Chapter 77: The Decade-Long Competition

  "Is this the foundation?" Lei Dong gripped the delicate jade bottle tightly in his hand, his pupils involuntarily constricting as he suppressed the surging emotions within him. He muttered to himself in a low, hoarse voice, "Sister, what can I use to repay you for letting me, Lei Dong..."

  After a long time, he finally let out a heavy breath and his eyes became determined. His feet floated in the air, making continuous false moves, his clothes fluttering, but with a flicker of his eyes, a strange and indistinct residual shadow appeared, merging into the endless night colors.

  By the waterfall, beside the peach tree. A slender figure wrapped in a long cloak, with bare jade feet, slowly emerged, gazing far away at that increasingly dense blackness. Not until after a long while did she let out a faint sigh and transform into a faint wisp of mist, which dispersed into the night sky as soon as it was blown by the wind.

  ……

  In the following days, nothing out of the ordinary happened, just some traditional memorial ceremonies. Lei Dong followed the clan's rules and participated in all the proceedings with due diligence. However, after that night, it seemed as if nothing had ever happened between Lei Dong and Ding Yuanyan. They still chatted and laughed together, neither of them mentioning the matter of the foundation-establishing pill again.

  The grand comparison finally began amidst a mix of fear and anticipation among the many personally taught disciples.

  The fear originated from ten years ago, and now every single personal disciple is from that time. They, like Lei Dong, were all for the first time, thoroughly experiencing the cruelty and bloodiness of cultivating immortality. Although they clearly knew that when they thought they weren't a match, they could completely choose to surrender.

  The problem is that sometimes victory or defeat can be decided in an instant. By the time you realize what's happening, it may already be too late.

  But what's exciting is that the reward for this decade-long grand competition is truly heart-stirring, far surpassing the small competitions in each cave and prefecture. And who among those who can come here to participate in the grand competition isn't one of the very best in their own caves and prefectures? As everyone knows, the Foundation Establishment Pill is not just a matter of precious and hard-to-find materials. Rather, this heaven-defying pill is extremely difficult to refine, far exceeding human imagination.

  It can be said that in the entire Kangzhou, there are probably fewer than twenty cultivators who can refine the Zhuji Dan. Moreover, the success rate of refining this dan is extremely low, even for old hands. Among ten furnaces of dan medicine, having one furnace succeed is already a huge stroke of luck.

  Yin Xie Sect has a qualified alchemist to refine the foundation-building pill. With Yin Xie Sect's overall strength and the mature cycle of the medicine field that has been passed down for thousands of years, about ten furnaces of foundation-building pill materials can be gathered every decade. All of these will be handed over to that alchemist for refining. Due to the high standard of the sect's alchemists, it is usually guaranteed that one furnace of successful elixir can be produced after so many resources are invested. If extremely lucky, two furnaces can be produced. However, since ancient times, there have been only a few instances where three foundation-building pills were produced in ten years.

  Each furnace of Ji Dan can produce about 8 to 12 pills, which is enough for about ten people's dosage for a decade.

  At this time, the ranking of the Great Comparison will come into play. It doesn't matter what your cultivation is, only your ranking matters. From high to low, it determines who gets the Foundation Establishment Pill first, one person one pill, absolutely no extra. In other words, if there are only ten Foundation Establishment Pills produced this time, then the person ranked eleventh will have no chance of getting a Foundation Establishment Pill from the sect. If you still want to get a Foundation Establishment Pill, you can only try your luck by participating in an auction like the one a few days ago, and maybe occasionally one or two pills will appear. But the price is usually sky-high, often exceeding 100,000, and it's not certain if you'll be lucky enough to encounter one.

  Of course, if one really has money to a certain extent, such as Ding Wanyan's assets. As long as you are willing to pay a high price, you can still mix with the foundation-building Dan. However, how can a mere Qi-refining period cultivator acquire such a terrifying amount of assets?

