Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 277 - Ten Major Sects

The night was a torturous wait due to the excitement.

When dawn came, everyone exited their tents to participate in the Battle of the Hundred Nations.

Liu Wuxie slowly opened his eyes as a cold light flashed in them. As he had been cultivating throughout their journey, he had made some progress and was closer to reaching the True Core Realm.

He deliberately didn’t cultivate the Desolate Devouring Art in the past few days because it would attract too much attention. Instead, Liu Wuxie focused on expanding his divine bridge.

Divine power came from the celestial realm. The more one came in contact with it, the more powerful the divine art they could comprehend in the future.

It was lively outside the tent. When Liu Wuxie came out, he faced the sun and looked at the depth of the Dragon Battlefield. The ten stone monuments looked like they had come to life and shone with golden brilliance.

“Look! There are words on those monuments!” Everyone could roughly see words inscribed on those monuments, even from a few thousand meters away. The words seemed to be engraved by someone because they didn’t look natural.

“The ten monuments represent the ten major sects, arranged according to their ranks.” Liu Wuxie executed Ghost Eye to look through the fog.

“Heaven as one, earth as origin. Origin unified as one!” This belonged to the Heavenly Origin Sect, ranked first among the ten major sects.

Mu Yueying had provided him with information on the ten major sects, including how the cultivation realms were categorized.

“Feathers manifesting the heaven and soaring to the sky!” This belonged to the Transcending Plume Gate, and these words were ambitious.

“Origin of all evil and the heart returns to nothingness!” This belonged to the Demonic Heart Palace, which was rumored to be a demonic sect. They were strong, and not even the Heavenly Origin Sect was willing to provoke them.

Liu Wuxie continued to read the monuments.

“Pills as the dome and treasures returning to origin!” The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion was ranked fifth.

Liu Wuxie kept reading till the last monument, which represented the Divine Sun Palace.

However, these rankings didn’t necessarily represent the final rankings of the ten major sects. Over the years, some sects had declined while others had grown stronger.

Take the Demonic Heart Palace, for example. They showed trends of catching up with the Transcending Plume Gate. In terms of strength, they could already replace the second-ranking sect.

The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion might be ranked fifth, but its actual ranking was seventh because the Azure Crimson Gate surpassed them.

There was also the Misty Sect. As they rarely engaged in conflicts with the outside world, their strength was a mystery, and no one was willing to provoke them.

The ten major sects were the Heavenly Origin Sect, Transcendent Plume Gate, Demonic Heart Palace, Indigo Cloud Gate, Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, Azure Crimson Gate, Misty Sect, Sky Rift Valley, Dugu Clan, and the Divine Sun Palace.

The Dugu Clan was unique because it was a clan. It might accept external disciples to join it and provide them with a channel to obtain resources, but the status of external disciples couldn’t be compared to that of the clan's descendants. Then again, the Dugu Clan would spare no expense to nurture someone who displayed enough talent.

They would even arrange marriages with their outstanding women, converting these geniuses into their clan members. These marriage alliances ensured a continuous flow of fresh talent in the clan.

These were all first-rate forces in the cultivation world. There were also second-rate forces, but the ten major sects held a significant presence and occupied seventy percent of resources in the Southern Province’s cultivation world, leaving only thirty percent for the remaining sects and clans to share.

Liu Wuxie also had a basic understanding of the cultivation realms that followed the True Core Realm. They were the Heavenly Dipper Realm, the Heavenly Phase Realm, the Astral River Realm, the Nascent Transformation Realm, the True Profound Realm, and the Spirit Profound Realm.

Mu Yueying had only provided him with this much information. The Southern Province was remote, and reaching the Spirit Profound Realm meant becoming an overlord.

The Spirit Profound Realm experts had already transcended ordinary people, possessing unfathomable strength. Mu Yueying had never seen one before and had only heard about them from others.

Beyond the True Core Realm lay the Heavenly Dipper Realm, where one harnessed the might of heaven through the manifestation of the heavenly dipper.

Above the Heavenly Dipper Realm was the Heavenly Phase Realm, where individuals materialized their dao principles through true essence.

The Astral River Realm was even more formidable because one could connect with the stars and draw power from heaven and earth, unleashing devastating power with a wave of one’s hand.

The Nascent Soul Realm entailed condensing the true core into a nascent soul, thereby cultivating a second soul. Hence, it was no surprise that people claimed one couldn't truly enter the cultivation world without reaching the True Core Realm. Even those in the True Core Realm were regarded as insignificant in the grand scheme of the cultivation world.

As the sun rose from the east, everyone gradually grew impatient because the envoys of the ten major sects had yet to arrive.

“They should be here soon!” Fan Zhen checked the time. He might be over a hundred years old, but couldn’t contain his excitement.

Sonic booms reverberated as the air tore apart, drawing the attention of thousands who looked up to witness golden figures approaching.

“Flying swords! They’re standing on flying swords!” The crowd cheered.

Observing ten figures perched on a flying sword from a distance of ten thousand meters, Liu Wuxie finally understood Fan Zhen's emotional response. After all, countless individuals had dreamed of soaring on a sword.

Even the high-grade nations couldn’t contain the excitement and the longing in their eyes. Only Liu Wuxie kept his composure and glanced at them before withdrawing his gaze.

These individuals were likely in the Heavenly Dipper Realm, where flying on a sword was necessary. After all, true flight without relying on external objects was achievable only upon reaching the Heavenly Phase Realm.

