“Wow, I finally escaped. I almost thought she was going to lock me in a dark room.”
Patting her chest, Hua Jian whispered with lingering fear.
Xia Hui walked over with a cup of tea and respectfully placed it by Hua Jian’s hand. “Are you very afraid of Miss Linglong, Miss Hua Jian?”
“I told you not to be so formal… It’s not that I’m afraid; I just have a guilty conscience,” Hua Jian replied gloomily after taking a sip of tea.
If she didn’t have a guilty conscience, would she have gone as far as leaving with nothing but the clothes on her back?
She had followed Linglong for six months, and in the end, she had gained no benefits.
Instead, she had spent her entire fortune. Now, all she had left were some Spiritual Garments, Spirit Tools, various Alchemy Pills, and a single Spiritual Civet.
She didn’t even have the money to book a room in the Outer City and had to crash in Xia Hui and Shiqi’s room.
Fortunately, Xia Hui still remembered her life-saving favor. After Hua Jian sought refuge, Xia Hui immediately helped her open a separate room and began serving her with great respect.
One might have mistaken Hua Jian for her master and Xia Hui for a mere maid.
Hua Jian had told Xia Hui many times that there was no need for such treatment, but Xia Hui only smiled and said nothing, continuing her actions as usual.
Hua Jian was left feeling quite helpless.
“So, do you have a goal now? Where do you plan to go?”
“I’ll go wherever Miss Hua Jian goes!” Xia Hui replied without a second thought.
“Where I go has nothing to do with you. You should have your own goals,” Hua Jian immediately corrected Xia Hui’s mistaken thinking.
This wouldn’t do. She was herself, and Xia Hui was Xia Hui; they didn’t have a master-servant relationship.
She wasn’t Xia Hui’s master, so there was no reason for Xia Hui to follow her.
“My goal is to follow Miss Hua Jian.” Xia Hui paused, finding a plausible reason for her thoughts. “You saved me and my Mother. I want to repay you.”
Repaying a life-saving favor by working like a servant seemed reasonable enough.
It was just that Hua Jian wasn’t used to being treated like she was on a pedestal.
Too much respect was uncomfortable; it made her imagine all sorts of unfortunate scenarios.
“Anyway, you have to be responsible for yourself, understand?”
“I understand,” Xia Hui nodded vigorously.
‘You understand nothing,’ Hua Jian thought. ‘You don’t look like you understand at all.’
‘Oh well, whatever. Let Xia Hui do as she pleases. Having a submissive little sidekick isn’t bad either.’
Although Xia Hui was theoretically older than Hua Jian, she truly looked like a “little” sidekick because her growth had been stunted by the Heart-Eating Vine for years.
While Hua Jian’s build was small for someone her age, Xia Hui had completely transcended the usual age categories. She was essentially a legal lolita.
After they chatted for a while about recent events, Shiqi, who had been out all day, finally pushed open the door and walked in.
“Guess how lively the city is right now. The new rules of the Ascension Gathering have thrown Ascension City into chaos.”
As soon as she entered the room, Shiqi couldn’t wait to tell Hua Jian about what she had seen.
One day after they learned of the changes, the announcement for the new rules of the Ascension Gathering was posted in every corner of the Outer City.
Fearing that some people might not see it, the Saint Sect Cultivators even tinkered with the barrier that separated the Inner City and Outer City.
Now, that barrier had essentially become a giant billboard, continuously scrolling the new announcement so that every Cultivator participating in the Ascension Gathering would know about the changes.
Cultivators who had prepared for so long only to face such massive changes at the last minute were stunned.
After carefully studying the announcement, they immediately realized that if they didn’t want to be at a disadvantage under the new rules, teaming up was essential.
Even if they didn’t form a team, they had to ensure they didn’t become a target for everyone else to kick out of the Secret Realm together.
“Today, those famous Talented Ones were all trying to sound me out, likely wanting to reach a team agreement with me.” Shiqi counted on her fingers, naming the geniuses who had approached her today.
Aside from the Justice Swordsman and Ji Caiyue’s Fiancé, several other geniuses had come to find her, including Ji Caiyue herself.
“But I politely declined them all. I feel like forming a team that is too powerful might result in a penalty to the performance score.”
