The Divine Nine-Dragon Cauldron
chapter-966

Chapter 966: Murmuring Endearments

“Not bad. There are no issues with your merit points, and you are eligible. Now, I will inspect the merit points of the others one by one,” Mo Tianxuan said.

The fifty-plus people started offering their identity badges to her one after the other so she could inspect their merit points. In the end, fifty-three people were found to have more than four million merit points, and a further five people had exactly four million merit points. Su Yu, Bing Wuxin, and Gongsun Wuxie were all among those five people.

Tian Yu and the others couldn’t help but sneer upon witnessing such a result. There were just fifty places, and the surplus people would obviously lose their chance of qualifying.

Senior brother Tang’s expression became more cheerful, and he smiled coldly at Su Yu. It seemed as though what he had stated earlier was true: Su Yu would need to wait for another hundred years.

Senior brother Li chuckled and said, “Junior brother, it seems like you still don’t have enough merit points. You must borrow them from women!”

Su Yu furrowed his brows. It was difficult enough to accumulate four million merit points in less than a year, and he hadn’t expected that it still wouldn’t be enough.

Even Bing Wuxin and Gongsun Wuxie hadn’t expected such an outcome. “In previous years, there haven’t even been forty people able to gather four million, so why are there so many people present this time?” one of them said in surprise.

The number of merit points provided by the sanctum every year was limited, and was a fixed figure, hence why the number of inner sanctum disciples who could gather four million merit points in ten years wouldn’t surpass forty.

The only explanation for such a situation was that someone had purchased a large number of merit points to gather enough in a short period. Moreover, there should be at least ten people who had used such a way to get among the top fifty, and this was why Su Yu and the others had been crowded out.

The reason behind this should be the recent chaos of the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands, which had caused many people to become restless, and they used all means to get enough merit points to gain a chance of fighting in the Glittering Jewel Wonderland before the arrival of the imminent danger. This was why Su Yu, who thought he was assured of getting into the Glittering Jewel Wonderland, ended up excluded.

Mo Tianxuan looked at Su Yu, her eyes full of satisfaction. It would be better to keep him where she could see him in the Red Blood Palace rather than let him get into the Glittering Jewel Wonderland. She would also be able to take advantage of Bing Wuqing’s absence to use Soul Search on him once again, and she believed that she could find out many secrets this time.

“Fine. Since the outcome is apparent, the top fifty should prepare well. We will now proceed towards the Purple Cloud Palace,” Mo Tianxuan said.

This time, the Wind and Cloud Meet would be held by the Purple Cloud Palace.

Tian Yu smiled faintly at Su Yu, clearly implying that there were no more opportunities to gain entry to the Glittering Jewel Wonderland.

“Wait!” Su Yu said.

Mo Tianxuan stopped in her tracks and sized Su Yu up with her eyes in a playful manner, as a cat would look at a mouse. “What is the matter?”

“Palace Mistress Mo, may I ask how many selections the Glittering Jewel Wonderland has?” Su Yu asked.

“It obviously has two,” Mo Tianxuan replied calmly. “Our sanctum’s four million merit points criteria is the first selection, and the Wind and Cloud Meet is the second selection. Only after passing those two can one be recommended by the Red Blood Palace.”

“Palace Mistress Mo, are you confident that the people you’ve brought can pass the second selection?” Su Yu asked. Many experts would obviously gather in the Wind and Cloud Meet, and even Mo Tianxuan couldn’t guarantee that the fifty people brought by her could successfully make it into the top hundred.

However, it seemed like Mo Tianxuan had already expected that Su Yu would say this. A playful look appeared in her eyes, but she still wore a stern look on her face. “You don’t need to ask me this. There will surely be a few people among those fifty who won’t make it into the top hundred. We have planned for this, and the vacancies will be filled by the factions affiliated with us,” she said.

If the Red Blood Palace filled all the vacancies itself and didn’t leave anything for the eight factions affiliated with it, they would surely complain. It was always done like this and had become the custom.

