The Long Journey to Immortality

A continuous feast was held from the first day of the Bird Festival to the last day.

This is to provide a fair and open social platform for guests from all ethnic groups who come to participate in the Bird Festival.

In this environment, in the Three Phoenix Forest, even if some long-standing grudges cannot be resolved, one can usually make a few new friends while drinking and chatting.

The several large lakes in Sanfeng Forest are popular dating spots for couples at night.

Some men and women who had already secretly fallen for each other were being affectionate by the lake, pouring out their hearts to each other, warming up for the matchmaking event that would begin in a few days.

The event proceeded as scheduled the following day.

However, a newsstand has been added at the entrance to the guest accommodation area.

Newsstands were selling newspapers edited overnight by several phoenixes with literary talents.

The newspaper had eighteen pages, and all of its contents were related to the Birds' Club.

In addition to reporting on the many activities on the first day, the report also included a lot of gossip and interesting tidbits that could be published in the newspaper.

Of course, the walkthrough for "Fantasy Park" also took up two full pages, to guide those "idiots" who were still clueless about the event and didn't know how to pass more levels.

Such meticulous arrangements greatly enhanced the entire event.

After all, most guests can only participate in a small portion of the bird festivities.

With this comprehensive newspaper coverage, guests can understand all aspects of the event, feel more involved, and have a better experience.

The next day, although Han Lu didn't have any competitions to participate in, she didn't stay idle either.

This is the first day of the beauty pageant.

Originally, Feng You was supposed to represent the Phoenix Clan and serve as a judge.

But because of this, he reunited with Feng Rubing, married her, and had two more children.

To avoid making Feng Rubing jealous, he took the initiative to give up his seat as a judge and arranged for Han Lu to participate in this rather "sensitive" event in his place.

Although Han Lu wanted to decline the job on the grounds that she didn't understand the beauty or ugliness of birds, she ultimately accepted the job, which wasn't difficult, out of a desire to share her father's burdens and improve her parents' relationship.

The beauty pageant will be held twice during the bi-weekly bird festival.

The participants appeared in their original forms and were publicly scored by twenty judges from various ethnic groups.

In a ceremony, all participants transformed into human form, dressed in carefully prepared costumes, and were judged for beauty and ugliness by the true spirits of the Three Phoenixes, the Peng Bird, the Peacock, and the other three races.

The second day was the first round, in which all participants appeared in their "real" forms.

Since she was only a judge and not participating in the beauty pageant, Han Lu didn't dress up in any special way. She simply wore casual clothes and arrived fifteen minutes early, according to the schedule.

The timing was perfect; when I sat down on the judges' panel, exactly half of the twenty judges had arrived.

The two seats next to Han Lu were for the judges from the Fire Phoenix and Ice Phoenix clans, respectively.

Both of them were Han Lu's seniors in terms of age and cultivation level. However, because of Han Lu's relationship with Feng You, the two phoenixes who were three or four thousand years older than Han Lu still treated her as an equal.

"Seniors," Han Lu said politely, maintaining proper decorum towards her two fellow clansmen beside her, "Are there any rules regarding being a judge?"

"The rules aren't anything special," the fire phoenix named Feng Yanxi explained to Han Lu. "The total score is 100 points. You just need to transmit your desired score to the scorer there to complete the scoring."

"The scorekeeper will record the scores given by each judge as soon as possible and calculate the average score."

"The only thing to be careful about is that it's best not to give too low a score..." Feng Yanxi lowered her voice slightly as she said this, "The issue of beauty and ugliness is somewhat sensitive, so it's best if everyone can be a little more considerate."

Han Lu nodded slightly, instantly understanding Feng Yanxi's meaning.

The guests who come to the Three Phoenix Forest are all birds, insect spirits, and magical beasts in the Transformation Realm.

With their cultivation levels already established, the guests were naturally mostly handsome men and beautiful women, not to mention the contestants who had voluntarily signed up for the beauty pageant.

If you, as a judge, think someone isn't pretty when they participate in a beauty pageant in their true form on the first day, it's mostly because you have poor "eyes" and don't understand the aesthetic characteristics of a certain type of "bird".

Therefore, the score can be low, but it absolutely cannot be too low.

Even if you really think it's ugly, you should still save face for yourself and others.

After all, this information will be made public after the competition, and you can't expose your "weaknesses" in front of everyone and offend people along the way.

Another female, the Ice Phoenix Feng Aoshuang, also gave Han Lu a piece of advice.

"Later, when we're giving the scores, you can have a chat with me and Fellow Daoist Yanxi."

Since the phoenix does not participate in the beauty pageant, the three phoenix judges have no reason to engage in any underhanded dealings or manipulations.

When the three judges score the contestants, it is better to show that the three judges are of one mind, and at the same time, it is to hand over the "decision-making power" to the other judges, so that no one else can find fault with them.

After listening to the experienced advice of the two senior judges, Han Lu now knows how to be a good "beauty pageant judge".

A moment later, the judges took their seats, and the beauty pageant officially began.

Chapter 978 Aesthetic Views

Of the three thousand guests, only two hundred and thirty signed up for the "beauty pageant," and this was because birds and monsters admired the philosophy of "showing off their beauty to the outside world."

This philosophy has even made the title of "beauty pageant champion" a glory comparable to "first place in a major competition."

The true spirit and the magical beast who win the beauty pageant will not only become celebrities at the Hundred Birds Gathering, but will also gain a transcendent status among the birds.

If it were some other races that "keep a low profile," it would be rare for fifty or sixty cultivators in the Transformation Realm out of three thousand to be willing to "show off" in front of everyone and let others rate and evaluate them.

