Hua Xia Sect, back mountain waterfall.
Chu Huaian contentedly closed the light screen.
The players did not disappoint him; they were brave and resourceful, and although there were a few fools, it did not affect the overall situation.
In this battle, all players participated except for Jiang Xiaoxiao and Luo Xi.
Eight people died, but they killed more than twenty of the enemy, which could be described as a victory of the few over the many, and the weak over the strong.
But this was far from enough; to destroy the Qingcheng Gang, at least ten Qi Refining Stage players would be needed, and they would need to be at the mid-Qi Refining Stage.
In addition, the number of other players would need to be at least around one hundred to have any chance of destroying the Qingcheng Gang.
Of course, if Chu Huaian advanced to the Foundation Establishment Stage within a month, he could destroy the Qingcheng Gang by himself.
However, this was not the outcome he desired; the players lacked war experience, so in this battle, he was only responsible for intercepting the three Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators, leaving the rest entirely to the players.
If not for the vast difference between the Foundation Establishment Stage and the Qi Refining Stage, Chu Huaian might have considered letting the players destroy the Qingcheng Gang on their own.
The Foundation Establishment Stage could only be achieved after undergoing the tribulation of lightning; once successful, one could fly with swords, roam the heavens and earth, and cast dao spells at will.
It could be said that a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator could easily instantly kill dozens of Qi Refining Stage cultivators.
Even with Chu Huaian's profound foundation, it would be very difficult to cross a realm and kill a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator.
Therefore, within this month, he must break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, at which point he would have a slight ability to protect himself in the southern region.
Shaking off the distracting thoughts in his mind, he took out pieces of top-grade spirit stones from his storage ring and began to cultivate.
...
The sect's construction was in full swing, and half a month later, when Chu Huaian finished his cultivation and arrived at the martial arts arena to welcome the fourth batch of players, he saw rows of detached villas.
A grand hall, resembling a palace, stood in the very center of the sect.
To walk from below to the main entrance of the hall required climbing 99 steps; looking out from there, the entire sect was visible, truly magnificent and spectacular.
In the disciple area, the uniquely shaped detached villas gave Chu Huaian a sense of unreality.
These players had brought all their ideal houses into the game, making them look somewhat out of place.
In addition, all high points of the sect were adorned with red flags, fluttering in the wind, with the three characters “Hua Xia Sect” written on them.
This was perhaps the only sect among all sects that possessed a sect flag.
Players with rich imaginations even built the mountain gate to resemble the South Heaven Gate.
Two stone pillars were carved with soaring stone dragons, reaching a total height of about twenty meters, and in the very center hung a shimmering plaque, “Hua Xia Sect.”
They actually melted spirit stones into the plaque; those who didn't know might think the Hua Xia Sect was showing off its wealth.
Only Chu Huaian knew that the players had no such intention; they just thought it looked sparkly and pretty.
Wang Xiaojun and Li Yongxiao also built several cannons, distributed around the sect; according to them, these were the sect's hidden strength.
But what they didn't know was that these ordinary cannons posed no threat to a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator.
At this point, the entire sect construction was complete; from this moment on, the Hua Xia Sect truly earned the title of a sect.
After half a month of cultivation, all the first batch of players had advanced to the Qi Refining Stage, and half of the second batch had advanced to the Qi Refining Stage.
As for the third batch, only Luo Xi and Li Yongxiao had advanced to the Qi Refining Stage, while the rest of the players were still in the Body Tempering Stage.
As Chu Huaian expected, after entering the Qi Refining Stage, those players with extraordinary talents gradually began to distinguish themselves, with their realms pulling far ahead.
In the disciple cultivation ranking, the first place was still Zhao Shijie, at the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Stage.
During this period, Zhao Shijie cultivated like a madman, spending almost all his time in the game world.
The second place was Lin Ye, at the third layer of the Qi Refining Stage, just one step away from advancing to the fourth layer.
The third place was Luo Xi, who had just advanced to the third layer of the Qi Refining Stage, which surprised Chu Huaian somewhat.
Because Luo Xi had never gone out; she stayed in the library all day, occasionally visiting the back mountain to wander around and sit by the cliff, lost in thought.
It was such an unworldly girl whose cultivation realm kept advancing by leaps and bounds, which greatly impressed Lin Ye and the others.
In the eyes of other players, Luo Xi was already tacitly recognized as the sect's Senior Sister.
The fourth place was Ye Wuyai, at the second layer of the Qi Refining Stage.
His time was quite regular, with half spent in the game and half in reality; otherwise, his cultivation would certainly not have stopped at the second layer of the Qi Refining Stage.
The fifth place was Li Yongxiao, at the second layer of the Qi Refining Stage.
He spent all day with Wang Xiaojun tinkering with weapons in the forging room, and the rest of the time he would go with Fang Yuan and a few others to the secret forest to cause trouble for demonic beasts.
The sixth place was Qin Zhenhua, at the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage.
Although his talent was only a mid-grade spirit root, with the support of other players and his own efforts, he was not inferior to other talented players.
The seventh and eighth places were Fang Yuan and Qin Hao.
The two were either courting death or on their way to courting death.
It is worth mentioning that Fang Yuan spent one thousand contribution points to buy a Soul-Summoning Banner from the shop, and then secretly snuck down the mountain with Qin Hao.
The two traversed mountains and ridges, finally arriving at a small mountain village; just as they were about to slaughter these NPCs to refine the Soul-Summoning Banner, they were encountered by a passing Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator.
The final outcome was predictable.
The two, deceased.
The Soul-Summoning Banner was also destroyed by the opponent.
This infuriated Fang Yuan to no end; that was half a month's worth of contribution points he had painstakingly saved, just gone like that, and he was still heartbroken about it, vowing not to be human if he didn't kill that person!
What made him even more unexpected was that after Chu Huaian learned about this, he hung the two of them at the mountain gate and whipped them for a full four hours.
Whenever the two recalled it, their bodies would instinctively shiver a few times.
As for Jiang Xiaoxiao and Huo Sichun, they were tied for ninth and tenth place.
And today was the arrival time for the fourth batch of players, a total of thirty people.
Chu Huaian quickly scanned them and saw that there were no outstanding players among them; most had mid-grade or low-grade spirit roots.
Chu Huaian simply said a few opening remarks, then handed this batch of players over to Jiang Xiaoxiao, and returned to the back mountain himself, preparing to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage.
With the addition of this batch of players, the entire sect became incredibly lively.
Wang Xiaojun and Li Yongxiao, in order to earn contribution points, began setting up stalls within the sect, selling various weapons they had made themselves.
Other players followed suit, selling everything imaginable, from food to daily necessities.
Someone even sold Luo Xi's clothes, and after Luo Xi found out, she beat him half to death.
And that person was Fang Yuan.
He and Qin Hao hit it off, and when Luo Xi was not around, they secretly snuck into Luo Xi's villa and stole her personal clothes.
And believe it or not, someone actually bought them; this person was Baldy, who offered one hundred contribution points.
Then all three were beaten by Luo Xi, and this was Luo Xi's first time getting angry, which was truly earth-shattering.
That wasn't all; Luo Xi even ran to Chu Huaian to complain, and her aggrieved appearance made Chu Huaian furious, causing him to hang the three of them at the mountain gate and give them another fierce whipping.
Their screams echoed throughout the sect for a long time.
After this incident, Chu Huaian formulated a series of sect rules overnight and established the Enforcement Hall, with Zhao Shijie as its head.
From then on, the players finally reined themselves in much more.