170: Chapter 170 Infiltrating the Group of Strong Individuals, Everyone Possesses Divine Will! Find the Right Opportunity to Make a Move!

On the Prodigy Group contestant seating area on the west side of the venue, Luo Qing stared blankly at that tall, straight back, her fingertips tightening slightly.

Divine Intent... It was actually a Divine Intent Level combatant! A Divine Will Celestial under thirty... A bitter taste rose in her mouth.

Just a few days ago, she was full of pride, believing that since she had reached the late stage of the Yukong Realm at twenty-nine, she could be considered a top-tier prodigy among the youth of all China, and it wasn't impossible for her to vie for the title of the number one prodigy in the country.

But now, seeing with her own eyes that someone had stepped over the threshold of Divine Intent—a threshold that countless martial artists spent their entire lives trying to touch—at this age, she finally understood how ridiculous her previous thoughts had been.

Those truly qualified to vie for the top spot had always been figures of this caliber.

"If I could form an alliance with such a powerhouse, I wouldn't have to worry about the melee in the second stage at all..." Luo Qing muttered to herself, a trace of yearning flashing in her eyes.

The melee format was treacherous; one slight misstep could lead to being ganged up on and eliminated.

If she had a Divine Intent Level combatant by her side, she could practically walk sideways without fear; no accidents could possibly occur.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but recall Chen Luo, whom she had been staking out for days.

Compared to this mysterious powerhouse before her, Chen Luo's weird, crooked tricks were simply not worth mentioning.

She had foolishly staked him out for a day and a night, yet hadn't even caught a glimpse of him; thinking about it now, it was utterly humiliating.

However, she also knew that this was just wishful thinking.

Prodigies possessing Divine Intent Level combat power were all directly guaranteed entry into the third stage; there was no way they would be struggling through the preliminaries and melee rounds like the rest of them.

Their starting line was the finish line she could only reach by giving her all.

Luo Qing sighed softly, withdrew her gaze, suppressed the complicated emotions in her heart, and refocused her attention on the competition stage.

...

Lu Qingyun felt that faint, elusive gaze behind him, but didn't even turn his head.

Luo Qing? It would be a miracle if she recognized him.

The face he wore now was one he had casually sculpted, and his name was Universe Invincible Tyrannosaurus God of War; it had absolutely nothing to do with Chen Luo.

He had no desire to have any interaction with her anyway, as he already knew the whereabouts of the heavenly demon stone.

The tool's purpose was gone, so he naturally didn't need to continue cosplaying as a lecherous, perverted stalker.

Lu Qingyun did not leave through the contestant exit.

Instead, he turned and walked straight along the venue corridor towards the Powerhouse Group competition area on the east side.

If he wanted to grind experience, he had to go to the Powerhouse Group.

It was full of Divine Will Celestials; in Lu Qingyun's eyes, they were all walking experience bags and health bar power banks.

The entrance to the Powerhouse Group competition area didn't even have a guard.

After all, those who could come here were at least at the initial stage of Divine Intent, and no one would be bored enough to pretend to be a powerhouse just to come in and look for trouble.

As the saying went, people with strength and status valued their reputation!

So, Lu Qingyun walked in swaggeringly, found the most secluded corner to sit down, and kept his aura at the initial stage of Divine Intent—plain, unremarkable, and completely inconspicuous.

Looking around, on the massive competition stage, two powerhouses at the middle stage of Divine Intent were fighting with world-shaking intensity.

The roar of clashing Spirit Arts made eardrums tremble, the sturdy alloy stage was covered in cracks, and ripples spread through the surrounding space.

Hundreds of people sat below the stage, with the lowest aura being at the first level of Divine Intent; in the front rows, there were even old monsters at the Peak Divine Will level resting with their eyes closed.

[Divine Intent Third Level (LV43)] [Divine Intent Fifth Level (LV45)] [Peak Divine Will (LV49)] ... Lines of level labels appeared in Lu Qingyun's eyes.

His gaze instantly heated up. All of it was experience! All of it was maximum health!

"If I had known, I would have just signed up for the Powerhouse Group..." Lu Qingyun clicked his tongue, feeling immense regret.

The Powerhouse Group was packed with Divine Intent users; why had he gone through the trouble of signing up for the Prodigy Group?

Wouldn't it have been better to just come here to grind monsters and level up?

However, there were gains and losses.

The heavenly demon stone, which was the mysterious grand prize, was for the Prodigy Group.

Even if he won first place in the Powerhouse Group, he wouldn't get the heavenly demon stone.

And now, he couldn't just rush up and attack everyone he saw; after all, there were definitely Dharma Form Grandmasters watching from above in the venue, and being too blatant could easily lead to trouble.

...

On the stage, the victor had been decided.

A burly man with a hulking frame and a face full of flesh blasted his opponent off the stage with a palm strike.

His aura, at the fourth level of Divine Intent, spread out wantonly as he laughed towards the sky.

"Trash!" He pointed at the middle-aged martial artist at the first level of Divine Intent who was climbing up from below the stage, his face full of mockery.

"A mere initial stage of Divine Intent, yet you dare to come and join in the fun at the National Martial Arts Tournament?"

"It's embarrassing just to say it! Even the top seedlings in the Prodigy Group could trade a couple of blows with you, and might not even lose.

With this level of cultivation, you have the nerve to come to the Powerhouse Group to hang around? You'd better go home and hold your children early!"

His voice, amplified by his Divine Intent, spread throughout the entire competition area.

The faces of the martial artists at the initial stage of Divine Intent below the stage were all very ugly, their fists clenched until they creaked, yet no one dared to go up and retort.

This burly man was named Zhou Hu.

Coming from a noble family, his cultivation at the fourth level of Divine Intent counted as being quite skilled in the Powerhouse Group preliminaries.

Since their strength was inferior, going up would only be asking for humiliation.

In this world, strength had always been respected!

Seeing that no one dared to make a sound, the mockery on Zhou Hu's face grew even more intense.

He thoroughly enjoyed this feeling of being the center of attention.

Even though his strength didn't actually rank very high here, since he had finally been randomly matched against someone at the initial stage of Divine Intent that he could beat, he naturally had to show off a bit!

And the person he was mocking just clapped his hands and prepared to leave the stage; he was only at the initial stage of Divine Intent, after all.

Though that was what he thought, in reality, many powerhouses stronger than him thought the same way.

In their view, for this National Martial Arts Tournament, the Powerhouse Group should naturally only be eligible for powerhouses who had absolute confidence in their own strength.

Dharma Form Grandmasters were transcendent existences who did not compete with them.

Therefore, at the very least, the minimum standard should be the fourth level of Divine Intent!

Otherwise, if there were participants in the Powerhouse Group who were weaker than those in the Prodigy Group, wouldn't that make people laugh?

Moreover, because there were so many people at the initial stage of Divine Intent, it caused them to waste more time in this round; after all, the Powerhouse Group had no direct entry spots...

Zhou Hu scanned the entire venue, his eyes full of disdain!

But just at this moment, a cold aura suddenly locked onto him!