Uru Tan He clapped his hands together.
"I think that is about enough."
Blue energy surged, and the mortals descended to the ground rapidly.
As they finally reached the ground, Uru Tan He spoke.
"In this zone, the Qi is at its highest quality. Even Peak-B Aptitude Gu Masters could reach Rank 5 Cultivation whilst inside this place."
"Of course, that is if they remained here for years. Still. While not enough to achieve such a lofty Cultivation. It is enough to aid those who are halfway there, whose aptitudes are the only thing holding them back from a breakthrough.
Those here who are not confident enough in their skills, or who simply believe that they are certain to break through during just a few hours, can remain here if they so wish.
Whilst those more ambitious can choose to join the events.
The choice is yours."
The man spoke indifferently; his meaning was simple.
If you had no skills, no talent, then you'd have to be satisfied with this.
And in turn, many Gu Masters nodded solemnly.
More than four-fifths of the Gu Masters did not even bother to compete, and instead directly planted their feet in the ground and began to cultivate silently.
At that.
Uru Tan He shrugged; most of the lower-ranked Gu Masters were either people with good connections or simply random people who just happened to be born nearby.
There was not much loss in stopping such people from competing.
On the contrary, his actions showcased his kindness while also preventing garbage Gu masters from diluting the pool.
"Now, regarding the remaining Gu Masters, let us do this in the following manner."
"We will divide this event into three subsections. Human, Earth, and Heaven. Gu Masters beneath Rank 5 can join the Human level competition, those of Rank 5 will join the Earth competition, and only those with Rank 6 or 7 Cultivation are allowed to participate in Heaven competitions."
"Gu Masters who participate in Human or Earth competitions are only allowed to join in a single event, whereas those in Heaven competitions can join a total of 3." Uru Tan He explained calmly.
While the terms sounded unfair, it could not be helped.
There were too many mortals, that if allowed to participate in everything would slow things down to a crawl, however the amount of Immortals here was rather limited.
If he split Rank 6 and Rank 7 into different groups and then only allowed them to join a single event, it would be a tragic sight.
With Immortal Gu Masters gaining automatically, because they simply would have no competition.
Of course, he also wanted to avoid the situation of an Immortal shamelessly joining in every single event despite knowing shit of any of those paths, so this was the best compromise he could make.
Followed by those actions.
An earth pillar rapidly rose from the ground.
In its stone, there were severely engraved symbols and characters.
Showcasing all the events one could join.
"Killer Move completion: certain Killer Moves of diverse paths will be shown, varying in depth, amount, and quantity.
Those Killer Moves will be moderately complete, but will show a flaw or imperfection.
Competitors will explain concisely how they would complete them. Points will be assigned depending on how powerful the resulting Killer Move is, the amount of Gu's employed, and speed. "
"Reverse refinement Gu competition. How would you acquire common Gu Worms, such as Little Light, using its derivative recipes?"
"Find the flaws of a formation and shatter it. Points will be awarded based in the amount of Gu Worms employed, as well as time. Note: The usage of Immortal Gu during this competition will count as an automatic disqualification."
Le Tu stared at this piece, slightly intrigued.
His attainment in Formation was not low; furthermore, he was also quite proficient in shattering them.
Suddenly, he lowered his gaze towards the next subsection.
"Unorthodox Cultivation methods: Showcase that you cultivate a unique Path or skill that is hardly or ever been practiced before. Anybody who showcases enough proof will automatically be declared a winner, and there can be several winners in this competition." Le Tu narrowed his eyes at the blatant favoritism.
Several Immortals also rolled their eyes at the sight.
"He is just giving away a freebie to Uru Hong Jing." Still, despite their complaint,s nobody said anything. After all, if they were in his position, they too would look to promote their geniuses.
In the end.
Le Tu choose.
Unorthodox Cultivation Methods, a competition to detect the flaws in a formation, and finally, he joined the fighting competition.
Other Immortals seemed hesitant; some Wisdom Path Gu Masters chose the Go game, whereas others looked contemplative.
Whereas a third of the Immortals looked completely unbothered and had no intention of joining a single event, they were there more to observe the spectacle than anything else.
Amongst those Immortals, there was even a shameless man who had built a large tent and was shouting.
"In my hand,s there is the Rank 6 Immortal Gu Water Strength, and I am interested in exchanging the Gu for another of the same Rank related to either Wood or Earth Path."
"…" Uru Tan He observed this with a peculiar expression.
He never expected that somebody would use this event as a trading spot.
But in the end, he shook his head.
Perhaps his actions would bring even more Immortals.
Regardless, the more people there were, the better.
…
In Treasure Yellow Heaven, the commotion remained; even now, their every move was being transmitted.
Kao Dao Ji's Will recorded every single detail of what was happening.
This was a once-in-a-century event, the showcase of skill and power could give him unending inspiration.
