Chapter 75, the so-called "confrontational challenge," is about settling both old and new grudges.

The three figures faded rapidly, as if their colors had been erased, disappearing into the thorny jungle.

The disciples of Liuhuan Valley stared wide-eyed at the sudden change, their mouths agape for a long time.

But Ya Dongbai immediately responded: "Dan Niang, quickly tell me how you cleared the level!"

Qin Danniang opened her lips, but her usually faint voice was instantly drowned out by Guan Wangzhen's loud laughter.

Before disappearing, Ji Mingran smiled and said to the disciples of Liuhuan Valley, "Why are you asking her? Just guess."

The disciples of Liuhuan Valley turned ashen-faced and lunged at the illusory figure, only to find themselves hitting nothing.

These scenes were precisely projected onto the projection stone on the observation platform.

The projection of the projection stone is like the first match; it cannot capture every moment of every cultivator's match, but it will not miss the key points.

The scene of Ji Mingran and Guan Wangzhen being rescued by Qin Danniang and then successfully passing the level was clearly projected.

The onlookers clapped and sighed: The luck of the two from Dingsheng Sect is truly undeniable!

Not only were they rescued, but they also passed the level because of it. Their luck was truly incredible, especially that little princess. Throughout the entire competition, there was no one luckier than her.

While expressing their admiration, some questioned, "The people in Dingsheng are really unethical. They got through by sheer luck thanks to Liuhuan Valley, but they deliberately didn't tell them. Not only did they not tell them, they even prevented their fellow disciples from informing them."

"Don't you know?" The cultivator next to him nudged the one who had asked the question. "The feud between Dingsheng Sect and Liuhuan Valley can't be explained in just a few words. Otherwise, why would that female cultivator from Liuhuan Valley be so harshly criticized by her fellow disciples after she stepped in to save the day?"

Another cultivator who understood the underlying reasons shook his head and said, "I think she will be punished after she goes out. It's bad enough that she didn't help her fellow disciples, but she also let Dingsheng Sect get a huge advantage!"

The cultivator who posed the question couldn't help but inquire curiously: "What happened between the Dingsheng Sect and the Liuhuan Valley?"

Then the observer who was being questioned just smiled mysteriously: "Go and find out for yourself! Otherwise, you can sit closer and see the reactions of the two leaders in the first-class seats, and you'll get a general idea."

The questioning cultivator's gaze drifted towards the first-class seats.

The atmosphere in the Class A seats was heavy. First, Venerable Chongjue had rarely spoken since he had blocked the aftershocks of the Mahayana-stage attack for the cultivators. Second, the other team leaders were only focused on the performance of their own disciples and did not communicate with each other.

Of course, if that were all, one could only say the atmosphere was quiet.

The main reason is that the relationship between the two has fallen to a freezing point.

Other independent cultivators or cultivators from small sects might not know, but how could they, as the leaders, not know the various complex entanglements between sects?

Since the start of the competition, Nanmen Hong, the leader of Liuhuan Valley, has not made any statements, while Dongdong Lu Zhenren of Dingsheng Sect, since replacing Ji Mingran as the leader, has only announced the news when Dingsheng Sect won, and has remained silent the rest of the time.

Just now, when the projection stone showed how the two from Dingsheng Sect were rescued by the disciples of Liuhuan Valley, how they successfully passed the test, and the scene of their eventual betrayal, Nanmen Hong suddenly burst out laughing.

His appearance was already delicate and beautiful, quite eye-catching, and now, with a gentle smile, he attracted even more attention.

A slight smile played on his lips as Nanmen Hong lazily raised his eyelids and said slowly, "Junior Sister, this is the excellent disciple your sect has produced."

Dong Lu's expression remained unchanged, and he replied briefly, "You flatter me, Master."

Nanmen Hong chuckled lightly: "You sitting here is indeed a good thing. You two-faced, ungrateful wretch, which is exactly in line with the consistent style of the Dingsheng Sect."

Dong Lu's cold gaze fell only on the projection stone, without even raising an eyebrow, and he said indifferently, "Not as good as Master Nanmen."

"Junior Sister, now that you've taken the position of Peak Master of Lin Peak, you've become increasingly eloquent and quite like a powerful figure. Have you really forgotten what you were like before?" Nanmen Hong's smile became increasingly enigmatic.

Dong Lu's gaze was focused, fixed only on the projected image, as if he hadn't heard Nanmen Hong's words.

