Chapter 1736: Under the Spotlight

Ye Liuyun estimated that Li Yuanyang's round trip would take at least twenty‑plus days, after which he could smoothly join the selection.

After Li Yuanyang decided, he immediately gathered his men and set off at once.

He wanted to return early so that Ye Liuyun could promptly continue refining pills.

The Martial Cultivator selection has already been arranged, and there is nothing he worries about.

As soon as Li Yuanyang left, Li Manfu ran over to inform Ye Liuyun.

"The training starts in two days; with the City Lord absent, Brother Ye, your participation will be even more convenient!"

Ye Liuyun nodded, about to dismiss him, when Li Manfu added, "Brother Ye, I just heard something happened at Xuanbing Palace!"

"Oh?

What happened?"

Ye Liuyun became concerned as well, wanting to see what was going on at Xuanbing Palace.

"A month ago, Xuanbing Palace wiped out the Black Tiger Gang.

The Xiao Bingshen who abducted you died in that battle.

Someone said that before Xiao Bingshen died, he also looted all of Xuanbing Palace's resources!"

Li Manfu told Ye Liuyun.

"Is that so?"

Ye Liuyun feigned surprise, then said, "Serves him right; that person was insatiably greedy, even trying to snatch a single pill! Good death!"

"Exactly! Such a person, even in death, can only leave a cursed reputation!"

Li Manfu also nodded in agreement.

"Did Xuanbing Palace recover those resources?"

Ye Liuyun asked again.

"No.

The palace master of Xuanbing Palace was also furious, believing that the Black Tiger Gang's leader Ma Wanhao, after killing Xiao Bingshen, fled with the resources! In any case, things inside are chaotic, and no one can clarify!"

That's all the information Li Manfu heard.

All of it just came from Xuanbing Palace.

"Hmm! It must have been someone stronger than Xiao Bingshen who took them!"

Ye Liuyun added.

After Li Manfu left, Ye Liuyun felt relieved.

With Ma Wanhao taking the blame, he wasn't worried that Xuanbing Palace would trace anything back to him.

Anyway, the people of Xuanbing Palace could never find evidence against him.

But to be safe, he still shouldn't reveal his Ice Power for now!

Two days later, the selection training officially began.

Ye Liuyun sent his duplicate, cloaked in the Invisibility Cloak, to escort the others out of Chengzhu Fu, then go find Li Manfu.

Li Manfu, following Ye Liuyun's instructions, registered their identities, and led them together with Ye Liuyun to blend into the training cohort.

Only Ye Liuyun didn't let the duplicate join, to avoid exposing his identity.

Black Panther served as Ye Liuyun's personal ferocious beast in the battle, counted as part of his strength.

The inspector sent from the Western Liang Royal Mansion was a middle‑aged man with a Da Huzi, who, after counting the numbers, began having them draw lots for the first elimination round.

Ye Liuyun used his Divine Sense to scan the Martial Cultivators and found most were ordinary civilians.

But there were also many genuine Martial Cultivators, including some in the late first‑stage and early second‑stage.

It was unclear what motives these people had for entering the competition.

The inspector from the Western Liang Royal Mansion sat half‑asleep on one side, paying no attention to them at all.

He was at the mid‑second‑stage realm; after a glance he could tell the level of these people.

But this is the situation every year: many civilians are dragged in to fill numbers, and he can only, helplessly, eliminate the ordinary civilians through the early rounds.

Thus, at the start of the elimination matches, he simply didn't want to pay attention.

However, his duty required him to be present.

Ye Liuyun, Lei Ming and others faced ordinary civilians in the first round.

Basically there was no fighting; just by exuding aura, the opponents surrendered outright.

So the first elimination round proceeded very quickly; in two days, half of the Martial Cultivators were eliminated.

Then came the second elimination round.

The people of Chengzhu Fu were also adept at arranging things; any genuine Martial Cultivators were never made to meet in the elimination matches.

They only used the elimination rounds to weed out the ordinary civilians as much as possible.

Otherwise, if everyone died, they wouldn't be able to capture enough people next year.

Five days later, the participants were whittled down to just over 1,200 people.

Only then did the training formally begin.

Chengzhu Fu began issuing each person a first‑grade Body‑Refining and Qi‑Cultivation Pill daily, and those without weapons were also given common‑grade arms.

The Martial Cultivators also started forming squads, ten per team, training and fighting together.

Li Manfu placed Lei Ming and others in Ye Liuyun's team, so they could look after each other easily.

Those assigned to the same team had no chance for desperate melee.

Ye Liuyun and his few companions happened to make up half of the team.

The remaining five were ordinary civilians.

After the teams were set, member elimination matches between squads began.

Ye Liuyun and his group easily eliminated those five civilians.

"From now on, the teams will no longer be eliminated.

Starting tomorrow, the sub‑teams will fight to the death, all the way to the end, and will always go into battle in squad formation!"

Li Manfu informed Ye Liuyun.

Then he said anxiously, "In this selection, there are two second‑stage early Martial Cultivators, and more than ten first‑stage late Martial Cultivators.

There are also over fifty first‑stage mid‑stage Martial Cultivators, a relatively strong cohort! I'll try to arrange things so they don't encounter you.

If they do meet, I'll tell you in advance: just concede outright!"

"No need to make any more deliberate arrangements! If we work together, even against second‑stage early Martial Cultivators, it won't be a problem!"

Ye Liuyun didn't let Li Manfu keep making deliberate arrangements for him; that was enough.

"Alright then, be careful from now on; I won't make any more deliberate arrangements!"

Li Manfu thought that was about right and temporarily agreed.

"But the battles from now on will be public."

Li Manfu reminded Ye Liuyun.

"Public?"

Ye Liuyun was a little puzzled.

"Can't Chengzhu Fu earn some income from this?"

Li Manfu said with a smile.

"Oh! Your City Lords really know how to make money!"

Ye Liuyun finally understood: Chengzhu Fu uses the fights between the teams to attract spectators and thus earn revenue.

"All the cities do this, not just us.

Otherwise, those who put in effort and resources would have no income; Chengzhu Fu would be losing money!"

Li Manfu explained.

But this doesn't affect Ye Liuyun much; fight however they see fit.

That night, during the rest period, Ye Liuyun led everyone back to their quarters, all returning to Xuan Kong Shi to cultivate.

After many days of cultivation, Ye Liuyun, his clone, and Lei Ming's realms all rose to a first‑stage pinnacle state, just waiting to break through after the selection training.

Man Shu, Long Nv, Ye Tiandao, and Black Panther were also on the verge of breaking through the first‑stage late level.

Therefore Ye Liuyun's team was definitely the strongest.

The inspector from the Royal Mansion of the Western Liang saw that Ye Liuyun and his companions were quite strong, and noticed that each night they had their own separate quarters, not sharing with others, so he paid special attention to this team.

The next day's competition took Ye Liuyun and his group to a massive arena.

Bleachers surrounded it on all sides.

When they arrived, the sidelines were already filled with spectators.

All the teams were divided into two groups and taken to opposite ends of the arena to await the match.