After all, this was just an entry selection for the Saint Sect. If one always won by outnumbering others, Shiqi felt the score wouldn’t be very high.
In fact, a Cultivator who performed exceptionally well on the smaller side might receive a higher score.
‘Being sent out of the Secret Realm early doesn’t necessarily mean failure, and surviving until the end doesn’t necessarily mean success,’ Shiqi thought, interpreting the new rules.
This time, Hua Jian agreed with Shiqi’s perspective.
The Saint Sect was likely doing this to evaluate the quality of the new Disciples from all angles, and a war within the Secret Realm was undoubtedly the best way to test their abilities.
Team-oriented Cultivators could organize powerful groups to act as steamrollers, while those with strong individual abilities could turn the tide on their own.
Every Cultivator had the chance to showcase their strengths.
Compared to the previous rigid assessment process, this one was clearly more comprehensive — and more exciting.
“The preliminary round of the Ascension Gathering will start seven days early. Cultivators who pass will receive an Entry Token to the Secret Realm. On the day the Secret Realm opens, everyone will be sent inside at the same time,” Shiqi continued explaining the announcement.
Compared to the internal information Linglong had shared yesterday, this public announcement had listed out all the specific times.
The original start date of the Ascension Gathering was pushed back by three days to give Cultivators arriving at the last minute time to adapt to the new rules and complete the preliminary round.
For those already in Ascension City, the preliminaries would open nearly one month in advance.
It was a way to reduce the pressure on the Saint Sect Cultivators conducting the tests; spreading so many people over thirty days was better than having everyone crowd in during a few days.
Once the preliminary was finished, the Cultivators could focus on preparing for the main assessment.
As long as they remained in Ascension City, they would be sent to the Secret Realm when the time came, so they didn’t have to worry about oversleeping and missing the exam.
It was a very humane adjustment.
“Wait, are there no restrictions on the Spirit Tools we can bring? Doesn’t that mean wealthy Cultivators can just overwhelm their opponents with Spirit Tools?”
As Hua Jian listened, she felt something was off. Shiqi had spoken a lot about things outside the Secret Realm.
But what about inside the Secret Realm?
“None. The announcement didn’t mention rules for inside the Secret Realm at all,” Shiqi shook her head.
If the announcement said nothing about the rules inside the Secret Realm, it certainly wasn’t an oversight by the Saint Sect.
The more likely scenario was that for this Secret Realm trial, there were no rules.
Whether someone wanted to gank others or be a lone wolf, it didn’t matter. Even using high-grade Spirit Tools to crush opponents was fine.
After all, some Saint Sects might actually prefer such Disciples. For instance, a certain Saint Sect that no one liked.
If Spirit Tools could be used freely, Spirit Beasts surely could as well. This rule seemed tailor-made for Hua Jian.
She had quite a few Spirit Tools at the Ling King Realm, and she was even hiding a Spirit Beast at the peak of the Ling King Realm.
With that gear, she could basically go “dynamite fishing” in the Secret Realm, blowing all the small fry out of the water.
Of course, doing that might result in a heavy score penalty.
However, once she pulled out the peak Ling King Realm Dream Butterfly, the Wanling Sect would likely give her a perfect score on the spot.
Taming such a powerful Spirit Beast was a testament to Hua Jian’s own strength; they couldn’t exactly forbid her from using it, could they?
“In that case, the goal of this Gathering is clear. The Elders want to see our style. We shouldn’t hold back in battle; we should do whatever feels natural!” Hua Jian smacked her palm.
Since that was the case, she wouldn’t hide her strength anymore.
‘They want to see personal style, right? Fine, I’ll show them some style!’
She would kick everyone she saw, one by one or two by two, and let them all know how formidable she was!
……
“Damn it, how could they change the rules of the Gathering so suddenly? Do those guys from the Saint Sect have no shame at all?”
Somewhere in Ascension City, a few suspicious figures were sitting together, complaining about the announcement the Saint Sect had just posted.
This announcement had completely ruined their original plans, and now they had to scramble to prepare a new one.
“We can’t let the pawns we worked so hard to prepare go to waste. Besides, this change might not be a bad thing for us,” another person spoke coldly.
On the table before him lay a copy of the announcement he had brought back. Before the meeting, he had already highlighted the key points.
