Shen and Xue’er arrived at the gathering. The time was nearing noon. They were currently standing near a group of young cultivators.

“Hey, did you see the group from Misty Cloud Valley? Mmm, I would gladly take off ten years of my life to be able to go inside the camp. To be surrounded by all those beautiful ladies…”

“Hmph hmph, dream all you want! As if those fairy maidens would have an eye for you.”

“Haha Brother Xu is right but those ladies are truly peonies.”

Shen and Xue’er shuffled through the crowd to get closer to the stage.

Little White and Xiao Yan were currently in Xue’er’s pet bag since Little White did not want to gather attention to herself and a little horse on fire was just eye-catching to the extreme.

“Hey, this is my first time here. So, what is this competition called?” (Random cultivator A)

“Umm, good question…I don’t know?” (Random cultivator B)

“Oi…” (Random cultivator A)

Shen laughed when he overheard this. “Haha, it seems like this is just called ‘the competition’. I thought there would be a cool name for it.”

“Big Brother Shen, let’s stop here. Any further and we’d be going into the area for various sects and families.”

Shen and Xue’er stood on their own listening to bits of chatting and laughter.

Suddenly, someone called out. “Hey isn’t it the Thunder Spear young master Lei Fu?”

“Yeah, it is. Oh look, he’s heading over to the Misty Cloud Valley camp.”

“I heard young master Lei Fu is pursuing fairy maiden Luo Qing from Misty Cloud Valley.”

“Haha, look young master Lei can’t go into the camp. Rumour has it that fairy maiden Luo Qing has ignored all of young master Lei’s advances.”

“Oi, quiet! Do you want young master Lei Fu to take his anger out on you?!”

“Even the chosen son of heaven from Five Element Mountain can’t get everything he wants, huh…”

Shen and Xue’er looked over curiously.

A striking young male with pitch black short hair was being blocked outside a camp full of female cultivators. Each one of them looked like female celestials.

Young master Lei Fu finally turned away to return to the Five Element Mountain camp with an unwilling look. The surrounding cultivators hurriedly averted their gazes.

Five Element Mountain was a collection of five first class sects that came together to form a super sect. Each branch of the sect cultivated in one of the five elements. However, young master Lei Fu had a special constitution from birth and had innate thunder element.

Therefore, he was provided with every resource imaginable and could command rain and cloud in Five Element Mountain.

However, he had fallen for the fairy maiden Luo Qing who was known as the most beautiful woman in the cultivator world.

“Hmm, that woman is indeed very beautiful. Almost as pretty as our Xue’er.” Shen commented honestly upon the sight of Luo Qing.

Xue’er’s face became red from Shen’s compliment. “B-big Brother Shen!”

Another commotion rose as another group of people walked towards Misty Cloud Valley.

“Hey look, this time it’s Celestial Sword Peak!”

“It’s the Blood Sword Tuo Hong of the Twin Celestial Swords. He’s chasing after fairy Luo Qing as well.”

“Haha, it won’t work. Fairy Luo Qing is well known for hating men. Oh yeah, where is the other Twin Celestial Swords Shadowless Sword Wen Wuying?”

“That fellow is a cultivation madman, he’s probably cultivating somewhere.”

“Yeah, he deserves to be the youngest late Foundation stage cultivator of the current generation. He’s barely twenty years old.”

*Whoosh whoosh*

Suddenly, five streaks of light flew across the sky from Jade Leaf city and landed on the stage. There were 3 men and 2 women cultivators.

‘They must be the elders from the large sects, five Sky Immortals.’ Shen thought inwardly.

The youngest looking middle-aged man stepped forward. “Ahem.”

The entire plain went quiet. It seemed that Sky Immortal experts were well known figures.

“The first stage will start in 30 minutes. Those who has registered, line up according to group number at the entrance.” The middle-aged man’s voice was not loud but it reached across everyone’s ear.

‘Oh, it’s that old man from back when we rented a cave mansion.’ The lazy looking old man was standing with his eyes closed on the stage.

It seemed that registration was conducted during the past two weeks. All those who were eligible were given a token as proof of entry.

“I will quickly explain the rules. There is a barrier set up in the forest. It can tell any of us elders if there are intruders inside. Using spirit tools are forbidden.

The barrier contains all kinds of Foundation stage monster beasts. Store all heads of monster beasts you’ve killed in the token. The score will be counted at the end. Spirit herbs may also count towards your total.

If you are found intentionally harming other disciples, your cultivation will be crippled and you will be expelled from the sect or even killed.

The token will automatically bring you outside the barrier after 48 hours. You may also send for help to any of the examiners inside the forest for rescue using the token, in which case, you will be disqualified no matter how many points you have.”

The rules were very simple. They also had a lot of loopholes for strong cultivators to exploit.

There was a total of 40 groups. Each group had around 20 cultivators. There were a few cultivators accompanied by their spirit beasts. The majority were from Heavenly Beast sect.

Spirit beasts were monster or magical beasts that had formed a contract with a cultivator. Spirit beasts could not exceed the partner’s cultivation level but a cultivator with a spirit beast was feared in one on one fights.

After a while.

“It is time to enter.” The middle-aged elder announced.

Shen’s Divine Sense spread out towards the forest’s direction. The barrier was truly large. It spanned a few thousand miles from west to east and more than half way to the inner area of the forest from the entrance. It would take a late Foundation stage cultivator more than three days to fly across end to end.

*Whoosh whoosh*

The junior disciples and rogue cultivators all brandished their flying swords or flying devices and charged into the forest. There were less than 800 participants in the first stage.

The five Sky Immortal elders sat down at the chairs on the stage. The middle-aged man waved his hands.

Twenty Earth Immortals from various camps of large sects came out and sat down cross legged in front of the entrance of the forest.

Spiritual power around them fluctuated wildly. After a while, twenty large images could be seen above the heads of those Earth Immortals. Surprisingly, the images showed the interior of the forest at different locations.

“For those who are attending for the first time, these are the shared images from the twenty Earth Immortal examiners within the barrier. We can watch the progress of the competition here.”

The middle-aged elder gave an explanation of the images that appeared in the air.

Gasps could be heard from the crowd.

“This is like an outdoor cinema from a certain planet.” Shen muttered.

Xue’er had heard a few details of other civilizations in the universe over their time together. “I want to visit there, Big Brother Shen.”

“Haha, don’t worry, we will one day.”

Shen brought out two chairs and a table along with some snacks and wine. The couple watched the screens as they ate and drank happily.