Immortality and Cultivation: This old man seeks enlightenment through mere survival.

Lu Zaian was not angry at the mockery of the Chen family disciples; it wasn't worth it.

His acting was superb; he adopted a respectful demeanor and pulled out five bronze identity tokens of the Demon-Slaying Alliance from his storage bag.

"Brothers, please look. This is proof of the Demon-Slaying Alliance disciple that I risked my life to kill."

"Considering my long-standing admiration for the Chen family, could you please make an exception?"

As he spoke, Lu Zaian took out over a hundred spirit stones and distributed them to the group.

Don't be fooled by the arrogant attitude of these Chen family disciples.

But if someone were truly capable, why would they be assigned to guard the goal?

He's probably just a marginal figure in the Chen family.

They were guarding the gate, and it was already considered quite good if they could squeeze out a hundred or two spirit stones from each rogue cultivator.

Sure enough, their expressions softened immediately upon seeing the bronze plaque and spirit stones.

"Hehe, that makes things easier."

You're a capable and intelligent young man. I have high hopes for you. Come with me!

A thin man stepped forward and led Lu Zaian inside.

Along the way, Lu Zaian chatted with this guy for a few minutes and managed to extract some information from him.

The Chen family will indeed hold a major election at the end of this month.

However, it was not as Lu Zaian had learned through soul searching.

Instead, there have been slight changes.

This time, not only independent cultivators can participate, but also disciples of the Chen family and other disciples of the demonic path.

Those who stand out from the crowd will be granted the surname "Chen" and join the Chen family.

Other disciples of the demonic path can also receive substantial rewards.

Halfway up Yuchan Peak.

Chen Lei led Lu Zaian to a spacious training ground.

The place was already bustling with people and filled with noise.

Countless independent cultivators sat on the ground, some with their eyes closed to rest, others chatting in small groups.

"This is it. You're late. The selection process will begin in a few days. Go and register first."

The registration office was managed by an elderly man at the eighth level of Qi Refining.

"Elder Huo, this person is also here to participate in the election. Could you please register him?"

Chen Lei seemed to have changed his demeanor, bowing respectfully to the old man before him.

Huo Lao laboriously lifted his eyelids and glanced at Lu Zaian, saying indifferently:

"What level of ability do you have? Are you qualified?"

"Yes, yes, kid, hurry up and take out your bronze medal, cough cough..."

Chen Lei quickly reminded him, covering his mouth and coughing twice.

Lu Zaian immediately understood. He skillfully took out one hundred spirit stones and handed them over, and then handed over the five bronze tokens as well.

Huo Lao snatched the spirit stones away, his murky old eyes filled with greed.

"Hehe, you're a sensible kid. Let me ask you one more time: do you want to improve your ranking in the competition?"

"Oh? What makes you say that, Elder Huo?" Lu Zaian asked.

"Ahem, in this arena competition, the opponents are randomly selected, some weak and some strong, so luck is naturally involved..."

Huo Lao raised his eyes and hinted.

The implication is that they have a way to control the opponents Lu Zaian is matched with.

Upon hearing this, Lu Zaian was taken aback.

Good heavens, they're trying every trick in the book to swindle the spirit stones they have!

What I know is that the Chen family is recruiting independent cultivators.

Anyone who didn't know better would think they'd stumbled into a den of thieves.

So the Chen family doesn't do business at a loss?

Every rogue cultivator who comes in gets nothing but scrape before they can even get any benefits or resources.

Lu Zaian looked around and saw that there were so many rogue cultivators sitting in the training ground.

It's impossible for everyone to pay this amount of spirit stones, right?

Otherwise, how can we arrange the competition?

In other words, this old guy in front of me is just swindling spirit stones.

Anyway, these rogue cultivators can't do anything to the Chen family, so they can only suffer in silence.

Once he understood this, Lu Zaian quickly chuckled awkwardly.

"I am short of spirit stones and have no more to offer you, sir. There is no need to arrange this competition."

But when Huo Lao heard this, he immediately became unhappy.

"Can't even come up with a few hundred or a few dozen yuan? Who are you trying to fool? Do you still want to compete?"

Seeing that Elder Huo was practically extorting money, many rogue cultivators nearby were drawn to his presence.

Some people sneered repeatedly, secretly spitting out:

"Hehe, it's that old geezer again, that kid is in trouble too."

Someone, sharing the same plight, sighed and said:

"Alas, what can we, mere rogue cultivators, do? In order to find protection from a powerful force and obtain resources, we have no choice but to endure it..."

"yes……"

Most of these independent cultivators lived in areas under the jurisdiction of the Demon Spear Sect or the original Zixiao Temple.

The "war to slay the demons" continues.

Although it is controlled within the scope of low-level cultivators.

But it was precisely them who got hurt.

In such a chaotic world, they could only seek to join a faction for protection and to obtain resources.

Now we see Lu Zaian also suffering such unfair treatment.

On the one hand, they sympathized with each other's plight, and on the other hand, they gloated and watched the spectacle with amusement...

the other side.

Faced with Chen Huoming's blatant threats and extortion, Lu Zaian also became somewhat angry.

I came here to cause trouble for the Chen family.

I'm not here to put on a smiling face.

You think you can take me for a fool?

Lu Zaian slowly wiped the smile off his face, stared at Chen Huo, and said coldly:

"Of course we should compete! I've heard that the more Demon-Slaying Alliance disciples you kill, the more favor you'll receive from the Chen family?"

Chen Huo narrowed his eyes, noticing Lu Zaian's dissatisfaction, but he just smiled dismissively.

"That's right. If you can produce ten bronze medals as proof, I can exempt you from the preliminary selection."

If we can win fifteen bronze medals, we can skip the second round and go straight to the final ranking tournament.

At this point, Chen Huo paused noticeably, then sneered in a hoarse voice:

"But can you, a country bumpkin, even produce that?"

Can a peasant like him produce that?

Can you produce it?

Chen Huo's hoarse voice wasn't loud, but it carried throughout a large part of the nearby martial arts training ground.

The other members of the Chen family turned a blind eye to this.

"Sigh, you little brat, you asked for trouble..."

Chen Lei, who had initially thought highly of Lu Zaian, shook his head repeatedly.

It's just a little bit of spirit stones, isn't it?

How come you were so sensible just now, but suddenly you can't do it?

This Elder Huo is from the same lineage as the family head, unlike them who are from collateral branches.

Even within the Chen family, few disciples dared to offend this old fellow.

Therefore, this old fellow extorted so many spirit stones from the rogue cultivators, yet no one dared to say anything...

Around them, no independent cultivators stood up to speak for Lu Zaian.

They were all victims, yet at this moment they were all indifferent or gloating...

It was as if only by being blackmailed and harassed like Lu Zaian could their resentment be appeased.

"Hehe, since that's the case, then I'll trouble Elder Huo to help me count them..."

Lu Zaian took in everyone's expressions and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

He immediately began taking out one bronze medal, two, three... from his storage bag.

Bang, bang, bang—!

One after another, gleaming bronze plaques slammed onto the table with a resounding thud.

With each piece that Lu Zaian threw out.

The hearts of everyone present suddenly skipped a beat!

"This...how is this possible?"

"Really? This kid can kill so many Demon-Slaying Alliance disciples?!"

"Why should he?"