Ordinary People: Starting with the Chen Clan

"As expected of the Yan family, they're so straightforward!"

Chen Xuanzhou watched the burly man leave and sighed inwardly.

He was a little puzzled as to why the big man needed the talisman. With his strength, he didn't need the talisman at all to secure one of the top eleven spots.

He only thought about it briefly before giving up and instead looked at the mid-grade spirit stone in his hand.

After cultivating for so many years, this is the first time I've handled a mid-grade spirit stone. I sensed it briefly, and its spiritual energy purity is not as good as that of a spirit crystal, but its spiritual energy quantity is incomparable to that of a spirit crystal.

As for the onlookers, none of them stepped forward to make a transaction.

Fortunately, Chen Xuanzhou was patient.

However, as the sun began to set, Chen Xuanzhou became restless. The people gathered around him had changed countless times.

With his eye-catching sign standing there, almost everyone who was supposed to come had arrived.

Sigh, it seems he overestimated the rogue cultivators of Yue.

Reluctantly, he got up, packed his things, and was about to leave when suddenly his ear twitched, causing him to freeze in place.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he walked out of the market.

However, instead of heading towards the rented courtyard, he turned and arrived at a pavilion not far from the market.

At this moment, an old man was gnawing on a chicken leg in the pavilion, and there were various worldly delicacies on the stone table.

Seeing Chen Xuanzhou approach, he showed no intention of stopping.

"senior!"

However, Chen Xuanzhou did not dare to be negligent in the slightest, not for any other reason than that the other party had actually seen through all his disguises. Such a method could only be used by a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"Hmm, please sit wherever you like!"

"yes!"

Chen Xuanzhou sat cautiously opposite him. It wasn't that Chen Xuanzhou was so confident in his own strength that he came out alone to keep an appointment with a stranger who had reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

The fact that the other party was here meant that they must be from one of the Seven Sects. He hadn't even joined the Seven Sects yet, so he dared not offend them so easily. If this caused any trouble in his entry into the sect, that would be truly frustrating.

Moreover, it wouldn't be for no reason to attack him for a few talismans.

Seeing that the other party was still dealing with a table full of dishes, Chen Xuanzhou was helpless. He was getting old, couldn't they come up with a different way to torment him?

At the very beginning of this era, a jade slip fell into his hands.

Seeing that the other party's movements were unhurried, Chen Xuanzhou immediately probed into them with his divine sense.

What was imprinted in my mind were the five large characters "The Secret of Yin and Yang".

Time passed slowly, and Chen Xuanzhou gradually immersed himself in comprehension. This technique was not particularly profound, but it was a very basic Taoist Yin-Yang attribute foundational technique.

He could cultivate all the way to the Core Formation Realm. Although there were no secret techniques involved, with his extensive knowledge of books, he could still tell that it focused more on the dual cultivation of Yin and Yang.

When Chen Xuanzhou looked up, he saw that all the dishes and plates on the table had disappeared without a trace, and the old man was looking at him with great interest.

"May I ask if you are from the Hidden Moon Sect, senior?"

"You've finished reading the cultivation technique so quickly? Tell me your thoughts on it!"

Seeing the other party ask this question, Chen Xuanzhou had some guesses in his mind.

"Then, I will share some of my humble opinions, and I hope that you will correct me if I am wrong."

"Hurry up, you're clearly a teenager, but you act like an old man in his seventies or eighties. I don't know how your parents raised you."

"Your cultivation is high, you're absolutely right." Chen Xuanzhou thought to himself, not daring to provoke these old spiritual cultivators any further.

"On the surface, this technique uses the power of the sun and moon to cultivate oneself, thereby cultivating the yin and yang energies of the human body. However, in addition to this, it should also have a secret technique of dual cultivation to quickly get started and accelerate cultivation."

This can be glimpsed from the accompanying Yin-Yang Two-Element Sword Technique and other related secret methods.

"Not bad. You've learned so much in such a short time. It seems you've accumulated some knowledge. If you can get into the top ten of the Hidden Moon Sect in this Ascension Tournament, I'll guarantee you Foundation Establishment."

After saying that, he didn't say another word and left.

. . .

Chen Xuanzhou did not change his attitude because of the other party's appearance. He still went to set up his stall every day. It can't be said that he gained nothing. He exchanged for a high-level magic artifact cloak with invisibility function and a refining furnace with slightly damaged inner walls.

Early that morning, before dawn, the four of them got up and headed towards the central hill among the seven hills.

When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, there was already a long queue.

Following the flow of people, when they reached the summit, only Chen Xuanzhou remained; the others who had accompanied him were not allowed to ascend the mountain and had to wait halfway up.

Time ticked by, and then a deep, resonant bell rang out.

Then a figure appeared out of thin air, and a deep voice resounded throughout the mountaintop.

"The Ascension Ceremony has officially begun. Those whose names are called in the next moment, please come up on stage immediately to compete. If no one responds within half a quarter of an hour, they will be automatically judged as the loser."

The first pair: Wang Sheng versus Liu Baiqian.

As soon as the words were spoken, two figures flew down to the sides of the arena. Before they could even stand still, defensive magic weapons and talismans were already set up in front of them.

After that, it was almost impossible to tell who was in the lead; flying swords and longswords clashed, and all sorts of talismans were thrown at each other as if they were free.

After each match, unless there was a huge difference in cultivation level and magical artifacts, none of them could easily emerge victorious.

"Next match: Chen Xuanzhou and Zhao Rui."

With a light step, Chen Xuanzhou appeared on the field as a phantom. Before his opponent had even fully landed, Chen Xuanzhou showed no mercy and threw several talismans into his hand.

At the same time, with his other hand, he reached towards his waist, and several short spears, each about a foot long, followed closely behind.

Zhao Rui clearly hadn't expected Chen Xuanzhou to have this trick up his sleeve. Being in mid-air, he couldn't move quickly at all. He could only hold a tortoise shield in front of him while slapping several more talismans onto his body.

He then took out a low-grade green leaf magic artifact, placed his feet on it, and made it more stable.

With a series of booming sounds, a barrage of fireballs struck the shield-like magical artifact, and several short spears followed, causing the artifact to flicker between light and shadow. Fortunately, it withstood the impact.

A hint of joy appeared on his face, but he knew that simply taking a beating wouldn't do, so he immediately tried to take out his magic weapon to fight back. However, a soft "plop" sound suddenly came from behind him.

Then he felt a cold, sharp thorn pressing against his back.

"You lost!"

How could that be? With his several mid-level talismans, he could block even a typical top-grade magic weapon. But the opponent's short spear magic weapon was only high-level, how could it do that!

Zhao Rui couldn't understand how he lost, but with his life in the other party's hands, he could only helplessly fall to the ground.

Looking at the stone platform in front of him, he wanted to fight desperately, but tragically, he couldn't even step onto the platform.

Perhaps in this lifetime, the Foundation Establishment stage will remain as unattainable as this platform.