The 7 Hegemons

A huge blue drake with feathery wings landed on a patch of rocky ground. The surrounding area of a hundred miles was barren rock, save for the dome like structure at the center of the wasteland.

Bai Hu had sat on the Sky Striding Drake for an entire month without moving. While the other Outer Court Disciples often needed breaks to stretch, Bai Hu sat still and cultivated the Thousand Soulspirit Art. This continuous cultivation managed to bring him to the ninth level of the art, greatly surprising Bai Hu.

It surprised even Elder Hai, who managed to sense the fluctuations of a breakthrough.

Cultivating in an uncomfortable environment with a few hundred chatty young people is certainly a feat worth mentioning, especially at his meager level.

Elder Hai whistled a few times and the Sky Striding Drake sat down. The Outer Court Disciples got down in an orderly manner and stood in a circle, with the Inner Disciples and Elders surrounding them.

He spoke in a loud voice, "Young disciples! When the other sects arrive, do not do anything to embarrass our sect. Remember, our Spirit Sect ranks highly above the others and any unbefitting action will tarnish our reputation! Understood?"

""Understood!""

After a few hours, 2 large shadows appeared in the distance. When they drew closer, a large red ribbon that resembled a road more could be seen along with a grandly decorated flying boat. The tree insignias engraved on the boat showed that they were from the Forest Paradise Sect while the red uniforms worn by the cultivators on the ribbon showed that they were from the Crimson Valley Sect.

Neither sects had a connection with the Spirit Sect, so Elder Hai merely exchanged a few pleasantries before going quiet.

The silence didn't last long, as the remaining 4 sects quickly arrived.

The Azure Ocean Sect arrived on a large manta ray-like creature.

The Sword Tower arrived atop a massive flying sword.

The Gold Slaying Sect arrived in a flying pagoda.

The Moonlight Sect arrived on a pure white boat.

All 7 sects had arrived and over 2000 Outer Court Disciples had gathered. Bai Hu looked around and found that only 2 other sects had the firepower to rival the Spirit Sect's. The Sword Tower's disciples all wielded a sword and emitted a powerful yet sharp aura. He had heard that the Sword Dao was formidable and now saw for himself just how great it was.

Thankfully, the Sword Tower was allied with the Spirit Sect, and there was an unspoken rule to not harm one's allies. If he happens to meet a Sword Tower disciple, the worst case scenario is that they go their separate ways.

The Moonlight Sect on the other hand, were not allied with them. While there is no enmity, Bai Hu would still be more careful around their disciples. It looks like they work well in pairs and had multiple powerful treasures out on full display.

Bai Hu facepalmed when he saw that his fellow sect mates were practically drooling while looking at the Moonlight Sect's disciples. Yes, the Moonlight Sect was an all female sect and is quite renowned for their special cultivation technique that enhances a women's appearance.

Suddenly, Bai Hu turned around, only to find nothing out of place. He had felt someone staring at him and emitting a slight killing intent, but now it had disappeared.

Bai Hu frowned. He hadn't gone out in 2 years so no one should recognize him or his achievements. He didn't even make many friends at all, much less enemies, so who would target him?

Even the 4 kings, whom he had offended by not working with them, had long entered the Inner Court. Unless, of course, they harbored a grudge and hired someone to kill him.

But how did they recognize him?

A large energy fluctuation caught his attention. The representatives of each sect stepped forward and began talking. From the looks of it as well as the rising intents, the elders were arguing over something.

After a few minutes of arguing inside a soundless barrier, the elders lifted the formation and flew towards the dome.

"Prepare to enter the trial grounds!"

The participants lined up while the 7 elders flew high up into the air. They soon each took out dazzling gold keys the size of a man's fist and sent qi into them. The keys flew higher up in the air and 7 beams of light shot towards the dome.

The beams hit the dome and its solid-looking surface started to warp. Soon, the dome turned ethereal, revealing a vast and colorful landscape that shone like a spotlight amidst the barren wasteland around it.

