Deduct 1 for merit. I am really not a child of luck.

Chapter 80: Phase ! The Arena Battle Begins!
On July 7, the weather was cloudy and then sunny.

The enlightenment glow was covered by white clouds above the sky and slowly dissipated. It was replaced by sunlight that penetrated through the gaps in the clouds and spread over the entire Enlightenment Cliff.

Today was different from the past. After the enlightenment glow dissipated, the freshmen on the middle and lower three levels did not stay on the enlightenment platform to continue practicing, but went to nearby taverns and restaurants.

Because today is the annual nine academy freshman competition at Wudao Cliff.

Although they could not go directly to the third floor of the Enlightenment Cliff, they could watch the battle through the Mirror Flowers and Water Moons opened by the nine Taoist temples.

The same was true for Zhu Hongyuan, who was on the sixth floor of the Enlightenment Platform. After finishing today's enlightenment time, he rushed to the tavern on the fourth floor early, waiting for the mirage of the ring battle to begin.

"Brother Zhu!"

As soon as he walked into the tavern, he heard a voice calling him. He looked up and saw that it was a few students from his former school at Nanshan.

"Come on, there's a seat here!"

Zhu Hongyuan smiled and walked over quickly.

"Lao Hu, San Zi, An Gou, you guys are here so early?"

He greeted as he sat down.

The third son smiled and said, "We are close. Look over there, Li Feng arrived earlier than us. I'm afraid he arrived before the enlightenment time is over."

Mirror Flowers and Water Moons is a small magic trick specially set up by the tavern to attract customers.

If you come early, you can grab a private room.

However, most of the freshmen are short of money, and those who can watch the mirror flowers and water moons in the hall are considered to be relatively wealthy.

Even more people can only watch the "big screen" in the square outside.

Zhu Hongyuan looked over there and saw that Li Feng, who was originally from Ye Chen and Lin Mo's class, and several other students from the same school who were admitted to the Taoist Academy, were also gathered at a table.

They were in a better position and obviously arrived earlier.

Old Hu pursed his lips, obviously not getting along well with that group of people, and said:

"Most of them are at the Enlightenment Platform at the bottom. Each of them has at least 3,000 people. Whether or not you can be illuminated by the Enlightenment Cloud Blessing depends on luck. It won't have any impact if you slip away early."

Having said this, he said to Zhu Hongyuan with envy:

"Brother Zhu's sixth-level enlightenment platform is really awesome. There are less than a thousand people there, but the effect of the glow is probably much better than our fourth-level one."

When Zhu Hongyuan heard this, he did not show a smug expression, but said with a smile:

"In fact, the sixth floor is not much better than the lower floors. Even if it is the best position, the blessing bonus is less than 5 points of enlightenment at most."

"Besides, you can't enjoy it for a full three hours. It's only about one hour at most."

Hearing this, Lao Hu and San Zi showed surprised expressions: "No way? The highest is less than 5 o'clock?"

Zhu Hongyuan smiled bitterly: "I really didn't lie to you, the really good seats are all on the upper three floors."

After hearing this, the people at the table suddenly realized.

It was not until they entered the Enlightenment Cliff that they realized the difference between ordinary Taoist temples and the nine great Taoist temples.

Even Zhu Hongyuan, the former pride of Nanshan, is now an unknown person in Wudao Cliff.

Zhu Hongyuan sighed and said, "To be honest, the resources enjoyed by Lin Mo, Chu Wange and others are the best."

One of these two is the number one on this year's Immortal List, and the other is in the top ten on the Immortal List. Both of them are on the topmost Enlightenment Platform.

Not only they envy him, but all the freshmen in the middle and lower levels of ordinary Taoist academies also envy him.

Before they could continue the conversation, a cry of surprise was heard.

"It's open, it's open! The mirror flower and water moon have pictures!"

Hearing this, everyone in the hall raised their heads and looked towards the Mirror Flower and Water Moon spread out at the front of the tavern.

After a slight ripple appeared in the mirror and water, the picture gradually appeared.

The first thing that caught everyone's eyes was a large arena. From a bird's eye view, it covered at least two to three thousand square meters. "Fuck, such a large arena?"

Someone in the hall exclaimed.

Soon, someone explained, "You are surprised by what you have seen! This is the Xuyou Space of the Nine Dao Academy. Every year, the freshman competition of the Nine Dao Academy is held in it."

This seemed to spark some conversation, and the owner of the tavern, while entertaining the guests, explained in more detail:
"Haha, that's right! Everything in the Xuyu space is illusory, even the contestants are using substitute talisman paper."

Someone said dissatisfiedly: "Substitute talisman paper? Then what's the point of fighting?"

The boss shook his head and said, "Not really! Not only will the substitute talisman paper perfectly replicate the contestant's faceplate, but the contestant's own consciousness will also be used to fight, which is no different from the candidate being there in person."

"In addition, the purpose of doing this is naturally to protect these geniuses, so that they don't delay their cultivation due to injuries in the competition."

After hearing the boss's explanation, the freshman also understood.

The purpose of the ring battle is to fight for the position of the enlightenment platform. If you get injured in the fight for the position, it will not only be counterproductive, but also go against the original intention of setting up the ring battle.

Soon, everyone stopped dwelling on this question and instead looked at the empty large arena with curiosity.

"When does it start? I can't wait!"

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, he saw a shadow slowly emerging in the center of the ring, and finally condensed into a figure.

However, the other party seemed to have deliberately blurred his face in order to avoid competing for attention.

So in the audience's sight, they only saw a figure in a simple Taoist robe, and they couldn't even see his expression clearly. They only heard a voice ringing out in the audience:
"Dear fellow Taoists, the first round of the Nine Daoist Academies' freshman competition is about to begin."

"Now, let me explain the rules of this competition to you fellow Taoists!"

He got straight to the point, without any self-introduction or unnecessary nonsense, which immediately perked up the countless freshmen who were gathered in front of Mirror Flowers and Water Moon.

"The first round of the ring battle is very simple and is divided into three stages."

"Phase One - A brief melee!"

"200 people compete in a group. Defeating one opponent in the ring earns one point."

"After the ring battle time is over, the contestants who have obtained 10 points and survived can enter the next round of the challenge."

"The rules of the second stage of the challenge are simpler. Players can choose any freshman who ranks higher than themselves to challenge. If they win, they can obtain the opponent's meditation cushion number."

Upon hearing this, the audience in the tavern hall was in an uproar.

"Oh my god, are the rules of this year's ring battle so simple and crude?"

"If I get 10 points, I can challenge everyone in front of me?"

"Are you really paying attention in class? It's 'anyone', not everyone!"

"That's about the same. Doesn't this mean that I can directly challenge the number one on the Immortal Ranking?"

"Ah... Isn't everyone going to challenge the top ten on the Immortal Ranking?"

"..."

Before everyone could come to a conclusion, the host of Xuyou Space added:

"But challengers need to note that your selection of opponents is done simultaneously, which means you may select the same player."

"So the additional rule is: once the number of challengers of the challenged exceeds three, the challenged will choose the challenger."

"Also, if the challenged person accepts the challenge three times, he will not be able to choose another person to challenge in this round of the ring battle!"

"As for the third phase, it will be kept secret for now."

"The above are the procedures and rules for this ring battle. Now please invite the first round of melee contestants to the stage!"

The host quickly gave a preliminary explanation of the rules of the competition.

As his words fell, rays of talismanic light suddenly lit up in the space in an instant, and then new students from the nine Taoist academies wearing Taoist robes of various colors appeared in every corner of the arena.

(End of this chapter)