Chiyu reached up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Ignoring his own injuries, he flashed to Zhang Ergou's side.
"Brat, did you come up with this martial technique and cultivation method yourself?"
As the target of the attack, Chiyu had naturally felt the power of that punch.
In his opinion, the most important thing about that punch was not that it could make him spit blood and get injured.
It was that the punch could bypass the spiritual energy shield and strike him directly, completely disregarding the shield.
This offered an element of surprise in combat.
Zhang Ergou naturally saw Chiyu's excitement. As the person involved, he was even more excited than Chiyu.
"Master, your injuries!" However, as a disciple, he still had to show concern.
"It's nothing, just a minor injury. I can endure this much. Brat, what's the name of the cultivation method that injured me just now?"
Chiyu said carelessly. Compared to his own injuries, he was more interested in the move Zhang Ergou had used to attack him.
"Heh heh, Master, I came up with this myself and haven't named it yet. Why don't you give it a name?"
Zhang Ergou chuckled foolishly, wanting to bestow the honor of naming it upon his master.
"Brat, am I the kind of person who covets fame? Since you came up with it yourself, you can name it yourself."
Chiyu reached out and patted Zhang Ergou's head. He could see through the young man's little thoughts.
"However, these are not urgent. I have something important to tell you today. We can talk about naming your self-created martial technique later. You already know it, so there's no rush."
Zhang Ergou thought that made sense. The important thing was that he knew the move. As for what it was called, he had the final say.
With that figured out, the young man no longer dwelled on it. Hearing that Chiyu had something important to tell him, Zhang Ergou suppressed his excitement.
"Master, what important matter do you have to tell your disciple?"
Zhang Ergou walked out of the woods step by step with Chiyu.
"Brat, have you heard about the grand competition between our sect and the Liuhai Sect a month from now?"
Chiyu turned his head and looked at the young man.
"I've heard of it. When I was in the outer sect, Master Chunyang mentioned it to me. What, is it in a month? That fast!"
Zhang Ergou replied truthfully. He remembered that Chunyang Sanren had registered him back then.
He wondered if that so-called registration would count.
"Since you know, I'll briefly explain it to you. The grand competition between the two sects is not just to see the difference in strength between their disciples."
"It's to compete for the top ten places, and these top ten places are crucial for the sect."
Speaking of this, Chiyu's expression became serious, clearly knowing that this was no joke. He wanted Zhang Ergou to understand the importance of this matter.
"Master, what do you mean?"
"Every ten years, the two great sects hold a grand competition and select the top ten outstanding disciples."
"And these ten disciples will have the opportunity to enter a secret realm discovered by both sects."
"The peculiar thing about this secret realm is that those who enter must be under twenty-two years old and their cultivation must not exceed the middle stage of the Golden Core realm."
Chiyu continued to tell Zhang Ergou some secrets about the grand competition between the two sects.
These were things Zhang Ergou had never heard before. In his understanding, he had always thought the grand competition was just a sparring match between disciples. He never expected such a secret matter to be hidden behind it.
"Originally, I wasn't going to tell you these things. It's just that your cultivation and strength are not ranked among the inner disciples."
"Brat, do you know that there is an inner disciple ranking list in the inner sect?"
Chiyu smiled at the young man. Although this kid cultivated diligently, he had experienced too little. Take this morning's incident, for example. This kid was clearly too excited.
Fortunately, he was his master; otherwise, with this kid's recklessness, he would surely cause trouble.
"Inner disciple ranking list?"
Zhang Ergou had truly never heard of such a list in the inner sect before. Since entering the inner sect, he hadn't even left Lingyu Peak.
His opportunities to interact with the outside world were extremely limited, so naturally, he hadn't heard of the so-called "inner disciple ranking list."
"Brat, you should keep a low profile in the inner sect from now on and don't cause trouble for me every now and then, understand?"
Unsure of what he was thinking, Chiyu suddenly glared at Zhang Ergou and said.
"Master, haven't I been behaving myself lately? Ever since I went down the mountain last time, I haven't gone down again."
Zhang Ergou said somewhat aggrievedly.
"Don't play innocent, brat. I know what you're thinking."
Having given him a stern warning, Chiyu knew it was time to get to the main point.
"One of the conditions to participate in the grand competition of the two great sects is that you must be a true disciple of one of the major peaks in the inner sect."
"You meet this condition."
Hearing this, Zhang Ergou realized that Chunyang Sanren must have tricked him. With his initial status upon joining the Misty Sect, he absolutely wouldn't have had a chance to be a true disciple of one of the major inner sect peaks.
That old fellow must have wanted to trick him into cultivating diligently, Zhang Ergou thought.
However, Chunyang Sanren did indeed have that intention at the time, wanting the newly joined Zhang Ergou to have a goal to strive for.
But he never imagined that this kid would improve so quickly.
"The second condition is that participating disciples must be on the inner disciple list."
"There are a hundred people ranked on this inner disciple list. Do you know the rankings of Jiang Tian, Zhuge Wen, and Zuo Tian, whom you met in the Beast Forest, on the inner disciple list?"
Chiyu continued to explain.
"What are their rankings?" Zhang Ergou asked curiously.
"Jiang Tian, Zhuge Wen, and Zuo Tian are ranked ninety-fifth, ninety-seventh, and ninety-ninth respectively on the latest inner disciple list."
"Ah?" Zhang Ergou exclaimed.
"With the strength of the early stage of Golden Core, they can only rank at the bottom of the inner disciple list?"
"Then what kind of prodigies are the top ten?"
Zhang Ergou finally felt that there were always people better than him, and heavens beyond heavens.
In fact, he had always been very confident in his own cultivation and strength, not only because he had advanced from the Qi Condensation stage to the late stage of Foundation Establishment in half a year.
It was also because he had defeated two disciples who were in the top ten of the outer sect in the outer sect competition.
Moreover, during the Beast Forest trial, he had made three early-stage Golden Core inner disciples suffer, even if his methods were a bit despicable.
But all of this had led him to somewhat underestimate his peers.
Now, hearing that cultivators in the early stage of Golden Core could only rank at the bottom of the inner disciple list, how could he not be surprised?
"What about Qin Lang?" Zhang Ergou couldn't help but recall the person he met on his first trip down the mountain after entering the inner sect.
"Qin Lang?"