"Jiang Ruochén, you want to enter the martial meet? Have you lost your mind?"The Eleventh Prince, Jiang Li, laughed so hard he nearly choked. A so-called "waste" daring to join a blood-soaked competition built on strength alone—what difference was there from suicide?
The Sixth Princess's lips curled in scorn. "If you're so eager to die, go jump off the palace wall. Why come here just to humiliate Father? To disgrace the royal bloodline?"
Even Qin Qi, usually too proud to speak to him at all, couldn't help herself."Jiang Ruochén, I didn't think your ignorance ran this deep. You awaken your martial soul once and already dream of proving yourself in combat? Stop deluding yourself. The gap between our souls has already decided your fate. You and I will never belong to the same world."
Her words made Jiang Ruochén chuckle. So that was what she thought—he was doing this to impress her?
Manager Wang Fu, who had been watching the exchange, cleared his throat. "Fourteenth Prince, the arenas are rough places. Given your noble status, perhaps you should reconsider?"
He was being polite, but his thoughts were the same as everyone else's. A "waste prince" in the arena? The story itself sounded like a bad joke.
Jiang Ruochén only smiled faintly. "You're right, Qin Qi—we aren't from the same world. And you think too much. I'm not here to prove anything to you. I'm here to earn resources."
With that, he turned toward Wang Fu. "Manager Wang, no need to persuade me. I'll enter today's match—and not just any match. I'm signing up for a cross-level arena."
A hush fell over the hall.
A prince branded a failure, challenging not only to fight, but to fight above his level? If they hadn't heard it with their own ears, none of them would have believed it.
"Fourteenth Prince… are you serious?" Wang Fu asked, finally seeing the iron resolve in the young man's eyes.
"I am," Jiang Ruochén replied without hesitation.
Wang Fu hesitated. He didn't believe in this outcome at all—but the Chamber's rule was clear: all who paid and dared to fight were welcome. "If Your Highness insists, I'll make the arrangements."
He gestured to a maid. "Take the prince to registration. Explain the procedures."
"Thank you, Manager Wang." Jiang Ruochén bowed slightly and followed the maid away—without so much as a glance at the group behind him.
"That waste… he's really courting death," Jiang Li muttered through clenched teeth, watching Jiang Ruochén's calm back. "If we weren't in the capital, I'd break every bone in his body."
"Let him go," Qin Qi said coldly. "He's not worth your anger. Besides, the ones who enter that arena aren't softhearted. He'll be lucky to crawl out alive."
Her tone soothed the group instantly.
"Hah! She's right," Jiang Li sneered. "Those arena fighters are savages. That fool's either dead or crippled before morning."
"I almost hope he does die there," the Sixth Princess added darkly. "Better that than watching him shame the royal name again."
With that, they dropped the subject and continued deeper into the Constellation Chamber, passing through a concealed door that led to the sprawling underground arena.
Meanwhile, Jiang Ruochén had already finished most of the paperwork. Only one detail remained—the level of the cross-rank match he wished to enter.
The higher the level, the richer the reward. For someone starving for resources, there was only one sensible choice: go as high as possible.
After a brief calculation, he said quietly, "Second-Heaven challenger against Fourth-Heaven opponent."
He had originally planned to fight only one realm above, but the payout for that was a mere twenty spirit stones. Fourth-Heaven matches, however, offered fifty. Risk and reward—he knew his limits. With his one-elephant strength, he could handle it.
The maid and registrar both gaped."Fourteenth Prince, are you sure? Second Heaven versus Fourth Heaven—that's a difference of seven oxen in power!"
Ordinary Second-Heaven cultivators wielded the strength of three oxen; Fourth-Heaven fighters commanded one elephant—ten oxen. The gap was enormous.
To them, this was no challenge—it was suicide. They couldn't know that Jiang Ruochén himself already possessed one elephant's power after unlocking his hidden meridians.
"I'm sure," he said.
Still stunned, they wrote his name, then handed him a jade tag engraved with suppressing runes—standard issue for cross-level bouts to prevent contestants from secretly raising their cultivation.
For Jiang Ruochén, whose realm truly was Second Heaven, it made no difference.
Registration done, he asked for a temporary seclusion room to prepare.Only a few hours remained until nightfall, when the fights began. Returning to the palace would waste precious time. Better to use every breath to strengthen himself further.
Inside the quiet chamber, he checked for traps, then slipped into the God Burial Tower and swallowed one of the low-grade Marrow-Washing Pills.
Warmth spread through his aching veins, soothing the strain from past cultivation. Even a low-grade pill from the Constellation Chamber worked wonders; within moments, its effect bloomed.
"Three hours outside… nearly ten inside. Enough to open another two dark veins."
He steadied his breath and began again.
Though his current power could already rival a typical Fourth-Heaven cultivator, he wanted certainty—victory without question.
Ten internal hours passed. He emerged having pierced two more hidden meridians—his strength now at one elephant and one ox.
"With this," he murmured, flexing his hands, "ordinary Fourth-Heaven opponents won't stand a chance."
As he left the tower, a chime rang—the maid's signal.
"Coming," he replied.
He straightened his robes, composed his breath, and stepped out of the chamber. The time for words had passed.
Now came the test of blood and iron.