The Second Round of Activities

“The first round of the Stone Forest Qualification Competition concludes now. All cultivators who failed to secure a position are eliminated; please exit the arena.”

Nalan Piaoxu appeared once more, her voice ringing out as she announced the results of the first round.

As her announcement faded, those cultivators who had not managed to stand upon a stone pillar, their faces etched with dejection, flew one by one towards the periphery of the Stone Forest.

Meanwhile, the unconscious and injured cultivators were swiftly removed from the arena by the referees, who used their spiritual power to whisk them away.

Yan Yun and her companions scanned their surroundings, noting that the cultivators who had successfully advanced to the second round were predominantly disciples from major sects and influential worldly powers.

Beyond these, only a handful of truly formidable individuals, those possessing genuine skill, remained.

This particular round, in essence, served to weed out those lacking sufficient personal strength or the support of companions, effectively clearing out the less capable contenders.

“The next round will not be so simple,” Yan Yun cautioned the others. “Each of you must be vigilant.”

Just then, a referee suddenly flew to Yan Yun’s side.

“You must be Yan Yun,” the referee stated. “Could you please remove the poison from those people outside?”

Yan Yun paused, taken aback, then offered a peculiar smile.

“Remove the poison?” she echoed. “Senior, forgive my bluntness, but those individuals are my adversaries. While the poison on them won’t be fatal, asking me to detoxify them is simply out of the question.”

Upon hearing this, the referee immediately found themselves in an awkward predicament.

‘Those people were either from the Lin family or had come specifically to cause trouble for Yan Yun. Everyone had witnessed it, so her reluctance to detoxify them was understandable.’

‘However, this was, after all, an Immortal Alliance event, and seeing them all acting as if under a powerful illusion was truly quite unseemly.’

“Little girl,” the referee began, trying to appeal to her reason and emotion, “their grievances with you are your private matter. However, they haven’t violated any event regulations. While your poisons can indeed be countered, there are simply too many afflicted individuals, and it would take far too much time. The second round is about to begin, you see?”

After a moment of contemplation, Yan Yun eventually produced a small bottle.

“Alright,” she conceded, “for the sake of the Immortal Alliance, I suppose I’ll remove their poison, lest I delay the esteemed seniors. Senior, this is an antidote I specially concocted for myself. Simply open the bottle and let them inhale a light whiff of its scent, and that will suffice.”

The referee immediately accepted the porcelain bottle.

“Many thanks,” he uttered before swiftly flying away. He arrived before the frenzied cultivators outside, opened the porcelain bottle, and forcibly made them inhale its contents.

The moment these cultivators inhaled the antidote, they reacted as if they had smelled something utterly foul, each one retching violently, almost to the point of expelling their gallbladders. Yet, after their tumultuous vomiting ceased, the poison within them was indeed neutralized.

Witnessing their reactions, the referee, now intrigued, cautiously sniffed the medicinal aroma emanating from the bottle.

“Ugh! What in the world is this? It’s utterly putrid!”

Even the referee found the smell unbearable.

After a brief respite, the second round of the event was soon to commence.

Nalan Piaoxu reappeared.

“Cultivators who have advanced to the second round, prepare yourselves,” she announced. “The second round of the event is about to begin. This round, too, will be a struggle for qualification, eliminating half of the remaining participants.”

“This stage is a series of individual challenge matches,” she continued. “The use of external magical artifacts exceeding the Spirit Transformation Realm, such as talismans or other consumable treasures that do not require significant personal power, is strictly prohibited. Each participant will have only one opportunity to select an opponent; repeat challenges are not allowed, and inflicting severe injury or taking a life is forbidden.”

“Now, the event is ready to commence.”

With that, Nalan Piaoxu raised her hand and activated a token. Immediately, the entire Stone Forest seemed to awaken, its stone pillars rapidly expanding and transforming into a series of battle platforms.

Clearly, this Stone Forest had been specially constructed as a venue for the event.

As the new event venue took shape, Nalan Piaoxu promptly declared the competition officially open.

“The battlegrounds are now complete,” she proclaimed. “The second round of the Qualification Competition officially begins! Those confident in their abilities may preemptively ascend the platforms and assume the role of defender.”

No sooner had her words fallen than several cultivators of formidable cultivation bases swiftly flew towards the battle platforms, claiming positions as defenders.

This stage, without a doubt, promised a significantly higher level of challenge than the first.

“Who dares to fight me?!” bellowed a towering, powerfully built young man, radiating a wild aura, as he ascended a platform. His strength erupted outwards, his muscles visibly bulging as if to burst through his upper garment.

Flames flickered around his body, his explosive musculature exuding an undeniable sense of power. This was clearly an extraordinary expert at the Great Perfection stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm.

Not only did he unleash his full power and techniques the moment he stepped onto the stage, but almost every other cultivator who ascended a platform immediately revealed their cultivation level and unique abilities as well.

This served as a clear message to potential challengers: if they wished to contend, they should first assess their own strength, lest they be met with a swift defeat.

With five thousand defending and five thousand challenging, the challengers certainly wouldn’t wait. A normal person’s mentality would undoubtedly be to pick the weakest opponent first.

However, the truly formidable individuals remained remarkably calm. Their self-assured confidence meant they had no intention of rushing to secure a defender’s position.

Yan Yun remained still, but Ziyuan and the others immediately flew out, selecting their respective opponents. Their strength was limited, making it impossible for them to wait until the end; some even rushed to become defenders themselves.

“Ah, who should I choose, hmm?” Yan Yun’s gaze swept around. After a moment of deliberation, she realized she had no choice but to target someone from the Lin family, specifically Lin Zi, who was the strongest apart from Lin Mo.

