If Hong Yu had heard what Little Feng said, he would have been utterly speechless.
That classic insult was just sothing he had casually muttered on the way to Qin Royal City, right after breaking through to Tier Two Junior.
He hadn't paid it much mind at the ti and never expected Little Feng to have actually picked it up!
Of course, Hong Yu was unaware of all this.
At this very mont, he was completely imrsed in inscribing the Spirit Array Runes.
Hong Yu never considered himself a magnanimous person. On the contrary, he was the type to hold a grudge and seek vengeance. Take Huo Yan and Qin Mutian, for example. Those two had mocked and provoked him ti and again, sothing Hong Yu found absolutely unbearable.
If he didn't get his payback now, the sheer frustration would eat him up inside.
And so...
After careful consideration, Hong Yu finally decided to use a particular Tier Two Middle Level inscription from the *Initial Understanding of the Dao of Artifacts*, one hailed as the most profound and mysterious of its kind.
'The Black Hole Rune!'
An inscription that hard others without benefiting himself.
Why call it that?
The Black Hole Rune had a miraculous effect similar to the Devouring Rune, allowing it to devour the energy of other inscriptions. However, the Devouring Rune was an Advanced Rune as high as Tier Five and could absorb an opponent's energy to strengthen its user. The Black Hole Rune, on the other hand, could not. It rely devoured other inscriptions, weakening the opponent's power.
That was all.
However, the Black Hole Rune had another peculiar effect.
It could help a Spiritual Craftsman break through a bottleneck with their inscription skills.
Precisely because of the Black Hole Rune's devouring effect, inscribing it required one to consider many different aspects.
This process essentially forced a Spiritual Craftsman to review all the key points and precautions of inscription, which in turn greatly promoted their mastery and improvent.
Hong Yu intended to use the Black Hole Rune to break through his bottleneck and advance to the Tier Two High-level realm.
As he inscribed the Black Hole Rune, Hong Yu's understanding of Spirit Array Runes grew ever clearer and more distinct. He was just a hair's breadth away from breaking through to Tier Two High-level, but he couldn't seem to overco that final hurdle.
Ti ticked away.
In the blink of an eye, only five minutes remained.
By now, many contestants had already finished inscribing their runes. Of course, there were also so whose painstakingly inscribed runes ended up flawed due to nervousness.
All their effort had gone to waste.
Failing the inscription at this stage ant they had to start over, which was tantamount to elimination.
Many began to weep uncontrollably...
The Youth Spiritual Craftsman Competition was held only once every ten years. So had waited a decade for this very mont. Upon failing, the conviction in their hearts instantly crumbled. How could they possibly bear it?
"There's only a minute left. That piece of trash is about to be eliminated."
'Sister Fei even went out of her way to warn that this kid might be a Tier Two Junior Spiritual Craftsman. The way I see it, he's just a half-baked Tier One Junior at best! Hah, what a waste of ti coming all the way down the mountain for a wimp like him. I'll just have to take first place and pick out a few treasures from the Royal Treasure Vault to make up for it.'
Huo Yan crossed his arms, his face a mask of confidence and leisure.
For him, the whole point of participating in the competition was to deal with Hong Yu—and perhaps even find an opportunity to make him disappear for good.
However...
Now, in Huo Yan's eyes, Hong Yu wasn't even worth his ti.
Huo Yan let out a bored yawn.
Qin Mutian crossed his arms, waiting for the clock to run out.
As the final minute began, the only person still working in the entire Artifact Arena was Hong Yu.
At any other ti, people would have admired soone who persisted until the very last second. But at such a prestigious event, this behavior just made him look like he was overestimating his abilities and deliberately wasting ti.
Instantly, a wave of jeers directed at Hong Yu erupted from the crowd...
"Are you an idiot? Just give up already!"
"There's only one minute left! Why are you still wasting ti?"
"Hey, you can't say that. Maybe he thinks a miracle can happen in the final minute?"
