Journey to the head

Meihuafang is the only large market town in Cangzhou, geographically located at the junction of Cheorwon County and Yangxiang County. It is a thoroughfare connecting several states, convenient for commercial trade, and has a fourth-level high-level spiritual vein. As early as 1,500 years ago, when Xuanwei Sect officially ruled Cangzhou and Huanggen Sect and Mingyu Sword Sect did not exist yet, Meihuafang was established here.

The four gates of Cangzhou all attach great importance to the development of Meihuafang. After 1,500 years, and the construction and dedication of many generations of monks, Meihuafang is now a top-notch market even if it is placed in several states around it.

There are tens of thousands of monks and hundreds of thousands of mortals living here. Every day, the queues waiting to enter the city stretch for two miles. The daily flow of spiritual stones is unimaginable to ordinary people.

Under the management of Yunshan Sect, Shuangyefang of Chongming Alliance has become the leader among medium-sized squares, but it is still far behind Plum Blossom Square. In fact, because it is too close to Plum Blossom Square, Shuangyefang's business has basically reached its peak and it is really unable to attract customers from Plum Blossom Square.

So Lu Qian took a different approach and built a night-time city in Cheorwon County, which was filled with decadence and decadence, and successfully opened up a new track. There was also a specialized market for low-end customers that had been basically planned and was about to start construction, and construction would begin soon.

Business and trade are the foundation of Yunshan Sect. Strong economic strength supports the rapid development and expansion of Yunshan Sect. The expansion and constant success of Yunshan Sect also provide support for protecting commercial interests and opening up new markets.

But even so, the commercial profits obtained by the Yunshan Sect compared with the four sects are just like a small stream compared to a big river.

Especially in recent days, the number of visitors to Meihuafang has increased dramatically, and even entering the city is not as free as before.

This is because an unprecedented event covering the entire Cangzhou is about to be held next to Meihuafang City!

Lu Qian and others have now arrived at Tieyuan County, which is separated from Meihuafang City by a mountain. Here, on the land that is gradually becoming barren and brown, a huge valley with a radius of ten miles appears before their eyes.

This is the venue that was opened up for the battle for innate spiritual energy and for the three-on-three Golden Core True Person competition. It was excavated by the Xuanwei Sect.

The idea of ​​competing for innate spiritual energy was proposed by Lu Qian, and the preliminary plan and design concept of the competition was also submitted to Xuanwei Sect by Lu Qian.

Subsequently, based on this preliminary plan, the Xuanwei School convened experts within the school to discuss and revise and improve it, and finally finalized all the details of the competition.

The battle between the Jindans was magnificent and destructive. This was a three-on-three Jindan melee, which was definitely not something that an ordinary arena could withstand. In addition, the Jindans had amazing speed, so they usually fought in the air. The venue couldn't be small, nor could it be without boundaries, otherwise the two sides would disappear in a flash, and what would the referee and the audience see?

Therefore, such a huge valley was dug across the mountain of Meihuafang. The Jindan battle took place in it. It was stipulated that one could not fly out of the valley. The audience and referees watched from the densely packed stone rooms and seats dug on both sides of the valley.

In this way, Jindan can do whatever he wants and destroy as much as he wants. Even if the battle is in mid-air, the audience can watch it from a level or bird's-eye view, which is very convenient.

This place was deliberately dug near Meihuafang in order to attract customers.

This unprecedented event was truly a carnival for several states in the surrounding area. Not only did the monks in Cangzhou come out after hearing the news, but the neighboring states were also excited, and large groups of monks flocked in to watch the fun.

Many ideas in Lu Qian's preliminary plan caught the Xuanwei Sect's attention, and it was from then on that they began to take the Yunshan Sect's management capabilities seriously. No wonder, under the pressure from Plum Blossom Square, they were able to preside over such famous markets as Frost Leaf Square and the City That Never Sleeps.

This time, the ticket price alone was 80 spirit stones per ticket for the worst seats at the bottom level, not to mention the middle level seats, high level seats, VIP seats and boxes.

