Chapter 425: Cultivators and Practitioners

As the youngest ever to ascend to the position of Daozi in the history of the Taishang Dao Sect, Zhao Ruoming was under considerable pressure.

Or rather, since the moment he began cultivating, his pressure had never lessened.

The son of the Ancestor, born with innate divine abilities.

Merely this fact meant that no matter what achievements he made, many would attribute them to his father—the Ancestor Seeing Hong Zun of the Taishang Dao Sect.

And he… could not refute it.

Could he really say he had cultivated to this point entirely on his own?

That would be too pretentious.

Precisely because of this, Zhao Ruoming had always wanted to prove himself.

In the previous Xian Sect Grand Competition, he was not yet the Daozi of the Taishang Dao Sect, and his realm was only Jin Dan.

That year, Chi Jiuyu did not compete for reasons unknown; though the path was difficult, he ultimately claimed first place in the Jin Dan division.

But the last competition was different…

As Zhao Ruoming recalled the events of the last competition, he gradually calmed: "Who will ultimately claim victory is still unknown—past failures will not be repeated."

"Oh." Chi Jiuyu scratched his head.

This guy was acting so strangely—he asked about the trigger condition for his innate divine ability, and Chi Jiuyu went off on this bizarre tangent.

Isn't this answering something completely unrelated?

Forget it.

Hehuan Laozu just couldn't communicate well with people whose brains worked so oddly.

So Chi Jiuyu stopped talking to him and turned to chat with Zhao Ruohan; the two of them conversed quite pleasantly.

Zhao Ruoming, who had witnessed all this firsthand, understood clearly.

Indeed, only his own mentally unusual sister could get along with someone as abstract as Chi Jiuyu.

But it couldn't be denied… abstract as he was, Chi Jiuyu was truly formidable.

In the last Xian Sect Grand Competition, he competed in the Nascent Soul division and had initially been confident of winning the championship.

But once the competition began, he realized the prodigies were more numerous than he'd imagined.

What impressed him most were the two competitors from the Hehuan Sect who had cultivated the "Self" Supreme Legacy—their divine abilities were absurdly powerful!

Fortunately, he barely managed to prevail.

After that, he faced Chi Jiuyu.

That was the darkest day of Zhao Ruoming's life; before that day, he had always believed Nascent Soul cultivators couldn't be much stronger than that.

But from the very instant they clashed, he was immediately at a disadvantage.

No matter which divine ability he used, Chi Jiuyu dismantled it effortlessly—it was outright domination.

Divine abilities, realm, battle experience—every single aspect towered above him!

After struggling for several minutes, Chi Jiuyu's words, "Boring," finally broke his composure, so he unleashed his innate divine ability—Qian Yuan Bu Mie Yu Qing Xuan Guang.

Let me be clear!

He was not crying because he was beaten!

It was just that his lifelong conviction had been shattered by his own hands, so he couldn't help but be overcome with emotion…

As Saint Emperor Yuan had said: "A true man does not shed tears easily—only when his heart is broken."

He really wasn't crying because he was beaten!!!

In any case, after unleashing Qian Yuan Bu Mie Yu Qing Xuan Guang, he was finally able to stand on equal footing with him.

But in the end, he still lost—to her.

Though unwilling, he could not deny it—he simply could not match her!

Since then, he trained relentlessly, honing his divine abilities, all to defeat her in the next Xian Sect Grand Competition!

Thirty years east of the river…

No, not that long.

Three years east, three years west—don't underestimate the young…

Dingling!

A sudden message alert interrupted Zhao Ruoming's thoughts.

It was still "Special Attention."

Zhao Ruohan and Chi Jiuyu fell silent and turned to look at him.

Zhao Ruoming, upon pulling out his phone, also noticed this.

"…"

He glanced at the screen and saw the sender's nickname was "Zhiwei," and the message was a voice note.

"None of your business—keep talking."

He then pulled a pair of headphones from his storage ring—a high-end model designed to prevent eavesdropping.

After all, cultivators had sharp hearing and sight; without special shielding, ordinary headphones were no different from shouting right beside the ear.

He leaned aside, confirmed they couldn't see his phone screen, then opened the voice note.

"Brother Ruoming, have you arrived at the Xiang Jianzong?"

The voice was pleasant, yet crisp and decisive, evoking an image of a spirited woman in red, hair bound, standing in snow.

A faint smile appeared on Zhao Ruoming's face.

Hmm…

"Your brother's smiling in a creepy way," Chi Jiuyu said to Zhao Ruohan.

He's clearly imagining something lewd!

"It's always been like this," Zhao Ruohan paused, then added to herself, "He looks so stupid—I think you beat him senseless."

"It really does look similar," Chi Jiuyu murmured in wonder. "Say, could there be some side effect from his innate divine art? Like lowering his IQ or something?"

"Generally speaking, no—but he… I'm not sure."

Zhao Ruoming was completely absorbed in the news about 'Zhiwei' and paid no attention to what the two were saying.

Master Xiao Yu remained in his usual aloof, detached demeanor.

