Yun Ling looked at the emperor. The emperor changed his task from slaying the Trinity Giant Serpent to subduing Snow Fang, a lesser beast at the Mortal Lord Realm so he could pass him to the third stage without any complaint from the audience. It was not like those people knew about his task. Only the higher-ups in the royal court knew. Besides, all of them had probably already been convinced by the emperor to pass him, therefore, he had no need to worry about them.

“I thought your task was to kill demonic cultivators?” Yu Shan asked Yun Ling with a smile to which, Yun Ling responded with a snort.

“You’re not one to talk,” Yun Ling said. Just as he had expected, Yu Shan also lied about his task. In the banquet, he said his task was to kill three wanted criminals but it was actually to kill three demonic cultivators.

“Heh, fair enough.”

As for the crown prince, he really couldn’t say that he was lying. After all, he only said that he had to bring the heads of three individuals at the Four Transformation Realm. Actually, now that he thought about it, the crown prince was indeed lying. Among the three that he had killed, only the general, Xu Chen, was at the Four Transformation Realm. The other two were merely at the Core Formation Realm. However, that wasn’t to say that his task was not difficult, in fact, it was more difficult since his other two targets had several Four Transformation Realm bodyguards who were always at their side. But in the end, the crown prince was also lying about his task just like them.

“Now then…”

All of them turned their attention back to the emperor as they listened to what he was going to say.

The emperor snapped his fingers. At that moment, all three thousand of the participants disappeared in a second. Only Yun Ling, Yu Shan, and the crown prince had remained at the open area below.

Yun Ling narrowed his eyes. There was a massive formation below the coliseum responsible for the disappearance of the other participants. The massive formation should be controlled by the emperor which was why the moment he snapped his fingers, they all disappeared.

“I have sent them into my deceased father's, the previous emperor’s Divine Phantasm. The first stage of the Golden Dragon Election will be held there,” the emperor explained to the audience.

Divine Phantasm was the inner world created by special cultivators in the Sacred King Realm. Not all Sacred Kings, however, were capable of creating one. Only the Sacred Kings worshiped by many could do so.

Yun Ling’s father and grandfather for one didn’t have a Divine Phantasm. The emperor, on the other hand, did, and so were the other emperors. Although they were all in the Sacred King Realm, the reason why the emperor was stronger than his father was because of the emperor’s Divine Phantasm and the worship he received from all the citizens in the Jin Empire. That was why Yun Wei said that in order to fight the emperor into a stalemate, it would require both him and his son, Yun Zhan to fight the emperor together.

“Divine Phantasm…” the audience could only sigh in awe. Even though the previous emperor had already died a few centuries ago, his Divine Phantasm could still be used like this. Divine Phantasm was really such a mystical force.

“Yu Shan, Yun Ling, Jin Zhen, will you three come up here?” the emperor asked but it was more of a command.

The three came up and sat down on the seat reserved only for the three of them. They were sitting higher than everybody else in the audience but lower than the emperor’s seat.

The emperor waved his hand. A large moving image appeared at the center of the stage, showing the participants who had just disappeared. The three thousand participants were standing in front of a massive forest silently. At first, they were startled when they were suddenly teleported away but they soon managed to regain their composure when they realized what was going on. Currently, they were waiting for the emperor’s instruction before they made their move.

Yun Yi frowned as he looked at the empty space above. He could feel that there was something looking at all of them. He then let out a shrug. He figured it was probably something to make the others in the coliseum see their actions inside the Divine Phantasm.

“Everyone,” all of them looked up when they heard the emperor’s voice coming from above. “Three thousand one hundred six. That is the total number of participants in the Golden Dragon Election barring the three supreme geniuses. In the first stage, more than a thousand of you will fail. Only, one thousand can pass this stage and go on to the second stage.”

The participants sucked in a cold breath. Only one thousand among the three thousand could pass? This was just the first stage yet already so many people would fail. The Golden Dragon Election really wasn’t to be underestimated.

“Let me explain to you the mechanics of the first stage. There are currently 1000 cards hidden all over the forest numbering from 1 to 1000. In order to get to the second round, all you have to do is find a card and protect it for three hours straight. If you managed to protect your cards for three hours, it will automatically teleport you back to the coliseum,” the emperor paused, making sure everyone was able to understand his words. “There are timers embedded in the card. The moment you get your card, the timer will automatically begin counting down from three hours to zero. If your card, however, gets stolen by someone else, the timer will reset and go back to three hours. The timer will once again begin counting down from three hours to zero to the one who managed to steal your cards. Do you understand?”

The participants nodded.

“Do you have any questions?”

They shook their heads while the others verbally answered him.

“The first stage will end once one of you gets teleported by the last card back to the coliseum. That’s all.”

After the emperor finished speaking, there was a giant number that appeared in the sky.

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

When the number hit zero, the participants instantly entered the forest in haste, all of them intent on finding the said cards by the emperor.

The first stage of the Golden Dragon Election had thus begun!