Ryu was currently at a fairly safe distance away from all the commotion. He launched one move, the Phoenix Holocaust that managed to help Wu-Ming out in his predicament. The move involved igniting two powerful sources of flames to create a deadly explosion that carries the characteristics of both sources. The two flames will mutually generate a chain reaction that’ll produce an exponentially stronger fire blast. The two sources of flames used by Ryu were also from the Eternal Phoenix. One was the treacherous Unending Incineration stance which creates a never-ending flame that can only be put out if Ryu wishes it or by a much superior Qi. The other was the devious Deception of the Phoenix stance, it was an intangible flame that could induce nightmares and paranoia to those weaker than the caster. When the two combined, both characteristics of the two flames was carried out in the explosion. Incinerating all victims and causing some victims to hallucinate.

“Amazing, he lives up to his heroic reputation.” Ryu praised to himself. After launching the Phoenix Holocaust, Ryu was prepared to step in and help out but noticed that Wu-Ming had escaped in a blink of an eye during the detonation of his move. However, he didn’t use this time to escape but to expel the deadly toxins out of his body and went back to finish off his assailants! Not only did he thoroughly defeat them, Ryu can’t believe that he actually used a lethal move to temporary knock the reptile beast out in order to save him. This was definitely going above and beyond what he could have imagined. Sensing that Wu-Ming no longer required his aid, Ryu resumed his journey of heading out of the forest and traveling towards the Thousand Swords Graveyard.

Suddenly Ryu noticed a disturbance beneath the ground, an unknown figure was digging its way towards him at an astounding fast speed. With a stomp, Ryu send a medium sized boulder into the ground to intercept the incoming opponent. The attempt to slow the unknown danger down was futile. The rate the unknown opponent was coming was too fast and all Ryu could do was prepare a fighting stance.

“Hi there, I mean you no harm my friend.” A welcoming voice seeped out from beneath. Within a few seconds the earth in front of Ryu opened up and revealed a muscular warrior. This person was no other than Wu-Ming. Ryu had left a minute earlier before Wu-Ming and was confident that he hid his Qi perfectly, how was he caught?

“Junior pays his respect to honorable Wu-Ming.” Ryu said politely. From what he read through the mind of the person he caught previously, Wu-Ming was righteous and never does anything he would be ashamed of such as attacking a random stranger.

“Haha no need for formalities little brother. You got me out of a tight spot earlier.” Wu-Ming said with a bright smile and proceeded to hand out the items he looted from the bodies earlier. Amongst them was the artifact for the Hundred Illusionary Spear formation, an item with an essence!

“You overestimate me. I merely helped out a just person in an unjust situation. Even if I didn’t interfere, I believe you would have escaped.” Ryu said honestly. Seeing that last exchange where Wu-Ming completely dominated four Emperor Domain experts in similar levels as himself, Ryu understood that even without his interference Wu-Ming must have some trump cards hidden that he could have used to save himself.

“That’s not true. I would have probably broken a few bones and perhaps lost my life back there. No matter how power you are as a cultivator, as long as your heart stops beating then it would be all for naught. One mistake and a great warrior would still be dead. Please take these items to ease my conscience.” Wu-Ming said candidly. Seeing his pleading eyes, Ryu couldn’t refuse, he did not want to insult this great man. Although this was a big gain for anyone, Ryu already had Alexis’s storage ring which more or less had these items lying around in his collection as common items.

“Little bro, there’s no need to tell me your name. I can see that your cultivation is extraordinary. You must have your reasons to stay hidden back there. Your future success will definitely exceed mine. My Eye of the Golden Lion allowed me to trace you all the way here in case you were wondering. However, you are heading to the Thousand Swords Graveyard right? Allow me to accompany you there!” Wu-Ming acclaimed sincerely. His hearty attitude and heroic charm makes him an extremely charismatic person that even Ryu admires. He had seen his share of outstanding people but this Wu-Ming was one of a kind.

Before he realized it, Ryu was chatting with Wu-Ming openly as if they were lifelong friends. They both ran towards the Thousand Swords Graveyard as if they were two wild kings of the forest traversing through the desolate jungle. Ryu was utilizing the profound Vanishing White Flash to keep up with Wu-Ming’s overwhelming speed. This skill was unranked and could potentially match up to Deity Domain skills. In a brilliant silver flash, Ryu was zapping across the land in a snowy glimmer. Wu-Ming on the other hand was pouncing forward with overbearing steps like a real starving lion charging at its prey. Each mighty step covered kilometers at a time, leaving behind a golden hue.