"Go!"

Green light enveloped the Outer Court Disciples of the 7 sects. The next instant, hundreds of disciples instantly disappeared as they were sent into the trial grounds.

The dome around the sealed space was actually a massive ancient formation that their founders had worked together to put down. They had the foresight to know that these precious materials would disappear if not regulated and protected.

Once the time was right, representatives would use specially made keys to open the formation, which would then promptly teleport anyone with the imprint of a sect and are under foundation into random areas in the outermost region.

From then, there would be 3 months of slaughter and chaos in the sealed area. The founders make it this way so that the younger generation can be tempered through blood. It didn't matter how many died so long as elites were formed by this process.

…

Bai Hu saw a flash of green light envelop him before everything turned dark. He opened his eyes the next instant and found himself in a forest with strange and colorful plants around him.

He breathed the air and felt the pure quality of qi here.

"Such pure spiritual qi! The outer region already far surpasses the Thunderwind Peak in both quality and quantity!"

A slight movement accompanied by a barely detectable killing intent moved behind him. Bai Hu used the wind and dodged, before chopping down with his hand.

Swish!

A purple vine with sharp thorns was cut in half by Bai Hu. A viscous liquid spurted out and dozens of vines shot out of the ground at lightning fast speeds.

Flames burst out of Bai Hu's figure and enveloped the carnivorous vines. They thrashed and screeched before finally falling down and melting. The stench it gave off was absolutely putrid and Bai Hu hurriedly put distance between him and that pile of mushy plant life.

Although the vines that attacked him were weak in defense, an ordinary qi refinement cultivator would fall to its sharp thorns and quick speed. Had Bai Hu not cultivated the Thousand Soulspirit Art, he might not have detected the vines quick enough.

"No wonder the death rate is so high. Most might not even make it out of the outer region alive"

Bai Hu had long memorized the entire map of the sealed space and knew that the ingredients he needed were in the inner and core regions of the sealed region, thus he slowly made his way to the inner region on foot.

No sane person would fly on their flying treasure in the trial as that practically spells "Kill me!"

Anyone and any beast could attack and kill the person, not to mention rumors of Foundation level beasts contained in the trial area. Bai Hu shivered with excitement at the prospect of meeting a Foundation level opponent.

Suddenly, he stopped and dove behind a particularly dense overgrowth and retracted any trace of his aura.

Whoosh!

3 figures clad in thick black robes landed near Bai Hu. They looked around in an amateurish and panicked manner.

The leftmost figure spoke first, "Where did he go?! We were right behind him!"

Then the one on the right, "Perhaps we got discovered..."

"That's impossible! We were all given cloaks to hide our aura. How could he sense us?"

Then their leader, the one standing in the middle, spoke, "Split up and find the others. Use a flare if you find him. Remember, we have to do our jobs right"

They exchanged glances before nodding and going in separate directions. One was even right above Bai Hu, though they didn't detect him.

Once he made sure his pursuers were gone, Bai Hu emerged from his hiding place with a frown on his face.

"More than 3 people who are hired assassins are being ordered to assassinate a fellow sect member. Those kings sure are shameless"

It wasn't hard to figure out the ones behind this. He pretty much only had enmity with Mo Yuan Kai and friends in the entire sect, thus it was plain as daylight who the perpetrator is.

As for how he knew they were from the same sect and not some hired thugs from the other 6 sects? Bai Hu had long memorized the spiritual fluctuation patterns of the Spirit Sect's legacy technique, the Spirit Essence Art.

It is the most expensive cultivation art in the sect and can only be obtained with contribution points, hence why Bai Hu doesn't cultivate it. Sitting in an abode all day and never leaving is not a good way to earn contribution points.

He snorted, "We'll see who gets the last laugh. If I don't teach those four a lesson then my name isn't Bai Hu!"

He then continued to make his way towards the inner region, now with much greater vigilance than before.