Number One Under Heaven

Tian Yi tilted his head upwards to look at the pagoda standing in front of him with a majestic feeling that would overwhelm even cultivators.

This pagoda has five floors, each looking more profound the longer one stares at it.

At the lowest floor, a board carved from an unknown jade hung a few inches on top of the opened doors, the words ‘Heavenly Fragrance of Pure Flowers’ cleanly carved on the jaded board.

Standing by the opened doors was a beautiful girl with a face comparable to Chan Jingyi, the other elite from the Profound Dragon Spirit Sect other than Qiu Heng.

No matter who they were, be they commoners walking by or the fancily dressed figures walking into the pagoda, everybody looked at her with admiration.

Even Xuan Wanshan could only stare at the beauty that was only a door servant because of her clothing, ‘She’s clearly a servant, yet she has features like that… I hope the bar doesn’t skyrocket once we go in…’

She glances at Tian Yi who was next to her and sighs in her heart.

After what he had just told them during breakfast, her heart could not stop beating irregularly and she could not get it out of her mind.

He loves them? That was clearly a confession, but for him to say it in front of everybody at once, how bold must he be to do something that daring?

His words ‘I love you all’ keeps resounding in her heart as if she was reciting a cultivation technique over and over again.

Seeing the familiar scene, smelling the familiar sweet scent, a wide smile could not help but appear on Qiu Heng’s face.

Maybe it was the sweet fragrance in the air, or maybe he just likes the atmosphere, but he did not have any dirty thoughts, yet a strange smile would always unknowingly creep up on his face every time he gets close to this place.

Tian Yi looked at Qiu Heng and his bright smile and thought, ‘He must really like this place.’

He was getting more interested in this place that could make someone as righteous as Qiu Heng so excited.

Sweeping the entire pagoda with his Divine Sense, he could sense that the majority of the people here were within the Spirit Realm, some who were around upper stages within the Sky Realm, and there was even one individual who was currently sitting on the highest floor at the Heaven Realm.

After taking note of their cultivation level, he could more or less guess the standard in the Holy Continent.

Within the highest floor of the pagoda, the old woman suddenly shivered.

Snapping her eyes open like a lioness who had her nap disturbed, she swept the entire city with her Divine Sense.

‘Was it just my imagination?’ she pondered about the invisible feeling she just felt.

It felt like someone was staring right through her defense, feeling almost like a naked chicken on display, yet there should be no individual in this entire Continent with enough cultivation to do such things.

Staring at the ceiling, a saddening light flickered within her profound eyes, ‘If I am unable to find someone who is capable of breaking that seal, then this entire world might be at peril…’ she sighed to herself.

“Senior Yao, is there something bothering you?” A voice like heavenly bells resounded in the quiet room.

The old woman, Senior Yao, turned her gaze to look at the red-robed slender figure wearing a veil sitting a few meters away from her.

This figure in red robes was clearly a female, her aura gentle yet profound, and although there was a veil covering her face, nobody would doubt that there was a fairy behind that mask. Her tender arms were wrapped around a human-sized zither made of the world’s finest wood.

Senior Yao did not reply to her question, but the sadness within her eyes was apparent.

“Is Senior still worried about finding someone who is able to break that seal? I have trust in Heaven that it will guide someone who will have such capabilities to our event today,” she continued, her voice as gentle as a feather.

“Trust in Heaven? Heh, what foolish words, my dear girl.”

The old woman finally spoke, “In order to break that seal our ancestors personally sealed, we must find someone who is competent enough to play the Silent Wind Zither, an instrument that nobody but our ancestor could play since the ancient times. Forget about you, our most talented disciple in the past 1,000 years, even the Sect Master is unable to play it, and you expect us to find someone in this trash of a Continent to play it? We have already searched the entire Holy Continent and have been stationed in these four shitty Continent doing something as stupid as this for the past 12 years with no result.”

Continuing with a disheartened tone, she sneered, “12 years of hard work with no buds blooming, and you expect us to find somebody on the last day? Heh, what Heaven? It wouldn’t care even if this entire world would end the next day.”

The veiled figure tightened her fingers on the zither upon hearing such words, yet she was not able to refute this Senior Yao’s words. Heaven was truly unjust. The world was about to end, yet it would only sit there in the sky, silently watching and waiting for them to walk into the yellow river.

Sweeping the surrounding area with her Divine Sense again, Senior Yao sneered with disgust, “The world is about to end, yet the people here will continue to waste their energy on trying to live without knowing a damn thing… how funny is that? Look at all these bastards with those disgusting smiles on their face waiting for you to play the zither… I bet they won’t have such happy face if they found out the truth. What the hell are those so-called ‘powerhouses’ doing? What do they gain by keeping quiet? Our entire Holy Continent already knows about it, yet these idiots continue living their everyday life as if it is all a big joke.”

“....”

Not knowing what to say, the girl with the zither kept her mouth shut and could only hope that they will be able to find someone today that is capable of playing her Sect’s most mysterious instrument, the Silent Wind Zither.

‘The Calamity… huh…’ she murmured to herself as she continues waiting for the event to start.

