"Late Core Formation, in seclusion?" The voice from the transmission talisman paused for a beat, then let out a long sigh before falling silent.
The white-robed cultivator from the Ancient Sword Gate wasted no more words. He raised his hand and sent a streak of white light striking what appeared to be an ordinary bluish-gray rock amid the boulder field. The pile of stones shimmered with light, and after a wave of white radiance washed over the area, the man vanished without a trace.
This seemingly random jumble of rocks was actually a cleverly concealed teleportation formation.
The gray-robed elder, seeing his counterpart depart, simply found a nearby boulder and sat cross-legged on it to wait.
On the other end of the teleportation formation — in a small stone chamber within the Hundred Skills Courtyard — the scholar's figure materialized within the glow of the formation. Surrounding him stood several high-ranking cultivators from the three sects, including the surnamed Elder Fu.
"Well, Junior Brother? Is everything mostly ready on that end?" As soon as the scholar's form solidified, the cultivator surnamed Jiang asked without hesitation.
"Rest assured, Senior Brother. Everything at the sacred ground is in order. We can teleport over right now," the scholar replied with a smile.
"Excellent! Brother Duan, would you trouble yourself to bring the ten juniors in? As agreed, each of our three sects will send one Core Formation cultivator along. On our side, Elder Wang will accompany them, and the Falling Cloud Sect already has Peak Master Yu. Jiang, who from your side will be going?" Elder Fu nodded in satisfaction.
The red-robed elder said nothing and simply pushed the door open and stepped out.
"What's so interesting about the sacred ground? It's not as if I haven't been before. Let Junior Brother Bai make the trip," the gray-robed elder named Jiang replied dismissively.
"That works too. I recall that although Fellow Daoist Bai has never served a rotation at the sacred ground, he was originally one of the ten disciples at the Sword Testing Assembly, so this could be considered a return to old haunts," Elder Fu said with a smile.
The green-robed scholar nodded calmly in agreement without adding anything.
But the white-robed young woman smiled coquettishly and walked to the scholar's side, standing shoulder to shoulder with him in an affectionate display.
Just then, footsteps sounded outside the stone chamber, and the red-robed elder entered with an even expression, followed by the top-ten disciples from all three sects.
This time, although the Falling Cloud Sect still hadn't taken first place, it had a remarkable four disciples in the top ten — the most of any sect.
This left Elder Duan outwardly calm but inwardly quite pleased with himself.
His gaze drifted to his own four disciples: a woman surnamed Mu from Heavenly Spring Peak, a cold-faced, resolute young man named Sun Huo from Fire Cloud Peak.
As for the other two — that was Han Li and that fellow Du Dong.
Han Li was one thing, but the moment Elder Duan's eyes fell on Du Dong, his expression didn't change, though he couldn't help giving a cold snort internally, a flash of mockery passing through his mind.
As for the disciple who had taken first place — that was a black-robed youth whose demeanor was like an unsheathed sword. This young man was Meng Di, a disciple of the Ancient Sword Gate who possessed the "Nine Spirit Sword Body."
The "Nine Spirit Sword Body" was hailed as one of the three great sword-cultivator spirit bodies in the cultivation world, and this was no idle boast.
Relying on a single top-grade sword artifact, no opponent could withstand the sweeping sword qi for more than a few moments under his onslaught. He had seized first place with absolute dominance.
Thinking of this, the red-robed elder felt a fresh twinge of envy at the Ancient Sword Gate's good fortune.
…
Han Li watched the room full of "Core Formation experts" with cool detachment, feeling neither alarm nor excitement.
After winning all three rounds, he had deliberately lost to a Foundation Establishment opponent from the Hundred Skills Courtyard whose cultivation was reasonably strong. This way, he joined the other five defeated contestants in competing for places seven through ten.
In the end, he put on a convincing display of having nearly exhausted his talismans, barely scraping through to claim ninth place.
As for Du Dong — whether he'd had the same idea or not — he too had lost in the fourth round, then deliberately lost to Han Li, landing in last place among the top ten.
This left Han Li at a loss for words.
The highest-ranked disciple from the Falling Cloud Sect was that young man named Sun Huo. His cultivation was quite impressive, as he had snatched third place.
But from Han Li's assessment, if this young man's artifacts matched his techniques properly, he would have no trouble defeating the second-place disciple from the Hundred Skills Courtyard — anyone other than that black-robed youth in first.
When the assembly concluded, each of the top-ten disciples received a top-grade magical treasure. That black-robed youth surnamed Meng Di additionally received a jade box containing a Spirit-Stabilizing Pill.
The moment Han Li laid eyes on the jade box, his decision was already made.