Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 197 Cruel and ruthless
It was almost noon when two beams of light shot out from a distance and landed in the middle of the venue, revealing two men dressed in the uniforms of the Beast Taming Sect. One of them was Yang Jinzhang, the Beast Taming Sect's chief stationed in the western city, and the other was younger, presumably a Foundation Establishment cultivator sent by the Beast Taming Sect specifically in charge of this competition.

"Everyone, please be quiet." Yang Jinzhang waved his hand, and his voice rolled out with spiritual power, falling clearly into the ears of everyone inside and outside the competition venue.

In an instant, the originally noisy sound immediately became much quieter.

"Thank you all for coming from afar to participate in the Foundation Establishment Selection Competition held by our sect. This competition is to select the cultivators with the greatest strength and potential. The winner of the competition will have the opportunity to go to the sect's mountain gate to begin foundation building."

"Let me first introduce you. The person in charge of this competition is Junior Brother Lu Ziyuan, who is standing beside me. Junior Brother Lu is fully responsible for this competition on behalf of our sect and has the final say."

"The competition is in a one-on-one format..."

As Yang Jinzhang was explaining the rules, Zhang Ningyuan squeezed in from outside: "Master, Senior Brother Lin, the competition match has been announced. The gambling house outside has posted it. His opponent is a guy named Han Yuan, who is also at the tenth level of Qi Refining."

The Foundation Establishment selection competition is not decided by drawing lots, but is internally decided by the disciples in charge of the competition in the Beastmaster Sect. There is only one spot anyway, and if you want to win the championship you must defeat everyone, so the rounds of competition are not important, and it makes no difference who the opponent is.

The strong ones will meet sooner or later, it doesn't matter if it's earlier or later. Even if you make it to the finals and get second place, there will be no reward. You will just be the final loser, no different from other losers.

Despite this, there is still room for shady operations.

You all need to know that in this world, anything that is not open and transparent must have something fishy going on. There must be benefits that they don't want others to share, without exception.

The foundation-building selection competition seems fair. If you want to win the championship, you must defeat all participants, no matter who your opponent is.

In fact, it really makes a difference who your opponent is.

For example, among fourteen cultivators at the tenth level of Qi Refining, three have the same spiritual roots and qualifications.

These three people have similar cultivation levels and all have dual spiritual roots. It seems that their strength is comparable and it doesn't matter who they play against. However, the reality is not so.

Because everyone's spiritual root attributes are different, and the spiritual root attributes of each other restrain each other, it will lead to different matchups, making the situation completely tilted.

For example, A's spiritual root attributes are both fire and earth.

Yi's attributes are the dual spiritual roots of water and wood.

Bing's attributes are the dual spiritual roots of gold and earth.

These three people created a situation of cyclical attribute restraint.

Among the five elements, wood overcomes earth, earth overcomes water, water overcomes fire, fire overcomes metal, and metal overcomes wood.

Therefore, the attribute spiritual roots of B completely restrain the attribute spiritual roots of A.

The spiritual roots of C's attributes restrain the spiritual roots of B's ​​attributes.

The spiritual roots of A restrain the spiritual roots of C.

So if the Beast Taming Sect disciples want C to win, they should let A and B fight first. Relying on attribute restraint, B's winning rate will of course be much higher than A's.

After B wins, let C play against B, and C's winning rate will naturally be very high.

Similarly, if you want A to win, let B and C play first.

After C wins, A and C will play again.

In this way, they can use the right to arrange the game to tilt the winning rate as much as possible to the participants who want to have a relationship with them.

Where there is room for rent-seeking, there will naturally be a chain of corruption.

In order to win the championship and get the opportunity to go to the Beast Taming Sect's mountain gate to build a foundation, some contestants even paid money to bribe the person in charge to create an advantageous match for themselves.

There is no need to explain the importance of foundation building. It is the top priority for cultivators. Being able to obtain a better spiritual vein site to build the foundation can increase the success rate to a certain extent. There are many people who are willing to spend money for this.

In addition, disciples of the Beast Taming Sect will also earn spirit stones by selling contestants' information.

Anyway, where there is interest, there is always room for private transactions of power and money.

Of course, all the contestants knew that the Beastmaster Sect could use its power to arrange matches behind the scenes to allow those related to them to gain the greatest advantage possible, but there was nothing they could do about it.

This is actually a competition organized by the Beast Taming Sect. To put it bluntly, those who come to participate in the competition are beggars who are begging for the opportunity to build their foundation at the Beast Taming Sect's mountain gate. They have no qualifications to make any conditions or bargain.

What's more, a truly strong person doesn't care who he plays against. If you feel that the game is unfair and the opponent's spiritual root attributes just restrain you, causing you to lose the game, it only means that your strength is not strong enough.

