Yanfu: Starting with the Six-Eared Macaque

"You're going to participate in the sect competition?"

At the monthly gathering at Yuheng Peak, the senior brothers who had just heard Chen Xing's plan almost unanimously exclaimed in surprise.

A month after Chen Xing joined Yuheng Peak, his senior sister Lin Wan'er once again followed their master, Yun Qing Zhenren, down the mountain to subdue demons. She did not attend this gathering; the table was occupied by several senior brothers.

"Indeed, Junior Brother has made rapid progress in his cultivation in just one year. This competition is a good opportunity for him to hone his skills," the second senior brother said calmly, putting down his chopsticks.

"I don't think so. Junior Brother is exceptionally talented. What kind of training can he get from sparring with those newly initiated disciples?" Fourth Senior Brother immediately retorted.

"That's normal. Not everyone has the talent of Junior Brother. How can ordinary disciples compare to him?" Eighth Senior Brother chimed in with a smile.

"Indeed, then it seems we might as well skip the sect competition, Junior Brother," the second senior brother agreed.

"I don't think so. No one from our Jade Balance Peak has participated in the competition for so many years. If Junior Brother doesn't go soon, the other peaks will think we have no one left."

"That's normal. Not everyone has the talent for formations. And Master has high standards for accepting disciples, so it's natural that there are fewer people on our peak."

……

The senior brothers argued back and forth, while Chen Xing sat quietly listening, which was nothing new to him.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye, and the Shushan Sect's triennial newcomer competition began as scheduled.

The rules for this competition have already been announced on each peak. Only disciples who have entered the sect within the past five years are allowed to participate, regardless of their cultivation level or age.

"Senior, when do we register?"

Early that morning, after finishing his morning lessons, Chen Xing went straight to Du Ren's courtyard.

Du Ren looked at Chen Xing in front of him and saw that he was calm and composed, with his spiritual sense contained. He had long since lost the naivety he had when he first entered the field, and a gratified smile appeared on his face.

"No rush, I'll take you to Tianji Peak to register right away."

After saying that, he led Chen Xing toward Tianji Peak.

"The sect competition can be said to be one of the most important events in our Shu Mountain sect." Du Ren introduced to Chen Xing as they walked.

Chen Xing nodded and asked, "Senior Brother, did you participate in the sect's grand competition back then?"

"Of course! Back in the day, your senior brother also overpowered everyone else in the sect competition and luckily won first place." When mentioning the past, Du Ren's face showed a hint of nostalgia, and his tone was filled with pride.

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Actually, our peak team has generally achieved good rankings in the competitions."

"Did Sixth Senior Brother also participate?" Chen Xing couldn't help but ask, thinking of his great inventor senior brother.

"Of course he participated. At that time, he had just begun to study these strange and unusual things. Tianxuan Peak said that he was not doing his job properly and that it was of no use to exorcising demons. They ridiculed him severely."

Du Ren seemed to recall something amusing and couldn't help but laugh; "Then your sixth senior brother signed up for that year's sect competition. In the finals, he directly sealed that Tianxuan Peak disciple who had mocked him into a specially made rice cooker, rendering him unable to move and forcing him to admit defeat."

"After the competition, your sixth senior brother volunteered to go down the mountain to exorcise demons. He followed the disciples of Tianxuan Peak to slay demons and exorcise evil spirits everywhere. He made many contributions and completely convinced the disciples of that year."

"Later, he returned to Yuheng Peak and continued to tinker with his strange and unusual gadgets."

As Du Ren walked, he told Chen Xing about the past of the people of Yuheng Peak.

-----------------

Tianji Peak, Wendao Pavilion.

On the huge plaza of Tianji Peak, four tall arenas have been erected. The arenas are paved with hard black-patterned stone and surrounded by protective formations, clearly indicating that this is the venue for the upcoming competition.

A long queue had already formed in front of the Wen Dao Pavilion. In recent years, the elders of various peaks of Shu Mountain have frequently descended the mountain to subdue demons, and have indeed brought back many promising talents with exceptional potential. Shu Mountain can now be considered to be thriving.

