204: Throwing mud at each other

"The northern frontier's long winds stir the spiritual tide, Great Yu's Prodigies gather in the Pill Firmament!"

"Today, Emperor Taizong of Great Yu presides over the court, Prince Kang takes his seat, Duke Zhenguo handles the rites, and the Prime Minister oversees the ceremony, inviting heroes from the northern frontier to gather at the Heavenly Capital Training Ground."

"Profound Qi clashes with the Big Dipper as drums, Spiritual Veins shake the earth as bells. This competition does not judge status by strength, but solely proves the Immortal Dao with a pure heart."

"Whether controlling artifacts to soar through clouds and break formations, or channeling spiritual energy to form flames and scorch the sky, those who claim victory will be bestowed with a 'Great Yu's Number One Prodigy' pendant personally forged by Emperor Taizong. They may enter the Purple Palace Hall to receive their titles and enjoy the exclusive right to Great Yu's resources!"

"In this flourishing era of Great Yu, may all Prodigies display their learning, compete with their sharpest edge, establish their hearts through martial arts, and spread their prestige through skill, living up to the spiritual essence of the northern frontier and the boundless grace of Great Yu!"

"At this moment, the drums sound thrice, and the martial arts banquet begins."

"Please ascend the battle platforms and vie for the Peak!"

As the Official of the Ministry of Rites finished speaking on the stage, the atmosphere in the crowded venue instantly soared.

However, Zhou Yan, seated at the highest point, seemed somewhat uninterested.

Although his gaze was directed below the stage, he spoke to the person beside him.

"What's with that jade pendant inscribed with 'Great Yu's Number One Prodigy'?"

"I don't recall making such a thing these past two days."

This was originally a minor matter. After all, it's common practice for a leader to endorse a competition's reward and then exaggerate it with a fabricated story.

But because the other party did it without notifying Zhou Yan beforehand, Zhou Yan could use this to make a fuss.

However, reality is often more abstract than imagined.

No sooner had Zhou Yan finished speaking than Chen Jingyuan, sitting to his right, slammed the table and sternly demanded.

"Zhang Feng! How dare you usurp the Former Emperor's name? You have immense gall!"

Zhou Yan was also startled by his slap.

What's wrong with this old fellow?

Below the high platform, voices buzzed as everyone eagerly awaited the start of the competition, eager to witness the grace of the contemporary Prodigies.

Yet, atop the high platform, these pillars of the Great Yu Dynasty, the stalwarts of the nation, were still scheming against each other, wishing to put the other to death.

All of this began in the morning.

Zhou Yan's mood was already poor when he arrived at the venue.

The reason was that he hadn't managed to get anything particularly good from the Demon Venerable.

Through a random Law progress draw, he obtained "+63%" progress.

But based on previous experience, Zhou Yan could roughly guess.

Once Zhou Yan chose to use it, this 63% progress would inevitably force him into a long period of inactivity, which outsiders would perceive as "comprehending the Dao."

However, he didn't have time to comprehend the Dao right now, so this item was temporarily useless.

As for the other Divine Ability, it was even stranger.

It wasn't that it wasn't powerful, but its overall impression had an indescribable feeling.

That Divine Ability was named "I Don't Want to Die," and like Li Wenbo's Divine Ability, it was a Law Divine Ability self-created after Soul Transformation.

However, Zhou Yan disliked the name and changed it to "Not Falling into the Yellow Springs."

As for the so-called Law Divine Ability, it is created based on one's understanding of Law and insights gained during Dao enlightenment.

From this name, one can infer the circumstances under which the Demon Venerable created this method.

And its effect is also very simple.

Activating this Divine Ability can negate one fatal attack, but it requires consuming an equivalent amount of mana or Law power as that attack.

If the mana or Law power is insufficient to negate the damage, all mana and Law power will be directly emptied.

The side effect of this depletion will prevent the Divine Ability from being cast again for a short period.

In other words, this is an ability to forcibly preserve one's life by reducing or emptying mana.

This Divine Ability cannot be called strong, as it can only keep you from dying, unlike Li Wenbo who can directly modify concepts.

But it is by no means weak. If mana recovery is fast, or if there are special resources to assist in continuous mana replenishment, then it can indeed achieve the effect of living as long as one has mana.

All in all, if one is low on mana, after surviving once, they can pretty much only engage in close combat, which is equivalent to having an extra Revival Armor.

But if one has a long mana bar, although they can cling to life, if they've been beaten to such a state, living a little longer doesn't seem to be of much use.

Recalling Li Wenbo once saying that the Demon Venerable was beaten to death by Mahayana Cultivators sent by several forces, and then seeing the name of this Divine Ability, Zhou Yan felt it was somewhat inauspicious.

Although having some gain is better than none, people are always greedy, and after getting something, they crave more.

Zhou Yan originally only wanted rewards, but now he longed for more mechanistic Divine Abilities. After all, for someone like him, whose stats are not high, these numerical Divine Abilities are quite useless.

hp is fine; after each major Realm Breakthrough, life evolution automatically increases significantly.