“Little bro, your agility technique is exquisite! I have to admit that my own Emperor Lion Sprint skill is quite lacking compared to yours. If we had the same cultivation, you would’ve been much faster.” Wu-Ming commended honestly. Running and chatting side by side in an unrestrained manner had fueled each other’s adrenaline.

“Big bro, you are overestimating me once again. You single handily defeated so many people, four of which were slightly higher in levels. I don’t think I can do that at all.” Ryu praised back. In the short period of time they were together, unknown to Ryu he had started to see Wu-Ming as a brother he never had. He had not spent too much time with a male cultivator of similar youth as him before. Because Wu-Ming was a prodigy, he reached Emperor Domain in around six hundred years. His astonishing cultivating speed allowed him to keep his body at mid-twenties. Obviously Ryu himself is much younger than six hundred years but he is a special case. His youth is roughly sixteen but most people wouldn’t believe that since it would be much for an ordinary person to comprehend. Because of Ryu’s tall height and sculpted muscles, it is easier to believe his youth was over twenty. If you only utilize a small portion of the longevity granted per domain, your physical age would not change much. The only way to tell a person’s actual age will require some testing.

“Hahaha. I’ll let you in on a secret, it’s all about strengthening the body! Most cultivators depend on Qi and special skills to win battles. However, the body you are born with is the basis of all skills. A simple way to look at it is something like this. Assuming Qi reinforcement can triple battle power, an average body with a rating of five vs someone with a refined body with a rating of twenty then it would result in fifteen vs sixty! The battle difference would be more than four times. The real benefits of a stronger body is that you can withstand higher outputs of Qi, absorb Qi from a higher domain and what not. If you are interested in this, we can discuss this later. Here we are!” Wu-Ming directed Ryu’s attention to the scene in front of him. They had finally arrived at the Thousand Swords Graveyard. There were no words that could describe what Ryu was seeing.

The first thing Ryu saw was the outline of the Thousand Swords Graveyard or at least bits of it that was within his vision was a titanic Enchanting barrier erected for countless kilometers. The barrier itself was a translucent orange light that reaches all the way up to the skies. It was as if a colossal tangerine colored mirror was built around something.

“Could this Orange Tier Enchantment be all around its borders?” Ryu said in shock. The Thousand Swords Graveyard stretched for over a hundred kilometers! He doesn’t know that the Heaven Continent is surrounded by a Silver Tier Enchantment so naturally he believes this place to be out of the world already. An Orange Tier Enchantment could only be created once the caster reaches Deity Domain, level 200! The Heaven Continent of this age barely have any Sovereign Domain cultivators and even less people who have gone through their first Rebirth.

Then there’s the swarm of people waiting anxiously outside. Never had Ryu seen so many people gathered at once. Forget about what could be awaiting for them inside, how can there be so many experts be at one place? Outside the seemingly impregnable Enchantment, there was a sea of experts awaiting tolerantly for the Enchantment to open.

Countless different factions could be distinguished from this unbelievably large crowd. There was a few armies of airborne forces that occupied the skies. One was an imposing army of warriors in velvet uniforms on flying beasts covering one portion of the sky. These beasts were all in the King Domain and could bring down an ordinary sect with ease. At another portion of the sky was crowded with what appears to be ships that are sailing and patrolling around in circles. These domineering ships looked ancient but it was obvious that they were weapons of mass destruction. Just beside these daunting ships was an even more impressive object, an enormous floating island with a magnificent castle on it. The levitating island was the size of a small town and even had a protective Qi barrier surrounding it. To its left was even more shocking, an impressive yellow serpent that rivals the previous floating island in length was carrying thousands of experts in teal uniforms.

