Dragon Hidden in the Sky

This surge of spiritual energy made him feel a sudden chill in his hands and feet.

Before he could even react, he suddenly saw a sky full of white paper.

"Snapped!"

Ye Qing snapped his fingers, and the scraps of paper instantly transformed into endless flower petals, which surged down from the sky.

The remaining man's face was filled with boundless fear. He cried out in horror, "What are you going to do? Spare me! Spare me!"

"I didn't originally intend to get involved, but you all saw that I was in the early stage of the Transcendent Realm and wanted to kill me!" Ye Qing said with a sneer, "Then naturally I can't let you live!"

After he finished speaking, he snapped his fingers again with his right hand, and the petals instantly increased their speed, turning into streaks of sword energy that shot out in an instant!

"All flowers pay homage!" Ye Qing shouted in a low voice.

The man's body was repeatedly pierced by the sword energy, and in an instant, he collapsed to the ground covered in blood.

The remaining petals slowly fell and covered him.

Beside them, the woman stared in disbelief at the scene before her.

She swallowed hard and said, "You are... Ye Qing!"

Ye Qing's eyes flickered slightly as she asked, "You know me?"

The woman hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth and said, "Your appearance has been spread throughout all the major powers in the Heavenly Court."

Ye Qing narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "It's spread?"

The woman nodded.

"They plan to use the power of all the participants in the Heavenly Court to kill me?" Ye Qing asked.

"I...I don't know, but...Xuantian Pavilion did issue an order to kill on sight!" The woman said, then quickly added, "But don't worry, you saved my life, I won't kill you!"

After saying that, she gave a bitter laugh and said, "I don't have the ability to kill you either!"

At this point, she handed the ancient book in her hand to Ye Qing and said, "This is an ancient book; you can memorize it first."

Ye Qing took the ancient book and examined it. He found it to be a sword technique book, but next to the sword technique was the name "Seven Absolutes". There were seven moves in total. Ye Qing glanced at it and found it to be quite mysterious. His eyes lit up slightly.

As he memorized the information about the sword technique, he asked, "What's your name?"

“Zhou Xue!” Zhou Xue said.

"I remember you just said that this ancient book was obtained from a ruin?" Ye Qing asked.

Zhou Xue nodded and said, "Yes!"

Ye Qing was silent for a moment before asking, "What are ruins?"

Zhou Xue was taken aback. She stared blankly at Ye Qing and asked, "You don't know what ruins are? Then do you know... the origin of this Spirit Realm?"

Ye Qing nodded and said, "I really don't know much about this place!"

Zhou Xue was silent for a moment, then took a deep breath and said, "I can tell you, but you can't tell anyone else. I'm the one telling you."

Ye Qing nodded and said, "Okay!"

“The entire Spirit Realm Starfield was actually a civilization in ancient times!” Zhou Xue said. “Moreover, it was an extremely powerful civilization. They were the closest place to the Heavenly Court and also the place with the most concentrated energy in the universe. Countless powerful beings were nurtured here!”

"This place is also home to a powerful level nine civilization. It even has endless mysteries. For example, the Holy Mountain is said to be the origin of all laws in the universe. Therefore, comprehending the Holy Mountain can create and open up many things. Of course, ordinary people cannot climb the Holy Mountain!" Zhou Xue said.

"Later, the nine civilizations discovered the location of the present-day Heavenly Court. They wanted to create the Heavenly Court, but were stopped by the Spirit Realm. Thus, an earth-shattering war broke out between the nine civilizations and the Spirit Realm!" Zhou Xue said.

"What level of civilization was the Spirit Realm at that time?" Ye Qing asked.

“Level nine!” Zhou Xue said.

"A war broke out between level nine civilizations?" Ye Qing's brows furrowed in shock as he asked, "And in the end, the Spirit Realm was destroyed?"

"Although the Spirit Realm was very strong, and at that time it vaguely possessed the power of the top level nine civilization, it ultimately succumbed to defeat. The island we are on is the origin of the Spirit Realm. It is the place with the most concentrated spiritual energy in this civilization, and also the location of the top forces above this civilization," Zhou Xue said. "However, it was all destroyed in that battle!"

“Although in the early days, a large amount of things were divided up by the nine major civilizations, as time goes by, there are still a lot of relics and a lot of things that will be passed down. For people like us, getting just one of these things is an incredible opportunity!” Zhou Xue said.

“You come from the Xuantian Pavilion. The heritage within your Xuantian Pavilion is no less than that of this place, is it?” Ye Qing said.

“The Xuan Tian Pavilion is naturally no worse than this place, but the cultivation techniques and resources inside all require contributions to exchange for them. It’s actually quite difficult for us to get some good things, even for core disciples. So this Genius Battle is also an opportunity for us!” Zhou Xue said.

"And those ruins are of all kinds. It is said that this place is the burial place of the great emperor who has ruled over the ages, the Hengyang Emperor! He was killed here by nine emperor-level experts working together. However, in recent years, the nine major forces have often come here to search for the Hengyang Emperor's place of death, but they have never found it!" Zhou Xue said.

"Moreover, due to the special nature of the Holy Mountain, it is almost impossible for elders to gain any useful insights from it. Therefore, gradually, the Heavenly Court transformed this place into the current venue for the Great Competition of Geniuses!" Zhou Xue said, "And these ruins here... will attract people from all over the world!"

"Most of the people who leave here choose to join the Heavenly Court, or the vast majority of those who manage to leave are originally members of the Heavenly Court!" Ye Qing said. "Therefore, what they gain here will eventually be given to their own forces within the Heavenly Court!"

"So, the Heavenly Court stopped plundering this place and used it to attract countless geniuses, burying them here as well," Ye Qing said. "Is that so?"

"The path of martial arts is one of life and death, or rather, all things in this world are inherently driven by the instinct to fight!" Zhou Xue said. "Most people have no choice and cannot control their own lives."