Chapter 91: The Fall

The Five Sects Conference was a grand event in the cultivation world. True to its reputation, it gave the participating cultivators the greatest stage to showcase their skills. Aside from the sect team event, which was a secret realm treasure hunt, all other events were individual competitions. These included, but were not limited to, combat, artifact refining, alchemy, and talisman crafting. The organizers had even thoughtfully divided the events into Foundation Establishment and Golden Core divisions based on cultivation level.

In Bian Chunzhou’s view, the Five Sects Conference was essentially a grand sports meet for the cultivation world. There were minor events that received less attention, though their champions were still highly celebrated, while the highly anticipated individual matches featured an all-star lineup.

Cultivators respected strength above all else, making the individual combat matches the most eye-catching.

Today was the first day of the individual matches. According to the rules, the Foundation Establishment and Golden Core divisions were separated. The venue for the Foundation Establishment matches was a large Forest Secret Realm. The Suitian Sword Sect had generously scattered a vast amount of cultivation resources inside. All participants would be sent into the realm, where they could accumulate points by gathering resources, hunting beasts, and eliminating opponents. Notably, the rules permitted alliances, looting, and combat; as long as no lives were taken and no forbidden techniques were used, almost anything was allowed.

According to the rules, only the top fifty contestants would advance.

Yonglu Mountain had sent sixteen Foundation Establishment disciples and twenty Golden Core disciples. The other three great sects had sent similar numbers. Along with the recommended slots from cultivation clans and small-to-medium sects, plus the hundred qualifiers from the arena at the foot of the mountain, there were two hundred and twenty participants in the Foundation Establishment division alone.

The Golden Core division, meanwhile, had two hundred and sixty participants, including many cultivators currently ranked on the Heaven’s Pride List. Naturally, it promised to be much more exciting than the Foundation Establishment division.

At least, most cultivators focused their attention on the Golden Core division. In fact, after every Five Sects Conference, the rankings on the Heaven’s Pride List would shift, making the event incredibly thrilling and full of surprises.

Right now, it was the preparation phase before the individual matches, which allowed Zhou Ji to move around freely and look for A-Yu.

Indeed, after being knocked unconscious and taken back by his family’s elders the previous day, he had been locked up by his father. His father had likely learned something from the elders and had even come to interrogate him about the location of A-Yu’s grave.

He refused to speak, and his father could do nothing to force him. His father had only told him that if he failed to make it into the top fifty, all previous promises would be void.

This was Zhou Ji’s Achilles’ heel. It seemed he could never bring himself to disobey his father.

A-Yu was right. He really was a weak, incompetent man. Zhou Ji looked up toward the entrance of the secret realm. How he wished he could see A-Yu one last time before entering the competition.

But she was nowhere to be seen. He pursed his lips anxiously. Then, his eyes fell on someone. The person appeared to have an eye ailment, their eyes covered by a wide silk ribbon. Yesterday, on the high platform, this person had been standing not far behind A-Yu.

Zhou Ji could not help but walk over. Only when he drew near did he realize that this person was not a disciple of the Tianji Pavilion, but rather… a disciple of Yonglu Mountain, one of the Five Great Sects.

This person was undoubtedly a favored child of heaven. Zhou Ji was at a loss for how to strike up a conversation. In his moment of hesitation, his time ran out. He could only compose himself and enter the competition’s secret realm.

“Why did he leave again?”

There were too many cultivators here. Since Wen Xu only had a Qi Refining cultivation, it was not wise for him to use the wind to sense his surroundings. “Who?”

“That Zhou Ji. He seemed to recognize you.”

Wen Xu touched the ribbon over his eyes. Once someone had a feature that set them apart from others, they indeed became very conspicuous. “He might have been looking to ask me about someone. Yesterday, I was standing right behind Tianji Pavilion’s Little Martial Uncle.”

Bian Chunzhou gasped. “…How did you know?”

Wen Xu fell silent for a moment before replying, “Just a guess.” There were plenty of men in the Mortal Realm who liked to play the part of the deeply devoted lover, especially sentimental scholars who seemed capable of falling in love with every beautiful woman they met.

Chen Zui, who was standing at the very front, turned around and nudged his two friends. “Stop talking. It’s about to start.”

The venue for the Foundation Establishment individual matches was a small Forest Secret Realm. The cultivation world had tens of thousands of secret realms of all sizes. Some were former immortal palaces or ruins of ancient sects, while others were inheritance abodes of deceased Tribulation Transcendence cultivators or naturally formed treasure realms. Some secret realms appeared at fixed times, while others depended entirely on luck. However, a small secret realm like this one was created by the great sects themselves, much like Yonglu Mountain’s Poyun Secret Realm used for student recruitment.

Secret realms were also known as minor worlds. The highest-grade secret realms could even develop sentient realm spirits, with their own complete, self-consistent rules. However, for a small secret realm used for competitions, the ecology was not fully complete. It merely followed the most basic principles of the five elements, making it closer to a scenic magical artifact. Furthermore, to increase the difficulty of the competition, the Suitian Sword Sect had set up many bizarre little obstacles, which were… truly unconventional.

“…Is the elder who created this secret realm mentally stable?” Bian Chunzhou watched a senior disciple from their own sect get stuck in a trap the moment he entered the realm. He opened and closed his mouth several times before finally squeezing out those words.

No normal person would design such counterintuitive traps, right? Who would set up a sword array in the treetops? Were they really that obsessed with swords?

Wen Xu silently closed the eyes he had just opened. “What did you say?”

“Nothing, it’s just very Suitian Sword Sect.” As Bian Chunzhou spoke, lo and behold, the Suitian Sword Sect’s own disciples fell into the exact same trap. Talk about being completely impartial. Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage could fly on swords, but with this treetop array in place, most of them were forced to travel by foot instead.

