Chapter 62: The Imperial Court's Invitation

  Dazzling sword light flashed out, numerous heavy whip shadows filled the sky, and instantly dispersed.

  On the stage, only that one illusory giant sword remained, piercing through the sky and shattering the heavens. Liu Baisheng's face turned somewhat pale, and the soft-boned whip of the leech python also lost its previous dazzling luster.

  Sigh...

  A giant sword slashed down through the air, a beam of light tore across the sky, heading straight for Liu Baisheng.

  Liu Baisheng's eyes narrowed, as if making an important decision, gazing at the dazzling sword aura, then shook his head and suddenly jumped off the stage.

  The one who steps down from the stage is the loser. Liu Baisheng surprisingly conceded defeat voluntarily.

  The descending hands stopped, the illusory giant sword suddenly stopped in mid-air, and disappeared instantly. If Liu Baisheng hadn't dodged just now, this sword would have split the entire arena in two.

  Only Gu Chen was left on the arena, all members of the Liu and Yun families had been eliminated. In this martial arts competition between the three families, Gu Chen defeated Yun Xuan from the Yun family and Liu Baisheng from the Liu family, allowing the Gu family to win.

  According to the rules, the Liu family will give one-tenth of their business to the Gu family, and the Yun family will give two-tenths of their business to the Gu family.

  Everyone's eyes were bewildered, and they couldn't quite wrap their heads around it. Gu Chen made this one sword move, and Liu Baisheng didn't even try to block it, instead choosing to jump down from the stage and concede defeat.

  However, many of the strong who were above the sixth layer of the Innate Realm could see that Liu Baisheng's face was pale and his breathing was not smooth, obviously showing symptoms of severe damage to his spiritual core.

  Just now the two men were fighting, Liu Baisheng knew that this battle was crucial, and he made a move with his full strength, but that endless whip was still broken by Gu Chen.

  Then, Gu Chen took the upper hand and launched a counterattack against Liu Baisheng.

  It was just a brief exchange, but Liu Baisheng clearly understood that Gu Chen's strength was not inferior to his own. Even if he used 100% of his strength, he had no guarantee of winning. So, he burst out with his cultivation and launched the strongest technique of the Liu family: Whip Shadow Repeatedly...

  Whip Shadow requires at least sixth-level Innate Realm cultivation to fully deploy, but Liu Baisheng's fourth-level Innate Realm cultivation consumed a large amount of essence, barely managing to deploy Whip Shadow and launch a fierce attack on Gu Chen.

  Originally, it was thought that Gu Chen would inevitably fall under the heavy whip shadows. However, Liu Baisheng did not expect that Gu Chen's physical strength was terrifyingly strong. The numerous whip shadows and countless whip lashes that rained down were all blocked by Gu Chen using the Yin Yang Splitting Origin Sword in his hand.

  Everyone looked at the stage, only to see a heavy whip shadow. In fact, Gu Chen stood still, his double swords constantly slashing in all directions, shrinking the defensive range to a very small area, just enough to protect his entire body. This move, Whip Shadow, was incredibly powerful, but the whips shooting from all sides were unable to break through Gu Chen's defenses by even a single step, all being blocked by his Yin-Yang Splitting Sword three feet away.

  Liu Baisheng wielded his whip with a flurry of shadows, consuming a large amount of spiritual energy. After more than twenty breaths, he still couldn't defeat Gu Chen. Although Gu Chen was only defending the three-foot radius around him, he did so with an impenetrable defense that allowed no opening for Liu Baisheng's whip to enter within his three-foot boundary.

  Liu Baisheng saw this and thought it was abnormal. He used his whip shadow, which was heavy with power, but even a cultivator at the fifth level of Xiantian would find it hard to resist. However, Gu Chen blocked each whip strike one by one, without showing any signs of using too much force or exhausting his spiritual energy.

  On the other hand, Liu Baisheng had been making more than twenty consecutive gasps, his vital energy greatly consumed, and he was already exhausted.