Little Feng's face turned livid with anger. He jumped to his feet, shook his fist at the hecklers, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "My brother isn't wasting ti! He can definitely do it!"
"Uh..."
The loudest of the hecklers were about to retort, but one look at Beichen Tianshuang beside Little Feng sent them slinking back into their seats.
Even a hooligan pays attention to his image in front of a goddess!
Behind the water curtain, the Third Princess's eyes flickered as she stared intently at the young man in the center of the arena. "That guy is as stubborn as ever," she murmured softly.
"But isn't that precisely why Your Highness thinks so highly of him?" Aunt Leng teased.
"Aunt Leng..."
The Third Princess pouted and glanced worriedly toward Hong Yu. "Aunt Leng, there are only thirty seconds left. Do you think he can finish in ti?"
"He... probably can!" Aunt Leng said, sounding uncertain.
Both won fixed their gazes on him.
Ten seconds remained...
Five...
The faces of Huo Yan, Qin Mutian, and the others twisted into sneers of mockery and gloating as they prepared their verbal jabs.
But just then, the young man at the center of everyone's attention suddenly stopped. The tension on his face eased as he raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his brow. He let out a long breath. "Finally... it's done!"
"What? He actually finished?"
"Was he trying to give us all a heart attack on purpose?"
Behind the water curtain, the Third Princess's tense posture relaxed. "He finished after all! Aunt Leng, make the announcent!"
"Very well!"
Aunt Leng nodded. "The ti for the first round of assessnt is over! All contestants who failed to complete their work in ti must leave the arena!"
The contestants who had failed to finish their inscriptions by the deadline trudged away, their faces long and dejected.
The first round eliminated over eight thousand people in one fell swoop.
Still, over four thousand remained on the stage.
Huo Yan frowned, his disdainful gaze sweeping over Hong Yu. "You got lucky, actually managing to finish. But you won't be so lucky in the next round."
Qin Mutian raised an eyebrow, not paying it much mind. 'Lucky guy. It's a sha luck always runs out eventually!'
From the high platform, Aunt Leng continued, "The first round has ended. We will now proceed to the second. In this round, you will be refining an Artifact Embryo. The Royal Family has provided each of you with enough materials to refine anything from a Tier One to a Tier Three Junior Primordial Weapon Embryo. You may combine the materials as you see fit to refine what you believe to be your best possible Artifact Embryo within two hours!"
"Anyone who fails to complete the task will be eliminated!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the four thousand remaining contestants on the stage imdiately began selecting their materials.
The fastest among them were, naturally, Huo Yan, Qin Mutian, and Tang Muxue. As soon as they finished picking their materials, each began refining their Artifact Embryo without delay.
All three were the top contenders in this competition.
Each ca from a powerful background, be it the Guiyuan Sect, the Qin Royal Family, or the Spiritual Craftsman Guild.
Weren't these factions all at the apex of the Qin Kingdom's pyramid of power?
Each of the three had an ace up their sleeve.
For instance, Huo Yan had inherited the Sacrificial Refining Technique known as 'Nine Radiance Condenser,' an Artifact Refining Technique comparable to a Spirit-Level High-Grade Martial Skill.
Similarly, Tang Muxue had mastered 'Fla Rain Show,' another Artifact Refining Technique on par with a Spirit-Level High-Grade Martial Skill. Qin Mutian's technique was an ancestral Secret Technique of the Qin Royal Family called 'Qin Soul Heavy Strike,' hailed as the strongest Artifact Refining Technique in the Southern Ten Nations. It was said that at its peak, it could refine a Tier Three Artifact Embryo that surpassed the Spirit Level.
All three began refining their Artifact Embryos at top speed.
Energy radiated outwards in a spectacular display.
They were like three god-like Great Powers of artifact refining, dancing through the air. Their flurry of movents, the powerful fluctuations of energy, and their dazzling refining techniques drew gasp after gasp from the crowd, pushing the atmosphere in the Artifact Arena to a new high.
