[NT: Sorry for the irregular releases. I’m not having any specific problems; I’m just stuck on a part that’s a bit difficult to write. Nothing I haven’t faced before, haha]

The moment Long Qingyi entered the private seating area of the Cosmic Dawn Sect alongside Rouxi, many eyes turned toward them.

Inside waited the sect leader, the Grand Elder, and five other high-ranking elders.

And, of course, Rou’er, slumped haphazardly in a plush armchair, lazily swinging her legs as she waited for her husband.

"Oh... has Young Lord Qingyi already reached the peak of the Celestial Origin Realm?" The sect’s Grand Elder was the first to break the silence, his voice brimming with admiration. "What a cultivation speed blessed by the heavens!"

At first, much like Rouxi minutes earlier, the old man’s face twisted into a brief grimace.

However, the moment he let his spiritual perception brush against Qingyi’s cultivation base, an incredulous laugh escaped his lips.

After all, now that the marriage between Qingyi and Rou’er had been made official, the young man was, by right, their Young Lord.

The stronger he was, the better.

"Truly..." The sect leader let out a long sigh, turning to Qingyi with an paternal gaze.

"And you achieved all this without even touching the sect’s coffers? Don’t push yourself too hard, young man; ask for the resources before attempting these breakthroughs!"

Qingyi merely bowed gently before his father-in-law, his posture humble.

"It was nothing, father-in-law. I had a sudden enlightenment during cultivation and simply couldn’t let the opportunity go to waste."

Faced with the humble reply, the sect leader nodded with obvious satisfaction, gesturing for Qingyi to take a seat.

The old man was certainly excited.

The reward for the disciple who won the tournament had not yet been announced, but for the sects, the stakes were entirely different, and well known to all.

Not only would they gain prestige—something of inestimable value in this world—but they would also gain access to extremely rare resources.

over seven hundred thousand years ago, there was a region in the north that was exceptionally rich, with planets and asteroids teeming with high-grade Qi crystals.

Because of this wealth, the region was ravaged by endless wars.

As a way to further elevate the tournament’s prestige and, simultaneously, end a bloody war that had already claimed hundreds of millions of lives, the major sects had transformed the area into a neutral zone.

Each of the thirty-six major sects in the region received its own territory within this neutral zone, where they could freely extract resources.

From there came thirty percent of all the wealth accumulated by the great sects of the north.

However, there was one crucial detail: access to this wealth was determined by the tournament.

The territory assigned to each sect changed with each edition, and those that performed well, naturally, took the largest shares.

The Cosmic Dawn Sect, being one of the most powerful in the region, had always been expected to hold one of the largest extraction zones.

Yet over the past five thousand years, it had become one of the sects that suffered most in these tournaments.

Its territory, once a generous ten percent of the entire region, had withered to a tiny fraction of what it used to be.

Today, fortunately, all of that would change.

They had Long Qingyi, the supreme emperor of the ten thousand blades, on their side.

With a silent sigh, the sect leader cast an affectionate glance at his adopted daughter.

He even felt a certain embarrassment at having once tried to marry her off to the Guo family.

She, unlike him, had recognized Qingyi as pure gold the moment she laid eyes on the young man.

"Ah... the younger generation is truly destined to surpass us." He let out a bitter laugh under his breath.

The future of his sect had never shone so brightly, and he, as leader, had never been so satisfied.

In the end, the sect leader and the old elders simply relaxed in their seats, already fantasizing about a peaceful retirement, living off the fortune the younger generation would build.

Qingyi merely smiled respectfully at the elders, choosing a seat for himself.

Rou’er, without hesitating for a single second, gave up her own seat to Rouxi and threw herself unceremoniously into Qingyi’s lap.

Her full, round butt nestled against her husband’s groin, her soft ass molding to his lap’s shape, sinking slightly under her own weight as a mischievous smile played on the petite woman’s pink lips.

Obviously, she didn’t dare go any further than that, since so many powerful experts were around.

"Has Xue Hua arrived at her sect’s private room yet?" Qingyi asked, his gaze fixed on the arena as his hand drifted in slow, idle strokes along the delicate curve of Rou’er’s hips.

"Yes." The petite beauty nodded slightly, letting her head rest against her husband’s powerful chest.

Her eyes—one pink, one purple—scanned the countless stands, shining like two twin stars.

