With the sound of 981 melodious bells, at the hour of Chen on the tenth day of September, the six-yearly sect competition finally kicked off.
The venue for the sect competition is located at Chaoxiantai on Yantailing, facing the magnificent main hall in the middle, which is the center of the entire Taiji Sect.
Chaoxiantai covers a huge area and can accommodate tens of thousands of people at the same time. The ground was originally paved with white jade mixed with bluestone, polished to be as smooth as a mirror. In order to cope with the sect competition, eight magic arrays were added. This is to prevent the magic power from damaging the ground when the foundation-building cultivators fight.
If viewed from mid-air, Chaoxiantai is divided into eight large areas according to the Qiankun Bagua, and eight competitions can be held simultaneously.
At this moment, Chaoxiantai was filled with people, arranged according to the positions of the five sects and four halls, and everyone's expression was solemn. Shi Feng also stood behind Zhou Qing and in front of Xiangjun.
He had no objection to the fact that a person without magical powers like him had to participate in the sect competition. He was not looking for any ranking rewards anyway. At worst, he would be tied up like a big dumpling by Gao Tuo with the Red Dragon Whip just like last time in Wulong Valley.
He had originally thought the competition would begin that morning, but that wasn't the case. The tenth day of the ninth lunar month was the birthday of Taiji Zhenren, the founder of the sect, and a grand ceremony to honor the ancestors was held. Therefore, the Chaoxiantai was packed with more than just the inner disciples of the five sects. The outer disciples of the four outer halls, aside from those assigned to patrol and guard duties, had also gathered. The seven great families and various smaller sects under the Taiji Sect also sent representatives to participate. Suddenly, the Chaoxiantai was a sea of black, perhaps thousands of people.
Among the crowd, the inner disciples all wore green robes, the outer disciples wore black robes, and although there were no clothing requirements for other foundation-building cultivators, golden elixir-stage ancestors, and people from external sects, since they were participating in the ancestral worship ceremony, they naturally dressed solemnly.
The Taiji Sect boasts a total of sixteen Jindan Patriarchs, with the Yantai Ridge sect having the largest number of five. Since the death of Taoist Danyang, Tiejian Peak has only two Jindan masters, Dao Chong and Zhao Tianhu. Fentian Peak and Diecui Peak each boast three Jindan Patriarchs, while Huiyan Peak also boasts two. The five inner sects boast a total of fifteen Jindan cultivators. With the exception of True Man Ganchu of the Refining Hall, the heads of the other four outer halls are not Jindan cultivators, each presided over by a Foundation Establishment cultivator. The four outer halls are essentially subordinate halls of the sect leader's branch. Of course, the Refining Hall, with True Man Ganchu presiding, is a separate hall.
The Taiji Sect's Elder Council originally consisted of only five people, namely the leaders of the five inner sects. Later, Gan Chu from the Equipment Refining Hall was added, making it six people. The Sect Leader Xuan Yi believed that six was an even number and it would be difficult to vote when encountering major events, so they decided to elect another person. As a result, Xuan Ming, another Jindan cultivator from Yantai Ridge, also joined the Elder Council.
Furthermore, it was rumored that Taiji Sect possessed a Nascent Soul Patriarch, but none of the disciples had ever seen him. A Nascent Soul cultivator possessed immense powers, capable of transcending the heavens and earth, their Nascent Soul capable of transcending their physical bodies and allowing them to travel vast distances. Some disciples, after cultivating for 150 to 60 years, had never seen this Nascent Soul Patriarch. Even on such a grand occasion as today's ancestral ceremony, he hadn't appeared.
At this moment, the seven elders were standing in the first row of the crowd, the other Jindan ancestors were in the second row, the foundation-building cultivators from various sects were in the third row, and below that were the inner disciples. The outer disciples were arranged in order of their entry, and people from aristocratic families and affiliated sects stood in the VIP seats on both sides.
This was Shi Feng's first encounter with the Taiji Sect's leader. He was tall, with a ruddy complexion, and looked no more than fifty years old. However, this was certainly not his true age. Any cultivator who successfully establishes their foundation, stabilizes their dantian, and transforms their qi and blood into spirit can achieve a lasting appearance. Of course, this doesn't mean that Master Xuanyi had achieved his foundation at fifty. Once past the foundation stage, a cultivator can maintain their appearance or allow it to change with time, as they choose.
However, even if a monk allows his appearance to age, because his lifespan is much longer than that of ordinary people, his appearance will age much more slowly than that of ordinary people.
