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Several rounds of trials had passed, and those qualified for the next round seemed to be only the students from Jiangnan and Bai Su from the Northern Territory.

This outcome was unexpected at first, but by now, few people cared anymore...

"Your Majesty..." Chen Baifeng breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the still-well Emperor.

At this moment, his greatest support was still the Emperor of Great Jin.

As for Chen Qing, though they seemed to be in the same boat, it remained to be seen whether he could be relied upon in a crucial moment.

"Greetings, Your Majesty..." Chen Qing said with a smile as he saluted.

The Emperor looked at Chen Qing, a complex expression flashing in his eyes.

This must be the second time they had seen each other since Chen Qing left the Capital City, right?

If there was one unexpected element in all the years of plotting, it was undoubtedly this young man before him.

"His Highness King Qin, there is no need for excessive formalities," the Emperor said with a slight lift of his hand, quietly observing him.

Chen Qing had many similarities with the former King of Qin, and now as the master of the Central Plains, he witnessed the man, now King Qin, pay his respects to him, a truly curious feeling indeed.

Without the King of Qin, he and his sister might have never had their day in the sun, yet he did not regret what he did afterward. King Qin... no matter how eloquently he spoke, he was always an outsider. With him around, the Human Race would never truly be the masters of this realm.

In his eyes, the present Chen Qing was no different.

He had heard much about Jiangnan. Everyone who returned from there couldn’t stop praising it, as if the common people living there were residing in paradise. But in his view, it was no different from what King Qin had done.

Back then, King Qin had expelled a great number of demons, allowing his subjects to live better than those at the bottom of any other power, and many said that the region under King Qin’s rule was like heaven.

How similar, yet...

But in the end... he was an outsider!

"King Qin has a wealth of talents under him. In this Grand Competition, to think that you hold three of the last four spots... It truly makes me envious," the Emperor commented.

Upon hearing this, Chen Qing responded with a smile, "You are too kind, Your Majesty. My followers are just kids. They are here to gain some experience. These four candidates are not within the reach of the young generation. Whether we secure a spot or not, it does not matter."

"Is that so?" The Emperor smiled upon hearing this and then looked at the image projected by the shadow stones above.

The third challenge was different from the first two; they were not conducted simultaneously. Instead, it started one after another, in sequence...

The first to go was White Tiger Gate. Although many people were not too concerned with the outcome now, they were somewhat puzzled by this order. If it followed the normal sequence of the Four Spirits, it should start with Azure Dragon, or if in reverse, it should be Black Tortoise.

Why White Tiger?

And the challenger from White Tiger Palace was also quite surprising...

It was none other than Shen Yuan, the least conspicuous member of the Jiangnan team this time.

At this point, many were familiar with Shen Yuan.

Originally a son without magical talent from a second-rate lineage within the Shen Family of the Capital City, if he had not participated in the imperial examination and humorously become the Second Place Scholar as a Magician, no one would have paid attention to a scion from such an overlooked family.

Two years ago, when this young man came to the Capital City, he showed all the Magicians a new path, and it was because of him that the major families started investing in sending their scions to place their bets on Jiangnan.

Even so, no one really took him seriously, mostly considering him just a figurehead put forward by Chen Qing.

The reason was simple: a talentless, ridiculed legitimate son who was even despised by his own younger brother suddenly returned so heroically that even the greatly respected Grand Sorcerers stumbled at his hand. What could have a greater promotional effect than this scenario?

Once everyone understood what Jiangnan was about, Shen Yuan was no longer taken seriously.

They presumed he was just someone who had followed Chen Qing earlier and got lucky.

As for talent, they feared it wasn’t remarkable.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had any significant achievements over the past few years.

Jiangnan, being closely watched by the Noble Families, had no shortage of people sent to gather intelligence.

For many outstanding newcomers, there was a watchful eye, such as the man who built Jiangnan’s premier array, the Flaming Sun Array, who seemed to be named Shen Xing, a direct descendant of the third generation of the Shen Family.

