"What did you say?!" Liu Tianxuan trembled and widened his eyes slightly as he stared at the sly-faced man before him.
He had never told anyone that he found his necklace inside the Tree of Life. Although the man had called it the Planetary Tree, the name fit perfectly with what the tree truly was.
But when he spoke about fragments of Dao existing within the stone of the necklace, he couldn't help but remember that strange, vitality-filled sensation he had felt ever since his soul entered the necklace.
Deep down, he knew the necklace had probably already surpassed the Mahayana realm. After all, in an ancestral family like the Liu family, they did indeed have some knowledge of that realm, passed down through ancestral records from the ancient era of spiritual gold—an era before Mahayana cultivators became legends and faded into myth.
Although the records stated that each Mahayana cultivator possessed unique powers granted by the Dao they mastered, it was still difficult to determine the true limits of their abilities. Even so, preventing a soul from dissipating after its vital energy had been exhausted seemed to be a power beyond that—one that broke the natural order of things.
Of course, since he was not sure of anything, he always judged it to be an ultra-ancient Mahayana-Tier artifact.
Even though he didn't know where the materials used to craft it had come from—considering there were no records of the Lingxi world ever producing materials above the Transcendent-Tier—it was still easier to believe it was something of Mahayana-Tier rather than a necklace crafted by a legendary immortal.
Thus, the old man, despite still being skeptical about the information the man had given him, had to admit that his heart was moved when he heard elder Bao talk about the possibility of advancing and reviving, reaching a greater realm through insights from the necklace.
So, even before Bao Hui's casual shrug and constant demands for the artifact identification fee, Liu Tianxuan was no longer as angry as before, and his mind remained filled with complicated thoughts.
…
The Infinite Dao Sect held a highly successful festival, shedding a small light on how great the power of its members truly was and the opportunity that awaited all who wished to join.
Many acquaintances of the disciples also boarded the floating ships the sect sent to various cities to invite people to participate in the recruitment and competitions. These people were the greatest witnesses of the terrifying growth of the sect's members.
Aside from the competitions, Aotian carried out many events he thought would cheer up the city, like a festival. Just because he lived in the somewhat formal and boring cultivation world, it didn't mean everything had to be serious all the time.
Thus, taking ideas from his past life and the things he had read, he held events such as blind box openings—a classic xianxia. There were also fireworks, spiritual beast races with betting, and many other things. He even created a 'spiritual' amusement park to bring joy to the children, both mortal and cultivator.
He also had to put a lot of effort into things like city security, since cultivators were very fond of slapping faces and causing trouble and fights. And a fight between people who had great power residing in their own bodies, one that couldn't be quickly subdued, could cause material and human losses very quickly.
Fortunately, Aotian now had many powerful avatars and disciples, and the various formations he implanted handled the task well.
Thus, time passed, and several days of festival took place. Due to the large number of competitors, the competitions were expected to last a month.
But on the second day alone, Aotian, helpless, had to change the competition rules at the speed of light.
This all happened because the disciples of the sect were simply monopolizing the top positions, and because of that, no one from outside won anything.
So, besides those who wanted to take advantage of the materials provided by the sect to train a bit during the competition, basically everyone else was giving up on participating.
With no other choice, he changed the rules to create a separate list of winners in which the disciples of the Infinite Dao Sect were not included. There, he richly rewarded the best in each category and realm among those from outside the sect.
As for the sect's disciples, they continued participating in the competitions alongside the others, but they occupied separate winner slots in each round and received their own prizes at the end.
With this, there were the Minor, Middle, and Major groups, and within these groups, separate rewards for Refiner-Tier, Founder-Tier, and Core-Tier. An individual could redeem only one reward in each competition.
Although still not absolutely fair, it was a great improvement, and the number of rewards multiplied from the original ten per group to triple that, since each group now had rewards for each realm. In addition, he separated the absurd members of the Infinite Dao Sect from that list—those who had previously been responsible for giving no one a chance.
