While Lu Yaoyao and her group was busily celebrating, someone was not so pleased. Murong Liluo, the once young girl who joined the sect in the same year as them, was now a budding beauty. She currently had a sullen face—her name wasn’t on the list, meaning she hadn’t passed. Seeing the silly, cheerful group led by Lu Yaoyao only made her more irritable. Murong Liluo still disliked Lu Yaoyao, but ever since Lu Yaoyao’s identity as the Dao Venerable’s daughter was revealed, she no longer dared to openly provoke or challenge her.
The fact that the person she disliked most was the daughter of the person she admired most left her conflicted, and it had taken her a whole month to reluctantly accept this reality, but it didn’t stop her from finding Lu Yaoyao an eyesore.
At this moment, Murong Liluo was surrounded by a few disciples who were comforting her. “It’s okay if you didn’t pass this time. It doesn’t affect the tournament ranking, and you can take the exam again in three years.”
“Yes, junior sister, don’t be upset.”
“We’ll study with you next time.”
“…”
When Murong Liluo’s group walked by, Lu Yaoyao glanced at them, and coincidentally, Murong Liluo also looked in her direction.
“Hmph!!” Murong Liluo stomped her foot, gave a heavy cold snort, and turned away, running off.
“???” Lu Yaoyao was puzzled. What did she do to upset her again?
“Junior sister, wait for us!” Murong Liluo’s senior brothers called as they hurried after her.
“Senior Brother You, congratulations!”
“Senior Brother You, you scored full marks!”
Another person being congratulated was You Huahai, a disciple with a variant wood spiritual root. He was in high spirits, thoroughly enjoying the compliments. Apart from Lu Yaoyao and her friends, You Huahai was one of the most outstanding disciples in their batch. His talent was exceptional—currently, he was already at the late Foundation Establishment stage. If it wasn’t for Lu Yaoyao’s existence, he would have been the fastest to advance in cultivation.
The square was buzzing with activity, reflecting all sorts of emotions and moods. Those who passed beamed with joy, while those who didn’t looked dejected. Some were indifferent—these people were ‘veterans’ who had taken the exam many times before. However, when they saw that Yan Zihui, who hadn’t passed in a hundred years, was on the red list, their expressions were priceless.
Lu Yaoyao and her friends quickly left the square. Still, they couldn’t relax and celebrate just yet, as the inner tournament was only a few days away. They were determined to seize every moment to continue their sparring and training.
Amid the anticipation, the day of the tournament finally arrived.
…
The Guiyuan Sect’s triennial inner tournament was a highly anticipated grand event, drawing attention from all members of the sect and even from other sects. Of course, every time outsiders saw the new disciples of the Guiyuan Sect excel, they couldn’t help but feel frustrated—in comparison, their own disciples were simply subpar!
The tournament itself was essentially a major competition for the inner disciples, with disciples from various peaks taking the stage to test their ability against each other. This tournament was also one of the few opportunities for outer disciples to join the inner sect. It was a fair chance: any outer disciple who challenged and could defeat two out of three inner disciples on stage could earn a place in the inner sect. However, not all outer disciples were eligible to initiate a challenge; they first needed to sign up for the tournament, and only the top 100 outer disciples would be qualified to challenge the inner disciples.
Although 100 challenge spots might sound like a large number, it is actually a relatively small percentage when considering the vast number of outer disciples that reached over ten thousand. After winning the spots, outer disciples were randomly assigned three inner disciples to challenge, and the inner disciples were required to accept the challenges. Each inner disciple could be assigned a maximum of five challengers.
There was also the inner disciple tournament, which would produce a ranking list. The top 100 would receive substantial resources as a reward, along with the opportunity to enter the minor secret realm of Suhui. The Suhui Secret Realm was the Guiyuan Sect’s richest resource repository, rumored to contain legacies, artifacts, and spiritual materials left by generations of sect elders. Any insights one might find in the secret realm were said to be far superior to anything available in the sect’s library, and traditionally, the key to this secret realm was held only by generations of sect leaders.
Of course, not everyone could enter this secret realm. Besides earning a spot after becoming an inner sect through the tournament, the secret realm was only opened on special occasions by the sect leader. Moreover, the realm was open for only a short period of time—five days. During this time, whatever a disciple found became their own. It was a well-known fact that the disciples who had entered before would all return with significant gains, the least of which was a rapid advancement in cultivation.
As such, many inner disciples were eager to enter this secret realm, and Lu Yaoyao was also no exception, with her goal being to make it into the top 100. Of course, it would be even better if her friends could all make it into the top 100 as well.
Still, they were at a disadvantage because the tournament did not differentiate between cultivation levels. If one was unlucky, a Qi Condensation disciple could end up facing a Golden Core disciple from the get-go. Lu Yaoyao’s group’s cultivation levels might be among the highest for new disciples, but their chances of winning against more experienced and higher cultivation disciples were very low.
The only restriction on the ranking list was age; disciples over a hundred years old could participate and rank but could not enter the secret realm. Instead, they received other rewards, and the rankings would adjust accordingly. The tournament also had an elimination system: if an inner disciple’s final ranking fell below that of an outer disciple, they could be demoted out of the inner sect.
The tournament took place simultaneously in two squares, one in the south for inner disciples and one in the north for outer disciples. Naturally, Lu Yaoyao and her group were to compete in the south square. Before the tournament started, all inner disciples received a number, sorted by cultivation level from highest to lowest, with similar levels randomly ordered. This was their initial ranking.
Lower-ranked disciples could challenge higher-ranked ones, and if they won, they would swap rankings. If they lost, they would automatically drop one rank. Each disciple could only be challenged once at a time and could not accept another challenge until the current match concluded.
Lu Yaoyao looked at her number: 2039. This was based on her current cultivation level. If she were at the Golden Core stage, her number would be within the top 100.
Wen Zixing and the others took out their number plates for comparison. His was 2796, Chao Muxue’s was 2767, and Du Qianshan’s was 2595.
They were discussing who to challenge.
“We should play it safe first.”
“I think I can try someone stronger than me!” Du Qianshan said eagerly. As a sword cultivator, his combat power was quite strong at the same cultivation level.
Lu Yaoyao said excitedly, “This is a great opportunity to spar and learn from other people.”
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