158: Chapter 158 Low Idea

They held dozens of competition slots in their hands. Winning a single match earned them ten points, and their points snowballed, growing larger and larger. They swallowed up massive amounts of cultivation resources, Medicinal Pills, and Cultivation Techniques, tucking them all into their own pockets.

And what about the small and medium-sized Dynasties?

With their pitiful three or five slots, they had to gamble their lives and trade their blood for every single match.

Win? It was a drop in the bucket, not even enough to fill the gaps between their teeth.

Lose? They would lose everything, even their last pair of underpants.

As time went on, the strong only grew stronger, and the weak only grew weaker—in this world, there was never such a thing as fairness!

In the spectator stands, some quick-witted people had already caught the scent of what was happening.

They lowered their heads, covering their mouths with their hands, and spoke in hushed voices, as if afraid of having their throats crushed by some invisible hand:

"Do you think... Senior Chu is right? These points for Great Wu are coming way too easily..."

"Shh! Are you fucking tired of living?!"

"But our Dynasty only has 120 points this time. If we lose the next round..."

For a moment, the atmosphere in the arena became suffocatingly subtle.

The originally lively discussions were cut short like a snapped lute string, ending abruptly.

In its place was a heavy silence that pressed down on everyone's chest, making it hard to breathe.

The glaring "3692 points" on the leaderboard was no longer a symbol of glory in everyone's eyes—it was a giant boulder that threatened to break their spines.

On the high platform, the Ceremonial Official's brows furrowed slightly, but the crease vanished in a flash.

He gave a light cough, and his voice boomed like a thunderclap, shaking the stagnant air:

"The first round of the Grand Competition is over!"

"Contestants from each Dynasty, rest for the time it takes to burn a stick of incense. The second round of drawing lots will begin shortly!"

His voice swept through like a gale, temporarily dispelling the strangeness in the arena.

Contestants from various Dynasties rose one after another, adjusting their armor and discussing tactics in low voices.

The earlier gravity was suppressed deep in their hearts, but everyone knew that the tension had not snapped yet.

Only Princess Xia Zhiqing's gaze, like two poisoned daggers, remained fixed firmly on Crown Prince Xia Hong.

She had looked at this face for twenty years and could trace it even with her eyes closed. Yet, at this moment, she found it terrifyingly unfamiliar.

Her gaze shifted to the three figures in green robes beside him—the three were like stone statues, motionless, yet they faintly emitted heart-palpitating fluctuations, like three peerless swords hidden in their scabbards, ready to be unsheathed and drink blood at any moment.

Princess Xia Zhiqing's brows furrowed tighter and tighter, her knuckles turning white as she clenched them, and her sleeves were crumpled from her grip.

Crown Prince Xia Hong naturally noticed this.

He turned to the side, his face wearing the same gentle smile as always—even the arc of his upturned lips was exact: "What's wrong? Royal Sister, are you feeling unwell?"

Princess Xia Zhiqing did not answer.

She took a step forward, her gaze like an unsheathed sharp sword, piercing straight into Crown Prince Xia Hong's eyes, as if wanting to pierce through this skin and see what exactly was hidden inside.

The younger brother before her still had that handsome face, and his smile remained gentle.

But... in his eyes, there was a new composure she had never seen before, along with a deeply hidden sharpness—this was not the brashness of a youth, but the accumulation of someone who had experienced life and death, like a blade polished a thousand times, its edge so thin it was invisible, yet sharp enough to make one's heart run cold.

It was as if his Soul had been replaced.

Finally, she voiced the question that had been circling in her mind for a long time. Her voice was very soft, but carried an unquestionable firmness, like a nail driven into bone: "Who... exactly are you?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the gazes of Xuanyuan Zhanxian, Jian Tanghuang, and the others all turned towards Crown Prince Xia Hong.

The air instantly froze, like the dead silence before a storm, where even the sound of breathing was clearly audible.

Crown Prince Xia Hong felt a bit uncomfortable being watched by everyone. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head, forcing an innocent expression onto his face—this expression looked naive, yet it carried an indescribable sense of dissonance: "Everyone, why are you looking at me like that? I am Crown Prince Xia Hong, the First Prince of the Great Xia Dynasty. Besides that, who else could I be?"

His voice was dry, as if his throat were stuffed with sand. He tried to use a joke to dissolve this gravity, but it was as pale as a shield made of paper.

"No, you are not him."

Princess Xia Zhiqing's tone was ironclad, without a hint of hesitation.

She took another step closer, her gaze like a torch, as if wanting to burn through this familiar skin and burn the real Soul inside: "The former Crown Prince Xia Hong, although talented, was brash and ignorant, even a bit cowardly. But you—"

She paused, each word seemingly squeezed out from between her teeth, carrying long-suppressed anger and deep confusion: "The aura about you, your eyes—they are like a completely different person from before. You are absolutely not Crown Prince Xia Hong!"

Before she finished speaking, she suddenly raised her hand and pointed at the three men in green robes who had been standing silently behind Crown Prince Xia Hong. Her fingertips were trembling slightly, and her voice suddenly rose: "And those three! I have been in the Great Xia Dynasty for twenty years, and I have never seen them in the Royal Capital!"

"With their Early Stage Golden Core cultivation, they would be considered pillars of strength in any medium-sized Dynasty. How could they be unknown in the Great Xia Dynasty, and yet follow you so respectfully?!"

"Early Stage Golden Core?!"

These four words were like a thunderclap, exploding in the hearts of the few people from the Great Xia Dynasty, making their eardrums buzz.

Although they had felt these three were extraordinary before, they never expected them to be Golden Core Cultivators!

In the entire Great Xia Dynasty, there were no more than ten Golden Core Cultivators, and each one was a national treasure, rarely seen in daily life.