  Only by relying on strength can we strive for a higher ranking in the sect's grand competition, which is the true king's way.

  Also, in the decade-long grand competition where one can surrender, one of the main reasons for the relatively large number of casualties is that there will often be a major conflict. Another main reason is that similar to Lei Dong and Bai Li Yun, due to the deep-seated resentment accumulated from daily friction, they would wait until the grand competition to settle their scores, where the winner takes all. The loser, basically, wouldn't even leave behind a soul.

  As long as you can normally enter the top eight, without too many unexpected events, a Kyogre is basically guaranteed.

  Apart from the foundation-building Dan, the rewards of other sects are also very rich. From high to low, a large amount of sect contribution will be rewarded. The first place directly rewards 100,000 points of contribution, far exceeding the twenty times of Xiao Bi. In addition, the old ancestors of each cave and government will also privately offer blood, using various kinds of magical instruments to entice disciples to compete for glory and seize the next generation of new disciples.

  For the Yin evil sect, the tenth anniversary is a grand occasion.

  The master of the Yin Xie Sect in the Golden Elixir stage, as well as a nameless old ancestor of the sect who had been in seclusion for a long time, also attended the opening ceremony.

  For a low-ranking disciple like Leidong, not to mention the Golden Elixir stage, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator can bring them tremendous pressure. Now, on that high and mighty chairman's platform, there is a terrifying Yuan Ying stage old ancestor sitting upright, making Leidong dare not have the slightest desire to raise his head. Standing among the direct disciples, he lowered his head and didn't dare make any slight movement. Although he knew it was impossible, he still deeply feared that this Yuan Ying stage old ancestor might have some abilities that were completely beyond his understanding.

  In fact, it's not just Lei Dong, but all the disciples who participated in the Grand Competition. They were all silent and still, listening to the Golden Elixir stage master speaking words of encouragement on the platform. The leaders of each cave and mansion also sat upright with their eyes fixed forward, not daring to glance sideways.

  His face was stern and solemn, adding a few points of majesty.

  After a long time, the ceremony was declared over, and it was the start of the Grand Comparison.

  Just like ten years ago, in front of each small arena, there was a circle of new disciples who had just joined the sect. Each and every one of them looked young and innocent, with an air of naivety about them. I believe that after today, no matter if it's ten years later or a hundred years later, they will still remember this scene clearly.

  Unlike the small competition, in order to accumulate experience for the disciples' competition, a cumulative points system was adopted. This time, the grand competition adopts a knockout system. Among the thirty-nine disciples, the chief disciple of each cave, as the seeded disciple, is exempt from the first round. The remaining twenty-six disciples use a draw to decide their opponents. The thirteen winners and the thirteen seeded disciples are drawn against each other in pairs for the next round, with the last thirteen places decided. The top thirteen disciples then draw lots again, with one person getting a bye, to determine the top seven. Seven people draw lots again, with one person getting a bye, to get the top four strong. The top four then compete according to the usual rules to decide the first, second, third and fourth places.

  In the Wan Gui Ku, the first disciple is Ding Yuanyan. In the first round, he directly became a seeded disciple and skipped the round. Lei Dong and Zuo Chao could only participate in one lottery match each. The winner would have the qualification to advance to the top 26.

  The result of the lottery was soon announced. The first opponent was Bo Chang, the second direct disciple of the extremely mysterious and sinister Old Neighbor.

  This child's cultivation is still passable. At the tenth level of the Refining Qi stage, it belongs to a mediocre position. When Lei Dong walked onto the D-numbered arena with an expressionless face, Bu Chang's smug smile on his face had not dissipated yet. As for being able to encounter Lei Dong, this kind of cannon fodder disciple, in the first match, it was simply a gift sent straight to his doorstep.

  The foundation period referee's voice is louder than the start of the fight.

