After leaving the abandoned village, Ye Li quickly returned to Golden Dragon City.
Although he had spent most of the night struggling for nothing, he felt that the magical sign he got was worth it.
With this badge, Ye Li will definitely have more advantages in his journey through the world. After all, he is in a special situation and has great physical strength. Once he can approach a Spirit Sea Stage Talisman Master from behind and take the opponent off guard, he can kill the opponent even without using talismans.
After returning to the inn, Ye Li studied the newly acquired badge again. After infusing it with spiritual energy, the badge indeed released an invisible force that enveloped him.
Ye Li felt this power and it seemed to be somewhat similar to the power of soul walking, but also different, which was very strange.
Then he went to bed and rested, and did not wake up until dawn the next day.
After some preparations, Ye Li saw that the time was almost up, so he left the inn and rushed towards the direction of Fanlu Company.
He had asked the waiter before, and he knew that this company was located on the main street in the east of the city and was built by the Guan Chamber of Commerce, one of the four major chambers of commerce.
On weekdays, this place is often used as a place for celebrities to communicate or host some large-scale events.
Ye Li walked eastward along the main road in the city and soon arrived outside the Fanlu Company. The place was already crowded with people. Of course, most of them were city residents who came to watch the fun, while those who participated in the competition had already entered the company directly.
As soon as Ye Li arrived at the entrance of the company, he was stopped by someone and asked to give his name and registration time.
Ye Li quickly reported his name. The other party found his previous registration according to his registration time, nodded, and said: "You can go in. This is your competition number plate. You are number 172."
Holding his number plate, Ye Li quickly entered the company.
Looking at the number 172 on the plate, Ye Li couldn't help but sigh that there were so many people participating in the competition this time. He was number 172, which meant that there were at least 172 people before him, and there must be many more after him.
After he entered the company, someone came and led him to the competition venue, which was in a huge hall.
The person who led him in said to him, "Brother, you are number 172, and the competition is taking place here.
There are a total of 210 people who signed up for the competition this time. Thirty people will be in each hall. There will be two rounds of screening first, and the remaining people will be eligible to participate in the finals. "
The person who brought Ye Li in explained something to him and then handed him over to the other people in the hall.
After checking Ye Li's number plate, a young man took him to a pre-arranged wooden table and said, "Brother, please wait here for a while. When everyone is here, all the halls will start the competition at the same time.
The content of the competition will be announced to you at that time."
Ye Li nodded and said thank you. Then the young man left on his own and continued to receive the contestants who came in later.
Ye Li stood in front of the wooden table and looked around. More than half of the people in the hall had already arrived. There were a total of thirty wooden tables placed throughout the hall.
The distance between each wooden table is a little far, because we don't want the players to affect each other during the competition.
On the wooden table in front of Ye Li, there were already a talisman inkstone and a talisman pen. The talisman inkstone had also been filled with sufficient talisman ink in advance.
Ye Li stood in front of the table and waited for a long time. The sky was gradually approaching noon and the contestants in the hall finally arrived.
After everyone arrived, a dozen people wearing clothes embroidered with the words "Zhuqitang" walked in, led by a thin old man.
"Look, that's Master Ku, Master Ou's last disciple!"
A young contestant in his twenties who was standing next to Ye Li looked at the old man in the lead and shouted, with an expression of admiration on his face.
Although Ye Li had never seen Master Ku, he had heard of his name. After all, he was called a master not only because he was Ou Qianxie's last disciple.
This Master Ku's real name was Pei Ku. In his early years, he was a bandit leader in the mountains. At that time, his men accidentally provoked Ou Qianxie, who came to the mountains to look for materials for casting tools.
Ou Qianxie was not only a weaponsmith, but also extremely powerful. In a rage, he was ready to clear out the entire bandit's nest.
After Pei Ku learned about this, he hurriedly stood in front of Ou Qianxie, apologized to him, and was willing to sacrifice his own life in exchange for Ou Qianxie spared the others.
Ou Qianxie himself was a man of kind nature. He thought Pei Ku was a real man, so he forgave his men for their offense.
Pei Ku was grateful for Ou Qianxie's generosity and volunteered to stay by his side as a slave.
Later, Ou Qianxie accidentally discovered that Pei Ku was very talented in casting talismans, so he simply accepted him as his disciple, and his first senior disciple.
Pei Ku has followed Ou Qianxie for the longest time and learned the most. His forging skills are now also world-famous. It is rumored that he is only one level lower than his master Ou Qianxie and his uncle Duan Qianye.
Many people present recognized Pei Ku, and some who did not recognize him also looked at him with reverence after hearing his name.
Pei Ku looked at the people in the hall and said, "First of all, on behalf of Master, I welcome everyone to participate in this competition.
Secondly, let me briefly explain the rules. There are not many restrictions in this competition. The only thing is that during the competition, all of you can only use the talisman pens and talisman inks that have been prepared on the table. No one is allowed to use their own things.
After all, there are differences in the quality of your talisman pens and inks, and our competition is only to compare the skills of drawing external talismans. If the tools are different, the competition will lose fairness.
Okay, I won't waste any more time, the game is about to begin."
As soon as he finished speaking, the apprentices from the foundry who came in with him carried several metal plates and set them up in various areas of the hall.
After the boards were set up, Pei Ku said, “The first competition will begin immediately.
These boards will show you nine complete runes shortly. They will only be shown once, so you must look carefully.
Then the board will start to quickly display the strokes of the runes just now, but will no longer display the complete runes.
You must follow the runes shown on the board and draw the runes shown before.
This competition tests whether your hands are steady enough. After all, you have to follow the strokes displayed and draw an unfamiliar talisman, which tests your basic skills in drawing talismans.
If you can't control the talisman pen in your hand freely, you will quickly make mistakes due to panic and fail to complete this competition."