A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

After arriving near the Spirit Mountain Realm, Zhou Ping looked at the empty plaza on the outskirts where many Qi Refining stage cultivators were gathered, and quietly removed the mask from his face.

Now that he was about to enter the sect's territory, he dared not show himself in this guise, lest it cause unnecessary misunderstandings.

Because he was worried about encountering some unexpected situations on the way, he arrived here two days in advance. Now it seems that there is still plenty of time, so he is not in a hurry to go and report immediately.

Looking at the throng of independent cultivators, Zhou Ping couldn't help but feel a bit interested, so he slowly moved closer to see what these people were doing here.

"Hey! Look! Fellow Daoist Xie's umbrella-shaped magic artifact is truly amazing! It completely blocked Young Master Ling's extremely powerful fire attack!"

"You don't know this, do you? That fire-repelling umbrella is a genuine mid-grade defensive magic artifact. Fellow Daoist Xie spent all his wealth to buy it from the Heavenly Artifact Pavilion, so it's naturally incomparable to ordinary low-grade magic artifacts."

Upon reaching the edge of the plaza, Zhou Ping overheard two cultivators commenting on the two combatants in the arena. He then followed the crowd's gaze and looked towards the arena.

A young cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining was seen continuously unleashing scorching fire spells, relentlessly attacking another person in the arena. The latter, in turn, wielded a large, entirely crimson umbrella with dazzling skill, blocking all of his opponent's attacks flawlessly and without leaving a single opening, drawing cheers from the onlookers.

Zhou Ping had little experience with combat between cultivators, so he stopped to watch. His eyes followed the two figures in the arena closely, and he secretly marveled at how his eyes had been opened.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the young cultivator who had been on the offensive suddenly stopped his attack, sighing in frustration.

"I'm not fighting anymore, I'm not fighting anymore. Brother Xie's Fire-Repelling Umbrella is simply the perfect counter to my cultivation technique. If I continue fighting, I'll run out of magical power."

"Hahaha! Young Master Ling is too modest. If I hadn't just purchased this umbrella a few days ago, I'm afraid I wouldn't even have had the courage to step onto the stage for a sparring match with you today!"

As the large red umbrella closed, a disheveled middle-aged man emerged from behind it, laughing heartily. His tone, however, was full of humility, which seemed somewhat incongruous with his unkempt and unrestrained appearance.

Zhou Ping took a closer look and found that he was also a cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining, but he looked much older than the young man surnamed Ling.

After exchanging a few compliments, the two retreated into the crowd amidst cheers and began meditating and regulating their breathing.

Before Zhou Ping could react, a man in black robes wielding a silver longsword jumped out, stood in the center of the plaza, and shouted,

"I, Yang, have recently mastered a new water-based supernatural power. I wonder if any fellow Daoist would be so kind as to grant me the honor of a friendly exchange?"

Upon seeing this, a buzzing sound rose again from the crowd, as if they were quite familiar with this person.

"This Deacon Yang is not easy to deal with. With a cultivation level of the fifth level of Qi Refining and a powerful water-based technique, his magical power is continuous and extremely resilient. Among the fellow cultivators present, there are very few who dare to say they can reliably defeat him!"

"Indeed! Cultivators who practice water-attribute techniques may lack offensive power, but they have a strong staying power. It's a pity that Young Master Ling's cultivation level is a bit low, otherwise, with his domineering fire-attribute divine abilities, he might be able to restrain the opponent."

"That's not necessarily true. It's not something an ordinary rogue cultivator could achieve to join the enforcement team as a rogue cultivator. I think that even if Young Master Ling's cultivation has reached the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage, his actual combat strength is still far inferior to that of Deacon Yang!"

Zhou Ping stood to the side, listening intently to their conversation, a puzzled look on his face. After a while, seeing that no one had gone up to spar with the cultivator surnamed Yang, he couldn't help but ask.

"Fellow Daoists, I am new to this place. May I ask why you are here to engage in this magical contest?"

The three cultivators standing nearby looked over when someone asked a question. When they saw that it was a thin man who looked to be around forty or fifty years old, their eyes flashed with a glint of light, but then a hint of disappointment appeared in their eyes, which puzzled Zhou Ping.

"At your age, fellow Daoist, you have only just reached the fourth level of Qi Refining. You have long since lost the possibility of joining any major sect. It is better not to waste your time here."

Of the three, a square-faced man spoke frankly, and the other two beside him nodded in agreement, seemingly quite in agreement with his words.

Zhou Ping was completely baffled by them, so he had to ask again. After they explained, he finally understood what they meant and couldn't help but find it amusing.

It turns out that these rogue cultivators were fighting here merely to try their luck at becoming immortals, fantasizing about being noticed by some great cultivators in the Spirit Mountain Realm and thus gaining the opportunity to join one of the Five Great Mysterious Sects.

As a disciple of the Azure Lotus Profound Sect, Zhou Ping naturally didn't need to consider these things. However, after understanding why everyone had gathered here, he couldn't help but sigh at the lofty status of the Five Great Profound Sects and how fortunate he was to be able to join the Azure Lotus Profound Sect with the Five Profound Tokens.

He briefly used his Heavenly Eye Technique to observe his surroundings and discovered that the vast majority of cultivators were at the same level as him, with only a handful reaching the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage. Among them was the cultivator surnamed Yang in the arena.

However, Zhou Ping did not find a single cultivator whose cultivation level exceeded the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage.

This result greatly surprised him, and was completely different from what he had seen in the sect.

In the Azure Lotus Profound Sect, any disciple who stands out is at least at the fifth level of Qi Refining, and there are even many senior brothers at the ninth level of Qi Refining. His fourth level of Qi Refining puts him among the weakest group of people in the sect, and he has therefore encountered a lot of disdain from his fellow disciples.

But once he arrived here, he transformed into a mainstream cultivator. Not many people had a higher cultivation level than him, and most of the rogue cultivators were in their twenties or thirties, much older than him, which made him seem less mediocre.

Zhou Ping's reaction was normal, because with the Five Profound Tokens, he didn't need to participate in the sect's ascension selection, and he didn't understand how difficult it was to break through the encirclement of thousands of rogue cultivators.

With his current cultivation level, he probably doesn't even qualify to participate in the sect's selection process.

"It seems this is the true level of rogue cultivators in the cultivation world..."

After muttering to himself, Zhou Ping felt he had gained a clearer understanding of the cultivation world. He then quietly withdrew from the crowd and headed towards the verdant spiritual mountain not far away.