Chapter 66 The Cultivation Competition Opening Ceremony
Since he had taken a two-week break, Li Chang'an took the spirits of Xuanling Immortal Mountain on a trip to Ling'an City and nearby scenic spots during that time.
After the Lantern Festival, the work of restoring farmland in Xuanling Immortal Mountain officially began.
The original 600 acres of land were planted with the same crops, and a new batch of lotus roots was planted in the pond. Afterwards, Li Chang'an took the 1,200 branches of spiritual energy essence given to him by the tea spirit and began to continue to cultivate terraced fields.
With the help of the mandrill's spiritual power, ten days later, the first batch of ordinary vegetables that had been planted were ready to be harvested.
Li Chang'an sold these vegetables through live streaming, and the 350 acres of land that were originally planted with ordinary vegetables were now empty.
He soaked 300 mu of land in the river flowing down from the mountain god's cave, intending to transform it into paddy fields, planting 100 mu of spirit rice, and planting water chestnuts and water bamboo on the remaining 200 mu of paddy fields.
By the end of January, the 1,200 tea tree branches had been used up, and 900 mu of terraced fields had been added to Wolu Mountain.
Today, there are a total of 1,500 mu of farmland on Wolu Mountain, with 200 mu planted with spirit rice and the remaining 100 mu planted with various other vegetables.
Another hundred acres of land were planted with birdgrass and broadleaf fern by Li Chang'an.
Birdgrass was used to feed birds, chickens, and ducks, while broadleaf fern was used to feed pigs.
While terraced fields were being cultivated, planting was also underway. By the time all 1,500 mu of land had been planted according to Li Chang'an's new plan, it was already the first day of the second lunar month, and the cultivation competition was about to begin.
*
At nine o'clock that morning, after feeding the pigs, chickens and ducks, Li Chang'an brought the mushroom spirits and tea spirits to Qingfeng Sect.
Tianxuan was forced by Yuheng to become a judge, while Shanxiao was socially awkward and Jianling had no interest, so they didn't go together.
As soon as Li Chang'an stepped out of the back mountain, he stood by the roadside and looked up to see two spirit boats, one large and one small, slowly flying over from the northeast of Qingfeng Sect.
Li Chang'an is now at the Golden Core stage, and can see very far. Even if he can't see, he can still use his divine sense to perceive.
He released his divine sense and saw that both spirit ships had flags on them. The larger ship had a flag that read "Cultivation Alliance," while the smaller ship had a flag that read "Lian Tian Sect."
Two spirit boats stopped above Qingfeng Sect, and then hundreds of cultivators flew out of the spirit boats of Liantian Sect, either by using their qi or by flying on their swords.
They were dressed in uniform cyan sect uniforms, their feet shimmering with multicolored light as their spiritual energy flowed beneath them. Their clothes fluttered down like feathers, eventually landing in the Qingfeng Sect's training ground.
Immediately afterwards, even more cultivators flew out of the large spirit ship of the Cultivation Alliance.
Compared to the ethereal grace of the Lian Tian Sect disciples, these rogue cultivators were quite unrestrained, descending like fireworks.
Many tourists have already arrived at Qingfeng Sect and are witnessing this scene.
On the plazas of the main and secondary peaks, exclamations of "Wow!" rang out from the crowd.
Li Chang'an smiled, quickened his pace, and entered Qingfeng Sect through the back gate with Cha Jing. They blended in at the back of the square and sat down in a secluded corner.
This morning was just the opening ceremony, and not many people came to watch. The mushroom spirits weren't disguised as cats by the disguise charms; they were scattered on the chairs, climbing and jumping around.
The main peak's plaza is right next to the training ground. When there were many Qingfeng Sect disciples, this plaza also served as the training ground.
On both sides of the square float scrolls about four meters long and three meters high. The scrolls do not contain paintings, but rather live footage of the training ground in front of them. The clarity is comparable to the Blu-ray quality of a television and is unaffected by sunlight.
