185: Feel free to threaten me next time.

The last one to come out was Mu Zining.

Her worldly experience was not extensive to begin with, and having experienced such a major event this time, she truly couldn't handle it, walking out with a limp.

She glared at Cao Bu, gnashing her teeth in anger.

This beast, in half a year, spent two months on her. He was simply worse than an animal!

Cao Bu smiled slightly.

Although Mu Zining looked mature, in reality, the scenes she had seen were no different from a young girl, which truly made him reluctant to leave.

"Madam Mu, you are welcome to come and threaten me again next time."

"Hmph!"

Mu Zining snorted coldly and turned to leave, limping.

She had completely fallen into Cao Bu's hands.

Watching her back, a hint of reluctance flashed in Cao Bu's eyes.

This woman was truly exceptionally exciting.

At this moment, Yan Ruyu, Bai Meier, and Fang Ruodan walked out.

Because they had been trained by Cao Bu for a long time, their endurance was still within a tolerable range.

"Let's go, let's rest in the Time Wheel Emperor Palace for a while, then head to the square," Cao Bu said.

Yan Ruyu secretly complained in her heart: "The Master is really something; we just rested not long ago, and he wants to toss us about again."

This time, however, she thought wrong.

Cao Bu was genuinely a bit tired; he just wanted to go in to recover his Qi and blood as soon as possible.

Two hours later.

On the high platform of the Gu Clan square, Cao Bu's figure suddenly appeared.

The 11,000 contestants standing neatly in the square saw this and saluted one after another: "Greetings, Clan Chief Cao!"

Cao Bu raised his hand in a pressing motion, his voice gentle: "Everyone, no need for formalities."

"Today, the second stage of the Heavenly Pride Battle is about to begin. This Clan Chief wishes you all success from the start and that you successfully win the qualifications to enter the finals."

As he spoke, his gaze swept across the entire venue without leaving a trace.

Sure enough, he did not see the figures of Mu Zining and the others.

Thinking about it, it made sense. Even if they were Quasi-Emperor cultivators, after half a year of being tossed about, no matter how good their Physique was, they needed to rest well to prepare for the next training.

"They really understand my mind," Cao Bu whispered, then raised his voice and announced loudly: "The second stage of the Heavenly Pride Battle is called 'A Hundred Boats Competing'."

"The goal is to select 1,000 top experts from the 11,000 people present."

"Next, you 11,000 people will be randomly divided into 100 groups, with 110 people in each group."

"Each group will use a 'double-elimination tournament' system for the arena battles."

"Only contestants who lose two matches will be completely eliminated."

"The competition will be divided into two brackets: the Winners' Bracket, which includes contestants on a winning streak, where the top nine in each group will advance directly."

"The Losers' Bracket will contain contestants who have lost one match and need to continue competing; the last qualifying spot for each group will be determined by a duel between the tenth place of the Winners' Bracket and the champion of the Losers' Bracket, with the winner obtaining the qualification to advance."

"In other words, each group will ultimately determine ten qualifiers, totaling 1,000 people from the 100 groups, who will enter the third stage of the Heavenly Pride Battle to compete for the top 100 rankings."

"Now, This Clan Chief officially announces: The second stage of the Heavenly Pride Battle, begin!"

As his voice fell, Cao Bu waved his hand, and the thousand illusions exquisite pagoda appeared above the square.

The tens of thousands of contestants did not hesitate, leaping up one after another and quickly pouring into the pagoda.

Before long, all 11,000 people had entered the pagoda.

With a boom, the thousand illusions exquisite pagoda landed in the center of the square, its body flashing slightly with light before returning to calm.

Cao Bu waved his hand again, and 100 water mirrors instantly appeared around the thousand illusions exquisite pagoda.

Each water mirror corresponded to a group's arena, clearly showing the figures of the 110 contestants in each group, and even their subtle movements could be seen clearly.

Above the arena.

Two referee figures formed from Spiritual Qi hovered, loudly reading out the competition rules again, then methodically assigned numbers to the contestants in each group.