  Gǔ Chén's swordsmanship was too powerful, and Liù Bǎi Shēng knew he had lost. His vital energy was severely depleted, and now he couldn't even compare to Yún Xuān. How could he still compete with Gǔ Chén? So when Gǔ Chén struck with his sword, Liù Bǎi Shēng voluntarily gave up and conceded defeat.

  The Gu family immediately stood up, unable to hold back a cheer. Originally, the three generations of the Gu family had the lowest overall strength among the three families, but when Gu Chen took the stage, he greatly exceeded everyone's expectations, not only defeating Yun Xuan, but also defeating Liu Bai Sheng, allowing the Gu family to take first place.

  When Gu Xian came to the Liu's house, he thought that it was already extremely difficult to maintain second place, but in the end, he unexpectedly obtained first place.

  Everyone stared at Gu Chen as if he were a monster. A cultivator of the Pre-Heaven Realm's third layer had actually defeated a cultivator of the Pre-Heaven Realm's fourth layer. Just now, the whip shadows were heavy and dense, and everyone didn't even see clearly the specific battle process between Gu Chen and Liu Baisheng.

  Only to know that Liu Baisheng's whip shadow lasted for more than 20 breaths on the stage, suddenly a sword aura rose into the sky and broke through the heavy whip shadow, then...Liu Baisheng conceded defeat voluntarily.

  All of this is really too unbelievable.

  In a flash, a figure appeared on the stage. It was Gong Changyi, the lord of Le Shui City. He said: "As witnessed by the officials, this time the three families of Gu, Yun and Liu held a martial arts competition. The Gu family won first place, the Liu family came in second, and the Yun family came in third. Three days later, the Yun family must transfer two-tenths of their property to the Gu family, and the Liu family must transfer one-tenth of their property to the Gu family. No delay is allowed."

  Gong Changyi walked up to Gu Chen and asked, "Are you Gu Chen?"

  Gu Chen nodded and said: "Yes..."

  Gong Changyi nodded, with a look of appreciation in his eyes, and said: "You're not bad, the Imperial Court needs talents like you. Are you interested in joining the Imperial Court? The gates of the Imperial Court will be open to you at any time."

  Gong Changyi's words shocked everyone, the imperial court actually invited Gu Chen? This is something that has never happened in Leishui City, even when Yunxuan was hailed as the number one genius of Leishui City, he didn't receive this treatment.

  The Imperial Court, this is the most powerful Xianmen force in Daying Dynasty. As long as you join the Imperial Court, no one in Daying Dynasty will dare to look down on you, whether it's a noble family or a Xianmen sect.

  Gu Chen furrowed his brow in thought and shook his head.

  Gǔ Chén's understanding of the Imperial Court is much clearer than that of the people in Lè Shuǐ City, and it can be said that he understands more clearly than Gōng Cháng Yì, the lord of the city. In his past life, Gǔ Chén's greatest enemy was Dà Yíng Tàizǐ Cáng Tiān Jī, so naturally, he is quite familiar with the Imperial Court.

  The entire Daxing Emperor's court spans tens of thousands of miles, and with such a large range, it is impossible to manage solely by the hands of the Zang family. Therefore, the land was divided into nine parts, each managed by one of the nine great immortal families.

  The Zang family occupies the central area, and then in the east, south, west, north, southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast directions, each of the other eight major families manages separately. Each of the eight major families manages an area exceeding 100,000 square miles.

  Le Shui City is located in the far east of Da Ying, with a radius of 100,000 miles to the east. It is managed by the Gong family. Gong Changyi was able to become the master of Le Shui City because he had achieved the fifth level of Xiantian Realm cultivation, which is naturally due to being a member of one of the nine major Xian families, the Gong family.

  Leshui City is just a small city, for the entire Gong family's territory of 100,000 miles, it can't be counted as anything. This Gong Changyi is also just a very minor figure in the Gong family, otherwise he wouldn't have been sent to manage such a small city.

  Gong Changyi said that he wanted Gu Chen to join the Imperial Court, but in fact, it was just a way for the Gong family to recruit talent.

