I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 146: The Sect Paying Homage
Li Qingtian returned to the capital, and the position of Grandmaster would be re-elected this year. This news was like a bolt from the blue, and it immediately turned the martial arts world, which had been peaceful for several years, upside down. In less than three days, the elders of various sects rushed to the capital with their elite children.

Of course, this was a polarization. The sects with strong foundation and strength were working hard, while the sects with weak foundation and only a few outstanding disciples simply gave up on registering.

The reason is the same as the last selection of Tanhua.

Normally, these small sects with no background have to spend all their resources to barely cultivate one or two decent people. Their hope is to earn a ranking that is favorable to the sect during the national competition. Even if they can't get a state martial arts pastor, at least they can get a county lieutenant or a military position, which can bring a certain improvement to the sect.

But this time, it is obvious that the big sects are gearing up to fight for that slight chance to become a grandmaster. At this time, if some of your small sects send their own people to join in, aren't you asking for trouble?
"Aren't there any competitions in the world where anyone who doesn't make it into the top 16 can choose to give up their spot and participate next time?" Zhang Rui looked at the registration list, which included a large group of well-known sects, and suddenly became curious.

The Dali Temple is also a very busy department during the National Competition. It must pay close attention to people coming to Beijing. Once any trouble occurs, the relationships between the characters must be sorted out as soon as possible in order to solve the case as quickly as possible. As a judge, Zhang Rui naturally had to memorize the members of those sects in his first year.

"Lord Zhang, you sound like you have never seen a national competition." Shen Yuan came in person to help sort out the information this time, which was a great honor for the emperor. Now everyone in the Dali Temple knew that Lord Shaoqing and the new Lord Zhang, who was upright, had a close relationship.

"Huh?" Zhang Rui was stunned and didn't react.

Shen Yuanze smiled and said, "This world competition is not a simple competition between sects. A good quota will bring good resources. Naturally, no one will hold back. Over the past thousand years, a tacit understanding has been formed. No matter how good the relationship between the sects is, once the disciples participate in this world competition, life and death are decided. They will never make enemies because of it, so."

"Is there a risk of falling?" Zhang Rui finally understood.

"Even if you don't die, just being injured is troublesome. It takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone, especially for some important parts. Once there is damage, it will be difficult to return to the peak."

"I see." Zhang Rui finally understood everything.

It takes decades of hard work to train a top-notch disciple. Once there is damage, it will be troublesome, so it is best to hit the target with one strike. Who would let their children participate in competitions every day for fun?

What's more, there is an age limit for the competition. This time, Li Qingtian rewrote the rules and relaxed it to forty years old. In the past, the maximum age for the competition was only thirty. Taking into account the training time, the age limit of thirty means that 99% of people will only have one chance to participate in their lifetime.

Small sects have few resources, and top-quality medicinal materials for healing are a considerable expense. Sometimes, if a disciple is disabled, the resources used to heal him would be better used to train new disciples. This is the dilemma of having no money on hand. In this case, unless they are extremely courageous, why would they compete with the big sects?
"Hey, this Ao Yun Sect is..." Zhang Rui quickly saw a very impressive but unfamiliar sect name in the list.

In order to remember the details of some sects in the past two days, he wrote down all the slightly famous ones. There was no reason why he couldn't see such a famous name as Ao Yun Sect.

"Hmm?" Shen Yuan also looked over and touched his chin curiously: "I haven't heard of this before, and it's from the southwest."

"Southwest. Is there any problem?" Zhang Rui was curious.

"The environment in the southwest is very bad." Shen Yuan explained: "Before Duke Jin came, it was basically a no-man's land, with countless hidden families accumulated there. In addition, the southern border has a large population and is uncivilized, making it the best place for flesh and blood. Not to mention the martial arts sects, even the imperial court dared to set up offices only on the periphery."

"Duke Jin rode his horse through southern Xinjiang, killing people everywhere, which made the environment there better. The Five Poison Sect became a big sect in just two hundred years, but the territory is too small. The Wu Mu in the southwest is basically monopolized by the Five Poison Sect. In the past two hundred years, no new people have emerged. The Ao Yun Sect..."

After thinking about it, he asked his men to find out the files of Ao Yun Sect.

Soon, his men found the records of Ao Yun Sect from the mountain of records in the Dali Temple.

The sect was founded ten years ago. Its leader is Yun Yi, an abandoned disciple of the Five Poison Sect. Due to opposition from the Five Poison Sect, he failed to get a recommendation from the imperial court in the three national competitions in the past nine years. However, his sect has actively participated in the imperial court's summons many times, and has never declined in dangerous events such as eradicating evil spirits in southern Xinjiang. In the end, he was recommended by the governor of Shujing himself, and finally got his first chance to participate this year.