These changes were enough to trigger a frenzy among cultivators, increasing the number of competitors again, surpassing even the original amount before the sect revealed its strength.
The competitions that had already happened before the rule change were not exempt from the adjusted rewards, and among them, Shen He ended up winning the number one prize among Refiner-Tier alchemists in the Minor group of those not belonging to the sect.
And the rewards were extremely rich, compensating for the bitterness the boy experienced during the competition.
Aotian was not stingy with the rewards, since he had mountains of Core-Tier items and below after robbing several powerful sects of the middle continents and the central continent. Even if being so generous strongly contradicted his persona as Bao Hui, the stingy elder responsible for the sect's finances.
Thus, the competition's success returned in full force, and the number of people arriving in the city increased every day, so much that even the other 18 cities became crowded. Many cultivators and mortals had to camp outside the cities while waiting for the competition to end, so the real event everyone was anticipating could finally begin.
There were at least one billion people awaiting recruitment, which made Aotian's heart tremble slightly.
And many of these people, coming from humble origins, had already decided to remain in that region even if they were not accepted into the sect, after sensing the powerful and pure energy produced by the Feng Shui there.
Back at the competition, even with the separate list, the display of the Infinite Dao Sect's strength was not affected. The mere fact that the sect had to separate its disciples from everyone else—otherwise the intimidation would be too great—was already enough to elevate the sect's reputation to new heights, achieving Aotian's main goal.
Thus, time passed in the blink of an eye, as various competitions took place, and the disciples of the Infinite Dao Sect constantly redefined what the true meaning of talent was in the minds of the public.
On that particular day, the 25th day of the tournament, inside a VIP box on the stands, a beautiful silver-haired woman calmly and indifferently observed some of the duels taking place below.
She wore purple robes, and a sword pattern was embroidered on her garments, indicating that she was an inner elder of the Sword Pavilion.
Her beautiful, bare feet gave her an ethereal, immortal appearance as she calmly observed what was happening in the arena.
At her side, several men and a few women were gathered, maintaining a respectful and admiring posture as they occasionally cast glances at the elder.
An old man with white hair and slightly wrinkled skin, standing directly beside her, smiled faintly as he looked at a particular fight that was about to begin.
"Sect Leader, Xiao Ming is the star of our sect's new generation, and his combat power is exceptional. He even mastered the Luminous Sword Technique while still in the Qi Refinement realm, proving that his talent is probably second only to yours in the past hundreds of years."
"I am very confident that he can stand out in the competitions of this realm, and perhaps even getting first place is not impossible," the old man spoke gently, smiling with a hint of pride, as if presenting his masterpiece.
"Hmm…" the woman only murmured a silent approval, but without showing much reaction. "And I already told you, stop calling me that. Just call me elder Jian. I am no longer the sect leader of the Bamboo Sword Sect," she made sure to emphasize, with a slight trace of helplessness—something rare on her indifferent face.
That was, without a doubt, elder Jian Huiyin, and the old man at her side was the former great elder and current leader of the Bamboo Sword Sect, the sect elder Jian had once led in the past.
The other people around them were also elders of that sect.
The former great elder, with his white hair, no longer emitted a simple Foundation Establishment aura, but rather much greater fluctuations of power.
With the help of the Infinite Dao Sect, he had been able to surpass his exhausted potential and step firmly into the Golden Core realm through pills and elemental stones, thus fulfilling the promise Aotian, through Tian Zhu, had made to Jian Huiyin when he invited her to the sect—cultivating a new leader for the Bamboo Sword Sect.
But even now, despite achieving the realm of his dreams, the great elder still looked at his former leader with trepidation, just like he had when he was merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
His reverence was even stronger now, because he knew—through Jian Huiyin's own admission—that she was now a dignified and powerful legendary Nascent Soul cultivator.
"Sect Leader. Even though you have stepped down from your position, in our hearts you will always be the leader." The former great elder shook his head firmly and smiled softly, a glimmer of light in his eyes.
