The charming widow of the Marquis's mansion: The stable boy carries the flag and raises the dra

Some of the people from the four major domains opposite couldn't help but reveal smug smiles.

Someone whispered, "The Eastern Region is completely finished now," their tone full of sarcasm.

Ye Niannu's fingertips tightened slightly, gripping Wang Long's hand even tighter.

She didn't look at the gloating faces, but turned her head and chuckled softly and charmingly.

"My lord, we must teach them a lesson!"

Wang Long felt the warmth of her palm and nodded with a smile.

"Of course!"

Above the plaza, the voice of the Eternal Emperor rang out again, this time clearer than before, like an invisible horn, drawing everyone's attention back to him.

"The first round of the nationwide selection process has officially begun!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the entire Sendai began to tremble violently.

The ground beneath their feet, made of top-grade spirit stones, rippled with spiritual light, like the surface of a lake where a giant rock had been thrown in. The light spread rapidly from the center of the square outwards.

A gigantic entrance materialized in the sky above.

The entrance was swirling in the shape of a vortex, its edges shimmering with a mixture of silver and pale gold light. Its interior was unfathomable, with faintly visible flowing clouds and fragments of broken space.

An irresistible force surged from the depths of the entrance, like an invisible tide, instantly enveloping all the participants.

Wang Long felt his body being gently lifted up by that force, and he felt weightlessness under his feet. The surrounding scenery began to blur and become distant.

Ye Niannu was still holding his hand, but the pulling force was pulling the two of them in different directions.

Her figure had begun to become transparent, fading away little by little.

"Remember! It's okay if the flag is lost! As long as everyone is alright!"

Her voice came from afar, carrying a final, urgent instruction.

The moment the light engulfed his vision, Wang Long felt a gentle yet irresistible force envelop his body, forcibly separating his tightly clasped hands with Ye Niannu's.

"Niannu!"

He shouted, but only heard the wind whistling past his ears, and the light blue figure had already blurred and disappeared into the distance in the light.

Wang Long did not struggle, letting the teleportation force pull his body through layer after layer of spatial folds.

He could sense the existence of the Emperor Seed, like a silent star, unaffected by the teleportation, quietly floating deep within his sea of ​​consciousness.

After about ten breaths, the feeling of weightlessness under my feet finally subsided.

Wang Long's feet landed on a soft patch of grass, the morning dew dampening his boots, and the air was filled with the moist scent of grass and trees.

He opened his eyes and found himself standing in a gently rolling hilly area with a wide field of vision.

In the distance, sparse woods and winding streams can be seen, and further away, the outline of a continuous mountain range can be seen.

Wang Long stood still and first checked that the flag in his arms was still there.

The pale gold flag remained securely pressed against his chest, its warmth still palpable.

He sensed his surroundings, and his spiritual power spread out silently like a fine spider web, covering an area of ​​several dozen feet in radius.

There were no unusual energy fluctuations.

There wasn't a single person around.

Wang Long did not rush to search for the whereabouts of the other people.

He first looked around to make sure there was no obvious danger in the area before finding a high earthen slope, sitting cross-legged, closing his eyes, and slowly extending his senses outward.

The spiritual power forged in the spiritual realm came into play at this moment.

Those fine, hair-like strands of spiritual energy spread outwards from him like an invisible net, sweeping across grasslands, streams, and sparse forests, taking in all the movements within a radius of several miles.

He sensed a thicket about two miles to the east, where several small animals were moving about.

There is a stream to the northwest, with the sound of flowing water. Apart from that, no other contestants have been detected.

The first round of the nationwide selection, the flag defense battle, is in seven days.

From this moment on, it officially begins.

The enormous jade slip floating above the Sendai lit up, revealing a huge map of light and shadow on its surface, clearly showing the real-time dynamics of the entire battlefield to everyone.

On the map, twenty-four pale gold dots representing the flags of the Eastern Region are scattered across the battlefield, some stationary and others slowly moving.

The contestants from the four domains, who had no flags, moved silently toward the points of light, like a dense mass of dark gray shadows.

Outside the arena, Song Tiange stood on the edge of the viewing platform, his expression calm.

Beside him, Ye Wushuang's gaze fell on a golden dot on the map that was moving at the edge of the dense forest, and his fingers clenched almost imperceptibly.

"The first round of the competition... has begun."

Wang Long opened his eyes, stood up, and patted the grass clippings off his robes.

Instead of exploring further afield, he walked along the lower-lying area towards the sparse woods.

After walking for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, a short, low thud suddenly came from ahead, like the sound of a heavy object falling onto the muddy ground.

Wang Long paused slightly, then slowed his pace and silently approached, following the direction from which the sound came.

In a small clearing in the woods, a young man dressed in the robes of the Eastern Region sat leaning against the root of a tree. His face was pale, and his forehead was covered with a fine layer of cold sweat. He covered his left arm with one hand, and blood was faintly seeping between his fingers.

When Wang Long emerged from the shadows of the trees, the man suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with wariness and tension. When he saw Wang Long's face, his wariness eased slightly, but he still felt a bit flustered.

"Your Majesty, the Holy Son!"

He tried to stand up, but the injury to his left arm made him gasp and fall back down.

Wang Long quickly walked up to him and squatted down. His gaze swept over the man's injured left arm. The wound wasn't deep, but it had bled quite a bit, clearly caused by some kind of sharp magical weapon.

"What happened?"

"They're from the Southern Region..."

The young man gritted his teeth, his tone filled with anger.

"I had just landed and hadn't even had time to observe my surroundings when I was ambushed by two people. They stole my flag, and I chased after them for a while, but they outnumbered me, and I got injured, so I had to retreat."

Wang Long didn't say anything, but took out a bottle of healing pills from his waist, poured out one, and handed it over.

"Take it first."

The young man took the pill, and without hesitation, tilted his head back and swallowed it.

The medicine quickly took effect, the bleeding at the wound slowed down significantly, and his complexion regained some color.

"Thank you, Holy Son Wang..."

"We're all family, no need to be polite."

Wang Long stood up, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings before settling on the young man.

Do you remember the direction those two were heading?

The young man nodded and pointed southwest.

"They went that way, very fast, they probably didn't go far."