Hong Yu stared speechlessly at the bearded uncle.
He rubbed his nose and snapped, "Get lost!"
The sleazy uncle gave a lewd chuckle and shalessly sidled up to him. "Buddy, you're incredible. Tell , how in the world did you manage it?"
"What?"
The sleazy uncle waggled his eyebrows. "How did you manage to offend both the Crown Prince and Huo Yan at the sa ti?"
Hong Yu rolled his eyes.
In truth, even he felt utterly helpless...
Whether it was at the Hong Family, the Cyan Nether Sword Sect, or even after traveling all the way to the Qin Kingdom, trouble had never stopped following him. It wasn't that Hong Yu went looking for it; trouble always seed to find him of its own accord.
Just like with Huo Yan, Qin Mutian, and Huo Lin, whom he had t earlier at the Spiritual Craftsman Guild.
He'd had almost no interaction with them, yet they all ca looking for a fight. There was no escaping it!
The sleazy uncle continued to drone on.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before the Youth Spiritual Craftsman Competition finally began, which at last shut the sleazy uncle's seemingly tireless mouth.
From the central viewing platform, which was encircled by a water curtain, a cool voice announced, "First, I would like to thank all the contestants participating in this Youth Spiritual Craftsman Competition, as well as all the friends who have co to watch..."
After so preamble, the cool voice got straight to the point. "As you all know, the Royal Family places great importance on the decennial Youth Spiritual Craftsman Competition, and we offer generous rewards every ti. This year's competition will feature rewards of an unprecedented scale..."
This announcent pushed the entire Artifact Arena into its first wave of excitent before the competition even started.
The Royal Family of the Qin Kingdom had indeed spared no effort or expense.
Anyone who ranked in the top one thousand in this competition would receive a reward of 1,000 Gold Coins. The top five hundred would receive 2,000 Gold Coins, and the top one hundred would each receive 10,000 Gold Coins.
The top fifty: 100,000 Gold Coins.
Those who made it into the top ten would not only receive one million Gold Coins each, but could also join the Royal Family, becoming a highly respected retainer or receiving a noble title.
In the Qin Kingdom, even the lowest-ranking person with a noble title was the lord of a city!
Of course...
The most coveted prizes were for the top three.
The top three contestants in this competition would earn the right to enter the Royal Treasure Vault and choose any Treasure as their reward.
The first-place winner could choose three Treasures, the second-place winner could choose two, and the third-place winner would have only one choice.
Such generosity was truly remarkable.
In the nearly thousand-year history of the Qin Dynasty, a prize pool of this magnitude was among the greatest ever offered!
"The stage is now yours. I wish you all the best of luck!"
As the cool voice faded, the entire Artifact Arena began to tremble.
The ground began to crack open from the center—not breaking apart, but shifting neatly and uniformly to either side. A massive, cyan-colored stage slowly rose from beneath the earth. The stage was enormous, comparable in size to the plaza outside the Cyan Nether Main Peak.
It was large enough to hold tens of thousands of people at once.
"Everyone, please enter the stage in the order of your registration. The competition now officially begins!"
BOOM!
The crowd of a million people erupted...
"Huo Yan! Huo Yan! Go for first place!"
"Go, Crown Prince!"
"Mu Xue, Mu Xue, I love you! You're the cutest and the strongest!"
Waves of cheers rose and fell, and the competition reached a fever pitch.
Huo Yan deliberately brushed past Hong Yu. A powerful aura erupted from him, stirring up a fierce gust of wind that rushed toward Hong Yu.
Hong Yu snorted. His legs felt as if they were filled with lead, rooting him to the ground. His cold eyes swept over to glare at Huo Yan.
Huo Yan grinned. "You little bastard, that was just a small appetizer. In a mont, I'll crush you so completely that nothing is left. I'll grind your faith and confidence into dust."
"You?"
Hong Yu narrowed his eyes.
Huo Yan froze for a second, then burst out laughing, his eyes thick with mockery. "Don't tell you actually think you can turn things around? HAHAHA! With here, you'll be suppressed so thoroughly you won't even be able to move. Oh, just like a piece of dog shit on the ground, HAHAHA..."
Laughing wildly, Huo Yan strode toward his spot on the stage.
'That bastard!' Hong Yu ground his teeth.
Huo Yan's repeated provocations had thoroughly enraged him.
Just then, Qin Mutian walked over. "Tsk, tsk. No wonder my royal brother despises you so much. You really are an easy person to hate. Not only have you offended , the Crown Prince, but you even dare to offend Huo Yan! Of course, I am magnanimous. As long as you agree to kowtow and apologize to my royal brother, I will certainly not make things difficult for you."
Hong Yu's eye twitched. 'What the hell? Do I have 'punch ' written all over my face? Does everyone who sees just want to take a swing?'
Furious, Hong Yu curled his lip and snapped, "I don't have ti for you. Piss off."
"..."
Qin Mutian was clearly stunned. He never would have expected Hong Yu to say sothing like that.
He took a deep breath, his eyes flickering with furious flas. "Fine, fine. Just you wait. You'll be crying soon enough."
