The banquet began, with cultivators providing entertainment through song and dance.
The music was stirring and majestic, while sword dancers moved with blades gleaming like rainbows. Amid the fluttering hems of the dancers' robes, disciples from various sects exchanged fleeting glances—each harboring their own schemes and hidden agendas.
Only the six in the corner ate and drank to their hearts' content, thoroughly enjoying themselves.
Just before the banquet concluded, Di Xiuyuan, the sect master of the Violet Flame Realm, appeared before the crowd.
As the pinnacle of cultivation on the Xuantian Continent, the white-haired elder bore a weathered face and a gaunt frame, his condition appearing far from ideal.
"It brings me great joy to see all of you gathered here tonight," the elder said warmly, his tone as casual as if he were chatting with family. "After seventeen years, the Sacred Tower has reopened. The opportunity meant for you has arrived."
"The mysteries of the Sacred Tower can only be understood by those who enter it. May you all..." Di Xiuyuan smiled sincerely, "gain something, whether in attainment or enlightenment."
Di Xiuyuan had once participated in the same Xuantian Grand Competition as the sect masters of Qingling Mountain.
That year, he led the Violet Flame Realm’s disciples to victory, reclaiming the Sacred Tower and propelling his cultivation to the apex of the cultivation world.
However, he had sustained injuries within the Sacred Tower, damaging his spiritual bones and leaving him plagued by chronic ailments.
In the original story, during this Xuantian Grand Competition, Yu Xiaoxiao and her team did not take first place—they came in second.
The Violet Flame Realm still claimed the top spot.
Yet, through this competition, Yu Xiaoxiao and the male lead, Di Qi, developed mutual affection.
Later, Xie Ziyin descended into madness, attempting to assassinate Di Qi, only to be slain by the united efforts of the male and female leads.
Not long after, Di Xiuyuan failed in his seclusion and perished, clearing the path for Di Qi to inherit the position of sect master.
Di Qi rightfully succeeded him, becoming the new leader of the Violet Flame Realm and taking Yu Xiaoxiao as his bride.
This was the happy ending written in the book.
"Ah, one more thing," Di Xiuyuan coughed lightly before continuing. "This year’s Xuantian Grand Competition differs slightly from previous ones. In this round, the lowest-ranking participants will be eliminated."
The moment these words were spoken, it was as if water had been poured into boiling oil—the disciples erupted in uproar.
"What? Elimination?! Didn’t we always compete until the end, with rankings determined by the number of Sacred Stones?"
"Exactly! Why the sudden change?"
"What do we do now? Even if we couldn’t win, just training inside the Sacred Tower would’ve been worthwhile. But now, our sect might only get three chances at most..."
"Not necessarily. Sect Master Di only said 'this round'—it doesn’t mean every round will have eliminations, right?"
"No point complaining now. Our only option is to avoid being the first ones out."
"Surely the first to go won’t be...?" Almost in unison, countless eyes turned toward Wen Shuangbai and his group.
At the center of these disdainful gazes, the six had long since finished eating. They had only stayed out of courtesy for the free meal, waiting for the elder’s speech to conclude before leaving.
Wen Shuangbai and Xie Ziyin were engrossed in their respective books, Li Zhuohua sat meditating with closed eyes, and Shen Hefeng muttered something over a turtle shell.
Only Lu Jiayao fretted openly about the future of their "Fortune Squad": "Ah, why elimination? We won’t get knocked out in the first round, will we? Before we left, my mother said everyone in Lujia Village would be watching me on the Mystic Heaven Mirror. If we’re out right away, how embarrassing would that be..."
Yin Xuan glanced left and right, resting his chin on his hand in mild confusion.
The delicacies of the Imperial Prefecture were indeed excellent—just a bit too small in portion for his appetite.
But since no one else seemed to be ordering a second serving... Well, no harm in asking.
So, Yin Xuan raised his hand and politely addressed a nearby attendant: "Excuse me, could I have another serving?"
Coincidentally, Di Xiuyuan had just departed, and the hall had fallen into a hushed silence.
Thus, every disciple present heard the senior brother’s request.
Everyone: "???"
Attendant: "???"
Xie Ziyin flipped a page of his medical text and remarked to Wen Shuangbai, "Your senior brother just committed social suicide."
Wen Shuangbai: "..."
The senior brother himself remained unbothered. After a brief pause, seeing the attendant’s bewildered hesitation, he added, "Is it not allowed?"
