Chapter 246 – Hope

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“Instructor, what sort of news is worth 36 true essence stones to send? Is it a combat report from the frontline battlefield?” The youth who asked came from a military family. In his opinion, only a combat report of Sky Fortune Kingdom was worth spending 36 true essence stones on. After all, victory or defeat in war was related to the destiny of a nation.”

The middle-aged instructor shook his head and said, “A frontline combat report wouldn’t use a sound transmission array. Our Seven Profound Martial House isn’t a messenger for Sky Fortune Kingdom.”

A sound transmission array formation that could pass a message through several hundred thousand miles wasn’t something that could simply be created on a whim. Not even Sky Fortune Kingdom’s Imperial Palace could hope to ever construct something like this.

“Then what sort of news is being sent?” The young boys and girls eyes were filled with curiosity. They were at the age where they were intensely inquisitive into all things.

“This transmission array will send a victory report from the Total Faction Martial Meeting. It will be sent tonight,” The middle-aged instructor replied.

“Mm….Total Faction Martial Meeting?” Most disciples face were filled with befuddlement; none of them knew what that was. After all, the common person was rarely exposed to such a high-level existence. Even the Seven Profound Valleys that stood behind the Seven Profound Martial House was an incomparably vague concept. They simply didn’t know just how strong the Seven Profound Valleys actually were.

“The Seven Profound Valleys set up a Total Faction Martial Meeting and gathered the talents of all the countries together to compare their strengths.” Although the middle-aged instructor knew that this wouldn’t make much sense to these new disciples nor did it matter to them, he still patiently explained it.

“Oh? The geniuses of all the countries gather together?” As a youth heard this, his eyes suddenly shone. He was the first place candidate of this time’s entrance examination – the freshman disciple named Huayu. Huayu also came from a large, respected family, and at 15 years old, his cultivation was at the Viscera Training stage; his strength as quite alright. When the middle-aged teacher had said that the talents of all the countries would gather together, Huayu felt incomparably enthusiastic, burning with fighting spirit. He said, “Instructor, when can I participate? What rank would I be able to get?”

The middle-aged instructor didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He said, “You can’t go….”

“Why?” Huayu felt as if he had been slapped. He was the number one candidate in the Seven Profound Martial House entrance examination. He could be considered the most talented young martial artist of Sky Fortune Kingdom within the last half year. With such a proud and worthy title, how could he not even participate?

The middle-aged instructor sighed with poignancy. This youth was merely a superior fourth-grade talent. Only if he was an inestimable surprise like Ling Sen or Lin Ming would he ever be able to reach the level needed to contact the Total Faction.

He didn’t want to ruin to the youths self-confidence, so he tried a different tactic. “Do you see that well-dressed man in the robe near the transmission array?”

“Mm? I see.” Huayu turned his head and saw in man in a brocaded robe. He was sitting in a mahogany chair near the altar and was looking a bit anxious at the moment.

“He is the current dynasty’s Crown Prince. News from the Total Faction Martial Meeting will only arrive during the evening, yet it is only noon and he’s waiting here. Do you know what this means?”

“What? Crown Prince!?”

“His Highness the Crown Prince!? He is the current dynasty’s Crown Prince!?”

All of the youths gasped in complete and utter surprise, their eyes wide with incredulity as if they couldn’t believe their eyes. To the common people, the Crown Prince was a legendary figure they had only ever heard about.

The Crown Prince was waiting here even though the news came in the evening. Not only that, but the price of the transmission array was 36 pure true essence stones. All of these implied just how important this news was!

This also meant that this unknown Total Faction Martial Meeting had an extraordinary significance!

The middle-aged instructor let out a sigh. He didn’t envy these heavenly favored talents when there was the grand stage where countless talents that were above them reigned; that was the true world. Casually choosing any one of these talents was like taking a small rock front a giant mountain of stones.

“Do you understand now? This Total Faction Martial Meeting is grander than you can imagine. All of the talents, geniuses and young heroes from all the countries and numerous martial families will gather in the Seven Profound Valley’s Total Faction. It is simply impossible for you to stand on that stage! Let alone you, even the core disciples of the Martial House cannot. There are many inferior fifth-grade talents and medium fifth-grade talents that have no hope of going.”

“Not even a medium fifth-grade talent has a chance?” Huayu was shocked. To say it more directly, he was only a superior fourth-grade talent. A fifth-grade talent was only born once a decade in the entire Sky Fortune Kingdom. In his opinion, this kind of existence would simply be a son of god.

“But….since this tournament is so important, then how come we’ve never heard of it?” Huayu asked the question that all the other new disciples were wondering. If this Martial Meeting were truly so grand, how come no one had ever heard of it before?

The middle-aged instructor explained, “That is because, in all these years, this Martial Meeting had held no significance for our Sky Fortune Kingdom. Every three years, the Seven Profound Martial House will send out 5 disciples to participate in this tournament. However, usually four out of the five sent would come from the four martial families that live on the edge of Sky Fortune Kingdom. Every so often, even all five of them would come from the four martial families, and our Sky Fortune Kingdom would have no share in participating.”

“I had said that even a medium fifth-grade talent may not necessarily participate in the Martial Meeting. It’s the same for the other countries and martial families too. Our Sky Fortune Kingdom only produces a fifth-grade talent every 10 years. They do have a large chance of participating, but….”

The middle-aged instructor paused here, and shook his head before continuing, “That is only in terms of filling the quota of people that we send. Actually, there is a mountain gate trial that most cannot even pass, and they are eliminated from the Martial Meeting. A few years ago, the four martial families produced a disciple named Mu Yinzhou who managed to reach the top 100. That was the most joyous and proud moment for our Seven Profound Martial House. However, that was only the pride of the Martial House and the pride of the four great martial families. It had nothing to do with our Sky Fortune Kingdom.