She didn't respond, and the sarcastic smile on Nanmen Hong's lips continued to widen. He didn't speak again, but lazily changed his posture and continued to watch the projection stone.

"Finished talking?" The other team leaders seemed to be focused on watching the projection stone, but in reality, they were secretly listening to the conversation between the two.

Once they confirmed that the two were no longer speaking, the team leaders focused their attention on the projected image.

In the blink of an eye, Ji Mingran had returned to the attic, and the left foot he had stepped into the rescue and being rescued stage had just landed.

She turned around and saw that Guan Wangzhen had also returned to his original position. Looking to both sides, Zhu Shibai and Shen Qingluo were leaning against the fence, watching the two of them, as if they had been waiting for them to appear for a long time.

"Now they're all back," Ji Mingran thought.

Not only them, but the attic is much more lively now than before they entered the rescue and being rescued stages, indicating that many of the disciples who participated in the various stages have returned. Of course, there are also those who have been eliminated.

Two whooshing sounds rang out in Ji Mingran's ears.

Ji Mingran turned around and looked at the other disciples who had also returned to their original positions.

"I didn't expect that you could survive until now without being eliminated." The disciple in dark green brocade robes on the left withdrew his two fingers, slightly regretful that his attack had been dodged by Ji Mingran.

Another female cultivator in a gauze dress raised her five fingers, with shimmering lines extending from her fingertips. She replied, "But it will be soon."

Ji Mingran: "Isn't it inappropriate to evaluate yourself like that?"

After saying that, she raised four fingers behind her back and rushed forward as if ignoring everything else!

The disciples on the same level who were also taking the test hesitated, stopped moving, and became vigilant and on guard.

One step, two steps, three steps, four steps, Ji Mingran counted the steps, and his footsteps stopped precisely on the fourth step.

"She's going to run away again!" The female cultivator in the gauze dress realized, but Ji Mingran's smiling face had already disappeared once more.

My body felt as if it were being forcibly shoved into a small, dark space, tumbling rapidly, and then suddenly ejected.

Feeling his feet touch the ground, Ji Mingran felt like a drowning person surfacing. He took a deep breath and forced his mind to calm down.

Shen Qingluo lay prone on the right, her eyes looking upwards, watching the surroundings. She replied, "Challenge the level, find the treasure. I flipped it over before the rest of the Zhu family and won successfully. They wanted to attack me, but I was riding a pony, so they couldn't keep up." She had already stored the pony in a magical artifact that contained a small world, ready to be summoned at any crucial moment.

Zhu Shibai, lying on the left, replied very naturally: "Challenge the level, break the chess game. The participating disciples are the pieces, and the one whose side wins without being captured is the winner."

Ji Mingran quickly reviewed the information they had given him and also told them: "I first encountered a starry sky challenge, and won after finding the correct path of the light orb. Then, I encountered a mutual assistance challenge with Guan Wangzhen, where both the rescuer and the rescued would win."

Guan Wangzhen lay down opposite her: "My first challenge is the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts. The one who breaks through the challenge and kills a hundred ghosts wins."

He muttered somewhat dejectedly, "Why is mine a simple test of force, while yours can at least be overcome with wit?"

"It's all the same to you." After making his assessment, Zhu Shibai turned to Ji Mingran and asked, "How did you find out?"

Zhu Shibai spoke calmly, but after he finished speaking, he bent his long legs and pulled them further in. His movement caused everyone else to huddle together in response.

There was no other way; space was limited. At that moment, they were all huddled under a pot.

Upon arriving at this checkpoint, a massive and dense barrage of attacks came crashing down. Although their usual spells were forbidden, it didn't mean they couldn't dodge them.

After they lay down together, Zhu Shibai casually pulled out a defensive magical artifact, which he then placed on top of them.

Ji Mingran recognized it as a cast iron pot specially made by Zhu Shibai for everyone's convenience at Linfeng Braised Pork. It was made of a sturdy material and could be enlarged or reduced in size. It was surprisingly suitable as temporary protective gear.

The various attacks caused a frenzy. They crawled on the ground, huddled together in the pot, looking somewhat disheveled, but at least they were safe and could communicate discreetly.

After entering the competition, the four were finally able to gather and exchange ideas.

“Yes, it seems you’re doing better than us. We’ve only just passed the first hurdle. Mingran, did you discover something?” Shen Qingluo asked.

The sizzling sound was so loud it could easily drown out her voice. Ji Mingran gave a signal, and the three heads huddled together.

