Over the following few days, the arena hosted various specialized competitions for talismans, beast taming, and more.
To keep her ability to draw talismans a secret, Li Nanzhu forced herself to stay away from the matches. Instead, she focused on cultivating at the residence, preparing for the upcoming team competition.
She was well aware of the disadvantage the Five Elements Dao Sect faced in numbers—they only had seven participants, whereas other sects could send not only their direct disciples but also inner sect disciples, totaling at least twenty people per team.
In a team competition, this would be a massive challenge.
"Little Junior Sister!" Duan Xianxing popped his head in. "I went to check the talisman competition for you. Ji Yanzhi from the Wuji Sect drew a tier 4 high-grade talisman."
Li Nanzhu pondered for a moment. "I thought he would be able to draw a tier 5 talisman."
Duan Xianxing shrugged. "Word is his spiritual energy fell short at the final moment; he was just a hair away. He still took the top spot in the talisman group, though."
Mu Wenyan and Jiang Yifan pushed open the door and walked in as well.
"The situation isn't great," Mu Wenyan said with a solemn expression. "The other two sects that advanced—the Xuan Tian Sect and the Jinyang Sect—are both powerful first-rate sects with deep foundations."
Feng Qingping thought for a moment and asked, "Jinyang Sect... isn't that the Buddhist sect? The one that focuses on body cultivation?"
Mu Wenyan nodded. "The Jinyang Sect is a long-standing first-rate sect, famous for their Indestructible Vajra Bodies. It's not surprising they advanced."
Duan Xianxing couldn't help but complain, "Those monks and their constant 'Amitabha' drive me crazy! I sparred with them once, and I had to hear that Buddhist chant eight hundred times in a single fight!"
Everyone laughed helplessly at Duan Xianxing's words, but their attention soon returned to the Xuan Tian Sect.
Feng Weilan spoke first. "Xuan Tian Sect... isn't that the sect of Wen Qianhui, the one who was thrashed by Fourth Senior Brother?"
Jiang Yifan nodded slightly. For a moment, the atmosphere in the residence grew heavy.
Zhu Yinxi frowned and said, "If it really is that Xuan Tian Sect, they will likely target us with everything they've got in the team competition."
Wen Qianhui's death hung over everyone's hearts like an invisible shadow.
Although the members of the Five Elements Dao Sect knew he had ultimately died at the hands of the Sword Heart Sect, the brutal scene of that match had certainly caused the Xuan Tian Sect to lose face.
Even more unsettling was that the Xuan Tian Sect had kept the news of Wen Qianhui's death strictly under wraps.
The outside world assumed he was still in closed-door cultivation to heal his injuries, unaware that his soul had long since been extinguished.
Li Nanzhu looked at Mu Wenyan. "Eldest Senior Brother, has there been no movement from the Xuan Tian Sect yet?"
Mu Wenyan shook his head slightly, making the tension even more palpable.
"We'll face what comes and block what moves. What's there to fear?" Zhu Yinxi broke the silence. "Since we know, we should just prepare. They'll probably use underhanded tricks; they won't do anything too outrageous on the surface."
"Second Senior Brother is right. Since..."
Halfway through her sentence, the communication jade slip at Li Nanzhu's waist suddenly glowed with a soft light. She looked down, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes. "It's Senior Sister Rong."
She immediately infused it with spiritual energy, and Rong Yuying's cautious voice came from the slip.
"Little Zhu'er? Is it convenient to talk?"
Li Nanzhu responded instantly, "Please go ahead, Senior Sister Rong. Everyone here is one of our own."
Rong Yuying's voice relaxed slightly. "Good, then I'll keep it brief. The Hehuan Sect has scouted the specific rules for the first round of the team competition tomorrow."
Mu Wenyan signaled for everyone to set up a soundproofing barrier and said deeply, "Please tell us, Fellow Daoist Rong. We're all listening."
Rong Yuying's voice became serious. "The competition venue is the Mist Secret Realm, a trial ground co-controlled by the seven major sects. This time, it has been specially modified. The interior is filled with dense mist, and visibility is less than thirty feet."
Duan Xianxing couldn't help but interject, "The Mist Secret Realm? What about divine sense?"
Rong Yuying replied, "That's the key. The secret realm has a special restriction. The range of every cultivator's divine sense is suppressed to within a hundred feet."
Zhu Yinxi frowned and asked, "Is there anything special about the rules?"
"Yes, that's what I was about to say next," Rong Yuying continued. "There are a total of two hundred sect flags in the secret realm, with twenty belonging to each sect. Finding your own sect's flag grants double points, while finding another sect's flag grants a base of ten points."
Feng Qingping keenly caught the main point. "Meaning we must prioritize finding our own flags?"
"Exactly," Rong Yuying's voice continued. "But there are more detailed rules you need to pay attention to."
"There is a guardian beast near every sect flag, ranging from tier 2 to tier 4."
Duan Xianxing sucked in a breath. "Tier 2 to tier 4? Doesn't that mean we might have to face Nascent Soul stage demonic beasts?"
Rong Yuying confirmed, "Yes. Moreover, each sect can send a maximum of twenty disciples into the competition."
Zhu Yinxi asked with a frown, "What about the ownership of the flags? Can they be stolen from each other?"
"That is the most critical point." Rong Yuying's tone was heavy. "Flags can be seized from other sects, but be careful."
"If you seize a flag that belongs to your own sect but was previously taken by another, the points can only be counted as the base ten points. In other words, once a flag has been held by another sect, taking it back only grants the same points as a foreign sect's flag."
"This..." Everyone looked at each other. If that were the case, the priority of their own flags rose even higher. After all, twenty of their own flags could accumulate four hundred points, but if they were all snatched by other sects first, they would only be worth two hundred.
"Not only that," Rong Yuying added, "if a disciple's flag is stolen, their personal points will be halved."
Feng Qingping said worriedly, "This is too disadvantageous for us. We only have seven people. We have to find flags, prevent them from being stolen, and deal with demonic beasts..."
Mu Wenyan pondered. "Fellow Daoist Rong, are there any other rules we should know?"
"Yes," Rong Yuying continued. "The competition lasts for three days and three nights. Every half hour, the edges of the secret realm will begin to shrink. The safe area will gradually decrease. If a contestant is in the shrinking zone when the area contracts, they will be directly eliminated."
"There's one more thing to note. If a contestant is eliminated by the shrinking safe area, one-fourth of the points they have already accumulated will be deducted."
Duan Xianxing cried out, "What? Points are deducted for being eliminated? That's way too harsh!"
Zhu Yinxi frowned. "This means we not only have to find and steal flags but also constantly monitor the changes in the safe area."
"The final ranking is based on the total points of all disciples in the sect. Everyone starts with ten initial points."
Jiang Yifan said, "This is actually very bad for us. We only have seven people, while other sects have twenty. Even if our individual points are high, we can't compete with their advantage in numbers, so..."
"We must prioritize eliminating the others," Mu Wenyan answered.
Hearing this, Li Nanzhu suddenly felt a strange sense of familiarity. These rules... weren't they exactly like a certain game from her past life? Although she had never played it, she had heard of the 'running the poison' mechanic.
She never expected she would have to experience this kind of Battle Royale mode firsthand in the cultivation world.
Li Nanzhu asked, "Senior Sister Rong, are there any patterns to how the safe area shrinks?"
"We don't know that either." Rong Yuying was clearly frustrated. "Currently, we only know the shrinking is random, but it's said that the later it gets, the faster it shrinks. Is there anything else you want to ask?"
"Senior Sister Rong," Li Nanzhu spoke up. "Is there any movement from the Xuan Tian Sect?"
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