Towering mountains, cascading waterfalls, misty clouds and splashing pearls add a touch of coolness to dispel the long summer heat.
On the Tiankui Peak Square, disciples from all peaks and valleys gathered together, shoulder to shoulder, and chatted.
Jiang Yuebai and Yun Shang landed on the white marble steps together, put away their flying swords and looked around.
Nearly a thousand disciples gathered in the huge square. Apart from the inner disciples and direct disciples dressed in spiritual robes, most of them were outer disciples in blue and menial disciples in gray.
This small competition is open to the entire sect. Anyone who has reached the seventh level of Qi training or above, regardless of their status, can participate.
Yun Shang hugged Jiang Yuebai's arm and shrank behind her, muttering softly.
"Didn't we have preliminary rounds in previous years? Why are we gathering everyone here today?"
Jiang Yuebai scratched his forehead and said, "I don't know either. Let's take a look first."
Jiang Yuebai took Yun Shang through the crowd to look for Lu Nanzhi and Xie Jingshan. The three of them talked all night the day before, and rested yesterday. They agreed to meet at the square early this morning.
"You've all heard, right? There are also 100 disciples from Guiyuan Sword Sect participating in this small competition."
"How can this be possible? If the Guiyuan Sword Sect's people occupy the top 50, won't we be unable to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill?"
"It's really unfair. I heard that the five strongest Qi training masters from Guiyuan Sword Sect are here too, especially Zhuo Qingfeng. Not only is he invincible at the same level, but now he's at the ninth Qi training level and he's not afraid of even the early foundation building stage masters."
"Why are you trying to boost others' morale and destroy your own prestige? Guiyuan Sword Sect has Zhuo Qingfeng, and we also have Lu Nanzhi and Xie Jingshan. Their swordsmanship is not bad either, and we will never lose to Guiyuan Sword Sect."
"That's right. We Tianyan Sect disciples are not easy to bully. Since Guiyuan Sword Sect dares to come, I will give them a hard time even if I have to give them the Foundation Establishment Pill."
"Go away, you talk as if you can make it into the top fifty."
Listening to the discussions around her, Yun Shang looked worried.
"What should I do, Xiaobai? It will be more difficult to seize the Foundation Establishment Pill this time."
"Just try your best. It doesn't matter if you can't get it. Think of another way, Anan!"
Jiang Yuebai saw Lu Nanzhi and Xie Jingshan, and waved.
This voice attracted many eyes. Yun Shang nervously pinched Jiang Yuebai's arm and lowered her head to play with her bangs.
Jiang Yuebai walked over and saw Lu Nanzhi talking to a frail male cultivator, and standing next to him was Shen Huaixi, who looked as kind and clear as the moon.
Jiang Yuebai frowned slightly, and Shen Huaixi bowed first, "Meet Senior Sister Jiang."
Xie Jingshan glanced at the two of them, hooked his arm around Shen Huaixi's shoulders, and jokingly asked, "How do you know Jiang Yuebai? You seem quite familiar with him?"
Shen Huaixi said calmly: "We've only met once."
Jiang Yuebai couldn't see through Shen Huaixi. He didn't show it on his face, but he was secretly on guard in his heart.
The person who was talking to Lu Nanzhi was Song Zhiang, who had dual spiritual roots of water and fire, was at the seventh level of Qi training, and was the designated disciple of True Lord Canghuo.
Currently, he is led by Yu Qiuchi and follows the same weapon cultivation route as Yu Qiuchi.
"My name is Jiang Yuebai, nice to meet you, Junior Brother Song."
Jiang Yuebai took the initiative to greet him, but he ignored her.
"Don't be surprised, Senior Sister Jiang. Senior Brother Song is not good at speaking. He is a person who appears cold on the outside but is warm on the inside." Shen Huaixi came to the rescue.
Jiang Yuebai didn't care and glanced at Shen Huaixi.
After listening to Xie Jingshan's introduction, she learned that Shen Huaixi had a single wood spiritual root. He was very famous when he first entered the sect but later disappeared. This was because Shen Huaixi practiced medicine and was not good at fighting.
Because of this, Shen Huaixi is very popular in the inner sect. When everyone goes out to do a mission, they will ask Shen Huaixi to go with them.
Xie Jingshan and Shen Huaixi were close friends, and they called each other brothers. Jiang Yuebai didn't know how to tell Xie Jingshan about Shen Huaixi and Lin Suiwan for a moment.
At the moment, he could only wait until after the Xiaobi competition and then explain it to Lu Nanzhi and Xie Jingshan, lest Xie Jingshan could not hide the truth and affect the Xiaobi competition.
Jiang Yuebai pulled Yun Shang to his side, "Anan, this is the Yun Shang I mentioned to you. Her talent and ability in beast control are the strongest I have ever seen, and she is also a very nice person."
Yun Shang blushed, "No, I'm not as good as she said."
Lu Nanzhi said calmly, "Nanzhi greets Senior Sister Yun."
Yun Shang waved her hands in fear, "Don't call me Senior Sister. You are the number one in the inner sect. If you call me Senior Sister... I will be embarrassed."
Yun Shang is two years older than the three of them, but in terms of maturity, she is not as mature as Lu Nanzhi and Jiang Yuebai.
Shen Huaixi was very tactful and took Song Zhiang somewhere else.
"She is just a flatterer who wants to curry favor with Lu Nanzhi. Huaixi, why do you have to be so polite to her?"
