Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 140 The Mount Tai Prodigy Tournament
The origins of this Mount Tai Pride Gathering can be traced back to the past.

The highest-ranking cultivator ever to emerge from the ancient primordial star was only a Quasi-Saint. The most powerful forces on the ancient primordial star were the Eight Holy Lands, the Six Great Families, and the Seven Great Sects. These were all formidable forces with legendary sacred weapons to suppress their power.

Of course, these are only the forces of the human race.

Besides humans, the ancient planet was also home to a large number of demons, whose strength was not to be underestimated. In fact, in recent years, the demon race had been flourishing and developing, showing signs of surpassing humans and becoming the dominant race on the ancient planet.

Of course, while they are called the demon race, they are actually a community of interests formed by other races besides humans to fight against the strongest human race. Once humans fall, the demon race will most likely disintegrate and disperse again.

In their struggle for territory and dominance on the ancient star, the two races began to clash constantly, and the conflict escalated. Over the hundreds of thousands of years, several major wars broke out between the two races, resulting in widespread devastation and suffering. In human history, this was referred to as the "Demon Calamity," corresponding to the legendary Corpse Calamity.

Of course, the two are vastly different in scale. After all, the Corpse Calamity swept across the entire universe, while the Demon Calamity only affected this ancient star.

Until 110,000 years ago, after the Supreme Celestial Venerable Wuji attained enlightenment, the universe entered a long period of peace. Therefore, the human and demon races on the ancient primordial planet dared not wage war again and could only temporarily cease hostilities.

They were all constantly accumulating power, preparing for war for countless generations, so that after the death of the Supreme Celestial Venerable Wuji, a great war would break out, completely suppressing the opponent and thus truly becoming the sole ruler of the ancient primordial star.

But to their surprise, the Supreme Celestial Venerable Wuji seemed to exist forever, and they waited for 100,000 years.

Originally, the historical conflicts and clashes of interests between these two ethnic groups were indelible. They were like a powder keg, ready to explode at any moment.

But after a hundred thousand years of peace, the intensity of all this began to diminish. After all, a hundred thousand years is enough time for these past hatreds to fade to the point that almost no one remembers them.

Even if old grudges are forgotten, the real-world conflicts of interest between them still exist. Therefore, the conflict has only diminished, but it has not disappeared.

Finally, 30,000 years ago, a human quasi-saint who returned from the stars proposed the concept of "no saints under heaven," which bound all the saints of both races to their own devices, preventing them from manifesting in the human world.

Next, the cultivators above the Saint level from both races discussed and decided to entrust the issues between the two races regarding resources, territory, and other matters to the most promising geniuses who had a chance of becoming Saints, namely the Half-Saints and Dao-Slaying Kings from both sides. The outcome of their battles would be the answer to these questions.

After all, these people are the future saints, the future leaders of the two races. Their strength or weakness, to some extent, represents the future strength or weakness of the two races.

This rule has continued to this day, and it remains unchanged even ten thousand years after the disappearance of the Supreme Celestial Venerable Wuji.

This grand gathering, where the conflict between the two races is decided by a battle between half-saints and kings who have severed the Dao, is called the Heavenly Pride Tournament. This tournament is held once every thousand years at Mount Tai.

After all, although Mount Tai is becoming weaker and weaker due to irreversible degradation, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. It still holds the title of the number one mountain of the ancient star and contains various treasures.

Today is the day of this grand event. Countless cultivators have gathered, with each side having more than one Saint presiding over the gathering, and even one Great Saint present.

Wuji used the Source Technique to change his appearance and hide among the crowd, without revealing himself.

Firstly, he had made many enemies, and secondly, he wanted to secretly observe his opponents to understand them better. Although he was confident of being invincible, it was still better to be cautious.

In fact, in order to make it easier to escape if problems arise, he has secretly laid some source techniques in Mount Tai.

The choice of Mount Tai as the venue for the conference suited his purposes perfectly, as only there could his Origin Techniques be used to their fullest potential. Meanwhile, the cultivators of the ancient primordial star currently lacked specific methods to counter Origin Techniques.

As long as it's not the Saint King or the Great Saint who make a move, he's confident he can leave safely. The strongest demons of this generation are the five Demon Kings: the Mad Lion King, the Demon Ape King, the Primordial Elephant King, the White Crane King, and the Thousand-Handed Spider King.

In fact, there were originally seven demon kings in this generation of the demon race. However, the Golden Serpent King was defeated by Wuji in a head-on battle, and his Dao heart was shattered in the battle, so he went into seclusion.

Another Flying Flower King was defeated by Chongxu Zhenren, another peerless genius of the human race. This human genius was a legendary innate Dao embryo.

Therefore, the seven demon kings of the demon race became five demon kings.

The human race has actually begun to weaken compared to the demon race in this generation. Currently, the human race only has four prodigies and five demon kings, with Wuji and Chongxu being two of them.

In addition, there is Wan Jianyi, who was born with a sword heart, and Yao Jinyun, who was born with a divine body and cultivated the Transformation Mystic Art.

However, with Chongxu and Wuji, who both defeated the Demon King head-on, the human race's momentum was not only not weak, but also surpassed that of the demon race.

Wuji frowned slightly. The White Crane King, one of the five great demon kings of the demon race, was not present, nor was Chongxu of the human race.

By this time, the conference had lasted for over a month, and most of the other issues had been resolved, leaving only the final question of who would own Mount Tai.

The final part of this conference was for the two races' most outstanding talents to compete for ownership of Mount Tai over the next thousand years.

This place is the first mountain on the ancient star, the most precious place among the ancient stars. It has both symbolic and practical significance, so this is considered a regular feature.

The specific rules are that these two exceptional talents will fight each other, with the loser immediately disqualified and the winner continuing to fight until the strongest is determined. The ownership of Mount Tai will then be decided by this strongest individual.

Of course, if a prodigy can demonstrate absolute strength, victory can be achieved without constant fighting. Ultimately, whoever is the strongest will claim Mount Tai.

Over the past 110,000 years, Mount Tai has been in the hands of the demon race for about one-third of the time. The overall trend shows that the probability of the demon race winning has been increasing with each victory.

Wuji hid in the crowd, secretly opening his Yuantian Divine Eye to observe the four demon kings present.

Just then, a voice came from behind him: "Tell me, which of these four demon kings is the strongest?"

Wuji already knew who he was, so he didn't turn around: "Originally, the leader of the demon kings was the Mad Lion King, but now, I'm afraid the Demon Ape King has surpassed him."

The person behind him continued, "Do you also think that the Demon Ape King is the biggest opponent?"

Wuji shook his head and said, "No, I think it's Yuanxiang King."

The person behind him was slightly startled and looked towards the high platform of the demon race. Yuanxiang King was the youngest of the demon kings, with few deeds and a weak aura, but Wuji believed that he was the strongest, which surprised Chongxu.

Yes, behind Wuji was Chongxu, who arrived a step too late.

(End of this chapter)