Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation.

Chapter 333 Advancing to the Semifinals
After leaving the Merchant Alliance's headquarters, Li Ji'an headed straight for the upper district of Feihong Immortal City.

However, after taking only two steps, a communication talisman in the storage bag vibrated.

As Li Ji'an probed with his divine sense, he chuckled inwardly.

It was Yao Rui who told him that he had finally seen the secret weapon of the Jinhua Chamber of Commerce.

However, his words were full of disdain and resentment.

They described Lau Ching-wan as being as fat as a pig and arrogant.

He also said that if he were drawn into the same group as him, he would definitely make him suffer a crushing defeat.

Her confidence stemmed from the fact that, over the past six months, she had received a Grade 8 fire-type magic weapon as a temporary gift from the Sishui Chamber of Commerce, which gave her a strong sense of security.

Then Yao Rui asked him if he had come to Feihong Immortal City.

Ignoring Yao Rui's message, Li Ji'an and Wu Yehua, who had caught up with them, headed straight for the Upper City District.

Feihong Immortal City is a thriving commercial center, where many rare and precious treasures that are hard to find in the Tiancang Domain can be found.

Moreover, the entire Upper City District is a trading area for Tier 3 spiritual resources corresponding to Core Formation True Persons.

Here, Li Ji'an saw a high-quality Foundation Establishment Pill, priced at 38,000 spirit stones.

They also saw soul-binding pills, and the quality of them was quite high.

There are also Tier 3 spirit talismans openly sold in spirit talisman shops, but they are expensive and unaffordable for ordinary people.

Unfortunately, this place is almost entirely made-up products, with not many spiritual materials.

After all, Flying Phoenix Immortal City has no shortage of master craftsmen, so the profit margin of finished products is naturally higher than that of spiritual materials.

The Merchant Alliance is better at collecting spiritual materials from all over the world and then processing them into finished products for sale.

Of course, this is only the spiritual talent at the early stage of the third tier, while spiritual talent at the middle stage of the third tier and above is still very rare.

The path of cultivation is full of obstacles. Foundation building is an obstacle, core formation is an obstacle, and the mid-stage of core formation is an even greater obstacle. Even if thousands of troops cross a single-plank bridge and manage to form a core by chance, most of them will only have a false core or a lower-level true core. Very few people can advance to the mid-stage of core formation.

"Let's see if we can find any high-grade talisman materials at the Merchant Alliance auction six months from now." Returning to the Merchant Alliance headquarters empty-handed, Li Ji'an felt neither joy nor sorrow.

Now he only needs to wait for the top-level Core Formation training ground in Feihong Immortal City to be used, at which time he will focus all his efforts on breaking through to Core Formation.

In the eastern part of this Great Swamp Cultivation Realm, only those who achieve the True Core Realm can have true protection.

That's how they gained the confidence to roam freely.

Before that, only the current Flying Goose Dao Discussion Spiritual Contract needs to be completed.

Apart from that, nothing else matters.

Moreover, Li Ji'an's current discussion on the Dao is only for completing the Spirit Contract. He only needs to enter the semi-finals to complete it, so there is basically no pressure.

Ten days later, the members of each chamber of commerce drew lots to form groups.

Li Ji'an drew group seven.

Of the other seventeen promising talents in the seven groups, three were from the Jinhua Chamber of Commerce.

The elimination tournament rules are simple: each of the eighteen people in a group draws an opponent; the loser is eliminated, and the winner advances to the second round.

In the preliminary round, Li Ji'an drew another promising talent from the Jinhua Chamber of Commerce, a direct descendant of the Chamber, and an opponent whom Li Ji'an had previously defeated in a friendly match.

Three days later, this year's Flying Goose Forum officially began.

The battles will take place in ten arenas within the Flying Phoenix Immortal City.

The ten arenas faced each other from a distance, yet remained unaffected by one another, each surrounded by a huge crowd.

Those who can ascend this platform are all elites of the same level within the Wanshang Domain, and the cultivation techniques and spells they practice are beyond the reach of countless people below.

For this reason, at each Flying Goose Dao Discussion, many independent cultivators would spend spirit stones that they wouldn't normally spend to buy audience seats.

