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Chapter 1928 (Raw 2029): Dragons Gathering

Dueling plaza, Heavenly Dragon Palace:

On this particular day, when the sun just rose, the surroundings already teemed with people.

Countless inner and outer palace disciples gathered in groups of threes to fives around the dueling plaza.

This was the place where Xiao Chen and the others took the core disciple test that day.

Today, the heaven-class core disciple selection would take place here as well.

The heaven-class core disciple competition was a major matter for the Heavenly Dragon Palace. None of the core disciples in closed-door cultivation in the sect or wandering around outside would let this chance slip away.

If they missed this chance, the next chance would come only three years later.

Even if the core disciples could not obtain the heaven-class core disciple slot, an excellent performance would still garner extraordinary rewards.

More importantly, they had to provide a worthy account of themselves.

If the core disciples did not even have the courage to participate and feared death, then there was no need for them to remain core disciples.

As for the inner and outer palace disciples, they wanted to see if they could learn anything from the core disciples, besides watching the excitement.

Normally, only about one thousand core disciples would be in the sect.

However, on this day, all the core disciples in closed-door cultivation, adventuring outside, or completing missions would do their best to come to the dueling plaza.

Describing the heaven-class core disciple selection as picking one out of ten thousand was no exaggeration.

The competition was extremely intense. One had to bring out one’s full strength and skills. Hence, many rare powerful techniques would be seen.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Just then, many strong auras arrived. Yi Qianyun walked down the mountain, escorted by many core disciples.

Hundreds of people followed behind Yi Qianyun, a tide of people looking like a crowd of stars complementing the moon.

After several years of hard work, Yi Qianyun managed to create a small faction among the core disciples with him as the leader.

Normally, these lackeys used Yi Qianyun’s name to go about suppressing the other disciples.

Yi Qianyun received benefits from this. He was also happy to see this happen, relying on these benefits to chain this group of core disciples together as one.

As long as Yi Qianyun continued growing stronger, his followers would be able to obtain even more benefits. They shared glory and failure.

There were many such factions among the core disciples.

The Heavenly Dragon Palace Elders did not object to this. As long as things did not go overboard, they even encouraged the core disciples to do this.

This further intensified the competition between the core disciples.

It also drove home to those core disciples without any factions the cruel reality of this world, spurring them to take part in an even intenser competition.

Yi Qianyun was one of the big names. He had become famous many years ago. Before he advanced to Holy Venerate, he could already fight above his cultivation realm.

Now that he had advanced to Great Perfection middle-stage Holy Venerate, he was the front-runner for the heaven-class core disciple slot.

“Yi Qianyun is here!”

“His following is really as big as ever. He truly is an expert among the veteran core disciples. He has so many supporters.”

“Strange, why do I not see Zhang Yunxuan beside him?”

“Hahaha! You are asking about Zhang Yunxuan? I heard that he had a stroke of bad luck and got locked up in the Blood Dragon Guards’ prison. Yi Qianyun tried to spring him several times but failed.”

“Haha! That fellow is really unlucky.”

Although the inner palace disciples, as well as the outer palace disciples who heard about him, acknowledged Yi Qianyun’s strength, they did not like him.

If Yi Qianyun really managed to get the heaven-class core disciple slot in this selection, many people would probably be unhappy about it.

Just at this moment, two more groups of people came. The leaders of these groups were Fang Tianyi and Qin Yan.

These two were disciples of big clans and possessed True Dragon bloodlines. They had excellent talents and had heaven-class Elders as their masters.

In less than half a year, these two managed to establish their own factions. The followers they had were not much less than Yi Qianyun’s.

These two apparently knew that the competition between core disciples was not just a personal competition but also depended on the number of supporters they had.

Otherwise, when one went out during a conflict, one risked getting heavily outnumbered.

When Yi Qianyun saw these two appear, he frowned slightly, and a murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

It had been just half a year, and these two’s improvements made Yi Qianyun feel threatened.

“Senior Brother Yi, this is the heaven-class core disciple selection, not a gang fight. What is the point of bringing over such a large group of people? Could it be that you think that you can become a heaven-class core disciple by having more people?” Fang Tianyi mocked when he saw the large number of people behind Yi Qianyun.

Qin Yan laughed and said softly, “Perhaps Senior Brother Yi thinks differently from us. After all, he is one of the veteran core disciples. If he still does not advance to heaven-class core disciple, he won’t have another chance. It’s inevitable that he would take extraordinary measures.”