The matter of Xiao Shu Zu Zhao Ruoming had long ceased to be a secret in the Taishang Dao Sect. No one knew why the Ancestral Master and the Sect Lord had never intervened.

…

…

Not long after, near the lodging assigned to the Taishang Dao Sect's competition team.

Along both sides of the road, green trees cast shade; the air was rich with spiritual energy, and occasionally one could spot fruit trees hanging with unripe or ripe spiritual fruits.

Though edible, their medicinal value and flavor were mediocre, so they were used purely for decoration.

Xu Xing stood beside a tree, gazing into the distance.

"They should be arriving soon."

With nothing better to do and knowing the Taishang Dao Sect's team was nearly here, he simply came over to check the situation.

Zhao Ruohan and that fool Jiuyu were cut from the same cloth—both a bit off in the head—and she had a twin brother too…

!

Sure enough, a fleet of flying shuttles appeared from the horizon, and as they drew nearer, their speed gradually slowed.

Without further delay, Xu Xing walked forward.

Before he had gone far, several figures emerged one by one from around the corner.

Leading the way was Chi Jiuyu; behind him followed Master Xiao Yu, Zhao Ruohan, and the rest of the Taishang Dao Sect's competitors.

But Zhao Ruoming walked at the very back, lagging half the group, wearing headphones and staring intently at his phone screen.

With that level of focus, had he not already reached Soul Transformation, he would have long since crashed headfirst into a tree.

Sure enough—another one who's not quite right.

Soon the group passed by one after another, unaware that Xu Xing stood right beside them.

Until Zhao Ruoming came close—Xu Xing had already prepared to greet the son of Hong Zundaoyou and offer him a gift…

But Zhao Ruoming didn't even lift his head—he walked straight past Xu Xing without a glance.

Hm?

Xu Xing turned back to look—and saw him still glued to his phone screen, occasionally smiling, utterly immersed in his chat.

As for who had just passed by…

He probably hadn't noticed at all.

"…"

Interesting. It seems the time for meeting hasn't come yet.

Xu Xing smiled, chose not to disturb him, shook his head slightly, and walked away.

Yet who would have thought that Hong Zundaoyou himself was so…

But his son was so…

Truly, the world is unpredictable.

………

On another front, under Chi Jiuyu's guidance, the Taishang Dao Sect's competition team quickly received their rooms.

Zhao Ruoming arrived late, so he was assigned a room with only average conditions—but not by much.

After that came free time.

If anyone had acquaintances in the Xiang Jianzong, they could visit them or go out together.

Of course, as the most reclusive sect in the Taixuan Realm, most people stayed locked in their rooms, doing who-knew-what.

In the end, only one or two who weren't quite so antisocial chose to go out.

It wasn't to visit others—they were heading to the Xiang Jianzong's Miscellaneous Affairs Hall to handle formalities, then find a place to gather the Xiang Jianzong's celestial qi.

The Xiang Jianzong gathered the greatest number of sword cultivators in the Taixuan Realm, so even its celestial qi had been subtly altered—when used for cultivation, it occasionally carried extra properties.

Even if one couldn't use it oneself, one could bring it back to the sect to sell; the Xiang Jianzong's gathered celestial qi was quite popular.

For instance, certain abilities of the Lingxiao lineage required large quantities of sword qi harvested from sword cultivators.

Zhao Ruohan chose not to go out; instead, she stayed in her room with Chi Jiuyu, studying the basic information about the Xian Sect Grand Competition's trial realm—the Xuan Realm.

The content was sparse—merely a brief overview of the cultivation system within the Xuan Realm, even omitting which factions existed inside.

It felt as if part of the information had been deliberately withheld.

The specific rules of this Grand Competition would not be officially announced until tomorrow.

On the sofa by the window, Chi Jiuyu and Zhao Ruohan compared the materials issued by the two sects.

Aside from slight differences in wording, the actual content was nearly identical.

"This Grand Competition is so mysterious—it must be more complicated than it seems," Chi Jiuyu muttered.

In the past, most competitions were just puzzles, one-on-one duels, or mass brawls.

"Mm," Zhao Ruohan nodded slightly. "I asked my mother—she only told me this Xian Sect Grand Competition is an experiment."

"Exactly! My master said the same thing—said it's paving the way for future matters."

Cryptic bastards!

"By the way," Zhao Ruohan speculated, "the cultivators in the Xuan Realm call themselves 'cultivators of immortality.' Could that term be relevant in the upcoming competition?"

"'Cultivators of immortality'? Seems like just a title—probably has no special meaning," Chi Jiuyu rubbed his chin.

Just like how in the Xuan Realm they're called 'cultivators,' it should just be a way of referring to a specific group of people.

"After all, their Return-to-Void cultivators still call themselves 'Immortal Sovereigns.' The two of us, Soul Transformation cultivators, go in — who knows, we might be able to snag ourselves an 'Immortal Title' too."

"Makes sense."

Maybe I'm just overthinking it.

"Let's see what the format of the Grand Competition is like later. If the rules are fairly open, and you're interested, go investigate."

It's no big deal! (End of chapter)