Chapter 33: Drawing Lots

After Daoxuan narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Su Zhangqing for a moment, the other Qingyun Sect peak masters arrived one after another; they looked at the Water Qilin in astonishment, unable to understand what had happened.

A crowd of disciples remained terrified on the spot, and some had even collapsed to the ground, their minds unsettled for a long time.

Cangsong soon regained his composure and immediately walked to Daoxuan's side, saying to him, "Sect Leader Senior Brother, this is no place for the disciples to linger."

"Mm, you take them to Jade Purity Hall first; I will go and ask the Spirit Venerable why he suddenly became so restless."

Daoxuan came to his senses, pulled back his thoughts, glanced sideways at Cangsong beside him, and after speaking, turned his head to fly toward the Water Qilin.

"Everyone, the Spirit Venerable was just testing your mental fortitude, so there is no need to be nervous or worried; he will not truly harm you. Now, those disciples participating in the martial arts tournament, come with me to Jade Purity Hall."

Cangsong turned back and said in a loud voice to the crowd of disciples.

The group of disciples responded in unison and restored their original order, and Su Zhangqing also returned to the ranks, inwardly praising that he was indeed a True Person who had attained the Dao; his reaction speed was truly fast.

It was clearly the Water Qilin that had suddenly lashed out, yet it could be explained away as testing their mental fortitude.

Of course, since this matter was settled, it had nothing to do with him, Su Zhangqing. Following the crowd's pace, Su Zhangqing arrived at Jade Purity Hall for the third time.

With a flash of green light, Sect Leader Daoxuan Zhenren followed closely behind the crowd, flew in, and took his seat in the main position, with the several peak masters following behind to take their seats as well.

"Everyone, you are all the outstanding talents of our Qingyun Sect. Since the founding of our sect, our Qingyun lineage has already passed through a thousand years of history, and now we are worthy of the title of leader of the righteous path. To encourage our disciples, our sect's founder specially passed down this grand event, the 'Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament,' which has reached its fiftieth iteration today."

Afterward, Cangsong Zhenren explained the rules and important matters regarding the Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament to the disciples one by one, and this time, the Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament had a major change: the number of participants had increased.

The number of participants alone reached sixty-four, with each of the seven peaks of the Qingyun Sect sending nine people to compete, with the Long Peak sending one extra; however, because Dazhu Peak only had seven disciples plus Tian Ling'er, totaling eight, they were one person short.

A knockout tournament format was adopted: 1 versus 64, 2 versus 63, and so on; because there was no sixty-fourth contestant, whoever was lucky enough to draw number 1 could skip the first round of competition.

"Alright, next, everyone come forward to draw lots."

Following the order, the disciples lined up one after another to draw lots from the wooden box; to prevent anyone from pulling any tricks, this wooden box was even encrypted with an array.

However, this could not stump Su Zhangqing. With the blessing of his Against-Heaven Comprehension, he had a deep understanding of arrays; he could easily break even this kind of small-scale array.

But with so many people watching on the scene, he was unwilling to expose himself, so he chose another way to change the landscape of this competition.

"Pick number 12 for me in a moment, understand?"

When it was Su Zhangqing's turn to draw, he whispered a reminder to the small horned snake on his arm.

That's right!

His method was to directly let the small horned snake reach into the wooden box to draw the lot for him.

He chose number 12, which he had pre-selected; it wasn't because it was his lucky number, but because number 12 would face number 53, a disciple from Fenghui Peak who was also at the Foundation Establishment Stage 1. If he faced him in the first round, it would be much easier.

Successfully entering the second round would be considered living up to his master's expectations; then he would just pick a strong opponent to lose to, and this Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament would be successfully concluded.

As for why he didn't just pick number 1, that was reserved for Zhang Xiaofan.

"Hiss hiss!" The small horned snake responded lightly to Su Zhangqing, then stretched its snake head inside to explore, while Su Zhangqing feigned a very conflicted look to provide cover for it.

Su Zhangqing's self-perceived cleverness fell, completely unguarded, into the eyes of the group of peak masters sitting in the seats of honor. Cheating right under their noses like this made the several peak masters frown slightly.

Cangsong stood up, intending to stop Su Zhangqing's actions, but was blocked by Daoxuan reaching out a hand.

"No need, let's watch and see."

Daoxuan looked at Cangsong and smiled, signaling him not to disturb Su Zhangqing.

Since the Sect Leader Senior Brother had said so, the others did not pursue the matter further; it was just a draw, and it wouldn't have much impact on the general direction of the Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament.

"Your little disciple is not honest!"

Daoxuan chuckled and sent a voice transmission to Shuiyue.

Shuiyue did not reply, only supporting her forehead as she watched Su Zhangqing. She had a premonition that her little disciple would definitely not stay quiet during this Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament; just by trying to cheat in the opening round of the draw, it was highly likely he would cause a big scene later on.

Lu Xueqi, standing beside Shuiyue, watched Su Zhangqing feigning conflict to cover for the small horned snake, unaware that the scene inside the small wooden box had already fallen into everyone's eyes; she couldn't help but cover her mouth and smile.

This little junior brother was truly very interesting.

Su Zhangqing was completely unaware that the people above were watching him cheat with their own eyes. A few seconds later, he reached out his hand, opened the slip of paper, and saw it was indeed the number 12 he wanted.

"Ah, I'm number 26!"

"I'm number 33, what are you?"

"I drew number 53. I wonder who my opponent is? Are they like me, having just broken through to the Foundation Establishment Stage 1 not long ago?"

Hearing this, Su Zhangqing patted his number 12 with satisfaction.

Of course it was someone who had just broken through to Foundation Establishment not long ago! Afterward, the disciple who drew number 1 was selected. Sure enough, according to the story's development, it was Zhang Xiaofan who drew this lot; no one could have guessed this result.

Immediately after, Daoxuan Zhenren walked to the front of the stage again and said some words to encourage everyone.

"To encourage disciples of all peaks to strive for rankings, I have discussed with the various peak masters and elders and decided that starting from this 'Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament,' we will give some rewards to the final top four winners. Among them, the disciple who wins the crown will receive the most generous reward, which is one of our sect's treasures, the 'Six Harmonies Mirror'."

Once Daoxuan Zhenren finished speaking, a wave of cheers and commotion broke out among the Qingyun disciples, all imagining the moment they won first place, attracted countless gazes, and obtained the supreme treasure.

"The 'Six Harmonies Mirror' is not bad; if only I could get this treasure without having to take a ranking."

Conversely, Su Zhangqing remained indifferent; his biggest thought was the 'Six Harmonies Mirror' that Daoxuan mentioned, as his martial arts cultivation was now steadily progressing.

The only thing missing was a Dharma Treasure; except for the 'Green Edge' gifted by his senior sister a few days ago, everything else was ordinary Qingyun Sect goods, which was a big problem.

Therefore, Su Zhangqing wanted to end this Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament as soon as possible, then apply to Master Shuiyue to go down the mountain for training to find his fated Dharma Treasure.

(End of chapter)