Chapter 622: Seven Gates Grand Comparison

Having been sect master for several hundred years, Lei Zhengyang, under whose leadership the Qing Tian Sword Sect had flourished, today seemed like a child, bringing out his master—twice!

If Kongming were here, he would surely grasp Lei Zhengyang's hand, holding it and gazing at each other with tearful eyes, everything understood without words.

Lei Zhengyang left, after smashing a pavilion in Tang Luo's residence.

However, no one took this to heart; as long as Tang Luo didn't engage in any cultivation-reckless nonsense, I want to go from Golden Core to Divine Transformation—everything is negotiable.

Tang Luo agreed first, but how things will turn out, no one can say.

In the following days, friction between the Cangjian Mountain Villa disciples and the Qing Tian Sword Sect disciples gradually subsided.

Everything quieted down again; some sects instead began to bustle, preparing for their competitive matches relying on the Seven Gates Grand Comparison.

As for the Seven Great Sects, they were very quiet.

They didn't need to do a heap of preparation work for the Grand Comparison; when the time came, they just needed to lead their team out.

Half a year passed in a flash.

Zhu Bajie achieved Golden Core at an astonishing speed; Tang Luo's lineage now has one Nascent Soul and two Golden Cores—truly very promising.

It's just that the population has become somewhat sparse.

Many talented disciples wanted to become Tang Luo's disciples, but were all rejected.

Tang Luo had stated the reason: he said his cultivation speed was still acceptable, achieving Divine Transformation—saying it's trivial sounds too arrogant, so let's call it moderate.

But he isn't someone who cares about cultivation; the happiest time of his life was still when he was a mortal, basically never encountering any difficulty in cultivation.

Therefore, in cultivation, there truly is nothing he can guide or teach everyone.

The recommended ones don't really understand the normal process.

As for sword techniques and divine abilities, there are none; no sword technique or divine ability is as effective as a single sword thrust (or smash) forward.

So, not taking disciples is to avoid delaying everyone.

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded tearfully, feeling Tang Xuanzang's words were too reasonable.

Asking the sect master, can we beat him to death?

The busy sect master refused everyone's reasonable yet unreasonable request, and incidentally went to check on Tang Luo, discovering he was indeed still at Nascent Soul stage, instantly putting his mind at ease.

Hurriedly returning to attend to various matters.

The Seven Gates Grand Comparison, even if "experienced," doesn't require too much preparation.

This sect master definitely won't be idle. Sometimes Lei Zhengyang would suddenly think, if Tang Xuanzang really could, as he said, easily re-cultivate to Golden Core, and then during the Grand Comparison, from Golden Core to Divine Transformation, then he could just lie back.

Just as this similar thought arose, Lei Zhengyang immediately shook his head, discarding this unrealistic idea.

If we say the difficulty of going from one month of Foundation Establishment to Golden Core is one, then Guan Doujian's insight: from Golden Core to Nascent Soul, the difficulty is ten thousand.

And re-cultivating after dispersing one's cultivation, returning to Golden Core, then advancing to Nascent Soul during the Grand Comparison, then further to Divine Transformation—the difficulty is a hundred million.

Impossible to achieve.

Time continued to flow, arriving at the eve of the Seven Gates Grand Comparison mission.

Tang Luo and his group felt no sense of "mission time approaching"; this time, they had reached the peak of all their missions.

Fortunately, heaven and earth's spiritual energy was abundant; for Tang Luo and his group, it was like a fish in water.

For Chi Jing Daoist and his group, such mission duration was merely trivial; they had gotten along quite well.

Chi Jing Daoist successfully entered Shu Mountain; Jiang Shang entered Cangjian Mountain Villa.

Know that both are also cultivators of the immortal path.

In this Grand Comparison, both will participate, both as Golden Core cultivators.

Unlike Tang Luo's unusually high-profile manner.

Additionally, Odin remains in a missing state; Chi Jing Daoist and Jiang Shang, over this past year, have searched for Odin, to no avail.

If it were an ordinary god or demon wandering, they would already have been declared out.

But that is Odin, who, before Tang Luo and his group appeared, had stood for a hundred years at the pinnacle of this batch of god-and-demon wanderers.

He certainly won't be that easily eliminated.

More likely, Odin will be like a poisonous snake, coiled in darkness, striking unexpectedly when least expected to bite a mouthful.

However, Odin's threat is not great.

Because the only ones he can bite are the flamboyant Tang Luo alone.

Chi Jing Daoist and Jiang Shang also hide in the dark—who fears whom!

Actually, the best situation would be if Chi Jing Daoist and his group had grasped Odin's whereabouts, except that when Odin left, they didn't apply any tracking technique.

With their abilities, they certainly could have similar methods.

Likewise, Odin could also break through it—equivalent to useless effort, unnecessary.

Sunshine enveloped the Qing Tian Sword Sect.

On the spacious plaza, a giant flying shuttle was moored, looking at first glance like a sword without a hilt.

In fact, this flying shuttle was indeed initially forged into a sword.

Later, a sensible person proposed: we want this to be used for sitting, long-distance travel—must it really be forged into a giant sword? I think you swordsmiths have forged your brains into swords? You might as well make your clothes into swords!

By the way, let that swordsmith who wears tens of thousands of small swords as clothing roll away.

Later, the swordsmiths obediently constructed this flying shuttle.

The reason those swordsmiths were so easy to talk to is because that sensible person was the Divine Transformation cultivator Yue Wushuang.

At that time, he hadn't yet earned the title of Divine Lord, but was already one of the top figures in the Qing Tian Sword Sect.

The swordsmiths could ignore many people, but Yue Wushuang, from Golden Core stage having comprehended cultivation into three-element sword intent, was no longer in that category.

