Sovereign of the Three Realms (WN)

Chapter 263: The Great Selection, the Legacy Territory of Ancient Times

The old tutor stretched out three fingers and said with a grave tone, “There’s only three words for it—sense of danger.”

“The sixteen kingdom alliance has had a decreasing presence within the Myriad Domain. Once the sixteen kingdom alliance is deemed useless, with no point to existing at all, it’ll be ostracized by the other powers, and will be listed as a land of desolate wildlands.

“Ostracized? desolate wildlands?” The confusion in Dan Fei’s beautiful eyes became stronger.

“Yes, it’s called a land of desolate wildlands because it’s been abandoned at that point, exiled by its own race with no one left caring about it. In this way, the land in question will become a delicacy for the alien races—something to be divvied up, served, and devoured. The humans who are lucky will become slaves, while those who aren’t will be directly devoured and slaughtered. Once we become a land of desolate wildlands, we’re doomed, unless no alien races invade us.”

Ye Chonglou’s tone grew grave, “And this is absolutely not just the ravings of an alarmist. More and more of the various factions of the Myriad Domain have begun to think that the sixteen kingdom alliance is useless. If we don’t show something worthwhile soon, then we’ll truly be tossed aside, and become a desolate wildlands. If that becomes the case, then the consequences will be beyond our imagination.”

“So, this is to say that the great selection of the four great sects is born out of this sense of danger?” Jiang Chen raised his own question.

“Yes, a thorough sense of danger. Otherwise, what other matters could bring the four sects together under one accord? Make them lay aside their grudges? Make them host this great selection together? This is a momentous occasion that only comes about once every hundred years. Jiang Chen, this old man has invited you here this time to tell you that participating in this great selection is a chance for you. Not only is it a matter of resources, but it can also help you soar to new heights with one move, and enter an even higher level, inviting even more attention onto yourself. You might even attract the notice of venerated origin realm practitioners.”

The old tutor continued speaking, “Jiang Chen, don’t underestimate the opportunity presented to you this time. Once you’ve managed to attract the attention of an origin realm practitioner, things will truly be different. Origin realm practitioners are as rare as phoenix feathers, or the scales of a dragon within the sixteen kingdoms. These old monsters are senior level characters, even when placed into the greater Myriad Domain. Although there are stronger levels of existence in the Myriad Domain, to make it to the origin realm means that one will be able to walk with pride no matter where one goes. You will absolutely become a target that all of the great powers will aim to recruit.”

“Jiang Chen, the honored tutor has said so much, you should say something as well.” Dan Fei was a bit irked to see Jiang Chen remain so stoic, without even a hint of fervor in his expression. Just what’s with you, must you always appear so calm?

Jiang Chen saw that both the old tutor and Dan Fei were looking at him with great expectations.

“Just tell me whether or not you’re going to participate.” Dan Fei asked huffily.

“I will.” Jiang Chen nodded his head resolutely.

Dan Fei waved her feminine fists. “Remember, you’re not only participating, but are also trying your best to stun all those present in the most overwhelming way possible! Trample all of those overweeningly arrogant sect geniuses beneath your feet, otherwise don’t say you know me or the lordmaster!”

Jiang Chen smiled, “That’s asking for a bit much, huh!”

“I’m precisely asking for just that much!” Dan Fei’s lips quirked as she snorted lightly. “You’re always looking to slack off off. How would you exert all of your strength if I didn’t ask this of you!”

The lordmaster took Dan Fei’s side this time, “Jiang Chen, I too would like to see just how unfathomable your potential is!”

“Honored tutor, I’m just lucky, and had some fortuitous happenings when I was young. It’s not that much.”

The honored tutor’s expression suddenly turned grave as he spoke some words of advice, “Jiang Chen, I also wanted to tell you something regarding that as well. Those happenings of your youth have given you an unparalleled advantage over others. Thus, I hope that the fortuitous occurrences you’ve experienced won’t become the obstacles in your forward progress. You can’t lose sight of the ground just because of having an elevated worldview. I’m precisely afraid that your standards are too high and that you’ll think too little of the sects, instead choosing to retreat from the world and insisting on doing things alone. If this is the case, then the great prime of your life will be unknowingly spent, wasted, and even ruined by you yourself. That would be much too much of a pity if that were to become the case. Once you age beyond thirty, many opportunities will slowly begin to disappear. Remember, you truly cannot waste your current age, and also can’t be repulsed by the sects just because your standards are high.”

The old tutor spoke both gravely and seriously, voicing these words with intense sincerity.

He had also thought for a long time, and had considered much, before he decided to speak it.

He also truly admired Jiang Chen, and his starting point was for Jiang Chen to not lose himself or be blinded by the lucky happenings of his youth, to not go too far due to being hotheaded, and forget the importance of keeping his feet planted on the ground.

Since the wondrous occurrences of his youth were all in the past, he needed to keep his feet firmly planted on the ground while on the path of the martial dao.

Joining a sect was a martial dao genius’s best choice.

The old tutor was worried that Jiang Chen would be too proud, and would in turn be too prejudiced against the sects to enter them.

If this happened, he’d lose many opportunities because of his own biases.

One had to say, the old tutor was truly quite sincere. Jiang Chen could feel the depths of his emotions.

He felt his heart resonate with these words. One also had to say, the old tutor’s words were worth reflecting in. He was, more or less, subconsciously against the sects mentioned.