“Hahaha! I understand. I understand.”

Fang Tianyi and Qin Yan echoed each other. This angered the people behind Yi Qianyun.

However, Yi Qianyun’s expression did not change as he said, “They just have sharp tongues and are feeling cocky. There is no need to bother about them.”

As time went by, more core disciples showed up at the dueling plaza.

However, this dueling plaza was extremely vast. It was capable of containing more than one hundred thousand people, so it was not that crowded.

Furthermore, this was before the spatial formations were activated. With the spatial formations activated, the dueling plaza could easily accommodate one million people.

“Whoosh!”

Just at this moment, a black-clad youth holding a sword with a cold expression slowly revealed himself.

This person looked quite skinny. Although he was not old, he had a weathered face.

He exuded a strange air that prompted the people around him to move back automatically, not willing to stand with him.

“It’s Zhang Ye, Senior Brother Zhang!” someone among the inner palace disciples exclaimed in surprise when he recognized this person.

[TL Note: Based on the information in this chapter, I believe that this Zhang Ye is different from the one that Xiao Chen fought in the third stage of the test to become a Heavenly Dragon Palace core disciple in Chapter 1888 (Raw 1899).]

“It really is Senior Brother Zhang. Didn’t he meet with an accident when he went to the Snow Region on a mission?”

“I heard that he already qualified to become a heaven-class core disciple the previous time. However, there was an accident, and many people thought that he died.”

“Senior Brother Zhang is actually still alive!”

After the black-clad person who suddenly appeared was recognized, his identity immediately caused a huge commotion.

The new disciples felt confused, but the expressions of the many veteran core disciples changed.

This was especially so for Yi Qianyun, who was shocked. “He is actually still alive...”

Yi Qianyun managed to rise up among the core disciples back then only because something had happened to Zhang Ye. This was why he could reach his current position.

Unexpectedly, this person appeared again today.

Yi Qianyun had many questions, but Zhang Ye’s appearance here meant that Zhang Ye had obtained the sect’s permission and still had the qualifications to compete for the heaven-class core disciple slot.

“Junior Brother Yi, you have improved during the three years I didn’t see you.” Zhang Ye smiled coldly after turning his head back and looking at Yi Qianyun.

Yi Qianyun felt a chill and trembled internally. He needed some time before he managed to rid himself of this fear in his heart. Then, he said calmly, “Senior Brother Zhang, it has been a long time.”

So what if you returned? I am already no longer who I was three years ago. Even if you come back, the heaven-class core disciple slot will still be mine!

“Senior Brother Zhang!”

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Just at this moment, several powerful auras appeared in the dueling plaza. No one expected so many experts to be hiding among the core disciples.

If not for Zhang Ye showing up, they would not have exposed themselves at all.

These people were older, and most had only this one chance left. If they still failed, then they would lose their qualifications to compete for a heaven-class core disciple slot for the rest of their lives.

Hence, they normally took a low-profile approach to the way they did things, unlike Yi Qianyun.

This turn of events instantly elevated Qin Yan, Fang Tianyi, and the other new core disciples’ opinion of this Zhang Ye.

Zhang Ye’s sudden appearance not only triggered discussions among the many disciples but even drew many of the strong, low-profile veteran core disciples into the open.

The situation grew even more confusing.

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

A flash of sword intent and a bolt of lightning descended from the sky at the same time, as though prearranged.

“Clang!” Xiao Jinyu landed straight on the plaza. Then, he looked around coldly, and his gaze settled on the figure that the lightning bolt turned into.

This person was dressed in white and had long hair draped over his shoulders. No expression could be made out on his delicate face.

This was the famous White Robes Xiao Chen, the White Robes Xiao Chen of the seven outer palaces.

Although these two appeared at the same time, everyone’s attention focused on Xiao Chen, just like Xiao Jinyu’s did.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Countless eyes turned to Xiao Chen, wanting to see the rumored White Robed Bladesman, who chopped down Rakshasa Tian’s clone with one saber strike before saving the Flame Dragon Legion single-handedly.

In this gathering of dragons, be it Xiao Jinyu, Yi Qianyun, Zhang Ye, or the other low-profile core disciples, the same figure reflected in their eyes.

The fame of a person was like the long shadow that a tree cast on its surroundings; such great influence dominated everyone else.

Only Xiao Chen could receive such treatment.