284: Chapter 284 Open

A few days later, the Taihe Assembly officially opened for registration.

On this day, young Cultivators and Loose Cultivators from various forces all came over; they had already learned about the rewards for this Taihe Assembly, and because of this, they were so proactive.

Today, the Taihe Assembly is no longer hosted by Foundation Establishment families, but rather jointly organized by five Purple Mansion forces, with each contributing a portion of treasures as rewards.

Among them, the Chen Family had eight participants, and besides the Chen Family, various families in Qinghe County also sent some of their clansmen.

The Chen Family did not forbid it; instead, they arranged for dedicated Foundation Establishment Cultivators to bring them here.

Among them, besides clansmen from Foundation Establishment families, there were of course also Cultivators from Qi Refining families, but the requirements were relatively high, requiring their cultivation level to reach the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining to be allowed to participate.

Don't think the requirement is a bit high; if not for the Chen Family, where would these Qi Refining families get the opportunity to participate? After all, the original intention of the Taihe Assembly was for various forces within the scope of Taihe Prefecture City, and it was just that Foundation Establishment families from a few county towns were added later on.

There were nearly twenty Cultivators coming from Qinghe County, and their cultivation levels were all above the Middle Stage of Qi Refining. The leader was Li Qingxue, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator of the Li Family who had only entered the Foundation Establishment Stage for a little over ten years.

"This Chen Family is simply outrageous. None of the participating Cultivators are lower than the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining; they are all at the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining and above. How are we supposed to fight this?" someone discussed with their companion.

"Indeed! For Qi Refining families like ours, for a clansman under the age of twenty to enter the Middle Stage of Qi Refining is already an absolute Genius. Take our Gu Family's three clansmen this time for example: only one has reached the Perfection of the third layer of Qi Refining, and the other two have only barely reached the third layer of Qi Refining," sighed a companion nearby.

"Alright, we are just here to make up the numbers anyway. In which Taihe Assembly are those at the top of the rankings not from the few Purple Mansion forces or Foundation Establishment forces?"

"Don't really think that just participating means you can get rewards, although the Taihe Assembly occasionally produces one or two talented Cultivators who either come from us Qi Refining families or from Loose Cultivators."

The other few nodded.

As a Purple Mansion force, the Chen Family's clansmen and Cultivators underneath did not need to queue up; they could simply explain to the responsible Cultivator directly. After all, Cultivators from forces like theirs mostly began investigating potential competitors who might rival them before the competition rather than wasting time on registration.

A few days later, the Chen Family investigated all the Cultivators who reached the Late Qi Refining Stage this time and informed everyone participating from the Chen Family of their information. In addition, there were also some Cultivators at the fifth and sixth layers of Qi Refining with decent strength.

Among the dozen or so Late Qi Refining Stage Cultivators, there were actually only three who were worth Chen Lingqing and Chen Qifeng's attention.

These three all came from a few Purple Mansion forces.

One of them came from the Giant Sword Sect, with a cultivation of the eighth layer of Qi Refining. What he cultivated was still the Giant Sword Art, one of the three major Legacy Cultivation Techniques of the Giant Sword Sect, and his strength was unfathomable.

Another one came from the Xuantian Sect, whose cultivation was also at the eighth layer of Qi Refining. However, his status was not low—he was Lin Feng's disciple, or rather, Master Lingxiao's grand-disciple. According to intelligence, just like Master Lingxiao, he possessed a mutated Spiritual Root, the Lightning Spiritual Root.

Legend has it that when he was at the Qi Condensation 7th Layer, he had once defeated someone at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining. This kind of strength was enough to show how formidable he was, and he might also be the most powerful contender to win the championship in this assembly.

As for the other person, she came from the Jiupo Sect. This person was relatively low-profile; if the Chen Family's intelligence infiltration hadn't been quite covert, they really would have overlooked this person. The Jiupo Sect excelled in illusion techniques, and ever since their Ancestral Master, the Sect had taken the Jiupo Art as the foundation for establishing the Sect, having been passed down for thousands of years.