"Senior Brother Song, please be careful with your words. Senior Sister Jiang is younger than you and I, and we started practicing together. How can she be mediocre if she can reach the eighth level of Qi training? She must have something extraordinary to be noticed by Senior Sister Lu and Senior Brother Xie."
"What's so special about you? If you and I take elixirs freely, what's the point of the eighth level of Qi training?"
Lu Nanzhi glanced at Song Zhiang, and seeing that Jiang Yuebai's expression didn't change, he said, "I heard that this competition is hosted by the Grand Elder. Given her personality, I guess she will throw us into the secret realm for a melee."
"Has the Grand Elder returned? What about Elder Li?"
Jiang Yuebai's eyes were full of excitement. He looked around but did not see any high-ranking members of the sect.
Lu Nanzhi took out a pieced-together jade plate, separated it into three pieces and gave them to the three people.
"No matter what the situation, it's better to be prepared. As long as the two pieces of jade are within a hundred miles, the suction force will become stronger and stronger as the distance gets closer, guiding them to merge. Just put them outside the storage bag."
Yun Shang took it with both hands, looked at Lu Nanzhi cautiously, and blushed with happiness.
Jiang Yuebai nodded and took out a few things to share with everyone.
"This is the Skylark Puppet and the Viewing Mirror that I made myself. Each person has three. The Skylark Puppet can detect everything within a fifty-mile radius, but the Viewing Mirror can only view in real time within a ten-mile radius. If you leave this range, you have to wait for the Skylark Puppet to come back and take out the Image Jade to check. Oh, and it can also self-destruct at a critical moment, which is equivalent to an eighth-grade detonating talisman."
Seeing this, Yun Shang hurriedly pulled out four palm-sized spirit beast bags from her lapel, grabbed three little mice from one of them, put them into the empty spirit beast bags and handed them to the three people.
"This is... a spirit mouse that I bred. It has a keen sense of smell and danger, and is good at distinguishing directions. It will not be disturbed by the maze."
Xie Jingshan was holding a bunch of things in his arms, and said awkwardly: "I have nothing but spirit stones on me, are you short of spirit stones?"
Yun Chang shook her head, and Jiang Yuebai and Lu Nanzhi rolled their eyes.
Xie Jingshan was furious. “You two just wait. I will not show any mercy when the competition starts.”
Jiang Yuebai chuckled, "I beg you to kill me, and you too, Anan."
Lu Nanzhi said, "Don't worry, no matter who I meet, I will treat everyone equally and do my best. But I gave you the jade pendants because I still hope that you can hold on to the end. Once all obstacles are cleared, we can decide the winner."
Yun Chang watched the three of them competing against each other and chuckled to herself.
There was an uproar and everyone looked in the same direction.
I saw five huge swords breaking through the air, with great momentum and moving forward in unison.
On the giant sword, five foundation-building monks dressed in sky-blue martial uniforms were in front, and each of them had twenty green-clothed disciples behind them.
The giant sword was suspended above the square, and hundreds of Qigong disciples moved in unison, pointing their fingers and controlling the sword.
The long swords behind them were unsheathed and gathered into a long river. After circling once, hundreds of Qigong disciples jumped onto the long swords and rushed down, landing on the square one after another.
"Tsk! Why are you trying to show off?" Xie Jingshan said disdainfully.
"The leader must be Zhuo Qingfeng, right? He's not bad looking~" Jiang Yuebai stared at the fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy leading the group.
He stood straight, holding his sword in his pocket, with a sharp edge hidden in his eyes. He was like a green pine tree on a cliff in a cold mountain, aloof and arrogant, not in harmony with the world, and out of tune with everything around him.
"How can he be good-looking? At first glance, he is just a donkey dung egg with a shiny surface." Xie Jingshan crossed his arms in annoyance.
Jiang Yuebai was too lazy to pay attention to him. There were four people behind Zhuo Qingfeng, two men and two women. Their temperament was different from others and they were very eye-catching.
Lu Nanzhi explained, "It is said that the Guiyuan Sword Sect has existed since ancient times, which is older than the Tianyan Sect. There are endless sword masters in the sect, and they often occupy the top ten of the Earth Spirit Realm Battle Power List. If it weren't for the founder of the Tianyan Sect who fought ten of them alone and defeated the ten great sword masters of the Guiyuan Sword Sect, the Tianyan Sect might still be an unknown small sect until now."
"I went to inquire last night. Zhuo Qingfeng and the other five are all at the ninth level of Qi training, and Zhuo Qingfeng has already comprehended the Wild Wind Sword Intention. Xu Qianjin and Xu Qiancheng are two siblings, one hard and one soft. Hua Yingshi's Twelve Flower Divine Swords and Zhao Kunling's Heavy Sword Collapse Mountain are also difficult to deal with. They are also proficient in the two-element, three-talent and four-image sword formations."
"If you encounter them, you can fight them alone, but don't fight them head-on if there are more than two of you. The combat power of sword cultivators has always been at the top of the entire cultivation world. The bonus of the sword formation should not be underestimated. You must be extremely alert."
As soon as Lu Nanzhi finished speaking, a phoenix cry resounded through the sky, the clear sound lingering.
The sloppy female cultivator was holding a wine jug and sitting cross-legged on the back of a white-feathered phoenix, flying from Tianxian Peak.
Wen Ci, the leader of Tianyan Sect, also led a group of cultivators out of the Tiankui Peak Hall.
(End of this chapter)