Chapter 1426 - 1426: Celestial Palace's Pride

Brother Cheng himself, being in the middle of the competition, couldn't hear the commotion outside.

But the Divine Monarchs in charge of hosting the Divine Communication Assembly outside the arena could hear it clearly.

Emperor Xiu, Emperor Yuan, and the Emperor of Void, who hadn't shown themselves, could hear it as well.

So the mood among those Celestial Palace higher-ups became extremely mixed and complicated.

Damn it, that brat isn't even one of our Celestial Palace people!

What the hell are you all randomly cheering and celebrating for?

He doesn't even have a Celestial Heart; even the Evil Immortals are more loyal than him—at least they've got a Lower Grade Celestial Heart.

Once we fall out with the Evil Immortal Realm and go to war, he's exactly who we're going to make a move on.

And yet you actually treat him like he's some hero of the Celestial Palace?

Calling him the great Emperor Jiang Yin, talking about him having the bearing of a Celestial Emperor.

How are we supposed to swallow that?

"That damned bastard!"

Emperor Xiu's face was so dark it looked like he was about to get constipation.

"What are the other Daoist Saints even good for, letting him steal all the limelight?"

It could have been anyone else playing the hero, but it just had to be the Jiang Cheng he hated most.

If things kept developing at this pace, then when he killed Jiang Cheng in the later rounds, wouldn't he have to avoid letting the Celestial Palace Immortals find out?

Otherwise, they'd feel that the hero who brought glory to the Celestial Palace had been murdered.

And that would stir up intense dissatisfaction.

"Emperor Xiu, do relax a little."

The Emperor of Void smiled faintly beside him.

"This is only the first screening match, the difficulty is very low."

"It's perfectly normal that this kid relied on the powerful Attack Power of the Thirteen Layer of Sword Dao to clear it quickly."

"Things will be different later on."

Emperor Xiu nodded heavily.

"Exactly, this round barely counts for anything."

"Once it gets to the fourth match, that'll be the end of him."

The fourth match was a true test of Power; not only was there no way to "game the system," it was even somewhat dangerous and brutal.

Right now, he was already a bit impatient to see that round start.

Next to the Emperor of Void, Emperor Yuan suddenly said lazily, "Will this kid even get through the second and third rounds?"

Uh, huh?

Emperor Xiu and the Emperor of Void both froze for a moment, as if only now remembering to consider that question.

The second match tested Dao affinity.

The third match tested foundation and mental state.

There was no fighting in those two rounds, so there was no risk to life.

"That brat doesn't even have a Celestial Heart, there's no way he can pass the second round."

The Divine Communication Assembly was an elimination tournament, fought round by round.

If you were eliminated in the first match, you couldn't participate in the second.

Eliminated in the second, you couldn't advance to the third.

Thinking that Jiang Cheng very likely wouldn't make it to the fourth round, that he'd basically have no chance to kill him openly in the competition, Emperor Xiu almost burst out cursing on the spot with nowhere to vent his hatred and anger.

For the first time, he was hoping Brother Cheng would show some backbone and at least hold out until the fourth round.

Isn't that brat really good at gaming the system? Even cheating would be fine!

Just as they were muttering in private, another earth-shaking wave of cheers came from outside.

"Qiu Yuxuan!"

"Emperor Sword Star Lord Qiu Yuxuan!"

"Worthy of being the Divine Lady whose talent is as rare as a phoenix!"

After Jiang Cheng broke through the first Illusion Realm, the eighth and ninth places were taken by two Daoist Saints, one from the Celestial Palace and one from below.

The Power of the Daoist Saints was obvious to all.

Aside from the outlier Jiang Cheng, the other Daoist Venerables simply couldn't shake their dominance.

It was purely a gap in level.

Yet just as everyone was thinking that, another Daoist Venerable surpassed more than ten Daoist Saints, broke through the first Illusion Realm first, and took the tenth slot.

This person was Qiu Yuxuan.

"Hahaha, another one of our Celestial Palace people."

