Yan Yun’s Love Rival?

As time slowly passed, the competition in the five venues gradually came to an end.

After all, only one hundred people from each venue would ultimately advance to the next round.

With over six thousand people today, half were to be eliminated, and another half tomorrow, until only five hundred remained in the end.

This process would likely take two to three days, and the competition would only grow more intense as it progressed.

Today’s event lasted for a total of six hours.

After those six hours, all the advancement slots in the five venues had been claimed, signaling the end of the day’s activities.

In this round, everyone from Yan Yun’s Purple Abyss Pavilion was eliminated, with the exception of Wen Meng, Mu Wenjie, and Duan Ming.

Their combat prowess was limited, and even if she had forcibly helped them advance, it would have been meaningless.

However, those who had been grouped with Yan Yun managed to acquire quite a few benefits before being eliminated, making them much luckier than the Purple Abyss Pavilion disciples in other venues.

When they came out in the afternoon, the Purple Abyss Pavilion disciples who had been eliminated by others watched the few who had obtained numerous treasures, each of them beating their chests and stamping their feet in regret.

“Ah! Why, just why? Why wasn’t I assigned to the Pavilion Master’s group? I only managed to pick up a few medicinal herbs before I was forced to withdraw.”

“Sigh! Isn’t that the truth? The time we’ve spent cultivating the poison art is just too short, otherwise, we definitely could have gotten more treasures.”

The disciples chattered among themselves, all feeling rather vexed.

But their combat strength was, in truth, not weak at all.

Their average cultivation was between the initial and minor accomplishment stages of the Cavern Heaven Realm, but the time they had spent cultivating was too short, with the vast majority having practiced for less than three years.

They were far stronger than cultivators of the same realm from other factions of the Yunhua Sect.

But in this third round, there were basically very few cultivators at the initial or minor accomplishment stages of the Cavern Heaven Realm left.

Most were between the major accomplishment stage of the Cavern Heaven Realm and the great perfection stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm, placing them at the very bottom of the pack.

“Stop your whining. How long have you all been cultivating? Most of you have become this strong in less than three years. Instead of complaining here, you’d be better off thinking about whether you’ll train harder when you get back,” Yan Yun’s voice suddenly rang in their ears.

Seeing Yan Yun arrive, the members of the Purple Abyss Pavilion immediately bowed with beaming smiles.

“You’re here, Pavilion Master. We were just venting a little. These few got to enjoy all the good stuff with you, while we were just picking up things others didn’t want. It just doesn’t feel fair.”

Yan Yun looked at them, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, then casually waved her hand and took out a storage pouch.

“This is the trash I picked up inside. Take it and split it among yourselves. Don’t say that I, your Pavilion Master, don’t let you have a taste of the good life.”

As the pouch flew out, one of them quickly caught it.

He opened it for a look, and one by one, their eyes went wide.

“My heavens, so much! Pavilion Master, are you sure you didn’t snatch these from someone?” that person asked, his face filled with disbelief.

The few Purple Abyss Pavilion disciples who had been with Yan Yun all started to laugh.

“You all probably don’t know about our Pavilion Master’s performance in the Wood Arena. She was absolutely feared by all. Wherever she went, people would flee at the first sign of her. Our Pavilion Master could only reluctantly collect the treasures they left behind.”

“Is that so? As expected of our Pavilion Master! Pavilion Master, I think you should just create your own sect someday. We’d all definitely follow you,” someone said casually.

Yan Yun gave a strange smile.

“Perhaps. You all should go about your business. I still have some things to attend to, so I’ll be leaving first.”

Leaving these words behind, Yan Yun walked over to Jiang Yao and the others.

The moment the disciples of the Yunhua Sect emerged, arguments erupted between several factions.

The disciples of the Purple Abyss Pavilion kept their distance, having no desire to get involved in their factional disputes.

“Xiong Hao, you son of a b*tch! You actually attacked me over a single item, getting me injured and eliminated! I’m not done with you today!” a disciple from the Huoyang Pavilion yelled, grabbing a Tiangang Pavilion disciple by the collar, his voice seething with anger.

The Tiangang Pavilion disciple looked utterly disdainful.

“Treasures belong to the capable. Besides, I never intended to attack you. I was attacking someone else, alright? It was your own bad luck to be hit by the shockwave of my attack. How can you blame me for that?”

“You! I think you did it on purpose!” the Huoyang Pavilion disciple roared in fury.

The conflict between these two immediately escalated into a standoff between the Huoyang Pavilion and the Tiangang Pavilion.

Disciples from both sides began pointing fingers at each other.

The Huoyang Pavilion and the Tiangang Pavilion of the Yunhua Sect were notoriously at odds with each other, with numerous conflicts between them.

Jiang Yao, Su Muyu, and Xie Yuyan just stood in the distance watching, all three of them sighing repeatedly.

“Sigh! I don’t get it. Why does the sect have to create so many factions? If I were the Sect Master, I’d just abolish them. Why create so many conflicts?” Xie Yuyan said with a look of helplessness.

“The sect’s original intention in dividing into factions was actually good. It allows the sect elders to teach disciples according to their aptitude, based on their own specialized attributes and methods. But over time, with less contact between disciples of different factions and various conflicts of interest, it slowly turned into friction. This is a problem that no power can completely avoid,” Jiang Yao said with a wry smile.

Su Muyu felt the same way.

