Chapter Sixty-Seven: Departure!

At this moment, Zhou Tian could only regret that he was in the Carefree Prince's residence, surrounded by arrays that made it impossible to use the projection array to record what was happening.

"You spend all your days at the Dance Pavilion, and now you tell me you're still a virgin?"

Zhou Tian wore an expression he couldn't quite describe; he simply refused to believe in any so-called sage with iron self-control.

"Are you sure you're not impotent?"

"Impossible. If I took it out, it would be bigger than yours!"

The duration of the Holy Word had passed, and Zhou Zui was no longer in that trance-like state. He stared at Zhou Tian, as if pondering where to strike so that rescue would come too late, enabling him to silence Zhou Tian and keep this secret.

Sensing Zhou Tian's doubt, Zhou Zui managed a bitter smile and explained,

"The conditions for cultivating the Holy Art of the Seven Emotions and Six Desires are extremely demanding. The greater the emotional fluctuation and the stronger the inner desire, the faster the cultivation progresses. So..."

Zhou Tian nodded, indicating his understanding. Indeed, there was no time of greater desire than when the pillar stood tall, and since cultivation could only occur then, afterward, one was as saintly as a Buddha, devoid of desire—how could one cultivate then?

"But how did you restrain yourself? I don't believe your self-control is that strong..."

Zhou Tian raised a new question; he doubted Zhou Zui could have held back in such circumstances.

"That brings us to the Holy Art Tribulation."

"Holy Art Tribulation? That immortal mentioned it, didn't he..."

Zhou Tian recalled that during his confrontation with Zhou Zui the previous day, the immortal had referred to this so-called tribulation.

Zhou Zui was unconcerned; after all, the greatest secret was already known to Zhou Tian, and the rest was trivial. He composed himself and spoke,

"My tribulation is... Liu Yan. I managed to stop at the last moment thanks to her. There are some very complex mysteries involved here, which I doubt you'd care to hear."

"Your tribulation is Liu Yan? In the end, you won't have to kill your sister to attain the Dao, will you?"

Hearing that the tribulation was Liu Yan, Zhou Tian immediately recalled countless melodramatic plots from his previous life, imagining forty-eight possible developments; after all, doesn't a love tribulation usually end with killing the other party?

"Where do you even hear these things?"

Zhou Zui, seeing Zhou Tian's increasingly deranged smile, spoke helplessly.

"Calling it a tribulation is really more of a catalyst. If you've never cultivated anything involving the state of mind, it's hard to explain."

"So, has cultivation given you a sense of superiority? Virgin little brother?"

Zhou Tian cast a sidelong glance at Zhou Zui.

"Big brother, I wouldn't dare. But please, don't tell anyone about this..."

Zhou Zui, wearing the face of a sycophant, leaned in to plead. If this matter got out, how could the prince's heir keep his dignity? Going to the Dance Pavilion every day, not to seek pleasure, but to comfort the young ladies? He couldn't even believe it himself!

...

An hour later, Zhou Tian walked out of the Carefree Prince's residence in high spirits. After signing a series of unequal treaties with Zhou Zui, they reached an agreement: Zhou Tian would keep his secret for now.

Three more days passed in boredom. Except for Zhou Tian, who had nothing to do, the others were busy preparing. Unlike Zhou Tian, they possessed Law Manifestation realm cultivation and could wield Saint King-level weapons, though only one at a time, lest the weapon drain their life.

To "wield" meant they could temporarily use the weapon's power for one or two strikes. If, like Tian Ling, the Saint King weapon existed within the body but couldn't be used, that didn't count as wielding.

They all came from noble families and lacked nothing, including Saint King weapons and other miscellaneous items, so they needed to make thorough preparations.

Zhou Tian and those alluring companions were different; they had no spiritual power and could use nothing, so there was nothing to prepare.

Today was their departure day. Though the competition wouldn't officially start for nearly half a month, factoring in the time to cross spatial turbulence, they needed to reach the starting point within a week.

The starting point was a city built outside the Ninth Province, from which they would set out for the Ninth Province.

There was nothing of note in the imperial capital at the moment, so the Qin Emperor allowed them to go early. Many from other factions had already arrived, awaiting the rest of the Tian Qin representatives.

This journey to the Ninth Province for the Eight Provinces Tournament included not only these young nobles from the imperial capital, but also others from Fengtian Province's various factions. The news of the "Destined One" emerging in the Ninth Province was now widespread, its allure terrifyingly strong—everyone wanted to try their luck.

Elsewhere, there were no direct teleportation arrays to the starting point; only the imperial capital's array could be used. Thus, young people from all over would gradually gather in the capital.

For Zhou Tian and his companions, it made no difference where they waited; idling in the capital was pointless, so they might as well head to the starting city and observe the talents from other factions.

Originally, Zhou Tian wanted to wait for Tian Ling and travel together, but after some thought, realized it made no difference and decided to join Zhou Xunchuan and the others on an early scouting trip.

This teleportation array was clearly unlike any Zhou Tian had seen. The central platform alone rose thirty feet high, not to mention the dense golden patterns covering a hundred feet in every direction.

Joining them on the journey were Zhou Tian's second brother, Zhou Ying; Second Prince Zhou Yan; Wei Chuan, son of Wei Yan, the great general of the southern border; Wu Hong, eldest son of Marquis Tian Shi and elder brother of Wu Meng. Zhou Tian had met all these at the banquet and could call them by name.

The rest remained in the palace, presumably still discussing how to deal with the newly discovered world.

This new world had drawn the attention of many factions. Originally, Zhou Ying and the others had returned to support the youth tournament and suppress the Ninth Province's top talents during the Eight Provinces Tournament.

But because of the new world's discovery, none of the other factions sent contemporaries; all were busy with invasion plans, and even the protection squads had been halved.

The group ascended the array platform. Since they were all familiar, the Qin Emperor spoke few formalities, merely offered a couple of words of advice, and then ordered the array to be activated.

Zhou Ying extended a finger, sending streams of silver symbols from his hand to surround Zhou Tian, forming a shield around him. This ultra-long-distance teleportation array exerted tremendous tearing force during transit; though the array mitigated it, it was still more than Zhou Tian could withstand, so Zhou Ying thoughtfully shielded him.

"Thank you, Second Brother!"

Zhou Tian wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry, but since Zhou Ying meant to protect him, he accepted graciously.

A golden light suffused the entire teleportation array. All the array patterns lifted, as if projected in three dimensions, countless complex runes weaving through the great formation.

Boom!

The domain gate opened. Runes enveloped the group, and they vanished from sight.