Chapter 271: The Inner Sect Competition

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Venerable Mysterious Insight officially entered seclusion to strive for the Yuan Ying realm.
According to the several elders, this seclusion could last as little as three to five months or as long as one to two years before he might emerge—such was the length of the process of attaining Yuan Ying.
With that, during Venerable Mysterious Insight’s seclusion, Su Che could go nowhere and had to stay obediently within the sect.
One reason was that Su Che was extremely worried while his master was in seclusion striving for Yuan Ying, and he had no mood to wander around before his master emerged.
Another reason was that Mysterious Insight Peak could not be left leaderless. During Venerable Mysterious Insight’s seclusion, Su Che would temporarily take over the management of the peak.
Normally, the sect would assign an elder in the later stages of the Golden Dan phase to temporarily oversee Mysterious Insight Peak, but the elders wanted to use this opportunity to temper Su Che, as he would soon be in charge of the entire sect.
The third reason was that in just over two months, the Inner Sect Competition of Tianxuan Sect would be held. As the chief direct disciple, Su Che played an extremely important role and could not leave the sect during this time.
Of course, the elders would not allow too many complicated matters to interfere with Su Che’s cultivation. They assigned two elders in the middle stages of the Golden Dan phase as his assistants, with only important decisions requiring Su Che’s direct involvement…
Most of the time, Su Che still devoted himself to hard cultivation. Nowadays, medicinal pills below the sixth rank hardly had any effect in aiding cultivation. Fortunately, Tianxuan Sect was powerful enough to provide Su Che with any medicinal pill he needed, with no restrictions.
Although the elders hadn’t asked explicitly, they had already guessed that Su Che possessed some kind of “innate ability” that allowed him to ignore the negative effects of various medicinal pills, so consuming many of them wouldn’t pose any risks—this was also one of the reasons why his cultivation progress far exceeded that of others.
The elders had long become accustomed to Su Che’s endless innate abilities. This was precisely what made him unique and also part of his personal privacy. No one within the sect was allowed to pry into these secrets about him.
One day a month later, the sect’s supreme leader personally came to Mysterious Insight Peak and appeared before Su Che.
Su Che had thought that the sect elder coming all the way to Mysterious Insight Peak must have some secret task to assign to him. To his surprise, he came as a private individual to express his gratitude.

Inside the Mysterious Golden Hall, after the Supreme Patriarch took his seat, he spoke in a gentle voice, “Tianyu, ten days ago, the Xuanji Divine Pill was successfully crafted. My partner, ‘Qiu Yue,’ took the pill and has since begun her seclusion to cultivate a Yuan Ying. I believe the chances of success are at least 70%. That’s why I’ve come today to express my personal gratitude to you.”

“The Supreme Patriarch is being too kind; I truly can’t accept it,” Su Che quickly bowed in return.

“Sit down and talk. Let’s drop the formalities. Think of it as an elder and a young person chatting casually,” said the Supreme Patriarch, using gentle energy to help Su Che sit up.

Su Che nodded and sat down as instructed.

“If everything goes well, it won’t be long before our sect gains two more Yuan Ying Patriarchs at the same time. This would be an extremely rare achievement in the entire cultivation world of Qi Yuan Star.”

The Supreme Patriarch smiled and said, “Just thinking about it fills me with joy. In fact, so far, your contributions to the sect have already surpassed mine.”

“I dare not claim such things,” Su Che replied, bowing again, too embarrassed to accept such high praise.

“There’s no need to doubt it; it’s simply the truth,” the Supreme Patriarch waved his hand. “Time and time again, your contributions to the sect, though by chance, are things I’ve never been able to achieve.”

He chuckled and added, “But since I’m still the one in charge of the sect, a portion of these achievements and honors also go to me. So, in a way, I’m benefiting from you as well.”

“Supreme Patriarch, if you keep saying this, I really won’t be able to sit still,” Su Che said, feeling extremely uncomfortable under such praise.

“I was just happy and wanted to share it with you,” the Supreme Patriarch laughed heartily and nodded. “Alright, enough about that! Anyway, I’ll keep all this in mind.”

With that, he took out another bag of spirit stones and handed it to Su Che. “Junior Zixiao said you needed a large amount of top-grade gold-type spirit stones. There are 500 in this bag. It’s a personal gift from me, unrelated to the sect.”

“Thank you, Supreme Patriarch.”

Receiving a gift from his elder, Su Che didn’t try to be hypocritically polite and accepted it openly. Yet, the words the Supreme Patriarch had just spoken were indeed too generous.

Of course, Su Che also knew that, in terms of personal wealth, it wasn’t difficult for a Yuan Ying Patriarch to afford 500 top-grade spirit stones. But having them all be gold-type spirit stones made it far more challenging. The Supreme Patriarch’s gift carried great significance.

With these 500 Golden Spirit Stones, combined with what he already had and those bestowed by the sect later on, the total reached 1,300. This was enough to sustain that Sacred Demon Puppet in hundreds of battles. After all, he wasn’t a battle fanatic; it could be said that it would last until he reached the Yuan Ying stage. Once he advanced to Yuan Ying, that Sacred Demon Puppet would be of little use anymore…

In high spirits, the sect leader personally taught Su Che some insights into cultivation. This lesson lasted several hours, and Su Che undoubtedly benefited greatly, with many aspects becoming clear to him.

