I saved the entire sect by playing idly by letting things fall apart.

"What are you trying to do? Refine pills? That shouldn't work on Yun Que."

Referee: "?" Alchemy furnace?

The referee was also a little confused. What did they need the alchemy furnace for?

Mingyi, who had been watching from the sidelines, also became strangely calm, to be honest.

You worried for nothing.

She can't distrust anyone, but she also can't distrust this group's ability to cause trouble.

Xue Yu then tossed the alchemy furnace over.

Don't say it.

Damn, the effect is really good. Mingxuan shrank behind the alchemy furnace, and Xue Yu, seeing this, hurriedly enlarged the alchemy furnace and controlled its direction to block the attack for him.

This will test their teamwork.

It's incredibly useful, just like a shield.

After several failed attempts, Yun Que was going crazy: "Referee!! They're cheating!"

The referee was stunned. When he came to his senses, his voice turned cold: "Changming Sect members, helping others cheat is forbidden, do you hear me?"

"Hey, hey, hey, what do you mean by helping cheat?" Mu Chongxi shouted even louder than him, "What's wrong with us just tossing around a pill furnace for fun?"

"..."

Ye Qiao then began her sophistry: "Referee, I have a question."

The referee, too lazy to reason with Mu Chongxi, looked at Ye Qiao, and said, "You speak."

"Whose alchemy furnace is it?"

"Xue Yu's."

"Who is Xue Yu?"

"Danxiu."

Ye Qiao: "Are alchemists not allowed to participate in the talisman cultivator competition? For example, me—" She tried to give an example: "I am also a proper alchemist."

Thinking of her foul-smelling pills, and then seeing her constantly calling herself "serious," the judge's lips twitched, and he nodded: "That's right, alchemists are not allowed to participate in the competition, and multiple practitioners are not allowed to register multiple times."

"But that's no excuse for cheating!" he suddenly raised his voice.

Ye Qiao's voice rang out at the same time as his: "Isn't that settled? He didn't participate in the competition or even take the stage. He just threw away a pill furnace."

Referee: "This constitutes outside assistance!!"

Ye Qiao continued her sophistry: "Sword cultivators can use swords to control their swords, so what's wrong with us alchemists controlling our alchemy furnaces? We didn't help him, it was just Xue Yu controlling the alchemy furnace. Oh, if you want to see it too, I can demonstrate for you now, controlling an alchemy furnace in mid-air, how about that? Pretty reasonable, right?"

"???" That's ridiculous.

Just as Ye Qiao was about to take out her alchemy furnace, the referee quickly stopped her. He was joking, saying that one alchemy furnace floating around was already mesmerizing enough, let alone another one.

"This alchemy furnace didn't attack anyone, nor did it cause any harm to Yun Que," Xue Yu said without changing his expression. "Referee, this is discrimination. Look at how you've discriminated against my alchemy furnace!"

As he spoke, he shook the alchemy furnace.

Referee: "..." Damn it, who discriminated against your alchemy furnace?

Xue Yu has a penchant for moral blackmail, and the referee was speechless for a moment before shouting, "Take it back immediately!!"

Xue Yu smiled, stopped being cheeky, and put the alchemy furnace back. This was something they had discussed earlier; all they needed to do was stall for time.

Give Mingxuan some time to set up the formation.

With the alchemy furnace as a shield, Yun Que was delayed for a long time, and by the time she realized something was wrong, it was too late.

The boy's figure disappeared again, and at the same time, a talisman with golden patterns was affixed to Yun Que's body.

Yun Que located his position, took a step forward, and swung her sword at him. The Vajra Talisman turned to ashes on both of them.

"They've taken the bait." Mingxuan's eyes crinkled as he suddenly retreated, activating the formation. Five positions lit up with floating light, and the attack formation was complete. Several attacks shot out and struck Yun Que. She subconsciously ignited her Vajra Talisman to resist.

Mingyi, who was watching the match, sat with them and paused for a moment: "Fire Formation."

"One of the formations of our eight great families, Mingxuan has a top-grade fire spirit root."

The effect is even more significant.

The moment the formation was completed, Yun Que conjured water in her hand to try to extinguish the flames rising around her. She felt her face burning painfully, as if her body was constantly cracking and evaporating from the heat.

Flames spread and crashed down on her, just as the water in Yun Que's hand began to condense.

It then burned onto her clothes.

It ignited instantly. She was wearing a sect robe, so the flames could only erode the surface. Yun Que breathed a sigh of relief, but her face couldn't withstand it. How could a sword possibly block flames?

This is what makes talisman cultivators so disgusting. Once the formation is complete, unless it's ridiculously powerful, not only can it not be broken, but one will also be trapped and killed.

Seeing Yun Que being forced into a retreat, Ye Qiao immediately stood up and said, "Second Senior Brother, step on her!"