"Is that the Myriad Mountains and Rivers Map, a spiritual artifact? I heard there are only a few dozen in the entire Cangxuan Realm. I didn't expect the Qingfeng Sect to be able to produce ten of them at once."
Li Chang'an was sitting at the back of the crowd when he heard people talking in front of him.
"Oh, you even know about magical artifacts?" the speaker's friend joked.
The man clicked his tongue and said, "Fangcun doesn't have a wall for us ordinary people. I often look at things from the cultivation world on it."
"Although this 'Map of Ten Thousand Mountains and Rivers' is just a spiritual artifact, its effects should not be underestimated. Under the right conditions, the user can see what is happening in any corner of the world."
The man's friend looked surprised. "Wouldn't that mean we have no privacy? That's terrifying! I don't want to be picking my toes at home while having to worry about being seen by some cultivator."
"It's unlikely. This magical artifact consumes a lot of spiritual energy each time it's used, and the farther the distance, the more spiritual energy it consumes. No cultivator would be so bored as to waste so much spiritual energy watching a stranger pick his toes. Besides—"
Li Chang'an also looked in the direction the man was pointing.
"See those black stones by the training ground? Those are actually spiritual ink used in conjunction with the 'Ten Thousand Mountains and Rivers Map'. The 'Ten Thousand Mountains and Rivers Map' can only be seen where there is spiritual ink. That's why I said it's under the condition that it's permissible."
As the scenes on the "Ten Thousand Mountains and Rivers" scroll continued to unfold, the black ink swirled slowly and shrank.
"Oh, oh." My friend breathed a sigh of relief and patted his chest.
After listening to their conversation, Li Chang'an smiled.
Several more people from various sects arrived at the training ground, and two spirit boats flew in one after the other in the sky.
Those two spirit boats belonged to the Linglan Sect and the Zixiao Sect, and their appearance was quite impressive.
The sect leader of Linglan Sect led his disciples down the stairs paved with spiritual energy.
A huge teleportation array appeared above the Zixiao Sect's spirit boat, and the disciples suddenly appeared on the training ground accompanied by beams of light.
Even if they are not the organizers of the cultivation competition, the three upper sects must still put on a grand show.
Another "wow" erupted from the crowd.
By 10 o'clock, all the sects participating in the cultivation competition had arrived.
Four spirit boats were hovering above Qingfeng Sect—belonging to the Cultivation Alliance and the Upper Three Sects.
They are the only ones still capable of piloting the spirit boat.
As for the other sects, they weren't in Xia country; they all came by chartered plane.
Currently, there are 57 cultivation sects of all sizes in the Cangxuan Realm. In addition, there are the independent cultivators brought by the Cultivation Alliance. Those who meet the conditions for participating in the Grand Competition—aged 14 and above, 150 and below the third level of Foundation Establishment—total 10,000 people.
There wasn't enough room for so many people in the training ground, so only ten representative disciples from each sect, two elders in charge of leading the teams, and more than seven hundred independent cultivators remained on the field.
Some smaller sects have fewer than five disciples who can participate in the competition, so there are fewer than 1,200 people in total at the training ground.
In front of the training ground was the main hall of the Qingfeng Sect, with its doors wide open. Inside, Yuheng, Tianxuan, and Xie Kuling sat in the center, while the leaders of the other fifty-six sects sat on their left and right sides.
In addition, the assistant mayor of Ling'an City, the director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau, and others sat next to the leaders of various cultivation sects.
The opening ceremony was not complicated. The head of the Ling'an City Cultivation Alliance branch gave a speech, which was to say that the purpose of the competition was to learn from each other and stop when the point was reached. All cultivators must adhere to their original intentions and must not harm their fellow countrymen or harbor evil thoughts and murderous intent.
After that, Xie Xuan came out to announce the content and venue of the competition.
The competition is divided into individual and team events. The individual events include competitions in spiritual power and magic, alchemy, weapon crafting, talisman drawing, and formation.
In team matches, besides battles, there are also simulated dungeon trials.