"I wonder if there are some who cultivate some sort of Yin-Yang method among them."
At the same time.
Standing amidst the tall skies, 13 figures stood side by side.
Among them, the one who stood the most was Crimson Soul.
Who merely chuckled as he observed Uru Tan He.
"That old man is putting on quite the show."
"To create such a great commotion to elevate his Reputation Gu to Rank 7." But then he chuckled.
"Or so is what you say." He narrowed his eyes.
"Some say that a person's death can be as light as a feather or as massive as Mount Tai.
But I have a different opinion."
"It takes a lifetime to build one's reputation, and yet it takes a minute to crumble it all to dust.
Today, you won't be refining Reputation Gu; I will refine Infamy."
After saying those words, he turned his gaze towards a tiny being.
A childish-looking creature with a mushroom on top of its head.
Its eyes were round and black, and were trembling.
It seemed on the verge of crying.
"Ke Ren. How is the situation? Has any of the Mushroom men grown suspicious?" Crimson Soul spoke nonchalantly.
"They have not, sir." The mushroom man replied weakly.
"Good. And what else? Do you have something important to say?" He narrowed his eyes.
"Huh…ah…."
"Stop with the pointless stalling, or I will kill you." Crimson Soul said coarsely.
"No, no, don't kill me." The Land Spirit began to tear up as it spoke.
"In the past months, Ke Zhun He has gone missing; nobody knows where she is. Whereas Ke Run He has begun to explore the ruins of Swordmaster Jin Hu."
"Oh? Do tell me more." Crimson Soul spoke, intrigued.
"It-It's like this." The Land Spirit began to speak and retell everything.
The more Crimson Soul listened, the wider his smile became.
"Those forces in White Heaven are truly too foolish."
"They do so many things to ensure their privacy, and yet they do not take even the slightest, most superfluous actions to protect their Land Spirits. And so, their secrets are laid before me."
He smirked.
In truth, there was reasoning behind this; it was far harder to defend than attack.
Furthermore, all the superpowers knew that if they tried to exploit this backdoor, soon their neighbors would do the same to them.
In the past, when super forces waged war against one another, they employed this exact method.
They would brainwash the land spirits or would bobby-trap them in some way; sometimes, the Land Spirit would not even know it was tampered with.
Then, when the situation turned advantageous, the hidden measures would be activated, and the Blessed Lands would explode into countless of pieces, killing several Immortal Gu Masters.
Others would simply steal joyfully the information gathered by the large forces over the millennia.
At some point, the situation grew so drastic that the Super Forces realized that their Blessed Lands had turned into huge liabilities.
And thus, a purge began.
Most of the Blessed Lands were destroyed, leaving nothing behind.
And in the end, the superforces came to an agreement.
While it is possible to kill Land Spirits in retaliation against the acts of other super forces, by no means was it allowed to do so without a just cause.
Furthermore, no matter what, it was forbidden to tamper with Land Spirits.
If any force violated this pact, their neighbors would act together to suppress them.
Crimson Soul laughed while thinking about those absurd rules.
"Why would I willingly follow such a narrow perspective?" He grinned; unlike the other established forces, he had no fixed territories to drag him down.
He could move wherever he pleased.
Moreover. His methods were thorough and hard to detect; almost nobody had detected him thus far.
Another quality was that Land Spirits were all meek and easily manipulable.
And could only speak the truth.
By just saying a few tough words, they would bend over, and those who did not were eliminated swiftly.
And precisely because he knew Land Spirits could not lie, he was not afraid that they were trying to deceive him.
Even if they were, they would immediately be killed by the measures he had already set in place.
As a result of this, during this period, over 10 Land Spirits had already been killed by him.
And yet.
While the super forces were aware that their own Blessed Lands were being destroyed, they did not know why.
Nor did they know that this was happening not only to them but to other forces.
As for the reason?
Because nobody wanted to publish those results, no super force dared to share that their blessed lands were being destroyed, and thus they were all working together to keep it a secret.
Using such an opportunity, Crimson Soul kept planting more and more and more and more spies across white heaven.
Especially now that he intended to burn all the bridges with the five regions.
As for fearing the pursuit of the forces within White Heaven?
He did not.
Because they were too fixed in place.
If he feared a Rank 8 Immortal, he would simply move over ten thousand kilometers away, and nobody would follow him.
Because how could they follow him? When their maps were even more incomplete than his.
And when their forces were stuck in place.
They could not compare to him who, every time he captured a Land Spirit or read the memories of another Immortal would fill even more the gaps in the maps he had.
Perhaps if given another century he could even complete the map.
And would be able to explore freely without a care, leaving and entering the two heavens without a worry.
Whilst the five regions?
They, too, were falling into his grasp slowly.
After all, how many among the Immortals had already fallen in the exact same manner without even realizing it?
And today.
The efforts of several decades would finally be set in full motion.