The brightest star on the field was none other than Chen Xuanyi.
The radiant Taiyi Sword God dazzled all eyes, and Gu Meng, cradled in his arms, unfurled her five-colored silk ribbons. The flowing gauze fluttered gracefully, her delicate laughter enchanting—she had become the perfect adornment for a powerful warrior.
It was the very picture of triumph.
The years after reaching the He Dao (Consolidation of the Dao) stage had been long and lonely, with a heart worn thin by solitude. But this time, suppressing his mind back to his youth felt like a complete rebirth—passion reignited, as if newly born.
A sudden sharp turn startled Gu Meng, and she cried out, raising her small fists to repeatedly pound his chest.
“Brother Li, how can you be so mean!” she teased with a playful pout, then suddenly flipped into a bout of old jealousy. “No wonder! Hmph!”
No wonder back then she said Brother Li was cold, upright, and kind-hearted, but Luo Luo had her doubts.
Turns out, he had been “mean” to others too.
Just as she was pondering how to subtly retaliate, Chen Xuanyi burst into laughter, protesting loudly, “Mean? Me? There’s no one more tender and chivalrous than me!”
He moved with ease, shielding her so thoroughly that not a drop of demon blood could touch her.
Meanwhile, her Qingyun Academy grades soared steadily.
She had unknowingly attracted countless jealous eyes.
*
Hovering in mid-air, the Qingyun Mirror projected vivid scenes like these.
Beneath the giant mirror, the leaders of the three great sects sat at the head of the gathering, while representatives from various smaller sects and prominent families assembled below.
Master Lingxue frowned deeply as she gazed at the mortals caught up in the chaos. “Does your sect truly have the capability to host this grand assembly? So many blunders—it's beyond comprehension!”
“Don’t be upset, don’t be upset,” chimed in a portly middle-aged man seated in the center with a forced smile. “Master Lingxue, let me explain. There are only ten thousand demons here, none stronger than the Golden Core stage. Nearly a thousand Qingyun disciples—right? On average, one cultivator protects one mortal, killing about ten demons each. Shouldn’t that be easy? Relax, relax!”
This man was none other than the head of the Tiandao Sect, surnamed Pang, Daoist name Pang Yue.
At first glance, he looked utterly unremarkable—like a wealthy landowner who had stumbled into a realm of cultivation.
But looking deeper... he was merely an average cultivator with little temper. If it weren’t for the great Daoist Cangyue above him and a formidable son below, his position as sect leader would likely have long been in jeopardy.
Master Lingxue’s expression darkened further. “Average? You really think it can be averaged?”
One cultivator protecting one mortal? Dream on! Everyone was scrambling to kill demons to secure a spot in the top hundred.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” Pang Yue said cheerfully. “If anything serious happens, won’t we be here to handle it?”
*
“Ignore the mortals! If anything serious occurs, the higher-ups will intervene.”
Within the Jianmu Yin Mansion, a cultivator bearing the Murong family insignia scolded his younger siblings behind him. “You only need to focus on your own duties! Fulfill your responsibilities!”
The group exchanged weak glances and bowed their heads in agreement. “Understood.”
Their family had repeatedly emphasized that everyone must give their all to support the young family head’s rise.
This team hurriedly departed along the Celestial Corridor.
In another corner, three junior disciples from a small sect shielded a family of three, fighting while retreating.
“Our abilities only extend this far,” the lead senior brother said calmly. “If every cultivator acted as we do, no innocent lives would be lost here. We can rest easy with clear consciences.”
The junior brothers and sisters nodded in agreement. “Senior brother is right.”
He glanced at the fading glow of the divine sword in the distance and spoke in a low voice, “The restless spirits who died here aren’t to blame us. Blame those who only care about showing off.”
The little junior sister hesitated, wanting to say something.
After walking a short distance, she quietly tugged on the second senior brother’s sleeve.
“Second senior brother, if we stayed at the dojo, wouldn’t we be able to save more people?”
“That’s not an option,” the second senior brother replied. “If we don’t kill enough demons, we’ll be eliminated — if we don’t make it into the top hundred, the three of us will have to slink back, trampled underfoot by those petty scoundrels forever.”
The little junior sister nodded. “I understand. Then let’s put in even more effort and save as many people as we can, okay?”
“Alright, I’m with you!”
Laughter rang out nearby. “Hahaha — once the Dao Lords have wiped out all these demons, you mortals will be safe and sound!”
Those hesitating were persuaded by the words and soon flew away on their swords.
“Let’s go, demon hunting!”
“Watch me carve a path through them all!”
*
At the dojo, Luo Luo was busy setting up formations.
Her array wasn’t designed to defend against demons, but to provide early warnings.
