Chapter 99: The Sect Leaders Gather, The Minor Competition Begins

The Sect Minor Competition was held on a flat area halfway up Qixia Peak, which was opened up by great mystical power. All Qingcheng Formal Disciples could sign up to join. Now that many Initiation Tasks were being completed, a large number of players became Formal Disciples. But that number was still less than one-tenth of the over one hundred thousand Qingcheng players.

The Initiation Task, which seemed easy and simple in Yijian Kurong’s eyes, remained an insurmountable obstacle for many ordinary players.

Most of these people joined the game a bit late and had no friends or companions. Even if they joined a faction, it was not possible to have their Initiation Task completed immediately; there was always a process of taking turns and waiting in line.

A total of more than eight thousand people participated in Qingcheng’s first Sect Minor Competition. It was not just Qingcheng; sects like Emei, Kunlun, and Wudang also held their own sect competitions during these two days, assessing the progress of their players.

In the morning, there were preliminary matches. When it was your turn, you were directly teleported to a barren space to compete with your opponent.

The two Qingcheng Sect Leaders, Jiang Shu and Zhu Mei, also made a rare joint appearance. They sat on a green cloud carriage, which was pulled by four Flood Dragons.

“This style, this way of travel is just too cool!”

Things like arriving from the west on a flying sword, stepping on colorful clouds, having hundreds of followers behind you—all seemed utterly weak compared to using four Level 100 Flood Dragons as carriage drivers.

Just one green cloud carriage and four Flood Dragons were enough to show the noble and prominent status of the people sitting on it, without any extra words needed.

Ye Rong watched from the side, full of envy and jealousy. He secretly noted it down, determined to get one for himself in the future.

In the morning, he had already participated in four matches. Before the top hundred, these matches took place in independent spaces created by Qingcheng’s previous immortals, so outsiders could not watch.

In the four matches, the longest one did not take Ye Rong more than five minutes. The fastest one was when his opponent recognized him, immediately cupped his hands, withdrew, and conceded, which surprised Ye Rong for quite a while.

“The next matches will probably involve quite strong opponents. I need to focus.”

Besides the two Sect Leaders watching the new disciples’ minor competition from the sky in their Flood Dragon-drawn carriage, others like Chen Taizhen and Ji Deng naturally did not dare to overstep. They obediently sat on the high platform to watch the matches.

From here, one could see some clues: clearly divided into two groups led by Chen Taizhen and Ji Deng respectively, the two factions of Qingcheng NPCs sat in two separate rows, distinct and clear.

“Crap, this doesn’t look good!”

Ye Rong muttered to himself. The number of third-generation disciples sitting on Chen Taizhen’s side was only about half of those on Ji Deng’s side. If there really were internal struggles and competition within the sect, then his own side seemed to be at a big disadvantage in terms of strength, which would be very unfavorable for his future development.

This was normal. No matter how much of a recluse Short Elder Zhu Mei was, if you waited for two or three days, you could always see him in the sect. But Demon-Subduing True Lord Jiang Shu was completely elusive, a true recluse who paid no attention to sect affairs and spent very little time teaching disciples.

At this moment, Zhu Mei threw down a treasure that looked like a chessboard. It continuously enlarged in the air, and when it landed on the flat ground, a giant Dueling Stage rose out of nowhere. With a point of his hand, the stage automatically divided into eight sections, allowing eight pairs of players to compete simultaneously.

“The Sect Minor Competition begins now!”

Ji Deng stood up and shouted clearly. A wheel rose from the center of the chessboard stage, spinning rapidly. The names of the remaining 128 players appeared one by one on the wheel, and in the blink of an eye, the match schedule was set.

Ye Rong glanced at his opponent, Pecking Chicken, a guy he had never heard of.

Yesterday, Dongliu Cangshui sent him a Flying Sword Message, along with a list of collected, relatively powerful Qingcheng players, including their main equipment and strong spells.

Ye Rong naturally accepted this list gladly and read it carefully, but he did not treat it as an absolute authority.

At this stage, when everyone was still around levels thirty or forty, too many things could change a player’s strength in a short time. Moreover, who knew how accurate such collected information was? Perhaps it even contained many deliberate misinformation spread by scheming people.

By the mid-game, when everyone’s leveling slowed down and Flying Swords and Magic Treasures couldn’t be updated frequently, then such data and information would have real value and deserve attention.

So Ye Rong would never look down on Pecking Chicken just because he wasn’t on the list.

“Oh, it’s that girl’s turn now!”

Manzhu Lver was always extremely eye-catching and noticeable wherever she was. Ye Rong paid attention to other players’ matches to secretly gauge the strength of potential future opponents, so he naturally watched her a few more times when she stepped onto the stage.

On the Dueling Stage in the western corner, the one who just came on was Manzhu Lver. Her opponent looked somewhat familiar to him; it seemed like one of Houdao Xiaosheng’s capable subordinates.

“After so many days, she should have already equipped Huan Xisha. With such a powerful Fifth-Rank Flying Sword in hand, these players are like clay chickens and pottery dogs before her; she could cut them down with one sword. The key was to find a way to save the two spells on Huan Xisha for critical moments; otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to go far.”

The two spells attached to Huan Xisha were extremely powerful, and because of that, their cooldowns were very long. In the Sect Minor Competition, she would almost certainly only get to use them once. Using them on insignificant opponents early on would be such a waste.

Manzhu Lver raised her hand and swept it out. A dreamy, misty water-blue Sword Light darted out, while she herself rose into the air supported by a fiery cloud.

This girl’s skills weren’t that great—even worse than her brother’s—but they were enough to deal with the guy in front of her. The power of the Fifth-Rank Flying Sword was undeniably displayed; even without using the attached spells, she firmly suppressed her opponent.

In the Minor Competition Dueling Stages, the use of all pills was forbidden. Of course, if you learned recovery-type spells, that didn’t count.

After about thirty sword exchanges, that player clearly ran out of True Qi. A big opening appeared in front of him, and he was struck by Huan Xisha, turning into a beam of white light and disappearing.

Manzhu Lver looked delighted, put away Huan Xisha, and stepped down from the stage.

Ye Rong withdrew his gaze and looked at the other arenas. Manzhu Lver’s match had been relatively quick. There were still a few evenly matched pairs; both sides had used up their True Qi and were now stupidly hacking at each other with their Flying Swords.

“Dueling Stage Ding, Yijian Kurong versus Pecking Chicken!”

Ye Rong heard the System announcement, his gaze sharpened, and he walked towards Dueling Stage Ding.

The first round of the Sect Minor Competition—not only must he win, but he must win the fastest!