That letter was the proof that a cultivator was both extremely strong and talented. Those who had received it were the most outstanding amongst the young cultivators.
Besides, those who hadn’t received a letter were gathering on the bank of the lake. They wanted to personally observe the most outstanding disciples of Xue Yue.
Being able to see the extremely strong cultivators displaying their strength was a rare sight, so it was a good opportunity for the masses.
There weren’t only members of the Imperial City who had gathered, there were people from all parts of Xue Yue. Everybody was interested in the national competition.
Everybody wanted to see how strong the geniuses of Xue Yue really were and how high their natural abilities were, they would also be able to see the difference between them.
Finally, on the fifth day, the Imperial Government of Xue Yue gave the order to start a blockade, people could leave the Imperial City but were no longer allowed entry.
There were too many people who had gathered in the Imperial City, people were pushing and squeezing past each other on the incredibly large roads which would normally allow a thousand people to walk shoulder to shoulder with space between.
The order to start a blockade made the people who were waiting to enter, grow furious. They regretted travelling across such a distance only to be too late. At that moment, they couldn’t enter the Imperial City, it wouldn’t be possible to see the national competition.
The atmosphere in the Imperial City was extremely agitated, bustling and lively, everybody was extremely impatient, until finally, the seventh day arrived.
The Xiangjiang lake was situated in the northern district of the Imperial City, the lake was only a few hundred yards wide, but it was a few dozen miles in length. From one side of the lake, it was impossible to see the other side.
The Xiangjiang lake was extremely long. Early in the morning, both sides of the lake were covered with people from above, those crowds of people moving looked like dragons, they covered an area of a few dozen miles, the sight was incredible.
If those people all stomped onto the ground at the same time, it would flip the entire lake upside down.
The atmosphere was extremely noisy around the lake, No matter if they knew each other or not, the people were all talking to each other, they were all discussing the strong cultivators who might have received invitation letters. They were all trying to guess how many cultivators there would be and where they were from.
Of course, when many people gathered together, there was also tension and conflicts. Some of the people wanted to be on the very bank of the lake but others wouldn’t let them go ahead of them. Clouds of dust could be seen in many places due to the fact that many people were fighting each other to get a better view. It didn’t look too important though, from above those battles just looked like a small ripple in the sea of people and after a period of time, all the battles had come to a conclusion.
Time was passing very slowly for the audience and everybody was excited for the arrival of the night.
Time seemed to be passing much slower, it seemed like they had waited for a hundred days for it to become night. The more impatient they were, the slower the time passed.
As the time passed and the scarlet red sun started shining down on the lake. While the sun was setting in one part of the sky, the full moon was appearing in another, people’s heartbeats were beating faster and faster.
Soon, the national competition would begin. They had been waiting for that for such a long time.
In the distance, a group of people appeared, they were standing on a gigantic beast and they were flying at full speed.
The one who seemed to be their leader looked majestic, he had a very commanding presence.
Those people immediately moved onto the bank of the lake. That place was reserved for them, there were already some soldiers blocking people from entering that area.
“Hao Yue Sect.” The crowd was stupefied. The people who had just landed were holding a flag which was fluttering in the wind. On that flag, there were words written in a flamboyant style calligraphy, “HAO YUE SECT” was written in huge characters.
The Imperial City had invited some outstanding young cultivators, but they had also invited the biggest sects and clans of the country. They would obviously invite the Hao Yue Sect.
The majestic-looking leader was the patriarch of the Hao Yue Sect: Chu Qing.
“I heard that two disciples of the Hao Yue Sect have been invited, one of them is Chu Zhan Peng, there’s no need for me to remind you how strong he is, and the other is a core disciple of the Hao Yue Sect: Jiang Shan. He seemingly broke through to the Xuan Qi layer and was invited as well.” Discussions broke out when they saw the Hao Yue Sect.
“What about the Blademaster, Leng Yue? I’ve heard that the Hao Yue Sect has a genius called Leng Yue, his nickname is the Blademaster, even though he is only the second ranked core disciple, his natural abilities are even higher than those of Jiang Shan. He is definitely going to be a high-official in the future, where is he? Is he coming or not?”