The auditorium spaces around this venue have a capacity of 48,000!

Plus advertising sponsorship, title sponsorship and the most popular and profitable opening bet.
This was only the direct income from the competition venue. There was also an astronomical amount of revenue coming from the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of monks who rushed in and spent money in Plum Blossom House.

Plum Blossom House is right next to the competition venue, so naturally all the monks’ eating, drinking, resting, strolling and shopping will be done in Plum Blossom House.

In the past few days, Plum Blossom House has been at full capacity. If you are not rich or noble, you can't even stay in the inn. A large number of monks have to live in the residences of mortal servants. The mortals who have been squeezed out of housing can only rely on relatives and friends, or squeeze together in dark alleys.

Before the competition even started, the four sects of Cangzhou had already reaped a huge profit. Miaomiao Xuanjun watched the glittering spirit stones pouring in like waves, and became more and more satisfied with Lu Qian's initial planning of the conference, and was ready to issue another certificate.

Well, Lu Qian is a man of extraordinary talent. As long as he is sincerely used by Cangzhou, he will be able to make achievements. However, he has a feud with the Sikong family and the Qinglian Zhenzong.
Under the four gates, the Chongming Alliance also made a fortune. Lu Qian had his own plan. When the big river floods, the small river will be full. The competition venue is placed here, which is very close to the city that never sleeps.

The monks who were squeezed into the Plum Blossom House and were suffocating all came to stroll into the City That Never Sleeps. The passenger flow and revenue of the City That Never Sleeps have increased several times in recent days.

Guests coming from surrounding state capitals have never seen such a dreamy and mysterious world. The novel enjoyment brought by this city of entertainment, gambling, customs and food is quickly draining their storage bags.

But it also brought huge security pressure. The Chongming Alliance had to send more disciples to station and suppress the guests to prevent them from causing trouble. At the same time, they distributed tokens and free food to the zombies trapped in the city that never sleeps, paralyzing these monks who had nothing and were desperate.

Fortunately, 50% of the shares of the City That Never Sleeps belong to the Xuanwei Sect and the Lingshou Sect. They are nominally the owners of the City That Never Sleeps. Even if the guests have ulterior motives, they dare not do anything out of line because of their reputation.

At the same time, Frost Leaf Square, more than a thousand miles away, also benefited from it. Many cultivators had no place to live in Plum Blossom Square, but they were proud of their status and did not want to lower themselves to other places. So, under the guidance prepared in advance by the Chongming Alliance, they rode the free wind-controlling beasts to Frost Leaf Square to live and rest, which also increased a lot of profits.

At this moment, Lu Qian was standing at the bottom of the valley with the members of the Chongming Alliance, looking around.

Today was just the group draw, and the competition would officially begin tomorrow, so there was not much noise around, only the wind blowing through the valley, making an eerie whistle due to the densely packed seats and boxes dug out on the valley walls.

After a quick look, he memorized the terrain here. Although Jindan Zhenren mainly fought in the air, after decades of planning and construction, the terrain of this valley was also very rich, with forests, wastelands, swamps, a forest of protruding stone pillars, and even several huge deep pools dug out.

"These were all designed by Sect Leader Lu." Shen Jialuo, the acting sect leader of the Huanggen Sect beside her, showed a gentle smile. She has been the acting sect leader for more than a year and looks more mature and restrained.

Although only the Yunshan Sect and the Mingyu Sword Sect from the Chongming Alliance officially participated in the competition this time, as a whole, the Huanggen Sect and Jiyang Villa naturally also came.

Lu Qian shook his head: "That's flattering me. I have proposed a framework for this competition, but Xuanwei Sect is in charge of Cangzhou, so they have all kinds of experts. I am just throwing out some ideas, and everything that comes after that will naturally be decided and arranged by Xuanwei Sect itself."