An ordinary cultivator in the Heavenly Dipper Realm was over ten million times stronger than someone in the True Core Realm.

“Spiritual treasures! Those swords must be spiritual treasures!”

The Heretic Blade was at the level of a vajra artifact and couldn’t even be considered a mythical artifact. Only those in the Heavenly Dipper Realm could refine spiritual treasures.

After reaching the level of a spiritual treasure, the weapon would possess spirituality and could heed the owner’s call. Even if the spiritual treasure was a few hundred meters away, one could control their weapons to kill enemies with their thoughts alone.

After reaching the Heavenly Dipper Realm, it was no longer about the true essence in a fight but also about divine energy. If someone’s divine energy could manipulate their flying sword from a thousand meters away while their enemy could only control it within a hundred meters, it was apparent who was superior at first glance.

Ten thousand meters were instantly crossed in the blink of an eye. There were ten people, a mixture of male and female, as they landed on the ten monuments.

When they descended, they released an overwhelming aura that made everyone feel suffocated. This was the heavenly dipper’s power.

Liu Wuxie could sense the tremendous pressure, and upon arrival, these people exerted dominance without saying a word. Those with weaker cultivation fell on their knees from the suppression.

Among the other seventeen students of the Great Yan Dynasty, only a few resisted the pressure, and most people already felt the urge to kneel.

The suppression lasted for three breaths before disappearing. If they had continued exerting pressure, more than half of the people would have lost their confidence.

“Hahaha! This batch of talents is pretty decent. Only one-tenth of them went down on their knees!” A burst of laughter came from the monuments. It was already a tradition to exert their dominance upon arrival.

Fan Zhen had informed everyone about it, but they were still surprised when the pressure fell on them.

The voice emanated from the monument representing the Indigo Cloud Gate, belonging to a young man garbed in a purple robe. Despite his youthful appearance, he exuded an air of maturity, suggesting a cultivation level in the higher level of the Heavenly Dipper Realm, a feat remarkable even in the mundane world.

“Let’s cut the crap and begin. This year, my Azure Crimson Gate will pick the top ten!” The Azure Crimson Gate’s envoy ran out of patience.

Only those in the top hundred could join the ten major sects. Each sect could recruit ten people on average, but the reality differed. If multiple sects chose a person, that person would have the choice. The top-ranking sects naturally had an advantage, taking one-third of the participants every time.

For example, the Heavenly Origin Sect monopolized the top ten each time. After all, who wouldn’t want to join the first-ranked sect?

As for the Divine Sun Palace, ranked at the bottom, they could only pick whatever was left.

The geniuses from fifty-seven nations swiftly gathered towards the monument. When they got close, they could see the faces of the ten envoys.

When they discovered that these ten were even younger than some of them, this was a massive blow to their confidence, but this also made them yearn for the cultivation world even more.

“Let us introduce ourselves!” Everyone only knew the rough information of the ten major sects, and the ten envoys would introduce themselves to help everyone understand them better.

The surrounding discussions ceased, with everyone focusing on the ten envoys.

“My name is Yu Tianyi from the Heavenly Origin Sect...” Yu Tianyi introduced himself.

“I’m Xi Jian from the Transcendent Plume Gate...” Everyone introduced their sects briefly because not everyone was suited for all sects.

“Xiang Rongjun from the Demonic Heart Palace. We would be the best choice if you want to grow stronger quickly.” After speaking, Xiang Rongjun revealed his crimson teeth, which made him look somewhat terrifying.

“I’m Song Junbao from the Indigo Cloud Gate...”

“I’m Fan Lin from the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion...” When the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion’s envoy introduced himself, Liu Wuxie paid some attention to him. He noticed Fan Lin had integrated his martial path into one with alchemy, making him suitable for martial cultivation and alchemy.

The other sects had alchemists but were less comprehensive than the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

“Azure Crimson Gate’s Guo Hanfei...”

“Misty Sect’s Ruan Bingzhi...” The Misty Sect mainly consisted of female disciples and rarely accepted male disciples.

“Sky Rift Valley’s Luo Chudie...”

“Dugu Clan’s Dugu Yang...”

“Divine Sun Palace’s Jiang Kaicheng...”

The ten envoys came representing their respective sects to recruit disciples. After they had finished their introductions, most of the participants had made up their minds.

“Let’s cut the crap and open the Dragon Battlefield!” Xu Tianyi began forming profound seals with his hands and injecting them into the monument beneath him.

The others followed suit, conjuring seals with their hands and injecting them into the monuments they were standing on. A passage appeared in the middle as the stone monuments produced crackling sounds.

Everyone could enter the Dragon Battlefield through this passage.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, the ten monuments stopped moving and revealed a monumental entrance.

“All of you can go in now. Enter at your own risk!” Dugu Yang said without a hint of emotion.

The lives and deaths of these people didn’t matter to the ten of them.

Everyone was already getting impatient, and someone rushed in, trying to seize the initiative.

No one knew where the dragon auras could be found, but entering first would have an advantage. More people began to hurry up and entered the Dragon Battlefield.

“Wuxie, you have to be careful!” Mo Chong and others went first, leaving behind Liu Wuxie. Fan Zhen came over to pat Liu Wuxie’s shoulder because the latter could only rely on himself in the Dragon Battlefield.

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