Around him were various top figures. However, the person who stood closest to him was a young man. The eyes of this young man were glistening with dark light; his gaze was fixed on Princess Donghuang. He had always been wanting to meet this daughter of Donghuang the Great in person.

She seemed even more charming in person compared to portraits of her. Her peerless temperament was something that a portrait could not capture.

“Qi Ye meets Princess Donghuang,” this youth greeted Princess Donghuang while bowing slightly. “I have long heard of Princess’ fame. I have admired Princess for a long time. Finally, my wish to meet Princess is granted today. Princess is even more graceful than I have imagined. I have fallen in love with Princess at first sight.”

Qi Ye!

The people around Princess Donghuang instantly knew who this youth was when they heard his name.

There were Seven Kings of Darkness in the Dark Court. Each King groomed a successor to take over their throne in the future. These seven successors were crowned Proud Sons of Darkness; they were the heirs of the Seven Kings. If they fell, their positions would be replaced by another cultivator.

Each and every Proud Son of Darkness was chosen after rounds of extremely cruel selections. Their abilities were very powerful and were recognized by the Seven Kings. Their status in the Dark Court was also very high.

This Qi Ye was the heir of the Lord of the Underworld; he was the Proud Son of the Underworld.

Even so, his status still paled into insignificance as compared to that of the daughter of Donghuang the Great. Hence, he showed some manners in front of her. However, people around Princess Donghuang still frowned when they heard him say that he admired the Princess. Clearly, the audience disdained him.

Fell in love with the Princess at first sight?

Even if he was the Proud Son of the Underworld, he was still unworthy of her.

Princess Donghuang cast an indifferent glance at Qi Ye. She didn’t respond to his greeting. A divine general, who stood behind her, wore divine armor and was surrounded by a brilliant divine light, which cast away the darkness. He looked at the Lord of the Underworld and said, “In the past, the Dark Court had been defeated. The Void Realm is currently under the rule of the Divine Prefecture. Now, the Dark Court has gone against our agreement. Are you trying to stir up a war?”

“In the past, we had indeed agreed to close the passageway. However, the Gate of Hell has been opened by the cultivators from the Original Realm,” the Lord of the Underworld replied. “Hence, the original agreement has been broken. The Original Realm no longer belongs to the Divine Prefecture. Moreover, the Dark Court is not the only external force which is in the Original Realm now.”

As far as the Lord of the Underworld knew, a few forces from the Upper Worlds had sent their representatives here. Not long ago, he had encountered Mei Ting from Devil World in the Heavenly Mandate Academy.

“Since that’s the case, we will banish you for the second time,” the divine general said with a harsh tone.

“Let’s put this matter aside for now. Qi Ye is the Proud Son of the Underworld, and he has always admired Princess Donghuang. Today, I brought him here to meet Princess. Princess, what do you think of him?” the Lord of the Underworld said with a smile. His playful tone revealed hints of disrespect.

Many people frowned in disagreement. The Lord of the Underworld, one of the Seven Kings of Darkness, was bold.

“Presumptuous,” a cold voice barked. A figure moved forward. He was not a follower of Princess Donghuang; instead, he was the College Chief of the Tianshen Academy. His clothes fluttered while his long hair danced in the wind. He seemed to be extremely angry. The might unleashed by him was powerful.

The Lord of the Underworld glanced at him. His dark eyes revealed the glint of a mocking smile as he said, “I was wondering who was speaking. It turns out to be the person who has been banished to the Lower Worlds.”

“The person who was defeated and was cast away from here is not qualified to give comments here,” the College Chief of the Tianshen Academy retorted. “When the Dark Court left here last time, you left behind piles of dead bodies. Are you planning to repeat the same mistake this time?”

“You speak so arrogantly,” the Lord of the Underworld replied coldly. The might of dark light suppressed the space. Many top figures, who were in the parties beside him, unleashed their might too. In an instant, the space became suffocating.

“Alright, let’s get back to business.” The Lord of the Underworld looked at the youth beside him and called, “Qi Ye.”

Qi Ye nodded in response and took a few steps forward. He looked at Princess Donghuang and said, “I have long heard of Princess’ fame. When I knew that Princess was coming to the Original Realm today, I rushed here immediately, hoping to get some pointers from Princess. Donghuang the Great is the leader of the Divine Prefecture, and his might is renowned far and wide, but Princess is his only descendent. I wonder whether or not Princess is capable of inheriting the Emperor’s throne.”

Everyone was curious about Princess Donghuang.

On top of her beauty, naturally, people paid attention to her ability.

She was the sole descendent of Donghuang the Great and the only heir to his throne. In the future, she might become the female emperor. Everyone praised her as someone with extraordinary talent and said she lived up to the expectations of Donghuang the Great. However, few people had actually seen her in action.

Since the Proud Son of the Underworld of the Dark Court encountered such an opportunity, he would certainly not want to miss it. He wanted to see how monstrous this Princess Donghuang was.

Gazes swept towards his opponent. The members of the Dark Court wanted to witness Princess Donghuang’s ability. However, for the members that had come from the Donghuang Imperial Palace, they couldn’t allow the Princess to exchange blows with Qi Ye. It would lower her status.

“You are not qualified,” commented the divine general, who was beside Princess Donghuang.