Just knowing he was at the side of someone so legendary was enough to make the poor man tremble in admiration. He still felt as if he were in an unreal dream, but the fact that it was real only made him more excited.
That was why he insisted on calling her Sect Leader—after all, she was a very thick thigh to hold onto.
Jian Huiyin, as a wise former sect leader, was fully aware of this. She simply shook her head and turned her attention back to the disciple the new leader of her old sect had pointed out as extremely promising.
In one of the many rings spread across the enormous arena, two cultivators were facing each other.
Above their heads, a light screen rose with the words:
[Zhang Ming vs Shen He]
But it soon faded so as not to clutter the view.
The referee, one of the sect's outer elders, looked at the two youths before him—one at the 8th level of Qi Refinement and the other at the 5th—and, seeing they were ready, gave the command.
"Begin!"
As soon as his words fell, runes lit up on the legs of the two boys—one green and one red—and both charged at each other with ferocity.
Bang!
Their fists collided, with runes gathered along both of their arms, sending both backward from the impact.
One of them stepped back two paces, while the other stepped back six.
Surprisingly, the one who took more steps back was the green-haired boy, who was three levels higher in the same realm.
"Impossible!" the former great elder watching beside Jian Huiyin exclaimed in shock as his eyes widened.
The one who had retreated was his proud disciple, Zhang Ming.
A faint trace of curiosity appeared in Jian Huiyin's mesmerizing silver eyes as she analyzed the boy who took only two steps back.
"Those runes…" she spoke calmly, attracting the attention of everyone in the VIP box. "They are well-ordered, creating far greater synergy in the spell. The fluctuations of that boy's realm are also quite firm, proving that his cultivation techniques are not ordinary. That boy must have had some fortunate encounter, because such techniques and spells are not available in an impoverished place like the Beixu continent. It is normal for Zhang Ming to retreat and lose in such a situation," she explained without giving it much importance.
As an elder of the Infinite Dao Sect, she had learned much about both cultivation and the world she lived in.
And although she was slightly impressed that techniques of such quality were appearing there, she still dismissed them deep down—considering them low-grade compared to those of the sect.
"That boy is holding back. If he wanted to, he wouldn't have retreated, and perhaps he could have even knocked Zhang Ming down unprepared with just one punch," she finished and fell silent.
But despite her simple words, a silent shock filled the minds of all the members of the Bamboo Sword Sect.
Under the stunned gaze of those people, Shen He quickly proved that elder Jian was correct.
Zhang Ming looked seriously at Shen He, feeling his fist still trembling from the last clash.
"You are impressive. I didn't think I would have to draw my sword against someone in the 5th level of Qi Refinement. But forgive me, I have to pass this round," he said with seriousness and confidence, without being discouraged, then tapped his storage bag, causing it to spit out a sword which he quickly grabbed.
Shen He said nothing and simply pulled a sword from his own storage bag, calmly facing his opponent.
"Humph!" Zhang Ming snorted when he saw the opponent silent and relaxed, feeling insulted.
With his heart burning in anger, he began pouring energy into his sword in specific patterns, making it shine with a silver light.
A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, green runes shone on his legs, and he suddenly shot forward.
'Luminous Sword — Rising Sun!' he shouted the spell name in his mind and then swung the sword upward toward Shen He, who watched him calmly.
When Zhang Ming was almost upon his opponent, runes lit up on Shen He's legs, and the boy vanished abruptly from his sight.
The sword cut through nothing but air, and in the same instant—before he could feel panic—he felt the icy chill of a blade against his throat.
Looking to the side, he saw Shen He, who stared at him coldly.
"You lost. Your speed isn't fast enough," he declared simply.
In the VIP box, all faces darkened upon seeing their ace lose in such a humble manner.
Except Jian Huiyin, who viewed it all as nothing more than a children's game.
"Well, both of them are not bad. But their talents will only shine if they enter the sect. Only then will those two be able to have a fair match, with equally strong techniques."
She murmured this and soon turned her gaze to other matches.