“I’ve also heard about him, it is said that he is abnormally fast and if he takes out his blade, someone will die. Nobody can dodge his attacks, but it’s been a while since I have heard anything about him, besides, some people even say that he’s gone missing.”
Two people were talking about the Blademaster, they couldn’t know that they would never see the Blademaster because he was already killed by Lin Feng.
Very few people knew about that encounter, the news hadn’t even reached the public in Imperial City, therefore, the fact that the people in the crowd didn’t know about it, was very normal.
“Is that snow? The members of the Ice and Snow Mountain Village are here!”
At that moment, some people noticed that snow was forming on the horizon, as if the moon itself was going to be frozen. A layer of ice appeared on the ground beneath them and a thick snow fell from the sky.
At the same time, there were people who could be seen travelling across the ice and snow, they were obviously the members of the Ice and Snow Mountain Village.
However, what astonished many people within the crowd was that the group of people was very small. There were only a few people in their group. Once again, very few people in the country knew about the battle in Celestial River, where a large force of cultivators from the Ice and Snow Mountain Village were killed, they had charged there to kill Lin Feng and never returned.
“The members of the Luo Xia Sect have arrived.” Sighed some other people surprised. The setting sun was shining upon another group of people on the horizon. The group of people looked extremely desolate and unapproachable as they moved with the setting sun shining down on them. They also had a location reserved for them.
“The Luo Xia Sect comes from such a remote location in the country, they also never mix with other people, I wouldn’t have thought that they would come to the competition. The patriarch of their sect, Gu Chun Qiu, has personally come as well.” said some of the seniors in the crowd when they saw Gu Chun Qiu the patriarch of the Luo Xie Sect. The crowd was astonished because Gu Chun Qiu was the strangest and most reclusive of all the patriarchs.
He looked glum, as if he was surrounded by hardships and problems.
The Luo Xia Sect and the Ice and Snow Mountain Village were the same. They had gone to Celestial River to acquire the heavenly dragon cauldron, Wu Gang offended Lin Feng because he wanted to use him as a scapegoat for his own cowardice and because of that, the cultivators and elders of the Luo Xia Sect were all slaughtered, how could Gu Chun Qiu not look glum?
He remembered Lin Feng, but in Celestial River, there had been a monstrously evil cultivator who killed everyone who went for the heavenly dragon cauldron and left no survivors, so Gu Chun Qiu had thought that Lin Feng was killed at that time. However, when Lin Feng’s name started to spread in the Imperial City again, Gu Chun Qiu heard the rumors and knew that he was still alive.
This time, Gu Chun Qiu had come to the Imperial City for one reason, to kill Lin Feng.
The sun was gradually setting on the horizon. The members of the Holy Courtyard of Xue Yue, the Yue Clan, the Yu Clan and of the Wan Shou Sect also started arriving. They all had reserved spots, so they did not need to arrive early.
All the greatest spheres of influence in the country had their own reserved location, and in the middle of everyone, there was a huge empty location, it was the lake.
On the side of the Holy Courtyard of Xue Yue, two silhouettes appeared in the sky above them. Chu Zhan Peng immediately landed in front of the crowd of the Hao Yue Sect.
“Father.” Shouted Chu Zhan Peng while looking at Chu Qing.
“Zhan Peng, this time, you know what you have to do right?” Said Chu Qing while looking at Chu Zhan Peng.
“Don’t worry father, even if Lin Feng hadn’t killed Leng Yue, I would have killed him anyway.” said Chu Zhan Peng with sharp lights twinkling in his eyes. Lin Feng needed to be dealt with before it was too late.
At the same time, the members of the Ice and Snow Mountain Village were having the same conversation as well. They had lost so many people in Celestial River, now they had an occasion to kill Lin Feng, they couldn’t let the opportunity slip by.
They all wanted to kill Lin Feng, the Hao Yue Sect and the Ice and Snow Mountain Village, were all the same, even the Luo Xia Sect, the Wan Shou Sect and the Yu Clan wanted to use this opportunity to kill him.
Actually, they already had enmity with Lin Feng from the moment they destroyed the Yun Hai Sect, even without everything that had happened after that, they needed to destroy the roots and kill Lin Feng.