He only wanted to observe the battles of the world's most outstanding talents, hoping to glean some superior techniques and combat experience from their battles.

Li Ji'an's first duel was on the fifth day, and he had spent the previous four days wandering around the ten fighting arenas.

Having accumulated experience through three lifetimes of cultivation, he now possesses a considerable repertoire of techniques. However, superior techniques are few and far between. The only techniques that can truly be considered heaven-level are "Phantom Leaf Killing Intent" and "Vine Silk Hand".

Taking this opportunity, he carefully observed the contest between the top talents from various chambers of commerce on the stage.

However, in the preliminary stage, there was a significant gap in magical power among some players, and they were not yet evenly matched enough to need to go all out to unleash superior spells. Therefore, after four days, only one person was seen to have used a superior spell.

It is worth mentioning that on the fourth day, Li Ji'an saw Yao Rui in the arena of the second group.

His long, fiery red hair was bathed in flames, and he used all the true techniques of the Azure Cloud Sect to narrowly defeat a prodigy from the Seven Joys Merchant Guild who also had an Earth Spirit Root.

This greatly excited the onlookers from the Surabaya Chamber of Commerce.

The Seven Joys Merchant Guild is one of the top five among the eighteen merchant guilds, and the prodigies it selects are all exceptionally strong.

Yao Rui's victory exceeded the Surabaya Chamber of Commerce's expectations.

That evening, Li Ji'an received a message from Yao Rui, who exaggerated the details of her magical duel tenfold.

Finally, he said in a very domineering way, "We who come from the Heavenly Azure Domain are not trash either."

On the fifth day, it was Li Ji'an's turn to take the stage.

Neither side held back when facing the Immortal Seeds from the same chamber of commerce. After all, from the chamber's perspective, this was to compete for market share, but from each Immortal Seed's perspective, it was to fight for their own rewards.

Li Ji'an won easily. On the ninth day, the final preliminary round ended, leaving nine people in each group for the second round of elimination.

Those who performed best in the preliminary rounds automatically entered the semi-finals, with the spots basically reserved for the ten contemporary prodigies who were initially grouped.

The remaining eight people were eliminated in the second round.

At this point, of the nine remaining members in the seven groups, only Li Ji'an from the Jinhua Chamber of Commerce remained, while the other three were eliminated.

The second round of elimination matches, which lasted four days, was significantly more intense than the first round, which lasted nine days.

On the third day, Li Ji'an faced a Celestial Spirit Root cultivator from the Fierce Tiger Merchant Guild, who already put him under pressure. He barely managed to win by using the "Vine Silk Hand" technique to bind the opponent and successfully advance to the third round.

After three rounds of elimination, only four players remained, and as before, their opponents were determined by drawing lots.

This round is also the decisive battle of the semi-finals. Once the winner is selected, they will successfully advance to the semi-finals and become one of the thirty geniuses below the Core Formation stage in the contemporary Wan Shang Domain.

Having reached this point, one is already an exceptional individual.

The smaller businesses in the Jinhua Chamber of Commerce and other business alliances that ranked lower were competing for a spot in the semi-finals, which was also used to divide market share.

As for the final fifteen or the top ten, they had no idea what to do with it.

"Qingyun, well done!" Wu Yishan was overjoyed when Li Ji'an won in the second round.

Three days ago, when Wu Yishan saw that Li Ji'an's opponent was that of the Celestial Spirit Root Immortal Seed from the Fierce Tiger Chamber of Commerce, he had almost lost all hope.

They had all heard of the strength of that Celestial Spirit Root Immortal Seed from the Fierce Tiger Merchant Guild. He was considered one of the top three in the Fierce Tiger Merchant Guild this year and was a promising talent who had a chance to compete for a spot in the top fifteen qualifying rounds.

The Jinhua Chamber of Commerce has always hoped that Li Ji'an would reach the semi-finals.

The two were not on the same level in the eyes of the Jinhua Chamber of Commerce.

Wu Yishan wasn't the only one who thought so. The most direct evidence was the betting odds offered by the Business Alliance's Fei Hong Lun Dao. In this battle of wits, Li Ji'an's odds were 1 to 50, while the odds for Tianjiao from the Liehu Business Association were 1 to 1.