But thinking about how mana still needs to be slowly refined, Zhou Yan felt a headache.

This hundred thousand mana is probably only enough for the early Nascent Soul Stage; it might become insufficient in the Late Stage.

Therefore, Zhou Yan couldn't help but wonder why he only had Nascent Soul Stage mana and Divine Sense, but not Nascent Soul Stage vitality?

With such low stats, how could he, a Core Formation Middle Stage Cultivator, feel secure?

Thus, Zhou Yan maintained a stern face upon arriving at the venue, intending to use this mood to cause trouble. Who knew that as soon as he arrived, he saw Duke Zhenguo and others already arguing.

Duke Zhenguo had Prince Kang and Prime Minister Zhang pinned down, striking left and right. Surrounding officials tried to mediate, but no one dared to step forward and stop him.

It wasn't until Zhou Yan arrived that Duke Zhenguo slowly got up, claiming it was just a playful scuffle.

If Zhou Yan hadn't personally seen Duke Zhenguo use Law power to suppress the two, he might have believed him.

Zhou Yan, inexplicably, couldn't vent his anger.

After he took his seat at the head, the assembly officially began.

First, the Minister of Rites spoke, mainly introducing Zhou Yan, and briefly mentioning the other officials present.

It's worth noting that after introducing Zhou Yan, the Minister of Rites first introduced Duke Zhenguo, and then Prince Kang.

Although it was just a matter of order, Zhou Yan smelled a strong scent of gunpowder.

On his first day at court, he had secretly observed from the side hall.

The order of ascending the hall was originally Prince Kang first, followed by Duke Zhenguo.

In addition, Zhou Yan had done his homework beforehand. Although Duke Zhenguo held the most power in the court currently, in terms of official rank alone, the highest was still the First Rank Regent, Prince Kang, followed by the Duke, and finally the Prime Minister.

Now, such an ordering in a public setting, coupled with the postures of the three at the opening, seemed overly deliberate to Zhou Yan.

Then, it returned to the scene at the beginning where Duke Zhenguo directly attacked the Prime Minister.

At this moment, Chen Jingyuan was filled with righteous indignation, pointing at Zhang Feng and cursing him.

He was, after all, from a military background, and his cursing was completely unrefined, his words vulgar and unbearable.

Zhang Feng's face turned purple with anger, and he could only repeatedly rebuke, "How uncivilized."

During their argument, Prince Kang even interjected, accusing the two of shamelessness in public, with the younger showing no respect and the elder showing no kindness, and that they should be immediately dismissed from their posts, sending the elder home to retire and the younger down to gain experience.

As a result, Prince Kang was cursed back by both of them.

They even brought out the rhetoric Zhou Yan had intended to use to accuse them, claiming that the previous assassination of Zhou Yan must have been instigated by Prince Kang, saying that this dog was evil-minded and had long coveted the throne.

Then they began to expose each other's shortcomings, strongly urging Zhou Yan to issue an imperial decree to chop Prince Kang into minced meat for dumplings, then feed the dumplings to fish, and finally stir-fry the fish to feed to dogs.

Their methods were even more ruthless than what Zhou Yan had previously imagined.

Subsequently, the verbal battle escalated into a three-way melee, so fierce that Zhou Yan couldn't interject.

He could only helplessly look at Loyal and Virtuous, sending a Divine Thought.

"What's going on? I haven't even made a move, and they've already started infighting?"

Loyal and Virtuous, who was standing by, wiped away cold sweat and cautiously replied.

"These three are always like this."

"If it weren't for The Emperor's intimidating presence at the first court assembly that day, they would probably have started arguing on the spot."

"If the argument got heated, Duke Zhenguo might even activate his Water Element power to attack Prince Kang and the Prime Minister."

Zhou Yan was stunned. There was an "Octagon Cage" segment halfway through the court assembly? Was the Great Yu court truly so wild?

Seemingly sensing Zhou Yan's confusion, Loyal and Virtuous quickly explained.

"The Emperor misunderstands. They are, after all, important court officials. If they were to openly fight in court, the impact would be too severe, and they would certainly suffer a backlash from the national destiny."

"Therefore, at most, it would be like just now, suppressing the opponent with cultivation to make them appear slightly discomfited."

"As for what I just said about 'activating Water Element,' it was actually a euphemism for foul language, as speaking directly might defile Your Majesty's ears."

Zhou Yan gave Loyal and Virtuous a lingering glance.

You've already defiled my ears.

So, this old man actually has a record of "relieving himself" on those two during court assemblies?

Judging by his tone, it wasn't just once.

What is this?

They'd be better off having a real fight with actual weapons!

So they only care about court rules and completely disregard the young Emperor's emotional well-being, is that it?

At this point, Zhou Yan finally understood why Li Wenbo, who was usually equally unconstrained, would use such sharp words to evaluate these three.

With such a group of "pillars" in the Great Yu court, it was probably doomed to fail soon.