Although the rule change had caught them off guard, he realized after calming down that it wasn’t entirely a bad thing.
They didn’t have a plan for the new process, but these new rules were much more flexible than the old ones. There were far more opportunities for them to interfere.
They could even — “Make sure all those geniuses are disqualified, so the Saint Sect gains nothing this year!”
When the geniuses favored by the Saint Sect were beaten into a pathetic state while their own people crushed them to victory, wouldn’t that be a massive slap to the Saint Sect’s face?
As for what would happen to those pawns in the end… Hmph, they were just disposable items.
If they died, they died. It was nothing to worry about.
“Indeed. The Saint Sect has given us an opportunity. Let’s make those arrogant fools lose face!”
The men laughed, but then realized one of them wasn’t joining in. She seemed out of place.
“You from Wanhuagu, why aren’t you saying anything? Are you thinking about selling us out for a good price?” one man said to the woman who wasn’t laughing, his tone mocking.
The only woman among them glanced at these “companions” with disdain. “If I were going to sell you out, I would have done it long ago. Why wait until now?”
When communicating with these “comrades,” Wanhuagu always felt exhausted.
It was as if these men’s heads were filled with water; they couldn’t be reasoned with.
As for why she wasn’t laughing, it was naturally because she had known this news for a long time.
What she intended to do was different from these “comrades.”
Wanhuagu’s cooperation with the Magic Path this time was real, but they were also using that cooperation as a cover to pursue their own agenda — something only the Cultivators of Wanhuagu knew.
“Our Wanhuagu is only providing support for your plan. Tell us what you want to do. As long as the requests aren’t too outrageous, it doesn’t matter.”
“That’s true. You didn’t pull any small tricks this time… Aside from those two, the others should have sneaked into the Outer City by now, right?”
“They’ve already entered the city. This Heaven-Veiling Technique is truly powerful; those from the Right Path can’t discover us at all, hahahaha.”
The group began mocking the Right Path again.
Seeing the conversation drift further away from the point, the woman from Wanhuagu couldn’t help but sigh.
Could they not get sidetracked when talking about serious business? It was a waste of time.
“If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving. You can waste your time here if you want, but I won’t.” She stood up and turned to leave.
None of the Demonic Cultivators present tried to stop her. They simply watched as she vanished into a flurry of flower petals.
Once her presence had completely disappeared, the Demonic Cultivators dropped their lighthearted expressions and began speaking in low voices.
They didn’t dare discuss certain important matters in front of a Wanhuagu Cultivator.
It was very likely that the moment the words left their mouths, a record of their conversation would appear on a Saint Sect’s table.
It was common knowledge among all Saint Sects and Demonic Sects that Wanhuagu was never to be trusted.
However, it was also common knowledge that you could usually buy Wanhuagu with benefits; when there was profit involved, they were the most steadfast allies.
The Demonic Cultivators knew Wanhuagu had its own motives, but they turned a blind eye.
After all, Wanhuagu was indeed helping them. Moreover, whatever Wanhuagu was planning would likely make things difficult for the Saint Sect, so why expose them?
Everyone took what they needed and played their parts. It wasn’t a bad arrangement.
With the official release of the new rules, Ascension City entered a state of vibrant excitement.
Countless Cultivators hurried through the streets, searching for any possible allies and making promises to help each other once they entered the Secret Realm.
Even Hua Jian was approached by Ji Caiyue, who asked if she wanted to team up.
Hua Jian only stated that she wouldn’t proactively attack Ji Caiyue in the Secret Realm.
As for teaming up, she didn’t have much interest in it. Or rather… she didn’t want to form a team with people she wasn’t familiar with.
Her only current teammates were Shiqi and Xia Hui. The size of the Secret Realm was unknown, and no one knew if they would even meet inside.
However, Hua Jian guessed that the Secret Realm prepared by the Saint Sect wouldn’t be too large or too small.
It wouldn’t be so large that Cultivators would just wander around without fighting, nor so small that they would be forced into endless combat.
In terms of Map design, Hua Jian felt she could trust the Saint Sect.
As long as they didn’t mess around, the Secret Realm Map this time shouldn’t be too bad.
After all, the Saint Sect didn’t need every Cultivator to die in there, so creating a small, annoying map wouldn’t serve any purpose.