Eternal Heavenly Emperor

With Ouyang Qiang defeated, Fluttering Wind Academy was essentially beaten; either Chu Hao or Fu Xue could easily defeat the remaining four by themselves.

No one saw this outcome coming!

Thousand Winds Academy believed their strongest to be Chi Zhong, while Fluttering Wind Academy naturally still considered Ouyang Qiang as their mightiest. The clash between these two academies was supposed to be a fierce battle between Ouyang Qiang and Chi Zhong; whoever won would dictate the entire battle!

But the reality was... both of them lost!

Moreover, Thousand Winds Academy won despite internal strife and the absence of two powerhouses. How could anyone accept this?

Not only did more than fifty Fluttering Wind Academy members lose their voices, but even those from Thousand Winds Academy forgot to cheer.

Chu Hao and Fu Xue had become that powerful!

"They're both geniuses, but the gap is just so big!" In the stands, the big shots of the Eight Great Nobles were in an uproar, unable to make sense of it. Ouyang Qiang and Chi Zhong, at their age, should have reached at least the seventh-tier Great Mahayana realm, an absolute genius among geniuses; why were they defeated so easily?

If Madam Yun were present, she would have scoffed lightly. There are many magical substances in this world that can rapidly increase strength! For instance, the Earth Origin Pill, these old fogies probably have never even heard of it!

Chi Zhong and Ouyang Qiang reaching the seventh-tier and eighth-tier Great Mahayana realm at such a young age wasn't so much because of their miraculous talents but because they were born into good families! Of course, their talents couldn't be weak either; otherwise, why would a family invest its limited resources in mediocre people?

"Chu Hao, your strength has improved a lot!" said Fu Xue, her eyes shining. "Come, let's have a match!"

Chu Hao quickly waved his hands and said, "I'm a bit tired today, maybe another time!" He didn't want to fight with this Female Tyrannosaurus—if he won or lost, it would be troublesome either way! He pushed Tang Xin forward and said, "Tang Xin has also improved a lot. Why not let him spar with senior sister?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Xin's face turned pale. Are you kidding me? Fight with this Female Tyrannosaurus? Does he cherish his life or not? He also hurriedly waved his hands, shaking his head like someone who'd seen a ghost.

Fu Xue was annoyed and said, "Will you lose a piece of flesh by sparring with me? Look at the state of you both!"

Chu Hao and Tang Xin looked at each other and nodded simultaneously.

"Damn it!" Fu Xue shouted in frustration.

"We better run!" Chu Hao said to Tang Xin, and the two made a quick getaway—one reason was to evade the Female Tyrannosaurus' fury, and the other was because, representing Thousand Winds Academy, they had won; if they didn't leave now, they wouldn't get a chance later. They were sure to be surrounded by enthusiastic girls.

However, no sooner had they left the Beast Fighting Arena than they saw Chi Zhong and Ouyang Qiang coming up to them separately.

"Chu Hao, you are indeed strong, but beating me doesn't mean anything!" Ouyang Qiang said. "Where we come from, there are plenty of people stronger than me!"

Chi Zhong also nodded and said, "It seems I won't be able to fulfill Chi Dao's request. But Chu Hao, Chi Dao's talent is actually above mine. You've made great progress in the past six months, but Chi Dao will definitely not be weaker than you!"

"When you meet him again, you're bound to have a tough fight!"

"We'll take our leave now!" said the two, jointly departing, and at that moment, you couldn't tell that they were sworn enemies at all.

"What are they talking about?" Tang Xin said, a bit confused.

"In the future, Madam Yun will explain it to us," Chu Hao replied, nodding.

The management of Heavenly Court was very lax. They hardly needed to go to the academy, only showing up occasionally to report on missions or to collect Fire Origin Pills. After receiving his reward points, Chu Hao exchanged them all for Fire Origin Pills. He planned to reach the Vajra Realm within two months and then take the Earth Spirit Pill to surge to the Third Tier!

But such a frantic advancement in cultivation would inevitably compromise his foundation, so he needed to reserve a few days to acclimate and train his strength, making it vital to progress as quickly as possible now.

He absorbed the power of Star Stones and took Fire Origin Pills every day, spending the rest of his time in the training field with a giant rock strapped to his back, doing frog jumps, to fuse the power with his body genuinely.

Back in his first training session, he only tied 20 pounds to his legs, but now? The giant rock he carried weighed thirty thousand pounds, making Uncle Yu tremble with fear, worried that if his young master made a mistake, he might be crushed by the rock.

Flying Fire also imitated Chu Hao, carrying a stone in its mouth, following behind him. The stone was larger than its body, and the sight was simply too comical not to laugh at.

In the blink of an eye, another month passed and there were only 22 days left until the new year. The festive atmosphere grew thicker as every household prepared for the New Year.

The most talked-about event was naturally the rivalry for the Nine Great Nobles at the New Year's Festival, taking place once every five years to decide the nine nobles for the next term in Eastern Cloud City.

Chu Hao's cultivation had entered the ninth-tier Great Mahayana realm. Through his death-defying training, he had perfectly integrated his strength with his body without experiencing any instability due to too rapid an increase in power.

However, this was just minor progress. After taking the two Earth Origin Pills, with an abrupt increase of two hundred thousand pounds of strength, he would have to spend some time adapting to the new power and truly making it his own.

"Chu Hao!" Tang Xin suddenly came running over.

"Hey hey, you still couldn't sneak out of the city, huh!" Chu Hao laughed.

This guy had mentioned wanting to venture out of the city for experience countless times, yet every attempt to sneak out was thwarted, and he remained a "homebody," on the verge of becoming the quintessential shut-in.