“As the saying goes, a big forest has all kinds of birds. The more people in a sect, the less united it becomes. Smaller numbers, on the other hand, often lead to greater unity.”

As the disciples of these two factions argued, disciples from other factions who already had grievances also immediately joined the quarrel.

“What’s going on?” Yan Yun walked over.

Jiang Yao and the other two saw Yan Yun and shook their heads helplessly.

“Conflicts from inside the event, what else? ‘You snatched my things,’ or ‘you accidentally injured me,’ or ‘as a fellow disciple, you left me to die,’ and so on and so forth.”

After hearing this, Yan Yun didn’t know what to say.

Her gaze shifted to other areas.

The Yunhua Sect was in a relatively good state, with no casualties among its disciples.

However, other powers, especially those outside the ten great sects of the Jiang Kingdom, had disciples who had died unexpectedly for various reasons.

The Immortal Alliance tallied the numbers for this third round.

Of the more than six thousand people, nearly two hundred had died unnaturally.

Among these two hundred, more than one hundred and forty had died at the hands of Ji Country cultivators.

The other few dozen had either lost their heads while fighting for treasures or died to demonic beasts.

The high-ranking members of both countries had not yet left.

With over a hundred people dead, Shangguan Jinyang definitely had to demand an explanation from the Ji Country cultivators.

Otherwise, how could they answer to those powers?

Without the participation of the Ji Country cultivators, these people would certainly not have died.

“Alliance Master Chen, the cultivators from Ji Country have been a bit too ruthless, haven’t they? Over a hundred people… are you not going to offer an explanation?” Shangguan Jinyang braced himself and asked.

Chen Yingtian’s brow furrowed, and he didn’t immediately say anything, but the sect ancestors beside him were not so polite.

“An explanation for what? This round was inherently dangerous, didn’t you say so yourselves? Besides, in every death of your Jiang Country disciples, wasn’t it an accident? Didn’t you have referees supervising? Even if there were accidents, it was due to the misjudgment of your own Divine Venerable cultivators, wasn’t it?”

This statement left Shangguan Jinyang speechless.

Just as Shangguan Jinyang was about to say more, Chen Yingtian spoke up.

“Forget it. Although the disciples of our Ji Country are innocent in this matter, the disciples of Jiang Country ultimately died because of them. It is only right that our Ji Country bears some responsibility. How about this: for each of the hundred-plus disciples who died, I will compensate a minimum of one million spirit stones per person, according to their cultivation level. How does that sound?”

Now that he had said this much, Shangguan Jinyang could only accept the offer before things backfired.

“Alright, then we shall proceed according to Alliance Master Chen’s wishes.”

And just like that, the matter of compensation was settled.

“Since today’s event has concluded, we will take our leave. We shall meet again tomorrow.” After speaking, Chen Yingtian vanished with a whoosh, and the other powerhouses from the Ji Country sects followed him.

As for the disciples they brought, although they had come looking for trouble, many had become friends after fighting.

In the cultivation world, respect was earned purely through strength.

Many of Jiang Country’s cultivators had displayed their power, winning the respect of the Ji Country cultivators.

Just as the group was preparing to head back and rest, a streak of azure light suddenly flew over from a distance, blocking their path.

A closer look revealed it was that Yang Lu.

Yang Lu stood with her arms crossed, looking at Jiang Yao with an unresigned expression.

“Hey, Junior Sister, what are you doing? Go back quickly.” Yang Lu’s senior brother hastily flew over, wanting to take her away.

But Yang Lu shot him a glare.

“Senior Brother, mind your own business. This is between her and me.”

Yan Yun looked at the woman in azure, who appeared aggressive and clearly had ill intentions, and immediately asked Jiang Yao and the others.

“Which one of you attracted this trouble?”

Xie Yuyan and Su Muyu both shook their heads, while Jiang Yao stepped forward and questioned her, “Yang Lu, is it? What, you’re not convinced you lost to me? You want another fight?”

Hearing Jiang Yao’s words, Yan Yun was startled, thinking to herself, ‘So it was your trouble after all.’

Yang Lu slowly flew in front of Jiang Yao, stopping just a meter away, staring at her with an icy gaze.

The atmosphere was clearly not right.

Yan Yun was genuinely afraid the two of them would start fighting.

But thankfully, after staring at Jiang Yao for a while, Yang Lu broke into a smile.

“Relax, this young lady is not a sore loser. I am thoroughly convinced of my defeat in today’s battle.”

Although the woman said she was convinced, her tone sounded anything but, still sharp and full of edge.

“Is that so? If you’re convinced, then what are you doing here?” Jiang Yao retorted.

Yang Lu tilted her small face upwards, a strange smile appearing on her lips.

“You are the first person to defeat me head-on without relying on external forces. This young lady has taken a liking to you,” Yang Lu suddenly said, uttering a line that could easily be misunderstood.

Yan Yun, standing to the side, was taken aback.

‘Damn? What do you mean? That’s my wife you’re talking about! You’ve taken a liking to her? By what right? Are you a lesbian or something?’

“Whoa, Third Sister, someone’s taken a liking to your wife. Aren’t you going to do something about it?” Xie Yuyan said with a playful smirk.

Jiang Yao was also completely bewildered.

“Huh? Taken a liking to me? What do you mean?”

Yang Lu also immediately realized her words were not quite right, so she cleared her throat a few times.

“Ahem, don’t misunderstand. I mean, your strength has earned my respect. I want to get to know you. If possible, we could be friends.”