Chapter 110 First Place in the Spiritual Cultivation Competition: The Prosperous Sect is Not What We Imagined...
"Look up there!" An excited voice rang out from the observation platform. A cultivator in the audience raised his arm high and shouted, pointing to the sky.
"That's...that's..."
Just before he spoke, all the projection stones on the viewing platform suddenly shut down, and none of them continued to project the scene from the secret realm of the spiritual reward pool.
As everyone was puzzled, they heard the cultivator shout, realized something, and all looked up.
Above the circular observation platform floating in mid-air, under the clear sky, the light was dazzling. Suddenly, the wind and clouds rose, and thick, white cotton-like clouds drifted and overlapped with the wind, gradually revealing a pattern.
Five peaks and two rivers converge, surrounded by cloud patterns.
"This is our sect's emblem!" On the observation platform, a disciple of the Dingsheng Sect, watching the test, stood up and shouted with wide eyes.
Dingsheng Sect, which had not participated in the spiritual competition for three hundred years, returned and immediately won the championship.
The observation platform buzzed like an explosion, the three characters "Dingsheng Sect" echoing throughout the entire platform and rapidly spreading across the entire spiritual cultivation continent via various sound transmission artifacts.
Those present whispered amongst themselves, discussing the winner of this year's spiritual competition.
No one saw exactly how Dingshengzong won the jackpot.
Since the disciples from sects like Dingsheng Sect disappeared from the competition, the projection stone has stopped projecting their images.
As for the leaders of the Class A seats, they had long since taken their disciples to the Boundless Sea, the adjacent waters of the Abyss, to search for their participating disciples, and they have not yet returned. Only the remaining spectators remain in their seats to continue watching the competition.
Watching the other participating disciples struggle to win prizes from demons, ghosts, and sea beasts was exciting, but after a long time, there was still no sign of anyone winning the grand prize.
The observers once thought that the disciples participating in this year's competition had no chance of winning the final prize, and they were just waiting for the prize pool secret realm to close and for this year's spiritual cultivation competition to end.
The result was unexpected.
"Didn't Dingsheng Sect disappear? How did they win the championship?"
"How could it be the Dingsheng Sect? How did they manage that? What about the Hongqi Sect?"
They came up empty-handed.
Yes, because the leaders who went to the landing site of the prize pool secret realm failed to find the whereabouts of the participating disciples, even Venerable Chongjue personally went to the Boundless Sea to help the cultivators find the participating disciples.
Now, the other elders from various sects are sitting in their place in the first-class seats. They too are shocked and have been unable to recover for a long time.
The Eastern Continent True Man, with a smile on his lips, rose leisurely, nodded to the crowd, and walked towards the gathering place of the Dingsheng Sect disciples at the observation platform.
She did not seek out the participating disciples. Since Dingsheng Sect was located in Yuanzhou, in the center of the Spirit Cultivation Continent, it was close to anywhere. Therefore, Dingsheng Sect directly sent the remaining elders who remained in the sect to Wuyanhai, while Donglu Zhenren stayed in the first-class seats.
She actually witnessed her own sect's victory firsthand.
The remaining cultivators on the observation platform were filled with mixed feelings.
The disciples of Dingsheng Sect were still standing there, bewildered.
"Did...did we win?"
Everyone stared wide-eyed, pointing at themselves, incredulous: "We won?"
Finally, the man who stood up first raised his fists and announced loudly, "We won!"
Once they realized what was happening, the disciples of the four peaks of the Dingsheng Sect on the observation platform were overjoyed and congratulated each other.
"Your grandmaster Yaofeng Shen Xiaojiu won!"
"Your junior grandmaster from Kuangfeng Temple won!"
"It was your junior grandmaster Quanfeng who won!"
The Jin siblings chimed in, "And our little grandmaster grand-aunt Ming from Luanfeng won!"
Overwhelmed with joy, the disciples of Dingsheng Sect who were observing the test abandoned all pretense of maintaining the demeanor of a prestigious and righteous sect and joined hands, shouting, "Whose ancestor won?"
"Oh? So he's my ancestor." They looked at each other. "He's your ancestor too, he's our ancestor!"
The disciples at the peak of their cultivation kept shouting "Your ancestors, my ancestors!" while raising their arms and waving them left and right. One of the disciples got so excited that he swayed to the side, threw a punch, and hit the cultivator next to him.
"Oh dear, oh dear, I'm so sorry! We got a little carried away." The disciple immediately apologized and helped up the rogue cultivator he had knocked to the ground.