It was simply because too many sect disciples had disappointed him and had made him feel speechless with their actions.

Come to think of it, although he had the memories of his past life, he needed to keep both of his feet firmly planted on the ground whilst on the path of the martial dao. He wouldn’t ascend to a divine realm for no reason or out of nowhere.

He had to walk down the road step by step. This was something that he couldn’t ignore at his current level.

Honestly speaking, he did plan on joining a sect.

However, he still had a few prejudices within his heart that he’d yet to set aside.

When he heard the old tutor’s words, Jiang Chen’s heart thoroughly calmed down and he completely put down his biases.

In that moment, he became absolutely lighthearted.

He stood up respectfully and bowed towards the old tutor. “The lordmaster’s sharp warning today has opened this child’s eyes. This child thanks you.”

Jiang Chen also felt a bit embarrassed at this moment. He’d always felt that, although the old tutor had a high ranking, he had no right to be Jiang Chen’s teacher.

This line of thought was true enough.

But regarding this issue, the old tutor’s reminder had indeed woken him up and had helped his entire being relax when he let go of his preconceptions.

Right, it was he who’d come to this world, so he should be the one to assimilate into this world.

So why should he have any prejudices at all? The advantages of the memories from his past life would enable him to walk down his path faster, but they wouldn’t necessarily ensure that he’d have a smooth road ahead of him, or that he’d be able to rise to the heavens with a single step.

If he didn’t adjust his mentality, then how would he be able to face the challenges and myriad shifting possibilities that could appear in the future?

Jiang Chen felt that he’d truly gone a bit overboard in the past.

Perhaps…all the smooth sailing that had happened before had made him think that everything in this world was naturally just as easy?

The old tutor saw that a sense of realization and youthful sincerity had suffused Jiang Chen’s bright eyes.

He was greatly comforted, “Why is it that I say that your powers of comprehension are high, and that you have great potential? It seems that you’ve understood my words. Very good. Then, I will wait to admire your incredible performance for now. Hahaha, this is wonderful! To think that I, Ye Chonglou, would one day wait with bated breath for the performance of a youngster? When I was young and cocky, I thought that there’d be no one else like me in the sixteen kingdoms. Now that I think about it, I was truly comically childish!”

The old tutor started laughing at himself.

Since he’d decided to participate in the great selection, Jiang Chen naturally wanted to know more about it.

“Honored tutor, when will the great selection begin? How will the selection be made? Are the great sects selecting their own in separate sessions or altogether? How are they choosing the location of the selection?”

Jiang Chen asked a string of questions, all of which had to do with what he wanted to know the most.

A look of admiration appeared on the old tutor’s face again. These questions all hit the most important points.

“As the name indicates, the great selection is a combined selection process of all four great sects. There are no sect boundaries, or kingdom borders, so everyone is participating in it together. As for that location, there’s only always been a single set location.”

“And where is that?” Jiang Chen was curious to find out.

Dan Fei spoke up in surprise, “Lordmaster, do you mean that legacy territory from ancient times?”

The old tutor nodded. “Yes, precisely that.”

“But there’s a huge price that has to be paid to open it, and there are restrictions on the timing as well.”

“The timing restriction isn’t a problem. It can be opened once every hundred years, so it’s about that time. However, the price to open the legacy territory is truly enormous, and it’d be impossible to open it without the combined might of all of those old origin realm monsters. The four venerated origin realm practitioners of the four great sects must join forces to crack the territory open. The longer that it needs to remain open, the greater the price that they pay.”

“Price? What price?”

“Spirit stones, spirit items, and doors of spirit formations that support the legacy territory. Without these doors, it’d be impossible to enter the territory.”

“It’s that harsh?”

“It wouldn’t be called a legacy territory of ancient times if it wasn’t harsh. This is also why those old origin realm monsters can’t go inside to train. The cost for them to enter is too high. And if everyone’s mindset isn’t of the same accord, then they wouldn’t be able to open the territory.”

It was indeed difficult to achieve a consensus if the conditions to open the territory were this strict.

Otherwise, it’d absolutely be better for origin realm practitioners to train inside, as opposed to cultivating within the sect.

However, the materials needed to open the doors, as well as the time and energy needed to set up the formation, plus the fact that it could only be opened once every hundred years, meant that this legacy territory was only suited for large masses of people.

It was only worth opening for large scaled activities.

“The legacy territory of ancient times…” Jiang Chen discovered that there were indeed, quite a few interesting things about this world.

According to the memories of his past life, the more maze realms and legacy territories that existed in a world, the longer the world’s history was, and the more secrets it had.

These pockets of space would only form after experiencing countless changes in the world, and after going through numerous cycles of reincarnation.

“It looks like this world isn’t as simple as I thought it was. That a small, sixteen kingdom alliance would have a legacy territory, this means that in the ancient times of this world, there must have been a wondrous history!”

Jiang Chen came to this preliminary conclusion in his heart.

However, he had no time to spare on this now. What he cared about right now were the rules of the great selection.

The honored tutor actually couldn’t reveal much of them.

After all, something like the great selection was absolutely a brainchild from those old origin realm monsters, that they’d agreed upon after much discussion, negotiation, and conflict.

These rules would never be leaked beforehand.

Even Ye Chonglou didn’t have the right to gain advance knowledge of them.