The other six elders gazed at Theon curiously.
"The royal family did this in a high profile. They wanted all the ten princes to compete for the throne.
Therefore, they set up competitions.
This session of competitions is to test the princes' ability in cultivating popularity and building up their
own networks.
The princes will be asked to look for some young talents and have them compete for a place in the top
50.
When the results come out and the list is finalized, these 50 people will go into the Mysterious Nether
World to look for a kind of spiritual fruit, called the soul-recovering fruit.
If the person chosen by the prince can find the soul-recovering fruit and bring it out of the Mysterious
Nether World, this prince will get the throne.
"Oh? So the main purpose of holding the Outstanding Talents Exchange Games is to determine the
heir to the throne.
That means all the young talents in Violet Orchid Empire will serve the royal family by taking part in the
competitions and indirectly be controlled by it!"
an elder remarked angrily.
"Yes. What you said makes sense.
But it's said that in the Mysterious Nether World, there are innumerable vital energy crystals, spiritual
elixirs and herbs and various kinds of secret martial arts skill formulas. I even heard that there are
some Secret Weapons in there which can match the spiritual weapons or even the sacred weapons.
Theon, your Secret Weapon, the Eight Diagrams Board you refined is the one the principal disciple of
our sect brought back from the Mysterious Nether World a hundred years ago. And have you heard of
the Giant Magic Palm? Of course you have! It's a level six martial arts skill. But do you know that it was
also brought from the Mysterious Nether World by the same principal disciple?
That's why the Mysterious Nether World enjoys the reputation of being a heaven for the cultivators.
I'm sure that these outstanding talents will go there willingly even if they know that they are serving the
royal family."
"Yes.
It's true that the Mysterious Nether World has unrivaled attraction for cultivators."
Many leaders of the Sun Sect nodded in agreement.
"Alas! It's a pity that such an amazing place has been controlled by the royal family for so many years,
while sects like ours can't have a share in it. All we can do is watch in envy.
If we can send some young disciples of our Sun Sect to the Mysterious Nether World to search for
treasures about cultivation whenever the world opens, I'm sure that the competence of our sect will be
improved several folds.
Besides, if our disciples can learn a few more grade six martial arts skills like Giant Magic Palm, then
our sect is going to grow several times stronger," a female elder whose family name was Li remarked
indignantly with a sigh.
"Absolutely!
But there is nothing we can do.
A hundred years ago, the five major sects in Violet Orchid Empire fought a duel with the cult which calls
itself the Ghost Sect.
Although the Ghost Sect was cracked down in the end, our five sects also suffered heavy losses, and
even till today, we haven't fully recovered yet. That's the primary reason why the imperial family has
become the dominant power in Violet Orchid Empire.
That is a fact and it is useless to deny that."
Another elder sighed…
Violet Orchid Empire, the imperial capital city.
Austin walked into a luxurious medicinal material shop which was standing gloriously by the side of a
business street.
Looking around, he nodded and thought, 'The headquarters of Sky Dragon Elixir Shop is really huge. It
is more than twenty times the size of its branch in Peace Town.
And the interior decoration is quite magnificent and expensive, which makes the shop appear even
more appealing.
Judging by the endless rows of wooden shelves packed with spiritual elixirs and herbs, I am sure that it
is a very competent shop. I hope I can buy all the medicinal materials for cultivating stage four of the
Overlord Body-refining Formula,' Austin muttered to himself. Soon, he came to the big counter which
was made of some expensive purple wood.
He cleared his throat.
Behind the counter, two clerks were sitting, holding a handful of paper cards, as if they were playing
some sort of game. The suits they wore looked luxurious and expensive and were obviously made from
some very expensive fabric.
Hearing someone approach, they hid the paper cards in a hurry.
In fact, the shop had very strict rules. If the clerks were found playing cards by their supervisor, they
wouldn't get their salaries and bonuses for the month.
It was noon time, so their manager was napping in the resting room. Finding a window of opportunity,
they had decided to play.
They rose to their feet immediately, expecting some elite businessman, but only found an ordinary-
looking boy in plain clothes standing in front of them. He was so ordinary that nobody would have paid
any attention to him in a crowd.
"Kid, we only sell precious medicinal materials. You can't afford them. So don't waste your time here."
The two clerks had seen many poor people come here.
What those people wanted were just some low-graded and cheap spiritual elixirs or herbs. Entering the
shop, they would only find extremely expensive medicinal materials in the shop. Then they would leave
very soon.
"Oh?"
Austin knew what they meant. 'There are so many snobs in the world!' he thought.
Without saying a word, he took out a jade sheet the size of a palm and threw it on the counter.
"Eee? This is... ?"
The clerks widened their eyes. One of them picked up the jade sheet and looked at it carefully.
"This is
the limited edition VIP card our shop issued!" he shouted in surprise.
Customers who possessed such jade sheets were known to be the key customers of the Sky Dragon
Elixir Shop. Only people who had spent at least a million vital energy crystals in their shop were eligible
for this card.
The two clerks changed their attitude at once and a flattering smile appeared on their faces.
They knew it was easy to get a huge amount of tips from such VIP customers if they were pleased.
These tips could sometimes even be more than their annual salary.
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