Three Golden Core Cultivators appeared out of thin air, as if they had popped out of the ground, and were willing to be attendants to Crown Prince Xia Hong? This was simply a fantasy!

The atmosphere instantly froze to the freezing point. The wind on the Martial Arts Arena seemed to have stopped flowing, and even the flags hung motionless.

Countless gazes focused on Crown Prince Xia Hong and the three people behind him—doubt, inquiry, vigilance... various emotions intertwined and collided in the air, like an invisible tangle of chaos.

Princess Xia Zhiqing's words were like a key, opening the door in the hearts of everyone from the Great Xia Dynasty that had vaguely felt strange—this door had always been closed, and they had only felt that something was wrong, but could not say what. Now, it had finally been pushed open, and what was revealed inside made them shudder.

Only Chu Changsheng and Qian Fugui exchanged a glance. A trace of realization flashed in both their eyes—there was no surprise in this realization, only the calmness of "as expected."

Facing Princess Xia Zhiqing's relentless pressing and the scrutinizing gazes of the crowd, the awkward expression on Crown Prince Xia Hong's face gradually receded. It was like the tide pulling back, revealing the reefs beneath.

He lowered his hand from the back of his head and straightened his body. At this moment, the aura around him changed abruptly, as if he were a different person.

In his originally gentle eyes, a bottomless calmness and composure slowly emerged—this calmness was not faked, but exuded from his very bones, like an ancient well of a thousand years, still on the surface, but with bottomless cold water underneath. It was as if a veil of disguise had been stripped away.

He did not answer immediately, but quietly looked at Princess Xia Zhiqing, then swept his gaze over Xuanyuan Zhanxian and the others. The air was taut as a bowstring at this moment, and everyone held their breath unconsciously, as if afraid of disturbing something.

His Adam's apple rolled gently, and a sigh fell into the stagnant air like a feather. What this sigh carried was a sense of vicissitudes and contemplation far beyond his age, like an undercurrent beneath a lake in late autumn; the surface was calm, but underneath was a surging tide, hiding a depth that no one could understand.

"Royal Sister is indeed meticulous."

The hoarseness in his voice had quietly dissipated, like morning mist blown away by the wind. His fingertips unconsciously rubbed the dark patterns on his cuffs, the movement unhurried, carrying an indescribable composure.

The greenness of his youth had receded like the tide, and at this moment, his eyes were as calm as a cold pool in the dead of night—calm, yet they seemed able to reflect the deepest tremblings of the human heart, to see those secrets hidden in the corners.

"Royal Sister, I am indeed your younger brother, Crown Prince Xia Hong. The Great Xia Dynasty Bloodline flowing in this body, and the Royal mark engraved in my Divine Soul, cannot be faked in the slightest."

As his voice fell, his gaze suddenly turned to the three figures with restrained auras behind him—they stood or leaned, their robes motionless in the wind, like three ancient pines rooted for a thousand years, yet they bowed their heads slightly the moment his gaze swept over them, their movements as uniform as if they had been rehearsed a thousand times.

Finally, his gaze returned to Princess Xia Zhiqing's face, his tone so gentle it was as if he were afraid of disturbing something, like he was coaxing a frightened child: "As for them... they are just nameless people guarding the Great Xia Dynasty in the shadows. It is perfectly normal that Royal Sister does not know about them."

He leaned forward slightly, his palm cupped near his lips, his voice very low, yet every word weighed a thousand jin, as if each one had been dug out from the bottom of his heart: "Royal Sister only needs to remember that I am still the same Crown Prince Xia Hong who used to follow behind you begging for candy, and the Great Xia Dynasty will always be the home country that this Prince swears to protect with his life."

"Everything we are doing right now, even if it seems like madness in the eyes of the world—"

"Is all just to, in this dead end where everything is lost—"

His eyes were clear as snowmelt, without a hint of hesitation. This firmness seemed capable of shattering stubborn stones, of shattering all obstacles in this world: "Carve out a glimmer of hope for the Great Xia Dynasty!"

Princess Xia Zhiqing stared at him blankly. Her fingertips still retained the warmth of their blood connection from when they had touched earlier, yet the calm, almost unfamiliar appearance before her caused a fog-like doubt to surge in her heart—this doubt was like willow catkins in spring, drifting and floating, impossible to catch, and impossible to drive away. The road ahead was vast and hazy, impossible to see clearly.

Just in this tense silence—on the high platform, a thunderous voice suddenly exploded, instantly tearing through the subtle atmosphere of this area.

This voice came too suddenly, like a knife, forcefully cleaving through the stagnant air. The gilded gavel struck the stone platform heavily, shaking the air and making everyone's heart jump: "The second round of drawing lots, begin!"

Thousands of tokens with flowing spiritual light fell in response, like meteors crashing to the ground, trailing tails of various colors, landing precisely in the hands of every contestant who advanced.

Xuanyuan Zhanxian lightly pinched it with his fingertips, and this token engraved with the character "One" came to rest in his palm. The patterns on the token still carried residual heat. He raised an eyebrow slightly, and a careless smile spread across his lips—this smile was lazy, as if he had seen something interesting: "What luck... it's my turn to go up in the first round?"

These words immediately diverted everyone's attention away from Crown Prince Xia Hong—the crowd that had just been surrounding Crown Prince Xia Hong turned their heads in unison, their gazes all focusing on the token in Xuanyuan Zhanxian's hand, gathering towards him like the wind, like a swarm of ants attracted by honey.

Princess Xia Zhiqing also suppressed the surging waves in her heart, her fingertips tightly clutching her sleeves, her tone full of concern, in which still hid a trace of lingering suspicion: "Senior Brother Xuanyuan, you must be careful."