I proved immortality with thunder magic.

Time passed day by day, and soon it was Zhou Tai's fifty-fourth birthday.

He didn't tell anyone about his birthday, so on his birthday he simply cooked a bowl of spirit rice and stir-fried a few home-style dishes by himself.

His birthday is just a few days away, and then comes the once-every-nine-years outer sect competition at Spirit Beast Mountain.

To Zhou Tai's regret, Aaron Kwok was still unable to return to fulfill their promise.

He received a letter from the other party through a third party half a month ago, saying that he still needed some merit points to exchange for Foundation Establishment resources, and he would probably have to stay in the Demon Abyss Mountains for another half a year.

The other party also expressed special gratitude for his thunder talismans, saying that they had been of great help over the past year, and asked him to draw some more and send them over.

Zhou Tai would certainly not refuse his friend's request.

He has already started stockpiling thunder talismans, so that once the people arranged by Aaron Kwok arrive, they can be handed over to them and sent to the Demon Abyss Mountains.

A few days later, the grand ceremony of the outer sect of Spirit Beast Mountain was held as scheduled.

Zhou Tai rode his black-feathered eagle to the venue for the outer sect competition early in the morning.

The arena was located on a spacious and flat valley plain. When Zhou Tai arrived, many outer disciples and miscellaneous disciples had already arrived.

Perhaps to encourage the handymen disciples, on the day of the outer sect competition, most handymen disciples who did not have important matters to attend to could apply to come and watch the competition.

Therefore, thousands of people would gather here every time the outer sect competition took place.

Having been a cultivator for over a decade, this was the first time Zhou Tai had ever seen so many cultivators gathered together, and he was quite shocked.

"No wonder Fatty Guo said before that the outer sect competition is a grand event for the sect and should not be missed."

He muttered to himself, then went to the animal pen to store the black-feathered vulture before heading towards the crowd.

Among the cultivators gathered here were outer disciples who had reached the ninth level of Qi Refining perfection, as well as miscellaneous disciples who appeared to be young and were at the first or second level of Qi Refining.

They were not clearly separated because of their different identities; they were all mixed together.

Zhou Tai didn't want to attract attention, so he blended in with a group of menial disciples and patiently waited for the competition to begin.

Registration for the outer sect competition had long since ended. Now, the miscellaneous disciples who had registered were gathered in a designated area to be divided into groups by drawing lots, and then each group would advance through a series of battles.

Only those miscellaneous disciples who advance all the way to the top ten can be promoted to outer disciples and receive a substantial reward.

It is worth mentioning that there is no age limit for the participants in this external competition. In theory, even centenarians can register to participate.

This is also one of the biggest highlights of the outer sect competition.

After all, even those with four or five spiritual roots can cultivate to the late stage of Qi Refining after sixty or seventy years of arduous training, and at the same time accumulate a considerable fortune.

Even if these people are promoted to outer disciples, they will no longer have the possibility of Foundation Establishment. However, if they can be registered as disciples of the sect and become officially registered outer disciples of the Spirit Beast Mountain, it will be a good way to make their life's cultivation worthwhile!

Moreover, Zhou Tai also knew that many of the menial disciples wanted to be promoted to outer disciples not so much to achieve Foundation Establishment, but to bring blessings to their descendants.

Only outer disciples are allowed to freely enter and leave the sect, and even retire to their hometowns in their old age to establish their own families elsewhere.

Some of the menial disciples have already married and had children, and some of their children have even become menial disciples in the sect. If they work hard to become outer disciples, they can better support their children and give them the opportunity to try for outer disciple status before they turn sixty.

Zhou Tai didn't have to wait long before the outer sect competition officially began.

On the nine arenas of the valley plain, nine different battles were taking place simultaneously.

Although Zhou Tai was already a Qi Refining Level 6 cultivator, this was the first time he had ever seen cultivators fighting and killing each other, so he watched very attentively.

He came today with a learning attitude, wanting to gain a more direct understanding of what it's like for cultivators to fight by observing the methods and strategies displayed in their battles.

After watching about a dozen battles, he gained a clear understanding of the combat situation between Qi Refining stage cultivators and exclaimed that he had indeed come to the right place.

Those handymen disciples who participated in the battle might not have very high cultivation levels, or their magical artifacts might not be very sophisticated.

However, they made thorough preparations for this day, and the various scenes of wit and courage displayed in the battles were sometimes quite eye-opening.

Moreover, many magical artifacts that displayed dazzling light in the battles also caught Zhou Tai's eye and inspired him greatly.

boom!

Suddenly, a thunderclap rang out, attracting Zhou Tai's attention.

He looked toward the sound of thunder and saw an old man with white hair lying on the ground, convulsing, with blood gushing from the corner of his mouth.

His opponent was also an elderly man with white hair, whose face was full of joy.

Seeing this, Zhou Tai secretly marveled, "Are all the menial disciples this unconventional these days? Could it be that girl Hu Qianqian's doing?"

He was naturally familiar with the thunderous sound just now; it was a phenomenon released by the lightning strike technique.

However, the victorious white-haired old man obviously couldn't have used lightning strikes, so there's only one truth.