Still standing outside of the Heavenly Fragrance of Pure Flowers, Qiu Heng spoke, “What are we waiting for? Is this scene already enough to make you speechless? Then just you wait until we arrive inside where it is even more beautiful!”

They began walking towards the doors where the beautiful door servant was greeting people.

“Welcome to the Heavenly Fragrance of Pure Flowers, the entrance fee is 1,000 Spirit Stones for each person.”

The beautiful girl at the door said to the three who just arrived.

“1-1-1,000 Spirit Stones…?” Xuan Wanshan’s face twitched, she was bewildered at the price.

It cost 1,000 Spirit Stones just to hear some beautiful girl sing a song and play an instrument? This was a robbery in broad daylight! They might as well ask them to sell their lungs to them just to enter!

Qiu Heng noticed Xuan Wanshan’s change in expression and said in an apologetic tone, “Ah… Sorry, Senior, but I forgot to mention that it will cost 1,000 Spirit Stones to get in… It usually costs only 100, but because today is a special day…” he did not continue because she was glaring at him.

First, he takes Tian Yi to this place filled with beautiful girls, now he wants her to throw away 1,000 Spirit Stones for something stupid like this?

Although she did not lack Spirit Stones, 1,000 was still a very large amount!

Tian Yi looked at her, “Is there a problem?” he asked.

Xuan Wanshan looked at his calm expression and was a bit surprised. Why does he look so calm? This is 1,000 Spirit Stones we are---

‘Oh… I almost forgot… he is someone who is able to give away one of the three Ancient Divine Cauldron without batting an eyelid…’ she finally remembers his wasteful character.

Qiu Heng, not knowing how rich Tian Yi actually is, asks him, “Do you need me to pay for your entrance fees? I happen to have just enough for the three of us…” Qiu Heng said.

Even though he has some Spirit Stones because of his status within the Sect, losing 3,000 Spirit Stones in one moment was still enough to make his heart bleed.

However, he was the one who had invited them without letting them know the entrance fee beforehand, so he decided to grit his teeth and pay for them.

Tian Yi shook his head and said, “I will pay for us.”

Without waiting for Qiu Heng’s reply, he took out a Storage Pouch and handed it over to the beautiful door servant.

After she counted the Spirit Stones in the Storage Pouch, she took out her own Storage Pouch and collected them inside.

“Thank you, please enter,” she welcomed them with a bright smile.

Qiu Heng looked at him with a surprised face.

Since when was he this rich---

‘Oh… I almost forgot… this kid is a Spirit King… of course he would be rich…’ he sighed inside his heart after reminding himself of their differences.

Walking through the opened door, a spacious room covered in red every corner welcomed them.

The majority of the room was filled with comfortable looking seats, and in the middle of this spacious room where every chair was facing was a large, round stage with red curtains decorated in golden lotuses.

The atmosphere was a warm, cozy feeling; it was as if they had just walked into their own living room where they have been living in for ages.

After taking a moment to enjoy the view, they walked towards the front row where only a few open seats were left.

“Woo, if we had been a few minutes late, the entire front row would’ve been taken,” said Qiu Heng in a relieved tone.

He must have really wanted the best seats. The closer they were, the clearer the music would be after all.

Taking their seats, Tian Yi could feel the softness of the chair. It felt like he was sitting on clouds and not a chair.

Sitting next to him was Xuan Wanshan and a middle-aged man draped in a golden cape with a lion symbol stitched onto it.

Noticing his new neighbor, the middle-aged man looked at the ordinary looking young man sitting beside him. He was wearing an ordinary looking white robe with a white sash that has a golden dragon circling around the sash around his waist.

‘A disciple from the Profound Dragon Spirit Sect?’

He was able to identify this young man’s background with a glance.

‘Since he has no designs on his robe, he must be an outer court disciple… how disappointing,’ he thought to himself.

Disciples from the Profound Dragon Spirit Sect were the target of rich Mortals like this middle-aged man. Who wouldn’t want to have a connection with someone in the strongest Sect within the Continent? Everybody!

But an outer court disciple like this young man was of no use to him.

Looking past this outer court disciple, he could see a beautiful girl with cold looking features on her face. Her eyes were like black pearls, her black hair smooth like silk, her skin like white jade, she was a rare beauty.

His eyes flickered with desire, but such desires were instantly crushed and replaced with disappointment after he saw what she was wearing.

A golden dragon was perfectly stitched on the side of her black robes with a golden sash around her waist; she was an Elder of the Profound Dragon Spirit Sect, an existence he will never be able to touch, let alone acquire!

‘A female Elder from the Profound Dragon Spirit Sect in a place like this? That’s a first… why would she even be here? It can’t be for this outer disciple, right?’ he wondered.

The middle-aged man then noticed the handsome young boy next to her. His black robe and its designs were the exact same as hers', but his sash was colored black with a golden dragon on it.

‘A direct disciple!!!’ he was instantly shocked.

A direct disciple from a Sect like Profound Dragon Spirit Sect was extremely rare because there were only two of them at this moment! And for one of these two direct disciples to actually be sitting only 2 seats away from him. His luck was truly good!

Now he understood why such the female Elder was here. She was definitely here to protect him!

‘Now… how do I curry some favors from him…” he began pondering as time passed by quickly.