"Haha, it's alright, congratulations." The rogue cultivator, who had been punched, covered his left eye, got up, waved his hand nonchalantly, and said, "Anyway, I quite like you guys."
"Hehe." The Dingsheng Sect disciple scratched the back of his head and said, "Thank you for your kind words, fellow Daoist."
"Oh, right, don't say I didn't warn you." The rogue cultivator, who was about to leave, turned back and added with a smile, "You'd better hurry up and run."
"Huh?" The disciple of Dingsheng Sect was stunned for a moment, but in the blink of an eye, the rogue cultivator had disappeared.
He turned around to look for them, but his sleeve was tugged by a fellow disciple. "Look, look, they're coming back!"
Upon hearing this, the disciples of Dingsheng Sect hurriedly looked up again.
The Spiritual Cultivation Competition concluded smoothly without any unexpected incidents. As usual, the participating disciples within the Prize Pool Secret Realm would be teleported out. The first to be teleported out were the champions, namely the young ancestors of their Dingsheng Sect.
Everyone eagerly awaited the moment to witness the prowess of the disciples from the leading sect in this year's spiritual competition.
The clouds and patterns on the five peaks and two rivers suddenly shone brightly. Everyone's heart was in their throat.
Thud. Something crashed down, but was blocked by the protective array protecting the observation platform.
As the object slid down, a glaring deep red bloodstain appeared on the protective array.
The stench of blood instantly filled the air.
Everyone stared intently at it.
A tentacle covered in pustules filled with maggots twitched and writhed above the crowd.
...
After a while, someone broke the silence and guessed, "Is it... is it the remains of a demon beast that were severed by a disciple of the Dingsheng Sect who participated in the trial, and that was teleported out along with it?"
The next second, a heart-wrenching scream erupted.
"Run! The secret realm has teleported out the monsters!"
The imagery they received was not that of the spiritual competition champion they had hoped to see. A massive, writhing figure struggled out of the sky, extending an arm, and then deep black and green seawater poured down, crashing onto the protective array of the observation platform.
One after another, enormous and bizarre-looking demons and monsters poured in, crashing violently into the protective array. Under the impact, half of the swaying circular observation platform snapped off, spinning and slamming into the ground.
The elders seated in Class A leaped out to rescue the person.
"The protective formation is about to collapse! All the powerful figures present have gone to the Boundless Sea. What are you all standing around for? Run!"
The change came suddenly, leaving many people still standing in place. Those who reacted quickly had already fled.
One colossal creature after another emerged from the teleportation portal of the high-altitude secret realm, but none of them lingered on the observation platform; instead, they all flew off in different directions.
They were heading towards the county towns where people gathered. The county towns in the spiritual cultivation world were not only inhabited by cultivators, but also by many ordinary people.
"Split into two groups. Linfeng and Quanfeng of Dingsheng Sect will go with me to guard the city. Yaofeng and Kuangfeng will stay behind to escort them out. Don't engage in pointless fighting here." Donglu Zhenren arrived at Dingsheng Sect's seat and quickly issued the order, "Be extremely careful!"
"Yes, Peak Master." The disciples of Dingsheng Sect's Yaofeng Peak drew their weapons and rushed forward, followed by the disciples of Kuangfeng Peak. The disciples of the other two peaks then followed Donglu to the county city.
Other sects that had remained on the observation platform made similar arrangements, and in a short time, most of the cultivators on the observation platform dispersed.
The observation platform was constantly bombarded by demonic beasts and seawater, and within half a quarter of an hour, the protective array collapsed. The disciples who remained faced the cascading seawater and the ever-surging demonic beasts.
The scene became chaotic for a moment.
The cultivators from various sects who remained here could be killed as many as possible.
Yaofeng and the disciples of Kuangfeng crisscrossed each other, working in perfect coordination to surround and kill a hideous fish monster covered in fish scales.
Slashes clashed, spells roared. Although the demonic beasts did not linger, the number of them pouring out from the secret realm's teleportation opening increased, and the disciples who remained in place were inevitably entangled, finding it increasingly difficult to cope and resist.
The elders of the various sects who remained in place were busy repelling even more difficult demonic beasts and had no time to provide support. The disciples of each sect circled around and hid, and the situation was deadlocked.
A sea monster saw a Yaofeng disciple alone and turned to attack. The Yaofeng disciple used his sword to block the monster's teeth, which were wider and longer than an adult.
Overwhelmed by the stench emanating from the sea monster's mouth, the Yaofeng disciple's arms trembled, and his sharp teeth slowly crumbled, getting closer and closer to his throat.
