The Imperial Preceptor had hidden himself exceptionally well; even when the finals began, Eldest Senior Sister had not found him.
Having eaten well and enjoyed themselves, the prodigies rested for an entire day, entering the finals in peak condition.
The atmosphere at the tournament grounds was soaring. Elders from each sect cheered their disciples on, hoping they would achieve commendable rankings.
Even merely making a name for oneself in the finals was ample bragging rights in the outside world.
Guided by the officials, the prodigies drew lots, dividing into brackets to determine their match opponents.
Meng Jingzhou, Bai Ming, Yan Tianzhi, and Lan Ting represented the immortal sects in the mid Golden Core stage, gathering together.
"Who are your opponents?" Bai Ming asked, checking to make sure they wouldn't cross paths in the very first round.
"My opponent is from the Yuqi Sect."
"Mine is from the Xuan Sect."
Confirming that none of them would clash in the first round, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
"I haven't seen anyone from the Hanging Temple. Didn't they say the immortal sects would send disciples for every cultivation stage?" Meng Jingzhou looked around. There were a few monks, but none looked like disciples of the Hanging Temple.
Bai Ming also frowned. He was relatively well-acquainted with the Hanging Temple's situation. "Logically speaking, that shouldn't be. Shi Chan meets all the criteria; he should be participating in the finals."
"Could something have come up, preventing him from coming?" Lan Ting guessed kindly.
"Could be."
"I thought I'd run into Lu Yang in this tournament." Bai Ming shook his head. Having lost to Lu Yang twice, he had wanted to use this opportunity to wash away his past disgrace, only to discover that the Dao Seeking Sect's representative for the mid Golden Core stage was Meng Jingzhou, not Lu Yang.
Yan Tianzhi was also somewhat disappointed. He had never sparred with Lu Yang and had hoped to test his mettle against him.
Meng Jingzhou curled his lip. "Don't worry, you'll definitely encounter him. He's participating in the finals too."
Bai Ming froze. "Did he break through to the late Golden Core stage?"
"Look at the judges' bench," Meng Jingzhou kindly reminded him.
Bai Ming, Yan Tianzhi, and Lan Ting looked up.
The leaders of the Five Great Immortal Sects sat upright on the judges' bench, and Lu Yang sat dead center, waving at the three of them with a brilliant smile.
Bai Ming: "???"
Why did this feel so familiar?
It seemed that the last time he visited the Dao Seeking Sect, Lu Yang had also been sitting in that exact spot?
Meng Jingzhou sighed, fiercely denouncing Lu Yang's shamelessness: "That bastard Lu Yang abuses his power for personal gain, fawns on superiors while trampling subordinates, and acts entirely without restraint! He made me go down and fight while he lounges up on stage enjoying the high life! Once I become the Acting Sect Master, I'm definitely getting my revenge!"
...
Up on the judges' bench, Lu Yang withdrew his gaze and curiously looked toward Master Jiesha. "Master, did no one from the Hanging Temple come?"
Master Jiesha remained silent, giving Lu Yang a look that said, figure it out yourself.
Lu Yang nodded with apparent comprehension, returning a look that said, you figure it out yourself.
Lu Yang hadn't understood Master Jiesha in the slightest, nor had Master Jiesha understood Lu Yang.
Just then, the final judge arrived. The newcomer wore bright yellow robes and carried an approachable smile on his face.
"Jiang Qun greets the seniors." The young man named Jiang Qun clasped his hands toward the five.
"First Prince, there is no need for such formalities," Luo Hongxia said, cradling the treasure box. On her way here, plenty of people had fussed over the treasure box, terrified that something might go wrong with it.
Jiang Qun wondered why Palace Master Luo was clutching a treasure box, but figuring it was someone else's secret, he did not pry.
The imperial court hosted the tournament, so naturally, the court had to send a representative.
Lu Yang recognized the newcomer as well—Jiang Qun, the First Prince of Great Xia, who had gone by the alias Xia Qun during the Grand Qingzhou Festival as the deputy to the Qingzhou provincial governor.
