Shennong Dao Master-Chapter 724 - 19: Top-level Dharma Body, Canghai Cave Heaven, Competition for Quotas_6

Chapter 724: Chapter 19: Top-level Dharma Body, Canghai Cave Heaven, Competition for Quotas_6

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Princess You Ruo’s ship was incredibly fast, and in less than half a day, it had arrived at an outer entrance of the Canghai Cave Heaven—Baiyun Island.

This place was Bai Yunwu’s fiefdom, and when Princess You Ruo descended upon the island, she was greeted by Bai Yunwu’s legitimate eldest son, Bai Mingchuan.

Bai Yunwu’s status was high enough, a king anointed by the Water Clan, and also an old friend of Princess You Ruo’s mother; both publicly and privately, it was not his place to come and greet her.

Therefore, the welcome could only be conducted by the princely heir Bai Mingchuan.

Bai Mingchuan was a Marquis conferred by Great Zhou, and his generation was comparable to that of Princess You Ruo. He was also Bai Ling’s father.

Canghai Cave Heaven was nominally one of the Military Realm Grotto Heavens of Great Zhou, but in reality, it had always been controlled by the Water Clan Chief.

The largest power there was the Bai Yunwu family.

Once out of the East Sea and heading further east into international waters, Bai Yunwu’s words carried even more weight than the Emperor’s.

"Your subject, greets the Princess," Bai Mingchuan, accompanied by his clan members, bowed deeply with great respect below the towering vessel.

Below them, there was a ceremonial guard, and on the outskirts, the Azure Dragon Army.

Most of them had the appearance of humans with dragon horns atop their heads; calling them ’half-dragon people’ wouldn’t be far off, but there were also pure humans.

After thousands of years of cultivating ties, including the Bai family among many Water Clans, they all had developed a ’strong sense of identification with Great Zhou.’

Zhao Xing looked around from not too far away when suddenly, he sensed someone’s gaze fixed upon him.

"Hmm?" Following that gaze, Zhao Xing turned toward a phalanx to the southeast.

He saw a sword-bearing general in one of the military formations, making faces at him.

"Long Xiao?" Zhao Xing was stunned, then immediately communicated with a voice transmission, "You, how come you’re here?"

He knew Long Xiao had joined the Azure Dragon Army, but what was this occasion? Those who could come here were either personal guards of Bai Mingchuan or significant generals from Baiyun Island.

Long Xiao’s position was also quite at the front.

"What do you mean why am I here? I joined the Azure Dragon Army twenty-nine years ago," Long Xiao replied.

"Then aren’t you a true Fifth-rank? What’s with this soldier’s getup?"

"Don’t mention it," Long Xiao’s voice sounded a bit downcast, "I originally was a true Fifth-rank Yunxiao Dragon General, commanding an army on my own, but this year, that old... I was reassigned by Bai Mingchuan to serve as the Longfeng Guard."

"Longfeng Guard?" Zhao Xing asked with confusion, "Is it specially for charging into battle?"

"Exactly."

"That can’t be right. You, a genius Sword Cultivator, shouldn’t have fallen to the point of charging into battle... Wait a minute, did you not, by any chance, bed Bai Ling and then her father found out?"

"No, that can’t be it. Just for that, they wouldn’t be so harsh on you."

"Sss... you didn’t get her pregnant, did you?"

Long Xiao remained silent, which was as good as an admission.

Well then, his cabbage had been dug up by a pig; of course, her father wouldn’t be pleased, and these two didn’t even have an official status when the pregnancy happened. The fact that Bai Mingchuan didn’t cut down Long Xiao was already quite restrained.

"Let’s talk later, I have to go patrol again." Long Xiao’s formation began to move off.

"Later might not be possible, I’m about to enter the Canghai Cave Heaven to prepare for battle," Zhao Xing said.

"Oh? Are you really here to compete for a spot in the ancient land of Dragon Court?" Long Xiao asked, surprised.

"What, you thought I traveled two hundred thousand li just for fun?" Zhao Xing retorted.

"I thought you came specially to see me," Long Xiao joked.

"You’ve got the nerve to mention that, when’s the last time you went back to Dongyang County to see me and Old Chen?" Zhao Xing chided.

"Cough, cough... I’m off, we’ll talk when I’m free," Long Xiao said, obviously feeling guilty, and hurriedly followed his formation away. freewebnσvel.cѳm

Zhao Xing also disembarked from the ship, as Princess You Ruo’s entourage was heading to a palace prepared by Bai Yunwu for their residence.

Moving on, he followed a group of Beast Tamers led by Liu Wanliang, proceeding to the Canghai Cave Heaven to prepare for battle.

Accompanying them were many Beast Tamers from the Purple Cloud Islands.

All those who were qualified to travel on Princess You Ruo’s ship were the elite of the elite, nearly all of them at least Fourth-rank.

With a mere Fifth-rank status, Zhao Xing, accompanied by such a combination of a cat, a dog, and a goat, was quite conspicuous.

