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nHeavenfire City was a holy city at the foot of God Mountain in the lands of the Firemoon Darkheaven people. It was made of three sub-cities that surrounded God Mountain, and at the moment, those cities were filled with rumbling sounds and golden light. From a distance, it was possible to see the light gathering at the peak of God Mountain, where it created a pillar that rose into the canopy of heaven.

nRumbling sounds could be heard as ripples spread in all directions in the sky. The golden light became increasingly dazzling, while at the same time, teleportation fluctuations grew stronger everywhere.

nAfter noticing what was going on, people began to step outdoors in the three holy sub-cities and look into the sky. More and more people appeared, until there were no less than a million.

nMost were Firemoons and their subsidiary species, all of whom were not participants in the Great Hunt. There were also elders and experts from various species. Many of them were associates of the participants who had gone into the Mountain and Sea Region, and were waiting for their return.

nAs the fluctuations coming off of God Mountain grew stronger, everyone looked up hoping to see people they knew returning on precious mounts.

n“The second round is about to end.”

n“If nothing unexpected happens this time, we’ll likely see Sir Firedark with a mount that can crush all others.”

n“Well, Master Stillwinter ranks second in the echelon. He probably got an extraordinary mount as well.”

n“I wonder if some dark horse came along this time. For instance, there’s that human Xu Qing. I wonder how he did.”

n“Xu Qing? He might be a chosen, and he did take first place in round one. But that’s only because none of our Firemoon chosen care about the first round. The second round is different. I bet Xu Qing either died, or at the very least, came to a true understanding of how inferior he is.”

nThe buzz of conversation filled Heavenfire City. Clearly, no one was privy to details of what happened in the Mountain and Sea Region. After all, that region was isolated and sealed off. But the fact that no one knew what happened inside only led to deeper curiosity about the results. fr eewebn ovel.com

nAbout an hour later, the light from God Mountain was incredibly intense, and the rumbling had reached a peak level. Then, a heaven-rending, earth-crushing bang could be heard as a huge vortex opened in the sky. As the vortex spun, cultivators began to emerge.

nThe roughly one million observers in the city below all looked up with keen anticipation. Countless gazes locked onto the several thousand people who were slowly becoming visible. What they soon saw were people with ashen faces and varying expressions: some people were disappointed, some looked dumbstruck, and some were clearly just happy to be alive.

nThe one unifying aspect to all of them was that none had tamed a mount. They constituted the first wave of returnees.

n“Based on how the rules usually work, the return teleportation begins with people who didn’t do well. After they’re all here, subsequent waves will contain those who took the lead.”

n“It seems like there are quite a few people this time who actually failed….”

nThose who had failed weren’t very important to the onlookers, so most people just glanced at them briefly.

nAs a result, nobody noticed that one of the people who had returned was a cultivator whose eyes glittered with blue light. He quickly masked that and made sure to plaster a disappointed expression onto his face. Once the teleportation was complete, he scattered with the others.

nHow come I didn’t hear any news about little Junior Brother in the Mountain and Sea Region?

nOf course, he was none other than the Captain.

nFor the past few months, he had been fleeing for his life, and thus wasn’t very aware of the events that had played out. Upon looking around and determining that Xu Qing wasn’t present among those who had failed, he felt very pleased.

nLittle Junior Brother didn’t meet up with me, and he isn’t in the first wave of returnees. That means he must have done well. Well, that’s for the best. Without a point of comparison, it would be hard to highlight the superiority of the Eldest Brother.

nThe Captain sighed as he thought about what it was going to be like to present Xu Qing with some hillworm eggs. The shocked look on Xu Qing’s face would be amazing.

nAi. I really envy little Ah Qing. How did he get so lucky as to have an Eldest Brother like me to back him up? Logically speaking, he should be moved enough to hand all of Crimson Mother’s flesh back over to me.

nThe Captain licked his lips in anticipation, then casually took out a peach and started eating it. He had been thinking about Xu Qing’s portion of Crimson Mother’s flesh for a long time now. Normally speaking, it wouldn’t have been easy to come up with a reason to ask for the flesh back. But now he had a good opportunity.

nTime passed.

nAs fluctuations continued to roll off God Mountain, more figures emerged from the vortex in the sky. Some of them chose to hide the mounts they had tamed, while others were happy to show them off. That led to quite a bit of discussion among the onlookers.

n“Master Heavyspirit from the Cloudgobbler species actually tamed a mountain sparrow. That’s pretty impressive!”

n“Look at Zhouxian from the Willspirit species. Given the shadowy figure floating around him, I guess he must have tamed some sort of grue.”