It's thanks to this kind of atmosphere in bird spirits and monsters that this competition could have been held.

Han Lu's senior colleague, Feng Yanxi, is both a judge and a host.

Once all departments were in place and the contestants and judges had arrived, Feng Yanxi walked to the center of the temporary stage and began hosting the first stage of the "Beauty Pageant" in human form.

This competition has been held for nearly 100,000 years, and apart from Han Lu, a "newbie" who is serving as a judge for the first time, everyone, including the judges and participants, knows the rules by heart.

However, following the rules, Feng Yanxi repeated the ten rules and displayed the rewards that the phoenixes could receive for the first, second, and third place winners of the "Beauty Contest".

In addition to the unique feather token rewards for this year's Hundred Birds Gathering, the champion, runner-up, and third-place winners can also choose from ten sets of materials prepared by the phoenixes.

Such a reward is undeniably generous.

Even if they surrender without the title of "champion," many true spirits and magical beasts will still flock to them, shamelessly showing off their physiques in front of everyone.

The rules were reiterated, the rewards were announced, and with Feng Yanxi's resounding announcement, the "Hundred Birds Beauty Pageant," for which number is unknown, truly began.

The 230 participants were numbered and arranged in order when they registered.

As the competition began, the contestants transformed into their real selves backstage and appeared on stage one by one.

The first contestant to appear was from the Peacock Clan, a True Spirit with the cultivation level of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Its light green feathers shimmered in the sunlight.

The long feathers on its head were even longer and slender, trembling slightly in a beautiful arc.

Judging by appearance alone, Han Lu, who was born in the Central Plains and had the aesthetic sense of a human cultivator, couldn't even tell whether the peacock was male or female.

"However, it is beautiful. Its feathers are of pure color and it looks very spiritual."

Han Lu is still a novice in the judging profession. Fortunately, she doesn't need to give any comments. Otherwise, she, as a "storyteller," would probably ruin her reputation for being eloquent and witty.

After striking a pose and making its entrance, the peacock then proudly strode around the stage, accepting the admiring glances of the judges and the enthusiastic praise of the audience.

At the very end of its twenty-breath display time, the peacock performed a "spreading its tail feathers" gesture.

Like a jade palace fan, the eye spots on its tail feathers reflected light, like countless small mirrors, and Han Lu vaguely felt that she could see her own reflection in them.

Upon seeing this, Han Lu couldn't help but softly praise, "Not bad, not bad."

The evaluation was very high, and Han Lu was naturally generous with her score.

With a score of 87 in mind, Han Lu communicated telepathically with the two clansmen beside her.

Both Feng Yanxi and Feng Aoshuang are seasoned veterans.

This was the third time the two had served as judges at the Bird Festival. Having seen countless handsome men and beautiful women, they naturally didn't react as intensely as Han Lu.

"Just average, at most seventy points," Feng Aoshuang commented.

"These tail feathers seem to have been injured, and they look a bit unnatural. When they spread their tails, the lack of color variation is even more obvious." Since it was just a telepathic exchange and not a real scoring, Feng Yanxi didn't give the peacock in the center of the stage any face. "I think it's worth at most 65 points, otherwise we won't be able to give the rest of the scores."

With the two seniors' words in hand, Han Lu could only humbly accept their advice.

The three of them discussed it and finally came up with an average score of 70, which they reported to the telepathic system and gave the score.

The judges communicated telepathically, each giving their own score.

The phoenix, who was skilled in arithmetic and was in charge of tallying the scores, quickly stored each score in a jade tablet for recording. It also calculated the average score and told the final score to Feng Yanxi, who then announced the score.

Among the judges from other ethnic groups, there were also several newcomers and novices like Han Lu.

Therefore, although the first peacock to appear was just average in the eyes of the seasoned veteran Feng Yanxi, it still scored a score of 78 points.

This score, slightly higher than the median of 77 points in the previous year, is a good start for this year's beauty pageant.

Having only heard 77 points, the first peacock to appear was clearly somewhat unhappy.

However, he still paid attention to his manners, bowing gracefully in his true peacock form before flying away from the stage to give his place to the next contestant.

The second contestant was a Zerg monk.

When it transforms into its true form, it is only half the size of a human.

Covered in a golden armor, like an intricately patterned suit of armor, he looked like a warrior about to go to the battlefield and face his enemies, exuding a tough aura.

"Not bad either," Han Lu thought to herself.

At the Bird Festival, the Zerg, who shamelessly joined in, gradually integrated into the event as they participated more and more often.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the Zerg were merely passersby, simply regarding this grand event as a diplomatic occasion—a chance to forge closer ties with the Phoenix, other bird spirits, and magical beasts.

More than 10,000 years ago, some insectoids with special skills tried to participate in the Six Arts competition and show off their skills in front of the birds.

The Zerg race only began to appear in beauty pageants thousands of years ago.

Although the Zerg have never won a championship and have repeatedly received low scores due to their unique aesthetic, this has not dampened the enthusiasm of the beautiful women and handsome men of the Zerg to participate in this event.

After several competitions, the birds gradually began to appreciate the beauty and ugliness of the Zerg contestants from a human perspective.

The scores of the Zerg contestants have improved considerably, and many Zerg monks with "refined demeanor" like this second contestant have also managed to reach the average score.

“Seniors, I think this fellow Zerg is quite good,” Han Lu said, addressing him in this way since she didn’t know his specific race. “If I were to give him a score, I would give him seventy-five points.”

Knowing that both of her fellow clansmen were experienced veterans, Han Lu was more conservative in her scoring this time, to avoid significant disagreements with them from the outset.