As time passed, more and more powerhouses from the Heaven List and Earth List appeared, causing quite a stir in the Tianlu Daoist Arena.
Mo Fan and his nominal master Liu Zhengde stood in a relatively peripheral position. His gaze swept over those so-called ranked powerhouses. He discovered that most on the Earth List were disciples in the Foundation Establishment stage, while without exception, everyone on the Heaven List was in the Core Formation stage!
This suddenly reminded him of something. He immediately turned to Liu Zhengde and asked, “Master, am I also on the Earth List now?”
“Yes, you are an inner disciple after all. How could you not be on the Earth List?” Liu Zhengde said with some emotion.
“Then what position do I rank on the Earth List?” Mo Fan asked.
“Nine hundred and eighty-sixth!”
“…”
Mo Fan was instantly speechless. In his heart, he thought, “No wonder I have not attracted much attention here. My ranking is so far back…”
This identity, that is, Zheng Dao, the true disciple of Liu Zhengde, had already entered the Earth List ten years ago. From this, it was clear that his strength was still worthy of recognition. It also explained one thing.
Although Tianlu Sacred Land had many disciples, the vast majority were in the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages. There were slightly fewer in the Core Formation stage, probably around a hundred or so.
Thinking of this, Mo Fan clicked his tongue in amazement once more.
Over a hundred in Core Formation. Did this not mean that a single Tianlu Sacred Land was comparable to several demon sacred lands in the Hundred Thousand Mountains combined?
The sacred land he knew with the most demon kings so far was White Sacred Mountain, which seemed to have only a few dozen at most. It was far from comparable to Tianlu Sacred Land.
The most terrifying part was that Tianlu Sacred Land had as many as three direct disciples, and even five ancestors in the Nascent Soul stage!
From what Mo Fan understood, the direct disciples of human sacred lands corresponded to the holy sons of the demon race.
This showed just how profound the foundation of a single human sacred land was!
No wonder the demon race had been suppressed by the human race in the Hundred Thousand Mountains for so many years…
Of course, the true reasons for the demon race’s suppression were not limited to this. There was also the suppression of the demon race by the rules of this world, making it extremely difficult for demons to break through to the King Realm. They needed to undergo thunder tribulation to achieve the breakthrough.
Although undergoing thunder tribulation did not seem as difficult as imagined, countless great demons had been halted there. This directly resulted in the demon race’s high-level forces being far inferior to the human race.
If it were not for the constant internal scheming and fighting among humans, and because the demons had been suppressed too harshly, causing them to unite tightly whenever they sensed a threat at the clan level, becoming a tough “bone” to gnaw on, the demon race might not just be in the current state of suppression. They might have completely disappeared from the Nine Provinces Continent altogether.
“Fellow Daoist, no matter what task you have come with, I must warn you. Never use demonic path techniques. Otherwise, if exposed, both our lives could be forfeited here!”
Liu Zhengde suddenly transmitted his voice into Mo Fan’s ear. Then several figures flew in from the distance. He immediately said, “The various core elders have all appeared. This means the grand competition is about to begin. This master must go out to maintain order in the tournament. Act according to circumstances later. Do not cause trouble for this master!”
“Understood!” Mo Fan nodded, then cupped his hands slightly towards Liu Zhengde. “Take care, Master. This disciple will certainly not tarnish Master’s prestige!”
Liu Zhengde glanced at Mo Fan, then soared into the sky and flew towards the distance.
Mo Fan looked up and indeed saw some cultivators with even stronger auras flying over. All these people were wearing purple luxurious robes. There were twelve of them, and their cultivations were all somewhat higher than Mo Fan’s.
This meant that the weakest among these twelve was at least in the late Core Formation stage!
They were the core elders of Tianlu Sacred Land, with status second only to the five great Nascent Soul ancestors!
Even the status of those direct disciples was merely equivalent to these core elders.
“We pay respects to the various elders!”
“We pay respects to the Holy Lord!”
With the arrival of the twelve, the originally noisy Tianlu Daoist Arena immediately quieted down. Then came unanimous respectful greetings.
“All disciples need not be so courteous!”
A refined and scholarly thin elder nodded slightly. He was the Holy Lord of Tianlu Sacred Land, Zhou He!
Looking at Zhou He, information about this person unconsciously emerged in Mo Fan’s mind.
Zhou He was not only the Holy Lord of Tianlu Sacred Land but also one of the twelve core elders. His cultivation was the strongest among the core elders, at half-step Nascent Soul.
Human and demon races had different customs. In the demon race, they generally liked to call the strongest one king and revere the strongest as lord. But among humans, the strongest often hid behind the scenes, rarely interfering in sect affairs. Instead, they would push forward the one with the most prestige and potential in the sect to serve as sect leader, managing all sect matters.
Thinking of this, Mo Fan quickly shifted his gaze away, not daring to fix his eyes on such a figure for too long, fearing that anomalies would be detected.
“Let us begin!”
Zhou He stood in the air. After briefly giving an opening speech for the sect grand competition, he went straight to the point.
Soon, the twelve core elders dispersed. In the Tianlu Daoist Arena, they each sacrificed array discs, quickly setting up a full hundred massive arrays.
Looking at those circular grand arrays, each covering an area of ten li in radius, Mo Fan felt shocked in his heart. At the same time, a trace of understanding emerged.
These so-called arrays were probably the arenas for the challenges!
Just for a competition among disciples, they sacrificed over a hundred massive arrays. Such extravagance truly left Mo Fan somewhat shocked, though more than that, he felt envy.
Currently, Black Wind Mountain did not even have a single decent array. Compared to this Tianlu Sacred Land, it was simply too poor to uncover the pot!
After those hundred array arenas formed, two figures suddenly appeared above the clouds of Tianlu Sacred Land.
The appearance of these two immediately drew fervent gazes from all the disciples.
“We pay respects to Ancestor Situ!”
“We pay respects to Ancestor Yunshang!”
The disciples all bowed to the two. Even Zhou He and the other twelve core elders wore expressions of respect as they saluted.
“You may rise!”
A cool and detached voice rang out. It belonged to a female cultivator.
Mo Fan looked up, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Without doubt, these were two Nascent Soul stage cultivators, one male and one female. The male cultivator he recognised. It was Situ Yunzhen, whom he had seen before in the Dragon Ruins!
Perhaps sensing Mo Fan’s unusual gaze, Situ Yunzhen soon looked over towards him. This gave Mo Fan a slight start in his heart. He immediately shifted his gaze away.
Situ Yunzhen’s gaze lingered on Mo Fan for several breaths before quickly moving away. This allowed Mo Fan to breathe a slight sigh of relief in his heart. Only then did he look towards the female cultivator.
The female cultivator was not as old as Mo Fan had imagined. She was a beautiful woman who appeared only around thirty years old. At this moment, she sat cross-legged on a huge green leaf, smiling as she looked down at the many disciples below.
“This sect grand competition shall be presided over by us!”
The female cultivator spoke slowly. Then, with a wave of her hand, two rays of rosy light immediately flew out from her wide sleeves. In the air, they transformed into two massive scrolls, then unfurled from the sky, instantly fixing in place. They were like two golden giant steles reflecting in the void!
Mo Fan looked towards these two giant steles and discovered that they were precisely the Heaven List and Earth List!
Above them were densely packed names, glowing with rosy light, clearly visible.
“Next, we shall trouble the various elders to preside over the competitions in each arena!”
“This ancestor declares the start of this session’s sect grand competition!”
