Chapter 444: The Eve of the Grand Competition

Heavenly Secret Palace was built was on a large lake that was true north of Tian’yuan City.

When the Eight Extremes Sect’s flying Magic Tool arrived at an absurdly large lake where even the borders couldn’t be seen, Headmaster Feng took out a red spar the size of a palm and activated it.

One watched as the spar turned into a red light and entered the bottom of the lake. The surface of the lake sparkled and began to ripple slowly.

In a moment, a quaint stone gate rose from the lake and slowly opened.

Headmaster Feng controlled the flying Magic Tool to pass through the gate.

After entering the gate, the flying Magic Tool didn’t stop, but flew straight into the depths.

After flying for about an hour, large and small island suspended above the lake loomed and strips of rainbows formed from Spiritual Force hung over the islands.

Graceful white cranes soared in the air and the aquatic Demonic Beasts leapt out from the bottom of the lake from time to time, bringing with it splashes of water.

Heavenly Secret Palace’s scene was like a fairyland and Spiritual Force here was much richer than that of the Eight Extremes Sect.

“In the Heavenly Secret Palace exists a Spiritual Spring. The Spiritual Force here is much stronger than the other five sects. There’s a reason why their strength ranks first.” Headmaster Feng sighed.

Huo Ling Long stood on the Magic Tool and looked around, then said: “The Heavenly Secret Palace is this strong not only because the sect’s Spiritual Force is stronger than the other five sects, but because their foundations are also very deep.”

While the two spoke, the flying Magic Tool landed on the largest island above the lake.

Headmaster Feng and Huo Ling Long walked down the flying Magic Tool with their pupils, and an Elder from the Heavenly Secret Palace greeted them with a smile with two pupils.

“Headmaster Huo, Headmaster Feng, how are you!”

“Long time no see, Elder Lian!” Headmaster Feng said politely with a smile.

Huo Ling Long nodded lightly as a greeting.

“The residence of the Eight Extremes Sect is already prepared. The two of you, please come with me.” Elder Lian smiled and lead the group of people in one direction.

As he walked, he introduced the surrounding scenery to Lou Mu Yan and the other pupils in a kind and friendly manner.

After about an hour, they arrived at connected courtyards, then walked into the innermost courtyard and Elder Lian said: “Headmaster Feng, Headmaster Huo, you have a good rest for the next couple of days. If there’s anything, you can send a Communication Talisman to me.”

Then he pointed to the two pupils of the Heavenly Secret Palace and said: “The two of them are the pupils in charge of taking care of the Eight Extremes Sect pupils and they can be summoned if there is anything.”

“Alright, then I will trouble Elder Lian.” Headmaster Feng said with a smile.

The two exchanged a few more words then Elder Lian left.

“All of you find a room to rest in. Tomorrow I will let someone take you around Heavenly Secret Palace for a look.” Headmaster Feng looked at the pupils and said.

“Pupil obeys!”

As night gradually arrived, Lou Mu Yan set up an array in the room and began to refine pills.

Grade 6 pills would attract a Thunder Tribulation, so she didn’t take out the Nine Forms Ice Lotus King seeds to refine, but instead refined some Grade 5 pills that could help improve her cultivation base and replenish her Elemental Energy.

The next day, the two pupils of the Heavenly Secret Palace took Lou Mu Yan and the others to tour the Heavenly Secret Palace under the orders of Headmaster Feng.

“My name is Liang Yu, he’s Gao Tong. Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters, if you have any questions, you can ask us.” Liang Yu said to the crowd with a gentle smile.

“Then we will trouble Senior Brothers to lead us to tour Heavenly Secret Palace today.” Luo Cheng’s attitude was more polite, but he was neither humble nor arrogant.

“No problem, let’s go.”

After leaving the courtyard where the Eight Extremes Sect was located, Lou Mu Yan saw that there were also pupils from the Heavenly Secret Palace in the courtyards beside them, bringing pupils from the other sects out. They looked as if they were about to meet.

“Hey, isn’t this a fellow Daoist from the Eight Extremes Sect?” A pupil of the Vast Mountain Sect saw Lou Mu Yan and the others approaching, then said with an ambiguous tone while smiling: “You’re living in the last courtyard again! I wonder when this position of ‘ten-thousand-year number one’ will change.”

The ‘ten-thousand-year number one’ naturally referred to backwards number one.