In the world of cultivation, a cultivator's true age is determined by appearance. While this is acceptable for Qi Refining disciples, it's impossible to guess for those in the Foundation Establishment stage and beyond. Some female cultivators cherish their appearance, and once they've established their foundation, their complexion and appearance remain forever unchanged, allowing them to remain beautiful women in their twenties or thirties even at the time of their death. However, some cultivators, holding important positions and maintaining their prestige, allow their appearance to deteriorate over time, becoming aging adults.
At that moment, Xuanyi Zhenren stood in the center, his voice resonating like a bell as he read aloud the ancestral offerings. The offerings recounted the achievements of the founder and successive masters, and prayed for the protection of the Taiji sect by the successive generations of ancestors. This offering took over an hour to complete. Afterward, he left the main hall and performed the ancestral offerings, which took him a full morning to complete.
In the afternoon, the competition officially began. The competition was held between the inner disciples. Therefore, at this time, only the inner disciples were left at the Chaoxiantai, and the guests who had watched the ceremony in the morning had already left.
Before the competition, Xuanming Zhenren read out the competition rules. He was quite tall, with a half-foot long beard under his chin, which was black and shiny.
The rules for the sect competition and the smaller competitions within the same sect are generally similar, but there are also some differences. The competition is conducted in rounds. Over a thousand inner sect disciples are randomly assigned pairs by drawing lots. Half of the contestants are eliminated in the first round. The lots are redrawn in the second round, and half are eliminated again. This cycle continues until the final winner is determined.
However, this competition obviously has a loophole. Since it is a random draw, if the second strongest disciple meets the strongest disciple in the first round, then that disciple will be eliminated directly, which would be a huge loss for the second strongest disciple. Therefore, in addition to the elimination round, there are three more challenge opportunities.
The first challenge was after the second round. Since all the disciples who had passed the second round were eligible to enter the trial ground, after the second round, all the eliminated disciples could challenge any of the disciples who had won the first two rounds. This ensured that the disciples who entered the trial ground were all highly skilled.
The second challenge will take place after the sixth round. Those eliminated after the third round can challenge the previous winners at will. This is because the top twenty disciples in the competition receive an additional reward: a month of training in the Spirit Washing Pool. The pool contains a spiritual spring, its water emerald green. It's said that soaking in it feels like burning, but persistent practice can greatly enhance physical strength.
The third challenge is the championship challenge. After the champion is decided, any disciple in the top ten who is dissatisfied can challenge the champion.
Xuan Ming Zhenren read out the rules one by one. The restrictions on fighting were much looser than those for small competitions. Even unintentional injury and death were not considered a violation of the sect's rules, which made the disciples cautious. In daily life, disciples of various sects inevitably fought openly and secretly, and some even had deep grudges. If the opponent secretly tried to kill him, or begged a fellow disciple to deliberately challenge him, and then took advantage of the opportunity to strike hard, Baoding would be seriously injured, his cultivation level would be reduced, and he might even die.
On the afternoon of the first day, except for Changqing, all the other seven disciples of Liuyunzi did not compete. Shi Feng then wandered around.
Each of the eight competition venues has a Foundation Establishment cultivator serving as the presiding referee. Unlike the small competition, this referee only determines the winner and does not comment on the competition.
The eight competition venues are of the same size, all in the shape of a Tai Chi diagram with a radius of ten feet. A player who is forced out of the circle will be automatically declared the loser. Except for those who voluntarily admit defeat or are declared the loser for leaving the circle, the referee cannot actively declare the loser even if one party is seriously injured and falls to the ground.
Eight matches were carried out simultaneously. Although there were more than 500 matches in the first round, it actually went very quickly. Some disciples at the first or second level of Qi Refining were unlucky and drew lots to meet brothers at the eighth or ninth level of Qi Refining. They would admit defeat as soon as they stood on the stage, and then the second group would take over.
In one arena, there was no fighting at all, but in just a cup of tea, five or six rounds had already taken place. Of course, in other arenas, two disciples of equal strength happened to fight each other endlessly.
Shi Feng strolled along the way. He knew nothing about martial arts and magical powers. His main interest was in the magical instruments used by everyone. After a walk around, he saw many strange and bizarre magical instruments, which really opened his eyes.
An hour later, Shi Feng returned to the Xunzi Arena, where the Changqing Competition was about to begin. When Shi Feng first joined the martial arts school, Changqing had been his acting teacher. Although the eldest brother was a bit nagging, he was enthusiastic and humorous, and Shi Feng felt very close to him.
After a while, Zhang Yuanqing and several other brothers also rushed over, and finally it was Changqing's turn to appear.
