Yun Ling looked at Yun Yi, Yu Shan, and the crown prince straight in the eye with his cold eyes as he called their name, “Yun Yi, Yu Shan, Crown Prince…”

Yu Shan and the crown prince nodded at him. They were inspecting Yun Ling with narrowed eyes, wondering what was up with him. It had been a while since they had seen Yun Ling like this. Years in fact. Back then, when Yun Ling became notorious in the capital for his cruelty, his personality was like this. Yun Yi was the only one who didn’t mind the way Yun Ling was acting right now. In fact, he preferred he acted like this all the time.

Yun Ling’s right hand trembled a little bit. He was having a hard time suppressing the urge to engage in battle with these three right now. Oh, how he wanted to attack them right then and there. The anticipation was killing him.

‘I better calm my mind or else I really won’t be able to hold back attacking them here,’ Yun Ling thought to himself. He then closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, erasing all unnecessary thoughts from his mind. He finally started feeling a bit better as his desire to battle them had lessened considerably.

While all this was happening, the participants inside backstage heard the emperor’s voice from the outside addressing the people who had come to see the competition.

“Ladies and gentlemen, friends, and distinguished guests from afar, I would like to welcome you all to the 77th Golden Dragon Election of the Jin Empire!”

All of the participants backstage went silent as they listened to the emperor speak. Even Yun Yi and the three supreme geniuses focused on the emperor’s speech without missing a single word.

There were 200,000 people in the coliseum yet these people were all silent as they listened to the emperor. If the emperor were to stop speaking, one could even hear the sound of a pin dropping on the ground if there ever was one. Throughout the entire coliseum, only the emperor’s voice was heard reverberating. Even the people gathering outside the coliseum could hear him loud and clear. It was as if the emperor was speaking to each of them right in front of their faces. They could even feel their hearts beating wildly to the rhythm of his voice.

The crown prince could only sigh. His father really was such an exceptional person. Even if he tried all his life, he didn’t know if he could catch up to him. When the emperor was his age, he had already done far greater deeds than him. It was hard being the crown prince. The people in the royal court had very high expectations of him and it was taking his all just not to disappoint them.

If he could help it, he would rather just be the son of a clan master in the empire. At least that way, his life wouldn’t be as stressful.

‘So this is how potent this supreme art is when someone of the emperor’s level uses it,’ Yun Ling thought to himself. His telepathic supreme art was the same one as the emperor’s yet the difference between the effects of their supreme art was so great. Not only did he communicate to every single person in the coliseum which numbered around 200 000 people—a feat he couldn’t accomplish—he was even able to invoke various emotions towards his listeners with the same supreme art.

It was such a useful method since he was able to control their emotions making his speech even more memorable and convincing to the masses. However, this effect of the supreme art was easy to break. Anyone with a good knowledge of this supreme art would be able to easily break the emperor’s control over their emotions. The emperor would still be able to communicate with them but he couldn’t control their emotions anymore.

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The emperor’s speech had continued on for several minutes before he was finished. Throughout his entire speech, most of the people in the coliseum were spellbound by his words. Their attentions were focused on the emperor as they took his words to heart. When the emperor had finished speaking, they could still feel their hearts thumping from excitement. They couldn’t wait for the Golden Dragon Election anymore.

“Now, I present to you, the three thousand geniuses of the Jin Empire!”

Upon saying that, the Golden Dragon Election participants slowly came from the exit to the center of the coliseum in an orderly manner. The audience cheered upon seeing them. Some of them were the participants' relatives, friends, or acquaintances. Some were here just to see a show while others have a hidden agenda for coming here. Nonetheless, no matter what their intentions were, none could deny that the coliseum was lively.

Some of the participants were trembling from excitement. This moment was what they had been waiting for— that was to compete in this massive stage. If they managed to impress the emperor or any respected individual in the audience, then they wouldn’t have to worry about their future cultivation anymore.

Yun Ling looked towards the Yun Clan’s assigned seat and saw his daughter happily calling out to him with his father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother. Yue Dongmei was also there sitting just right beside her. He quickly waved his hand towards his daughter, making the little girl brighten up.

“Grandpa, Grandma, look! It’s Papa!” Yun Xia said as she pointed at Yun Ling down at the open area below.

They smiled at Yun Xia. What an adorable girl.

The emperor then raised his hands, making the crowd slowly quieten down. When everyone had finally gone silent, the emperor began speaking, “In this Golden Dragon Election, I had given a task to the three supreme geniuses of the capital. Let me introduce them to you.”

“The Yu Clan’s heir, Yu Shan. His task was to kill three demonic cultivators from the Pure Heart Demon Sect. They were Qing Kun, Wang Jiu, and Wu Tai. All of them were inner court disciples of the Pure Heart Demon Sect.”

The crowd broke into commotion upon hearing that. They were all surprised, especially most of the participants. They thought Yu Shan’s task was to kill three wanted criminals? How did it turn into killing three demonic cultivators? Wasn’t that Yun Ling’s task? Moreover, killing a demonic cultivator from the Pure Heart Demon Sect was much more difficult than killing a wanted criminal. That was because they belonged to a sect and were thus under their protection, making killing them much harder than it already was.

“The Yun Clan’s second son, Yun Ling. His task was none other than to subdue a lesser beast in the Four Transformation Realm from the Thousand Mountain Valley.”

Nearly all the people in the coliseum looked at Yun Ling. Subduing someone was much more difficult than killing them, especially a lesser beast. Just killing a lesser beast alone required many people in the same realm to successfully kill it. How much more subduing it? Lesser beast were prideful creatures, they wouldn’t submit to just anybody even if it kills them.

“The last one is my son, the crown prince of the Jin Empire, Jin Zhen. His task was to kill Xu Chen, the general of Tong Kingdom; He Jin, Xu Chen’s financer and the one providing him money for his illegal activities; and then Wang Yu, the merchant selling various illegal weapons to Xu Chen and He Jin.”

The emperor finished. His gaze swept among the audience as he continued, “I’ve given these three difficult tasks that would normally kill anybody among the three thousand participants below. Needless to say, all of them succeeded.”

“Yu Shan had killed three demonic cultivators from the Pure Heart Demon Sect.”

“Yun Ling, on the other hand, had done more than what was required of him. Not only did he subdue a lesser beast, but he also subdued a lesser beast which was at the Mortal Lord Realm.”

“Jin Zhen had also killed all his targets in his task.”

“As such, for accomplishing these extraordinary feats, I’ve decided to pass these three to the third stage of the Golden Dragon Election. They will be starting in the third stage— two stages ahead of everybody else!”