Everyone ascended, but I didn't get on board

Chapter 170 The League Begins
A month passed quickly, and the league season was just around the corner.

The Wei family clearly attached great importance to this competition, and the whole family set off for the venue early in the morning, with Qiu Ci naturally among them. However, they separated as soon as they arrived at the venue. Qiu Ci and Xiao Lümao went to the competition area to wait, while the Wei family parents went to the audience seats.

Perhaps his confidence had been undermined by the puppet, Little Green Hair was visibly nervous and unusually silent the whole way. Qiu Ci was just thinking about whether to cheer him up when she saw several traffic lights rushing towards her.

"Brother Wei!" Three boys with red, yellow, and blue hair smiled broadly and patted the little green-haired boy familiarly. "You've finally arrived. We've been waiting for you for ages. Huh?"

The three looked curiously at Qiu Ci beside them. After exchanging glances, they began to wink and make faces. "Brother Wei, no wonder you haven't been seen for a month. Now I know. Tell me, who is this girl... oh!"

Before they could finish speaking, the little green-haired boy raised his hand and slapped each of them on the head. His previously happy expression turned sour. "What girl? Show some respect. This is my mentor, Teacher Chu."

Perhaps the word "teacher" has a natural influence on students. The three students' expressions changed instantly. Their previously nonchalant demeanor turned into upright posture. Their faces flushed as they honestly admitted their mistakes, "I'm sorry, Teacher Chu."

"Okay." Qiu Ci didn't argue with them, but simply pointed to the competition venue and said, "It's about to start, let's go!"

The group then followed them into the venue, the three rainbow-colored boys instantly becoming as obedient as quails.

This county-level league lasted for three days and involved many intermediate schools, with thousands of students participating. Therefore, a two-on-one elimination system was adopted. Qiu Ci calculated that to enter the final eight, he needed to win at least eight consecutive matches.

Most of the students who came to participate in the competition were at the Foundation Establishment stage. There were not many Golden Core stage cultivators like Xiao Lvmao. She glanced around and found less than five. Therefore, Feng Shanming, who was at the Nascent Soul stage, stood out among them.

Whether it was to earn face-slapping points from the system or not, Feng Shanming still concealed his true cultivation level, only displaying the strength of the Foundation Establishment stage. This resulted in each of his battles ending exceptionally quickly, exhibiting a crushing effect and drawing gasps of amazement from those around him.

Qiu Ci frowned, somewhat confused by the logic of this system's bound user. Was it something to be proud of to crush a Foundation Establishment cultivator with a Nascent Soul cultivation? What was the difference between that and a one-on-one fight in kindergarten? According to the logic of normal cultivators, shouldn't one challenge cultivators of the same or higher level to help with cultivation?

She couldn't figure it out, so she stopped paying attention. Anyway, the system on him would only react when he met an opponent.

Little Green Hair also started his competition. When he registered, he wrote that he was a Golden Core cultivator, so most of his opponents were either at the Foundation Establishment stage or at the same Golden Core stage as him.

Little Green Hair was a little nervous at first, but after the battle, he found that his opponent was far weaker than the puppets he usually fought. He won easily, even winning three matches in a row. Perhaps the three victories restored his confidence, because he suddenly became a little arrogant, and his expression became smug.

"Teacher Chu, Teacher Chu!" He strode towards Qiu Ci, his face beaming with excitement. "I think they're all so weak! I beat them without even going all out. I'm confident I can win this time. What do you think, Teacher?"

"I don't think it will work." Qiu Ci shattered his fantasy, pulling him back down from his reverie.

"Huh!" Little Green Fur was taken aback, his smile vanishing. "Why?"

“You currently only have the advantage in cultivation level and swordsmanship,” Qiu Ci said seriously. “However, you’ve only learned the Thousand Crane Chant sword technique, which is too limited. If you encounter a swordsman of the same level as you, or a cultivator with higher cultivation, they can easily see through your swordsmanship and you will be defeated very quickly.” Little Green Hair immediately wilted and said somewhat dejectedly, “Forget it, I didn’t expect to win anyway.” He forced himself to save face and quickly adjusted his mood. He glanced around and then fixed his gaze on Feng Shanming in the arena ahead, and couldn’t help but say, “I can at least beat him, right? I have a grudge against him, so it wouldn’t be bad to take the opportunity to beat him up.”

"Not always!"

"What?" Little Green Hair couldn't believe his ears. The teacher really looked down on him.

"Quite the opposite," Qiu Ci said seriously. "He might be your biggest opponent in this competition."

Little Green Hair fell silent, wanting to refute that the person was just a loser a year ago, but he also understood that Teacher Chu never spoke carelessly. He finally became wary of Feng Shanming and said after a while, "I really underestimated him. It seems that I can only try my best to defeat Teacher's puppet first."

Qiu Ci: "..." Why does this silly child seem to be making the choices increasingly difficult?
You're dreaming!

Even the dog system couldn't help but chime in, and even flew to the top of the little green-haired guy's head, turning into the same green color as him.

The master's puppet was created based on the abilities of the socially awkward Jing Jindan stage. Not to mention someone like Little Green Hair, even if it were someone like Feng Shanming who was bound to the pirate system, the socially awkward Jing could take on ten of them, okay?
Qiu Ci ignored the little green-haired boy who was frantically cheering her on. She observed the league venue for two days but didn't see any activity from Feng Shanming's system. Perhaps he hadn't encountered any real opponents. With the competition entering its final day, only the final sixteen remained out of the original thousand participating cultivators.

The league has officially entered its most intense phase. Little Green Hair lived up to expectations and made it into the top 16 without any major incidents. Wei's parents were overjoyed and immediately gave Qiu Ci two more large red envelopes.

What puzzled Qiu Ci was the old man from Juanshan. He had clearly told her that he would try to sneak into the league, but two days had passed and she hadn't seen him at the stadium. It wasn't until the final on the third day that she finally saw the old man from Juanshan arrive late.

—The kind where you sit on a high platform as a judge!

Autumn Farewell: "..."

So you promised to sneak into the league? Is this how you sneak in? You've already made it onto the judging panel, and you're the head judge right in the middle.

But the person was completely unaware of this, seemingly expressionless, but actually frantically sending her telepathic messages.

“Master, Master, look here, look here! I’m here! Which one are we going to get? Just tell me the name, Master, and I’ll get him down right away.”

"..." Don't do anything reckless!

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I always feel that after the old man from Juanshan changed his appearance, he started to let himself go.