Dao Conference Festival (1)

In the Southern Province, located at the southmost part of the Sky Pill Continent, the land was of extremely good quality here yet unsuitable for life. The entire Southern province was a massive danger zone due to its topography, yet those native from its three territories revelled in it. They were all intrepid heroes at heart and found it easier to grow in the midst of such dangerous environments.

In the three distinct Southern territories were beautiful wildlands with all sorts of forests mashed together with countless mountains, rivers and lakes. Nature was at its best there. This province was extremely vast and was known as the Grand Wilderness.

These woods were filled with countless Astral Demonic Beasts tribes so much so that humans used to have to live in huge cities under the protection of powerful existences.

Over here, cultivators, who had an affinity to demons, could be found everywhere. This place was like a cultivation heaven to them; it was far easier to gain insights and master demonic-attributed arts here as they combat demonic beast on the regular.

There existed three superpower who ruled over this province; the Myriad Beast Mountain, the Skyflame Sect & the Blacksword Devil Palace

The Skyflame Sect already had a ten thousand year history in the Southern Province and was the oldest power in the region. The history of the sect began with the rising of a young genius — The Skyflame Ancestor, he single handedly put an end to the tyranny of the demonic beasts in the region so much so that the countless beast tribes united and created their own power.

However, regardless of the occasion, the Skyflame Sect had always maintained a low profile and wouldn't antagonise others, disregarding the outside world only focusing on nurturing their strength. It is not that the sect lost the heroic spirit of their founder but rather that they had for doctrine that there need be a balance in anything.

Those were simply fancy words to say that the various beast tribes could only serve to temper their sect's disciple. As powerful as the Myriad Beast Mountain may be, they have yet to produce an immortal level existence and thus could only live with the shame of being the Skyflame Sect disciple's whetstone.

The Skyflame Sect is well recognised as a sect only composed of young heroes but of course once in a while a wicked seed would appear within their rank. Hence, about three thousands years ago such an outcast appeared — The Blacksword Devil. That originally inconspicuous outer disciple of the Skyflame Sect because of his yearning for strength went in the devil dao but that was not much of a problem as many other disciples would do so.

The true problem arrived when he started acting against his fellow sect disciples and even mortals. The pursuit of the Skyflame Judiciary peak forces was swift and horrifying, they hunted the wicked seed for ten years before finally killing him and pinning his dead body on a barren mountain peak in the easternmost side of the province. Oddly, all the wretched and evil cultivators of the province assembled in that specific area and a small thing leading to a bigger one, the Blacksword Devil Palace was born.

One would be a fool to think that all Blacksword Devil Palace members were cultivators of the devil dao.

In the Southern Province there was only one true protagonist and it was the Skyflame Sect. The other two superpowers only existed to this day because the sect allowed for their existence, they were valuable whetstones.

They would continue to be whetstones until the day arrives where a member of their forces achieves immortality.

It was well known in the Sky Pill World that;

The Skyflame Sect nurtures its disciples like doting parents yet never avenges them. The meaning behind this was "If you are weak enough to die then you surely cannot claim to be from the Skyflame Sect."

Of course that was not entirely true as some masters were more doting than others; some seniors would avenge their juniors; some disciples had profound backgrounds within the sect too that were quick at dealing retribution.

The Dao Conference Festival would be hosted by that heroic Skyflame Sect.

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The Dao Conference Festival would change host every time and the last one to have had host was the top superpower of the Eastern Province — The Gu Empire.

Above the milky white clouds was a huge Eight-Winged-Dragon, its serpentine body of gargantuan size slithering right above the clouds, moving at astounding speed. The air pressure that was enough to reduce a mortal into mincemeat could do nothing to its riders. The group of individuals sitting on his back were not fazed at all, even their hair barely moved.

This delegation was from the Ji Clan and only consisted of the clan elite juniors as well as the 3rd Elder. Of course many more members of their clan would be present at the Dao Conference Festival but they would each come with their personal means.

"You three little monsters, it would seem that we have finally arrived." The third aunt's voice swiftly arrived to Ji Bolin's ears yet he could not perceive anything that made her make such claim.

The Third Aunt was named Ji Meifen, she was a middle aged woman who was as pure and beautiful as the most divine of plum flower. She was already at the peak of the Celestial Phenomenon realm and her combat prowess was terrifying.

She took out a token hidden within her sleeve that shimmered with an incandescent glow and it suddenly flew out of her hands into the empty sky. Abruptly countless runes appeared and the token seemed to insert itself in the air. Hence, a huge Gate appeared within the Sky which would then opened sucking the flying dragon in.

"This is an immortal level protection formation just like back home. Theirs seems to also hide their base, how interesting! Even with all my high level astral souls, my senses did not catch any sign of it. Third Aunt seemed to have been guided by that token too, how terrifying." Ji Bolin's thoughts were racing.

The scenery completely changed.

In front of the Ji Clan delegation was a mountain range with thousands of peaks, the shorter ones had their peak below the clouds while the highest ones seem to have more than half of their total height above them. Several buildings were found all over the peaks, some peaks hosted cities whilst some peaks appeared to be barren without any interference of humans.

There were stairs winding up around the peaks and Ji Bolin could feel that the place was probably warded against flying. The token should be the reason they are allowed to continue their journey mid-air.

"Let's go, we will have to walk within the domain of the Skyflame Sect. Even your cute senior right here is not exempt from it. Those lunatics from the Skyflame Sect are always so annoying. That fool Blueflame is the worst amongst them, Hmph!!!" the Third Aunt was the most easy going among Ji Bolin's family elders so he was not astonished by her words.

Ji Yuan probably inherited his nonchalance from her.