Bing Wuxin and the others furrowed their brows. Would all their efforts so far end up wasted?

“If you don’t have anything else to say, please withdraw, and go to cultivate peacefully. If you are all still disciples after a hundred years have passed, you will probably get another opportunity,” Mo Tianxuan said. She felt totally comfortable now that she could make things difficult for Su Yu.

However, Su Yu continued to calmly ask questions. “Palace Mistress Mo, do you really think that only a few people out of the fifty won’t make it?”

Upon hearing this, the fifty people chosen were displeased. Was he implying that they were too weak?

Mo Tianxuan’s eyes flickered. “Well? Do you have another opinion?”

“I don’t have another opinion about it, but it’s just a guess,” Su Yu said. “Recently, the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands has been in chaos, and even our inner sanctum’s disciples have tried all possible means to get enough merit points in order to go to the Glittering Jewel Wonderland. Won’t the Purple Cloud Palace’s members have the same idea? Won’t Tianya City’s countless hidden talented experts also have the same idea? Won’t it also be the case for all factions affiliated with us? Palace Mistress Mo, if you keep the same mindset as before, I can guarantee that it will surely not be just a few disciples who won’t make it into the top hundred.”

The expressions of Mo Tianxuan and the geniuses who hadn’t yet taken this matter seriously became solemn. Glittering Jewel Wonderland’s opening was occurring at a sensitive time. A great war between the human and ghost clans had occurred a hundred years ago, and people still had lingering fears so were training talented people vigorously.

Moreover, the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands had been in chaos recently, and everyone with a discerning eye had noticed that imminent danger was approaching them, and they were all making preparations for it.

The battle to gain entry to the Glittering Jewel Wonderland would be much more intense than it had been in the past. In the past, there wouldn’t even be forty people who had gathered four million merit points, but now, there were sixty, and something could be discerned from this alone. If they didn’t plan ahead, they would suffer losses.

Mo Tianxuan narrowed her eyes and stared at Su Yu. She said, “What brilliant ideas do you have?”

She had always taken just fifty people because if she took more, they would suspect her of wanting to fill all the slots with members of her faction, and this could easily incur the affiliated factions’ criticism and complaints.

“I don’t have any brilliant ideas, but I still feel like you must prepare a backup plan,” Su Yu said, his face stern. “Although disciples like us, who got four million merit points, aren’t able to get into the top fifty, we can still be substitutes. If one day a senior brother has a headache or something similar, we can replace him.”

Substitutes? Mo Tianxuan’s eyes flickered. Even though such a method was shameless, it was still effective. What Su Yu meant was if one of the fifty disciples was about to suffer defeat in the Wind and Cloud Meet, he could just feign sickness and withdraw, being replaced by one of those substitute members.

The Wind and Cloud Competition’s rules didn’t state such a replacement of participants at the last moment was allowed, but they didn’t expressly forbid it either.

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the other disciples became unpleasant. The Wind and Cloud Competition was a major competition of all Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands, and it was a respectable and honest competition. If they lost or won, so be it. If they did something like replacing participants, their reputation would be tarnished if word got out.

“Palace Mistress, I’m against this. Red Blood Palace depends upon our prestige to be superior to all the factions affiliated with us, and we if do something so shameless, how can we still have a standing in the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands?” Senior brother Li was the first one to oppose it.

Su Yu didn’t spare him even a glance, and calmly said, “Prestige? What has deterred all factions from challenging us is power alone. If our sanctum’s outstanding disciples miss such a fortuitous encounter, and our overall power ends up declining, the factions affiliated with us won’t obey us anymore. Senior brother, you are stressing the incidental over the fundamental.”

A faction’s prestige wasn’t decided by its virtue, and what was more important was power. If they didn’t have the power to crush all other factions, who would then be willing to submit himself to the Red Cloud Palace and Purple Cloud Palace?

Senior brother Liu looked at Su Yu in disdain. The clear implication was that Su Yu didn’t understand anything. Senior brother Liu cupped his fists at Mo Tianxuan, and said, “Palace Mistress, please don’t trust Su Yu, and please don’t tarnish our Red Blood Palace’s reputation.”

