The man in the bamboo hat put away his fan and continued upward. His pace remained unhurried, and he still kept himself near the back.
As time passed, the procession gradually stretched out and separated into several groups. The twin sisters were in the very front, surrounded by Earth-grade spirit roots and cultivators with relatively high cultivation. The middle group was the largest, while the man in the bamboo hat trailed behind with a handful of the weak, sickly, disabled, and young.
After an unknown amount of time, the leading group finally left the Rockfall Formation. Sharp spikes suddenly thrust from the stone steps, and several people failed to dodge in time. Their feet were pierced straight through, leaving blood all over the ground.
The people farther back had no idea what was happening ahead. They could only hear the screams and became even more cautious.
Xia Yunzhao frowned. “It’s only an entrance test for recruiting disciples. Does it really have to be this cruel? This practically counts as torture. You might as well use this sort of thing against villains instead.”
Du Yan gave a cold laugh. “If they don’t endure a thousand hardships and ten thousand sufferings, how could they possibly be worthy of entering Qianyuan Sect?”
It was the first time Xia Yunzhao had seen that expression on Du Yan’s face, and he could not help looking at him twice. Du Yan immediately lowered his voice and softened his tone. “What is it?”
Xia Yunzhao shook his head. “It’s just… Brother Du, you don’t seem to like Qianyuan Sect very much.”
Du Yan put on a smiling expression and said nothing more. Su Meng suddenly cried out and pointed. “Those sisters are in danger!”
Xia Yunzhao hurriedly turned back. The sisters had already reached the middle of the Stone-Spike Formation, and only a handful of people could still keep up with them. One male cultivator suddenly staggered, and blood seeped from beneath his foot. A spike had pierced him!
“Careful!” One of the sisters instinctively reached out to pull him up, but the male cultivator’s eyes shifted. He seized her arm, yanked, then shoved her straight off the cliff beside them. “Get down there! Your grandpa is going to be the first one to reach the top!” With that, he immediately accelerated and shot ahead.
“A-Xuan!” The other girl reached out for her, but failed to catch her. She could only watch her twin sister fall into the abyss, her body shattered beyond recovery. Yet she did not even have time to cry. The male cultivator had already passed her and taken the lead.
Her eyes bloodshot, she stared fixedly at the man ahead. Her footwork suddenly changed. In an instant, she appeared behind him, grabbed his shoulder, and shoved hard. The male cultivator became another nameless corpse at the bottom of the cliff.
The girl wiped away her tears and continued climbing with no expression on her face.
Watching all this, Xia Yunzhao wondered whether people who entered a sect through trials like these would truly feel any affection for that sect. Forget lofty things like loyalty or faith. In practical terms, if disaster struck the sect one day, would they stay and endure hardship together, or scatter and flee?
Putting himself in their place, if he had been subjected to all this while trying to become a disciple, then after entering the sect, he absolutely would not regard it as home. He would only see it as somewhere to grab benefits. If there were benefits, he would take them. If there were none, he would hurry away. As the saying went, if you are unkind, then don’t blame me for being unrighteous.
Qianyuan Sect had stood in this world for thousands of years. Did it truly not understand something so simple? Why torment people who sincerely sought the immortal path like this? Or were these great sects simply so arrogant, their eyes practically growing on top of their heads, that they did not fear anyone’s resentment at all, even when that “anyone” was their own disciple?
Little City Lord Xia suddenly sighed. He could not figure it out. The deeper his understanding of the cultivation world became, the more he felt that this entire world was sick, divided into extremes that made no sense.
Four hours later, the people on the Ascension Stairway had made it through another two formations: the Illusion Formation and the Soul-Capturing Formation.
The Illusion Formation caused those who entered to see hallucinations. Some saw gold, fine wine, power, and beautiful people. Others saw resources, magical artifacts, spirit veins, and spirit stones. Still others saw bones, wandering ghosts, slaughter beasts, and monsters. There was no end to the variations.
Some people who entered the Illusion Formation became lost in what they saw. Others fled wildly in terror and fell from the cliffs. Only those with sufficiently resolute minds could break free and enter the next stage.
The Soul-Capturing Formation, meanwhile, controlled them and forced them to kill one another. Only those who resisted everyone around them and survived until they left the formation could regain consciousness. Aside from the Rockfall Formation, this formation caused the most deaths. Blood stained this stretch of white-jade stairs red.
After all that, by the time they reached the fifth formation, there were no mortals left in the procession. Without anyone noticing, the man in the bamboo hat had also reached the front and now stood beside the red-robed female cultivator who had lost her sister.
