To comprehend all laws and attain immortality

The altar was silent; none of the disciples from the three sects dared to move.

As time ticked by, the golden lotus, which bloomed and withered repeatedly, remained suspended in the air without changing in the slightest. Only then did the three sect leaders rise.

Gu Fan had thought that the literary contest would begin after the sacrificial ceremony, but Elder Han announced that it would be held the next day and ordered all the disciples to disperse.

Confused, Gu Fan caught up with Chen Suzhen and asked, "Does Martial Aunt know the procedure for the Dharma Assembly?"

Chen Suzhen chuckled and said, "This is my first time here too, how would I know any of this?"

"The sect sent us inner disciples here only to be ordered around by the elders. It's not our place to show our faces in public. The literary and martial arts competitions are the task of you outer disciples."

Gu Fan could only nod and leave, looking back at the altar, feeling that the long silence was strange.

......

Longevity Hill, Xuanzhen Hall.

The three sect leaders each occupied a separate area, their faces grim and silent.

After a long silence, Tuoba Zhao broke it first: "The Dao Ancestor still hasn't responded. What should we do next?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Bairen's gloomy expression dissipated, and he sneered, "What else can we do?"

"Among the various sects and factions in the Qionghua Realm, it's not just our Wei Kingdom that hasn't received a response from the Dao Ancestor. Even if the spiritual energy were to truly decline, I'm afraid neither of us would live to see that day."

Tuoba Zhao angrily retorted, "Even the Dharma Body of your Hundred Refinements Sect couldn't withstand the spatial rift, so what about the Spirit Transformation Sect and the Lingxiao Sect? Are you just going to abandon the legacy left by your ancestors?"

"What can we do then?" Wang Bairen spread his hands and said, "In the eyes of the Dao Ancestor, you and I are smaller than ants to us. It's perfectly normal that he can't hear our voices. Doesn't your Spirit Transformation Sect worship the True Spirit? Why don't you ask the True Spirit?"

"It's already difficult enough to borrow some power from the True Spirit. We cultivate the Transformation Spirit, not the descendants of the True Spirit! Besides, the True Spirit can't even repair a realm!" Tuoba Zhao said helplessly.

"Fellow Daoists," Qi Zongyuan, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

"Fellow Daoist Wang has a point. Indeed, it is not only the three sects of Wei Kingdom that have not received a response from the Dao Ancestor in the Qionghua Realm. Moreover, there are still at least a thousand years before the true decline of spiritual energy. The only thing we can do is to continue the Three Sects Dharma Assembly as usual."

Upon hearing Qi Zongyuan speak, Tuoba Zhao also sighed helplessly.

As far as he knew, not only the three sects of Wei Kingdom, but also the sects of the six kingdoms in the two continents of Qionghua Realm, none of them received a response from the Dao Ancestor.

He also felt that what Wang Bairen said made sense.

In the eyes of the Dao Ancestor, they were not even as good as ants, but which of them cared about the life or death of ants?

Thinking of this, Tuoba Zhao couldn't help but ask, "Fellow Daoist Qi, has your sect's Ancestor Yunxiao sent back any message?"

Qi Zongyuan slowly shook his head: "It has been more than two thousand years since Ancestor Yunxiao ascended to heaven, and there has been no news of him since."

Upon hearing this, both Tuoba Zhao and Wang Bairen sighed.

The spacious Xuanzhen Hall fell into complete silence.

After a moment, Tuoba Zhao spoke again: "To be honest, I have another request..."

......

The next day, Gu Fan returned to the place where the Dharma assembly was being held, only to find that the place had been completely changed.

The altar from yesterday has been demolished and transformed into a wide open space, where hundreds of animal head statues still stand.

At the head of the open space was a cloud platform, where the Golden Core elders of the three sects watched the literary contest, while the sect leaders of the three sects did not appear.

Thousands of strands of fire-elemental spiritual energy emanated from the earth's veins, and Gu Fan immediately guessed the purpose of these statues.

Sure enough, after the disciples of the three sects gathered, Elder Han announced the start of the literary contest at the Dharma assembly.

According to tradition, the first competition was alchemy.

As soon as Elder Han finished speaking, dozens of figures leaped to the central open space and each chose to occupy a spot.

As expected of the Lingxiao Sect, which is the most skilled in alchemy among the three sects, more than a dozen people chose to participate in the alchemy literary competition, including Long Ying and Li Cangzhu.

Everyone was hoping their fellow disciple would shine. Meng Wei, standing next to Gu Fan, would have loved to shout encouragement to Long Ying if he weren't so concerned about the inappropriate occasion.

Long Ying seemed to sense something as well, and turned her head to smile at the group.