“Yes, I’ll choose you,” Yan Yun declared, a cold smile gracing her lips as she flew towards Lin Zi’s position.

At that moment, Lin Zi was fretting about a powerful opponent challenging her. However, after scanning the arena and finding no one seemed to be targeting her, she momentarily breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, this woman was an inner disciple of the Yunhua Sect, possessing mid-tier strength among the ten thousand participants. Coupled with her high-grade Spirit Transformation Realm magical artifact, she was not among the first choices for many opponents.

Yet, just as she exhaled in relief, a light, teasing voice suddenly drifted from behind her.

“Oh dear! After much deliberation, I believe I’ll still choose you, Senior Sister Lin Zi,” the voice chirped playfully. “Others are difficult to pick, but with you, I feel absolutely no psychological pressure.”

The sudden voice made Lin Zi jump, a shiver running through her. She whirled around to face the speaker, only to find Yan Yun observing her with narrowed, mirthful eyes.

“It’s you? You actually chose me as your opponent?” Lin Zi’s expression was beyond displeased.

Before the assembly began, she might have felt confident against Yan Yun. However, having witnessed Yan Yun’s formidable power, her heart was now utterly devoid of confidence.

“There’s no helping it, we have a grudge, after all. I can only pick someone from your Lin family. Enough chatter; let’s begin!” Yan Yun declared, sweeping her hand to conjure five Spirit Transformation Realm puppets before her.

“Haha? Good heavens, she’s brought out five Spirit Transformation Realm puppets at once! Who could possibly fight against that? Isn’t that against the rules?” Many cultivators’ faces darkened at the sight of Yan Yun’s puppets.

Lin Zi, too, was startled, hastily retreating several steps.

If fully activated, five Spirit Transformation Realm puppets would each possess at least the power of a Great Perfection Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator, and a Great Perfection Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator was sufficient to contend with a minor-accomplishment Divine Mark Realm cultivator.

“Referee, referee, isn’t this a violation?” Lin Zi immediately cried out.

At her shout, a referee swiftly flew over, glancing at the five puppets standing before Yan Yun.

“Goodness, aren’t these creations of the Tiankui Sect? Five Spirit Transformation Realm puppets—that must be worth millions of spirit stones!” The referee’s face was filled with exasperation.

After a quick assessment of the puppets’ combat prowess, he immediately cautioned Yan Yun.

“Little girl, although these are indeed Spirit Transformation Realm puppets, it is my understanding that each puppet from the Tiankui Sect is comparable to a Great Perfection cultivator of the same realm. A Great Perfection cultivator, in turn, can rival the combat strength of a minor-accomplishment cultivator in the next realm. This hardly seems to adhere to the rules.”

Upon hearing this, Yan Yun looked utterly resigned.

“Oh, fine,” she sighed. “Consider yourself lucky, Senior Sister Lin Zi; I won’t bully you.”

Yan Yun waved her hand, replacing the puppets.

She brought out five Silver Armored Puppets of the Cavern Heaven Realm.

“Senior, will these suffice? These are all Cavern Heaven Realm puppets.”

Yan Yun looked at the referee.

The referee’s mouth twitched once more. He thought, ‘Five Silver Armored Puppets still possess the combat strength of a minor-accomplishment Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator.’

“Ahem, yes, that’s acceptable now. You may begin.” The referee flew away.

Even though the puppets had been weakened by a tier, Lin Zi still felt as if she faced a formidable army.

Yan Yun grinned at Lin Zi.

“Senior Sister Lin Zi, I’m about to make my move, alright?”

With that, her gaze sharpened, and she waved a hand towards the five Silver Armored Puppets.

“Go, beat this wretched woman for me!”

Receiving their command, the five puppets immediately lunged at Lin Zi.

“Shameless!” Lin Zi quickly activated her magical artifact. Being a wood spiritual root cultivator, her artifact was a verdant green treasure bead.

The bead emitted a pure light, forming an energy barrier in front of her. Simultaneously, the five puppets unleashed a barrage of punches, striking the barrier.

The immense force made Lin Zi grunt in pain, and blood immediately trickled from the corner of her mouth. She was merely an ordinary minor-accomplishment Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator; without this magical artifact, she would have struggled even against a single puppet.

Yan Yun simply sat afar, watching the spectacle as the puppets ganged up on Lin Zi.

Out of the corner of her eye, she scanned her surroundings, paying particular attention to where Jiang Yao and Su Muyu were.

Jiang Yao and Su Muyu had also sought out cultivators from the Lin family. Their goal in this first round was to eliminate the Lin family disciples from the various major sects.

“Indeed, the first round is nothing more than petty squabbles, with hardly any truly powerful individuals showcasing their abilities,” Yan Yun muttered idly. “It seems the difficulty of the next round will skyrocket.”

In the Immortal Alliance Hall, the esteemed elders began their discussions and critiques.

As for Yan Yun’s attack on Lin Zi, Yunshuang and the others had nothing much to say. Their Yunhua Sect no longer showed the Lin family any deference.

Primarily, it was because the Lin family also showed no respect to their Yunhua Sect.

“What a pity,” Meng Ke remarked with a hint of disappointment. “I was hoping to see the capabilities of your Yunhua Sect disciples, but it seems their chosen opponents are all quite ordinary.”

Yunshuang offered a helpless smile.

“There’s nothing to be done about it. This round makes it difficult to choose opponents. Since they’re picking those with whom they have grievances, the truly exciting battles are yet to come.”

Meng Ke nodded.

Meanwhile, in the square, the high-ranking members of the Lin family could no longer maintain their composure as they watched the plight of their disciples.