"Han Yuan? Which sect is he from?" Song Xian asked immediately after hearing this.

"I don't have a sect, I'm just a casual cultivator. The odds at the gambling house are 10 to 13 for Han Yuan, and Senior Brother Lin's odds are 10 to 6."

"Why is there such a big difference?"

Both of them are cultivators at the tenth level of Qi Refining, and have never fought before. Logically, the odds shouldn't be so different.

"I was also curious, so I found the person in charge of the gambling house and bought Han Yuan's information. It turns out that this person has four spiritual roots." Zhang Ningyuan flipped his hand and took out a scroll with Han Yuan's personal information on it.

Every participant in the competition must truthfully fill in their own information, such as name, origin, background, cultivation level, spiritual roots, and age.

No one dares to play tricks in this regard and use false information to deceive, so the final decision-making power lies in the hands of the Beastmaster Sect. Even if you get first place in the competition, you still need to wait for the Beastmaster Sect to report and then wait for review and approval.

If your identity information is falsified and discovered, the Beastmaster Sect will cancel your qualification to use spiritual veins to build your foundation.

It would be a waste of time to work hard to overcome all difficulties and finally be disqualified because of falsified identity information.

Song Xian took the paper scroll from Zhang Ningyuan's hand and took a look at it.

Han Yuan is forty-three years old. He was born in an ordinary family in Fengyuan Town, Bianxi City. He became a mortal at the age of fifteen. He has four spiritual roots and has reached the tenth level of Qi Refining.

"Hey! This person has four spiritual roots and is a casual cultivator, but he has only practiced for less than thirty years and has already reached the tenth level of Qi Refining."

Song Xian was a little surprised. The situation of independent cultivators was already difficult because there were no spiritual veins for them to practice. Most of them could only earn spirit stones through various commercial means, and then absorb the spiritual energy in the spirit stones for practice.

In reality, most casual cultivators lived like ordinary people, working every day to earn spirit stones, and then spending them on various items. Only a very small number of them actually earned a large amount of spirit stones through trading and thus improved their cultivation.

Han Yuan was just a casual cultivator, but he had four spiritual roots, and he actually reached the tenth level of Qi Refining in less than thirty years.

Even if one has dual spiritual roots and a suitable training room, and practices wholeheartedly without doing anything else every day, it will still take about twenty years.

Zhong Wenyuan continued, "There are many cultivators in the cultivation world who are blessed with good fortune. The Sect Master made rapid progress in his cultivation back then thanks to the Soul-Replenishing Pill, advancing from the fourth or sixth level of Qi Refining in just two months. Perhaps this person also obtained the Soul-Replenishing Pill by chance." Song Xian nodded, "That's probably the case. Otherwise, a cultivator with four spiritual roots wouldn't be able to reach the tenth level of Qi Refining so quickly. Although this person has reached the tenth level of Qi Refining, he's young and has four spiritual roots, so he's not a concern. Senior Brother Zixiang should be able to win this fight, but it's like a lion fighting a rabbit, so you have to give it your all. Senior Brother Zixiang, don't be careless."

Lin Zixiang felt slightly relieved when he knew that his opponent was a person with four spiritual roots. He came here with the purpose of winning the championship and was determined to get a spot to go to the Beastmaster Sect's mountain gate to build his foundation. Although it didn't matter who his opponent was, it would still be a bit embarrassing if he was eliminated in the first round.

“I treat it the same no matter who my opponent is.”

"Well, that's a good mindset, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. If you encounter a strong opponent, don't push yourself if you can't win. It's not worth it to lose your life or get seriously injured just for a spot. If you can't get a spot for the Foundation Establishment this time, it won't be too late to participate again when you reach the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. At Brother Zixiang's age, there are plenty of opportunities. If it really doesn't work out, we can always think of other ways. In short, taking care of yourself is the most important thing."

In the foundation-building selection competition, all contestants have signed a life and death agreement when registering to participate, and there have been casualties in previous competitions.

Some people risked their lives to get a place in the foundation-building stage. The strength of both sides was similar, and it was difficult to control during a fierce confrontation. What's more, it was a life-and-death situation, and there would be no punishment for killing others. Of course, they would give it their all.

Victory or defeat, life or death, often happens in a split second, and even a referee cannot stop it in time.

"Don't worry, Master. I know what I'm doing." George Lam nodded.

"By the way, Senior Brother Ning Yuan, which match did Senior Brother Zi Xiang have?"

"The second match is between Senior Brother Lin and Han Yuan." Zhang Ningyuan said with a smile, "I've also bet 100 spirit stones on Senior Brother Lin. Although the odds of 10 to 6 are low, with Senior Brother Lin's ability, winning this match is a sure thing."

"The cultivation world is full of hidden talents and there are many talented people. Those who dare to participate in the competition are all very capable. Don't underestimate your opponents."