Even Du Yan did not know what the fifth formation was. Everyone concentrated on that part of the stairway.
Xia Yunzhao suddenly sensed something and instinctively started to raise his head, only for a hand to press gently against the top of it and make him lower it again.
He turned slightly and saw Shang Shuangze shake his head. His lips moved, and a sentence entered Xia Yunzhao’s divine sense. “A great expert is watching from the sky.”
Xia Yunzhao replied through divine sense as well. “How great?”
Shang Shuangze said, “At least Integration stage or higher.”
Xia Yunzhao grimaced. That really was a great expert. Integration stage came after Soul Transformation.
Could the next formation be so important that even an Integration-stage expert was paying attention?
Formation light suddenly appeared on the Ascension Stairway. Unexpectedly, it was gentle and completely nonaggressive. It did not conceal itself in the slightest, simply sitting there in plain sight. Beyond it was the summit.
Nearly six hours had passed since the climb began. If they did not hurry, they would lose their chance to enter the inner sect.
Yet the man and woman in front both stayed where they were. After everything they had endured on the Ascension Stairway, they already understood that this was no carefree, transcendent immortal sect, and they were no precious future disciples. The formation looked gentle, but who knew what might be hidden inside?
They were wary, but someone behind them grew impatient. A round, plump male cultivator could not wait any longer and plunged straight into the formation. Its light instantly swelled. The next moment, the man vanished. Just as everyone thought he had died, he reappeared at the foot of the mountain.
He had actually been transported all the way back down! More than ten thousand steps of the Ascension Stairway, climbed for nothing!
Who wouldn’t lose their mind over that?
The male cultivator raised his magical artifact as if to attack, but a voice suddenly drifted down from the sky. It boomed like a great bell inside everyone’s mind, making their divine senses ache. “This is the Affinity-Spirit Formation. It reflects your immortal roots and Dao bones. Those incompatible with this sect’s inheritance will all be sent back down the mountain.”
Even after the sentence ended, everyone’s heads continued buzzing with the lingering echo. Xia Yunzhao held his head and swayed. “Hiss… It was one sentence. Couldn’t he just say it normally? Why did he have to use divine sense…”
A stream of cool spiritual power flowed into his sea of consciousness through his temples. Shang Shuangze rubbed them with obvious distress in his eyes. “Once we obtain the cultivation method, you must cultivate your divine sense properly.”
Divine sense also had to be cultivated. Xia Yunzhao was currently at mid Golden Core, but ever since breaking through to Golden Core, he had lacked a cultivation method to practice, so the strength of his divine sense was somewhat lacking.
That was only in comparison with Shang Shuangze, however. Compared with other cultivators at the same realm, Xia Yunzhao’s divine sense was already exceptionally strong. Nearby, a Golden Core cultivator had been shaken badly enough to cough up blood, while several Foundation Establishment cultivators had fainted outright.
The divine-sense pressure of an Integration-stage expert was truly terrifying.
The Qingxi City group had also been shaken badly. After recovering for a moment, Xia Yunzhao took out pills and distributed them one by one.
The people on the Ascension Stairway had heard the same voice, yet apparently had not been affected by the divine-sense pressure. Perhaps the great expert had deliberately controlled it.
Now that everyone knew what the formation did, they stopped hesitating and entered one after another. Unexpectedly, the first several people who went in were all sent back to the foot of the mountain.
Some of them even had Earth-grade spirit roots, leaving the spectators baffled. Qianyuan Sect did not even want Earth-grade spirit roots? What kind of disciples were they trying to recruit?
At that moment, the man in the bamboo hat took one step forward and entered the formation. The formation lit up. He should have been transported to the foot of the mountain like the others, but this time something changed. The light shifted, and he was transported directly to the summit!
The formation flashed. Several lines flickered across it before fading back to calm as it waited for the next person.
Xia Yunzhao was still puzzled when Xiang Moyue made a small sound of realization behind him. “So it’s a Bedrock Body.”
Xia Yunzhao immediately asked, “Fellow Daoist Xiang, you figured it out?”
Xiang Moyue was always willing to explain things to him. He pointed forward. “City Lord Xia, look. That male cultivator possesses a special constitution, the Bedrock Body. It isn’t an especially rare constitution. You don’t even have to look far. Quite a few people in the Golden Body Sect have Bedrock Bodies. People with this constitution have coarse but extremely tough meridians. Their spiritual power circulates slowly, but it is exceptionally stable, making them well suited to metal-attributed cultivation methods…”
Xia Yunzhao hurriedly interrupted him. “So this formation tests for special constitutions? I knew it. They already tested spirit roots earlier, so why would they need to test them again here… Qianyuan Sect wants disciples with special constitutions? What for?” He did not believe they had suddenly been overcome by generosity and wanted to give these people a home.
