Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Lin Zhao's breathing became heavy for a moment.

Fourth tier. Nascent Soul level.

That's something on another level. The further a cultivator progresses, the greater the gap between each realm becomes.

For him, the opportunity to reach the Nascent Soul stage was something that could only be encountered by chance.

Lin Zhao was tempted, but still somewhat undecided.

Master Qianqiu looked at him and said calmly, "Lin Zhao, you have a solid foundation in the Foundation Establishment stage, but how much have you accumulated at the Core Formation stage? If you could obtain a fourth-tier opportunity, whether you use it yourself or hand it over to the sect, you would have enough resources for your future Core Formation stage and even Nascent Soul stage."

Lin Zhao remained silent for a long while.

Master Qianqiu looked at him, his gaze carrying something indescribable—a mixture of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a feeling of deep emotion) and 自嘲 (zìcháo, a feeling of self-mockery).

"Think about it yourself," he said. "I only have one suggestion."

"Sometimes, you have to fight for it." Master Qianqiu withdrew his gaze and looked at the surging sea of ​​clouds outside the cave. "Don't be like me, stuck in the Core Formation stage for over a hundred years, watching the opportunity to break through slip away. By the time you want to fight for it, you've already lost your right."

He paused, his voice lowering slightly: "On the path of cultivation, when is there ever a time when you are truly prepared? Opportunities wait for no one, and time waits for no one either."

Lin Zhao understood the meaning behind his words.

When Master Qianqiu's daughter returned to the peak seeking help last time, he gave her three magical treasures, but what good did that do?

His daughter is not young anymore. She comes back time and time again to pave the way for her descendants. She cannot break through to the Core Formation stage, and sooner or later he will have to bury his child.

He himself had cultivated diligently for over a hundred years, yet remained stuck at the Nascent Soul stage; what a feeling that must have been...

Lin Zhao bowed and said, "This disciple understands. Please allow me to go back and think about it."

Master Qianqiu waved his hand and closed his eyes again.

Lin Zhao returned to her cave dwelling.

His cave dwelling was located on the upper part of Qianqiu Peak, behind a natural boulder platform that jutted outwards for about three hundred feet.

Pushing open the stone gate, a breathtaking view unfolds before you—an endless sea of ​​clouds surges beneath your feet, and distant mountains appear and disappear in the mist.

Several medicinal herbs grew in the cracks of the rocks at the edge of the platform, bent over by the mountain wind, their leaves almost touching the ground.

A cool mountain breeze blew in my face.

Lin Zhao stood at the edge of the platform for a long time.

He saw the predicament of Master Qianqiu, who was trapped in the late stage of Core Formation for a hundred years and could not form Nascent Soul.

As relatives were gradually transferred away and disciples left one after another, each time his daughter returned, it was to ask for help.

On Qianqiu Peak, there was nothing there. A man sat alone in his cave for decades or even centuries.

This is not what he wanted.

Moreover, he possesses innate supernatural abilities that allow him to be exempt from the inner demons of the Nascent Soul stage. He only lacks the opportunity to reach the fourth-tier Nascent Soul stage. If he truly gains something, he has a good chance of forming his Nascent Soul in the future.

Lin Zhao took a deep breath and suppressed the restlessness in his chest.

Then he took out a communication talisman from his pocket and sent a copy of the information that Master Qianqiu had said—the sect competition, the secret realm, the top ten qualifications, and the Nascent Soul opportunity—to Xu Chuan, Yan Chiheng, and Fang Yue.

I concluded with, "I'm aiming for the top ten; you guys decide what to do."

The transmission talisman transformed into three beams of light, shooting out from the fingertips, streaking across the sea of ​​clouds, and disappearing into the horizon.

He turned and went back to his cave, sat on the futon, and began to circulate the "Five Spirits Returning to the Void True Technique". Spiritual energy surged in from all directions, condensing into a faint five-colored halo around him, enveloping him.

The centennial competition is coming sooner than anyone expected.

Three months later, the sect issued an official announcement.

One year later, the competition began.

Lin Zhao shook his head after reading the announcement. If he had a few more years, he planned to push his cultivation to the peak of Foundation Establishment before participating in the competition; perhaps he could win first place.

