Dawn had just broken when Yin Long received the report he had been waiting for. He was seated in the grand arena where the battles to decide the 10 participants had taken place just recently, Jin Wang lazily slumped down on the ground by his side. Yin Long leaned his cheek on his right hand, his left resting on Jin Wang's head and stroking his golden mane.

The competition to decide the 10 participants was already over, but the arena hadn't closed yet, nor had all the spectators left. The Province Championship wouldn't start right away, so those who were confident that they hadn't been chosen as participants continued to engage each other on top of the arena in hopes of attracting the attention of any clans or sects that may hide amongst the spectators.

Yin Long felt his interspatial ring vibrate quietly, his finger rubbing against it and pulling out his communication treasure. He sank his mind into the orb, surrounding it with a bit of Qi to prevent the transmission it had just received from spilling out.

"Milord, the list of participants has been finalized. Your dominating display in the Underdog challenge luckily made it quite easy to include you among the 10 chosen people, there was hardly anyone willing to renounce your right. You will all head out as a group in a little over a week, so if you need to prepare anything or anyone then you have a little time. Congratulations, Milord, I am certain many people will keep an expectant eye on your progress."

The voice that came from the orb belonged to Province Emperor Starblood, and while Yin Long had expected that his display would earn him a spot, actually getting confirmation about it allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief. But the final part of Starblood's words caused Yin Long to frown slightly, it made his soul crawl slightly with faint traces of foreboding.

But even if he felt that it was a bit foreboding, there was one fact that allowed him to somewhat put that feeling aside. The Province Championship was the greatest event on not just this planet, the sheer size of the planet made it an extremely popular event to the entire dominion. And as a result, not even the Province Emperor's could interfere in it, even the Dominion Deity would have to be extremely careful about touching the competition. It was simultaneously one of the most dangerous and safest places.

Yin Long's black pupils flashed with a few gleams of light after he put away the orb again, mentally organizing what he would have to prepare. In truth, there wasn't really anything he had to prepare, he didn't keep anything at the sect he was currently part of and Lan Yun and Jin Wang were always at his side anyway so it was even possible for them to head out right now if there was a need to. Yin Long really was the embodiment of a wandering swordsman in that regard.

"Young Master, I'm pretty sure you've already gotten a report for yourself, but you haven't taken a look at the other competitors, no?"

A few minutes after Starblood sent him the first report, a charming and soft voice snuck its way into Yin Long's ears. His gaze naturally drifted over to the source of the voice, landing on Lan Yun as she walked over. Her short amber hair fluttered slightly as she walked, and her brown eyes carried a soft smile that showed that she didn't really need him to answer the question.

She stepped over Jin Wang, who didn't even bother to shift around due to her presence, and plopped down in the seat next to Yin Long. She pushed aside his long silver hair so that she could wrap her arm around his, using her other arm to hand him a scroll she had removed from her interspatial ring.

"Here, all 180 public competitors and their information. I know you don't really care to learn about who you'll be up against, but at least look at it as a chance to better find out who you can learn something from through sparring."

She knew Yin Long better than just about everyone else, and she also knew that the only reason he went through the trouble of heading to the Province Championship was because of her desire. They had technically already lost their chance to participate earlier, but she had stated her desire and he had fulfilled it and created a chance for them to head there.

Were it not for that then he would have been perfectly content with just heading to the Thousand Blades Hall and studying there for a bit before they moved on again to find a new place where he could spar against others and improve his technique. As such, he really didn't care much about who was participating in the Province Championship, the only ones that actually mattered to him were his own sister and those he could learn something from.

Yin Long accepted the scroll and unfurled it, it was a somewhat formal list so it had been printed on paper rather than just crammed into a jade slip. The list was divided into sections, one for each of the 18 provinces, so it was more than easy to find the people from your own province if that was what you were looking for.

There were a few names that Yin Long easily recognized on the list, Rank 1 Zhao Feng was an obvious inclusion, rank 2 Xiao Yin Yu and Rank 4 Lang Huo were also obvious inclusions, they were so strong that it would have been stranger if they were left out. As was expected, the other people in the top 100 rankings were also chosen, but the only name Yin Long properly-recognized among them was Fang Yau, who had managed to barge his way into the top 50 during the Three-Fold Territory Clash.

Speaking of the Three-Fold Territory Clash, Yin Long couldn't help but be slightly curious as to exactly what sort of rewards would be handed out for it. They had just finished it so the province was in the process of sorting out the rewards for each separate organization and person that took part, but if his guess was correct then he should receive his reward around the time the Province Championship started. He didn't exactly know what sort of position he got when compared to the others, his and Lan Yun's cases were a bit special after all, but the rewards shouldn't be too shabby thanks to his final display.

He checked the rest of the names, but other than his own there weren't any that stood out as very memorable. Of course, this didn't mean that he couldn't learn anything from them, it just meant that he didn't have a lot of information about them and their battle style. There was some information included with the list, but the provinces didn't make it a habit to spread too much information about their own competitors.

Taking Yin Long's information as an example, he had been given rank 1524, but the small paragraph next to his name and rank only included the laws he had showcased and the fact that he used what appeared to be swords he had created personally. And the further up the rankings you went, the less information was written, to the point that Zhao Feng's information only mentioned his title, cultivation, and where he was from.

Yin Long furled up the scroll after he finished memorizing the names, especially the names of those who were known to use swords as their main weapons. His head turned when he closed the scroll, Jin Wang also raising his head, growling quietly with slightly narrowed eyes. Yin Long pat him on the head to signal that he should calm down, nodding his head in greeting to the man that was approaching them.