Chang Qing's opponent was a disciple from the Yantai Ridge sect leader's branch. The sect leader's branch had the most disciples, accounting for half of the entire sect. Therefore, the vast majority of the onlookers were there to cheer on this disciple.
The disciple was about thirty years old, with a sallow complexion and a stern expression. Changqing also put away his usual playful smile and wore a solemn expression. The two of them exchanged a bow. The presiding Foundation Establishment cultivator followed the usual formalities and asked, "Is anyone willing to concede?" Seeing that neither of them spoke, the Foundation Establishment cultivator waved his hand and said, "Then let us begin."
The yellow-faced man was a disciple of the eighth level of Qi Refining. He also knew Chang Qing and knew that the other party was a senior disciple of the ninth level of Qi Refining at Iron Sword Peak. He did not dare to neglect him and immediately took out a talisman and affixed it to his body. A yellowish aura immediately formed a light crystal several inches long on his body. Someone whispered, "It's an Earth Shield Talisman. You are really willing to spend the money."
He had just cast his shield when Changqing took action, unleashing an iron pen, the tip like a spear, thrusting straight at him. The yellow-faced man hesitated for a moment, then decided to take the weapon head-on. With a soft thud, auras scattered everywhere. The yellow-faced man swayed a few times, but managed to stand steady, though the yellow light had dimmed.
He cried out inwardly, "Oh no!" and with a flick of his right hand, a millstone-sized, lizard-like monster flew out of his storage bag. The monster lizard crawled on all fours, suddenly opened its mouth, and its long tongue curled towards Changqing. Changqing had already blessed himself with the Light Body Technique. With a tap of his foot, he flew into the air, flipped his iron pen, and stabbed at the yellow-faced man again.
The yellow-faced man no longer dared to take the blow head-on. He pulled out a flying knife, muttering something to himself as it swirled around, blocking the iron pen. In a moment, he had deployed his shield, spirit pet, and magical tools. Changqing, on the other side, remained with only the iron pen. Without resorting to any other means, relying on his vastly superior magical power, he thrust the iron pen forward like a violent storm.
The yellow-faced man suffered from his initial defensive stance. He was grounded, shielded by earth, unable to ascend. Although he had a pet, it couldn't fly either, so it could only watch from its head tilted upwards. He tried three or four different magical instruments, but none could stop Changqing's iron pen.
Finally, with a loud bang, three or four magic weapons fell to the ground, and the iron pen pierced the yellow-faced man's shield again. As time passed, the luster on the surface of the earth shield dimmed a lot. After being pierced by the iron pen again, the yellow-faced man couldn't stand and retreated more than ten steps. He was already out of the Tai Chi circle.
The Foundation Establishment cultivator presiding over the referee had a blank expression on his face as he immediately announced, "Iron Sword Peak disciple Chang Qing wins!"
Chang Qing landed on the ground and bowed, saying, "Thank you." Shi Feng and his fellow apprentices immediately cheered, "Brother, you're awesome!" "Big Brother, you're mighty."
All the disciples of Yantailing sneered. The yellow-faced man turned pale, but after all, there was still a challenge match to be held later. He clasped his fists and said, "I am not as skilled as you. There is nothing to say." Then he turned and left.
That night, all the disciples returned to Yuxiu Mountain to celebrate Changqing's victory. After the celebration banquet, all the disciples dispersed. At the end, Changqing pulled Shi Feng and asked him to adopt a tactic of moving around tomorrow. He must not fight hard and must hold on until the tenth breath.
Facing the teachings of his senior brother, Shi Feng naturally nodded repeatedly, but he didn't understand at all why he had to hold on until the tenth breath.
The next morning, Shi Feng was assigned to the Kun-shaped arena. He was originally in the fifth group, so he should have been able to compete that morning. However, in the second round, his two opponents were equally matched in power. After an hour of fighting, they were still unable to determine the winner. With their mana exhausted, they sat on the ground and swallowed pills, then continued fighting. In the end, one of them had more pills and won.
Because this pair of contestants delayed for too long, Shi Feng's competition was postponed to the afternoon. In the morning competition, only Liu Yunzi's second disciple Zhang Yuanqing won, while others such as Xiangjun, Xianghua, Zhou Qing and others were all defeated. Liu Yunzi's face suddenly became gloomy, and the disciples did not dare to speak when they saw him.
In the third match of the afternoon, the Foundation Establishment cultivator who presided over the refereeing session loudly announced, "Shi Feng, a disciple of Tiejian Peak, will face Ling Yun, a disciple of Huiyan Peak."
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