On the ground there were even more armies stationed at various places. A group of spear wielders lined up uniformly at one corner gave off an authoritarian aura, each user was a seasoned warrior that carried a spear larger than most axes. Another army consisted of archers that continuously shot towards the Orange Enchantment protecting the Thousand Swords Graveyard as some sort of practice. The endless barrage of arrows looked like it could shoot down one of the flying ships from above. There was also dozens of sects camped around, ready to maneuver in a heartbeat. Intimidating instruments of destructions that Ryu had never seen before appeared one after another in front of his eyes. Since Ryu had never been to war, he didn’t recognize a lot of these lethal objects.

The thing that stunned Ryu the most was not the sheer raw manpower displayed in front of him. Nor was it his special Qi vision that lets him see a world outlined by Qi, although that vision right now is still quite impressive. So much Qi is packed in the sea of cultivators in front of him that all he could see was a lump of light in front of him. What shocked Ryu was that he could sense an indiscernible faint gaseous aura looming in front of him. This was the manifestation of luck and talent! After gaining the Destiny Defiance skill, Ryu could wrest Qi, talent, luck and longevity from people. Since Ryu is still at the earlier stages of this skill, he can’t quite sense the talent, luck and longevity of a person yet. Due to the dense crowd of cultivators in front of him, he not only sensed it but he could feel that it is a terrible source of power.

“The warships belong to the Toko Empire, this is a small portion of their military. The warriors on the mounts are from the distinguished wind clan, The Heaven Conquerors. Over there to the side, the battle golem and destruction tanks belong to the Yasha Empire’s military. Oh then there’s one of the top guilds with their famous floating castle, the Blue Fire Phantoms Guild.” Wu-Ming said with a chuckle. He could tell that Ryu had never seen such things in his life. Not knowing what was truly bothering Ryu, Wu-Ming then continued to list over thirty super powers that are well-known throughout the land which were present. “Don’t be so surprised, this is only one of the seventy-seven entrances. If I’m right, I bet over ninety percent of all major powers are attending.”

“Seventy-seven entrances? Why would so many people come fight for one sword?” Ryu exclaimed. He estimates there were around a million experts present at least. If there’s seventy-seven entrances and each were as packed as this one, wouldn’t there be around eighty million cultivators present? Even though more than ninety percent were below Heaven Domain, this is still quite shocking. A Heaven Domain expert could rule over a regular city already.

“There’s a very good reason why so many people are gathering here. Practically all major sects, clans, guilds, armies, organizations and distinguished independent groups received leaked information that this tournament is different from the past ones!”

“How so?” Ryu asked curiously. Since he belongs to no faction, he doesn’t have any updated news about this grand event. He got most of his information from the Drunken Master but he also belongs to no faction and travels freely wherever he likes. It seems like the Drunken Master did not have all the information regarding the upcoming event at the Thousand Swords Graveyard.

“This time it’s a trove of treasures up for grabs instead of a single item. Not only that, it will no longer be a bloodbath between the top experts like it was in the past. Anyone with enough luck and talent will be able to gain priceless treasures! In fact… it is said that the grand winner of this spectacle will receive five essences at level 200! That’ll allow any group of people to start their own empire or allow any existing empires to start conquering the other ones!”

Ryu nodded as he listened on. He couldn’t help but gasp when he heard that essences at level 200 were up for grabs. To his knowledge, there is no one at those level on the Heaven Continent except maybe the hidden experts in Shaolin, Wudang and the legendary number one swordsman himself. The winning organization who gets ahold of those essences will definitely dominate the continent. No wonder sects, guilds, and other powers are bringing thousands of their inner disciples and anyone else that’s promising, it seems things will be different this time around.

“Then there’s a rumor that even I’m not certain of saying that the real prize is even better than those essences.” Wu-Ming said seriously.

Ryu gasped once again when he heard that the five priceless essences might not even be the final prize! What else could rival five sources of unfathomable Qi that could produce potentially five Deity Domain experts? Why kind of spectacle was about to unfold at this grand event? The big unanswered question to Ryu was why was the Thousand Swords Graveyard been so generous?

He then continued to look at the endless masses of people and an uncomfortable gut feeling warned him that nothing good will come of this. Although he is young and inexperienced, his knowledge exceeds most experts present. The unfathomably powerful and mysterious skill from the Anti-Heaven Tribe that allows him steal from others also allows him to sense that this unnatural convergence of luck and talent was extremely dangerous. If someone were to harness this lump of power, something catastrophic will happen.