Transmigration: A person in a martial arts world, cultivating to ascend to immortality

After his meridians were invaded by the cold air, Zuo Cheng's breathing became disordered, and he could no longer maintain his moves.

The moment the sword light dissipated, Zuo Cheng, who had suffered a backlash, spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered back several steps before regaining his balance.

Jiang Jihai's victory ignited the audience like a flame, instantly filling the sky with cheers and applause.

Having watched so many matches, this was the only one in which a rogue martial artist emerged victorious.

How could they not be excited!

To Zuo Cheng, the prolonged applause and cheers were like resounding slaps to his face, making him wish he could disappear into a crack in the ground.

After the Left Chancellor, filled with shame and resentment, slunk off the training ground, Jiang Jihai did not move. Instead, without taking a break, he immediately selected the next target for sparring.

These actions immediately drew gasps and discussions.

The person Jiang Yuchuan chose was none other than Yan Jiaojiao's fellow disciple, Wan Yuankai.

Jiang Jihai claimed that he had long admired the Xuehua Sect and wanted to take this opportunity to experience their exquisite swordsmanship.

Wan Yuankai, who was selected by Jiang Jihai, was completely dumbfounded and full of rejection.

Although he was only two minor realms apart from Jiang Jihai, which did not exceed the rules of the competition, Wan Yuankai still refused to participate.

He had just witnessed Jiang Jihai's strength firsthand. Asking someone at the late stage of a second-rate realm to spar with such an expert was simply asking for a beating.

At this moment, Tu Jianwu, whose face was ashen, also stood up and spoke, believing that Jiang Jihai was going too far and also disagreeing with Wan Yuankai's participation.

Finally, after discussion among Lu Xuan and the others, they came up with a compromise: to give Wan Yuankai's last chance to compete to his fellow disciple Yan Jiaojiao, who would then take his place and spar with Jiang Jihai.

The proposal was unanimously approved by the three.

This sparked another round of enthusiastic cheers from the spectators, who were eager for a good show.

Having witnessed Jiang Jihai's formidable strength, Yan Jiaojiao dared not underestimate him in the slightest and immediately unleashed her strongest attack.

Yan Jiaojiao was a bit stronger than Zuo Cheng, so in the first few moves, she fought Jiang Jihai to a draw and did not fall behind.

But this situation did not last long. After exchanging the tenth move, Jiang Jihai suddenly increased the force of his palm. The light blue true energy instantly penetrated Yan Jiaojiao's tightly guarded sword move and attacked her!

This sudden change startled Yan Jiaojiao, forcing her to stop fighting with Jiang Jihai and retreat.

When the enemy retreats, we advance.

Pressing his advantage, Jiang Jihai gave Yan Jiaojiao no chance to catch her breath and adjust, continuing to increase the force of his palm strikes, forcing Yan Jiaojiao to defend passively.

After dozens of moves, Yan Jiaojiao, unable to turn the tide no matter what she tried, finally gave up and admitted defeat.

Jiang Jihai's consecutive victories over two disciples from major sects made him the most popular among the twenty-six registered martial artists, and also the one unanimously considered the strongest.

Jiang Jihai's appearance made the rogue martial artists sitting in the stands feel proud and honored.

The competition continued until sunset before finally ending.

With Jiang Jihai's two brilliant matches preceding them, the subsequent battles between martial artists failed to arouse much enthusiasm among the audience.

The only truly exciting match during this period was the battle between Gu Miao and Lu Jingchen.

Both Zuo Cheng and Yan Jiaojiao and Wan Yuankai of the Snowflake Faction had used up their chances to perform, so the task of testing Lu Jingchen in the end naturally fell to Gu Miao.

However, both Gu Miao and Lu Jingchen were at the late stage of the second-rate realm, so even though she tried her best and finally defeated Lu Jingchen by a narrow margin, she still couldn't find out anything.

Although Tu Jianwu, Du Ya, and Yuan Ding were very dissatisfied with the result, they could only accept it silently.

After the competition, it was time to announce the winners and their rewards.

After discussion among Lu Xuan and the others, five people were selected from the twenty-six martial artists who signed up.

