger, there was no longer any need to maintain a semblance of secrecy.

Schools that possessed the middle-class Celestial Luck Banner did not receive many challenges due to their high capability, but the lower class Celestial Luck Banner sects faced a sea of enemies, especially the last three schools in the ranking. The sound of the wind and the brush of weed, too, felt like an enemy’s ambush to them.

Cangwu Union, that had been ranked last, had suffered the most. Staring at the long list of challenger names, the leader was deeply unsettled.

“How could there be so many challenge letters? There are a hundred over sects that wanted to challenge us… Who will win ultimately? Who’ll obtain the final challenge qualification?”

“These schools in front are well documented, we know quite a fair bit of their capabilities… This Residence of Nine Supremes, though, what is it? What’s its background? When was it built? Why isn’t there any documentation on this?”

“Go take a look.”

…

As the news of the challenger sects was spread across the realm, countless schools began to react; some prepared themselves, some set out on conquests, while others welcomed the challenges.

Schools that held the Celestial Luck Banner would remain quiet for now, preparing for the battle eagerly to prevent an unexpected challenge, while sects that had no flag seek opponents; this was because for a school to challenge a target sect that possessed the banner, it would have to defeat ten other sects to obtain the qualification.

Due to this factor, the Residence of Nine Supremes that was established in the shortest time possible and seemed like it had no support had inevitably become easy meat, the best stepping stone for others to obtain the challenger qualification.

“Let’s get rid of this Residence of Nine Supremes first!”

The higher-level management of more than twenty sects came to the same decision respectively. They would first knock out the Residence of Nine Supremes, not only to gain a term, eliminate an opponent, train their members, they could also let other sects of similar capabilities fight each other to suffer some casualties first.

The Residence of Nine Supremes was undeniably a good choice as a target! They must not miss it.

“Depart!”

“Across the mountains and rivers, who’s the hero?”

“Reign the martial world, rule the world!”

“Who can acquire the celestial luck?”

For a moment, countless schools under the Sacred Heart Palace’s administration were roused into action, like a boiling pot of water. The Mount Penta-Tier that was five hundred miles away from the Sacred Heart Palace was also effervescent, glowing with radiant colors.

The Mount Penta-Tier was a special mountain around the Sacred Heart Palace, endowed with the shape of a pagoda. Other than the enormous size, each tier on the mountain was strictly restrained. It had been the battleground of the Celestial Luck Banner contest since hundreds of thousands of years ago.

The first tier of the mountain was only limited to the competition of qualifying for the Celestial Luck Banner contest. One who could go to the mountain’s second tier was one who was eligible for the lower class flag match while the third and fourth tier of mountain belonged to the middle and higher class banner tournament. The highest peak, that was the fifth tier, was the moderation place for the Sacred Heart Palace’s higher-level management, rarely trodden by others.

When the Sacred Heart Palace officially announced the start of the Celestial Luck Banner contest, it was basically restricting all flag-bearing sects to stop their external conquests; any member who intended to join the battle for the banner should come back to their position regardless of the journey.

All schools originally bearing flags were to seal their mountain gates during this period of time, disallowing any of their disciples from going away. This restriction was naturally to prevent the Celestial Luck Banner sects from oppressing or even banishing their opponents using illegitimate tactics other than the flag tournament.

There were quite a number of rules for the banner-bearing schools in the tournament of the Celestial Luck Banner, but there were no limitations to the rogue cultivating sects. Perhaps, it should be said that limitations were put away in order to witness the survival of the fittest.

To qualify as the Celestial Luck Banner challenger, one had to struggle its way through the brutal martial world. The process was the law of the jungle, the weak being preyed upon by the strong. One could do anything, go to any extent; it would be meaningless with rules instead.

On the basis of such conditions, the Residence of Nine Supremes had received thirteen challenge letters in a day just as the flag tournament started!

They were unavoidable challenges but with battles, came loss. No matter how powerful their lineup was, could they possibly suffer no casualties when faced with a series of fights?

It was possible that they refused to accept the challenges, but that would disqualify them from further challenging the flag-bearing sects. How could they not do battle then?

…

On the other side of where the Sacred Soul Palace reigned, another legend had slowly begun to rise and spread its wings. An organization that called itself the White Garb Alliance had begun to build itself up and expand its influence.

…

Knowing that the competition was looming over the horizon, Shi Wuchen and the group taught their pupils wholeheartedly. Even with disregard to the flag tournament, the training of disciples across the nine peaks was, implicitly, a ground for comparison. Therefore, the nine mountains were bustling with activity.

From harassed whetstones in the martial world to the highest level of management in the Residence of Nine Supremes, the Demiurge-Flawed Ten was burning with the hunger to fight, to contribute and build merit, to not disappoint the hope they were given.

In addition, they were incredibly satisfied with their freshly recruited disciples. These students had little to no foundation, almost starting from zero, but they were exceptionally gifted while having higher than average determination and resilience. A few of the children had quietly broken through their chakras during the night of the Nine Supremes installation, while some of them were prodigious enough to have awakened two to three chakras miraculously…

The reality pleased the Demiurge-Flawed Ten greatly.

Geniuses – this was a big group of geniuses! However, no matter how gifted they were, they still could not be sent to the frontline.

The disciples recruited by the eight other Supremes were older than Yun Yang’s but the eldest of them all was only slightly older than ten. Shi Wuchen and the others did not think that their conscience could allow them to ask these children to do battle.

The higher-level authorities who took part in the contest of the Celestial Luck Banner had to at least have the cultivation base of the Saint-level to be able to fight. This was not actually the bar set but when others surpassed this cultivation base standard, it was better that one who was not on par dismiss himself from participating. Otherwise, there was only death that awaited the unfortunate soul!

This was a battle of solid capability. There was no consideration of luck. One could be lucky once or twice, maybe all the way to the end, but facing a wide disparity in abilities, a drop of ill fate meant that one would die with the destruction of his cultivation.

The sparring rounds would be attended by each sect’s core disciples and they would at least have the Honor leveled cultivation base even though that was it, not one who was more than first level Honor. This was a standard lower than Little Fatty Qian Duoduo when Yun Yang had first met him. In spite of it, the highest cultivation base the Residence of Nine Supremes’ disciples had was only Heaven Mystic! The contrast between the levels was like the distance between heaven and earth…