Zhou Tai knew exactly where the "Lightning Strike Talismans" in his possession went. Apart from Hu Qianqian, the distributor, the other talismans were sold to outer disciples who actually needed them, and it was unlikely that they would end up in the hands of menial disciples.

After thinking it over, I feel that only Hu Qianqian could do such a thing.

After all, that girl was buying thunder talismans from him to make money. As long as someone was willing to pay a high price, she wouldn't care whether the other party was an outer disciple or a menial disciple.

In fact, he guessed correctly. At this moment, Hu Qianqian, who was also watching the game, was secretly excited.

She sold thunder talismans to disciples participating in the outer sect competition intentionally, hoping to open up the vast market of menial disciples.

Although the handyman disciples were poor, it wasn't difficult for them to save up enough over a lifetime to buy one or two thunder talismans.

To get the handymen disciples to part with their savings, they need to witness firsthand the immense power of the thunder talisman.

The white-haired old man lying on the ground is undoubtedly the best example of propaganda!

A late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, despite having cast protective spells on himself, was still severely injured by a bolt of heavenly lightning. What better publicity could there be!

This allowed Zhou Tai to truly witness the power of lightning-attribute magic in battle, further solidifying his original idea.

And so he watched the competition for two days straight, until the top ten of the outer sect competition were determined.

After the list of the top ten was released, Zhou Tai also learned the exact time of his initiation ceremony, which was seven days later.

Seven days later, after burning incense and bathing, Zhou Tai, dressed in the standard outer disciple robes, arrived at the Ancestral Hall and entered it with the top ten from this outer sect competition to pay homage to the ancestors of Spirit Beast Mountain.

The founder of the Spirit Beast Mountain sect, known as the Fire Lion True Man, took in over a hundred disciples throughout his life. Among his disciples and grand-disciples, four were Core Formation stage True Men and fifteen were Purple Mansion stage Great Cultivators.

However, only those Core Formation stage cultivators from Spirit Beast Mountain could leave their portraits and spirit tablets in the Ancestral Hall; even Purple Mansion stage cultivators were not qualified.

When Zhou Tai paid his respects, he counted them and found that there were seventeen portraits in the Ancestral Hall.

This means that in the past two to three thousand years, at least seventeen Core Formation stage cultivators have passed away at Spirit Beast Mountain.

Based on the calculation that a True Person in the Core Formation stage lives for 800 years, if those people all died of natural causes, it would be three or four generations before and after them.

Coincidentally, as far as he knew, there seemed to be only four Core Formation stage cultivators in Spirit Beast Mountain at present.

"It seems that without any major fortuitous events, the resources and wealth controlled by Spirit Beast Mountain can only maintain a scale of four or five Core Formation stage cultivators at the same time!"

With these thoughts in mind, he gained a vague understanding of the difficulty of forming the Golden Core for the first time.

The thousands of outer disciples and miscellaneous disciples of Spirit Beast Mountain are replaced every hundred years. Over hundreds or thousands of years, only four or five Core Formation stage cultivators can be cultivated at the same time.

This ratio is absolutely shocking!

The difficulty level is beyond description, even if it's one in ten thousand!

After paying their respects to the patriarch, Zhou Tai and the others went together to the main hall of the sect to pay their respects to the current sect leader of the Spirit Beast Mountain.

The current leader of Spirit Beast Mountain is named Zhao Dongyang. He is a cultivator in the Purple Mansion stage who is over three hundred years old. He looks similar to Zhou Tai, neither old nor young.

Zhou Tai and the others only glanced at the sect leader from a distance of a dozen or so feet, listened to his words of encouragement, and were then waved away.

After completing the initiation ceremony, Zhou Tai quickly returned to Yuanfu Peak alone, ignoring the attempts of other newly recruited outer disciples to curry favor.

Perhaps those people, seeing his age, would assume that everyone is on the same page and wants to stick together for mutual support.

But in Zhou Tai's view, he and they were not on the same wavelength at all, and there was nothing to talk about.

Instead of wasting time with these people, I'd rather go back and draw a few more magic talismans.

Some time later, when Hu Qianqian came to him again to trade thunder talismans, Zhou Tai handed her the custom-made magic weapon plan he had been thinking about these past few days.

"Junior Sister Hu, this is the information for the magical artifact I want to order. Is there anything you'd like to add?"

Upon hearing his words, Hu Qianqian perked up and immediately took the proposal to read it.

After carefully reading through the contents several times, she immediately nodded and said, "I don't see any problems, Senior Brother Zhou. Don't worry, I've already contacted several skilled weapon refiners. After I show them your proposal, they should be able to give you a rough quote soon. Then you can decide based on the situation."

Zhou Tai was satisfied with her answer and smiled slightly, saying, "Very good, then I'll trouble you to take care of this matter, Junior Sister Hu."

He is now gradually realizing the benefits of having someone to run errands for him.

Hu Qianqian's status as an outer disciple, along with the advantages of being a young female disciple, gave her a significant edge in building her social circle within the sect. Moreover, she was intelligent and knew how to utilize her strengths.

With her running errands, Zhou Tai could save a lot of trouble.

So now he appreciates this fellow villager more and more and is happy to continue working with her.