Attendant: "I-It should be fine."
Soon after, the Violet Flame Realm’s staff brought Yin Xuan another full table of dishes.
Surveying the lavish spread before him, Yin Xuan smiled gently and picked up his chopsticks with refined grace.
Wen Shuangbai glanced over. "Don’t worry. My senior brother is happy again."
Xie Ziyin: "Impressive."
---
The next morning, disciples from the seven major sects gathered before the Sacred Tower of Xuantian.
The tower, pristine white, stood atop the highest peaks of the Violet Flame Realm, overlooking all beneath it with an air of sacred inviolability.
Sect Master Xu, for once setting aside her romance novels, stood at the tower’s base and addressed Wen Shuangbai’s group: "The trials within the Sacred Tower vary with each opening, but one rule remains constant. Your performance is measured by the number of Sacred Stones you collect—the more you obtain, the higher your rank."
"Additionally, while you won’t truly die inside the Holy Tower, each death will damage your true body. Every Mystic Heaven Grand Competition has seen disciples who perished too many times within the tower emerge with ruined cultivation, reduced to mindless fools." These words had been said by Xu Jingshu aboard the Qingling airship before, but now she repeated them. "So I hope you all prioritize your lives inside. Do not treat this lightly."
"Rest assured, Sect Master, we’ve taken it to heart." Wen Shuangbai listened attentively while embedding the Four Hundred Blocks into her Fire Plume Whip.
The Holy Tower’s trial rules shared similarities with the Taihua Mountain Secret Realm—each disciple could only bring one magical artifact, and it must not exceed their cultivation level.
Wen Shuangbai had only possessed the Fire Plume Whip before, so this hadn’t been an issue. But now that she had the Four Hundred Blocks, she devised a way to combine them with the whip after learning of this rule.
Like a sword and its sheath—could the Holy Tower really claim these were two separate items?
Shen Hefeng’s Tortoise Shell and Soul-Devouring Banner followed the same logic.
Xu Jingshu pondered carefully. She had covered all necessary instructions, so she picked up her storybook again.
Then, a trivial matter came to mind.
It was so insignificant that neither she nor the other sect masters had deemed it worth mentioning.
Yet its sudden recollection now surely held meaning.
"Oh, one more thing," Xu Jingshu said. "One Holy Stone can be exchanged for a thousand spirit stones."
Wen Shuangbai: "Huh... Wait, what?!"
Xie Ziyin, Yin Xuan, Shen Hefeng, Lu Jiayao, and Li Zhuohua all snapped their heads toward her in unison.
Xu Jingshu blinked, smoothing the pages of her book as she elaborated. "After the trials, you can redeem your Holy Stones for spirit stones based on the count displayed in the Mystic Heaven Mirror. One Holy Stone equals a thousand."
Wen Shuangbai: "!"
Wen Shuangbai: "Sect Master, why didn’t you say so earlier?!"
She now regretted not pushing herself harder during her three-month seclusion. She should’ve trained even more relentlessly!
"I didn’t realize you were all so strapped for spirit stones." Xu Jingshu glanced at Li Zhuohua. "The others I can understand, but you too?"
Li Zhuohua answered honestly, "People often extort spirit stones from me."
Xu Jingshu: "?"
Now that she thought about it, the sect leader had mentioned his daughter frequently injuring others during sparring matches and having to compensate them.
Amid Wen Shuangbai’s eager anticipation, the Holy Tower’s gates opened, and a gentle spiritual force drew all participating disciples inside.
In the next instant, Wen Shuangbai found herself clad in coarse servant’s attire, crammed among others in a clearing like livestock, being scrutinized by a figure at the front.
The man was an elderly fellow in a long robe, outwardly human-like but with ghastly bluish-black skin and long, sharp nails. His gaze was sinister and unnerving as it swept over the crowd.
This was one of the spectral beings trapped within the Holy Tower.
The Mystic Heaven Mirror drew power from the Holy Tower itself.
Once the trials began, every cultivator on the Xuantian Continent could tap the upper-right corner of the mirror to spectate.
[Ahhh, I’m here! I’ve always heard my parents talk about the Mystic Heaven Grand Competition—today I finally get to see it for myself!]
[What in the heavens is that thing? It’s terrifying! Scaring me in broad daylight!]
[That’s a spectral being. Speaking of which, we owe gratitude to the Seven Sages of Xuantian from five centuries ago. If not for them sealing all spectral beings inside the Holy Tower, humanity would’ve been devoured long ago. We wouldn’t be here now.]