"Don't remind me!" Tang Xin said with a disappointed face, watching the gap between him, Chu Hao, and Fu Xue grow wider, yet Old Master Tang still couldn't bear to let him leave for his trials.

"Are you here to complain to me again today?"

"Heh, come with me!" Suddenly spirited again, Tang Xin dragged Chu Hao along.

"Hey, hey, where are we going?" Chu Hao was reluctantly pulled along, while Flying Fire followed cheerfully behind. Little Leopard had grown to the size of a wolfhound and was becoming more and more majestic.

"You'll know once we get there!" Tang Xin didn't answer.

"Every time you say that, I get a bad feeling!" Chu Hao said.

"Tsk!"

Under Tang Xin's urging, the two of them and Little Leopard quickly arrived at a market. It was clearly newly built, resembling a stage for watching plays, about five meters squared and one meter high, hollow underneath as evidenced by the echoing boom sound when stepped on.

Underneath the stage, with about a two-meter clearance, there were rows of chairs—much like those in a theater.

"Are you bringing me to watch a play? I'd rather go home and cultivate than waste time here!" Chu Hao shook his head and said.

"Don't think about cultivating all day, you'll go mad with obsession!" Tang Xin scoffed, then nudged his waist, "In a little over 20 days, you'll be 18!"

"So what?"

"At 18, you're an adult; you can marry and have children!" Tang Xin said with a suggestive expression.

"Hey, are you in heat or something?"

"Your sister's heat!" Tang Xin punched him, "I'm afraid all you do is practice your martial arts and will develop some issues, so I brought you here to take a look. Wait until you see one you like and just buy her to take home! I'm not kidding; your house isn't big but it's not small either. You can't let Uncle Yu do all the work by himself!"

What on earth was this guy talking about?

"Have you lost your mind today?" Chu Hao laughed.

"Sit down, sit down, you'll see in a moment!" Tang Xin pulled Chu Hao to grab seats. After they sat down, Flying Fire naturally imitated and jumped onto a chair to sit as well, a motion it had done many times before with practiced ease.

The crowd gradually grew, mostly commoners, at most Second Tier Lesser Mahayana realm, but there were so many that the seats quickly filled, and those who came later had to stand.

"Hey, you two, get that big cat down from there!" Someone came over, wanting the seat occupied by Flying Fire.

Flying Fire was immediately annoyed, growling lowly.

Although it hadn't grown up and its voice was still tender, after all, being a Fifth Tier Great Mahayana realm, and ferocious beasts being inherently terrifying, this roar scared the man to the point that he fell onto his buttocks and scrambled away.

Chu Hao and Tang Xin couldn't help but laugh. If the man had spoken nicely, Chu Hao wouldn't have minded making Flying Fire give up the seat, but given his attitude, they couldn't be bothered to care!

A short while later, a man in his fifties climbed onto the "stage." He began with a bunch of nonsense—mainly about the New Year approaching, pre-emptively wishing everyone a happy New Year and good luck in the coming year.

After speaking for at least five minutes, he finally got to the point.

Seeing "a string" of five men brought onto the stage—their feet shackled together with chains, their hands similarly bound, making it very difficult for them to escape even without anyone watching—Chu Hao finally realized what this place was.

A slave auction!

In Eastern Cloud City, aside from the nobility, the vast majority were commoners, but there were a few who broke the city rules. Minor offenses resulted in fines, more serious ones added beatings on top of fines, and the most serious… those would lead to confiscation of all possessions, with the individual demoted to a slave.

Quite serious crimes could even affect family members!

Then there were the men who lost at the Beast Fighting Arena, who sold their wives, sons, and daughters, reducing them to slaves.

This place was far from a society of laws!

Slaves had no rights at all; they were less people than commodities, able to be bought and sold at will, and even "breaking" them wasn't much trouble—it was merely a matter of money.

All five men were strong and able-bodied, clearly meant for hard labor.

After the auctioneer stated the starting price, it only took a few rounds of bidding to sell the five men for a mere 300 silver.

300 silver for five people!

Chu Hao had an indescribable feeling in his heart, unsure of what it was. He looked at Tang Xin, who seemed to take this all as a matter of course, obviously not feeling there was anything wrong with this practice.

After all, he was still an earthling!

Chu Hao nodded to himself; on one hand, he had adjusted to the brutality here, where killing seemed as common as eating. On the other hand, he still held onto the earthling ways of thinking and behavior.

But with his current strength, he was utterly powerless to change any of this—in fact, even if he were invincible in the world, changing the status quo was not something that could be done in a day or two. This kind of system had endured thousands, tens of thousands of years; it couldn't easily be toppled.

After several batches of strong men, it was the turn of female slaves.

The young ones were only fifteen or sixteen; the older ones could be in their forties or fifties. Naturally, the young and beautiful fetched high prices, while those older and less appealing went for much less.

Tang Xin kept egging Chu Hao on to buy a beautiful maid, saying that at his age he should have a woman, otherwise too much "internal heat" was bad for cultivation and could cause illness.

Chu Hao snorted, "Why don't you buy one?"

"First, I'm only 17 after celebrating the New Year, and second, my family certainly doesn't lack young and beautiful maids!" Tang Xin counted on his fingers as he spoke.

Chu Hao shook his head and paid him no more mind.

Once the strong youths and female slaves were auctioned off, it was the turn of the elderly men and children. Seeing the faces of the confused children, Chu Hao could no longer hold back and started to bid.

He wanted to give these children freedom.

(Sorry, sorry, overslept! Thank you to Dragon's Dreamlife for the reward yesterday)