Calamity of Tomorrow

Zhou Bai and Qian Wangsun were directly arranged to the last row, while Zheng Wentian was placed a bit further to the front; the seating was arranged according to one's realm, with fewer people seated towards the front.

This made Zhou Bai and his companion's arrival seem extremely inconspicuous, garnering no attention whatsoever.

However, there was one woman who swept her gaze towards Zhou Bai's position, her lips curving into a slight smile, "So he did come after all? Zhou Bai."

Standing beside the woman, Sun Jingping said coldly, "What are you looking at?"

The woman smiled, "Your opponent. It would've been better if we'd encountered him earlier. Otherwise, we'll have to use other methods."

This woman, who appeared ordinary and stood beside Sun Jingping, was none other than Xuan Nu, who had changed her appearance. Besides controlling Sun Jingping, she also signed up for the competition herself.

Before long, more and more contestants arrived at the Heavenly Imperial Platform, and just then, a buzz of whispers suddenly erupted.

"Look quickly, it's Tu Tianmo arriving."

"The one beside him is Zhao Yue, right? The Zhao Family's super-genius."

"They're some of the hot favorites to win in this Dao discussion."

Zhou Bai looked up to see a man and a woman step onto the first row, instantly capturing the attention of everyone present.

Following that, more talented individuals from Central City began to show up in the first row, triggering more hushed conversations among the crowd.

"That's Jue Ji, the ten-year running champion at Dao Academy! He's actually participating in this Dao discussion too."

"Who's that monk? He can actually stand beside Jue Ji?"

"That looks like the Dragon Elephant Kasaya he's wearing! He's coming to the competition wearing Nine Realms Armor?! How's anyone supposed to fight that?"

Watching as one by one, the gifted individuals arranged by the Immortals took their place in the first row, the many faces of the competitors from Central City flashed with bitterness and helplessness, feeling increasingly that this Daluo Heaven discussion had nothing to do with them.

Qian Wangsun quickly surveyed the many participants, seemingly recording every piece of information about each contestant.

Zhou Bai, meanwhile, looked and listened absentmindedly, with thoughts of Christina still preoccupying his mind.

Zheng Wentian felt waves of insecurity in his heart, "I shouldn't have come... I said I shouldn't have come... There's too much of a difference, the foundation and strength of the four major sects fall too far behind Heaven, any one of those guys in the first row could go to Donghua City and sweep through everything."

After all the participants had officially arrived and waited for about an hour or so, just as Zhou Bai was getting more and more impatient, to the point where he felt like drowning the crowd with the Guihai Black Evil, several staff members solemnly shouted, "Silence! The Four Great Divine Beings are about to arrive."

The crowd immediately quieted down, and in the ensuing silence, which lasted another ten or so minutes, Zhou Bai thought to himself, 'They're really putting on quite the show.'

Christina: 'The Divine Beings of Heaven do like to put on airs, after all.'

In the next moment, above the Heavenly Imperial Platform, trails of azure light fell like raindrops from the sky.

Then, accompanied by the sounds of celestial music, rainbows, golden light, and fresh flowers emerged in the atmosphere as child deities, blowing conches and striking drums, slowly approached from the distance. The previously quiet and desolate platform suddenly became a place of vibrant colors and grandeur.

Amidst the eagerly awaited arrival, four beams of azure light descended upon the high platform above the Heavenly Imperial Platform, transforming into four figures who took their lofty seats, looking down upon the many contestants below.

The cultivator who had just reminded everyone to keep quiet shouted,

"We welcome Zi Yang True Monarch of the Thunder Department, Greedy Wolf True Monarch of the Fight Department, Tian Wei True Monarch of the Plague Department, and Xing Zhuan Monarch of the Heaven Department."

Others followed his shout with salutations, voicing their greetings.

Zhou Bai couldn't be bothered with these formalities and simply raised his head to observe the appearance of the four true gods.

Upon hearing the name Zi Yang True Monarch, Zheng Wentian instantly bowed his head in fear, "How could this be? Why would the Thunder Department send him as their representative to this Daluo Heaven discussion of Dao?"

These four true gods from the Heavenly Departments were representatives sent to observe the Daluo Heaven discussion of Dao, and during this event, they were not the main characters.

Not long after the arrival of the four true gods, thirty-six beams of light descended, including Celestial Master Tian Yang, True Person Ming Yue, and True Person Qin, along with the other thirty-six scattered immortals from Wanxian Island.

As they landed, the number of divine beings standing on the platform reached forty, and a terrifying aura came rushing forward, creating visible whirlwinds around them as their center.

In the perception of the crowd, what was even more fearsome was the change in spiritual intelligence. With so many deities descending, the spiritual intelligence on-site became so dense it was terrifying. Everyone abruptly felt their Primordial Spirits operating sluggishly, as if their spiritual power couldn't even leave their sea of consciousness.

Zhou Bai looked at the divine beings on stage with surprise, "Is this the strength of gods and immortals? So strong, just standing there makes my head hurt. I'm no match for them right now."

The Heavenly Court had not seen so many deities gathered in one place for a very, very long time, making the atmosphere on-site extremely solemn in an instant.

In the five major cities, countless people watching the live broadcast were extremely excited. Most of them had never seen a god or an immortal in their lifetime, and today, they were witnessing so many deities at once, feeling even more deeply the power and majesty of the Heavenly Court.

A minute later, all forty deities on-site simultaneously stood up and looked towards the southeast horizon, making a gesture of welcome.

Accompanied by a golden path shining up from the edge of the sky, spanning hundreds of kilometers across the sky, two beams of light, one blue and one purple, came side by side. At first, they were just two tiny points of light, but in the next moment, they expanded as if breaking through the boundaries of time and space, dominating the sky.

After a few seconds, the two beams of light, one blue and one purple, had already descended above the Heavenly Imperial Platform, enveloping the world between heaven and earth, as if the entire sky had turned into left and right streams of blue and purple light.

At the same time, an overwhelming power descended over the entire venue, causing everyone to feel as if their Primordial Spirits and physical bodies no longer belonged to themselves.

Looking at the lights in the sky, they seemed to be heaven itself, they were fate – imperceptible and intangible, yet illuminating the world, eternal and unchanging.

As Zhou Bai gazed at the two beams of light in the sky, he tried to see through what was behind the lights but could see nothing.

In his mind, he thought, "God Emperor and Celestial Venerable... They didn't personally come here, did they?"

Christina nodded, "It seems that it's just an incarnation of their power that has descended. Their realm appears to have transcended the so-called physical form."

From within the purple light, an ancient voice slowly spoke, "Today, the discussion of Dao in Daluo Heaven is to select the chosen one of human fortune. I have completely repaired this Human Emperor's Sword. Whoever obtains first place in the discussion will become the master of this sacred sword of humanity."

As he spoke, a golden sword shadow slowly emerged from the purple light.

A golden sword, about one point four meters long and over ten centimeters wide, appeared. On one side of the blade, engravings depicted humanity's progression from primitive hunting and agriculture to the domestication of wild beasts. On the other side, there were scenes from the emergence of written language to the slaying of monsters and the pursuit of immortality.

Contained within the long sword was the saga of humanity's vicissitudes, the inheritance of civilization.

As the Human Emperor's Sword appeared, all human cultivators on the scene stared intently at the blade with glowing eyes.

Qian Wangsun remarked, "Is this the Human Emperor's Sword? It looks quite formidable."

Zhou Bai secretly thought, "I could definitely sell this sword for a lot of laziness points."