His current cultivation level is still a little lacking. The sect is full of hidden talents, and there is more than one genius at the peak of Foundation Establishment. There may even be someone stronger than him.

He could only do his best, but in reality, at his level, the difference between the late Foundation Establishment stage and the peak Foundation Establishment stage was not significant.

During this year, Lin Zhao spent most of his time cultivating in his cave. Occasionally, he would emerge from seclusion to spar with Xu Chuan and the others.

All three of them used their reserved contribution points to exchange for a lot of pills and resources, and managed to push their cultivation to the late Foundation Establishment stage within half a year.

Yan Chiheng broke through first, followed by Fang Yue, and Xu Chuan broke through in the last month.

-----

Meanwhile, deep within the sect, inside the Cangming Hall.

The hundred-foot-high palace gate was built of an unknown black boulder. The stone surface had no array patterns or spiritual light, but exuded a sense of oppression as heavy as a mountain, pressing down on people's hearts.

There are hundreds of stone chairs in the hall, but only one person sits in the central seat.

The old man had white hair and beard, a thin face, and sat quietly, like an ancient, unmoving stone statue.

He was the one in charge of this sect competition—

One of the three late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators openly recognized in the sect, True Monarch Beichen.

Beichen Zhenjun slowly opened his eyes, his gaze seemingly piercing through the thick hall, looking towards the sect's thousands of spiritual peaks.

"This batch of disciples..."

He murmured to himself, his voice echoing faintly in the empty hall.

"Hopefully, a few will be useful."

After speaking, he closed his eyes again, his body frozen in place, returning to a deathly silence.

-----

The sect competition is a grand event held once every hundred years.

Not just anyone can participate; only disciples who have been disciples for less than a hundred years are allowed to register.

Of the 100,000 Foundation Establishment cultivators in the sect, those who are too old, those who died while on missions, and those whose Foundation Establishment cultivation is too low to obtain third-tier spiritual items are excluded.

Moreover, this year, because the competition was brought forward by forty years, many disciples who were traveling or on missions were unable to return in time.

In the end, more than 20,000 Foundation Establishment cultivators registered.

Before the competition, the four of them gathered again at Yan Chiheng's villa.

Xu Chuan placed the jade slip on the table.

The score is divided into three stages.

First stage: Preliminary selection. Enter the secret realm, hunt monsters, and accumulate points. Time limit: one day. The top 3,000 will advance.

The second stage of the arena. One-on-one, 3,000 to 500, 500 to 100. Single-elimination matches.

The third stage is still the arena, but the rules have changed—each of the top 100 disciples must fight against the other 99.

One match every day for ninety-nine consecutive days.

"I don't need to explain what this means." Xu Chuan pushed the jade slip to the center of the table. "After the top 100, it's not just about combat strength, but about overall comprehensive abilities. Whoever can fight one match every day and maintain peak condition will be the one to stand in the end."

Yan Chiheng stared at the jade slip for a while. "Can we join forces in the secret realm?"

"The rules didn't say it was impossible. But the transfer is random, and people come in in batches. Three thousand people come in every day, and it will take seven days to finish. The four of us were assigned to different batches."

Yan Chiheng didn't ask any more questions. Four people, four groups. Joining forces was impossible.

Xu Chuan added, "The secret realm is a place where sects specifically raise demonic beasts. There are hundreds of thousands of second-tier demonic beasts."

Lin Zhao paused for a moment while holding the teacup.

"Hundreds of thousands?"

"The sect has three such secret realms, and this is one of them."

Xu Chuan belonged to the Qiankun Palace and was specifically responsible for these matters, so he was already used to the sect's deep-rooted resources.

He said calmly, "Most second-tier demonic beasts are forcibly bred and have almost no intelligence, only instinct."

However, there are also powerful ones—the so-called Demon Beast Kings, whose strength is comparable to a third-tier Core Formation cultivator, and there are at least several hundred of them. The sect also has a secret realm for imprisoning third-tier demon beasts, but it wasn't open this time.

Everyone could only sigh that the profound resources of a sect are something that cannot be seen in ordinary times, but when they are truly revealed, they only inspire awe time and time again.

Whether it was the three thousand spiritual items and five hundred magic treasures that were previously wholesaled, or the hundreds of thousands of second-tier demonic beasts in the secret realm.