Demon, come and cultivate for me.

There were over a thousand participants in the martial arts competition.

This competition was like a ritual to refine poison; in the end, only ten people could remain.

These scions of powerful families made ample preparations for this competition.

Improving one's cultivation level and diligently practicing techniques are merely the basics.

Most participants had taken various elixirs before the competition. Their weapons were mostly divine artifacts crafted by renowned artisans.

Even more extreme, some brought out magical treasures that they never showed to others.

All of this was to gain the Crown Prince's favor and join his ranks.

In less than an hour, all the contestants below the intermediate level were eliminated.

Only seventy or eighty martial artists with peak cultivation levels or above remained on the field.

Of Liu Dashan's group of more than ten people, only he and Li Erleng remained. Even Zhang Caigou, who was at the peak of his cultivation, was eliminated, so you can imagine how fierce the battle was.

Li Erleng patted Liu Dashan on the shoulder and gestured with his chin towards the opposite side, indicating that he should look over there.

Liu Dashan looked up and saw that Xu Yuan and Chen Xiangzi had also remained on the field as winners.

However, the big guy he was wary of had disappeared without a trace.

Liu Dashan breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself: That guy looked strong, but I didn't expect him to be all show and no substance. He didn't even make it past the first round.

"Hiss~" Li Er stared blankly at the reviewing stand and exclaimed in surprise, "Look!"

Liu Dashan followed his gaze and saw that Zhou Chu was now standing on the reviewing stand. He was closer to the Crown Prince than Mr. Cheng and the man in red.

"Who is this guy? I asked you to investigate him a couple of days ago, didn't you find anything?" Liu Dashan asked in a low voice.

"I checked, and he's just a villager from Wuyang County."

"A country bumpkin? A country bumpkin can stand with the Crown Prince?" Liu Dashan said in disbelief.

"It's absolutely true, I came to the capital from Wuyang with Xu Yuan."

"Fortunately, I didn't get into a conflict with them on the spot that day, otherwise I would have really lost more than I gained."

……

On the platform, the Crown Prince looked down at the dozens of martial artists and nodded in satisfaction.

He had witnessed the entire competition and secretly noted down the names of the few who had performed exceptionally well.

Of course, the most outstanding performer was Zhou Chu. As soon as Zhou Chu won the first round, the Crown Prince sent someone to invite him to the general's platform.

The meaning is clear: True God Realm martial artists shouldn't mess around with these Acquired Realm martial artists.

There were only four people on the platform: the Crown Prince, Mr. Cheng, the man in red, and Zhou Chu.

Mr. Cheng kept his eyes and nose focused on his mouth, looking as if he were in deep meditation.

The man in red still looked like he was under constant suspicion, his eyes scanning back and forth warily, the hilt of the sword at his waist in his right hand seemingly fused together, never separating for a moment.

After Zhou Chu ascended the throne, he bowed to the Crown Prince, who said "No need for formalities" and then remained silent.

At first it was fine, but as time went on, Zhou Chu began to feel a little uncomfortable.

However, since the crown prince did not speak, it was not appropriate to go down rashly, so he could only stand there like a wooden statue.

After the warriors below rested for a while, the final match began.

This time, it's no longer a one-on-one battle, but rather a team of ten people competing against each other.

Whether it was intentional or a coincidence, Xu Yuan was assigned to the same group as Liu Dashan.

The captains on the field had each team elect a captain to direct the tactics and strategies.

In the election, the minority must obey the majority. Xu Yuan had no interest in whether or not he should be the team leader. He stood aside with Chen Xiangzi and quietly watched the others discuss with Liu Dashan.

After discussing it for a while, the group unanimously elected Xu Yuan as their captain.

Xu Yuan looked at Liu Dashan suspiciously, wondering what kind of bad idea this guy was up to now.

Unexpectedly, Liu Dashan walked over with a big smile and said:

"Xu Yuan, I was wrong that day. After the competition, I'll host a banquet to apologize to you. You've been our leader since we were kids, and you'll still be our leader today."

Liu Dashan's sudden display of flexibility left Xu Yuan bewildered. But when he turned and saw Zhou Chu standing with the Crown Prince on the reviewing stand, Xu Yuan immediately understood what was going on.

Xu Yuan wasn't the type to hold a grudge, and besides, the conflict that day was just a verbal one; there was no deep-seated hatred between them.

Now that the other party had taken the initiative to back down, Xu Yuan stopped caring and patted Liu Dashan's shoulder heavily, saying, "We've never lost since we were kids. Today, the boss will lead you to victory again."

"That's right, that's right," Liu Dashan said, turning to the others and saying, "From now on, everyone will follow Master Xu's orders."

"Yes," everyone responded in unison.

The captain who delivered the order at the training ground did not read out the rules; he simply waved his flag and announced the start of the exercise.

The martial artists on the field were momentarily stunned when they heard "start".

Aren't you going to explain the rules? Are we just going to start right away?

How do you define a loss? How do you define a win?

The quick-thinking captain immediately grasped the key point.

In this competition, the Crown Prince will only select ten people.

In other words, the team that wins this final match will be able to travel north with the Crown Prince.

Therefore, they decisively chose to strike first and commanded their team to attack the nearby teams.

Some team captains opted for a cautious approach, having their team members form a defensive formation and wait and see what happens.

Xu Yuan led his team to retreat quickly to a corner of the training ground, with their backs against the village wall, and set up a defensive formation.

One advantage of doing this is that it avoids being attacked from both sides.

Another advantage is that it allows you to conserve your strength and wait for the weaker players to be defeated and the stronger players to be exhausted before reaping the benefits.

His idea was good, but someone didn't want him to have his way.

Just as Xu Yuan and the others set up their formation, two teams surrounded them.

At this moment, Xu Yuan's weakness in defending against the wall became apparent: when surrounded, he had nowhere to escape and no room for maneuver.

Xu Yuan secretly regretted his miscalculation, then instructed his team to prepare for defense and had Chen Xiangzi at the rear of the group to cast a talisman for support.

Chen Xiangzi had already taken a large handful of yellow paper talismans in his hand. He then pasted the Swiftness Talisman and the Mighty Strength Talisman onto his team members.

The tense expressions on the faces of the team members who were applying the talismans immediately disappeared, replaced by a burning fighting spirit.

It felt as if their group wasn't facing an attack, but rather a hunt.

The two teams that came to besiege Xu Yuan's team had a good relationship in private, so forming a temporary alliance to defeat the other teams was undoubtedly the best strategy.

Without the slightest hesitation, the two captains shouted in unison, "Charge!" and the team members behind them raised their weapons and charged towards Xu Yuan's team.

With twenty people against ten, the advantage is on my side. If nothing unexpected happens, Xu Yuan's team will be their appetizer.

But an accident still happened.

As soon as the two sides clashed, the two captains realized something was wrong.

What's going on? They're all at the peak of their cultivation, so how did they manage to take on two, or even three, at once?

One of the team leaders noticed something amiss and exclaimed, "There's a talisman master in their team! It's the talisman master causing trouble!"

Upon hearing this, both teams immediately targeted Chen Xiangzi, who was hiding in the back.