n“Wait, something is off here. Why do all of these returnees have such strange expressions on their faces?”

nAs the discussions continued, people started to pick up on various clues.

nMany of the returnees didn’t depart after the teleportation. They remained in place, looking back at the vortex with complicated expressions. It seemed as if they were waiting to confirm something.

nThe onlookers were surprised, and some considered asking what was going on. However, the teleportations weren’t over yet, so there was no way to send voice messages. That would have to wait until after things went back to normal. As people watched, more and more returnees appeared, and the mounts that were revealed became increasingly impressive.

nEventually, two very familiar faces appeared. They were Tuo Shishan and Fan Shishuang!

nTheir return attracted a lot of attention. Astonishingly, Tuo Shishan was riding a huge, ferocious ape that pulsed with black energy. Fan Shishuang looked pale, and his expression was impossible to read. He was also leading an enormous ape.

n“Those are fiend apes! They rank just under ghost chariots!”

n“A fiend ape is a suitable mount for Tuo Shishan. But why does Fan Shishuang also have a fiend ape?”

n“Given how the two of them rank, I expected Fan Shishuang to have a ghost chariot as a mount….”

nAs the discussions raged, Tuo Shishan and Fan Shishuang exchanged a silent glance. Then, just like all the other returnees, they looked at the vortex.

nEveryone was starting to wonder what was going on.

n“It seems like everyone is looking at the vortex and waiting. But for what?”

nThe Captain’s heart was racing, and he was starting to get a bad feeling. Meanwhile, the vortex rumbled as a figure slowly emerged, growing clearer by the moment.

n“Sir Heavenink!”

n“The mount behind him… it’s….”

n“A ghost chariot!” 𝑓𝓌ℴ𝓋.ℴ𝘨

nSir Heavenink looked calm as he emerged from the vortex. Then he moved to the side and looked back with a solemn expression. The fluctuations which came out of the vortex next were completely superior to those that accompanied Sir Heavenink.

nSir Firedark emerged, followed by a beast that seemed to have been born amongst flames and emanated a shocking might. This was something that ranked above ghost chariots. It was the number two beast! A hillworm!

nSir Firedark’s expression was very grim, and his eyes burned with killing intent as he scanned the crowd as if looking for something in particular.

nThe Captain blinked a few times, but was confident in his disguise. He just let Sir Firedark’s gaze sweep over him. And yet… he still had a very uneasy feeling, and it had only intensified with the return of Sir Firedark.

nLittle Junior Brother hasn’t come out yet…. Either he’s not coming out, or he’ll come out after the hillworm. That means….

nAs the Captain started to speculate about what it all meant, the crowd reacted to Sir Firedark’s hillworm.

n“A hillworm!”

n“Apparently all the other round two participants were waiting for Sir Firedark.”

n“He has a hillworm, which means he’s taken first place in round one!”

n“Hold on, why hasn’t Master Stillwinter come out?”

n“Also, the teleportation isn’t over yet. Look everyone, the vortex is still spinning!”

n“Something’s off here. Look at all the participants. With the exception of Sir Firedark, they’re all still looking at the vortex. They’re still waiting!”

nEveryone in Heavenfire City was shocked by what they were seeing.

nUp in the air, Sir Firedark had picked up on what was going on. Considering that everyone was looking at the vortex, he frowned and did the same.

nHeaven-shaking, earth-shattering rumblings were coming out of the vortex, as if the vortex was struggling. It was as if some incomparably massive entity were approaching by means of the teleportation power, except that the teleportation was having difficulty accommodating it. Wisps of gray fog emerged, filled with a wild and ancient sensation. As they spread, they caused immense pressure to weigh down. All of a sudden, the hearts of all the Firemoon onlookers were struck with waves of shock as they realized their blood was fluctuating.

nThe top Firemoon experts looked especially serious, and some of them even flew up into the air to get a clearer read on the fog. Their expressions quickly became those of incredulity.

n“Is that…?”

nAs everyone looked on, and as their bloodline fluctuations grew more intense, a figure emerged from the vortex. His long hair swayed around him as he emerged into the world. All of the tamed mounts threw their heads back and howled, then dropped down in worship.

nLooking very excited, Sir Heavenink loudly said, “I, Sir Heavenink, offer respectful greetings to the future Grand Darkheaven of the Firemoon people as he returns triumphant from battle!”

nWith that, he bowed deeply at the waist.

nThe Captain’s eyes widened, and he nearly dropped his peach as he stared at the familiar figure coming out of the vortex. As his emotions raged out of control, he thought, The pretentious little jerk really knows how to put on a freaking show!

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