AGM 361 - Vermilion Bird Formation
Qin Wentian's battle robe became the focus of everyone in the area. On the platform, no other manifestations appeared, indicating that Qin Wentian had defeated the test.
The platinum battle robe—other than him, there was no one else.
Sadly, he joined the ranking battle at the wrong time.
"What a pity." Many mused, if given a year or two Qin Wentian's cultivation level would be either at the eighth or ninth level of Yuanfu. By then, his will of Mandates would have advanced another level or boundary, thereby granting him an even chance of contending against Chen Wang and Shi Potian for the top position in the Heavenly Fate Rankings.
But right now, although his performance was outstanding and earned him a battle robe of the platinum color, in actuality, the distance between him and the other two hadn't lessened at all.
Regardless in cultivation level, or will of Mandates, or even in the aspects of innate techniques, Qin Wentian would be sorely suppressed by the two of them. There was no competition at all.
Or he could follow the steps of Chen Wang, tolerating three more years and rising to prominence then.
Qin Wentian walked down the platform, the spear strike of that final warrior was coated with the Mandate of Gold, and even it interfered with his recovery. He sat down cross-legged by the side, trying to adjust the flow of qi in his body when suddenly, a medicinal pill was thrown his way. Without even thinking, Qin Wentian caught hold of it and ingested it—the scene causing many to flash looks of curiosity at Mo Qingcheng.
That medicinal pill was from her, she actually wanted to aid Qin Wentian in his recovery.
Could it be that she felt a favourable impression towards him because Qin Wentian attained the platinum robes? But that couldn't be the case right? Mo Qingcheng had no lack of talented suitors. Even Hua Taixu was rejected—how could a mere Qin Wentian replace the illustrious Hua Taixu? She must have helped him out of compassion because he was injured, there was no other explanation.
Yet Qin Wentian didn't even show any signs of gratitude. After ingesting the pill, he continued his process of recovery without even a word of thanks.
For the remaining contenders, they continued the test at their own pace. The majority of them were of the yellow robes rank and the only one among them worthy of notice was a stranger whom nobody had ever seen before. In the end, the stranger obtained a final evaluation of violet-gold battle robes.
One could well imagine the strength of his combat prowess after seeing the color of his battle robes. Yet strangely, he wasn't someone on the Heavenly Fate Rankings. This man's name was Si Qiong, and nobody had ever heard of him before nor knew anything about his back ground.
And after him, there were also a few others who had been keeping their true strength hidden and choosing to erupt forth only at this moment, thus causing the others to look at them in a different light.
And finally, the only person who obtained the platinum battle robes was Qin Wentian.
There were a total of three who obtained the violet-gold battle robes: Chen Wang, Shi Potian, Si Qiong.
Other than this, there were a total of five who obtained the violet battle robes: Yan Cheng, Leng Hong, Qin Zheng, Yao Jun and Hua Shaoqing.
Three of those five had gone beyond the expectations of others, although Yan Cheng and Yao Jun's results weren't all that surprising. After all, Yan Cheng was the Heaven's Chosen from the Swallow Swordsmen, ranked #8 on the Heavenly Fate Rankings while Yao Jun from the Skydemon Sect, was ranked #13 in the past Heavenly Fate Rankings. It wasn't so surprising that they had the power to obtain the violet robes.
Yet no one expected Leng Hong, Qin Zheng and Hua Shaoqing to obtain such results.
Leng Hong was similar to Si Qiong in the fact that no one knew of his background. There were whispers among the crowd that he was a drifter that roamed Grand Xia, and it was unclear whether he was from any of the major powers.
Qin Zheng, was also somewhat unknown in Grand Xia—only those who've been to the Unmatched Realm of the Azure Continent would have heard of his name before.
And lastly, Hua Shaoqing was naturally someone from the Hua Clan. Many had thought that other than Hua Taixu, the next strongest in the younger generations of the Hua Clan would be Hua Feng, but evidently, they thought wrong.
This caused many in the crowd to mutter in low voices, it seemed like Hua Clan had been hiding this talent all along. This just goes to show that the Hua Clan wasn't lacking in ambition. After Hua Taixu wrested away the ancient luck three years ago, they wanted another member of the Hua Clan, Hua Shaoqing, to do the same this time around.
Naturally, the combat prowess of Si Qiong, Leng Hong, Qin Zheng and Hua Shaoqing were overwhelmingly powerful, and the four dark horses of this ranking battle.
For this test of combat prowess, the elimination rate was extremely high. There was only less than a thousand contenders left behind. For those that remained, the lowest ranked of all the yellow battle robes all had at least a single Mandate at the Perfection Boundary, with the majority of them having a cultivation base at the ninth level of Yuanfu.
In the ranking battle, for the heroes of Grand Xia, the elites of the elites, they all gathered in Ginkou.
For this test, most of the contenders went all out, showcasing their true abilities. But naturally, there were also some who wanted to remain in the shadows, only exploding forth with their true strength in the later tests.
Sounds of discussion flooded the spectators on the winding pathways, they knew that the following test would be even more brutal.
The next test would rank those qualified to be on the Heavenly Fate Rankings, a total of 360 positions.
The next test was an extremely crucial turning point for all contenders—it was the test to plunder Grand Xia's ancient luck.