Hong Yu rolled his eyes.
'What a terrible mood I'm in!'
He walked to his designated spot, where a stone platform slowly rose from the ground. An Engraving Plate appeared on top of it.
The cool voice rang out again. "This first round will test your mastery of Spirit Array Runes. Within half an hour, everyone must complete one Inscription that you are most skilled at. Anyone who has not finished when the ti is up will be considered to have failed the challenge and will be eliminated! Those who succeed will advance to the second round!"
"A friendly reminder: each round of the competition is directly related to the content of the next. It would be in your best interest to perform at your highest level! Now..."
The cool voice paused, then continued, "Let the competition... begin!"
The mont the words fell, powerful auras erupted across the Artifact Arena's stage.
Dazzling rays of brilliant light flared up. Amidst the shimring power, more than ten thousand Spiritual Craftsn began to engrave their Spirit Array Runes simultaneously. What a magnificent spectacle it was!
Hong Yu held the Engraving Plate and fell into deep thought. 'What kind of Inscription should I engrave?'
The one he was most confident in right now was a Tier Two Middle Level Spirit Array Rune. But this competition was filled with experts. People like Huo Yan, Tang Muxue, and Qin Mutian were far beyond his current ability to surpass. There were other masters among the contestants as well.
Moreover, according to the person behind the water curtain, each round of the competition was interconnected.
'It's possible a later round will require us to refine a complete Primordial Weapon.'
This concern made Hong Yu discard his initial plan of casually engraving a simple Inscription. But as for which specific Inscription to choose, he couldn't make up his mind.
He ntally reviewed the *Initial Understanding of the Dao of Artifacts*, searching for a suitable Spirit Array Rune.
This delay cost him ten minutes.
By now, many people had already completed the initial stages of their engraving, and their Inscriptions were beginning to take shape.
On the massive stage, over ten thousand people were working furiously. Only Hong Yu stood with his hands behind his back, naturally becoming the center of attention.
"Hey, look at that kid! What's he doing?"
"HAHAHA, is he a half-baked amateur? Did he get so nervous he forgot how to even engrave an Inscription?"
The whispers of a million people created a considerable stir, distracting many of the contestants. Puzzled glances were cast in his direction one after another.
Huo Yan's Inscription was already one-third complete; he would definitely finish within the ti limit.
He glanced at Hong Yu, a look of disdain on his face. 'Sister Fei is making a mountain out of a molehill. Forcing to deal with soone of Hong Yu's caliber is beneath . It seems I don't need to target him at all; the guy's just a dabbler who can't make any waves. Still... the rewards for this competition are pretty good. I might as well take first place with ease!'
Huo Yan looked away, completely dismissing Hong Yu.
Qin Mutian also shook his head with a wry smile. 'I really don't get it. How could a good-for-nothing like him defeat Mu Feng? Forget it. I'll have soone teach him a harsh lesson after the competition is over. I won't lower myself to his level.'
Tang Muxue pouted, her bright eyes shimring with a crystalline dark light as she looked at Hong Yu in confusion. 'Huh? Why do I feel like I've seen him sowhere before?' Patting her head, the cute girl, unable to recall, yelled at the top of her lungs, "Hey, hey! What are you standing there for? You're running out of ti!"
"Huh?"
Hong Yu looked up and realized everyone was looking at him with mockery.
A mont's thought was all it took for him to understand why.
He gave Tang Muxue a friendly smile and cracked his neck.
The blank look in his eyes vanished as he murmured to himself, "In that case, I'll use this Spirit Array Rune. The *Initial Understanding of the Dao of Artifacts* happens to ntion it. It's the most comprehensive of all the Low Tier Inscriptions. Many Spiritual Craftsn attempt to engrave it when they hit a bottleneck, trying to break through to the next realm."
"If I'm lucky, once this Spirit Array Rune perfectly rges with its base, I'll be able to break through and reach the Tier Two High-level!"
Hong Yu took a deep breath.
He finally began to move...
But now, with less than fifteen minutes left, completing a Spirit Array Rune in such a short ti was, in the eyes of the crowd, absolutely impossible.
Even if he chose the worst Tier One Low Level Inscription, he might not have enough ti!
Up on the viewing platform, Beichen Tianshuang frowned. 'Seeing his confidence earlier, I thought he truly had so skill in the Dao of Artifacts. It seems I was too naive...'
Hearing this, Little Feng shook his head and said with a serious expression, "You're wrong, Auntie! Big Brother is amazing!"
"Amazing? Heh..."
Beichen Tianshuang gave a faint smile and didn't argue.
In her eyes, it was just Little Feng's blind adoration for Hong Yu.
Little Feng, wise beyond his years, naturally saw what his aunt was thinking. He clenched his fists.
His clear gaze returned to Hong Yu on the stage, the little guy's dark eyes filled with unwavering faith. 'All of you who are laughing at Big Brother, just you wait and see! In Big Brother's words, his performance is about to be so dazzling it'll blind your sorry eyes!'
[Rise, you underdog! Unleash your power, Hong Yu!]
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