The robed elder grinned eerily. "Welcome, temporary laborers, to Tian Family Village. We’re in the midst of harvest season with too much work and too few hands—your arrival is most timely."
He moistened a sheet of paper with his elongated tongue, flipping through a ledger as he rasped, "Over the next seven days, we have seven tasks requiring six workers each. Listen carefully. First, feeding chickens—one Holy Stone per day. Second, tending pigs—three Holy Stones. Third, feeding dogs—five Holy Stones..."
While Wen Shuangbai was still processing, someone from the crowd abruptly raised a hand and declared, "Village Chief, we’ll take the dog-feeding!"
It was the Jade Rhino Valley contingent from Yunzhou.
The village chief chuckled, scribbling on the ledger with his tongue. "Excellent, excellent. The dogs are yours to care for."
The Jade Rhino Valley disciples retreated, satisfied.
Their goal was clear: they wouldn’t contend for first place, but neither would they accept elimination in the first round.
Judging by the village chief’s words, the later tasks offered more Holy Stones.
Jade Rhino Valley’s ranking historically fluctuated between fourth and sixth. They had no intention of challenging the top three—a futile effort—so they swiftly secured a middling task to steadily accumulate Holy Stones over the seven days.
Other sects instantly grasped their strategy, and the expressions of those typically ranked lower darkened.
[I heard the lowest-ranked sect gets eliminated this round. Jade Rhino Valley’s quite shrewd, striking first.]
【Doesn’t that mean whichever sect ends up feeding the chickens will rank last in this competition and be eliminated?】
Someone who had witnessed the Xuantian Grand Competition in the past explained, 【Generally speaking, yes, but it’s not that straightforward. Something else will probably happen later.】
Since entering, Lu Jiayao had been trembling at the sight of the surrounding ghosts encircling them.
Shen Hefeng was swiftly performing divinations. Too afraid to approach the other three, Lu Jiayao sidled up to Yin Xuan, supporting the drowsy senior disciple. Instantly, his fear lessened.
Once his nerves settled, he began to think aloud in a hushed voice, "Actually, feeding chickens isn’t so bad. Back home, I helped my mom feed them every day. I was really good at it..."
Qingzhou, Lu Family Village.
A woman cracked melon seeds while sitting with her friends at the courtyard gate, watching the Mystic Heaven Mirror. At this moment, she chuckled and said, "That’s right! All the chickens in our yard were raised by Xiao Tu!"
Before Lu Jiayao could finish, the village chief above immediately turned his gaze toward Wen Shuangbai and the others, almost eagerly declaring, "Excellent. The chicken-feeding duty will be yours."
Wen Shuangbai and the other three: "???"
【??】
【???】
【Which sect are those people from? How could they be so foolish!】
【Qingling Mountain’s.】
【No wonder Qingling Mountain has ranked last twice in a row. With disciples like these, it’d be a miracle if they didn’t come in last.】
【Sigh, looks like Qingzhou is out in the first round again. Can’t Qingling Mountain pick better disciples?!】
Lu Jiayao himself was stunned. He hurried forward and protested, "Chief! We don’t want to feed chickens. I was just talking nonsense—"
"Laborers who go back on their word will be expelled from the village." The chief licked his lips expectantly. "Are you sure you don’t want to feed the chickens? Are you really backing out?"
Since the protagonists left Qingling Mountain, many events had diverged from the original novel’s plot.
For instance, the competition in the original story wasn’t set in Tian Family Village, but the underlying logic remained the same:
Leaving the village meant death.
Wen Shuangbai immediately yanked Lu Jiayao back and smiled. "No, Chief. We’ll do it."
The chief looked disappointed but continued, "Fourth task: fish farming. Daily—"
Nearby, Lu Ying and Bai Lijue of Wansheng Palace exchanged glances and sneered.
They didn’t even need to lift a finger—Qingling Mountain’s incompetents were digging their own graves.
Shen Hefeng’s expression darkened.
He had intended to choose their task only after completing his divination for safety, but this idiot Lu Jiayao had to open his mouth!
Annoyed, Shen Hefeng shook his head and glanced at the divination result—then froze in shock.
What in the world? Was he seeing this right? How could it be such a coincidence...
Wen Shuangbai noticed Shen Hefeng’s odd reaction and instinctively moved closer to look.
There, on the divination board, was the image of...
A chick?