Mo Tianxuan’s pretty eyes just stared at Su Yu, while wearing a faint smile. “I feel like his suggestion is quite reasonable.” This was Mo Tianxuan’s character. She had always done just what she wanted and without worrying about any rules. Her actions always took people by surprise. Su Yu’s suggestion was quite to her liking, and trifling fame didn’t amount to anything in the face of an opportunity to let the sanctum become stronger.

“Your idea is pretty good, and it’s to my liking,” Mo Tianxuan said with a smile and revealed a mesmerizing expression as she stared at Su Yu. “Congratulations! You have convinced me, but we must alter your suggestion slightly. Even though you will still be substitutes, we will officially state that you are just my servants. That will be the case for you, too.”

Su Yu’s heart couldn’t help but thump as he looked into Mo Tianxuan’s eyes. He had a bad feeling about this. A servant? What was this woman planning now?

“Hehe, it’s decided then. Fifty of you will be the official participants, while the remaining ten will be substitutes who will be with me,” Mo Tianxuan announced. “Let’s set off now.”

Mo Tianxuan raised her hand and tore apart the hall’s space, creating a pitch-black spatial rift.

“Quickly, go inside it. It can teleport you more than ten million miles.” Mo Tianxuan was still stretching out her hand, and it seemed like she was supporting the rift and keeping it open.

Su Yu looked at the rift and was surprised by what he saw. “A spatial tunnel!”

He wasn’t the only one taken by surprise. A spatial tunnel was a tunnel connected by two spatial nodes, and it was usually made by formation masters using special means. They would link two locations’ spatial nodes and form something like a teleportation formation.

However, Mo Tianxuan managed to just use her hand and her power to easily create a spatial tunnel. This was a technique possessed just by Mortal Fairy Realm experts alone.

Even though Mo Tianxuan’s cultivation didn’t reach the Mortal Fairy Realm, some of her techniques could already rival Mortal Fairies. She really deserved the title of the strongest All Creation Old Expert below the Mortal Fairy Realm. Once again, Su Yu realized just how great her power was.

Their group didn’t dare to hesitate, and they all entered the rift nervously.

Su Yu also wanted to enter but heard Mo Tianxuan’s voice. “Su Yu, wait until the end.”

Su Yu’s heart thumped, and when he looked over, he caught sight of Mo Tianxuan’s playful gaze. He hesitated for a moment but decided to stay.

Bing Wuxin looked in surprise at Mo Tianxuan. Her intuition told her that Mo Tianxuan was targeting Su Yu on purpose.

“You should all leave first. I will come soon,” Su Yu said.

Bing Wuxin thought for a moment. With Mo Tianxuan’s character, if she wanted to harm Su Yu, she wouldn’t do it sneakily.

“Fine.” Bing Wuxin nodded and stepped into the rift along with Gongsun Wuxie. After a short while, just Su Yu and Mo Tianxuan were left in the hall.

Mo Tianxuan waved her hand, and the spatial rift closed slowly. She waved her sleeves and sealed the whole palace. Now, regardless of what occurred here, it wouldn’t be transmitted to the outside world.

“We are the only ones left, Su Yuxian.” Mo Tianxuan slowly stood up from the main seat.

Su Yu didn’t see what she did, but he saw a black blur flicker before him as Mo Tianxuan teleported near him. Their eyes were close to each other, and there weren’t even several inches between them.

Su Yu looked at her cold but elegant face. She had delicate skin, and he could even smell the fragrance fluttering from her. Even though this was such an ambiguous situation, there wasn’t the least trace of delight on Su Yu’s face.

Mo Tianxuan extended out her fingers and raised Su Yu’s chin. She smiled with her eyes, and said, “What do you think I left you behind for?”

Su Yu’s expression was calm and composed. Since there wasn’t anyone here, he didn’t need to put on an act. He said calmly, “Regardless of what it is, it’s surely not to murmur endearments to a disciple like me.”