WHOOSH!
Huo Yan shot into the air. Nine different Artifact Refining Materials levitated around him, rotating in the empty space and gradually fusing together under the guidance of his hands.
Tang Muxue moved like an Elf, dancing as specks of fire rained down around her, continuously bombarding the various materials.
The materials leaped into the air and, under her control, began to coalesce bit by bit.
The key to Qin Mutian's Qin Soul Heavy Strike lay in a single word: "Heavy"!
He condensed an Elental Power Hamr with his hands. With each heavy blow, impurities were forcibly squeezed from the materials, leaving them exceptionally pure.
Each strike of the heavy hamr made the entire Artifact Arena tremble violently!
The trio captured the attention of nearly half the audience.
'Hmph. My Nine Radiance Condenser is a supre Artifact Refining Secret Technique that Master obtained from a Secret Realm. Victory in refining this Artifact Embryo is already in my grasp!'
Qin Mutian's gaze was cold. 'Last ti, I had only just reached Minor Achievent with my Qin Soul Heavy Strike and lost to Huo Yan. This ti, my Qin Soul Heavy Strike has reached the Great Success Realm. The championship is mine!'
And yet...
Just as the two were at the peak of their confidence, a sudden wave of exclamations swept through the Artifact Arena, wiping the arrogant, self-assured looks clean from their faces.
"Quick, look! What kind of Artifact Refining Technique is that? It's so badass!"
"Holy crap, what kind of Secret Technique is that guy using? How can it look so damn amazing?"
Huo Yan and the others froze, then whipped their heads around to look.
On the stage, fiery red Elental Power rippled silently behind Hong Yu, spreading around him like streams of scarlet silk. The strands of energy intertwined and converged, forming a massive, fiery red Energy Giant. The giant possessed a full six arms, and all six of its Elental Power arms struck the ground at once.
Six rings of energy blasted out from its six arms.
The shockwaves sent the piles of materials flying high into the air, and the six-ard phantom struck.
Under Hong Yu's control, the six Elental Power arms moved with incredible agility.
The surging energy condensed, forming Energy Heavy Hamrs that pounded the various materials with a series of BOOMS. With every collision, the Elental Power erupted in a shower of brilliant sparks, like scattered embers.
A fiery red tornado of energy began to form around Hong Yu.
As the energy tornado churned, the various Artifact Refining Materials were swept up in the howling gale, and the storm began to strip away their impurities.
Growing ever purer, the materials began to fuse together.
Such a dazzling, spectacular Artifact Refining Technique was simply unheard of, a true rarity in the world.
The powerful, six-ard energy phantom and the dazzling energy storm made everyone's heart pound in their chest.
"Divine! Simply divine skill!"
"Compared to an Artifact Refining Technique like this, Huo Yan and Qin Mutian are complete dogshit!"
"Now *this* is a truly magnificent Artifact Refining Technique!"
The crowd was in an uproar as voices filled with praise and admiration rose one after another.
In an instant, the eyes of the entire million-strong crowd were glued to Hong Yu. Huo Yan and Qin Mutian, who had been the center of attention just monts before, now had faces that were utterly livid, as black as charcoal.
They simply couldn't accept that after being the center of attention just monts ago, they had now been reduced to a re sideshow.
Even harder to accept was the fact that Hong Yu, the very person they had looked down on, was capable of such an astonishing performance.
It was a display of divine skill that stunned the entire audience!
For a mont, both of them stared at Hong Yu, enveloped in the crimson storm, their eyes red with envy.
Hong Yu naturally noticed their expressions. The corners of his lips curved upward as he thought to himself, 'This is just the beginning.'
Then...
Hong Yu leaped high into the air and roared, "Six Harmonies Demon General—Refine the Artifact Embryo!"
[Another chapter coming later!]
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