He wasn’t noticed when boarding the ship, but now that he had disembarked and was moving with everyone else, he attracted quite a few stares.

"Hmm? When did a Fifth-rank Beast Tamer appear under the Princess’s command? And he’s following behind Director Liu." A woman in a purple robe looked quizzically at Zhao Xing’s retreating figure.

"Zhaozhao, do you recognize him?"

"No, I don’t know him, haven’t seen him before." another woman, holding a staff and riding a large tiger, Wang Zhaozhao, shook her head.

"Strange, we’re all Fourth Grade Beast Tamers; how did a Fifth-rank get in here?" Lin Ziyue was puzzled, "Could he be one of Director Liu’s people?"

"I think I’ve seen him enter and leave the Princess’s Yonghua Palace. Maybe he’s a relative of the Princess, here to widen his horizons?" a bald man riding a horse sidled over and suggested.

"That doesn’t seem right. Look, he’s even brought his battle beasts. He must be here to compete for a ranking." Lin Ziyue speculated.

"I know the Gray Lion and the Spiritual Illusion Goat, but what breed is this cat? It feels like a Mountain Cat." Wang Zhaozhao also stared at the battle beasts following behind Zhao Xing.

"Stop guessing, that is a Mountain Cat... oh, I remember now, isn’t that Zhao Xing, the justice Director of the Twin Dragon Horse Supervisor?" The bald man smacked his forehead, "Yes, that’s him!"

"Mr. Zhang, you know him?" Lin Ziyue and Wang Zhaozhao both looked over.

"This Mountain Cat of his killed an Emperor Crocodile nine years ago, and in the subsequent district competition, it was with this cat that he fought his way out from the western side of the Purple Cloud Arena."

"I think I remember now." Lin Ziyue’s face showed a trace of disdain, "Always scraping by, to think he could have made it here, tsk tsk, classic favoritism."

"Hiss, the Princely Heir won’t really make us take this guy to compete, will he?"

"That would be just our luck. Whoever gets assigned that task is doomed."

"Alas, the Princely Heir is being shortsighted..."

When it comes to competitive events, no one respects those who get in by connection; these Fourth Grade Beast Tamers have all fought their way here on their own merit.

After hearing that Zhao Xing was there by connections, they were all disinclined to associate with him.

Zhao Xing had also kept a low profile over the years, and almost none of the Beast Tamers recognized him.

Very few people knew about the relationship between the Princess and Liu Tianning, and even fewer knew about the connection between Liu Tianning and Zhao Xing.

They only vaguely knew this person was highly regarded by the Princess.

Fourth Grade Beast Tamers mostly wouldn’t pay attention to preliminaries and group stages.

And so among the group of Beast Tamers, while the others were talking and laughing, Zhao Xing followed alone behind Liu Wanliang.

"Chen An, don’t worry about those whispering voices," Prince Mansion’s Chief Liu Wanliang whispered.

"In the competition, everything you have achieved so far has been on your own. Aside from giving you a spot in the preliminary round at the beginning, the Princess never helped you cheat during the matches."

"They don’t know that, and it’s normal for them to think otherwise."

"Sir, I understand," Zhao Xing smiled, "It’s quite normal to hear some rumors about a half-baked person like me showing up in the Princess Mansion’s elite team. It would be abnormal not to."

As a half-baked Beast Tamer, his personal ranking was at the very bottom among over fifty-seven thousand people, while Lin Ziyue and Wang Zhaozhao were elites who had already made a name for themselves.

With a Fifth-rank amidst the group of Fourth Grade Beast Tamers of the Princess Mansion, it was only natural that they found Zhao Xing strange, potentially seeing him as a freeloader.

After a silent march of two quarters, a massive gate a kilometer high appeared in front of them, with a pale blue vortex flickering at its center.

Surrounding the gate was an expansive plain where many teams, along with their war beasts, were waiting outside the gate.

"Look, that’s the entrance to the Canghai Cave Heaven, and the venue specially used for the Beast Mastery competition," Liu Wanliang explained to Zhao Xing.

"Inside the Canghai Cave Heaven, the Heavenly Time and Earth Advantage of the large venues simulate classic checkpoints similar to those in the Dragon Court Ancient Land."

"57,642 Beast Tamers will compete here for the top five hundred spots."

"If you manage to get one of these spots, you’ll be qualified to enter the Dragon Court Ancient Land."

"In the future, if you can bring out any item from the senior task list from the Dragon Court Ancient Land, you’ll be promoted to a Secondary Fourth-rank official."

"Your war beasts will also be rewarded."

Liu Wanliang looked up at the sky and then said, "The competition for spots hasn’t officially started yet, we need to wait for the Minister of the Ministry of Rites and the Azure Dragon General to arrive, which will probably take another four hours."

"Four hours..." Zhao Xing nodded, then suddenly asked a question that left Liu Wanliang puzzled, "Sir, at this point, the rules of the competition, they shouldn’t change anymore, right?"

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