My path to immortality began with my posting to guard Dawancun.

Chapter 700 Second Round Semifinals
In fact, among the two hundred people who ultimately made it to the semifinals...

Apart from the top ten or twenty people

Most of the others are of similar strength.

The limit of the peak of the ninth level of the Nascent Soul stage is right there.
They're all at the top; the difference between them isn't that significant.

It would naturally take some effort for each side to determine a winner.

and,

Leaving aside those whose strength and methods were already roughly equal,
With both sides roughly equal in strength, the battle became a stalemate, lasting until both sides were completely exhausted before a victor could be determined. The time required for this battle was simply enormous.

Even if two people possess top-tier second-tier spells, one of which counters the other,

Even though he was being restrained, he was still able to hold his own for a long time thanks to his own combat experience and his peak cultivation at the ninth level of the Nascent Soul stage!
As a result,
It's perfectly normal for a semi-final to last seven days.

Speaking of,
The elimination rounds inside the Shangqing Jade Exquisite Pagoda, which were accelerated by arranging strong and weak players together, still took more than ten days.

"It's finally over!"

"It's a pity that if Deng Yingzhi and Zhu Xingyun hadn't been ambushed, this semi-final wouldn't have dragged on for seven days."

high in the sky,

Upon seeing this scene, the Immortal Sect Leader, True Person Xuanfeng, couldn't help but sigh.

He wasn't upset that the semi-finals had dragged on for too long.

It's only seven days.

For someone like him, it was just a matter of a few breaths or a blink of an eye.

The reason for expressing such regret is

The main reason is that,

The performance of many disciples from the Immortal Sect in this round of semi-finals truly made him sigh.

Especially compared to a few years ago, when those inner sect elites and prodigies had not yet been ambushed and killed by the Heavenly Demon Sect.

In Master Xuanfeng's view, a large portion of the so-called top two hundred in the semi-finals were actually unqualified.

True prodigies
A genius with the potential to become a pillar of the immortal sect in the future.

That would inevitably mean that one's strength is a level above others of the same level, or even invincible among those of the same level!
if not,

No matter how many juniors reach the peak of the ninth level of the Nascent Soul realm, their best fate in the future will be nothing more than becoming some higher-level cannon fodder.

But in this semi-final,

From what Master Xuanfeng saw,
Those who can surpass the peak of the ninth level of the Nascent Soul realm and escape the cannon fodder level are fewer than two people!

Aside from Lin Wushuang, Xuan Tianxing, Shen Changchuan, and a handful of other inner sect prodigies who had grasped the rudiments of true meaning,
The rest, unless there are major opportunities in the future,
They're basically just cannon fodder filling in the numbers.

This caused Master Xuanfeng's expression to darken slightly.

Several years ago,

Before those inner sect prodigies of the Immortal Sect were ambushed and killed,

The entire inner sect of the Immortal Sect has at least thirty people with the strength to stand out from other cultivators of the same generation who are at the peak of the ninth level of the Nascent Soul stage and are also in the inner sect of the Immortal Sect!

Those people are the bridge to the future of the Immortal Sect; once they grow up, they will become the pillars of the Immortal Sect.

That was when the inner sect of the Immortal Sect truly became a gathering of heroes.

Unlike now,
Only a handful of cats and dogs remain, those capable of standing out among the peak ninth level of the Nascent Soul realm.
The quantity is less than a third of what it used to be!

"In the end, it was our carelessness that led to this."

"But all of that is in the past now."

“What’s past can’t be undone. Since it has already happened and become an unchangeable past, there’s no need to regret it anymore. The important thing is to learn from the experience and not repeat the same mistakes in the future.” The woman with the elegant demeanor beside her understood the meaning behind Master Xuanfeng’s words and offered words of comfort.

"Moreover, isn't the purpose of this grand competition to select those with sufficiently steadfast character and Dao aspirations, to nurture them properly, and to fill the void left by the departure of those youngsters?"

"Who knows, these younger generations who manage to fight their way up from the bottom might surprise us in the future?"

"You should know that the one from the Heavenly Demon Sect was said to have been quite ordinary in his youth, but in the end, he still grew to that level."

When the topic turns to that one from the Heavenly Demon Sect,
The expressions of the people present all turned serious.

Three hundred years ago,

After years of conquest and preparation by the Immortal Sect's predecessors, the Immortal Sect launched a full-scale attack, advancing with unstoppable momentum and reaching the Heavenly Demon Sect's mountain gate.
Seeing that they were about to destroy the mountain and temple, annihilate the Heavenly Demon Sect, and completely eliminate this mortal enemy.

however,
On that day,
Someone from the Heavenly Demon Sect forcibly broke through their limits and entered the Imperial Dao Realm, which is beyond the Profound Core Realm.

Since then,

The previously favorable situation collapsed.
Although the Immortal Sect possessed top-tier combat power, it did not suffer significant losses.

But that unexpected event also directly caused the Immortal Sect's thousand-year plan to come to naught.

This brought such a devastating defeat to the Immortal Sect.

Afterwards, the Immortal Sect naturally mobilized its hidden networks to gather information on the one who had broken through.

just,

When information about that person from the Heavenly Demon Sect was presented to these high-ranking members of the Immortal Sect, almost every one of them felt a sense of disbelief.

because,

The person from the Heavenly Demon Sect who broke through to the next realm gave them the strongest impression of being ordinary!
Yes,

It's just ordinary!

In fact,
Anyone who reaches the Xuan Dan realm has already shown extraordinary talent in their youth.

In their time, even if they weren't the best among their peers, they were definitely among the top few.

His exceptional talent, combined with a bit of luck on his cultivation path, enabled him to reach the Profound Core Realm.

Those who can reach the Profound Core Realm and above
From a young age, he had already displayed extraordinary abilities, and during his growth, he was invincible, easily doing things that others could not do. He was a prodigy among prodigies.

Without exception!

however,
The one from the Heavenly Demon Sect defied such common sense.

Born into humble circumstances, he struggled to survive in the demonic cave of the Heavenly Demon Sect, repeatedly breaking the limits of fate in life-or-death crises, and finally reaching the realm of the strongest beyond the Profound Core!
So much so that even as enemies, the three of them couldn't help but feel some respect when talking about each other.

"We can't learn the selection methods used by the Heavenly Demon Sect in those demonic caves."

"Ten thousand people fight each other, and only one can survive. That kind of brutal elimination method is far beyond what the current competition can compare to."

Master Xuanfeng shook his head slightly.

The reason why that person from the Heavenly Demon Sect was able to achieve enlightenment was probably largely due to the brutal selection process.

After all, if you don't kill others, you'll be the one who dies.

Under such terrifying pressure of death,

The power that can be unleashed in the struggle for survival is likely enough to exceed all limits.

However, these methods are something that the Jade Purity Immortal Sect, as a righteous sect, cannot learn.

The three of them didn't chat for very long.

Subsequently,

Master Xuanfeng stepped forward.
In front of everyone, I announce that the second round of the semi-finals has officially begun!
(End of this chapter)