With so many mortals, it was impossible to protect each one individually. The only way was to gather everyone together, set up an outer ring for early alerts, and strike the incoming demons before they could get close.
As she worked, more and more cultivators arrived to help, representing all sorts of sects.
Every face looked grim.
Especially those contestants whose Qingyun Tokens showed only single digits — their faces were full of resentment, looking like ghosts risen from the underworld.
Angry as ghosts, yet still saving lives.
One cultivator slapped his own face while rescuing people. “I’m such a hypocrite! An idiot! A white lotus!”
Luo Luo: “... *snort*.”
Xu Junlan returned as well.
She landed right beside the pretty boy. “How many spirit stones did Luo Luo give you? I’ll double it!”
She might not win every fight, but Luo Luo’s poverty was obvious to all — this was one thing Xu Junlan was confident about.
The pretty boy: “...?”
Xu Junlan: “She hired you to stand in for Li Zhaoye, didn’t she?”
The pretty boy narrowed his eyes.
Xu Junlan: “Me too!”
The pretty boy’s expression darkened dangerously.
Though his smile was carefree and dazzling, when he got serious, his cold aura was intimidating.
Luo Luo: “...”
She quickly pulled back a divine master on the verge of losing control.
She warned Xu Junlan by pointing at her nose, then shook her own fist.
*
The early warning formation was gradually taking shape.
Most ordinary people were so terrified they either collapsed or moved like puppets, obediently doing whatever they were told. These people were easy to manage, and Luo Luo had little trouble placing them inside the formation.
But with such a large crowd, there were all kinds of people.
Xu Junlan found herself caught up in trouble.
A middle-aged man shamelessly stepped forward and started groping her. “I don’t care! It’s you cultivators who got me stuck in this hellhole. You have to take responsibility. I’m coming with you, alright?”
He grinned lecherously and reached out to touch her waist.
Xu Junlan slapped him hard.
The man immediately rolled on the ground, wailing loudly, “Cultivator’s attacking me!”
Xu Junlan had never encountered such a shameless scoundrel. The moment she moved her hand, her sword hadn’t even sung yet, but the man was already screaming at the top of his lungs, “Help! She’s attacking me! She’s trying to kill me!”
“You!”
On the other side, seeing the formation about to be completed, a few sharp-faced men started shouting and stirring up trouble.
“Don’t believe them! They want to lock us all up here as bait so they can escape!”
“Exactly! Anyone who obediently goes inside is a total fool! They’re treating us like dead weight! Is there any justice? Waaah!”
“Charge out! Grab them! It’s safer to stick with them!”
Fat Zhao Yu from Old Jun Peak stepped forward to calm the crowd, but suddenly, a flurry of vegetable leaves and eggs were hurled at him from within the crowd, even half a rotten fish was thrown, startling him so much he jumped three meters high on the spot, screaming in agony.
Xu Junlan was furious to the point of explosion.
She turned back and scolded Luo Luo, “Look at the ungrateful scoundrels your saintly self just saved!”
Luo Luo understood the situation and slowly nodded, “Oh.”
Xu Junlan stomped her foot, “Oh, my foot!”
In the blink of an eye, Luo Luo was gone from where she stood.
Taking advantage of the chaos, she nimbly moved to one side, casually grabbed a person, and tossed them over the dojo’s railing—this towering tree was hundreds of meters tall, layered and intertwined, and below lay a deep abyss.
Before the crowd could react, Luo Luo grabbed another and decisively threw them out—swish!
“Ahhh!”
One after another, she threw them out without hesitation.
In just a few breaths, every troublemaker was gone, not a single one left—including the man who had been groping Xu Junlan right beside her, who Luo Luo casually sent flying as well.
Xu Junlan was stunned.
She stared blankly at Luo Luo, who remained as calm as ever, still wearing a gentle expression. Luo Luo slowly tilted her head and asked, “Anyone else?”
The crowd was speechless.
Luo Luo added, “If you have any objections, speak up.”
The crowd remained silent.
The screams and cries still echoed from below the dojo, yet no one dared to speak.
Luo Luo nodded and formed a hand seal, unleashing the final wave of spiritual energy.
“Clang!”
The Autumn Water Sword shot out, locking the formation’s core. The defensive array was now fully formed.
Just as everyone exhaled in relief, the Azure Cloud Token at her waist flickered with a faint red glow, blinking repeatedly, as if urging her on.
The demons in the arena had already been more than half wiped out.
It was truly becoming urgent!
“All right, then we’ll head out first!” The cultivators who came to help quickly took their leave. “If you manage to kill enough, come back to relieve you. Then you can go back to killing—well, maybe there’ll still be a chance!”
Though they said this, everyone knew it was impossible.
They were already far behind after wasting so much time, let alone catching up to Luo Luo, who was guarding the formation.