“We will only know after we try,” Qi Ye replied with a smile. His aura of a Renhuang emanated. Dark light surrounded his body as he stood looking down at everything else.

“Princess, are you afraid to accept his challenge?” the Lord of the Underworld mocked. His words were clearly goading the Princess into action; he was confident that his words would work. A Proud Son of the Dark Court had challenged Princess Donghuang. The Princess would need to respond to their request, one way or another.

“Qi Ye is only a Proud Son of the Underworld. He is unworthy of the Princess personally taking action. Qingzhu, you go and exchange a few blows with him.” Someone took the lead to recommend a replacement. The speaker was still the College Chief of the Tianshen Academy. He asked Jian Qingzhu to accept Qi Ye’s challenge.

Aside from Jian Qingzhu, a few other cultivators walked out too. They were all cultivators from the Divine Prefecture. They were all young cultivators who were sent by their respective forces to fight Qi Ye on behalf of the Princess. Naturally, all of them had the same goal in mind.

Hence, in the blink of an eye, there were actually a few cultivators of the same generation who took a step forward. All of them wanted to fight on behalf of Princess Donghuang.

No one would give up such a good opportunity to showcase themselves.

On the other hand, Ye Futian stood quietly to one side. Not only was the situation unclear now, even if all these people were defeated, but Ye Futian also would still not fight for Princess Donghuang.

He also wanted to see how powerful Princess Donghuang was. It didn’t bother him at all that someone had challenged the Princess.

He also intended to witness in person how talented the only daughter of Donghuang the Great was.

The Lord of the Underworld revealed a scornful look when he saw many people volunteering to fight for the Princess. He had expected this. With Princess Donghuang’s status, naturally, many people wanted to promote themselves before her.

The Lord of the Underworld did not say anything. From various directions, many people stepped out. They were cultivators from the alliances of the Dark Court. Streaks of terrifying aura permeated the space. The Lord of the Underworld said arrogantly, “Since everyone wants to give it a try, then we will not hold back too.”

As for Qi Ye, the Proud Son of the Underworld, his gaze was still dead set on Princess Donghuang.

Extremely sharp dark divine light shot out from Qi Ye’s eyes in the direction of Princess Donghuang. He took a step forward. However, another silhouette blocked him. It was the Tianshen Academy’s peerless Proud Son of Heaven, Jian Qingzhu.

Jian Qingzhu was not trying to win Princess Donghuang’s good graces. He was already shouldering some responsibilities. This was his mission. Now that the clan had placed all their hopes on him, he naturally had to work hard to bear these responsibilities.

Everything was going well for the clan when passing on teachings in the Void Realm. As for the clan’s goal of wanting to return to the Divine Prefecture, he would be the one to achieve it. He would bring his clan and their mission to the Divine Prefecture.

Qi Ye swept an indifferent glance at him. Another silhouette also appeared in front of Jian Qingzhu. This silhouette was jet-black from head to toe with a burly, domineering figure. It seemed to be clad in dark armor and was imposing. Destructive dark light flowed on the divine armor. Just looking at it gave people an extremely pressured feeling.

This was a member of a very powerful dark force of the Dark World. They had special talents and were very powerful.

This silhouette charged directly at Jian Qingzhu. Jet-black light swept across the space like a bolt of divine light. He punched out, and endless jet-black light descended from the sky. It covered the space and pierced through everything, crashing towards Jian Qingzhu’s figure.

Jian Qingzhu was expressionless. An extremely dazzling Scroll of the Great Path suddenly flew out from his body, shining brightly. Divine light circled around him. The Scroll of the Great Path resonated with the heavens and the earth. Its light shone for tens of thousands of Zhang. The golden divine light instantly blocked out the sky and the sun.

This Scroll of the Great Path was the Divine Wheel that Jian Qingzhu had forged. Its divine light was flawless and lit up countless patterns.

Immediately, this part of the sky was enveloped in the halo emanated by the Scroll of the Great Path.

Jian Qingzhu was surrounded by the halo too. He extended his palm, and a gigantic golden palm print was unleashed. In the Scroll of the Great Path, countless huge golden palm prints covered the space and stuck forward. They were domineering and similar to the Giant Palm of Buddha.

Rumble… Two forces collided. The huge golden palm print crushed the dark light. Jian Qingzhu managed to fully block the opponent’s menacing attack in an instant. This scene caused many people to reveal surprised expressions.

Everyone in the Nine Realms knew that Ye Futian was very powerful. On the contrary, even though Jian Qingzhu had great fame too, he had never participated in any battles after proving his Way. He had been training devotedly.

Now, he impressed the crowd with only one attack. The power of his attack was definitely very overbearing. Since the College Chief of the Tianshen Academy intended to send him to train under Princess Donghuang, naturally, his ability would not be weak.

When Ye Futian saw the enchanting scene, he thought of his two older brothers—fourth older brother, Luo Fan from the Cottage, and second older brother, Nan Zhai from Dali.

However, Jian Qingzhu was clearly much more powerful than both his older brothers.

With this attack, Ye Futian sensed that Jian Qingzhu’s ability was not weaker than that of Di Wu.

Of course, Ye Futian always had a good impression of Jian Qingzhu. This person had a nice personality. However, the two of them had seldom encountered each other and could not be considered friends!