A martial family wouldn’t necessarily only have a single last name. A child would follow their father’s last name, and if a daughter were to marry someone else, her children would follow her husband’s last name. Mu Yinzhou was talented because he had the bloodline of his father, a wandering martial artist that roamed the world and wasn’t a Sky Fortune citizen.

An outer disciple inevitably could not compare to someone in the martial family that shared the main lineage. Even Mu Yinzhou couldn’t be considered a true member of the four great martial families.

“Proud to reach the top 100? Our Sky Fortune Kingdom has so many talents, how can they not reach the top 100? How many countries participate in the Total Faction martial Meeting?”

“It’s not a question of how many countries participate. It’s that our Sky Fortune Kingdom has simply too wide a gap compared to those ancient and glorious martial families and sects. When the disciples of the Seven Profound Valleys are at your age, it’s only considered extremely ordinary to have a cultivation at the peak of Altering Muscle.

“Eh….” Huayu stared with wide eyes. He hadn’t yet reached 16 years old and his cultivation was at middle Viscera Training stage. This was already considered very good, good enough that even the Family Head had praised him. But….peak Altering Muscle at 15 years of age? What sort of concept was that? And that was only ordinary? Was this some sort of joke? Was he lying?

The middle-aged instructor sighed, “It’s shameful to say this, but the last time someone born from the Sky Fortune Kingdom had reached the top 100 rankings was 50 or 60 years ago. Even having someone pass the mountain gate trial was 15 years ago. This was truly shameful for our Sky Fortune Kingdom, and also for our Seven Profound Martial House! I am an instructor of the Martial House who was born in Sky Fortune Kingdom, and even I feel disgraced just mentioning this subject. That is why I didn’t wish to speak of the Total Faction Martial Meeting.”

While conversing, they had finally arrived before the Ranking Stone. Gazing up, they could view the numerous names engraved upon the large Ranking Stone. These were the talents of Sky Fortune Kingdom’s Seven Profound Martial House.

The higher one’s ranking, the larger their name would be. The first row only had one name – Lin Ming.

Following closely behind Lin Ming were Ling Sen and Ta Ku. In another half month, these three names would be removed from this Ranking Stone. Ling Sen and Ta Ku would graduate, and Lin Ming would become a core disciple.

Thinking this, the middle-aged instructor felt very melancholic. Lin Ming was once his student. Although he had only taught him for a few days, Lin Ming was the most outstanding and wonderful student that he had ever taught in his entire life; it had left a deep and profound impression on him.

“Lin Ming! It’s Lin Ming!

“Wow, I’m so excited! I can actually see the name of my idol in first place!”

“That’s right, Instructor Hong, did Mister Lin Ming participate in this year’s Total Faction Martial Meeting?”

The name of Lin Ming resounded like thunder in the ears of these young martial artists. He was without a doubt the utter and complete inspiration of those in every youthful martial arts circle. These young boys and girls couldn’t help but ask this question.

“He participated! Of course he participated!”

Hong Xi took a deep breath, and his somewhat disconsolate eyes began to suddenly shine with a flashing and glorious brilliance, like a sleeping lion that had woken up.

“Can Lin Ming reach the top 100?” A young girl whispered.

“Of course he can, he definitely will! Not only will he reach the top 100, but he will reach the top 50, even the top 30!” Hong Xi subconsciously gripped his fists, his emotions surging like the tide. It was like the one participating in the Total Faction Martial Meeting wasn’t Lin Ming, but himself. In Lin Ming, he had placed all his hopes.

His eyes shifted towards the direction of the Seven Profound Valleys. Across all those endless miles and rivers and valleys, Lin Ming and his group of three had enormous hopes placed upon them. This wasn’t only the hope of the instructors within the Seven Profound Martial House, but was also the hope of all the generations of martial artists within Sky Fortune Kingdom……

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When the third round began, Lin Ming met with three forfeits. It was not only him, but also Jiang Lanjian and Bi Tinghua who had opponents admitting defeat as the match started. In the group stages, one only had to be in the top ten to advance; there was no need to fight in every match.

Then, it was time for lunch.

Lin Ming, five matches, five victories.

Ling Sen, five matches, five victories.

Qin Xingxuan’s luck was quite bad. She had already lost three matches. Her chances of qualifying for the next stage were becoming increasingly precarious.

Although she had long expected this result, and knew that the main reason she lost was not because of her talent but because of her age, Qin Xingxuan still felt a bit disappointed. During this Martial Meeting, her journey would most likely end at the group stages. But three years from now, this would become her stage.

After five matches, Lin Ming had already gained some fame. As for Ling Sen, the matches he had met were a bit weaker, so his fame was also correspondingly smaller.

There were some people trying to take advantage of the situation and were beginning to estimate the future rankings; they had even opened up gambling houses.

The Seven Profound Valleys would not interfere in this. In fact, the ones that opened these gambling houses were usually the children of the Elders; their backgrounds weren’t small. For them, the gambling house was merely a pleasurable pastime. It was difficult to judge the strength of a participant in the group stages, so the gambling house wouldn’t necessarily make any profit.

During lunch time, Qin Xingxuan smiled at Lin Ming and praised, “Lin Ming, you’re chosen as one of the seeded players in the gambling house. Your odds aren’t too bad.”

“Oh? What are my odds of winning the whole thing?” Lin Ming casually asked. If the compensation rate was good, he might consider placing a bet on himself.

“Uh, well….you have….um, no odds of winning the championship….” Qin Xingxuan didn’t think that the first question Lin Ming would ask was what his rates were for winning the entire Martial Meeting. Even her, who had utter faith in Lin Ming, wasn’t very optimistic in Lin Ming’s chances of winning the championship.

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