Chapter 216
“Hmph!”
King Yuanying snorted coldly, forcing himself to remain composed. As a seasoned warrior in the realm of life and death, he could naturally discern the strengths and weaknesses between Ye Ruoshui and Jian Chen.
Although Jian Chen had comprehended the Great Perfection of Sword Intent and was on the verge of touching the Sword Dao Domain, making him a dominant force within the Spirit Seed Realm,
Even against some Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, he was fearless.
But Ye Ruoshui was no less formidable, perhaps even stronger!
With her perfect innate fire in the Spirit Seed Realm, even the prodigies within the inner court would find it hard to match.
This means that any magical artifact, divine ability, or other entity that ranks below the Primordial Fire cannot withstand it for long.
Jian Chen had only touched upon the realm of sword techniques, not truly comprehended it.
Even if one had truly comprehended the realm of sword techniques, they would not dare to confront the Primordial Fire head-on!
After all, the Primordial Fire, strictly categorized, even in its lowest rank, is comparable to the Saint Realm!
He could only pray that Ye Ruoshui’s combat experience was sufficiently lacking, allowing Jian Chen to find a flaw and defeat her with a single strike.
However, the likelihood of this happening is extremely low!
Thinking of this, King Yuanying’s expression grew increasingly grim.
For this initiation trial, the Sword Tomb had gone all out to ensure that their highly anticipated heir would emerge victorious.
Not only had they offered a Heaven-grade magic sword, a Heaven-grade sword technique, and a Heaven-grade elixir as rewards for the champion, but they had also treated him, the supervising elder, generously.
Having fought against demons for years, even with the elixirs provided by the Holy Academy, it was inevitable that his body would be tainted by demonic energy. In recent years, he had felt his cultivation becoming increasingly hindered.
This time, the Sword Tomb had gifted him some elixirs to expel the demonic energy, not only completely cleansing his body of the evil influence but also helping his cultivation advance further.
Such practices had long been an unspoken rule of the initiation trials, with various sacred lands, noble families, and imperial courts taking turns to sponsor the rewards for the trial’s victors.
Naturally, the champion would be the one whose sponsor had invested the most.
But this time, so many dark horses had suddenly emerged.
King Yuanying knew in his heart that if Xiao Minghuang participated in the trial, Jian Chen would likely not be able to withstand even a single strike from her.
Now, even without Xiao Minghuang, there were still Ye Ruoshui and Lin Wanqiu.
“Sigh, where did these three suddenly come from? What are their backgrounds!”
King Yuanying was deeply frustrated.
Having accepted the task, he was duty-bound to ensure Jian Chen’s victory. If he failed, the rewards from the Sword Tomb would fall into the hands of outsiders, and the Sword Tomb would not take this loss lying down. The blame would ultimately fall on him.
Three Heaven-grade treasures! Even as a King-realm cultivator, he could not afford such precious items!
Seeing King Yuanying’s fluctuating expression, the Seventeenth Water Spirit King frowned and reminded him, “Brother Yuan, I advise you not to get too involved with outsiders. It won’t do you any good.”
Hearing this, King Yuanying turned his head and saw the Seventeenth Water Spirit King’s look of concern. He retorted, “How I conduct myself is none of your concern… Besides, I am an outsider myself!”
The Seventeenth Water Spirit King’s expression darkened.
“Since you’ve made up your mind, I won’t try to persuade you further. I just hope you remember the Holy Academy’s rules and don’t lead yourself astray!”
“Hmph!”
Seeing King Yuanying’s defiant attitude, the Seventeenth Water Spirit King sighed inwardly.
The Holy Academy managed all affairs within the Eastern Pole, originally only needing to mediate relations between the various sacred lands, noble families, and imperial courts, requiring few personnel.
But over time, the major powers of the Eastern Pole had become increasingly greedy. If left unchecked, the foundation of the Eastern Pole—the vast majority of rogue cultivators—would inevitably be eroded by them.
It was from that time that the Holy Academy began openly recruiting cultivators for training.
But once this door was opened, the interests of these sacred lands and noble families had to be considered.
Thus, a system created to solve problems had turned into an even greater burden.
As the Holy Academy needed to train more disciples, it required more elders, forcing them to hire from outside.
To become an elder or guest at the Holy Academy, one needed at least King-realm cultivation. Rogue cultivators with such strength were few and far between, and due to their difficult upbringing, they were generally profit-driven and lacked a broader perspective.
Over the years, the Holy Academy had hired more and more rogue cultivators as elders, but the quality of teaching had not improved; instead, it had declined.
The externally hired rogue cultivator elders were primarily responsible for teaching in the outer court. However, over the past thousand years, the proportion of outer court disciples advancing to the inner court had gradually declined.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was entirely due to the lack of teaching experience among these rogue cultivator elders.
After entering the Sacred Court, these rogue cultivator elders focused solely on leveraging their status as Sacred Court elders to collude with external sacred lands and aristocratic families, profiting from these connections. As a result, the outer court had almost become a private reserve for these sacred lands and aristocratic families.
This situation was deeply distressing to the Seventeenth Water Spirit King.
Yet, even under these circumstances, the Sacred Court had not hired the experienced great cultivators from the sacred lands and aristocratic families.
If they had done so, it would have truly been inviting the wolf into the house.
Including him, most of the Sacred Court elders were yearning for a reform to expel these rogue cultivators and rebuild a system that truly belonged to the Sacred Court.
By this point, the conversation between the two had reached a stage of mutual disdain.
At that moment, the communication talisman in King Yuanying’s sleeve suddenly reacted. With a thought, an unfamiliar voice echoed in his mind.
“What’s going on with this trial? Why are there so many dark horses? Why wasn’t Ye Ruoshui issued the Hidden Dragon Token?”
The owner of this voice was a prominent figure from the Tower of All Saints, also his contact and superior.
The Tower of All Saints was a covert organization jointly established by the sacred lands, aristocratic families, and imperial dynasties, specifically tasked with handling the dirty work that they couldn’t deal with openly.
“My apologies, I wasn’t quick enough to respond. Rest assured, Young Master Jian Chen’s exceptional talent will surely secure him the championship.”
“Don’t try to fool me. The Tower of All Saints has informants in the trial grounds as well. Do you think I don’t know anything? A Spirit Seed Realm cultivator who has perfectly fused with innate fire—the Sacred Court has truly struck gold this time!”
“Also, the hundred Seven-Patterned Evil-Slaying Pills I gave you must be returned! The loss of the three heavenly treasures from the Sword Tomb will also be on your head. Don’t think about evading responsibility. With just a word from me, countless people will testify that you violated the Sacred Court’s rules by colluding with the sacred lands. Don’t even think about running away. As long as you’re still in the Eastern Pole, you won’t escape the grasp of the Tower of All Saints!”
“Hmph… Think carefully about what you should do. The position of a Tower of All Saints consultant is still reserved for you…”
With that, the communication was cut off.
Listening to the busy tone from the communication talisman, King Yuanying’s expression turned extremely gloomy.
“Damn that Ye Ruoshui!”
What was supposed to be a routine supervision of the entrance trial had now turned into a colossal mess!
All of this had to be blamed on Ye Ruoshui!
“If that’s the case, don’t blame me for resorting to extreme measures!”
A flash of killing intent passed through King Yuanying’s eyes.
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