TFHS: Chapter 164

There was a reason why Pei Yingmin was chosen as the successor to the academy by his master Pei Changqing.

During this period, he seemed to be watching the competition from the stands with other disciples, but he was doing a lot of work in private.

He made a list for everyone’s reference, especially for the disciples who had hopes of competing for the championship. One of the lists fell into Bai Qiaomo’s hands.

“Junior Brother, your strength is among the best of all the contestants, so you should focus on the top ten. Of course, before entering the finals, my suggestion is that you should avoid them and wait for the finals. What you should do in the arena battle stage is to try to ensure as many places in the finals as possible. It is better to have more champions.”

Bai Qiaomo nodded. “Brother, I understand. I will pay attention to the performance of these people and choose the best time to compete for the champion. In my opinion, we still have to compete for the champion on the first time. The more confident one is in their own strength, the more likely they are to appear at the end. In other words, they will compete for the champion on the third day.”

Pei Yingmin nodded. “I will observe carefully and try to avoid any accidents.”

Bai Qiaomo took the list and found another place to watch the battle with Feng Ming. Now was the time when the arena battle was the most chaotic, and the value wasn’t great.

Feng Ming only joined in the fun for a while. Then he found it too chaotic, so he and Bai Qiaomo simply moved away.

Shi Yan also came to watch the fight. To him, fighting was more interesting.

Seeing Bai Qiaomo read the paper in his hand, he patted Bai Qiaomo on the shoulder. “Boy, have you chosen your opponent? When will you appear in the arena? I will go to cheer for you then.”

In fact, Shi Yan had never seen Bai Qiaomo fight. However, after listening to his grandson’s description of the fight against desolate beasts and the boy’s cleverness, Shi Yan didn’t think that his fighting ability was weak. Bai Qiaomo was definitely more impressive than most of the people present.

Bai Qiaomo flicked the paper in his hand and smiled. “Let’s see when the other strong contestants go on stage. I don’t want to fall too far behind them.”

Feng Ming came over to watch together. “Brother Bai, who do you think is the strongest?”

Bai Qiaomo had been paying attention to information from all sides in the past few days. He summarized the information collected by his senior brother and his own memories of his own life, and pointed to the first few people on the list.

“There are a few people from the Imperial Academy worthy of attention. Among them, Zong Yupao is a child of the imperial family. He has an excellent physique and talent, and is currently at the peak of the essence liquid realm.”

Shi Yan wasn’t surprised to hear this. The imperial family had a deep foundation and capital, and were naturally talented. In addition, the imperial family wasn’t stingy with resource investment and had the best famous teachers. It was normal for him to cultivate to the peak of the essence liquid realm before the age of 30.

Feng Ming wasn’t surprised, nor did he feel that Bai Qiaomo was far beyond Zong Yupao. After all, the training resources that Bai Qiaomo had obtained were simply incomparable to those of the imperial family.

Consider how much time Feng Ming’s father wasted in giving birth to and raising him, yet he still managed to advance to the essence liquid realm before the age of 40 in a place with a poor cultivation environment like Qingyun City.

Such an achievement was only dazzling and enviable outside the Imperial City, especially in remote areas.

Many cultivators of this age were still lingering in the qi gathering realm and hadn’t even entered the essence liquid realm. Meanwhile, Zong Yupao was about to advance to the essence dan realm and become a powerful master.

Bai Qiaomo flicked the paper in his hand again and continued, “The second one is also from Imperial Academy, Wu Liyan. She has the cultivation base of the peak of the essence liquid realm and also has a deep background.”

Shi Yan was curious. “What background?”

Bai Qiaomo smiled. “It seems she is related to the Golden Armor Army. Her father is a very trusted person around His Majesty the Emperor.”

Shi Yan wasn’t surprised. This was a person with unique conditions that ordinary people couldn’t compare to.

It was no wonder that the cultivators outside felt envious and jealous. For those chosen ones, cultivation and advancement were as easy as eating and drinking. They could advance without much effort.

Cultivators like Shi Yan could be regarded as having good innate physiques, but reaching the essence dan realm took tremendous effort. The resources he used were acquired by fighting for himself in the wilderness.

“At present, these are the two contestants at the peak of the essence liquid realm that my senior brother and I know about. Among them, Zong Yupao is more favored to be the winner because he has fought against Wu Liyan. Unfortunately, she was defeated by him.”

“Of course, it isn’t ruled out that some people are hiding their true cultivation level in order to stand out in the competition.”

“Below the peak of the essence liquid realm are twelve contestants in the late essence liquid realm. But as far as we know, half of them are able to challenge higher-level contestants. This means their strength might not be weaker than those at the peak of the essence liquid realm.”

Shi Yan smiled after hearing that Bai Qiaomo didn’t mention himself at all. This kid was definitely one who could challenge higher-level contestants.

Shi Yan was curious whether Bai Qiaomo could win the championship in the end. He didn’t hear any sign of fear from this guy toward the two essence liquid realm contestants.

Moreover, Shi Yan didn’t forget that this boy was also a genius in formations. He would definitely not reveal his formation skills when fighting in the arena.

This meant that Bai Qiaomo’s true combat power might even exceed the peak of the essence liquid realm. The arena battle was still too limited.

Feng Ming asked, “Among the twelve people in the late essence liquid realm, how many are from the Imperial Academy?”

Bai Qiaomo answered, “Five. Seven are from outside.”

Of course, he was included.

Feng Ming sighed. “The Imperial Academy is indeed extremely powerful.”