Xiang Moyue closed his mouth and shrugged, his meaning clear: who knew?
Several more people were tested and were sent down the mountain just the same. Only then did the red-robed female cultivator, who had watched the entire process, step into the formation.
Sure enough, unusual lines appeared in the formation again, and the female cultivator was transported to the summit as well.
Everyone waited for several more hours until every person still alive on the Ascension Stairway had been tested. In the end, only those two were transported to the summit.
Once the final person had been tested, white mist surged up again. The Ascension Stairway folded back into the earth, leaving the people on the summit and at the foot of the mountain separated as though by a heavenly chasm.
Xia Yunzhao keenly noticed that the needle-prick discomfort above his head had disappeared. The great expert was gone!
He immediately looked up. Sure enough, Shang Shuangze nodded to him as well.
At that moment, a person wearing Qianyuan Sect disciple robes flew out from the mountain gate. He cupped his hands toward the spectators and announced loudly, “The ceremony is about to begin. Fellow Daoists, please enter the sect and observe.”
Only during the disciple-recruitment ceremony did Qianyuan Sect open its mountain gates so widely that even cultivators without invitations could enter. For many low-tier cultivators, this was an exceedingly rare opportunity. They might only enter Qianyuan Sect once in their entire lives.
Xia Yunzhao, however, could not have cared less. He had never had much affection for these major sects. “Let’s leave one person behind to gather information. The rest of us can go.”
Du Yan immediately said, “I’ll stay.”
“Don’t.” Xia Yunzhao grabbed him and pulled him down the mountain. “This kind of thing should obviously be left to Fellow Daoist Xiang. He’s the professional.”
Xiang Moyue waved his fan and put on a pitiful expression. “City Lord Xia, didn’t you say we were all friends? Are you really going to rank us by closeness?”
Xia Yunzhao ignored the act. “What friend? This is my brother!”
He was already several strides down the mountain before his voice came drifting back. “Come back early! We’ll wait for you to eat!”
Xiang Moyue watched his retreating back with a smile. Only after Xia Yunzhao disappeared from sight did he tap his fan three times against his left palm.
Two utterly unremarkable cultivators, the sort who would vanish the instant they were thrown into a crowd, slipped out from among the people and approached him. “Master.”
Xiang Moyue still wore a smile. “Go find out what exactly is happening inside Qianyuan Sect.”
The two immediately nodded. “Yes!” With that, they slipped back into the crowd and vanished at once, like drops of water falling into the sea.
Xia Yunzhao led the group down the mountain, traveling from Qingjing Ward all the way to Yingxian Ward. They planned to find somewhere to eat a huge meal while asking around about this Qianyuan Grand Competition. Other people could worry about recruitment and apprenticeship. The Grand Competition was what he cared about.
Brother Du would certainly gather information for him too, but Du Yan’s information all came from inside Qianyuan Sect. He might genuinely not know which people would participate in this Grand Competition.
The group found a restaurant and sat down. Du Yan said, “The exact process for this Qianyuan Grand Competition has not been announced yet. According to the old rules, it should be held on the Tongxuan Platform and divided into an arena martial trial, a pill-cultivator competition, an artifact-refiner competition, and a talisman competition.”
Xia Yunzhao’s mouth was stuffed full of food, yet he still managed to squeeze out a question. “Can one person only enter one competition?”
Du Yan shook his head. “There’s no restriction. You may enter as many as you like. But some competitions take place at the same time, so you have to work out the schedule yourself.”
That sounded great. With no limit on registration, he could sign up for all of them and choose whichever one had the fewest opponents! Xia Yunzhao’s mood soared. He waved a hand. “Waiter! Have there been any rumors about the Qianyuan Grand Competition lately? Tell us about them!”
“Coming!” The waiter hurried upstairs from below. “What would Senior like to know?”
Xia Yunzhao looked him up and down. “Are there any particularly formidable people participating in this Qianyuan Grand Competition?”
The waiter immediately began talking without pause. “If we’re talking about this Qianyuan Grand Competition, there are plenty of formidable people this time! Never mind anyone far away. Just within Qianyuan Sect, several seniors are competing, and I hear they’re all exceptional fighters! Then there’s Shuixi Pavilion, Lingxiao Palace… I even heard Yunmeng Marsh sent people!”
