Chapter 152: Special Privilege and Survival Tournament (1/2)

Due to the fact that a large number of rogue cultivators had signed up to participate, the venue of the Qi Refinement Realm Grand Competition was soon filled to the brim.

Because wherever it was, the base population at the bottom of the pyramid was always the largest.

There were ones who could fight against Foundation Establishment cultivators like Jiang Li, and also those who were so weak that they had just cultivated a breath of spiritual qi and could not even use a talisman properly. In essence, they were Qi Refinement realm cultivators of all stages.

As long as the age criteria was met, they would all fit the competition criteria.

Due to the agreement made before the distribution of benefits, each sect could only send out 15 people to participate in the competition, five Foundation Establishment and ten Qi Refinement cultivators.

However, because rogue cultivators did not have the right to participate in the resource allocation of the Medicine Garden Mystic Realm, and it was a different kind of disciple recruitment event, there was no limit to the number of rogue cultivators participating.

In an instant, the number of Qi Refinement realm cultivators registering for the venue surged.

There were both strong and weak people mixed together. There were even some rogue cultivators at the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm or even the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm who wanted to try their luck.

This was especially true for those at the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm. They were truly ignorant. This was not a martial arts competition in the sect, so people could die here. Even Jiang Li had not courted death like this when he was still at the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm.

Almost 3,000 people rushed in at once, forcing the competition authorities to stop them.

After some discussion, there were a few temporary registration rules. The cultivators participating in the competition had to pass a few simple tests, such as speed, strength, power, and spell techniques.

In fact, the requirements for passing the test were not high at all, just getting a pass in one of the tests was enough. However, even so, a large number of applicants were still eliminated.

Because of this, a gray industry was created near the registration venue.

Some unscrupulous merchants specialized in selling low-quality talismans that had extremely short duration and poor stability. They were used so that they were just strong enough to meet the registration criteria. After using this method to loot a sum of spirit stones, they still sent a group of cannon fodder into the competition.

The day of the competition arrived not long after.

Due to the number of cultivators participating in the Grand Competition, it was obvious that an ordinary group arena could not accommodate so many cultivators. Therefore, in this Grand Competition, the Qi Refinement realm had temporarily added a cruel survival competition.

Jiang Li left his closed door cultivation and arrived at the venue of the survival competition with his fellow disciples.

As disciples of the Scripture Storage Valley, they had some preferential treatment even in the competition.

For example, the rogue cultivators were all standing and waiting for the competition to begin. However, they could sit. Not only did they sit, but they could also eat tea and snacks.

There were even beautiful girls serving Jiang Li.

”Senior Brother Jiang Li… your shoulders are so stiff…”

The person who came to help Jiang Li massage was a registered disciple of the Rejuvenation Hall. After all, it was the Rejuvenation Hall next door. There were actually quite a number of female cultivators who were interested in him.

This was his exclusive privilege, no one else had such treatment.

However, with Jiang Li's rough skin and thick flesh, the young lady was on the brink of tears during the massage. Even massaging an ox demon was not so strenuous.

Jiang Li had no choice but to thank her and reject the offer. He turned around and observed the venue that he was about to enter like most of the participating cultivators.

Although it was called a venue, the competition actually required many cultivators to set off from the inner circle of the Misty Mountain Range and pass through an area that was like a maze. Finally, they would arrive at their destination near the periphery of the Misty Mountain Range.

Under normal circumstances, for a group of Qi Refinement realm cultivators, crossing a maze of such a level was no different from courting death.

However, the maze was designed to drive away creatures so it did not have much lethality.

It was naturally very difficult to enter, but going outside was far less difficult.

Moreover, the alliance competition authorities formed by many sects had already familiarized themselves with the array formation terrain in this region. They had cleaned up some demon beasts that were too powerful on the mountain and had deliberately suppressed the might of the illusion array on this route.

As long as the participating cultivators did not deliberately take a detour or fly in the sky, the competition would still be within the difficulty range of ordinary Qi Refinement realm cultivators as long as they followed the designated route.

Jiang Li had also seen the road map. It was a mountain that was connected to four other mountains. It could directly penetrate the circular Misty Mountain Range.

Every cultivator who participated in the competition would be assigned a flying talisman. Then, these uncontrollable flying talismans would randomly throw everyone onto the first mountain.

After overcoming the harsh environment, the demon beast attack, and the competition, they would trek all the way to the end point at the foot of the fourth mountain.

During this period, they might encounter some other difficult hurdles. Regardless of whether cultivators were united or fighting, as long as they could reach the end, they would be able to obtain the chance to participate in the next round of the competition.

The competition authorities gave the cultivators an hour to memorize the terrain of the four mountains.

That was because the location would be completely randomized. Under the thick fog in the sky, one could not even use the sun to determine the direction. One could only rely on the terrain to determine their location and direction based on the map they remembered.

Of course, a good memory was not as useful as a pen. Most of the disciples were working hard to copy the map.

In an hour, the Qi Refinement realm cultivators could memorize as much as they could. This might decide whether their journey would be smooth in the next few days.

Soon, the jade wall with the detailed map was removed, which meant that the martial arts competition had begun.

The hundred cultivators took turns to go forward. After being labeled with flying talismans, they turned into a hundred crooked meteors that entered the thick fog and flew into the mountain.

Being covered by the thick fog, even their flight trajectories could not be predicted.

Due to the influence of the formation, it was difficult for spiritual qi to travel far. As such, communication spirit stones were unusable.

It seemed that it was quite difficult to meet up with his fellow disciples after entering the mountain.

”Senior brothers and sisters, this is for you. If you encounter danger, blow this. If I'm nearby, I'll try my best to rush over to help.”

Even though Jiang Li called the others senior brothers and sisters, it was obvious that the other nine had tacitly agreed to take him as their leader. After all, the difference in strength was obvious, so there was no need to compete.

Jiang Li handed over nine white metal whistles. He kept one in his hand.

The white whistle was only a short tube the size of a finger. In the middle of the short tube was a piece of carefully crafted mouthpiece.

This thing did not have any spiritual qi fluctuation. Therefore, when the other disciples held it in their hands, they had puzzled expressions.

They were not ignorant enough to not know what a whistle was.

The problem was that there were more than 4,000 cultivators participating in the Grand Competition this round. Their Scripture Storage Valley only had a total of ten people. Under this situation, they could not hope to successfully gather.

At this time, if a signal was sent out, not only would the companions not receive it, a bunch of enemies full of malice would come first.

Jiang Li did not think that they would understand any scientific knowledge. Facts spoke louder than words. He only blew at the whistle in his hand.

The white whistle did not sound at all. Instead, it emitted a slight buzzing sound like a mosquito flapping its wings.

Just as the other nine people thought that Jiang Li's whistle was broken, the whistle in their hands actually also lightly trembled. Moreover, the shaking became more and more obvious, and soon, it actually released the same type of buzzing sound.

”It's… it's ringing. There's actually no spiritual qi fluctuation.”

The nine people looked at the thing in their hands in surprise. They could not understand how such an ordinary small thing suddenly shook in their hands.