Chapter One: The Proud Dragon's Regret

The auction was reaching its most fervent and intense moment when, suddenly, a deafening crash echoed, accompanied by a flash of white light streaking across the sky. The entire Talent Selection Peak shuddered ever so slightly, and then another burst of white light flashed, restoring everything to normal once more.

At that moment, a voice brimming with anger resounded across the peak. “Who dares to damage the protective array of Talent Selection Peak?”

The six sect masters, including Elder Lu, were still astonished by what had just transpired, only to be further shocked by this voice. None of them had expected that the King of Hades himself would be present at Talent Selection Peak. With such an event unfolding, Elder Lu had no choice but to announce the abrupt end of the auction. This urgent matter needed resolution before it could affect tomorrow’s talent selection conference.

Tang Yi now resembled a child who had made a mistake, standing before an elder and apologizing repeatedly. The elder’s face was thunderous with anger, grumbling incessantly. At last, Elder Lu and a dozen others arrived. Tang Yi, as if he had finally found his comrades, cried out to Elder Lu, “Elder Lu, you’re finally here. Please help me explain! I just can’t make myself clear to him.”

Ten minutes earlier...

“Haha, I’m a genius! This is far too easy. Dragon Subduing Palm, Soaring Dragon in the Sky…” Tang Yi had finally realized how to solve the energy problem of his superpowers—he simply used spiritual energy to activate them.

“Wahaha, let’s try another move—Wild Dragon in the Field… Repentant Dragon, and that’s it!”

A loud bang interrupted his revelry. Tang Yi, caught up in his own excitement, hadn’t expected any mishap. He had been practicing his Dragon Subduing Palm on the ground, but for the final move, to show off, he performed a seven-hundred-and-twenty-degree twist, a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree backflip, followed by a stylish one-hundred-and-eighty-degree reverse, then unleashed the Repentant Dragon. This strike landed directly on the protective array of Talent Selection Peak, resulting in the very events that had just unfolded.

“Who dares to damage the protective array of Talent Selection Peak?” Tang Yi realized trouble was afoot—damaging public property meant facing fines. He tried to flee, but as he turned, a black-haired elder with a furious expression blocked his path.

The elder stared intently at Tang Yi, frightening him into crossing his arms protectively over his chest. “I’m a decent, normal boy. I don’t have any abnormal preferences…”

The elder ignored Tang Yi’s nonsense and asked, “Was it you who struck the array just now?” His gaze was filled with suspicion.

“No, I only hit it by accident. I didn’t mean to,” Tang Yi protested.

“By accident, not intentional? So you admit you did it deliberately?” the elder pressed.

Tang Yi was frustrated. Not only had he solved the superpower energy problem, but he’d also discovered that using spiritual energy to operate his abilities caused a qualitative leap. His superpowers had now advanced by two or three levels.

He could now sense that this elder’s cultivation was even higher than Elder Lu’s. According to the rookie’s guide to cultivation, this elder was most likely an ancient monster at the Great Ascension stage. Tang Yi didn’t wish to provoke such a figure—even if he wasn’t afraid, he didn’t want unnecessary trouble. Besides, he couldn’t actually defeat a Great Ascension expert; at most, he could use his time-travel superpower to escape.

The elder, meanwhile, was equally astonished. Tang Yi appeared to be at late-stage Qi Refining, his cultivation barely early-stage Qi Refining, and his spiritual energy was almost depleted. The reason was simple: Tang Yi had poured all his strength into that final palm strike, blasting a sizeable breach in the protective array. Two-thirds of Tang Yi’s spiritual energy had been consumed, and after his earlier moves, he was nearly drained. Though the array repaired itself instantly, the energy cost was two hundred top-grade spirit stones.

The elder couldn’t fathom how someone of such low cultivation could inflict such damage on the array.

“I’m dizzy—I really didn’t mean it…” Tang Yi groaned.

“So you admit it was intentional?” the elder continued.

“I… I’m not talking to you anymore, I’ll explain to him!” Tang Yi saw Elder Lu and the others arrive.

“Elder Lu, you’re finally here. Please help me explain! I just can’t make myself clear to him.” With that, Tang Yi hid behind Elder Lu.

“Greetings, Senior Yan. May I ask what has caused your anger?” Elder Lu addressed the elder respectfully.

“Why? Lu, ask that short-haired boy behind you yourself.” The elder’s tone softened somewhat, likely out of regard for Elder Lu.

“Oh, please wait a moment, senior.” Elder Lu bowed and turned to Tang Yi. “Fellow Daoist Tang, what happened?”

“Well… it went like this, then this, then that… and finally it ended up like this.” Tang Yi recounted the entire chain of events in detail. “That’s the whole truth.”

“Senior, as you see, Fellow Daoist Tang acted without malice. Talent Selection Peak suffered no lasting harm, and I will personally cover the cost of the spirit stones lost in this incident. Would you consider resolving it here and now?” Elder Lu proposed.

“Hmph! That Tang boy, for the sake of the array’s integrity and your face, Lu, I’ll let it go this time. But he’d better be careful in the future, or I’ll beat him every time I see him…” Before finishing his words, the elder vanished.

“Phew!” Everyone realized the elder had departed and couldn’t help sighing in relief, wiping imaginary sweat from their foreheads. Tang Yi was puzzled—he alone had been driven to the verge of collapse by the old monster named Yan. The others, who had arrived later, seemed untouched.

“No need to look at me like that. Let’s discuss it back at the residence,” Elder Lu said, then led the way back.

At the pavilion beside the pond, within the Sword Sect’s residence, Tang Yi and Elder Lu sat together.

“…Thinking back to those years, Senior Yanluo Wan, the King of Hades, was truly a living hell king. Since he survived the heavenly tribulation a century ago, he’s gone into seclusion, and only then did the cultivation world become so peaceful.”

“So that’s how it is—Yanluo Wan, King of Hades. His mother really gave him the right name. But tell me, people at the Great Ascension stage must be rare, right?” Tang Yi asked.

“Certainly. Crossing from Tribulation to Great Ascension is the greatest hurdle in cultivation—sixty to seventy percent of cultivators are stuck there, unable to progress further. I am among them myself, and to this day, I cannot be certain I’ll survive the heavenly tribulation. Alas…” Elder Lu sighed; he had lingered at late-stage Tribulation for more than three centuries.