He leaned in mysteriously and lowered his voice. “And besides, hidden experts can come from anywhere. Just because there are several major sects, does that mean no formidable reclusive cultivators exist elsewhere? I heard there’s a particularly impressive pill refiner around lately. He comes from some small city, but his talent is extraordinary and his pill arts are amazing. Everyone’s talking about him! I think his name was Xia… or maybe Dong…”
Xia Yunzhao: “…”
Seeing his expression change, the waiter hurriedly smiled apologetically. “This little one is ignorant. Did I say something wrong? Senior, please forgive me, please forgive me.”
Xia Yunzhao glanced at him, then suddenly sprang up and struck with one palm. The waiter was still smiling as he retreated. “Senior, what’s wrong? We were talking perfectly well. Why are you suddenly angry?”
He backed into the corner with nowhere left to retreat. His hands shifted as if to block Xia Yunzhao’s palm, only for Xia Yunzhao to pull the strike back and reveal his other hand, which had been hidden behind him. It held an empty plate, its bottom slick with oily sauce and reeking of garlic. Clang!
Xia Yunzhao slapped the plate right onto his face and even rubbed it around to spread the sauce evenly.
The waiter: “…”
Everyone froze and looked at one another. This… They could not tell what was happening, but their City Lord was certainly not the sort to kill… or injure innocent people for no reason!
Only Shang Shuangze helplessly covered his forehead and reached out to serve Xia Yunzhao some soup.
Xia Yunzhao swaggered back to his seat. The waiter followed with the plate in his hands, face dripping with sauce and looking completely innocent. “City Lord Xia, how did you recognize me?”
Xia Yunzhao said irritably, “I’ve already told you I have the Di-Ting Art and I’m extremely sensitive to people’s auras. I knew the moment you showed up, all right?”
The waiter smiled. His eyes curved like a fox’s, and beginning with those eyes, his features shifted until he finally became Xiang Moyue.
Everyone: “…”
So this was what you did after we sent you to gather information? Had you been waiting for a chance like this for ages?!
Zhong Yundu pointed at the soup dripping from Xiang Moyue’s body. “Serves you right!”
Xiang Moyue waved a hand. Spiritual energy flashed, and the waiter’s clothes transformed back into his ostentatious golden magical robe. The soup stains vanished as well. “Little City Lord Xia asked me to gather information. Naturally I had to disguise myself!”
Xia Yunzhao could not be bothered arguing with him. He took the bowl of soup Shang Shuangze had served him and gulped it down. Shang Shuangze asked on his behalf, “What did you find?”
Xiang Moyue smiled and held up two fingers. “Two pieces of news. First, the format of this Qianyuan Grand Competition has changed. It will no longer be an arena competition. Participants must form their own teams and enter a fragment of a secret realm, with rankings determined by what each team obtains.”
Everyone was startled. “When did you hear this?”
Xiang Moyue said, “Wait until tomorrow, or perhaps until after the disciple-recruitment ceremony, and the news will probably be announced.”
Everyone froze. Meaning the news had not even been made public yet, and he already knew?
Xiang Moyue continued, “Second, the rewards for this Qianyuan Grand Competition are much more generous than before. If a small faction places in the top three, it may choose any major sect present and become affiliated with it. If the winners have some other request, they may raise that as well.”
He waved his fan at Xia Yunzhao. “Qianyuan Sect is putting on quite the generous act. City Lord Xia, if you win first place, why not simply try asking them to give you that cultivation method?”
What kind of terrible suggestion was that? Xia Yunzhao’s mouth twitched. “Sure. Then if they don’t want to give it to me, they’ll have the perfect excuse to get rid of me, right?” He shook his head and ignored Xiang Moyue’s joke, thinking instead: Why had Qianyuan Sect suddenly changed the format of the Grand Competition? Was it connected to the equally sudden disciple recruitment?
Facts proved that Xiang Moyue’s information was both extraordinarily fast and extraordinarily accurate.
Early the next morning, Duxu City’s Voice-Transmission Wall announced the rules for this Qianyuan Grand Competition: participating cultivators had to be under fifty years old and at least at Foundation Establishment. They had to form their own teams, with no more than five people per team and no minimum number.
The Grand Competition would take place inside a fragment of a heaven-and-earth secret realm. Five Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stones were hidden inside, one each of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. The five teams that obtained the stones would advance to the next round.