"Sect Master Lu is truly young and promising," Jiang Qun said with a smile, acting exceedingly cordial toward Lu Yang.
He was at the early Body Integration stage. Among the six of them, his cultivation ranked second from the bottom, so naturally he wanted to cozy up to the one at the very bottom.
If Lu Yang left, he would be dead last.
Moreover, before his departure, Emperor Xia had explicitly instructed him to do his best to foster good relations with the Dao Seeking Sect, and especially with Lu Yang.
Singling out Lu Yang showed just how much his Imperial Father valued him.
"Thi—I have rendered great service and achieved much, so being an Acting Sect Master is only natural," Lu Yang said indifferently. The response choked Jiang Qun up, leaving him momentarily at a loss for words.
Why wasn't Sect Master Lu humble in the slightest?
"Sect Master Lu has worked hard," Jiang Qun finally squeezed out after a long pause.
Of course Sect Master Lu wasn't humble; after all, the one currently piloting the body was Sect Master Huang, Huang Doudou.
The real Sect Master Lu had long been sealed away in his spiritual space, crying out to heaven and earth in vain. His fate was utterly miserable and tragic—a spectacle so delightful anyone watching would shout in approval.
"The Qi Refinement matches should be starting soon, right?"
While other cultivation realms were divided into early, middle, and late stages, only Qi Refinement consisted of a single bracket without subdivisions.
The main reason was that subdivisions were unnecessary; the primary objective of this tournament was to weed out ancient cultivators who had dispersed their cultivation to start anew.
Ancient cultivators would hardly linger around the seventh or eighth layer of Qi Refinement; they had no reason to waste much time in the Qi Refinement stage. At worst, they would be at the Qi Refinement Great Perfection, and it was entirely possible they weren't even in the Qi Refinement stage at all.
Those who made it to the finals were uniformly at the Qi Refinement Great Perfection, just a single thought away from the Foundation Establishment stage.
During the city and provincial rounds, there had been a few instances where ninth-layer Qi Refinement cultivators defeated those at Qi Refinement Great Perfection across cultivation gaps, but those ninth-layer cultivators were quickly eliminated afterward.
After all, the opponents those ninth-layer cultivators faced were no ordinary Great Perfection practitioners, but peers who were practically peerless within their cultivation realm.
"What a pity there are no more qi refiners around today. Otherwise, I could have let you witness a Qi Refinement cultivator defeating Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators," the Immortal Fairy said with a hint of regret.
"Qi refiners?" Lu Yang had never heard of this concept.
"Qi refiners were part of the cultivation system pioneered by the earliest cultivators. By continuously cultivating a single breath of qi in their dantian, they could constantly elevate themselves. Theoretically speaking, achieving immortality through qi refinement alone was entirely possible."
"If qi refiners were so strong, why did they disappear later on?"
"As strong as qi refiners were, there were too many restrictions. Only an extremely small fraction of people could cultivate it; you might not find a single person who met the criteria out of millions. At the time, cultivation systems were still being pioneered, so the qi refiner path was quickly abandoned. Today's Qi Refinement stage actually evolved from the qi refiners."
"On the flip side, because qi refiners were exceedingly rare, once someone did become a qi refiner, their cultivation speed was absurdly fast."
A Dao Seeking Sect disciple sent a voice transmission to the Immortal Fairy, informing her that it was time to announce the official start of the finals.
"The Qi Refinement matches are so boring. They're nowhere near as exciting as Foundation Establishment," Yang Ding yawned secretly, trying not to—
On the stage, two Qi Refinement prodigies stepped up.
"Junior Brother, after you."
"Then I won't hold back!"
His opponent chuckled, flourishing his sword before thrusting forward.
A glint of triumphant cunning flashed in the other youth's eyes. His aura surged violently, breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage!
Let's see how you fight me now!
His opponent smiled, and even as he thrust his sword forward, his aura likewise surged violently, breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage!
Let's see how you fight me now!
Yang Ding's wish had come true: the Qi Refinement match had turned into a Foundation Establishment match.
Chapter 486