"Sect Leader, I've checked. Many fifth and sixth-rank sects in Yu Rou Plains have passed the tests. The two great alliances haven't made things difficult for them and have even gifted them each a set of fourth-tier protective mountain formations.
The two alliances are merely confronting each other, with the intention of not allowing each other to recruit anyone they themselves cannot."
As if fearing Yang Hong might react impulsively, Ye Yu Dong quickly explained, his legs trembling slightly as he looked at the broken invitation on the ground.
Even if he was full of fighting spirit and unafraid of death, he wouldn't be foolish enough to seek it out.
He didn't know the full strength of the Chaoyang Sect, but having visited the Imperial Beast Sect a few times, he had a rough idea: thirty Loose Immortals, ninety Mahayana cultivators, three hundred Tribulation Transcendence cultivators, and over a thousand Integration cultivators.
It was a veritable behemoth!
And as the foremost sect in the Yu Rou immortal cultivation world, the Chaoyang Sect's strength could only be greater, not weaker.
If these two sects were to become enraged, they could easily crush the small Qing Feng Mountain Villa.
Moreover, these two sects were the Buddhist Alliance and the Immortal Alliance, making their strength even more terrifying. Offending them would undoubtedly mean certain death!
Only now did he understand why Ran Bo Ren had been so subservient to the two alliances and why he had constantly urged Yang Hong to join either one.
It was a matter of strength determining status.
Yang Hong was no fool; he naturally understood that strength determined status and strength determined life and death.
However, he possessed partial memories of the Heavenly Secret Sect's descending celestial beings, knowing that the Buddhist and Immortal sects would at most be in opposition, forming their respective factions, but they would absolutely not engage in open warfare!
Because they had a common enemy!
As for the Immortal and Buddhist sects pressuring him to join an alliance?
Fine, but they should first repay the karmic debt for him having helped cultivators from both factions transcend tribulations and ascend.
In fact, if the Immortal and Buddhist sects knew that this Yang Hong was the "Yang Hong" of the Great Sui dynasty, they would all try to avoid him at all costs.
Before refining the [Red Lotus Karmic Fire], Yang Hong might not have entirely believed in karma, but now, he could wield karma as a weapon!
Seeing Yang Hong's resolute attitude, as if he didn't even want to participate in the so-called assessment, Ye Yu Dong's mind raced, and he came up with a proposal:
"Sect Leader, I think we can still participate in this assessment. Moreover, we can take this opportunity to hold a grand competition within the sect to check the cultivation levels of our disciples.
We can also have the senior brothers from the Hall of Dharma Transmission collect data on cultivation techniques, which will provide a basis for future dharma transmission and research.
And by competing against the two great alliances, we can also observe the strengths and weaknesses of others' cultivation techniques, allowing our disciples to have a reference."
"It seems... not bad.
Then this matter is entrusted to you. It's only 20 days until the eighth day of the eighth month, so let's get moving."
"Yes!"
Watching Ye Yu Dong's receding back, Yang Hong thought that when competing against the two great alliances, he must restrict his disciples from using spiritual talismans and reduce the use of magic artifacts, otherwise, it would be bullying.
Yang Hong saw through Ye Yu Dong's little scheme at a glance. He didn't want the disciples of Qing Feng Mountain Villa to participate in that damned assessment, primarily because he was worried that the fact that all disciples of Qing Feng Mountain Villa were cultivating Earth-grade cultivation techniques would be exposed.
As far as he knew, even among the Ten Great Immortal Sects, only the True Disciple level had the qualification to cultivate Earth-grade cultivation techniques.
The general disciple ranks in the immortal cultivation world were divided into: Servant Disciples, Outer Disciples, Inner Disciples, True Disciples, and Core Disciples.
In some large sects, there might also be positions like Sect Leader's Disciple, Sect Leader's True Disciple, Holy Son, and Holy Daughter.
However, regardless of how you counted, True Disciples were the fourth-level disciples, which showed that the Tai Yuan Continent also adhered to the philosophy of not lightly transmitting profound knowledge.
For a sect like Qing Feng Mountain Villa, where Servant Disciples began cultivating Earth-grade techniques from the moment they joined, it was an absolutely unprecedented existence!
