Even the Wind Ravine Valley disciple who had just announced the match was slightly stunned.
Shangguan Chen had been famous for a long ti, a genius disciple from a top sect in the Northern Region of Chenping Continent.
As for that Si Youyou…
The little girl standing on the arena platform was barely half the height of her opponent.
"Si Youyou?"
The Wind Ravine Valley disciple beside the platform asked the little girl in that direction again.
"Mm!"
Youyou nodded.
"You are Si Youyou?"
The Wind Ravine Valley disciple confird once more.
"Am I not?"
Youyou replied with a touch of bad temper.
A few snickers rose from the crowd, but they quickly died down.
"Fellow Daoist, is this allowed?"
Across from Si Youyou, Shangguan Chen asked the Wind Ravine Valley disciple in this manner:
"According to the rules of the Floating Light Summit Dao Inquiry, only those with Martial Spring Realm cultivation may participate, but this little girl is…"
As a genius disciple of a top Northern sect, Shangguan Chen carried himself with considerable grace.
He was indeed questioning why, on a platform ant for Martial Spring Realm cultivators to spar, there would be a five- or six-year-old girl.
"If she really is Si Youyou, then there shouldn't be a problem…"
The Wind Ravine Valley disciple responsible for announcing the matches looked at the roster in his hands, clearly also sowhat incredulous.
"May we begin?"
Youyou looked indignant; she was of course unhappy at these voices of doubt.
This girl, only six years old, had a pride far stronger than people expected.
In an instant, a large amount of true qi surged from her Martial Spring, filling her ridians.
On the arena platform, Shangguan Chen, standing opposite Si Youyou, obviously felt the qi fluctuations radiating from the little girl.
Martial Spring Realm, really?
Shangguan Chen's pupils contracted and his breathing froze slightly.
…
On the viewing stand.
Seated at the highest point was Dignity Elder Chang Yongfeng of Wind Ravine Valley’s Qingjin Ravine.
Slightly lower, sitting together, were the five Daon Xingzou representing the Five Great Sects of Chenping Continent.
From left to right they were Xiao Bo'an, Ge Yu, Luo Zhuo, Yan Huaing, and Cheng Ziying.
They represented Mirage Palace, Lingxiao Temple, Wind Ravine Valley, Star Heaven Sect, and Kongshan Sect respectively.
This seating arrangent was mainly based on the seniority of these five Daon Xingzou.
Luo Zhuo sat in the center because he was Wind Ravine Valley’s Daon Xingzou, and Wind Ravine Valley was the host of this Floating Light Summit Dao Inquiry, therefore he rightly sat at the center.
Ge Yu, the Lingxiao Temple Daon Xingzou, was the oldest among the five Daon Xingzou. Though he still looked like a man in his twenties, his actual age had already passed forty.
His cultivation was at the Peak Qi Sea Realm, and according to Lingxiao Temple’s peak elders, he was expected to breakthrough into the Spirit Connection realm in about two years.
Yan Huaing, Star Heaven Sect’s Daon Xingzou and senior sister of Qin Qingyu, had not been a Daon Xingzou for many years. Xiao Bo'an and Cheng Ziying were clearly less experienced than she was.
Therefore, Xiao Bo'an and Cheng Ziying sat at the two outermost positions among the five Daon Xingzou.
"Shangguan Chen's opponent is a little girl?"
Luo Zhuo, looking down at the arena, muttered softly to himself.
"Luo Dao Xing, what is Shangguan Chen's background?"
Ge Yu, who had known Luo Zhuo the longest, asked the Wind Ravine Valley Daon Xingzou.
"He is a fairly talented young disciple from our Northern Region first-rate sect Cangkong Pavilion, a decent talent. Unfortunately, given his age, he probably won't make it to the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry three years from now, missing a chance to gain exposure."
Luo Zhuo said.
"The world is vast, why be so hung up on the Heavenly Summit Dao Inquiry?"
Ge Yu chuckled, then shifted the topic away from Shangguan Chen:
"As for that Si Youyou, I think I just heard soone say she is a rogue cultivator?"
"Yes, before today I had never heard of her," Luo Zhuo nodded.
"She looks only six or seven… no, perhaps even younger, and Martial Spring Realm?"
Ge Yu continued.
"…"
Luo Zhuo remained silent.
"The Northern Region truly hides many hidden talents," Ge Yu joked, but there was no humor in his eyes.
This was a very serious matter.
The most likely possibility was that the little girl ca from Fusheng City.
As for whether she might be a 'Cause of Calamity'…
Everyone had different definitions for Cause of Calamity.
For example, Martial Elder Fu Qian of Kongshan Sect’s Qingchan Peak and his faction defined Causes of Calamity as those who displayed abnormal, deviant manifestations in cultivation.
In Kongshan Sect’s outer court and even across the northwest of Chenping Continent, Fu Qian’s confidants and claws helped him hunt those labeled as Causes of Calamity.
Fu Qian was the foremost public supporter of the Cause of Calamity theory, and his version was the most orthodox, the classic interpretation.
Less orthodox Cause of Calamity theories existed, like the one Lin Qifeng once inferred based on what his master—who was the reincarnation of Yan Yunhe—had told him and his own deductions:
A Cause of Calamity might be the reincarnated body of one who had once ascended to immortality.
What exactly a Cause of Calamity was remained disputed, but since the end of the Cause of Calamity purges twelve hundred years ago, the theory beca a thing people spoke of with great caution.
Xiao Bo'an, seated at the far left, fell silent. He had clearly heard the exchange between Luo Zhuo and Ge Yu.
That little girl actually reached Martial Spring Realm?
Xiao Bo'an thought, then moved his gaze from the platform to the crowd.
There he spotted that youth and another young cultivator in plain-colored daoist robes among the spectators.
Interesting, indeed.
On the other side of the viewing stand sat the only two won among the five Daon Xingzou.
Yan Huaing and Cheng Ziying.
Cheng Ziying had originally intended to refuse the position of Kongshan Sect’s Daon Xingzou.
The role of Daon Xingzou inevitably required frequent travel and would disrupt her cultivation.
A forr outer court disciple who devoted herself to training, she had no family background and thus no entanglents in sect politics. That was why, after the previous Mingxiao Peak chief disciple died on Heavenly Summit Mountain, she rose to the position of Mingxiao Peak’s chief disciple.
However, the role of Daon Xingzou involved many external sect conflicts.
Cheng Ziying had explained her concerns to Mingxiao Peak’s Sword Master Elder, who had not said much.
But not long after, she was visited by a persuasive acquaintance.
Well, an acquaintance of sorts?
Cheng Ziying wasn’t sure, because the visitor was now the Alchemy Hall elder of Kongyuan Mountain and was forrly an outer court elder.
He was also an old acquaintance of hers and the teacher of the previous Kongyuan Mountain chief disciple Chen Yan—Lin Qifeng.
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