All beasts submit, and the peerless imperial princess is about to defy the heavens!

As soon as she reached the stone tablet, someone jumped out.

"Wasn't it said that only those at the Golden Core stage or above could participate? How did she get up there?"

"That's right, wasn't she already crippled with broken meridians?"

"This is so unfair! Just because she's the Fourth Elder's disciple, does that mean she gets special treatment?"

Hearing the constant complaints from the crowd, Feng Ning didn't think much of it.

Questioning is justified. Although the cultivation world rarely emphasizes fairness, since someone has raised questions, she can't just bear the blame without knowing why, can she?

She turned to look at everyone and said, "My meridians have been healed, and my cultivation has been restored."

"So what? Even if you recover, you're still just a Foundation Establishment cultivator! Why can you participate, but we can't?"

"Exactly, if Foundation Establishment cultivators can participate, why is it that only you can go? Why can't we?"

Feng Ning stared at them speechlessly. With a flick of her wrist, three swords—Silver Spirit, Shadowy Shadow, and New Pavilion Marquis—flew out.

He charged straight at the three people who were speaking.

The three men were caught off guard and didn't expect her to make a move, so they were stunned on the spot.

The longsword whistled through the air, its tip stopping precisely between the three men's eyebrows.

The three men were so frightened that they didn't dare to move, and cold sweat poured down their backs.

"You! What do you want to do?"

"Killed!"

Feng Ning glanced at them speechlessly, "Who's in the mood to kill you? I'm just telling you that even if I'm a Foundation Establishment cultivator, you can't beat me, let alone..."

One of the three, who was slightly calmer, asked in a trembling voice, "What else?"

"What's more, she's already at the Golden Core stage," someone in the crowd said.

Only then did everyone turn their attention to Feng Ning.

Indeed, the aura emanating from her was at the Golden Core stage.

Now everyone had nothing to say, only that it was appropriate to let those at the Golden Core stage or above participate, since they had indeed reached the Golden Core stage.

She beckoned to the three swords, and they immediately returned to her space.

She affixed her identification tag to the stone tablet, and her information immediately appeared on the tablet. Seeing that the information was correct, she returned to her seat.

Teng Rou said with a smile, "I thought you weren't going to tell me."

Feng Ning shrugged. "I would like to keep a low profile, but these conditions are what I'm facing. If I don't speak up, I'm afraid I'll become the target of everyone's criticism."

Teng Rou said softly, "Then congratulations, Junior Sister. Not only have you recovered from your injuries, but you have also broken through to the Golden Core stage. You can be said to have turned misfortune into blessing."

Feng Ning nodded slightly, "Thank you, Senior Sister."

She didn't want this trouble to happen.

This calamity caused her to lose too much: Duan Menghua disappeared, her meridians were severed, and her master was injured.

It's hard to call it turning misfortune into blessing.

Just as everyone was registering, the Second Elder and the other elders gathered together for a chat, seemingly having received some news.

"Senior sister, do you think the sect leader sent a message?"

Teng Rou glanced at the elders and said, "It should be. Let's wait and see. The news should come down soon."

On the other side, Yao Feibai also sat down.

"You've broken through to the Golden Core stage?"

Feng Ning turned her head and saw him sitting next to her, grinning as he said, "Yes, I just recovered, I haven't had a chance to tell you yet."

Yao Feibai didn't seem to mind. "It's alright, as long as you recover."

"You've made great progress recently, and you've even broken through to the Golden Core stage."

Yao Feibai's expression was indifferent, showing little emotion. "Just lucky."

It wasn't really a fluke.

In the past few months, he has been cultivating desperately. He was originally at the eighth level of Foundation Establishment, but he finally broke through to the ninth level of Foundation Establishment when he went out some time ago.

He had just gone into seclusion two days ago to break through to the Golden Core stage, and had only just emerged from seclusion, so he hadn't had a chance to tell anyone yet.

Feng Ning sighed, "This is no fluke. You cultivated step by step, while I was forced to rush up."

Yao Feibai looked at him in confusion, "What do you mean by 'pulling up seedlings to help them grow'?"

Feng Ning was speechless: "..."

"It's a short story. A person saw that other people's herbs were growing well, while his own herbs were so short. So he tried to pull them up to be as tall as the others, but they all died."

Yao Feibai nodded, seemingly understanding, "You mean your cultivation isn't solid, right?"

"Ah."

Since it wasn't something she cultivated herself, she always felt it wasn't very stable, so she didn't plan to break through any further for a while and wanted to stabilize her realm first.

The two chatted casually for a while, and then the Second Elder stepped forward.

"Disciples, be quiet."

Everyone immediately fell silent, looking at the Second Elder with expectant eyes.

"We just received a message from the sect leader. After exploration by many sects and forces, it has been found that the Xuanwu Secret Realm restricts entry to cultivators below the Nascent Soul Realm, and a maximum of one thousand people can enter. Our Tianxuan Sect has a total of one hundred slots, and we will go tomorrow."

He then glanced at the registration information. "There are a total of 325 disciples who have signed up. There's no time to wait for others. Let's start the competition now. The last 100 winners will go to the Xuanwu Secret Realm."

These words immediately caused an uproar among the crowd.

"Only so many spots? What are we going to do? Do we even have a chance?"

"That's right. There are already twenty or thirty direct disciples, right? Do we still have a chance?"

"That's not quite right. There are only a thousand spots in total, and our Tianxuan Sect has taken a hundred of them, which is about right."

"Who cares how many sects have occupied them? What's the use of sects occupying so many? If we can't go, then it's all for nothing, isn't it?"

Hearing his unreasonable words, the man silently took a step back, deciding not to argue with a fool.

Even if everyone is dissatisfied, the competition must begin.

In fact, those who lack the ability should also feel fortunate.

After all, there are some stronger disciples who are on missions outside and haven't had time to return yet; otherwise, they would have had even less of a chance.

Just as he was thinking this, he heard the Second Elder say, "Those at the ninth level of the Golden Core stage don't need to participate in the competition; they can go directly."

As a result, all forty spots were used up at once!

This caused panic among the others, as there were still 285 people left! But only 60 spots remained.

Cut it in half!

Everyone immediately panicked.

Before the others could prepare more thoroughly, the Third Elder directly opened the dueling platform in the square.

"The first round of the competition will now begin. Except for the forty Golden Core Stage 9 participants, all other registered participants shall go up."

This is the largest arena, capable of accommodating 500 people in a battle.