Rumor has it that the Ancestral Master of the Jiupo Sect relied on the Jiupo Art and a False Core cultivation base to forcefully control a Golden Core Master for over ten breaths. Later on, the Ancestral Master of the Jiupo Sect even stepped into the Golden Core Stage, establishing a resounding and formidable reputation in Yan Country at that time.

Moreover, the Jiupo Art was also a Cultivation Technique that could lead directly to the Nascent Soul Stage. With this Cultivation Technique, the vast majority of Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators could only Cultivate one soul, while the Foundation Establishment Stage could Cultivate two souls or even three souls. Zifu Stage Cultivators could directly Cultivate six souls, and the Golden Core Stage could even Cultivate nine souls. As for the Nascent Soul Stage, no one knew the specific details.

However, the intelligence investigated by the Chen Family was that although this female had only the cultivation of the Qi Condensation 7th Layer, her Divine Soul talent was extraordinary, and she had successfully condensed two souls by cultivating the Jiupo Art. If not for this intelligence, the Chen Family really would have placed her among ordinary Late Qi Refining Stage Cultivators.

After everyone had digested this intelligence, a few more days passed.

The Taihe Assembly officially began.

The first round, just like before, was to first eliminate a large number of low-tier Cultivators with insufficient strength, and then retain the top one hundred Cultivators.

Then these one hundred Cultivators would decide the top fifty, and the remaining fifty would decide the top fourteen.

After that was the top sixty-four tournament.

When the first round began, on ten arenas, each arena hosted over a hundred Cultivators competing for the top ten.

A total of twenty-seven people from the Chen Family participated, and every arena had clansmen from the Chen Family—one or two at the fewest, and three or four at the most.

The vast majority of Chen Family Cultivators were inconspicuous on various arenas, but even when encountering those whose cultivation was comparable to theirs or slightly stronger, the Chen Family Cultivators could basically win.

Unless the cultivation was higher by one layer or even two layers.

After all, the Chen Family was a Purple Mansion force, and the talented Cultivators selected to participate in the battle were definitely not weaker than the geniuses of most Foundation Establishment families, and might even be slightly stronger.

Because although these talented Cultivators did not receive more cultivation nurture than the Chen Family clansmen, the resources they obtained would definitely not be much less than the talented clansmen of Foundation Establishment families.

Even if more than half of them missed out on the top ten, their strength was solid and down-to-earth.

For example, Zhao Shen, who was fighting against someone on Arena No. 2, was eighteen years old, possessed Four Spiritual Roots, and was at the Perfection of the fourth layer of Qi Refining, but his strength was such that even Cultivators at the fifth layer of Qi Refining would find it very difficult to take him down.

Meng Ze looked at him, already having the idea in mind to properly nurture this person.

Chen Linglong on the other side also greatly appreciated this person.

Both of them had the intention of taking him as a disciple.

In the Chen Family, Foundation Establishment Cultivators were also allowed to take disciples. After all, the master-disciple relationship was, to a certain extent, also a bond maintaining the Chen Family and Cultivators of different surnames.

Moreover, the Qinghe Alliance could essentially be regarded as a Sect, just established in the manner of what seemed like an Alliance.

On the arena, what Zhao Shen faced after all was a fifth layer of Qi Refining Cultivator who had superior cultivation and strength, coupled with the fact that the opponent was also a Genius from a certain Foundation Establishment Family—truly not an ordinary fifth layer of Qi Refining Cultivator.

However, after defeating Zhao Shen, the opponent's heart was actually not relaxed at all, because he rarely faced opponents whose cultivation was weaker than his own. To have to fight to this extent—clearly, opponents he encountered in the past, as long as they were one layer of cultivation lower than him, he could easily resolve them.

"The Chen Family?"

"As expected of Chen Family Cultivators, even if it is just a fourth layer of Qi Refining, they are so difficult to deal with. No wonder the elders at home have always exhorted him to take the Chen Family as an example."