All this orderly operation was actually supported by the powerful brainpower of Ye Linglong, which far exceeded that of ordinary people.

On the left and right sides of each water mirror stood a leaderboard made of light patterns, marking the Winners' Bracket and the Losers' Bracket respectively.

The names of contestants who won two consecutive battles would appear in real-time on the Winners' Bracket leaderboard, while those who had lost one match were automatically placed into the Losers' Bracket.

If someone lost two matches, their name would disappear from the leaderboard, and they would completely lose the qualification to advance, until the top ten qualifiers were finally determined for each group.

As the referee announced the start of the competition, the arenas in each group instantly boiled over; flashes of Spiritual Qi and the sounds of weapons clashing came through the water mirrors.

Cao Bu forced himself to watch the battle, but his eyes were not on the intense competition; instead, he scanned back and forth between the water mirrors, staring at the appearances of those female Prodigies showing off their style.

Some were heroic and spirited, with Spiritual Qi overwhelming when swinging their swords.

Some were gentle and agile, their movement techniques as elegant as butterflies.

These proud daughters of heaven—in the past, he wouldn't even have been qualified to carry their shoes.

They were either Saintesses held in the palms of major powers, or noble imperial daughters.

Each one was stunningly beautiful with outstanding talent, leaving him dazzled.

Unfortunately, except for a few, most did not catch his eye.

It wasn't that these women weren't beautiful, but having experienced so much, Cao Bu's aesthetic standards had become extremely picky.

If they weren't ranked among the ten beauties of the spirit realm, they could hardly enter his Dharma Eye.

Time passed day by day.

The intensity of the arena matches did not diminish in the slightest.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed, and the second stage of the Heavenly Pride Battle finally came to an end.

Lin Dong, Chu Hao, Lin Rou, Ye Lingxi, and Mo Yu all advanced.

According to Cao Bu's estimation, the strength of these few could all rank in the top ten.

As for the specific rankings, except for Lin Dong, the son of destiny, the positions of the others were still hard to determine.

As the son of destiny of this generation, Lin Dong bore great Luck, so taking first place was almost unquestionable.

"Everyone, the second stage of the Heavenly Pride Battle has officially ended."

"In the next ten days, everyone should rest, heal, and adjust yourselves to prepare for the subsequent final battle."

After Cao Bu finished speaking, he did not linger, flashing away and disappearing from the square.

A month had passed; Mu Zining and the other women should have recovered almost completely.

It was just the right time to start the next round of the training plan.

Just as he returned to Cangfeng Residence, before Cao Bu had time to take out the ten thousand fragrances paying homage to the phoenix diagram to contact them, footsteps came from outside the courtyard.

Cao Bu looked back and quickly went to greet them.

"Heart Snow, do you have something to find me for?"

Li Xinxue's eyes were complex, with some anticipation and also some nervousness.

"Big Brother, you haven't accompanied me for a drink in a long time."

Cao Bu patted his head and quickly nodded in agreement: "Alright, Big Brother will accompany you for a drink tonight."

"But it's agreed, only for tonight. Don't be like before, drinking for days on end and delaying important matters."

Li Xinxue nodded quickly: "Don't worry, Big Brother, this time it will be quick."

As she spoke, she turned and left, her fingertips unconsciously clutching her skirt, as if she were nervous about something.

Cao Bu greeted Yan Ruyu and Bai Meier, then walked with Li Xinxue toward Xiang Xiao Courtyard.

Not long after, inside Xiang Xiao Courtyard, it was the same as usual.

On the table were a few small dishes and two pots of fine wine; the two sat opposite each other, chatting while drinking.

Without knowing it, the wine in the cup was replaced with Sleepless Drunken Dream.

After drinking only a few cups, Li Xinxue's eyes became unfocused, and she fell drunk at the table.

Cao Bu first got up and walked out of Xiang Xiao Courtyard. After confirming that there was no one around, he quietly returned to the courtyard to carefully tend to the drunken Li Xinxue.

An hour later, he gently closed the door, left Xiang Xiao Courtyard, and walked toward Cangfeng Residence.