.........

Inside the venue, Yang Jinzhang talked with the foundation-building cultivator for a long time. After about a quarter of an hour, the competition officially began.

The first two men to appear were a disciple of Luoyun Sect named Jiang Bufan, who was only at the eighth level of Qi Refining.

The other person is Hua Xuanzong’s disciple, named Cheng Yu, who has reached the ninth level of Qi Refining.

At the referee's shout, the two men landed on the field with their magic weapons, saluted each other with fists, and then separated. Following the order of the Beastmaster Sect disciple, the two men began to attack each other.

Although Jiang Bufan has only reached the eighth level of Qi Refining, he has dual spiritual roots.

Facing Cheng Yu, who was at the ninth level of Qi Refining, he was not at all inferior. The two fought back and forth, using various techniques one by one. In the end, Cheng Yu voluntarily admitted defeat.

After the two left the venue, it was George Lam's turn.

As the referee called out the names of the two opponents, George Lam stood up.

"Brother Lin, come on." Zhang Ningyuan shouted.

George Lam took out a flying magic weapon and left the stands.

At the same time, on the other side of the stands, a man was riding a flying magic weapon towards the field.

Song Xian glanced at him and saw that the man had an ordinary appearance and looked to be about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old.

Because of their practice, monks age more slowly, so it is normal for a forty-year-old to look like he is in his twenties.

The man had no relatives or friends near the stands where he was, and seemed to be a lone ranger.

"This bastard is here too."

"Good people don't live long, but evil people live for thousands of years."

"This guy better be killed by that Lin Zixiang."

While Song Xian was observing the man, he heard a conversation between several people not far away.

Song Xian looked curiously and saw four men and women sitting in the stands on the left not far from him. They looked at the man named Han Yuan with obvious hostility and had no good words to say.

"Fellow Daoists, are you an old acquaintance of Fellow Daoist Han?" Song Xian saw that they kept cursing at Han Yuan, and it seemed that they had a deep hatred for him.

The leader, a middle-aged man at the ninth level of Qi Refining, replied, "Fellow Daoist Lin Zixiang is from your sect, right? Be careful, that Han guy is no good, he's the best at doing dirty work."

After hearing this, the people from Hunyuan Sect became even more curious.

"What do you mean? Oh! I haven't asked for your name yet. I am Song Xian, the headmaster of the Hunyuan Sect."

"So it's Sect Leader Song. My apologies. I'm Qin Xuan, a casual cultivator. These three are my friends."

"Fellow Daoist Qin and this fellow Daoist Han Yuan have a grudge. Why do you say this?"

"We have never dealt with this person. However, he is a well-known figure in the independent cultivator community of Bianxi City. He is notorious. Many people have died at his hands. We also had a friend who was killed by him."

Someone beside the man interrupted, "We didn't know this person was going to face off against your sect's disciples, otherwise we would have warned you. This person is not easy to deal with, and he is ruthless."

Another person said, "It would be best if Fellow Daoist Lin from your clan could kill this man. This would not only avenge Brother Bao but also eliminate a threat to Bianxi City."

At this time, both players are in their positions in the venue, and the referee is explaining the rules to them.

After hearing what these people said, Song Xian became even more curious: "What evil did this person do? How did he kill your friends?"

Qin Xuan said: "To be honest, we didn't witness how this man committed the crime, but we all know that he was the one who killed him."

"We have a friend who was invited to join a treasure-hunting team composed of independent cultivators. We don't know what treasure they found or why they formed this team."

"There are a total of six people in this team, all of whom are in the late stage of Qi Refining. Han Yuan is one of them. Before my friend joined, he informed me of this matter, but since they only wanted one person, I did not go. Only he joined."

"All I know is that we were going to a secret place. As a result, five of the six people in the team have not been heard from since then, and the only one who returned alive is Han Yuan."

"I see." Song Xian nodded. "Excuse my bluntness, but this doesn't prove that this person is the murderer of your friends! It's common for cultivators to team up to hunt for treasure. It's normal for dangers and casualties to occur during treasure hunts. Why do you insist on it being him?"

"If this happens once in a while, it could certainly be a coincidence. But what if it happens all the time? Of all the people who acted with him, whether they were alone or in a team, every time he was the only one who came back, and the others were all dead. Can it still be a coincidence?"

"Is there such a thing?" Song Xian and others couldn't help but look at each other, their expressions very surprised.

"So, besides the team that Daoyou's friends were in, there were other teams that acted with him, but they were all wiped out, leaving only him?"

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't say this. There are at least three improvised teams of independent cultivators in Bianxi City. When they worked with him, all of them disappeared without a trace, except for him. These three teams are all well-documented and proven, with witnesses. As for the people rumored to have been killed by him, there are even more."

(End of this chapter)