The five people are Jiang Jihai, Yan Jiaojiao, Zuo Cheng, Shi Jing, and Lu Jingchen.

While the crowd was surprised by the five people's choice, upon closer examination, they realized it was quite reasonable.

As for the rewards for these five people, apart from Jiang Jihai who received an extra sword, the others each received a thousand taels of silver.

There's an old saying that "the poor are scholars, the rich are warriors," and silver notes are absolutely indispensable for martial artists.

Whether it's the repair and replenishment of elixirs or weapons, it's a considerable expense. Therefore, even those disciples from wealthy families would not refuse the reward of silver notes.

Of course, the reward of five thousand taels of silver was not entirely paid by the Lu family; Du Ya and Tu Jianwu also contributed a portion.

After all, they were the ones who instigated this competition, so it would be inappropriate for them to show no reaction.

After receiving the rewards, it was time for the banquet.

At the banquet, everyone continued to discuss the competition with great interest.

Jiang Jihai and Shi Jing naturally became the targets of everyone's greetings and attempts to befriend them. As for the remaining three—Zuo Cheng, Yan Jiaojiao, and Lu Jingchen—due to their status, few dared to take the initiative to approach them and strike up a conversation.

Especially the Left Chancellor, who always had a cold expression, was someone that people who were not familiar with him did not even want to get close to.

During the banquet, Lu Songlin took the opportunity to lead Jiang Jihai to pay his respects to Du Ya and Shangguan Yulong.

Jiang Jihai was particularly adept at this kind of social maneuvering, so he handled it with ease.

When Shangguan Yulong publicly offered him a position, Jiang Jihai clearly chose to refuse.

Shangguan Yulong was so angry that Jiang Jihai was so ungrateful and embarrassed him in public that he stormed off the table.

Yuan Ding and the others watched coldly, secretly laughing to themselves; this was the outcome they were naturally happy to see.

Furthermore, they never suspected that Jiang Jihai was secretly colluding with the Lu family or even the Third Prince's faction. This was because from the moment Jiang Jihai appeared, he displayed an arrogant, unruly, and self-willed demeanor.

In their eyes, such a young, ambitious, and exceptionally skilled martial artist would naturally not be willing to submit to others and become a henchman for any force.

But what they didn't know was that all of this was a performance put on for them by Jiang Jihai and Shangguan Yulong.

Because of his status as a rogue cultivator, no one else knew about Jiang Jihai's previous friendship with the Third Prince, or even if they did, they didn't pay much attention to this nobody.

But after Jiang Jihai showed off his skills in front of everyone today, everything is different. He is likely to attract the attention of these people. Therefore, it is still necessary to sever ties with the Third Prince's side in public as soon as possible.

Only in this way can he continue to serve as a hidden pawn for the Third Prince, remaining out of sight of everyone.

After Jiang Jihai was taken away by Lu Songlin, Qi Changqing finally found an opportunity to greet Tang Shuwen.

Tang Shuwen was both surprised and excited to run into Qi Changqing here.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Tang Shuwen quickly introduced Qi Changqing to Ye Shuixiang, her junior sister who had come out with her.

Although Ye Shuixiang was very curious about Qi Changqing, she didn't dare to say anything because she saw her senior sister's respectful attitude.

Qi Changqing inquired about Gu Xingzhi and Zhang Yaozong's situation again before returning to their seats with Tang Shuwen.

The banquet lasted for more than an hour before it ended.

Some who had close ties with the Lu family chose to stay at the Lu residence and return the next day.

Those who lived nearby or were not so close to Lu chose to leave overnight and did not stay in the Lu residence any longer.

Not long after Jiang Yuchuan and Qi Changqing returned to their residence, Lu Songlin knocked on Jiang Yuchuan's door.

After Jiang Yuchuan got up and opened the door, Lu Songlin clasped his hands in greeting and stated the purpose of his visit.

"It is truly inappropriate to disturb you so late, sir. After learning that you were also in the residence, Shangguan insisted that I introduce you. Shangguan will be leaving early tomorrow morning, so I would like to take advantage of this time to meet you tonight. I wonder if it is convenient for you?"