"Master Lu is too modest. We all admire the management methods of the Yunshan Sect. The revenue of Jiyang Villa has increased significantly in the past two years, which makes our sect very happy." Kan Yuanzi, whose hair and beard are all white and whose face is full of wrinkles, smiled and said, "It's a pity that my health is getting worse and worse. Otherwise, if you could tell a few fortunes for us, maybe we can avoid disasters and seek good luck, and slightly increase our chances of winning the competition."

Behind him stood his last disciple, Wei Zhexing, who had already reached the tenth level of Qi training.

Wei Zhaixing's face was calm, but his eyes were shining with a faint light as he stared at Lu Qian.

Lu Qian nodded and smiled at him, and he quickly bowed.

Well, it seems that Zhaixing will have another three or four years to complete his Qi training and build his foundation. The talent of a person with dual spiritual roots is naturally extraordinary.

It's a pity that I can't personally train him to be a pillar of Yunshan. Yunshan disciple, Jiyang Sect Leader is his destiny, and it is also part of the Yunshan Sect's path forward.

"It's okay. Although the way of divination is subtle, it depends on human effort after all." The advanced Master Cangfeng was in high spirits and full of confidence. Behind him followed Master Haoran and some foundation-building backbones of Mingyu Sword Sect. "With our strength, we won't have any problems meeting other teams except the four sects of Cangzhou."

Gu Nishang flexed her wrists after hearing this: "If it goes too smoothly, it will be meaningless. I hope the heroes of Cangzhou will not let me down."

The leaders exchanged a few words, and Lu Qian looked at the densely packed seats on the cave wall. Something in his mind moved, and he naturally turned his head: "Lin Le——"

As soon as he spoke out of habit, he remembered that Lin Le had already set out to build his foundation, and couldn't help but smile. Li Da hurried over and bowed, "Master, what do you want?" This time, Lu Qian left Wang Yu and Jiang Qingfeng to lead the guard, and brought Li Da, Wang Ruoyu and Xiao Tianci, three foundation builders, and several smart Qi training disciples to accompany them.

True Man Akabane, some Danxia Sect envoys and other Yunshan disciples who are allowed to watch the game will arrive when the competition opens tomorrow.

Hearing Lu Qian's call, Li Da hurried over. He was Lin Le's deputy, and when Lin Le was not around, most of the work was done by him.

"This time, the number of customers is huge, and the opportunity is great. The Business Department, Intelligence Department, and Staff Department must come up with a plan to promote the new market we are about to open, and also to raise the reputation of the City That Never Sleeps and Frost Leaf Square to a higher level."

"And the several golden signs of my sect, elixirs, elixirs and refining equipment, how are the advertisements arranged?"

"In addition, the Danxia sect has lifted the restrictions on the sale of elixirs. We need to coordinate with the Internal Affairs Department to organize the refining and sales of those elixir recipes."

Li Da kept nodding and taking notes, and everyone listened quietly. They gained a new understanding of the Yunshan School and Lu Qian's style.

At this moment, bells and chimes rang, spiritual flowers floated, and in the brilliant light, Miaomiao Xuanjun appeared, accompanied by two Yuanying Lingjuns and ten Jindans standing behind him.

"Competing teams, please come forward."

Then, one after another, beams of light rose up from everywhere at the bottom of the valley and flew towards where Miaomiao Xuanjun was.

Cangzhou has a total of 45 counties and prefectures, which is medium-sized among the 99 states in Yuheng Continent.

This time, the battle for innate spiritual energy attracted widespread attention, but there were already rules in place that only allowed Cangzhou Jindan and Jindan cultivators living in Cangzhou to participate.

In order to ensure fairness and justice and protect the enthusiasm of other sects, Miaomiao Xuanjun made it clear early on that the four sects in Cangzhou could only send one team each to participate in the competition, and other forces were not subject to this restriction.

After the registration deadline, there was another round of careful screening and elimination, and finally a total of 24 teams qualified to participate in this competition.