…

The peaceful days passed swiftly. In the blink of an eye, over a month had gone by. Su Che’s cultivation level had improved significantly, but he was still far from the middle stage of the Golden Dan phase—probably another two years would be needed.

Today was the day of the Tian Xuan Sect’s internal competition, a day long awaited by countless people.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding…

At dawn, at the hour of Mao, the ten main peaks each rang their melodious bells, summoning all internal disciples to head immediately to the Competition Peak. External disciples without duties could also go to the site to watch.

The internal competition, held once every twenty years, was undoubtedly a major event within the Tian Xuan Sect.

Su Che arrived at the Competition Peak even before sunrise, as he was the chief direct disciple in charge of this edition of the competition.

By “in charge,” it didn’t mean being a “host,” but rather holding the final decision-making power over the entire competition—half of which was in Su Che’s hands, and the other half in those of the elders’ council.

This showed that Su Che was already considered the de facto deputy sect leader. Or rather, as the top direct disciple, leading over 200,000 disciples of the third generation of the Tian Xuan Sect, he had the power to control the future or destiny of any junior disciple, including the 100 direct disciples.

This competition not only determined the top ten among the internal disciples but also eliminated two direct disciples to create two spots, which would be given to the two best-performing internal disciples.

Back then, Su Che had reserved these two spots for himself and his senior brother Yu Qing. Now, they were completely unnecessary…

Colorful flags fluttered on the Competition Peak, and the crowd was dense. There were 37 fighting platforms in total. Aside from the largest central platform at the heart of the circle, the other 36 were arranged in a circular pattern, forming the 36 Tian Gang Great Formation.

It wasn’t until the hour of Si in the morning that all competitors and spectators took their positions.

On the stands sat over a hundred thousand outer disciples, a hundred true disciples, hundreds of Golden Core elders, and five Yuan Ying ancestors. Below the stands, five thousand inner disciples stood in neat rows in the center of the arena.

This grand competition would last about ten days, with over a hundred judges and hosts at various levels. Thus, the role of chief host naturally fell to the sect’s ceremonial elder.

First, the ceremonial elder stepped onto the central arena and delivered an impassioned opening speech, filled with praise for the sect and the several Yuan Ying ancestors…

This ceremonial part lasted nearly fifteen minutes. Then, the ceremonial elder invited Su Che onto the stage.

As soon as Su Che appeared, the five thousand inner disciples in the center shouted in unison, “Elder Brother Tianyu!” Su Che replied with a smile.

On the stands, everyone thought Su Che would, like the ceremonial elder, praise the sect and speak at length about the future. But instead…

Su Che looked at the five thousand inner disciples below and said gently, “May all of you, junior brothers and sisters, work hard. Good luck to you.”

Then he shouted loudly, “I declare the inner disciples’ competition to begin now!”

Boom!

Applause erupted like thunder. Su Che’s extremely brief speech was a small surprise for everyone, as they had expected exciting matches and thrilling fights on the arena, not long speeches from one person.

In an orderly manner, the five thousand inner disciples were divided into thirty-six groups, with each group having slightly over a hundred members, who sat around their respective sub-arenas.

The thirty-six sub-arenas would simultaneously hold competitions at various levels, with each producing a group winner. Then, these thirty-six winners would compete on the central arena to determine the top ten.

Finally, the top ten inner disciples would challenge the bottom ten true disciples.

Su Che and the elders would assess each of the twenty people on stage based on their performance. The two worst-performing true disciples would be eliminated, while the two best-performing inner disciples would earn the right to become true disciples.

The final outcome would surely bring joy to some and sorrow to others. But the path of cultivation is like rowing against the current—without progress, there is only regression, leaving no room for excessive sympathy or pity.

Fifteen minutes later, contestants from the thirty-six arenas stepped onto the stages, most of them at the later stages of Qi cultivation. As soon as the competition began, the over a hundred thousand excited outer disciples in the stands erupted into thunderous cheers.

For these outer disciples with weaker abilities, each match on the arenas was an utterly thrilling spectacle…

Su Che returned to the main stands and sat down with the five Yuan Ying ancestors.
“What are your thoughts?” Zi Xiao asked softly.
“It feels like another world, as if in a dream,” Su Che said, taking a deep breath—his words were truly heartfelt.
Five years ago, he was just a novice disciple at the beginning of his journey. With his weakest strength at the first level of Qi cultivation, his first goal in life was to improve his skills as quickly as possible so he could participate in this year’s internal competition. There, he would fight his way through challenges, defeating one opponent after another, until he finally achieved the prestigious status of a true disciple.
Now that this day had come, he stood at a higher position, witnessing these “young people’s” struggles from an upper-hand perspective…
“All of a sudden, I feel very old…” Su Che shook his head and sighed.
The five ancestors smiled knowingly, and the supreme leader nodded and said, “Indeed, you’re getting old quite fast, kid.”
At that moment, a shared anticipation arose in the hearts of the five ancestors: “When he reaches our age and can truly say ‘I’m old,’ to what heights will Tianxuan Sect have risen?”