"Haha, no matter, you truly are an interesting little fellow."
The old man chuckled, instantly dissolving the tension in the room. Hua Xu also let out a sigh of relief.
However, she still shot Zhang Ergou a fierce glare.
Zhang Ergou realized he had been impetuous, but it was too late to rectify the situation.
He continued to meet the old man's gaze, showing no intention of stopping his rude behavior despite Hua Xu's warning.
Hua Xu wanted to remind him again, but the old man waved her hand to stop her.
From beginning to end, the old man had not introduced himself, nor did Hua Xu dare to speak unnecessarily.
After observing Zhang Ergou closely for a while, the old man asked him a few questions about cultivation, and then asked Hua Xu to take Zhang Ergou away.
After leaving, Zhang Ergou was completely bewildered, not understanding the purpose of Hua Xu bringing him to see this old man.
Hua Xu offered no explanation, nor did she reveal who the old man was.
Even when Zhang Ergou pressed for answers, Hua Xu maintained an expression of being unable to speak, only saying that he would know later.
Of course, this was contingent on him achieving outstanding results in the upcoming selection competition.
"If you're not going to tell me, then don't. Why be so mysterious?"
Seeing that he could not get any information, Zhang Ergou no longer pressed the issue.
The night passed without incident.
The next day, Zhang Ergou, Li Zhan, and nine other young disciples, along with Hua Xu, arrived at a vast square.
Thousands of people had gathered in the square.
Among the crowd of thousands, their attire varied. Zhang Ergou noticed that most of them were not very old, with the oldest appearing to be no more than forty or fifty years old.
The sheer number of people exceeded Zhang Ergou's imagination.
"Brother Ergou, there are so many people participating in the selection this time?"
Li Zhan and the other nine disciples now implicitly looked to Zhang Ergou for leadership, especially since the selection competition included a team event at the end.
They would need to cooperate with each other then.
And among them, the one they could all trust was Zhang Ergou, whom they had initially found most disagreeable.
"Yes, it seems, as Senior Hua mentioned, that the Alliance of Righteousness has indeed selected quite a few people from various regions of the continent."
"It appears to be the year with the largest number of participants in recent selections," Li Zhan added.
Clearly, his obtained information was more extensive than Zhang Ergou's.
He truly lived up to his reputation as the "Western Regions' Everything-Knows."
Zhang Ergou had never seen anyone better at gathering information.
Not long after, over a dozen figures appeared in the sky above the square, each standing tall and exuding an aura of immortal grace.
However, these dozen individuals had stern expressions, their sharp gazes sweeping across the young participants in the square.
The noisy square instantly fell silent, so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
The young disciples, with looks of admiration or nervousness, gazed at the figures in the sky.
...
As the rules for the selection were announced, the square, which had just fallen silent, erupted in renewed commotion.
To accommodate disciples participating in multiple events, the Alliance of Righteousness had deliberately staggered the schedules for the various selection events.
The first to commence was the Sword Dao selection.
Every cultivator seemed to harbor a desire to become a master of the Sword Dao. Of the nearly one thousand disciples, a full half had registered for the Sword Dao selection.
Among those who came with Zhang Ergou, four had also signed up.
The Sword Dao selection was the most intense and spectacular, with direct and impactful combat.
Despite the five hundred participants, the event progressed at a good pace.
Some were defeated by opponents far superior in skill before they could even make a move, falling off the arena.
Zhang Ergou also carefully observed everyone on the arena.
Due to the large number of participants, the Sword Dao competition was held on ten different arenas, which significantly shortened the competition time.
In just one day, the first round of selection for the five hundred participants concluded.
The four youths from the same area as Zhang Ergou all successfully passed the first round.
However, as the competition progressed, their opponents became increasingly formidable.
Among the four, Zhang Ergou noticed that the silent youth had a certain gap in his understanding of the Sword Dao and his swordsmanship compared to the others.
As this was a selection within the Alliance of Righteousness, it was explicitly stipulated from the beginning that lives were not to be taken.
The young disciples were more restrained in their attacks, but injuries were unavoidable.
The second day continued with the Sword Dao selections.
This time, it was not as effortless as before. Some easily defeated their opponents, while others were not as fortunate.
They encountered opponents of similar strength, and the battles became protracted.
After the second round of matches, only one hundred participants successfully advanced to the next round.
Among them, some sustained injuries in their duels with opponents and were unable to participate in subsequent matches.
The cultivation world was never gentle. In the face of immense benefits, everyone sought to obtain more cultivation resources through their own efforts.
Joining the Alliance of Righteousness offered them another opportunity.
It also allowed them access to things previously beyond their reach.
Therefore, despite the prior rule against killing, some still fought with all their might, solely to obtain a qualification to enter. Sudan Novels.
The subsequent selection matches became even more brutal.
After two rounds of competition, some showed signs of fatigue, while the elite performers remained full of vigor.
The youth named He Xun, who had been persistently silent, directly entered the top ten of the Sword Dao selection.
This was something Zhang Ergou had not anticipated.
He Xun, however, did not seem surprised by his performance, maintaining his impassive and taciturn demeanor.
He merely nodded slightly in response to Zhang Ergou's gaze.
The other three were eliminated early in the third round.
Their faces were etched with disappointment, but Zhang Ergou did not offer many words of comfort.
Strength determined success, and at this point, any further words would seem feeble.
After five consecutive days.
Ten Sword Dao masters were finally determined.
To ensure fairness in the final rankings, the ultimate Sword Dao finals were not held as part of the immediate schedule.
The finals were postponed by ten days.
Following this, competitions in other areas of cultivation, such as close combat and spellcasting, other than Sword Dao, were scheduled.
Excluding Sword Dao practitioners, the number of people cultivating other Daos was significantly smaller.
Therefore, except for formations, alchemy, talismans, and beast taming, other competitions were arranged in the subsequent schedule.
Their matches also adopted a free-for-all format.
It was not a case of spear technique practitioners fighting spear technique practitioners...
It was also possible for a spear technique primary cultivator to face a long-range mage specializing in fire attacks.
The next day,
Zhang Ergou began his first battle since arriving.