On the giant flying shuttle, a group of sword cultivators were gathering.

One hundred Foundation Establishment disciples, one hundred Golden Core disciples, twenty Nascent Soul elders, ten Divine Transformation elders, Sect Master Lei Zhengyang, and one Void Refining Grand Elder.

Not everyone will directly participate in the Grand Comparison.

Foundation Establishment disciples came just to see the world… and then, with the tacit approval of the higher-ups, the new generation representing the sect's future spontaneously sparred with one another.

Among the hundred Golden Core and twenty Nascent Soul elders, naturally including Tang Luo and his group.

The Heavenly Howling Dog crouched on Tang Luo's shoulder, diluting his calm demeanor tinged with a hint of indifference.

But for now, no one came to ask him for a response.

Because Tang Luo and Lei Zhengyang were in conversation.

"You really plan to break through to the Nascent Soul stage during the Grand Competition? How confident are you?" As the flying shuttle rose into the air, turning into a streak of light and flying off, Lei Zhengyang asked softly.

"One hundred percent." Tang Luo said.

"Hmm…" Lei Zhengyang fell into deep thought.

"Is that not acceptable?" Tang Luo asked.

"Not exactly unacceptable." Lei Zhengyang said, "This is a situation that has never occurred before."

The time for the Seven Sects Grand Competition, at most, is just one month.

One month's time, breaking through is nearly impossible.

Let alone Nascent Soul to Nascent Soul, even Golden Core to Nascent Soul, in the situation of being just one step away, still requires selecting a quiet chamber for closed-door breakthrough.

Spending months on it is trivial.

Therefore, during the Grand Competition, it has never happened that someone first participated in the Golden Core division, then advanced to Nascent Soul to compete in the Nascent Soul division.

"Are there precedents of bypassing the rules?" Tang Luo asked.

Because there is no explicit prohibition, his behavior counts as exploiting a loophole.

Tang Luo believes such loophole-exploiting behavior definitely occurred frequently in past Grand Competitions, and how it was handled before can serve as reference.

"Usually, they count this round's results, then patch the loophole." Lei Zhengyang said, "There have also been several times, after discussion, everyone felt it was a violation."

Tang Luo nodded.

Lei Zhengyang said: "Don't worry, even in the worst case, it's just a choice between two options. This time, the key will inevitably remain in our hands, and moreover, this time we must win first place!"

In the previous competition, first place was Shu Mountain Sword Sect, second place was Holding Heaven Sword Gate, then Listening Rain Sword Pavilion, actually ranking fifth is the Sword Obsessed Hidden Sword Mountain Villa.

Lei Zhengyang naturally hopes Holding Heaven Sword Gate, under his leadership, will secure first place.

That way, he can also step down as sect leader earlier, bringing honor, and focus on cultivation.

Being sect leader certainly has many benefits, but the cost is having to devote one's time and energy.

Lei Zhengyang feels he can, in the future, set down his burden and go to higher places to see more beautiful scenery.

The Void Refinement realm is, for him, not an unattainable dream.

"No problem, this time we will definitely win first." Tang Luo said, "And sweep all three first places, crushing the opposition."

"That confident?" Lei Zhengyang laughed.

"My two disciples are quite strong." Tang Luo turned his head to glance.

On the deck of the flying shuttle, Zhu Bajie and Ao Yulie were each surrounded by a crowd of people.

These two Golden Core cultivators, in the Holding Heaven Sword Gate's Golden Core rankings, are ranked second and third respectively.

As for first place, it is Yu Tiangang, capable of fighting Nascent Soul cultivators.

Actually, the ranking list is a comprehensive ranking, and it is based on platform battles.

If they really fought, Ao Yulie and Zhu Bajie could completely "wear down" Yu Tiangang, after all, this man lacks endurance.

But the Golden Core division of the Seven Sects Grand Competition is not a platform battle.

Instead, all participating Golden Core cultivators are thrown onto an island for a chaotic melee.

Each Golden Core cultivator receives a small token.

Then, everyone begins to compete for them, for a full five days, and finally scores are calculated based on the number of tokens each sect holds.

In the total score, this accounts for twenty percent; of the remaining eighty percent, thirty percent is Nascent Soul stage, fifty percent is Nascent Soul stage.

Finally, ranked by score, and changes in ranking also mean shifts in the interests of the seven major sects over the next two hundred years—more or less.

And, the ownership rights of the Heavenly Sword Land's key!

Now, the key to the Heavenly Sword Land is in the hands of that Void Refinement Grand Elder who has never shown his face.

Maintained by the currently highest-realm Void Refinement sword cultivator among sword cultivators, it is very secure.

Holding Heaven Sword Gate is not close to the Grand Competition site, and the flying shuttle's speed is not particularly fast, so it arrived at the competition site only six days later.

The vicinity is already bustling beyond compare, with a large number of sword cultivators gathered here.

In fact, sword cultivators had already built a city here and settled down.

Including the seven major sects, which all have branches here, though the current bustle is dozens of times greater than before.

Fortunately, for sword cultivators, enduring wind and dew is no problem at all; otherwise, those not-so-large cities could not accommodate so many people.

What truly attracts first-time visitors, drawing the gazes of many disciples, is not the lively scene of the Grand Competition site, but the seven towering, cloud-piercing peaks, like swords!

Seven peaks encircle a huge lake with a sapphire-like color.

This is the Grand Competition site—Blue Lake Sword Peak.

Above Blue Lake, there are seven islands, large and small.

Between the islands, there are floating bridges connecting them.

These seven islands are the battlegrounds for Golden Core sword cultivators.