Outside the royal capital of the Crimson Flame Kingdom, there stretched a vast plain where nearly four hundred thousand preliminary contestants had gathered.
Every martial artist in attendance wore an expression of excitement. They had been told that the higher-ups of the four great sects would be arriving shortly to announce the competition rules.
It was rumored that not only would the sect leaders appear, but the four Grand Ancestors of the four great sects themselves would come to the venue!
The four Grand Ancestors had always been legendary figures within the Sixteen Kingdoms Alliance.
Setting aside these secular martial artists, even most sect disciples had never laid eyes on their own Grand Ancestor. Even among the sect's upper echelons, one couldn't simply meet the Grand Ancestor whenever one pleased.
A Grand Ancestor represented supreme authority in the Sixteen Kingdoms Alliance, the power over life and death, and an existence beyond compare.
The news that the Grand Ancestors would appear and address them was enough to send these secular warriors into a frenzy of joy.
Some of the more imaginative young people could even fantasize that they might possess some special talent—if a Grand Ancestor took a liking to them at a glance, their fortunes would truly be made. An absolute meteoric rise.
And there were quite a few who harbored such fantasies.
Among the young ones, who didn't have a few dreams? At sixteen or twenty years old, this was the age of wild imagination.
They had lived this long without ever seeing a Grand Ancestor. Most of them hadn't even seen the upper echelons of the four great sects, let alone anything beyond.
Jiang Chen, on the other hand, was perfectly calm—both in expression and in mood.
He hadn't come here to witness some sect VIPs. He was here for the selection leading to the final battle.
Even though this was merely the preliminary round targeting secular martial artists, Jiang Chen would not allow even the slightest ripple in his heart.
Moreover, with his experience and knowledge, even after his rebirth, it was impossible for him to feel any fanatical excitement toward a Yuan Realm master—much less to gush with admiration like the others.
His knowledge from his past life was right there. In his previous existence, those titans who were a hundred thousand times more powerful than a Yuan Realm master had treated him with utmost courtesy. There had been no shortage of such people.
Completely ignoring the frenzied atmosphere around him, Jiang Chen activated the Heart of Rock and slipped into a brief state of meditation.
With four hundred thousand people gathered together, even if every one of them spoke in whispers, the noise was like a massive pot of soup at a rolling boil—clamorous and deafening.
"Hmph!"
Suddenly, a thunderous shout rang out through the void.
In an instant, it transformed into countless rolling peals of thunder that blanketed the entire sky, shaking the blood and energy of everyone present. The venue fell silent in a heartbeat.
Four hundred thousand martial artists seemed to go mute all at once.
"Haha, Zhuiyang, you old freak. Were you trying to intimidate them?" Another voice, wild and unrestrained, drifted through the void.
The sky tore apart, and four beams of light shot out from among the clouds, descending like gods from heaven, radiating an awesome divine might. The entire void blazed with all manner of radiant splendor.
An overwhelming wave of pressure descended in an instant, blanketing the surrounding thousand-li area.
Even in his meditative state, Jiang Chen felt his blood and qi stir slightly. He couldn't help opening his Heavenly Eye Divine Pupil and gazing upward into the void.
He saw four beams of light descending in four different directions, coming to rest in midair.
Three men and one woman—four Sovereigns!
"The four great sects, the four Grand Ancestors!" Jiang Chen's heart stirred. He narrowed his eyes, watching these four figures settle in the sky above with the bearing of gods descending upon the mortal world.
Such immense pressure—he had never felt anything like it, not even from the old master Ye Chonglou. Jiang Chen had no doubt that these four were the Grand Ancestors who controlled the core resources of the Sixteen Kingdoms Alliance, each representing one of the four most powerful sects.
The Purple Sun Sect, the Treasure Tree Sect, the Flowing Cloud Sect, and the Myriad Spirit Sect.
Jiang Chen's gaze first came to rest on the second elder from the left. This man wore a blue-green robe and a tall crown, with an otherworldly bearing befitting a transcendent immortal. A long white beard hung down to his chest, and between his brows there was a serene tranquility—as though he were a hermit who had no concerns with the mundane world.
"That must be Qianye Sovereign of the Treasure Tree Sect," Jiang Chen judged inwardly.
The first elder on the left was tall and imposing, his eyes sharp as lightning and radiating authority. He wore a fiery crimson robe that made his entire being look like a raging inferno, giving off a sense of overwhelming majesty—of a power that could incinerate the world itself.
This, Jiang Chen could almost certainly confirm, was Zhuiyang Sovereign, the Grand Ancestor of the Purple Sun Sect.
The third figure from the left was a woman. She was pure and graceful as ice, clad in a white robe. At first glance she resembled a celestial fairy emerging from clouds. Though well past her youth, she carried herself with supreme elegance and dignity.
This should be Binglan Sovereign, the Grand Ancestor of the Flowing Cloud Sect.
The person on the far right was a burly man. His appearance was the most untamed of all—he wore tattered robes in complete disarray, and his wild mane of hair fell loose like a lion's, giving him an utterly savage air. The spirit beast beneath him was even more extraordinary: it possessed nine heads, blending perfectly with this wild brute of a man, amplifying his feral aura to the point that anyone who laid eyes on him felt a chill of dread.
This could only be Jiushi Sovereign of the Myriad Spirit Sect.