When participants entered the secret realm, they could carry no spirit items except their lifebound magical treasures. They could not even bring storage pouches. And most importantly, everyone would be responsible for their own life or death.
Not only Xia Yunzhao’s group but the other cultivators as well erupted in an uproar. The Qianyuan Grand Competition had existed for thousands of years and had never undergone such a drastic change.
Moreover, Qianyuan Sect had not informed even its own affiliated powers of the change. Many learned of it only after seeing the Voice-Transmission Wall. Changing the rules at the last moment was devastating for factions that had prided themselves on understanding the Grand Competition. Quite a few smaller powers had no choice but to replace their competitors on short notice.
Inside the meditation cave dwelling, Xia Yunzhao’s group was discussing the matter too.
“Under fifty years old and at least Foundation Establishment. That’s actually an extremely narrow range. Anyone who qualifies is a genius.” Among all the people present, only the City Lord and Senior Shang could enter.
“If they forbid everything except lifebound magical treasures, then you can only bring a pill cultivator, artifact refiner, or talisman master with you. They’ve basically combined several competitions into one.”
“A five-person team… City Lord, are you and Senior Shang going to find three more people?”
Xia Yunzhao thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Better not. Teammates found at the last minute won’t know us well, and we won’t have any teamwork. If they turn out to have bad character, that’s even worse. We’d have to guard against outsiders and our own people at the same time.”
Shang Shuangze nodded as well. “Yunzhao and I are enough.”
Everyone considered it. In terms of numbers, two people would indeed be at a disadvantage against five-person teams. But if newly recruited teammates caused trouble, the disadvantages would outweigh the benefits. Better to keep things as they were.
Putting that question aside, everyone moved on to discuss other matters.
If they were not allowed to bring any spirit items except lifebound magical treasures, magical robes probably would not be allowed either. The two of them would have to buy ordinary clothes…
After a full day of preparations, the Qianyuan Grand Competition finally arrived.
No one knew whether everyone else was ready, but Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze were certainly traveling light. Wearing ordinary clothes, the two arrived at the Tongxuan Platform.
This was where the entrance to the fragment of the heaven-and-earth secret realm was located. Magical treasures for testing cultivation realm and bone age had been set up on both sides.
Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze walked through the testing treasures hand in hand. Immediately, startled cries came from behind them. “Twenty-nine years old and late Golden Core? What kind of monster is that?!”
“And the one beside him is twenty-three years old and mid Golden Core? Good heavens, are monsters appearing in packs now…?”
“Shh! Keep your voice down. Don’t let those two seniors hear you!”
Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze looked at each other and smiled, then found a spot in the corner to wait for the entrance to open.
More and more people gathered around them. Most teams really did have all five members, though there were also quite a few teams of only two or three. It seemed they were not the only ones with reservations about temporary teammates.
Everyone had read the Grand Competition rules and knew the teams were rivals. Naturally, they were all wary of one another.
Since everyone was openly sizing everyone else up, Xia Yunzhao made no effort to hide his own gaze either. He looked around, then suddenly tugged Shang Shuangze’s sleeve. “Look over there.”
Shang Shuangze followed his gaze. It was the man in the bamboo hat.
Xia Yunzhao lowered his voice. “He only became a disciple yesterday, and today he’s already participating in the Qianyuan Grand Competition? Is he representing Qianyuan Sect?”
Shang Shuangze watched him for a moment, then shook his head slightly. “Probably not. He came alone. If he represented Qianyuan Sect, he should have joined one of their teams.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded. That was true. So the man was participating on his own? Perhaps he had even hidden it from the master he had just taken… What exactly was this man hiding?
The Chen hour was nearly over when the bell rang. The Qianyuan Grand Competition finally began.
A stream of spiritual power flew from Qianyuan Sect’s mountain gate and reached the Tongxuan Platform. White light immediately flared across the platform.
The white light expanded, and a spatial entrance appeared. The fragment had opened.
It really was Qianyuan Sect. A heaven-and-earth secret realm was an extraordinarily precious thing, and even one fragment was priceless. Yet they could casually bring one out as a competition venue. Clearly, to them, this fragment did not amount to much.
The entrance grew wider and wider before finally stabilizing. The Qianyuan Sect elder overseeing the Grand Competition said indifferently, “Enter.”
Someone at the front immediately lost patience and led his team inside.
One team after another followed. The number of people on the Tongxuan Platform was soon cut in half.
Only then did Xia Yunzhao take Shang Shuangze’s hand. “Let’s go.”
White light flashed, and the two figures vanished.