"And here I was hoping that I'd get to reach you with the information first, but it seems like your girlfriend is pretty good at digging up information, she actually got to you first."

The man who walked over with a slightly bitter smile was Fang Yau, his brown hair hanging down loosely while his yellow eyes were focused on Yin Long. He held a scroll identical to the one that Lan Yun had just give him, waving it somewhat helplessly before tucking it back into his interspatial ring.

"You should hear some of the commotion taking place behind closed doors, people are absolutely dumbfounded that someone ranked in the 1000's was given one of the spots. Absolute idiots, can't even be arsed to determine things with their own eyes before they jump to their idiotic conclusions."

Fang Yau plopped down on a seat a bit away from Yin Long as he spoke, completely ignoring Jin Wang's sharpened gaze. It had already become common knowledge that Jin Wang snarled and tried to chase away everyone who tried to get close to Yin Long, or at least everyone he felt wasn't worthy. The number of citizens who had accidentally gotten close and then got scared away by him wasn't low thanks to how crowded the city got during this competition.

"Does it matter if they jump to conclusions? It's not like it's anything worth caring about."

Fang Yau had cursed a bit, but Yin Long simply didn't care about the commotion his inclusion may have caused. None of the people jumping to conclusions would be able to help him improve his techniques, nor was he close to any of them, so there really wasn't any worth in spending any amount of energy to care about them or their thoughts.

Fang Yau glanced sideways at Yin Long, who had simply shrugged his shoulders, his gaze remaining focused on the battle taking place on the stage. He wasn't quite sure how he should describe Yin Long's personality, it could be considered refreshing since he didn't care about face and just wanted to improve his technique. But at the same time, this also meant that it could be seen as cold and arrogant since he so easily disregarded, or simply didn't care about, others and their thoughts. It was a rather strange personality to Fang Yau, you would either like it or dislike it, it would be hard to find a middle-ground.

"I know we'll technically be on the same team in the Province Championship, but I'll still be tracking you down for a few fights. You won't reject me, will you?"

Yin Long's pupils slid sideways and landed on Fang Yau, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly. Fang Yau had been at the 4th Earthen Door when the Three-Fold Territory Clash started, but he had reached the 5th Earthen Door since Yin Long last saw him. He also specialized in dual-wielding swords so Yin Long felt that there was still a lot he could learn from him.

As for the Province Championship, as the name suggested, its goal was to find out which province could be considered the strongest. The 10 people that were selected from the province would be considered a team when they entered the special separate space, and the final ranking of the province would be decided based on the accumulated points of every member of the team. You could attack your own team members, but doing so would only weaken your own team and your final standing, so it really wasn't worth it.

As for the 10 people that were personally selected by the Province Emperor, forming the second group for that province, they fell into a different category. They could be selected from anywhere in the universe and not just from organizations within your province, so they were more there to show which Province Emperor had the best eye for disciples.

But the final ranking mattered little to Yin Long, so why should he care about the unspoken rule that team members shouldn't fight each other? And Fang Yau also didn't seem to care much about it, the corners of his lips curving up excitedly.

"Reject you? I'll be tracking you down before you can track me down, I really want to see if your sword will still be able to reach my neck in our next fight."

They had fought twice already, and both had learned something from the other, it was from Fang Yau that Yin Long took most of his dual-wielding skills. As for Fang Yau, the weak points in his defence had been pointed out in such a glaring manner that his neck still ached from when Yin Long pierced through his defence and reached him. Yin Long's lips turned up a bit more, his head tilting backwards and to the side.

"What about you? I hope you aren't planning on rejecting me once the championship starts?"

Yin Long's gaze landed on a woman seated two rows behind them, Fang Yau's pupils shrinking slightly since he hadn't sensed her. The woman in question was Xiao Yin Yu, her blue eyes shimmering with faint traces of excitement while her black hair was tied into a neat ponytail quite similar to Yin Long's. She was considered among the top 5 beauties taking part in this Province Championship, but that title paled in comparison to her other title, rank 2, Cloud-Dancing Queen.

Before anyone knew it, the focal points of the three territories within the Starblood Province had all gathered in one spot. Xiao Yin Yu of the Winged-Blood Territory, Fang Yau of the Starsong Territory, and at the centre of it all, Yin Long of the Bloodgrass Territory. Their territories were technically rivals, as should the three of them be, but somehow they all gathered around the sole fact that they were aiming to grow stronger and increase their skills.

"Rejecting you during the championship? Didn't I tell you last time when you handed over the wine? Whether you win or lose, I'm still going to challenge you to a spar. So?"

Yin Yu's lips were curved up slightly in a challenging gesture, it was an enchanting sight, but those unfortunate to see it generally suffered unfortunate fates in the following fight. This was already a well-known fact, you didn't reach rank 2 in the Three-Fold Territory Clash by being weak and meek. But even so, Yin Long didn't show the slightest hesitation or fear. And among the several thousands of people that had competed in this clash, he was perhaps the only one daring enough to show such a confident expression while challenging the one ranked second.

"Ha, that's good, that's what we like to hear. I've got time right now, so let's go."

Yin Long stood up from his seated position as he spoke, rubbing Jin Wang's head a few times before he stepped forward. He hopped over the small wall separating the seating area from the stage, striding towards the stone stage as his white sword appeared in his grasp. He sent a backwards glance at Xiao Yin Yu, who also stood up from her seat and strode towards the stage. Yin Long had been raring to fight against her, and now he was finally going to get the chance to learn just how dangerous her whip-like sword was.