"It's considered bad luck." Shen Yuan looked at the information and shook his head, "I finally got a guarantee from an important official in the court, but encountered something like this and was forced to do it."

"Can't we wait until the next session?" Zhang Rui asked curiously, "I see many sects have withdrawn their applications."

"This is his first term. If he misses this term, once the governor is transferred, there will be no more recommendations. God knows when he will get the next recommendation. This is a situation where he has to fight for his life."

“I see.” Zhang Rui looked at the application information. The one who was joining the battle was the sect leader Yun Yi. He was just forty years old, and he probably wanted to win an official position and more resources for the sect’s disciples. It was really difficult for him. He chose such a dazzling name, probably to attract more attention. Once he achieved good results, he might be taken more seriously by the higher-ups.

"The auditions will begin tomorrow. Your first opponent will probably be announced soon. You have to be careful."

"Huh?" Zhang Rui was stunned: "What are you careful about?"

"These big sects have deals with each other, so maybe there won't be any problems. But it's different when they fight against a sect without background. After knowing the list in advance, there are some who will secretly attack or threaten us." Zhang Rui laughed and said, "You mean, they will also come to threaten me?"

After all, he is an upright official of the imperial court. How could he be so arrogant?
"I guess he will come to test you." Shen Yuan nodded.

"Still testing?" Zhang Rui frowned. He was so high-profile some time ago just because he didn't want anyone to test him. Who is so blind?

"It's impossible that the Qi family didn't find out about your actions with Hong Lie that day. Since you wanted to stop them, you're a big enemy to the Qi family. And considering Qi Zheng's matter, how could he not test you? Many of the big sects have deals with the Qi family, and many of them might secretly test you."

"Is that so?" Zhang Rui suddenly had a headache. If he had known earlier, he would have kept it more secretive. Now what should he do?

"I heard that your sister came recently?" Shen Yuan suddenly asked.

"Ahem." Zhang Rui choked and rolled his eyes, "What does it have to do with you?"

Shen Yuan was stunned by such a direct and irritating reply, but he suddenly laughed: "I'm just asking, I don't have any bad intentions."

"Ah"

Shen Yuan shook his head with amusement, but his eyes were full of smiles. If Minister Shen were here, he would definitely sigh that this child seemed to be in a much better mood since he met Zhang Rui.

"I heard that the princess has been visiting your house frequently recently?"

"what happened?"

"Nothing, I just thought that I haven't visited my aunt for a long time. I don't have anything else to do today, so why not take advantage of today."

“No need!!”
-
"Excuse me, is this Mr. Zhang's house?"

At the gate of Zhang's house, Zhang Meng, who was returning home with his eldest sister, saw a middle-aged man visiting. The man was tall, with a handsome and resolute face, full of masculinity. He stood there straight, attracting the attention of some women passing by.

"Uncle Huang, what is this?" Zhang Meng asked curiously as he pulled his elder sister closer.

Zhang Yan also looked around curiously. With the company of her younger sister and mother these days, she gradually came out of the shadow. She ate and drank well these days, and went shopping and playing with her younger sister when she had nothing to do. She was more carefree than when she was a girl. Moreover, the Ran family really did as she said, and never dared to harass her again. The divorce letter was also delivered the day after that day. Everything seemed like a dream.

But no matter what, she enjoyed such days very much. Even if it was just a dream, she planned to maintain it for a while. Then she put aside her worries and started to enjoy herself.

With this change in mentality, her complexion improved a lot in just a few days, which made Aunt Feng very happy. Today, she asked Zhang Meng to take her sister to the street to buy clothes.

The housekeeper at the door of the "Fourth Young Lady" quickly responded: "This is to visit our master."

The uncle was naturally referring to Zhang Rui.

"Why don't you come in?" Zhang Meng frowned.

The butler sighed immediately. He actually wanted to decline politely, saying that the master was not at home. If he invited him in now, he would have to waste time dealing with him when the master came back.

Having worked as a steward in the capital for so many years, he was already accustomed to these martial arts sects that came to visit. Although the martial arts sects and the aristocratic families were in opposition, they also had intentions to cooperate with each other, especially those new sects that wanted to gain power, some of them came to pay their respects to the sorcerer families.

The key point is that the name of Ao Yun Sect is quite intimidating. I have never heard of it before. I don’t know where this fake sect came from. Don’t waste your time.

But when eldest sister Zhang Yan saw the other person, her heart skipped a beat.

Why is it him? ?
(End of this chapter)