"Step on her face!" Seeing the situation turn around, Mu Chongxi started barking like a dog: "Hurry up, hurry up! She actually tried to hit your handsome face! Even if an uncle can tolerate it, a sister-in-law can't!"

They were all eager to stir up trouble and fan the flames.

Seeing this, Mingxuan actually stepped on her. Not only did he step on her, but after he did, he also cruelly crushed her and kicked her down.

Yun Que was burned beyond recognition. She stared intently at Ming Xuan, having never lost so much face, especially after a winning streak, to be suddenly knocked down and had her face trampled on.

"How could you do this?" She was so angry that her chest heaved, and she almost bit her lower lip until it bled. She had never seen anyone compete to step on someone's face.

"What I do is none of your business," Mingxuan scoffed. "You've lost."

"Didn't anyone tell you to pay close attention to the location of the talisman cultivator?"

He was jumping around for a long time, but Yun Que was like a madman, always targeting the places he couldn't dodge, each move deadly. She didn't notice at all the hand gestures that Ming Xuan was quietly forming with his fingertips.

It's a shame she's a talisman cultivator; she doesn't even have this much common sense.

Mingxuan's lips curled into a smile: "Be careful next time, and don't do it again."

How cheap and shameless.

"How did Yunhen teach his disciples?"

"It's a shame that they claim to be a major sect of orthodox talisman cultivators. Even their own direct disciples are like this, yet they still have the nerve to call themselves orthodox."

Song Hansheng had instructed Yun Que to pay close attention to the opponent's gestures and anything unusual in the surroundings when setting up a battle formation.

But she couldn't resist starting to imitate Ye Qiao's unconventional tactics, using her sword to fight Fu Xiu one-on-one, winning all the way to the third round.

Song Hansheng watched her competition and ultimately chose to remain silent.

Alright, it's true that sword cultivators can easily defeat talisman cultivators, just like cutting vegetables. Nobody expected that Yun Que would run into the Changming Sect people ahead of time.

In terms of outrageous maneuvers, who can be more outrageous than Emperor Changmingzong?

Song Hansheng came here to see Ming Xuan. Both of them are talisman cultivators and they will meet in the finals sooner or later. It wouldn't hurt to observe them more. However, his timing was not good. He arrived just as Yun Que was being kicked down by Ming Xuan.

Yun Que burst into tears, "Senior Brother."

"So what if we lost?" Song Hansheng said dismissively. "This isn't a top ten competition." At most, she'd lose some points, but she could easily climb back up by finding a few more talisman cultivators.

Yun Que bit her lip, her eyes filled with resentment. "It's different." It was different. Losing to Changming Sect was a devastating blow to her, especially since Ming Xuan dared to humiliate her!

Song Hansheng was too lazy to comfort her now. Losing is losing, so what can be done? Anyway, it wasn't him who lost, and Song Hansheng didn't have the noble quality of comforting others.

……

"Interference from outside the alchemy competition is prohibited, especially the brewing of foul-smelling pills."

"No alchemy furnaces allowed in the talisman cultivation competition! Oh no, no outside items are allowed in the arena!!"

The organizers were the Ye family, who added several new rules and sent people to inform their direct disciples of these new rules, especially those from the Changming Sect!

"Is there anything else?"

He caught his breath and waved his hand: "After the Changming Sect's competition is over, I'll think about what else I should prohibit."

I never expected this! This group of people is absolutely impossible to guard against!

These people have figured out how to exploit loopholes in the rules.

On the other side, after coming down from the competition stage, Mingxuan frowned and walked back. "That Yun Que, she's mentally disturbed. She stabbed me with her sword without warning."

"I already told you," Xue Yu said, "that you should be careful of her; she really hates us."

He paused, his eyes blinking slightly, a hint of thoughtfulness in them. "To be precise, is it hatred?"

The use of "hate" was very clever. Mu Chongxi didn't take it seriously before. What could he do even if he hated them? Song Hansheng had always hated them, but he just couldn't get rid of them.

"What deep-seated hatred could lead to such a deadly attack?" While others couldn't discern the truth, the sword cultivators saw it clearly—every move was designed to kill.

Mu Chongxi was somewhat annoyed: "When will Yueqing Sect be able to kick her out?"

"Unless we find the next top-grade spiritual root," the chances are slim.

With Mingxuan's match over, there's basically nothing to watch on the sword cultivators' side.

The top ten personal mentors have already reserved their services.

Independent cultivators are essentially like food delivery workers.

Making it into the top ten is a sure thing.

The key is the rankings after the top ten.

Xue Yu muttered to himself, "So far, apart from Mingxuan being unlucky enough to run into Yun Que, the other disciples haven't had a chance to meet yet."

……

the next day.

Upon seeing the order of the draw, Xue Yu changed his mind: "Okay, I take back what I said about Mingxuan being the only one who was unlucky."

The number 15 was clearly written on it.