Ji Mingran said, "Currently, we are facing a challenge level, a mutual assistance level, and this confrontation level. I guess this is the confrontation level." So as soon as they appeared, they were met with a frenzied attack from the other participating disciples.

The competition has challenging levels, a piece of information that Qin Danniang inadvertently revealed during the previous level.

“Guan Wangzhen and I will both step out at the same time and enter the same level. Similarly, as long as the four of us step out at the same time, we will enter the same level.” To be on the safe side, Ji Mingran simply signaled everyone to take four steps, the same number of steps as the number of people.

Then everyone entered the combat level.

"So it's the number of steps," Zhu Shibai mused.

Guan Wangzhen speculated: "Could it be that as long as teams from the same clan enter the same level, that level will become a confrontation level?"

"That's not right," Ji Mingran said. "The Liu Huan Valley group is all here, but they didn't enter the combat challenge. Of course, they did intend to enter the combat challenge." Qin Danniang had repeatedly emphasized that the previous challenge wasn't a combat challenge, and the Liu Huan Valley disciples mistakenly assumed that their current challenge was a killing challenge, which strongly suggests they originally intended to enter a combat challenge. They just don't know why they entered the mutual aid challenge instead.

Shen Qinglu deduced: "Since their original intention was to enter the confrontation level, it means that they have already met one of the conditions for the confrontation level."

Guan Wangzhen: "Their numbers are all there."

"There must be other conditions." This was the first time Ji Mingran had seen a group of participating disciples appear. It was the Zhu family's team participating in the Starry Sky Challenge, and they were also caught off guard by the challenge.

Judging from the experiences of the Zhu family disciples and the disciples from Liuhuan Valley, it's clear that even if disciples from the same sect enter a certain level together, that level isn't necessarily a confrontational level. There must be other conditions for entering a confrontational level.

“Based on the known information, the difference between us and them is that we each won a single challenge.” Zhu Shibai continued, “Therefore, there are at least two conditions for entering the competitive challenge: first, all disciples from the same sect must enter the same challenge simultaneously; second, all disciples from the same sect must have won a challenge at least once.”

To meet condition one, it means that no disciple in the same team can be eliminated; if even one disciple is eliminated, the team will be unable to enter the competition stage.

Therefore, any participating team that knows about the existence of the competitive stages will try its best to enter the competitive stages first, so as not to let its teammates be eliminated by mistakenly entering other stages, thus preventing the entire team from getting the chance to enter the competitive stages.

The four exchanged ideas quickly and efficiently, deducing the level's situation and the building's patterns in just a few moments. Just as they finished speaking, a voice simultaneously rang in their minds: "This level is a team battle level; the team that eliminates the entire group wins."

The four people hiding in the pot froze for a moment.

"Oh no, I didn't expect the rules to be like this." Zhu Shibai smiled wryly.

Shen Qinglu murmured, "This is not good."

Guan Wangzhen was still a little confused: "What do you mean? Why do you all sound like you've heard some bad news?"

Ji Mingran used an analogy: "Think about it carefully. Starving people are killing each other for food, and then a flock of plump chickens wanders in. What do you think those chickens will do?"

Guan Wangzhen opened his mouth slightly.

Everyone involuntarily looked up at the trembling pot.

Only disciples from major sects or aristocratic families will be able to obtain information about the existence of the challenge early on. This also means that the earlier one enters the challenge, the stronger the opponents they will face.

They arrived neither early nor late. Judging from the booming sounds from the pots, it was precisely when the various teams in the competition were engaged in fierce battles.

The disciples who had arrived earlier were now fighting fiercely. Upon seeing the newcomers, they rushed out from their hiding places, frantically throwing out all sorts of spells, talismans, and magical artifacts, all in an effort to be the first to eliminate one of them.

"The 15-minute time limit is up. Now, I will give you an update on the situation on the ground."

"Five people from Hongqi Sect, three from Xiaosu Pavilion, two from Tiangang Sect, and one from the First Sword Sect were eliminated."

"Five members from the Beast Taming Sect, four from the First Sword Sect, and two from the Heavenly Gang Sect were eliminated."

"Of the five members of the Zhu family, two were eliminated from the Hehuan Sect and one from the Baiyang Sect."

"Of the five members of the Shen family, three were eliminated from the Suqi Sect."

"Four members from Dingsheng Sect, zero eliminated."

Ah... The four people in the pot looked at each other in bewilderment.

It seems that all the participating teams that had clashed with them have gathered together.