"Fuchen did it!" Li Tianhan and Shen Yuyan looked at each other in delight.
Even after sacrificing the Patriarch position and main family status, Li Tianhan and Shen Yuyan still felt that it was all worth it.
"Unbelievable.. After innumerable predictions and guesses, who would have thought that fate would choose Li Fuchen to win it all."
"Fate is always mysterious and unpredictable. Which is why people are always fascinated by it."
"Right from the start no one expected anything good from Li Fuchen. Everyone looked down upon the Li Clan and Li Fuchen, but look who survived?"
Li Fuchen received all the glory from winning first place in the genius contest. From now on, every one of the influential individuals within Yunwu City's controlled region will know of him. But the truth was, everyone would only pay a minimal amount of attention to him without much expectations. There were too many cases of normal bone frame geniuses that excelled in the Qi Realm, but declined after reaching the Origin Realm due to innate limitations.
With the contest concluded, city lord Shen Tu Jianhe begins distributing the rewards.
Champion - Li Fuchen: A gold card with the face value of 10,000 gold and two bottles of qi accumulating pills.
2nd place - Yang Kai: A gold card (5000 gold) and one bottle of qi accumulating pills.
3rd place - Shen Tu Jue: A gold card (3000 gold), 5 bottles of spirit qi pills
4th place - He Ping: A gold card (2000 gold), 2 bottles of spirit qi pills.
5th place - Zhu Hongxiu: A gold card (2000 gold), 2 bottles of spirit qi pills.
6th to 20th place: A gold card (1000 gold), 1 bottle of spirit qi pills.
Gold cards were certificates that could be used to redeem gold from the bank. Every gold card had their own face value, with 500 gold being the least and 100,000 gold as the highest value. Gold cards were considerably more convenient than bringing along a large amount of gold coins.
"10,000 gold is indeed a vast amount of wealth!" Looking at the gold card in his hand, Li Fuchen couldn't help but grin. An average household required about 10 gold per annum. With 10,000 gold, one could afford a large property, hire a few servants and live in luxury for the rest of their lives.
At the same time, 2 bottles of qi accumulating pills was enough for him to cultivate for a long time.
After the award ceremony, Chen Zongming stood up, "I am Cang Lan Sect's outer sect elder, Cheng Zongming. I will also be the one who will guide you on the path towards the Cang Lan Sect. You are lucky to become Cang Lan Sect disciples, but don't be glad yet. There are different grades of disciples and only by passing the sect's appraisal trial, will you truly become an official outer sect disciple. If not, you can only be an odd job disciple."
"In addition, I would like to declare, as the Guan Clan's Guan Xue is an exceptional genius and gained recognition from the high elders. The Cang Lan Sect will give a special additional spot to the Guan Clan. After consideration, this spot will be awarded to Guan Peng."
As soon as Chen Zongming finished, the crowd went into an uproar!
The Cang Lan Sect actually gifted another entry spot for the Guan Clan. This was such a great news for the Guan Clan who originally had nothing to return with. Who could have predicted this turn of events. This caused the spectators to experience yet another shocking revelation of fate.
Guan Peng was first stunned, then happiness followed. He was in despair and didn't think bliss would take over so quickly and suddenly.
"Li Fuchen, I will ridicule you good in the Cang Lan Sect." When he thought he almost didn't make it, Guan Peng gave a vicious stare at Li Fuchen and stayed like that for quite some time.
Guan Hao felt depressed, why was it Guan Peng and not him.
Guan Yue and the elders were extremely elated. Guan Yue thought, 'So what if he got first place. Only my daughter, Guan Xue is able to garner the attention of the Cang Lan Sect and give my Guan Clan an additional spot.'
"What's the point?" Li Fuchen raised his eyebrows, but didn't have much of a change in his expression.
Even if Guan Peng entered Cang Lan Sect, it didn't matter to him.
"Use the next three days to make preparations and report to the city lord's residence then." Cheng Zongming continued to talk.
Just like this, the genius contest ended and the next one would be held two years later.
***
Back at the Li Clan's residence, Li Fuchen sensed something awry with the atmosphere. Everyone looked at his family with awkward emotions, within those emotions were pity and also joy in seeing their family's misfortune.
After Li Fuchen inquired, Li Tianhan finally told the truth.
Li Fuchen's expression turned cold, he didn't expect the clan to disregard him to this extent. Even getting first place in the contest couldn't change anything.
"Dad and Mum, Fuchen swears, this will only be temporary. One day I will make Founder and the elders beg you to take back the main family status and Patriarch position." Li Fuchen coldly declared.
Li Tianhan, "Fuchen, with this results, Dad is already satisfied. Don't put pressure on yourself, it is just the Patriarch position. Whether or not we are of the main family, Dad doesn't care about it. I still am an Origin Realm expert, I will not starve."
Shen Yuyan added, "Once you are in the Cang Lan Sect, you need to be focus and not let our problems trouble you."
Li Fuchen nodded, he knew what he said now doesn't hold any weight. Only striving in the Cang Lan Sect could help retrieve everything that originally belonged to his parents.
***
In another backyard, Li Tieshan was speaking with Li Yunhai.
"Yunhai, you don't have to despair, you uncle is a deacon of the Cang Lan outer sect. When I was young, I had a great relationship with him and had sent out a letter to him. I asked him to make use of his sect ties to arrange you to enter as an odd job disciple. If you work hard there, becoming an outer sect disciple isn't just a dream."
"I actually have an uncle who is a deacon of the outer sect? I didn't heard about it before?" Li Yunhai is pleasantly surprised.
Li Tieshan chuckled, "Every clan has their deep ties with the sect, how could the Li Clan not have any?"
An outer sect deacon may sound like an ordinary post, but to become a deacon of the Cang Lan Sect isn't such a simple task.
As an inner sect disciple, if one did not breakthrough to the Earth Realm before the age of 35. They would be demoted from being an inner sect disciple to an inner sect deacon apprentice. From a deacon apprentice, they would progress in ranks to become an official outer sect deacon. Every deacon would supervise a large batch of deacon apprentices.
As for breaking through to the Earth Realm before the age of 35, it was a gargantuan mission. Even the city lord, Shen Tu Jianhe was only able to breakthrough to the Earth Realm at the age of 36. But he rose through the ranks quickly as a deacon apprentice and settled as outer sect elder, then became Yunwu City's lord.
"Li Fuchen, wait and see at the Cang Lan Sect." Li Yunhai's face irradiated vigorously and quickly turned menacing.
***
Within three days, Li Fuchen did whatever he had to, like gifting the blue gem ring to Li Xiaodie.
She was a diligent girl and the ring should be able to assist her well. With the Red Jade Technique at the sixth rank, Li Fuchen's speed in absorbing energy from the heaven and earth drastically improved. At the same time, the ring's effect wasn't as significant anymore. The main reason was because he had tons of gold and gifting a ring was something he could well afford.
Three days went by quickly.
Li Fuchen arrived at the city lord's residence and departed alongside Cheng Zongming and the rest to the Cang Lan Sect.