Seeing this, the group quickly checked the points leaderboard to see who was in fifteenth place.

"Ye Qinghan".

After he said that, the air seemed to freeze for a few seconds.

"Did Senior Brother run into Ye Qinghan?"

"The two of them? The arena would be completely destroyed."

The two people present were very excited, but the person involved was very calm. Zhou Xingyun thought for a moment and said, "If we can fight, we will fight; if we can't, we will leave."

If you can't beat him, just admit defeat.

Xue Yu: "Senior Brother is at the peak of the Golden Core stage, while Ye Qinghan is at the Nascent Soul stage, only one realm apart. However..."

Logically speaking, Ye Qinghan was already at the same level as Zhou Xingyun, so with some effort, the senior brother could also break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

He's just lazy.

I simply don't want to force a breakthrough.

It's been dragging on and on until now.

Mu Chongxi complained, "How can someone's luck be this bad?"

I thought I was already unlucky enough to be facing only Golden Core stage cultivators, but I ran into Ye Qinghan before the finals even started.

On the other side, Ye Qiao was working with Ming Xuan on a new talisman.

The Vajra Talisman's defensive effect is undeniable; it can block any attack. However, drawing it is a waste of time and effort.

Mingxuan touched the water with his fingertip and drew runes on the wooden table. "There is a kind of talisman called the Shield-Binding Talisman, which is said to be very useful."

"We can try drawing it and see how it goes."

Ye Qiao had never heard of this kind of defensive talisman before, and she asked suspiciously, "Did you create it yourself?"

"No, no, no."

"One of the four great specialties of our Ming family is talismans." He casually extended an invitation, "Why don't we try drawing some together? The results are excellent."

Ye Qiao: "..." You really are a fine eldest son of the Ming family, able to teach your family's special talismans to outsiders.

No matter what, the Ming family is a thousand-year-old family with a profound heritage. He knows far more talismans than others. The young man twirled the wolf-hair brush in his hand and wrote with practiced ease, muttering to himself as he drew, "These kinds of talismans are usually used to defend against very strong attacks."

Moreover, these advanced talismans are very easy to fail at.

"I didn't dare to try before because I always felt I couldn't compare to other talisman cultivators," especially those from the Moon Purity Sect.

Seeing this, Ye Qiao encouraged him, "How could that be? How could they possibly be worthy of comparing themselves to you? We're number one."

Mingxuan perked up: "That's right, we're number one!"

The two talisman cultivators encouraged and flattered each other, and got together in the middle of the night to start drawing talismans.

KFC listened to the two of them bragging to each other all night: "..." Destroy it, really.

The two of them are truly a pair: one dares to boast, and the other dares to listen.

*

When Mu Chongxi burst through the door, the two of them were drawing talismans.

"Everyone, everyone."

"I have some news to tell you."

He sat down next to Ye Qiao, who was engrossed in drawing talismans, and asked worriedly, "Senior Brother and Ye Qinghan, those two..."

He was interrupted before he could finish speaking.

"What?" Ye Qiao blew on the talisman she had just drawn, looked up at his absent-minded expression, and hesitated, then blurted out, "Senior Brother and Ye Qinghan got married?"

Mingxuan: "The groom isn't you?"

Mu Chongxi: "...??"

He puffed out his cheeks, pulled out a chair, and sat down: "You guys need to be serious, those two matched in the draw. The whole outside is in an uproar."

The two never encountered each other in the secret realm, and even when they did, it was always a brief encounter.

However, the individual competition is different. Although it is not a competition for the top ten, if the two people meet in advance, they will have a better understanding of each other's strength. After this match, the top ten rankings can be predicted.

Mingxuan looked up, slightly surprised: "Is Senior Brother's luck really that bad? He matched up so quickly."

Although Zhou Xingyun has always been unconventional, one shouldn't be unconventional to this extent.

Ye Qinghan was the only Nascent Soul stage cultivator in the sword cultivation competition, yet he was chosen as one of the many disciples.

"Yes," Mu Chongxi nodded, "Tomorrow's match will be quite exciting."

Ye Qiao looked up and smiled brightly: "Perfect, I have a few talismans, let Ye Qinghan help me test their effects."

"???"

"That's a competition between Nascent Soul stage and Golden Core peak stage cultivators. You're asking them to test the effects of your talismans on you?" Could it get any more outrageous?

"Are people in the Nascent Soul stage and at the peak of the Golden Core stage not human?"

Ye Qiao carefully put away the talismans in her hand, her tone light: "Don't worry, these are defensive talismans and some other strange talismans that Mingxuan and I drew. In short, I guarantee they won't cause any major problems."

Mu Chongxi: "..."

Alright, since Ye Qiao has joined the competition, he sincerely hopes that the two of them will be alright during the match.

*

I don't want to write! I'm so sorry, I've been really lazy these past few days. I'll have Qiaoqiao put it on tomorrow or the day after.