  Lei's face was cold and expressionless. With a slight movement of his foot, he floated into the air, his entire body drifting about like a ghost. As he chanted an incantation, ten Bloodthirsty Ghost Soldiers appeared first, letting out a shrill cry as they charged towards Bo Chang with their bodies glowing bright red.

  "Hmph, Ghost Shadow Escape, Ghostly Technique." Bu Chang disdainfully curled his lip. Although this 8th layer Qi Refining stage kid's Ghost Shadow Escape seemed to be played quite well, his body floated and dodged, making it difficult to grasp his trajectory. And that only Ghost Servant, who knows how he was refined, also seemed pretty strong, having reached level 10. However, Bu Chang still wouldn't put this mere 8th layer Qi Refining stage kid in his eyes.

  "Yin Jia Da Fa."

  Bu Chang's face turned serious, and he let out a loud roar. A surge of dark energy burst forth from his body, spreading in all directions. At the same time, he didn't even use the Xuan Yin shield, directly sending out a Ghostly Palm strike. The ferocious and cruel ghostly illusions, with sharp teeth and claws, pounced towards the bloodthirsty ghost soldiers.

  "Boom!" The bloodthirsty ghost soldier raised his shield to block the attack, but his body was knocked flying backwards at the same time. The shadow ghost soldier appeared silently behind him, and two sharp spikes stabbed heavily into his back.

  "Hmph, your Dark Arts are far inferior to those of my senior sister." Lei Dong snorted disdainfully, his right palm thrust forward heavily, a single ghostly green hand darting out with swift agility to grab at him.

  ……

  A very long PS: Thank you everyone for your sincere opinions, I really appreciate it, although some of my classmates were a bit too aggressive with their words, but it shows how much you care about this article because you like it. This article is a cultivation novel, telling the story of a big demon's growth, his every detail and story. But it's not about telling the growth story of a robot. In some sense, demons are also human. Since they are human, they can't avoid having emotions and desires. Lei Dong is not a robot, nor is he a walking corpse. He may have lived two lives as a human, but he is still a person with flesh and blood. Even though he has lived two lives, there's no mention of him being abused or mistreated since childhood. Overall, Lei Dong was born into a normal family, an ordinary person. The only difference is his identity as a transmigrator.

  To say that he completely abandoned emotions, discarded righteousness, had no joy, and had no sorrow. The only thing that can be done is to cultivate or kill people. This not only does not conform to the logical background of his identity, but I also will not write it. Because, I am also a normal person, with blood and flesh, with happiness and anger, with sadness and joy, with calmness, and with impulsiveness.

  Of course, this doesn't mean that the book will take a romantic turn. On the contrary, due to the subject matter of this book, the majority of the focus will still be on Lei Dong's cultivation story. Emotional aspects will only serve as embellishments and won't be dwelled upon excessively, avoiding being overly petty and childish. You can rest assured about this; if you want to entangle yourself in such things, I can completely start a new urban romance novel.

  In addition, let's talk about a few more things. The new disciples of the Yin Jia Sect, including Lei Dong and Ding Yuanyan Zuo Chao, were all selected from ordinary families among the common people. Before they practiced immortal cultivation, they were also children of normal families. Joining the Yin Jia Sect was just a matter of being on the sect's territory. Can't write them off as becoming evil demons who do all sorts of wicked things, suck human blood and eat human flesh just because they entered the Yin Jia Sect?

  To me, the evil sect is just a way of cultivation that is more evil than the righteous path, with less hypocrisy. The naked truth is the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak, and it's bloody. In essence, everyone is human, and as humans, we all have different personalities.

  What is orthodox and what is heretical?

  In ancient India, Buddhism was strong and declared itself the orthodox way. All other heterodox schools were lumped together as heretical cults to be overthrown.

  In my younger brother's opinion, the so-called orthodoxy and heterodoxy are simply a straightforward extension of "the winner is king, the loser is a bandit". Just like Buddhism and Taoism, if one side is weak, and a certain school of thought is strong, the situation will naturally turn upside down.

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