Before anyone could react, Sikong Xing nearly jumped up: “The Heavenly Camp attacks?!” She couldn’t believe her ears and turned to Qin Xiumo, “Six of you attack, and over a hundred of us defend?!” She repeated this bizarre rule, murmuring incredulously, “But wouldn’t that make it too easy for the defenders?”
Even she knew that every single disciple qualified to be here was the elite of the elite. Not to mention six attacking over a hundred — even sixty attacking wouldn’t necessarily succeed. What… what kind of joke was this?!
And once twenty-four hours pass without a successful attack, they would switch roles. That would mean over a hundred people attacking six?
How incredibly easy would that be?!
Sikong Xing couldn’t believe what she had just heard, and Qin Xiumo’s face showed equal seriousness.
“Junior Brother.” His senior brother Wei Yuanzhong walked up to him and said with a wry smile: “I didn’t expect things to develop to this point. What are your plans?”
Only he and Qin Xiumo were left from their sect, Anyun Summit. Wei Yuanzhong knew that in terms of talent, he couldn’t compare to this junior brother. If one of them had to remain, he would rather Qin Xiumo remain, for the sake of the sect.
Qin Xiumo glanced at him and said indifferently, “Let’s see when it starts.”
“I see,” Wei Yuanzhong replied with a bitter smile. He truly felt that Ten Absolutes Mountain was not the kind of cultivation holy land described by the rumors. It was unclear who exactly was behind it, as they could only hear voices without seeing anyone, but each voice had an inexplicable strangeness. The voices started by deceiving them to rush through the challenges, claiming it would determine their positions when started climbing the Ten Absolutes Mountain. Then there came the voice who sowed discord among them, and now they were being divided into two groups to fight against each other.
It truly… didn’t seem like a holy land for cultivation. Rather, it was more believable to think that someone gathered them all to take pleasure in watching them kill each other.
Wei Yuanzhong looked at his junior brother with concern. Alas, there was no other choice now but to take things one step at a time.
“Third,” the woman’s voice didn’t keep them waiting too long and quickly announced the next rule, “The six cultivators from the Heavenly Camp who passed the third challenge will receive a Ten Absolutes reward for every additional six hours they endure. At the start of the battle, they will randomly receive aid from three people. Regardless of the aid’s cultivation level, assistance will be capped at the peak of the Spirit Severing stage.”
Three aids. Even if they were all at the peak of the Spirit Severing stage, this still seemed insignificant. By now, it was clear that the six people in the sky were the members of the Heavenly Camp, with the remaining people in the Earthly Camp. Thinking about it, even if those six got three more Spirit Severing helpers, it didn’t seem like much.
As for the Ten Absolutes reward given every six hours, it likely wouldn’t be too exaggerated; certainly, it wouldn’t be something that could help them annihilate the opposing side; otherwise, there would be no need to set up such an elaborate battle.
“Fourth, after dying three times, cultivators from the Heavenly Camp may choose to join the Earthly Camp, but there are only three chances to do so.”
This rule finally sparked a reaction. The cultivators belonging to the Earthly Camp were instantly in an uproar—
How sinister! Truly sinister! The person who came up with this rule must have a deeply calculating, even sadistic, mind.
To explain this rule, it probably meant that the first three from the Heavenly Camp who used up all three of their lives could join the Earthly Camp. This way, even if the Heavenly Camp lost, they could still stay in Ten Absolutes Mountain, and maybe even gain the benefits of the final victory of this battle along with the original members of the Earthly Camp.
The current situation was that the Earthly Camp had an absolute numerical advantage. The six people in the Heavenly Camp must understand that their chances of winning are slim. This particular rule could lead to internal strife within the Heavenly Camp before the battle even started, as they might prioritize dying quickly over winning.
But the crowd quickly realized there must be some rules in place to prevent such tactics; otherwise, there would be no need to fight. The opposing camp could just compete to die as soon as possible and declare the battle over after three had died.
“Fifth,” indeed, the cold voice soon spoke again, announcing the next rule, “Earthly Camp cultivators saved by a medical cultivator from the Heavenly Camp can join the Heavenly Camp, with no limit on the number of people. Heavenly Camp cultivators saved by a medical cultivator from the Earthly Camp are considered to have died once.”
“What?”
“Eh?”
“You mean…”
Voices of confusion could be heard among the crowd. This new rule… seemed to restrict the previous one.
But on the second thought, this arrangement was relatively fair. Although the opposing camp only had six people, they included two medical cultivators. One of them was the most outstanding future leader of the Feng Alliance, which was the strongest medical sect in the Three Thousand Worlds, while the other was personally acknowledged as a friend by Lin Yan, the legendary ancient medical cultivator whose fame and deeds remained in history for ten thousand years.
Some even suspected that this rule was made because of these two people. In this way, the other side could potentially pull cultivators into the Heavenly Camp. No wonder they had only six people, yet they were told to attack first. Thinking about it, if the Heavenly Camp were to defend first, with the current division of camp strength, they might lose instantly. But attacking first for twenty-four hours could allow them to build up some strength.
The grassland fell silent again; overall, the five rules seemed more beneficial to the numerically superior Earthly Camp, but the opposing side still had Pei Mufeng, Qin Xiumo, Xue Chengxuan, and Qiao Ran from the Duankong Sect, plus three external aids and rewards every six hours. With the introduction of the fifth rule, the outcome was really hard to predict.
For the Earthly Camp, they had the absolute advantage in numbers and could also use the fourth rule to pull three people into their camp. If that were possible, then there really wouldn’t be much need to fight.
“The sixth — and also the most important — rule,” the icy voice spoke again, slowly and deliberately enunciating each word: “The path of cultivation is long and arduous; Ten Absolutes Mountain will not retain the weak or those with faltering wills, so everyone should act wisely.”
What did that mean? Everyone looked at each other nervously. Not retaining the weak was easy to understand—it meant that those who were lost in this battle did not deserve to stay. But what did it mean not to retain those with faltering wills?
There was a collective moment of confusion as the crowd looked at each other, puzzled.
“What does this mean?” Sikong Xing voiced her puzzlement outright. Next to her stood not only Chu Tianfeng and Qin Xiumo but also Wei Yuanzhong and Yan Xuan.
“I guess this means that you cannot deliberately lose to the opposing camp,” Wei Yuanzhong speculated thoughtfully. “Although this senior didn’t explicitly state it, this rule prevents those with ulterior motives from acting rashly.”
“Is that so?” Sikong Xing nodded, somewhat understanding, then nearly jumped up, “So, does it mean we are not allowed to get injured right from the start to be saved by Meng Qiqi and then join their side?”
“I’m afraid that’s the case,” Wei Yuanzhong replied with a wry smile, taking another look at the beautiful and fiery girl. She was naturally forthright and candid to a fault, which was evident from her unabashed expression of herself — a trait that reminded him more of a demon cultivator than someone from the Three Thousand Worlds.
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