Sovereign of the Three Realms

Long Juxue had made an immense show of her strength, as if she were a sovereign descending upon the sky quadrant.

One had to say, she had succeeded in her goal with that performance. Her strong breakthrough had given birth to a deep feeling of resignation, of being unable to compete with this enemy within the top geniuses of the four great sects.

It wasn’t that they were doubting themselves, but that everyone knew that once an innate constitution broke through to the sky spirit realm, none of their peers would be able to hold their own in front of this cultivator.

Even someone as strong as Lei Gangyang wouldn’t be able to do so.

As deep as the potentials of the others were, they were even less likely to be able to successfully challenge Long Juxue.

Only Jiang Chen felt quite disdainful of Long Juxue’s actions.

The more of a mysterious front she put on and the more she wanted to awe others, the more Jiang Chen felt that she was afraid of being found out.

The entire sky quadrant had sunk into a resigned depression, but Jiang Chen remained unmoved. His dao heart was scarcely affected as he continued to cultivate at his own pace.

Not a single misstep would be tolerated now that refinement of the Raven King core had reached this step.

It was a pity that he was still a bit short on time. After some quick calculations, Jiang Chen came to the conclusion that, at his current speed, another month of training would increase his hope of breaking through into sky spirit realm to sixty, perhaps seventy percent.

But the deadline of a year was fast approaching, and time grew ever short. He only had a twenty, thirty percent surety of breaking through at the moment.

However, the Raven King’s core didn’t just increase Jiang Chen’s cultivation level, it also brought noticeable overall improvements to Jiang Chen’s strength.

He could now control eighteen lotuses of the Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice.

The fire lotus in particular was something that Jiang Chen could now deploy as easily and adroitly as a fish’s fluid movement in water.

The Raven King’s core had an undeniable effect on Jiang Chen’s fire attribute spirit vein.

As the days passed by, there was only a month left until the year deadline. Jiang Chen was also counting off the days as well.

“At this rate, it will be very hard for me to reach the sky spirit realm within a year. Time is of the essence now, if I continue to strive for a breakthrough, my chances of success are likely only thirty percent. Using this entire last month in pursuit of this thirty percent isn’t the best move.”

The fact of Long Juxue breaking through to the sky spirit realm was already an incontrovertible truth.

“If I were to break through, I would absolutely crush Long Juxue. However, given my current rate, I should use this last month to hone my techniques. In the ring matches, my sixth level spirit realm cultivation shouldn’t meet with any difficulties if I challenge a seventh level candidate. If I possess an undeniable advantage in the area of martial techniques and methods, then it won't be impossible for me to win out over Long Juxue!”

These were his current thoughts and plans.

If he didn’t further hone his techniques and spent the last month in pursuit of the sky spirit realm, he would be at a disadvantage if he failed since his techniques hadn’t received the proper attention.

On the contrary, if he spent this last month in further sharpening his techniques and using them in tandem with each other, then this might have the greatest benefit before the final battle.

Jiang Chen was well versed in the “Vast Ocean Current Splitter” and the “Divine Aeons Fist”. There was no need to further refine anything in that regard.

It was rather “Moonshatter Flying Daggers” that Jiang Chen had only practiced up to the first two techniques. He had yet to master the remaining two— “Brilliance Form” and “Lightning Form”.

He decided to learn these two first.

Of course, his original layered feather throwing daggers were a bit inadequate for the task now. That level of throwing daggers were enough to attack someone in the small spirit realm, but his opponents this time were the geniuses of the sky spirit realm!

Therefore, the layered feather throwing daggers weren’t up to the task anymore.

He took out seven of the Raven King’s tail feathers and decided to make a batch of Fire Raven throwing daggers out of them, using his original set as a guideline.

Crafting the Fire Raven throwing daggers would require the use of the power of metal essence. He would have to meld the essence of metal and fire together, making these new throwing daggers at least ten times better than his old set.

With the layered feather daggers as a prototype, it was easy for Jiang Chen to craft his new set.

He quickly forged seven new throwing daggers. The killing aura of the Raven King was embodied in their form, emanating a formidable killing intent even when they were just held in hand.

Jiang Chen had trained the four accompanying arts of the “Moonshatter Flying Daggers” to the required level, so he didn’t run into any problems when practicing the “Brilliance Form” and “Lightning Form”.

He’d grasped the core mysteries of these two techniques after seven or eight days and unwavering experimentation.

The “Brilliance Form” centered around “speed”.

The “Lightning Form” centered around “uncanny”.

Although the two forms seemed similar at first glance, their underlying mysteries were completely different, and thus their power would be completely different as well.

“The Moonshatter Flying Daggers are quite useful, but they may not be effective against a sky spirit realm cultivator. To crush someone in that realm, my trump cards are still the magnetic golden mountain and the Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice.”

The Lotus was something that Jiang Chen had continuously viewed with high importance. He would increase the level of and continuously evolve the Lotus’ strength whenever he achieved a breakthrough.

The mountain, that great treasure trove however, Jiang Chen had barely tapped into its abilities. Apart from using some of its metal essence power to train the “Nine Transformations of Demons and Gods”, Jiang Chen had barely used it.

He would occasionally manipulate some of the magnetic power, but only up to a certain degree. The mountain had yet to become a true trump card.