"It's over. I went out to watch a competition, but I never expected to die like this," he thought sadly.
The force in his hand suddenly increased, and his teeth fell down. The Yaofeng disciple closed his eyes, preparing to face death.
With a sudden boom, a searing, burning sensation enveloped him.
Opening his eyes, he saw a sword carrying fire sever the head of the sea monster in front of him, black blood splattering all over the ground and sizzling in the fire.
The beautiful woman stood before him, holding a knife, her face as cold as frost.
The disciples of Yaofeng, who were under intense tension, suddenly relaxed and cried out, "Grandmaster Chen, you've finally come!"
Beside him, the sea monsters that had surrounded the disciples of Kuangfeng exploded on the spot.
Guan Wangzhen emerged from the exploding swarm of sea monsters, cursing, "What's going on? Shouldn't this be a scene of everyone cheering and welcoming us? Why is it all these monstrous things?"
As if venting their anger, all the monsters around them crumbled.
Looking around, it turned out that not only their Dingsheng Sect, but also the other participating disciples in the secret realms had been teleported out.
Although somewhat surprised by the chaotic scene, they immediately joined the battle without saying a word.
They had been training in the secret realm for over a month and were quite adept at dealing with these demons, ghosts, and sea beasts. After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the situation was barely under control.
No new monsters emerged from the entrance to the secret realm, seemingly having reached the teleportation limit, but seawater continued to pour in, surging in all directions.
The array cultivators have arrived and begun studying the secret realm teleportation situation. An elder of the Hongqi Sect said to everyone, "Our Hongqi Sect is currently focusing on eliminating the rampaging demonic beasts within the sect and is unable to spare any resources. We hope that you will all protect the people of the county town."
The observation platform was located within the Hongqi Sect, and their sect was the first to suffer from this accident.
The other cultivators had no objections. They dealt with the remaining demons and monsters lingering on the observation platform and then proceeded to the county city to provide support.
"Where is Mingran? Have you seen her?" Shen Qingluo checked on everyone at the scene one by one.
The scene was chaotic just now, and they did not find any trace of Ji Mingran.
The Dingsheng Sect disciples who were standing still looked at each other and said, "No, we didn't see her."
Guan Wangzhen shook the sect's jade token. "No response."
“She should have been the first to come out. I wonder if she has already gone to the county town,” Zhu Shibai said in a deep voice. “Let’s go to the county town and look for her first.”
The crowd dispersed, leaving only the array cultivators to guard the secret realm's teleportation portal.
The dozen or so array cultivators were quite skilled, and after investigating for a while, their expressions changed.
"Someone tampered with it."
"Let's repair the secret passage first, otherwise the seawater will keep flowing back in."
The array cultivators nodded, circled the observation platform, and formed hand seals to set up arrays and cast spells.
However, in the next instant, a flash of silver light appeared, and the cultivators who had been concentrating with their eyes closed were separated from their bodies and fell into the sea.
On another part of the observation platform, a figure slowly walked out. It was the rogue cultivator who had been sitting next to Dingsheng Sect earlier.
She said softly, "How can I let you ruin such a rare opportunity?"
He lightly patted his forehead with the wall fan in his hand. "Oops, I wasn't paying attention. All these participating disciples have gone to the county town." He said to the shadowy thick fog behind him, "Go, take back the prizes they got."
“The most important ones are those four from the Dingsheng Sect,” the rogue cultivator said, narrowing his eyes. “Especially the luckiest one. I think she’ll definitely be the jackpot winner.”
Having said that, the person vanished without a trace, along with the thick fog behind them.
......
As the moonlight shone down, a small gray dot gradually emerged from the depths of the cloud patterns on the five peaks and two rivers where the seawater had overflowed.
The gray dot materialized into a human figure, which then quietly landed.
"Oh dear, what's going on?" Dodging the splashing seawater, Ji Mingran looked around, but Yu Tianxing was indeed nowhere to be seen.
Where are the others? Her fellow disciples, the other disciples who participated in the test, and the cultivators on the observation platform—where are they all?
He couldn't figure out the situation. The sky nearby, with its rushing water, was also quite noisy. Ji Mingran frowned.
Extend your hand forward, pinch the pattern with your index finger and thumb, and gently twist it.
Like turning off a tap, the backflow of water gradually decreased with his gesture, and then suddenly stopped.
The out-of-control portal to the secret realm has been shut down.
Ji Mingran was satisfied; turning off the leaking valve was a virtue. "Otherwise, what a waste of water," he muttered to himself, raising the sect's jade token as he walked outside.
"Hey, where are you? I'm coming to find you."
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