"And another Daoist Venerable at that."

"Divine Lady Qiu is incredible!"

"With Jiang Cheng in front and Qiu Yuxuan behind, our Celestial Palace's Daoist Saints might be underperforming, but our Daoist Venerables are overwhelmingly strong!"

"Even if this is just the preliminary sea selection, being able to surpass more than ten Daoist Saints in a single aspect is still unbelievable!"

"These two would be peer-crushing, peerless prodigies in any era."

"For our Celestial Palace to have both at the same time is a sign of great flourishing!"

The faces of those Celestial Palace higher-up Divine Monarchs and Celestial Emperors turned even darker.

For Qiu Yuxuan, whose Celestial Heart was maxed out, they naturally felt no hostility at all, and even had a great fondness for her.

Seeing her get such good results made them very happy.

The problem was, when the Immortals under the stage praised Qiu Yuxuan, they dragged Jiang Cheng into it again.

For hell's sake, if you're going to hype Qiu Yuxuan, just hype Qiu Yuxuan—what are you bringing up some "peerless double prodigies" for?

Isn't that just boosting the presence of that black sheep?

By this time inside the competition arena, over a thousand Immortals below Daoist Venerable level had already been eliminated.

And that number was still climbing.

At the same time, the Experts' performance remained rock solid.

When Yun Ting Daoist Saint broke the Illusion Realm for the second time, more than ten other Daoist Saints also broke out of the Illusion Realm they were trapped in.

After that, Ji Feng, Meng Wu, Jiang Cheng and the others all broke the Illusion Realm for the second time.

Because Brother Cheng now had experience for the second time, breaking the Illusion Realm became much more easy and familiar for him.

His order jumped straight up to fourth place.

Once again triggering a wave of cheers from the entire arena.

"Emperor Jiang Yin is even faster than last time!"

"It's not a fluke!"

"The Celestial Palace's reputation is being forcefully restored purely by Elder Jiang's dominance!"

"Way too strong!"

"Qiu Yuxuan! Her order for breaking the Illusion Realm the second time is ranked seventh."

"Nice!"

"No wonder they're our Celestial Palace's pair of Daoist Venerable prodigies!"

Many people, besides recognizing how powerful those veteran Daoist Saints were, had also come to more deeply appreciate just how unbelievable Jiang Cheng and Qiu Yuxuan were.

Up until now, aside from the Daoist Saints, only the two of them had managed to break through the Illusion Realm.

All the other famous genius Daoist Venerables and Upper-rank Star Lords were still fighting in the first Illusion Realm.

They would definitely pass as well, but the time they took was on a different level.

But they didn't know that Brother Cheng's mood at the moment wasn't all that great.

The sea selection's Rules were to endure three days in this round.

If you lasted three days without being eliminated, you passed; even if you didn't break through a single Illusion Realm, you could still enter the second round.

"This match format is way too damn scammy, isn't it?"

Under these competition Rules, clearing faster didn't bring any extra benefit.

They'd just immediately face the next Illusion Realm's attacks, continuing nonstop until the three days were up.

"Logically speaking, once I break through an Illusion Realm, it should count as passing directly."

"Instead I still have to keep huffing and puffing, fighting continuously for three whole days before it ends—what, do they think I came here to do manual labor?"

Three days was just the flick of a finger for an Immortal.

It wasn't particularly long.

Even if he had to fight like this for three years, with Brother Cheng's Immortal Power he could easily sustain it.

The problem was, the guy didn't have that kind of patience.

He felt it was way too much hassle.

When he was pulled into yet another Illusion Realm for the third time, taking a fresh round of Rule Attack baptism, his entire mind was focused on how to exploit a bug.

What exactly was the Secret Realm for this competition?

Barring surprises, its essence should be a Great Array.

Otherwise it couldn't be so regular, so orderly.

And whether it was a man-made or naturally formed Great Array, in the end it was still an Array.

As long as it was an Array, then it had an Array Hub, and it had loopholes.