The pupils of the other sects also came over, and after hearing his words, they laughed constantly. They also truly looked down on the Eight Extremes Sect, the constant ‘ten-thousand-year number one’.

Lou Mu Yan felt that such provocation was boring, but the expressions of the other pupils in the sect revealed anger.

Luo Cheng’s eyes were grim, but he smiled and ridiculed: “Our Eight Extremes Sect is the ‘ten-thousand-year number 1’ but isn’t your Vast Mountain Sect the ‘ten thousand year number two’? Number one sounds better than number two.”

“Humph, you sure aren’t embarrassed to say it.” The Vast Mountain Sect’s pupil snorted coldly and sneered: “It seems that you’re willing to be the ten-thousand-year number one. I wonder if the superiors of the Eight Extremes Sect will praise you for having such ambitions.”

Luo Cheng was furious and was about to open his mouth to ridicule back, but was stopped by Lou Mu Yan.

“Is this kind of bickering interesting? Whether we’ll be ten-thousand-year number one or not, we’ll find out after the sects’ Grand Competition. It’s a waste of time talking so much to him.” Lou Mu Yan originally didn’t want to talk too much, but seeing that the rest were watching the joke of their two major sects bickering, she really found it boring.

Then she telepathically said to Luo Cheng: “Don’t you see the pupils of the other sects are watching our joke? You want to act like monkeys for them to watch?”

Luo Cheng took a deep breath. Seeing that the pupils of the other sects were indeed watching their joke, he glared at the pupil of the Vast Mountain Sect and said: “We’ll see who’s better in the sect’s Grand Competition.”

Lou Mu Yan’s identity was currently largely different to theirs. Since she spoke out to stop this, he still needed to give her this face.

“Sure! I’d sure like to see how your Eight Extremes Sect changes the position of ‘ten-thousand-year number one’.” The pupil of the Vast Mountain Sect argued noisily with disdain.

Seeing that the pupils of the Eight Extremes Sect and the Vast Mountain Sect didn’t fight as they usually did before the Grand Competition, the pupils of the other sects walked away with slight disappointment.

When passing the pupils of the Vast Mountain Sect, Lou Mu Yan narrowed her eyes slightly, then flicked her finger beneath her sleeve and a wisp of pale cyan smoke that no one noticed entered his nostrils.

This pupil’s mouth was too unpleasant. It wasn’t too bad to let him be a mute during this time at the Heavenly Secret Palace. She liked to secretly scheme against someone the most.

Liang Yu and Gao Tong took the group to tour several islands of the Heavenly Secret Palace, then took them to the commercial street of the Heavenly Secret Palace for a walk.

The commercial street of the Heavenly Secret Palace was more prosperous and livelier than that of the Eight Extremes Sect, and there was even more variety in the stores. Lou Mu Yan swept up a lot of Spiritual Herbs, beast leather, spars, and such items.

The pupils of the Eight Extremes Sect had already seen Lou Mu Yan’s wealth, so they were already numb to her constant shopping.

However, Liang Yu and Gao Tong thought that such prodigal behaviour was just too exaggerated. Even they, veteran pupils, couldn’t help but feel as if their flesh hurt.

Most importantly was the attitude of the pupils of the Eight Extremes Sect—there was not much surprise about this woman’s prodigal ability.

Moreover, the two observed that although the pupils of the Eight Extremes Sect had deliberately alienated Lou Mu Yan, they still had a kind of respect for her.

The two remembered this and after they returned, they went to investigate Lou Mu Yan, and her dossiers also appeared in the hands of the pupils who participated in the competition here at the Heavenly Secret Palace.

After a day’s worth of shopping, Lou Mu Yan began her seclusion again. The next day when they continued to tour the Heavenly Secret Palace, she didn’t participate.

In the early morning of the third day, a melodious bell rang over the island. The pupils of the Six Major Sects were all in high spirits and ready to begin. They all wanted to be a wonder in this Grand Competition!

After the bell stopped, Huo Ling Long and Headmaster Feng led Lou Mu Yan and the other pupils to the Heavenly Secret Palace’s battle arena which officially began the prelude to the Six Major Sects’ Grand Competition.

Side note: For a few days now, I’ve run out of translated chapters that I saved up and have not been motivated, but I will still upload daily! But if I do upload later than the usual 6pm AEST/AEDT time, well, you know the reason now XD. I’ve just been super busy with work. There won’t be double or triple updates for a while, most likely not until the end of the year (maybe December) unless I have a burst of motivation between now and then hahaha.