Luo Luo, however, showed no reaction at all.
She focused intently on guarding the formation, instantly swooping in to kill wherever there was a sign of movement.
Meanwhile, the pretty boy sat by the dojo, fishing.
Those troublemakers stirring up chaos were all hanging beneath the protective railings—whenever Luo Luo tossed someone, they’d catch them.
Heaven only knows where this uncanny tacit understanding came from.
The pretty boy, feeling utterly listless, would occasionally tug on his “bait line” to lure some demons over to slay.
It wasn’t entirely fruitless.
*
With the demons wiped out, the preliminary round came to an end.
“Ding—”
A distant bell rang out, the forbidden zone dissipated, and everyone blinked, suddenly finding themselves back under the clear blue sky.
Above the massive Jianmu tree trunk, a glowing screen appeared, displaying everyone’s kill scores.
Out of ten thousand demons, Chen Xuanyi alone had slain nearly five thousand. Even after gifting Gu Meng over a thousand kills, his own tally of three thousand still soared far ahead.
Luo Luo raised a hand to cover her eyes, peeking through her fingers.
First place: Chen Xuanyi, 3,756 points.
Second place: Feng Baiyan (a name unfamiliar to most), 1,666 points.
Third place: Gu Meng, 1,400 points.
…
The ranking list unfolded slowly from top to bottom.
Gu Meng spotted her name and jumped up in delight. “Third place! I’m third!”
She glanced around, noticing most others looked disheveled, covered in dirt and blood, exhausted and battered. In contrast, she stood there radiant and vigorous, exuding an aura of celestial grace, towering above everyone else.
The joy blossomed further across her face.
Voices of protest erupted from the crowd.
“This score shouldn’t count at all! If I hadn’t been saving others, I wouldn’t have gotten so few points!”
“Not fair!”
“Do it again! Do it again!”
Gu Meng couldn’t help but sneer, “If you’re worse than others, don’t try to cancel out someone else’s hard-earned points—why should you?”
Hearing this, the people beside her grew unhappy. “What do you mean ‘hard-earned’? Didn’t he carry you the whole time?”
Gu Meng stomped her foot. “Brother Li! I told you I can do it myself, but you insisted on helping me. Look, everyone’s talking about me.”
Chen Xuanyi, riding high on his success, replied dismissively, “You have someone to cherish you; she doesn’t. Give her some space.”
It didn’t matter if others looked down on Gu Meng—what he craved was their astonishment and murmurs of disbelief. Even after gifting Gu Meng so many points, he still held a commanding lead.
That was the true pride of a man.
He squinted, glancing down the list.
After a long wait, he finally found Luo Luo’s name.
Her ranking wasn’t too far back—after all, she had slain plenty of demons, and those below her barely managed a few kills each.
Luo Luo: 27th place, 228 points.
Li Zhaoye: 28th place, 227 points.
Chen Xuanyi looked up and noticed Luo Luo had her hands over her eyes, cautiously peeking through her fingers.
Seeing her own and the pretty boy’s names, she exhaled deeply.
Chen Xuanyi let out a triumphant sneer. “Tch, I’m really worried some people might get eliminated early.”
The glowing screen reached its end, revealing the top one hundred.
A solemn voice filled the air with imposing authority: “This time, the preliminary round of the Qingyun Grand Tournament has a total score of twenty thousand points, with ten thousand points awarded for demon kills. Rankings are based on the glowing screen.”
This was the final verdict.
Whether it was delaying the kill by saving someone, or being carried to victory like Gu Meng, none of it affected the final results.
A low sigh escaped from someone in the crowd.
Another lowered their head gloomily, their expression impossible to read—was it regret, or the absence of it?
Someone keenly noticed something was off: “...Wait, the total score is twenty thousand? Where’s the other ten thousand points?”
The hall fell silent. Then the authoritative voice continued, “There is an additional ten thousand points for performance during the event. Each ordinary person on the field counts for one thousand points. If everyone is saved, ten points are awarded for each person rescued.”
After a brief moment of stunned silence, the venue erupted into a clamor.
“We cultivators train tirelessly to subdue demons and monsters, all for the protection of the living!” That voice, brimming with imposing pressure, thundered down, “Including the on-site performance scores, the top scorer of this Qingyun Conference preliminary round has a total score of 8,888!”
The crowd was in an uproar.
This score far surpassed that of Chen Xuanyi!
After a brief burst of noise, the hall suddenly fell silent, as if the summer cicadas had abruptly stopped singing.
Everyone instinctively held their breath, awaiting the final result.
Thump, thump!
After a moment, the authoritative voice echoed throughout the hall.
“First place in the Qingyun preliminary round—”
On the glowing screen above, Chen Xuanyi’s name was instantly overshadowed.
“Luo Luo!”