Old Man Tianji's gaze swept across the crowd, eventually landing on Qin Wentian as he stated, "As the one with the platinum battle robes, you will be awarded the right to enter the ancient gate first."
"The luck of Ancient Grand Xia lies behind that gate, all of you will be given the chance to wrest the luck for yourself and away from others. Only when a total of 360 contenders acquired the ancient luck would this test be concluded."
Qin Wentian's gaze stared straight ahead, right past the hundreds of battle platforms and landed onto an ancient-looking gate.
Standing up, Qin Wentian readjusted his body back to its peak condition, and then proceeded to advance forward.
"Wait." At this moment, a heavy voice drifted out, causing Qin Wentian to halt in his steps.
Turning his head back, Qin Wentian stared at the person who spoke—it was Chen Wang.
"You are unsuitable to be the first to enter the ancient gate," Chen Wang calmly spoke, looking straight ahead. He didn't even bother to look at Qin Wentian.
With his battle robes at the violet-gold color, he originally thought that no one else would surpass him.
Yet Qin Wentian actually obtained the platinum robes, snatching away his chance to enter the ancient gate first.
"What do you mean?"
Chen Wang still didn't look at Qin Wentian, he turned his gaze onto Old Man Tianji and inquired, "Senior, according to the rules, the priority of entry depended on the color of one's battle robes. But as long as the person is willing to relinquish the priority to enter, there shouldn't be any problem, is that correct?"
"Yes," Old Man Tianji spoke after a pause, "If it's of his own volition."
Those from the Great Solar Chen Clan had smiles on their faces—Chen Wang wanted to be number one, he wanted to be the first person stepping past the ancient gate, the first person whom the ancient luck would be granted to.
The spectators all had expressions of interest on their face, wondering what choice Qin Wentian would make. Everyone knew that Chen Wang was aiming for the first rank, he had to be the one that wrested the most amount of ancient luck away.
Although Qin Wentian had platinum battle robes, his cultivation was too low, which made him unworthy in Chen Wang's eyes.
To be honest, the priority of entry wouldn't affect things that much, but Chen Wang wasn't willing to take any chances. He wanted to be the first to enter.
Because being number one held a different meaning compared to the other rankings.
"You will give up the priority, right?" Chen Wang's eyes finally landed on Qin Wentian as he serenely stated.
Qin Wentian was also looking at him in silence.
"There's a sealed formation past that ancient gate. During the plundering of ancient luck, one is also allowed to plunder the lives of others away," Chen Wang continued speaking, the meaning in his words obvious to all.
Chen Wang was blatantly threatening Qin Wentian.
"Your robe is violet-gold."
At this moment, Qin Wentian finally spoke, his words causing Chen Wang's brows to furrow. Did Qin Wentian mean what he thought he meant?
"While mine, is platinum," Qin Wentian continued, as he turned and proceeded his way forward. Instantly, an overwhelming killing intent gushed forth from Chen Wang as an extremely cold light flickered in his eyes.
Qin Wentian ignored his threat, insisting on being the first to enter the ancient gate.
"Violet-gold robes, next." Old Man Tianji turned his gaze onto the three of them. Chen Wang was trembling in anger, what was the use of entering second? There was no meaning to it.
Qin Wentian pushed open the gate and stepped within. As a bright light flashed, he was astonished to find himself standing atop an ancient mountain
Was this place a space formation? He could sense the fluctuations of spatial laws when he entered the gate earlier.
In the skies, a terrifying mighty aura pressed downwards, causing Qin Wentian's body to stiffen. He didn't have time to survey his surroundings yet. He then lifted his head, and turned his gaze towards the skies.
The next moment, his gaze froze at an incredible sight.
Above in the air was a shimmering veil of light that covered the entire dome of Heavens. Within that veil, fire qi could be seen flowing and circulating about, tracing the outline of an immense demonic beast. It blotted out the sun while floating in the air, gazing imperiously downwards at him.
The tip of its fiery golden wings seemed to shine with a dark scarlet light, that gave it a sense of terrible beauty, further increasing its appearance of majesty.
The demonic beast had a total of nine tails, with an incomparably immense body size. The entire formation was situated below it as though it were the true soul of this formation.
Its eyes had an incredible sharpness to it, able to see through others. And a single look caused Qin Wentian to feel as though sharp knives were piercing into his consciousness, the pressure rendering him breathless.
Divine beast, Vermilion Bird.
The totem beast of Ancient Grand Xia.
In ages long past, the citizens of Grand Xia took the Vermilion Bird as a divine spirit and revered it as their totem.
But now, after a few thousand years, the current Grand Xia was no longer the Grand Xia of that ancient era. Hence, the devotion towards the Vermilion Bird gradually decreased, deteriorating to the extent that the majority of those living in Grand Xia had no idea of its significance.
The Vermilion Bird in the air was like a real living being. And now, it was currently staring right at Qin Wentian.
"The first person to enter is actually someone at the seventh level of Yuanfu." A cold and imposing voice rang out in Qin Wentian's mind, the pressure almost forcing Qin Wentian to his knees.
"I will bestow upon you the ancient luck of Purgatory." The Vermilion Bird's beak opened as a beam of light shot straight into Qin Wentian. An instant later, a faint illusory silhouette of a Purgatory Vermilion Bird appeared behind his back!