And the creator of Ice Jade and Warm Jade from the Yellow Character Courtyard, also a bona fide son from a noble family in Jiangnan, most of whom are exceptionally talented; in contrast, after Shen Yuan returned, even though he was also admitted to the Dragon Palace Academy, he had not produced any notable works and gradually came to be overlooked.

Even within Jiangnan Academy, many students believed Shen Yuan was nothing more than a senior with more experience, but when it came to his actual abilities, many considered them ordinary.

Unexpectedly, this time, not only did Chen Qing bring him along to participate in the Heavenly Master’s trial but he also let him take on a challenge alone.

The key was that the challenge was against a heavyweight...

Zhang Zhiyun from Northern Tiger Gate, before Zhang Xiaoyun was exposed, was thought by all to be the next-generation Heavenly Master, a man who had made his name resound across the world a century ago!

"Your Highness, King of Qin, if you are not confident, why not let the students simply give up?" Chen Baifeng furrowed his brow; he could see that Chen Qing was quite protective of those Jiangnan students and feared he was now pushing Shen Yuan forward to shield the truly gifted youngsters.

Such as the little girl who had shown exceptional brilliance earlier.

"What you are saying..." Chen Qing chuckled, "How can one know there is no chance without having fought? Shen Yuan is one of the top students at Jiangnan Academy; even if he can’t win, he shouldn’t concede without a fight, right?"

One of the top students?

Several elders from the noble families suddenly looked perplexed. Really?

If he was truly that formidable, then why was there not a whisper of his reputation in the academy later on?

Chen Baifeng was frowning too. He was someone who cared deeply about his disciples, and in his eyes, regardless of whether they had magician talent or not, any descendant of his own bloodline should be cherished.

He had always thought Chen Qing was the same sort of person—could it be that he was mistaken?

Or perhaps... Shen Yuan actually possessed some incredible ability?

---------------------------------

"Hmm?"

Inside White Tiger Palace, Zhang Zhiyun, who was sitting at the center of the palace, slightly furrowed his brows as he faced the person who had just arrived. He looked at him for a long while before asking slowly, "Who are you?"

Shen Yuan didn’t seem to mind and performed a scholar’s salute with neither servility nor haughtiness, "I am Shen Yuan, pleased to meet you, elder!"

"Shen Yuan..." The other party recalled for a moment, perhaps remembered that there was a participant by that name. Yundu had infiltrated various major powers and was actually quite knowledgeable about the internal intelligence of those powers. The Jiangnan Academy had also been infiltrated by their agents, who had a firm grasp on who among them had astonishing talents, such as the little girl named Yunke’er—they knew about her.

She was the one who first got a large array in Lyuzhou to operate fully, possessing an array talent that even Zi Yue praised.

However, this Shen Yuan seemed utterly unremarkable...

According to the intelligence, he seemed to have taken part in many projects at the Heavenly Institute but had not hosted any magic array himself.

It seemed he was always assisting others, leading to his name being associated with many projects, yet there was not a single array that he had personally led.

Many students secretly referred to him as a "counselor"—evidently, he was an experienced but unaccomplished figure.

Did Chen Qing send such a man over because he was afraid to risk his truly gifted seeds?

Bringing such a youngster to Yundu, it seems he was precisely prepared for this scenario?

Thinking of this, Zhang Zhiyun stood up out of boredom.

He was actually quite eager to test his skills against that little girl; although it felt a bit like bullying the younger generation, he was curious about new and unusual things and was eager to see just how high the talents of a little one recognized by Zi Yue could be.

"If you’re not confident, you can forfeit. It’s not necessary to engage in battle," Zhang Zhiyun said indifferently to Shen Yuan.

He wasn’t pitying Shen Yuan; he just felt bored. He didn’t like to strike meaninglessly. The idea of killing a mere pawn held little interest for him.

"Senior, your reputation is illustrious. The tale of how you single-handedly annihilated an army thirty years ago is a story I’ve heard since childhood but..." Shen Yuan looked at him calmly, "to say that I have no chance at all would be somewhat of an exaggeration..."

Zhang Zhiyun: "....."