The sect competition has no restrictions on cultivation level or age, only on the time of entry into the sect. Therefore, many disciples from various peaks who wanted to gain experience and hone their skills signed up.

Chen Xing followed Du Ren and waited patiently in line.

Half an hour later, it was finally his turn. He stepped forward and submitted his personal information and entry certificate.

After carefully verifying the information, the disciple in charge of registration registered him and then handed him a jade token with a number engraved on it.

118 number.

"not bad."

Chen Xing looked at the number on the jade pendant and thought to himself.

Registration will be open for two days, and the official competition will be held two days later.

Chen Xing planned to make good preparations in the next two days, not only to complete the mission of the Yanfu incident, but also to protect the reputation built by his fellow disciples on Yuheng Peak.

After leaving the Asking Pavilion, Chen Xing did not immediately return to Yuheng Peak, but went to Kaiyang Peak first.

"Senior brother, could you please give me a dozen general-purpose talisman papers and a bottle of top-grade spirit ink?"

Chen Xing walked into the talisman shop on Kaiyang Peak, spoke to the disciple on duty that day, and took out his identity jade token to pay.

Today's disciple on duty is Lu Renjia. He met Chen Xing while auditing a talisman course, and they are quite familiar with each other.

He skillfully took out a stack of talismans and a bottle of spirit ink, handed them to Chen Xing, and asked curiously, "Ah Xing, are you going to participate in this year's sect competition?"

"That's right, this is all for the competition," Chen Xing admitted frankly, with a hint of confidence on his face.

"Then I'll definitely go to the event! With you participating, this year's competition will definitely be more interesting." Lu Renjia's eyes lit up as he said with a smile.

"You're welcome to come and support us then, Senior Brother." Chen Xing smiled and said goodbye to Lu Renjia before returning to Yuheng Peak with the talisman paper and spirit ink.

There's no need to purchase additional array materials. After this period of research, Chen Xing has successfully developed talismans that can replace nodes for most of the Xuan-rank and Huang-rank arrays.

As for those more powerful specialized formations, they not only require a large amount of special materials to prepare, but also take a long time to set up. They are unlikely to be useful in a rapidly changing competition, so they are naturally not within Chen Xing's consideration.

Back in his courtyard, Chen Xing didn't immediately start drawing talismans. Instead, he sat on a futon, closed his eyes, and rested to adjust his breathing.

Once his mind was completely calm and his spiritual energy was circulating smoothly, he got up and walked to the table, laid out the talisman paper, and weighed it down with a paperweight.

Chen Xing picked up the spirit brush, lightly dipped it in spirit ink, and his 65% talisman expertise made it very easy for him to draw these low-level talismans.

The innate spiritual power within the body flows into the tip of the brush like a gentle stream. As the brush slowly draws on the talisman paper, the spiritual power is precisely sealed within the talisman patterns.

Due to the rules of the competition, Chen Xing did not create attack talismans, but focused on trapping and defending talismans.

For the next two days, Chen Xing spent almost all of his time drawing talismans.

It wasn't until the evening before the competition that Chen Xing stopped what he was doing and carefully sorted and put away the dozens of talismans he had drawn.

As agreed with his fellow students, he packed his things and headed straight for the dining hall on Yuheng Peak.

When Chen Xing arrived at the canteen, all his fellow disciples had already arrived.

Upon seeing him arrive, everyone immediately surrounded him, sharing their experiences from years of competition with him, their words full of concern.

After dinner, Chen Xing thanked his fellow disciples for their advice and returned to his courtyard.

That night, he neither continued drawing talismans nor meditating to cultivate his qi. Instead, he lay in bed, relaxed his mind and body, and had a good night's sleep, a rare occurrence for him.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Chen Xing woke up on time, carefully put away all the talismans, and hurried towards Tianji Peak.

The sect competition is finally about to begin!