Shi Yan rolled his eyes. “It would be unreasonable if they aren’t powerful.”

Feng Ming felt the same way.

The young marquis, Zong Yuyan, came over and said a few words to Bai Qiaomo and Feng Ming. He revealed some information about Zong Yupao and Wu Liyan to Bai Qiaomo.

Obviously, the young marquis also thought that these two were Bai Qiaomo’s biggest competitors. Bai Qiaomo and Feng Ming both appreciated his kindness.

After going through all the information, Bai Qiaomo and Feng Ming randomly chose an arena to watch.

The fight in the arena wasn’t very interesting. It was because the person defending the arena was only at the peak of the qi gathering realm.

Feng Ming took a few looks and felt that he was capable of going on stage to challenge this person. Maybe he could even grab the position of champion and stay there for a while.

He looked away with some boredom. What a coincidence, just opposite the arena stood his two old rivals, Qiu Yi and Ji Yuan. Beside them was a man who had an imposing demeanor and sharp eyes. He looked extraordinary.

Of course, Feng Ming thought the best person was still by his side. It was his Brother Bai.

Feng Ming nudged Bai Qiaomo with his elbow. “Brother Bai, look at those two people over there. Is the person next to them Zong Yupao?”

Bai Qiaomo raised his eyes, looked through the crowd, and nodded. “He is Zong Yupao. His real identity is the 18th prince.”

Feng Ming sighed. “So that’s how it is. He is a prince and the grandson of the emperor. However, there are too many princes and princesses who aren’t worth much. Of course, this one doesn’t count.”

Bai Qiaomo was amused by Feng Ming’s words. He had experienced a lot. In his opinion, what Junior Brother Ming said wasn’t wrong.

Qiu Yi happened to look over and spotted Feng Ming.

As their eyes met, Feng Ming smiled brightly and showed his big white teeth.

As the winner, Feng Ming certainly wouldn’t be stingy with his kindness.

Qiu Yi thought that this wasn’t a well-intentioned gesture and simply rolled his eyes in response. Ji Yuan found this situation ridiculous.

Ji Yuan said to Qiu Yi and Zong Yupao, “Why don’t we go over and talk to Bai Qiaomo and Feng Ming? Bai Qiaomo might be your opponent, Yupao.”

Zong Yupao glanced over and nodded. Therefore, the three of them squeezed through the crowd and walked toward Feng Ming and the others.”

Feng Ming crossed his arms and said, “What are these three guys doing here? Are they here to spy on the enemy?”

Bai Qiaomo smiled. “Maybe.”

Feng Ming didn’t ask about the investigation into the Ji family, the family of formation masters. He left it all to Bai Qiaomo. Bai Qiaomo also carried it out privately, so the result didn’t come out quickly.

Soon, the five people from both sides joined together. This made their small piece of territory the focus of everyone’s attention.

Feng Ming and Bai Qiaomo were receiving a lot of attention these days. Feng Ming was a highly respected fourth-grade alchemist, and Bai Qiaomo’s experience was even more legendary.

A genius whose dantian was destroyed and then restored. His past was no longer a secret. The imperial family had obtained his method of repairing the dantian, and he had personally reached the late essence liquid realm.

Forget winning the championship, but he still had hope of getting into the top ten. It all depended on whether his cultivation was superficial or solid.

Qiu Yi, Ji Yuan, and Zong Yupao were the focus of Imperial City. It aroused the curiosity of many people seeing them actually take the initiative to find Feng Ming and Bai Qiaomo.

They were curious about what these people would talk about or whether 18th Prince Zong Yupao wanted to win over these two people, since they were indeed worth winning over.

The three people who came had different personalities. Ji Yuan was the most friendly and enthusiastic, while the 18th prince was relatively cold. This meant Ji Yuan was the one who had to come forward to communicate.

Ji Yuan greeted Bai Qiaomo and Feng Ming with a smile. Then he introduced the person beside him. “There is no need for me to introduce Junior Brother Qiu. The person next to you will be Fellow Daoist Bai’s rival, Zong Yupao. He is our senior brother from the Imperial Academy.”

Qiu Yi said bluntly, “Feng Ming, I might’ve lost to you in the alchemy competition, but in the martial arts competition, Senior Brother Zong will definitely win. Fellow Daoist Bai will definitely be defeated by him.”

Feng Ming asked with surprise, “Why do you call him senior brother, not uncle?”

Ji Yuan almost burst out laughing. Feng Ming and Qiu Yi were like enemies. Didn’t he know that Junior Brother Qiu hated this being mentioned the most? Who liked to have an extra elder above him, especially when they often played together?

Qiu Yi jumped up and down. “Who told you that? I just like to call him that, can’t I? Are you the person I am calling incorrectly? Don’t you think you are focusing on the wrong point? Senior Brother Zong will defeat Daoist Bai beside you in the arena.”

Feng Ming glanced at him curiously. He hadn’t expected Qiu Yi to be so sensitive about the title. “The identities of senior brother and uncle aren’t contradictory. Why are you in such a hurry? Whether he will be defeated or not, you have to wait until the fight is over. In any case, I defeated you on the stage.”

“You… you.” Qiu Yi was really defeated by Feng Ming.

Ji Yuan quickly came out to defend Junior Brother Qiu. He couldn’t let Feng Ming bully his people like this. He stepped forward and said, “Daoist Feng is really funny. Fellow Daoist Bai, are you confident about the arena? Do you need me to tell you about the players from our Imperial Academy?”