The dragon landed near one of the tens of circular stone platforms at the edge of formation. Those platforms were engraved with teleportation formation and was how most people would enter the Skyflame domain for the festival.

Suddenly several stone platforms lit up and thousands of people appeared. Just by looking at their clothes you could tell that they came from different provinces. The price of every teleportation could only be above hundred of thousands Yuan Meteor Stones thus those people could only be either rich or strong.

The crowd was making quite loud noises as everybody talked at the same time.

"If it isn't the fairy Ji Meifen! It would seem that your Ji Clan's elite are these three little fellows. I expected for your famous power to have more of them." the loud words of an old bald man dispersed within the domain.

His voice spread miles and miles away within the Skyflame Domain and those with weaker cultivation were forcefully put in a trance-like state. Their eyes blank as if they were unconscious whilst still being awake.

The old man was adorned in a golden armour which gave him the unique aura of a monarch. However his disgusting old face immediately lessened such an impression of him — he looked like an old creep, all things considered.

"GU TIAN!! This is not your Gu clan's territory here, if you do not know how to behave yourself then I don't mind roasting those old bones of yours. Though I fear that a roach like you would still find a way to remain alive. Ha ha ha ha ha!!"

Those tyrannical words could be heard by everybody within the Skyflame domain despite no one showing up. They too were imbued with some weird power and successfully broke the trance of anyone under old man Gu influenced.

Old Man Gu's face turned very ugly when he heard them but could only remain silent as he knew far too well who spoke. Any conflict with that existence could only result in him losing even more face; seemingly enraged, the old creep alongside his ten juniors went ahead towards one of the peaks.

"Hmph!!"

This came from Aunt Meifen who was visibly annoyed, not by old man Gu but by the owner of the voice. Ji Bolin could not help but think about certain rumours about Ji Yuan's father but immediately dispelled those thoughts. If he was caught having such thoughts by his 3rd Aunt, he was up for a bad time.

The three Ji clan young masters followed closely behind Fairy Ji Meifen as she herself was being guided by her token. Every different superpowers would have a peak prepared for themselves by their host of the Skyflame Sect.

As they leisurely walked up the spacious paved road, several groups of people couldn't help but comment about them.

"Look! Look! Look! Those are the "Three Heroes" of the Ji clan accompanied by the Golden Axe Sovereigness. According to the rumours, the youngest one is only 18 and already at the peak of the Heavenly Dipper realm."

"They say that he was born with broken meridians but his father was not reconciled and successfully found a heaven-defying remedy that allowed him to possess the legendary stellar meridians — his talent is said to be the undisputed number one within our Sky Pill World."

"Who cares about him? Look at his side, she is Fairy Ji Meiling — the princess of the Ji Clan. She is one of the top four fairies of our Sky Pill World; to have been able to gaze at such a beauty, I can die at peace now!"

A beautiful maiden among the crowd then stepped into the discussion.

"You idiots only know how to gossip, if you put half that effort in training then our Redcloud Hall could become a peak power of the Sky Pill World!"

"Elder Sister! This is the number one assassin within our Sky Pill Word younger generation, Ji Yuan. If you could marry him then we would surely become a peak power, that much more realistic that counting on our pair of talentless brothers."

"Youuuuuuuu!!!! Hmph!!"

Discussions like these were far too frequent not only with the Ji clan members but also with the other superpowers. Whether it is in this world or another, the powerful are always envied, respected and admired.

Ji Bolin was inherently curious so he carefully listened to the various discussions going on around him as they continued their leisurely stroll to their assigned peak.

"Elder Brother, this is my first time attending the Dao Conference so I wanted to know more about it." a young boy of about 14 asked his much older senior.

"Ah yes. Last time I participated and miraculously entered the top 5000, this could be said to be the highlight of my cultivation journey. The conference will usually start with a different trial each time so I cannot really tell you much about this year. But last time we were asked to comprehend several supreme techniques. I was miraculously able to understand one. You must know my signature move, the Tri-Battle Body Art."

"Wow!!"

"The second part of the conference is a tournament between the top 1000 contestants where a total of 900 participants will be eliminated. The rules will be explained so I leave it at that but the top 100 will fight for ranking only as no more elimination will occur. More importantly the top 100 will be allowed to leave our Sky Pill World for the immortal realm where many opportunities await them."

"Do not be fooled, only the disciples of the superpower have the strength for that top 100 rank. According to the legends only rarely does a non-superpower disciple break in the the top 100 but every time it happens, the person is a tyrannical dark horse. How heroic!!!"

"Yes, I have been taught Elder brother!"

Ji Bolin heard the words of all of these people and could not help but contemplate how resources played a major role in one's cultivation journey. Nonetheless, those few outliers who can rise despite being rogue cultivators are sure to have a bright future.

Even amongst the superpowers the hierarchy is strict and competition severe. They say the Sky Pill World has "Two Clans, Two Sects and One Palace".

This refers to how only the Northern Province's Giant Spirit Sect, Eastern Province's Gu Clan, Southern Province's Skyflame Sect, Western Province's Ji clan and Outerland Ocean's Myriad Demon Palace have immortal cultivators within their ranks.

Usually about slightly above half of the top 100 ranks are obtained by the various geniuses of these five top superpowers whilst the others are shared by the other superpowers' disciples as well as the few third-rate geniuses coming down from the Azure Mystic immortal realm.

The latters come here for the opportunities given to the top 100 mainly because competition is too fierce within their own sect.

Tomorrow the Dao Conference Festival would officially start and a melee amongst the top heaven chosen of the Sky Pill World would start.

A burial ground of fake geniuses and a place of nirvana for true heaven chosen.