  As a member of the Gong family, Gong Changyi naturally knew that Yun Xuan was 16 years old when he entered the prenatal realm. Although he was the first genius in Leshui City, looking at the entire Gong family territory, it was really nothing to be proud of, let alone the entire Daying Dynasty.

  In the eyes of a master, the acquired realm cannot be considered as a cultivator, it is only when one reaches the innate realm that they are considered to have entered the door, and only by entering the divine sea realm, with boundless magical powers, can they be said to have truly set foot on the path of cultivation.

  For people in Le Shui Cheng, the Imperial Court is just a legendary giant entity. If the Imperial Court wants to recruit someone, they would probably have to sharpen their heads and drill into it.

  Jian Gu Chen shook his head, and everyone's face showed an expression of incredulity, including Liu Huayuan.

  Gong Changyi's expression was taken aback, clearly not expecting Gu Chen to refuse. At just 11 years old, Gu Chen had already entered the third layer of the Pre-Heaven Realm, a speed that was quite impressive even in the entire Gong family territory. In his lifetime, there was a great hope of breaking through to the Divine Sea Realm.

  It was precisely because there was hope of breaking through the Divine Sea Boundary that Gong Changyi had the intention to recruit Gu Chen, otherwise, a cultivator at the 9th layer of the Innate Boundary would be nothing more than a beginner for the Gong family.

  "Why? You don't want to?" Gong Changyi asked.

  Everyone in the Gu family was secretly worried about Gu Chen, hoping he would join the Imperial Court. If someone from their family joined the imperial power, who would dare to provoke the Gu family in Lesui City again?

  Gu Chen nodded and said: "I'm still young, I don't want to leave home for now."

  Joining the Gong family is like an ordinary person joining the Gu family, just a lower-ranking member. Even if one's cultivation grows quickly and they are of great use to the family, at most they will be granted the surname Gong, but still remain a lower-ranking member.

  Gu Chen didn't want to be a servant, nor did he want to change his name or surname, so why would he go to the Gong family?

  "Joining the Imperial Court has its advantages, you know. There are cultivators above the Spiritual Sea realm who can guide your cultivation and teach you middle-grade techniques. In the future, you might even break through to the Spiritual Sea realm, which is truly a realm of immortality. Lower-grade techniques, at most, can only bring you to the ninth layer of the Pre-Heavenly realm, and it's impossible to enter the Spiritual Sea realm with those."

  Everyone who heard this was overjoyed, their hearts racing with excitement. A master of the Spiritual Ocean realm or higher would be guiding them, and they could learn a cultivation technique that could take them to the Spiritual Ocean realm... Heaven, is this really happening?

  Many people in their hearts are shouting: Let me go, I am willing to work hard...

  Mastery above the Spiritual Ocean Realm? Can a Zhong Cheng Fa jue cultivate up to the Spiritual Ocean Realm?

  Gu Chen was not under any pressure, he had experience reaching the Fate Spring realm in his past life, what guidance did he need from a Tian Hai realm cultivator? He had the Supreme Dharma Decree, countless superior Dharma Decrees, what use were the mediocre Dharma Decrees of a Tian Hai realm cultivator to him?

  Gu Chen shook his head as before: "Thank you for your kindness, Master Gong. I appreciate it, but for now, I still don't want to leave home."

  Gong Changyi's face lost its smile, he was a bit suspicious, was this kid not normal in the head? Such good conditions, yet he didn't go?

  "When you've figured it out and want to step into a higher realm on your cultivation path, come find me in the Western City. The Emperor's Court will always welcome you." Gong Changyi left behind these words before leaving the arena.

  Gu Chen also stepped down from the arena, and reunited with the Gu family members. The Three Families Martial Arts Gathering had come to an end. Both the Gu and Yun families bid farewell to the Liu family and headed out of the Liu estate.

  Apart from family members, outsiders flying their kites in the mansion is extremely disrespectful behavior. Therefore, kite-flying must be done outside of the Liu residence.

  Along the way, everyone looked at Gu Chen's eyes with a very colorful expression, which can be described in one sentence as completely incomprehensible.