Yang Hong was not worried about his own safety, but he feared that the Immortal and Buddhist sects, which appeared high and mighty but were in reality depraved and despicable villains, would make a ruthless move and directly exterminate Qing Feng Mountain Villa.
"I hope the Buddhist and Immortal sects have some decency. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind using the Red Lotus Karmic Fire to burn them down, sect by sect."
Setting aside his worries, Yang Hong cast an invisibility spell and floated above the grand training grounds at the foot of Qing Feng Mountain, watching Qing Feng Mountain Villa's first grand sect competition.
"Senior Sister Ke, should we not let the Sect Leader preside over this sect competition? Otherwise, if he sees it, he'll turn the sect competition into a rally of oaths."
"That wouldn't be good. Although the Sect Leader has a bit of a temper, he isn't so cruel as to casually sacrifice the lives of disciples, is he?"
"Cough cough~ Senior Sister Ke, have you forgotten the demonic birds on the neighboring Ze Xia Peak?"
"Uh~ this, it seems, perhaps, possibly, the Sect Leader wouldn't joke with the lives of human disciples~ right?"
"That's hard to say. The Sect Leader's temperament is quite unyielding. Even though there was an insect repellent, he still made the disciples use spells to eliminate the sporadic outbreaks of Lihuo Flying Locust swarms."
"Hiss~ Then let's not have the Sect Leader preside over the sect competition."
Listening to the back-and-forth of the main stewards of the two divisions and three halls below, Yang Hong's mouth twitched. Was he really that brutal?
He just knew his disciples' strength, so his commands were a bit more forceful.
As for the demonic birds?
Didn't two-thirds of them die?
And now the demonic birds had developed again, hadn't they?
Moreover, the entire Lihuo Plain and the ten thousand li radius around Qing Feng Mountain were their territories. Any other demonic beasts that dared to enter could only become food.
【Stubborn fools, when the real war breaks out in the future, you'll know how good I am.】
Yang Hong grumbled inwardly, but he had no intention of revealing himself.
Under Yang Hong's forceful guidance, the efficiency of the two divisions and three halls had become extremely high. With the constant relay of orders and the takeoffs and landings of flying ships, within three days, all the disciples of Qing Feng Mountain Villa, who were scattered across a twenty-million-li radius, had returned to Qing Feng Mountain.
After some polite refusal, Ye Yu Dong, the newly appointed Hall Master of the War God Hall, eventually took on the role of host for Qing Feng Mountain Villa's first grand sect competition.
"In this crisp and refreshing early autumn, we welcome Qing Feng Mountain Villa's first grand sect competition, and it is also the first sect competition in the twenty-seven years since Qing Feng Mountain Villa was established."
*Clap clap clap*
Although the disciples were puzzled why the Sect Leader wasn't giving the opening speech, nor was Ke Ji Mei, who had the highest cultivation, giving it, they knew that Ye Yu Dong had defeated Ran Bo Ren and ascended to the position of Hall Master of the War God Hall. Thus, they applauded generously.
"In this competition, there will be no distinction between outer, inner, or servant disciples. They will be directly grouped by cultivation level.
All disciples are not allowed to use talismans, poisons, or disposable magic artifacts. They may use no more than ten pills and must compete solely on their hard skills."
"For the Qi Refining group, the top hundred will be rewarded with one Foundation Establishment Pill. The top ten will be rewarded with three Foundation Establishment Pills, and the top three will additionally receive a second-tier magic artifact.
The Foundation Establishment and Fusion groups will only have rewards for the top ten, all of which are pills to break through realms and magic artifacts for the next realm.
The Golden Core and Nascent Soul groups will also reward the top ten. In addition to pills and magic artifacts, they will also receive insights into profound concepts."
These rewards, while certainly good in the outside world, were only considered average within Qing Feng Mountain Villa.
But there was no way around it; without Yang Hong's support, these rewards were accumulated by the managers of the Integration and Soul Splitting stages using their personal savings.
Yang Hong, who was invisible in the air, found them meager and specifically transmitted a message to Ye Yu Dong.