As the saying goes, wander deep into the woods, and the green canopy hides endless traps. Standing outside this vast, overwhelming primeval forest, Bian Chunzhou broke into a cold sweat on behalf of all the contestants. Help, just thinking about how he would have to participate in this in the future made his back break out in sweat.

“Ah, I see Senior Brother He! He… how did he run into Zhou Ji? They’re actually fighting!”

Bian Chunzhou gave a live commentary on the match. With his rich vocabulary and high energy, he finished speaking and felt it was a real pity the Suitian Sword Sect hadn’t hired him as the official commentator for the tournament.

Meanwhile, Father Zhou was also anxiously watching his son’s movements. The more he watched, the tighter his brow furrowed.

Zhou Ji seemed to be deliberately looking for disciples of Tianji Pavilion.

“Elder Li, when you brought Zhou Ji back yesterday, what exactly happened?”

Elder Li was the Golden Core cultivator who had knocked Zhou Ji unconscious and taken him away yesterday. He was employed by the Zhou Family but had not sold himself into servitude, so his attitude was naturally far from subservient. “There was a Nascent Soul True Monarch on the stage at the time. I did not dare to eavesdrop, and only vaguely saw the eldest young master pestering a woman.”

“A woman? Did you see her face clearly?”

Elder Li shook his head. “That Nascent Soul True Monarch was angry at the time, and I did not dare to look up. However, I could vaguely see the emblem of Tianji Pavilion on the True Monarch’s sleeve.”

Father Zhou’s face filled with astonishment. “Tianji Pavilion? Why didn’t you say so yesterday?”

He knew his son very well; Zhou Ji had been under his control since childhood. Although disciples of Tianji Pavilion often passed through Nanfeng City, disciples of the great sects mostly disliked associating with local clans. In his memory, Zhou Ji did not have any friends from Tianji Pavilion, let alone a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

Just as Father Zhou was filled with doubt and suspicion, the attendant he had sent to escort Zhou Ji returned.

“A Qi Refining disciple from Yonglu Mountain? How did he manage to provoke someone from the Five Great Sects as well?”

Father Zhou frowned deeply. “A Qi Refining disciple from Yonglu Mountain who can attend the Five Sects Conference must have an extraordinary background. Once Zhou Ji comes out of the secret realm, tell him to come see me immediately.”

Meanwhile, Zhou Ji was currently facing enemies from both sides. The disciples of the Five Great Sects were highly united; once they gathered within the secret realm, it was very difficult to sow discord among them. Although Zhou Ji’s luck had been decent at the start, he had run right into a clash between Yonglu Mountain and the Suitian Sword Sect while being chased by demonic beasts.

Then, everything turned into a chaotic mess. The commotion had even drawn in disciples from the Hehe Sect and Tianji Pavilion.

“Who would have thought the Hehe Sect would actually hang out with Tianji Pavilion!”

“Wow, how devious! It’s actually a double-cross! Isn’t the Suitian Sword Sect supposed to be full of martial valor? Oh, so they were tricked by the disciples of Tianji Pavilion?”

“The three of them teamed up just to deal with our Yonglu Mountain? Is this a distortion of human nature, or a decay of morality^[1]?”

“Ah, in the southeast corner, I see them! It’s the sneaky Kudu Temple!”

“They’ve formed a temporary alliance with a bunch of rogue cultivators. Oh, the masters aren’t being very honest. It seems everyone has their own agenda? How exciting! It’s like a game of Werewolf!”

Wen Xu: …Great commentary. If I hadn’t opened my eyes to take a look, I almost wouldn’t have understood.

“What is Zhou Ji doing? Why has he started helping Tianji Pavilion? Am I seeing things? Oh no, Senior Sister Lan is going to suffer… Oh, wait, no, Senior Sister Lan practices puppetry, that’s a puppet! My goodness, I couldn’t even tell. Can puppets really be made to look this lifelike? How terrifying!”

Chen Zui could bear it no longer and finally turned around. “Junior Brother Bian, you’re being a bit noisy.”

Bian Chunzhou blinked. “Am I noisy?”

Chen Zui nodded honestly. “Give Wen Xu a break.”

Just as Wen Xu was about to say it was actually fine, a sudden change occurred on the field. He felt a powerful force strike from behind him. He only had time to push Chunzhou out of the way before he was swept off his feet and fell. The spot they were in had been specially arranged by the Suitian Sword Sect. Because of his seniority, this was one of the best vantage points to watch the secret realm competition. Logically speaking, no outsiders should have been able to enter.

So, who was it?

The spiritual energy inside Wen Xu’s body surged wildly, but in the end, it was no match for this powerful force. However, he was not afraid. After all, he carried the imprint his master had left on him before departing. If it truly came to a life-or-death crisis, the imprint would automatically protect his heart.

So, who wanted to harm him?

From afar, Wen Xu heard Chunzhou’s panicked voice. Before he could think further, the surrounding wind swept him into a vortex. When he finally hit the ground, his nose was filled with the scent of lush, vibrant life, though the wind carried a sense of boundless danger.

Wen Xu hesitated no longer. Just as he was about to open his eyes, he heard Chunzhou’s voice: “Wen Xuxu, are you okay? Chen Zuizui, why are you here too?”

Wen Xu: …

Meanwhile, outside the secret realm, the Suitian disciple responsible for guarding the Forest Secret Realm was on the verge of tears. “It really wasn’t me! I can swear on my Dao heart.”

Tang Ji rushed over upon hearing the news. Seeing the scene before him, his head began to ache. “I knew this Forest Secret Realm looked familiar! How should I put this? This is the trouble caused by that Dragon Venerable of your Yonglu Mountain! Does your Little Grand-Uncle Master carry the aura of that Dragon Venerable on him?”