"Long Ying smiled, she's sure to win the championship!" Meng Wei exclaimed excitedly.

Gu Fan and Jiang Qingque exchanged a glance and then smiled in agreement.

Gu Fan also hoped that Meng Wei's words would come true. He had only seen Long Ying open the furnace once before, and that was to refine Qi Gathering Pills, which were only of medium difficulty.

Meng Wei often mentioned to Gu Fan that Long Ying had a high talent for alchemy, but Gu Fan did not yet know exactly how high it was.

While everyone was chatting, the alchemy competition had already begun.

The first round of the alchemy competition was not about alchemy.

An elderly man in a green robe descended from the cloud platform. His face was kind and gentle. With a wave of his sleeve, dozens of jade slips floated towards the contestants.

"The cultivation of alchemy requires the ability to identify hundreds of herbs and understand their medicinal properties. The first round of the competition is to answer questions in the jade slip. Only those who pass can participate in the next round."

As the old man in the green robe spoke, he set up a tall incense stick in the center of the room and lit it with a flick of his finger.

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the audience reached out and took the jade slip, pressing it to their foreheads to examine it.

Gu Fan had complete confidence in Long Ying for this round.

In his storage bag was a jade slip containing many pharmacological information, medicinal herbs, and processing methods. That jade slip was a gift from Long Ying.

Sure enough, when only a third of the incense had burned out, Long Ying stepped forward to return the jade slip.

When half of the incense sticks were still in the air, Li Cangzhu followed closely behind, and then the other disciples from the two sects came forward one after another.

On the high platform, an elder of the Hualing Sect, witnessing this scene, couldn't help but say to Liu Shentong, "Your sect truly has a wealth of talent in the art of alchemy."

Liu Shentong, however, didn't respond to the compliment with a pleasant expression: "What, do you intend to cancel even the alchemy competition?"

It was clearly referring to the cancellation of the array training ground.

Upon hearing this, the Golden Core cultivators from the Hundred Refinements Sect and the Spirit Transformation Sect couldn't maintain their composure, but they couldn't show it, so they reluctantly fell silent.

After all the disciples had returned their jade slips, the old man in the green robe began to examine them one by one.

The crowd below the stage immediately felt uneasy.

The reason is simple: the pharmacological questions in the jade slip were quite tricky, and much of the knowledge was beyond the scope of a first-level alchemist, leaving many people feeling uncertain.

A moment later, the old man in the green robe waved his sleeve again, and nearly a third of the jade slip flew to the disciples below.

"Those who have jade slips in front of them may go back. I have made some annotations on the jade slips, and I hope you will study them more in the future."

In an instant, the disciples who had jade slips in front of them all blushed. After taking the jade slips, they bowed to the old man in the green robe and then returned to their own mountain.

After all the eliminated players had left, there were fewer than thirty people left in the audience, including several disciples from the Lingxiao Sect.

Then the old man in the green robe announced the details of the second round of the competition:

"The second round of the competition: refining pills!"

After speaking, the old man in the green robe released a large number of jade boxes from his storage bag and flew to the front of everyone.

"The jade box contains the raw materials for refining Qi Condensation Pills. The competition will be decided based on the quantity and quality of the pills produced!"

Upon hearing this, the disciples of the three sects around were all surprised, not expecting the Spirit Transformation Sect to be so generous.

According to the rules of the Dharma Assembly, all the results of alchemy belong to the alchemist. In other words, the Spirit Transformation Sect is giving each alchemist a free opportunity to refine pills.

The Qi Condensation Pill is among the most difficult of the first-tier spiritual pills. It is an auxiliary pill for Foundation Establishment. When taken in conjunction with the Foundation Establishment Pill, it can increase the success rate of Foundation Establishment by another 50%!

A 50% chance can sometimes make all the difference.

Needless to say, the envious expressions of the crowd were evident. After the old man in the green robe gave the order, the participating disciples released their alchemy furnaces and then made hand seals towards the spirit beast stone sculpture, from which surging flames spewed out.

Next came a dazzling display of fire control techniques, as precious spiritual materials were thrown into the alchemy furnace.

Everyone watched intently, afraid of making a sound that might disturb the alchemist.

Half an hour later, a muffled thunderous sound was heard.

"Someone has succeeded in refining it?" Jiang Qingque asked in surprise.

"No." Meng Wei shook his head, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. "Someone's caused an explosion."

Sure enough, Gu Fan looked in the direction of the sound and saw a disciple of the Hundred Refinements Sect standing there dejectedly, his face covered in dust. The alchemy furnace in front of him was charred black and emitted a foul black odor.

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