The monks earned points in these competitions, and the final rankings were determined by these points.
Afterwards, Xie Xuan read out the magical artifacts and spiritual weapons presented by each sect, and rewarded the top three sects and the top fifty cultivators in the final ranking.
All the sects had announced in advance that this cultivation competition would include simulated secret realm trials, so the cultivators didn't react much.
The spectators watching in the square were somewhat surprised.
"Secret Realm Trials? Aren't those dangerous?"
"I've heard that in the past, during the cultivation competitions, people often died in the secret realms. After all, once you're in a secret realm, if someone kills you, the sect leader or elders won't be able to react in time and won't be able to save you."
"They're actually going all out this time?"
The discussions in the crowd reached Xie Xuan's ears.
He cleared his throat and said, "It's just a simulated secret realm trial. We've set up some tests for the cultivators, which are supervised by elders from various sects and alliance staff, to ensure that the cultivators' lives are not in danger."
As soon as he finished speaking, the cultivators in the training ground were somewhat surprised.
If there's no danger to my life, does that mean there are still other dangers?
The cultivators looked at each other, but seeing that the elder leading the group and the sect leader in the hall remained silent and calm, they didn't say anything more.
Li Chang'an observed the reactions of all the cultivators.
He glanced sideways at the tea essence and the scattered mushroom essences around him.
It's unclear whether those cultivators can withstand this "danger".
Afterwards, Xie Xuan announced the end of the opening ceremony, and advised all cultivators to rest well today and that the grand competition would officially begin tomorrow morning.
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Chang'an and the tea spirits led the mushroom spirits to get up and leave. As they exited through the back door, they received a competition schedule from a Qingfeng Sect disciple.
The next week will be all individual competitions, with contests involving alchemy and talisman drawing. One-on-one spell battles will begin a week later.
After a quick glance, Li Chang'an put away the process sheet and returned to Xuanling Immortal Mountain with the tea essence and mushroom essence in an instant.
*
After the opening ceremony, the cultivators on the training ground left one by one, heading to their residences under the guidance of the Qingfeng Sect disciples.
The Qingfeng Sect now has five mountain peaks, and recently they worked overtime to build new houses, which can easily accommodate more than 10,000 people.
The spectators in the square dispersed, and some hurried to the dining hall, only to learn a shocking piece of bad news—the dining hall was closed during the cultivation competition.
This was devastating for those who came specifically for the dining hall.
However, unlike previous sects, the Qingfeng Sect did not charge high entrance fees during the cultivation competition; visits and tours remained free.
This did somewhat appease the tourists.
After the opening ceremony, Tianxuan and Yuheng arrived at the back mountain of the Qingfeng Sect.
As the two had expected, there were several people wandering around looking for a way at the entrance to the back mountain.
They knew that the entrance to Xuanling Immortal Mountain was located in the back mountain of Qingfeng Sect. Taking advantage of the fact that the Qingfeng Sect disciples were too busy to guard the mountain during the cultivation competition, they sneaked into the back mountain in an attempt to find Xuanling Immortal Mountain.
Fortunately, Yuheng had set up a simple formation in advance yesterday.
This simple formation couldn't stop the cultivators, but they all knew that Li Chang'an had set up a formation at the entrance, and those with lower cultivation levels couldn't enter, so none of them would go and invite humiliation.
The formation will only stop ordinary people.
During the final simulated secret realm trial, the terrain of Qingfeng Sect will be altered by the formation. If an ordinary person were to enter the back mountain at that time and the terrain were to change, an accident might occur.
Stopping them is also protecting them.
There were still quite a few people heading towards the back of the mountain right now.
However, they all stopped at the entrance to the back mountain because they did not see a path leading to the back mountain.
"That's strange." One person scratched his head in confusion, unable to find the way, and turned to leave.
Little did they know that the road leading to the back mountain was right in front of them, a wide road that could accommodate a vehicle. However, due to the formation set up by Yuheng, to ordinary people, the location of that road was just a solid mountain wall.
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