However, Li Ji'an exceeded everyone's expectations.

Ninety-nine percent of the people who participated in his discourse that day lost spirit stones.

"This time, three members of our Jinhua Chamber of Commerce have entered the third round, while only two members of the Sishui Chamber of Commerce have. If we can maintain this until the end of the third round, our Jinhua Chamber of Commerce will take nearly 30% of the market share from the Sishui Chamber of Commerce in the next ten years." Several senior members of the Jinhua Chamber of Commerce were excited.

Wang Hu, Wu Chengzhi, and Li Ji'an were the stars of the show, but the rest of them had no idea what to expect in the next semi-final decisive battle.

After all, those who can enter the second round may not necessarily have real strength, but those who can enter the third round are all strong.

Li Ji'an was quite relaxed about this. Even if he had to fight the top-ranked member of the Seventh Group, the Immortal Seed of the Nine Cauldrons Chamber of Commerce, he was confident that he could defeat him.

Although Fei Hong cannot use external forces other than magical artifacts or even spirit pets when discussing the Dao, his physical and spiritual cultivation still relies on his own strength and is not subject to any restrictions.

In the Myriad Merchants Domain, there is no distinction between good and evil, whether it is soul cultivation or any other kind of magic. It only depends on whether the rules are violated. Therefore, he can openly and legitimately use the secret techniques of the soul.

Moreover, in these two rounds of elimination matches, he had seen several people use body cultivation to surprise him. However, these body cultivators had only reached the first level and then stopped refining their cultivation.

Having a good spiritual root does not mean having a good physical constitution, and both lead to better development in the path of cultivation, so one will not spend too much energy on physical cultivation.

As for the two people from the Sishui Trading Company who entered the third round, one was the prodigy with the Heavenly Spirit Root that was discovered, and the other was Yao Rui.

In the second round, Yao Rui won with great difficulty. With similar magical power, her magical abilities were clearly inferior to her opponent's.

After a ten-day break, the conference finally ushered in the third decisive battle, which was of utmost importance to downstream chambers of commerce such as the Jinhua Chamber of Commerce.

At this crucial moment, Li Ji'an caught his opponent off guard with his second-tier body cultivation, causing the opponent to suffer a bitter defeat.

For a time, second-order body cultivation became a major focus of attention at this year's Flying Goose Dao Discussion.

His prominence was almost on par with that of ten of the world's greatest talents.

It was also hailed by major betting odds as the dark horse of this season.

The Jinhua Chamber of Commerce celebrated Li Ji'an's victory with great fanfare, publicly awarding him 100,000 spirit stones.

The spiritual contract then automatically ended, and the two parties were no longer bound by any further ties.

However, just the day after celebrating Li Ji'an's victory, Wu Chengzhi suffered three defeats and failed to advance to the semifinals.

In the end, Li Ji'an and Wang Hu successfully advanced.

In the third round, Yao Rui used all her methods, including a magical artifact temporarily given to her by the Sishui Chamber of Commerce. She used every trick in the book, and the battle lasted for three days.

However, the difference in skill level is obvious. Under the same mana, the Heaven-level skill level of the opponent is 30% more powerful than the Earth-level skill level that Yao Rui has practiced.

However, the higher the grade of the spell, the more mana it requires to cast.

After several setbacks, Yao Rui stopped trying to win by relying on magic and instead adopted a reckless approach of using brute force to overcome all methods.

It just so happens that the eighth-grade magic weapon that the Sishui Chamber of Commerce has temporarily gifted them is a blazing longsword.

Wielding a long sword, he used offense as defense, risking injury to nearly exhaust his opponent's power, and ultimately won by a narrow margin once again.

This battle also became the most earth-shattering battle of this year's Flying Goose Forum.

Ultimately, only Yao Rui from the Surabaya Chamber of Commerce made it to the semi-finals.

Judging solely from the number of participants who made it to the semi-finals, the Jinhua Chamber of Commerce won this year's Fei Hong Forum.

Five days later, the list of semi-finalists for this year's Daoist Debate Competition was released, and thirty people, including Li Ji'an and Yao Rui, were officially awarded the title of "Prodigy" by the Business Alliance.

(End of this chapter)