The Grand Elder snorted for the second time, and as he looked at Sun Wen who was standing a few meters away from him, his eyes suddenly narrowed as a cold glint flashed inside them, before he said in a domineering tone

''The Yang family will be unhappy? Then let them be unhappy! So what if they are unhappy with my arrangements? If they have a problem, then let that little bastard, Yang Tian come here so I can give him a good beating instead. Does my Holy sect have to please a family like the Yang family?''

It wasn't just Sun Wen who shivered when he heard the Grand Elder's tone that was turning furious with every passing moment, but even Liu Mei's master, Xuan Jiao, as well as the bald Cao Ling both felt a cold feeling cover their hearts.

They knew that although the Grand Elder rarely showed this side of his, he was extremely arrogant in reality.

Although the Yang family was the strongest family among all the families and clans within the Holy sect's territory, and their family patriarch, Yang Tian was an early rank 9 Dao Emperor realm expert who could pressure most of the inner court Elders to give face to his family, he was indeed inferior when he was compared to someone like the Grand Elder who was just a step away from breaking through to the Sovereign realm.

At the same time, Sun Wen and the rest knew, that the sect master was rarely in the sect as he usually traveled around since his mind was fully focused on his own training, the Grand Elder was actually the one who kept those powerful families and clans around the Holy sect's territory in check.

Thus, they understood.

Why would the Grand Elder care for the Yang family? Indeed, even if they were displeased, so what?

The Grand Elder's strength truly stood at the peak of the Dao Emperor realm. Even when he was compared to other powerful Dao Emperors, he was among the strongest ones. The only ones who were stronger than him were monsters like Xuan Jiao's deceased master who had also comprehended the Dao of Death. 

As for early rank 9 Dao Emperors like the family patriarch of the Yang family, the Grand Elder had no reason to care about his displeasure, let alone give him any face.

The Grand Elder had turned even angrier as he stared at Cao Ling and continued speaking

''Could it be that my Holy sect has to ask for permission from the Yang family before making a decision about anything?''

Realizing that things would get out of control if the Grand Elder got truly angry, Sun Wen hurriedly bowed his head and apologized as he said

''Grand Elder, junior brother Cao didn't mean that. It's simply that the Yang family has too many geniuses within our sect.  At the same time, his words were not without merit either. Although most of the outer court disciples may agree to follow Yang Hui when they enter the City of Immortals, it's unlikely that they will agree to follow Shun Long who is just at the late stages of the Nascent Soul.

Besides... aren't the rules of the City of Immortals such, that nobody below the Dao King realm will be permitted to enter inside? Although Shun Long is extremely talented, the Daos that he has comprehended are both supreme Daos. I don't think that it's possible for him to reach even the peak of the Nascent Soul stage by then, let alone the Dao King realm.''

Cao Ling hurriedly nodded his head without speaking any further, as he cast a grateful glance at Sun Wen who had spoken on his behalf.

And yet, the Grand Elder simply nodded his head at Sun Wen as he then answered

''This is why I'm planning to take Shun Long to the King's palace a year from now. As long as he manages to reach the peak of rank 9 of the Nascent Soul by then, his chances of breaking through to become a Dao King would be much better.''

Sun Wen and Xuan Jiao weren't surprised when they heard this. 

Although it was difficult to reach the peak of rank 9 in the Nascent Soul from the middle of rank 7 within just a year, it wasn't impossible as long as a disciple had enough resources. The biggest problem was the Dao comprehension itself, as well as the strength of the disciple's soul that needed to have also reached the peak of the Nascent Soul as well.

At the same time, although they knew that the Holy sect only had 10 spots for the outer court disciples that would enter the King's palace and those spots would go to the 10 strongest outer court disciples who had yet to breakthrough to become Dao Kings, they believed that although Shun Long couldn't possibly match those 10 strongest disciples right now, by the time he reached the peak of the Nascent Soul, those disciples would most likely not be a match for him.

As for Shun Long defeating those disciples right now? They knew that that was pure foolishness. 

Although Shun Long was extremely strong, enough to even cause those Elders to be in awe and even attract the attention of the Grand Elder who wanted to take him as his personal disciple, Sun Wen and Xuan Jiao both knew, that those 10 strongest outer court disciples could even defeat early rank 1 Dao Kings with their cultivation at the peak of rank 9 in the Nascent Soul.

However, it was only natural for the Grand Elder to look this favorably upon Shun Long. After all, once Shun Long reached the peak of rank 9 in the Nascent Soul or even the Dao King realm, Sun Wen and Xuan Jiao couldn't estimate how strong he would become by then.

''The top 100, or..?''

No, forget about the future. They didn't even know what Shun Long's current true strength was.

Meanwhile, Shun Long and the rest kept observing the fights in the arena, and more than 100 fights had quickly gone by before Liu Mei's turn finally arrived. In the past 2 hours, Shun Long had noticed, that among the disciples who were ranked in the top 1500, nearly a third of them didn't choose to keep challenging those at the top 1000 since they knew that their strength was insufficient right now, while less than half of those who issued their challenges managed to succeed.

It had to be known that for those who succeeded, they mainly did so because they could pick their opponents and their abilities mostly countered their opponents'. Very few had actually managed to win convincingly.

Surprisingly, Shun Long noticed that among those disciples who won their challenges was also the burly young man at the early rank 8 of the Nascent Soul, Wu Tao.

In his fight, Wu Tao had revealed his 'Giant Ape unique physique' that turned his body into an enormous Giant Ape more than 15 meters(49ft) tall, as he won against an outer court disciple at the middle of rank 9 in the Nascent Soul.

Finally, as Liu Mei's turn finally came, under the excited eyes of the surrounding outer court disciples in the audience seats, she flew straight towards the empty platform, before her gaze landed on the figure of a young man with long black hair who was calmly standing on one of the 7 surrounding platforms, watching the previous battles with a disinterested look in his eyes.

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