Although the rooms were isolated, blocking any prying eyes from peering inside, those within could observe everything happening outside with perfect clarity.

Still, since this was a public event, the front of each box remained open, exposing the occupants to the eyes of the world.

Xue Hua also occupied a private box, naturally, though it was positioned on the opposite side of the arena.

The moment Rou’er’s gaze—she who had now focused more on her own cultivation and already reached the realm of celestial ascension—met Xue Hua’s, a radiant smile lit up her face, and she waved excitedly at the gothic beauty.

Even though the distance between one side of the arena and the other was enormous, her vision, infinitely superior to that of ordinary mortals, allowed her to take in Xue Hua in every minute detail.

Obviously, the same was true for those in the stands, whose eyes were fixed on Qingyi, filled with pure envy.

Not only did he have Rou’er nestled in his lap, but Rouxi, seated beside the couple, was now pulling a plate full of delicacies from her spatial ring, feeding her adopted son directly into his mouth.

Who wouldn’t die of envy at the thought of being pampered by a stellar sovereign?

"Ah... the heavens have their favorites..." A cultivator muttered amidst the crowd, and many others nodded silently, agreeing bitterly.

Qingyi, with his keen hearing, naturally picked up every word, curving his lips into a bitter smile.

A favorite of the heavens? He’d like that.

Just imagine being able to advance through the realms with the heavens’ help, instead of facing a celestial tribulation of extermination at every turn?

The heavens hated him to the core.

Letting out a low grunt, he simply leaned back into the armchair, turning his attention to the performance on the stage.

More than a hundred women from the Myriad Beasts Sect, all from the Peacock Clan, danced in perfect synchrony.

Their voluptuous bodies were accentuated by revealing costumes that teased without crossing the line into obscenity.

Shapely thighs flashed bare with every spinning turn, slender waists swayed in mesmerizing arcs, and full breasts bounced softly beneath silken fabric with each rhythmic step. From their crimson-painted lips escaped a melodic chant that reverberated throughout the arena.

Qingyi simply savored the performance, letting his eyes wander over the curves and sinuous movements of those beauties.

Unfortunately, nothing good lasts forever.

Soon the beauties of the Peacock Clan, exhausted and with their pale skin glistening under a thin layer of sweat, took a long bow to the audience.

Amid enthusiastic applause and praise, they left the arena.

With that, the opening show came to an end, and the arena, once a stage for music and dance, was ready to receive blood.

"Very well." A powerful voice echoed through the arena, and from the heavens descended an elder, a man of aged appearance yet undeniable beauty.

His eyes were framed by colorful peacock feathers, and long, majestic wings extended from his back.

The humanoid figure possessed the perfect balance between beast and man, in an almost divine harmony.

"This is the patriarch of the Peacock Clan." Rouxi whispered into Qingyi’s ear, and he nodded slowly.

This was a figure of immense fame throughout the northern region.

Not only was his personal power formidable, but his clan—renowned for the beauty of its members—maintained marriage alliances with most of the great sects of the north.

Within the Myriad Beasts Sect itself, it was no exaggeration to say that only the sect leader and the ancestor surpassed him in power.

"Greetings. I, known to many as Patriarch Lun, host of this honored tournament, am immensely happy to welcome all of you, young talents and esteemed elders." The patriarch of the Peacock Clan proclaimed, his body floating several dozen meters above the arena.

His figure was delicate, but no one there would ever dare question the power pulsing through every one of his cells.

"As many of you already know, in no tournament have our great sects ever failed to invest heavily in the rewards for victory, and this time will be no different."

The elder snapped his fingers, and above him a translucent screen, woven from pure spiritual energy, materialized in the air.

First, the screen displayed the names of the two hundred and fifty-six participants, something that, in and of itself, was enough to elicit excited gasps from many spectators.

Qingyi would face Long Aoxue in the semifinals and, if he won, meet Bai Hu Lie in the final. But that was the least of it.

The real shock came when, just below the list of participants, the name of the grand prize was revealed.

At that moment, a system notification echoed in Qingyi’s mind.

[How the hell did these bastards manage to get their hands on something like this? And they don’t even have a clue about its true value!]

For the first time in his entire life, Qingyi felt the system lose, even if just for a single moment, its eternal cold, robotic composure.

At the same time, the item’s stats materialized before his eyes.

As he read them, Qingyi’s eyes widened.