There are seventy-two Golden Cores, although a few of them are independent cultivators, but when they stand neatly in front of Miaomiao Xuanjun, Xuanjun can't help but feel excited and heroic.

The heroes of Cangzhou are all in my hands!
On this flat ground, there were Jindan Zhenren who usually dominated the entire county. Everyone had different expressions and moods. Many of them couldn't help but look around, silently observing their opponents.

However, since Miaomiao Xuanjun was present, and they were all fellow Jindan Daoists, no one dared to use their spiritual sense to investigate. They just looked at it with their naked eyes, trying to match the unfamiliar Jindan with the ones on the roster.

"Boy, are you confident?" A lazy smiling face suddenly came up to Lu Qian. Master Zangfeng hurriedly greeted him. Who else could it be but Taoist Xichan?

Lu Qian also bowed and looked up. Taoist Xichan and two Jindan from the Spirit Beast Sect were standing beside him. They all smiled and returned the bow to Lu Qian.

"Lu Qian, if I were you, I would be very careful." Another voice rang out, "You don't have the support of the Spirit Beast Sect on the stage. If you run into us, it's better to beg for mercy as soon as possible."

Lu Qian's face darkened slightly. He turned around and saw three strong martial artists from the Sikong family, who were staring at him with their arms folded and mocking expressions.

Gu Nishang snorted angrily and took a step forward. Just as her spiritual power was surging, Lu Qian grabbed her wrist.

Don't act rashly in front of Lord Xuan.

"Let's see what happens." Lu Qian smiled, "I hope you don't repeat Sikong Heng's mistakes."

"You!" The Jindan of the Sikong family's face changed drastically, and he was about to curse, but suddenly he heard a low shout.

"quiet!"

It was the Xuanwei Sect that spoke. The Sikong family's Jindan's face turned pale. He made a throat-cutting gesture to Lu Qian and turned away.

"Now let's start the group drawing! Let me first explain the rules of grouping and competition." Xuanwei School's Yuanying announced loudly.

"This competition is divided into two stages, the group stage and the knockout stage."

"First, in the group stage, the 24 teams are divided into four groups, with six teams in each group playing within the group."

“Each team must play only one match against the other five teams. Each group of six teams will play in a round-robin format for a total of fifteen matches (Team 1 vs. Team 2, Team 1 vs. Team 3, Team 1 vs. Team 4, Team 1 vs. Team 5, Team 1 vs. Team 6, Team 2 vs. Team 3, Team 2 vs. Team 4, Team 2 vs. Team 5, Team 2 vs. Team 6, Team 3 vs. Team 4, Team 3 vs. Team 5, Team 3 vs. Team 6, Team 4 vs. Team 5, Team 4 vs. Team 6, Team 5 vs. Team 6). Wins, draws, and losses will receive three, one, and zero points respectively.”

"Finally, the top two teams in each group will advance to the knockout stage, so a total of eight teams will be drawn again."

"Eight to four, four to two, then a match for third and fourth place, and a final for the championship and runner-up."

"Do you understand everything?"

Everyone responded in agreement, and Yuanying from Xuanwei Sect spoke again.

"In order to be fair, the four teams from the four gates of Cangzhou will be assigned to different groups."

Everyone had no objection. The golden elixirs of the four sects were generally stronger than those of the small sects. If they were not distributed in this way, if the draw happened and two teams from the four sects were in the same group, then they would most likely monopolize all the chances of qualifying, and other teams would have no chance of entering the knockout stage.

"Now please ask the four teams to draw lots to form groups."

Four Jindan stepped forward to draw lots and spread out their marks under the gaze of everyone.

Group 1, the Spirit Beast Sect. Group 2, the Qinglian True Sect. Group 3, the Sikong Family. Group 4, the Xuanwei Sect.

"The other teams will come up and draw lots to form groups."

Too lazy to face the gazes of the four gates, Lu Qian asked Master Zang Feng to come forward and draw a lot. The master did not refuse and came forward to draw a lot.

Expand and take a look——

Group 2. (End of this chapter)