“I still don’t have enough time at the end of the day. It hasn’t been a year since I’ve arrived at the Eternal Spirit Mountain for the selection. I’ve needed to rack up my score, face oppression from all sides, and raise my strength. I really haven’t had time to properly study the magnetic golden mountain.”

Jiang Chen was also a bit frustrated. He had an immense amount of treasure, but had been limited because of time and had been unable to fully tap into all of them.

Particularly the magnetic golden mountain. Jiang Chen decided that he’d make good use of it in the time remaining.

He didn’t have any goals as lofty as summoning the Lord of the Golden Seal. As for the golden, weapon shaped monsters, there wasn’t much use for them if he couldn’t summon them on a large scale.

There was great use for the Evil Golden Eye, but he wouldn’t be able to practice using it before he reached the sky spirit realm.

The only thing he could make use of was the magnetic power.

After such a long period of exploration and familiarization, Jiang Chen had actually formed quite a few reflections in regard to controlling this power.

However, he’d never been able to spend too much time on it.

“Mm, I should thoroughly train in the magnetic power for the last twenty, thirty days. My control of it is at most the first level. I could just barely manage to produce some weak force field ripples. But if I want to make use of this level of control to affect sky spirit realm cultivators, it would truly be a difficult endeavor. If my control could rise a few levels, then there would be no problem in restraining the sky spirit realm cultivators. At least, I would absolutely have no problem affecting their speed and rhythm.”

Jiang Chen didn’t dare think of materializing a magnetic storm in the short amount of time he had left. That was a ludicrous thought, closer to a daydream.

If he could really call upon the magnetic storm, then he’d be able to sweep all the matches at this level. He would have the confidence to even fight someone at the peak of the sky spirit realm.

“Mm, I will focus my efforts on the magnetic power in the time remaining.” Jiang Chen had decisively made up his mind.

His timeline for assailing the sky spirit realm wouldn’t change, but his focus had to change as he couldn’t place all his bets on breaking through to the sky spirit realm.

If the time came and he had yet to break through, then he’d be caught in a very awkward position.

The heart of a gambler was very dangerous and not the path of martial dao. Jiang Chen didn’t want to place all of his eggs in one basket.

Time flew.

Half a month later, Jiang Chen was continuing to train the magnetic power. His diligent training had paid off in dividends, visibly improving his level of control.

His control of the magnetic power was at least at the third level by now.

The magnetic power that he could call upon could form noticeable magnetic force fields. Although he lacked an opponent to test its power, he was certain that if he suddenly used this in battle, it would absolutely throw his opponents into disarray.

There were still seven to eight days left. Jiang Chen decided to make use of this time to consolidate all of his training.

Suddenly, an arrogant voice sounded outside his door.

“Jiang Chen, don’t think a mask will hide your identity. You are incapable of keeping secrets hidden from the just eye of Long Juxue. Since you refused to take the easy path to heaven and insisted on barging into the doors of hell, the sky quadrant will be your grave. Don’t worry, I won’t let you die too easily. I’m going to make an example out of you and begin my reign over the younger generation of the sixteen kingdoms. Remember, you are the one destined to be the stepping stone of my path as a genius!”

Arrogant, discourteous, and an unconcealed sense of superiority. It was as if she was issuing her final judgement of Jiang Chen.

She had sent this message silently, so no one apart from the two of them could’ve heard, and she wouldn’t have to worry about the examiners taking her to task for disturbing others.

Jiang Chen hadn’t thought that this woman would be so shameless.

A low voice escaped Jiang Chen, and his eyes turned hard. He compressed his voice and shot it out like lightning. “As if a defeated opponent is worth talking about! If it wasn’t for the protection of your master, you would’ve been reduced to a heap of bones a long time ago. You should remember well, if I could kill your brother and father that day, I can also kill you in this sky quadrant. The crimes of your Long family are inexpiable; you all are destined to be reunited in the underworld. Why don’t I send you there now and see if you meet them along the way?”

Jiang Chen wasn’t frightened at all as he gave tit for tat.

How would he not understand her devious schemes? She was trying to pressure him before the matches and use a strong aura to suppress him, making him fall in defeat without a battle.

One had to say, although this looked pointless, it was an attack that would deeply pierce the heart.

If Jiang Chen really did fear Long Juxue, then he might really have been defeated by this attack.

However, she had underestimated his strength of heart. Instead of a negative effect, it only provoked an even greater will to battle from him.

Long Juxue had wanted to make use of this opportunity to suppress Jiang Chen and destroy the defenses of his dao heart. However, not only had she failed, but she’d suffered a fair share of jeering.

And, the other hadn’t minded admitting to his identity at all!

What did this mean? It meant that Jiang Chen didn’t fear Long Juxue at all, that he was still unafraid even after she’d broken through to the sky spirit realm!

“Jiang Chen, this isn’t the Eastern Kingdom. Do you think you can pass by the skin of your teeth, just through a witty tongue? This is still a stage for geniuses, and only favored geniuses like me are the true rulers. You are just an ant beneath my foot. Do you think you can affect me by attacking me with the matters of the mundane world? I’ll be honest, I need to thank you in helping me sever all the ties that bound me to the ordinary world and enabling me to focus on martial dao. As a gesture of my gratitude, I’ll send you on your way and then refine everyone surnamed Jiang in the Eastern Kingdom, whether they be young, old, male or female. I’ll make them all die enduring sheer agony and forever regret they have the same unlucky surname as you!”

Long Juxue’s tone was full of hate and violence.