After Meng Jingzhou announced the competition rules, the Lor Forest fell into dead silence, and the crowd was like a pack of wolves in the night, their green eyes fixated on Lu Yang tied to a chair.

Lu Yang felt his scalp tingle, realizing it was one thing to see a flurry of invitations piled up on the Meng Family's table, but quite another to have those who sent the invitations standing densely in front of him in person.

"Master, just how many people did you offend in the Imperial City? You're already at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage, why don't you hurry over and take care of these enemies?"

In the perilous Cultivation World, one must be decisive in killing to ensure one's own protection.

Meng Jingyu sat atop the tree canopy, with fruits transported from the East Sea and desserts from Tianxiang Tower on her left, and on her right, fruit juice squeezed from fruits brought from the Demon Territory. All of these were her hard work for tying up Lu Yang, packaging him in a beautiful box, and throwing it out at the right moment.

Meng Jingyu watched the scene below with great enthusiasm, finding this much more interesting than cultivating or reading.

"According to brother's words, this will let me witness how cultivators fight against each other, which will greatly aid in my cultivation later on," she mused.

"Even if father asks, I can say practice brings true knowledge," she reasoned.

With that, she continued to watch, excited about engaging in such an activity for the first time.

"Lu Yang is right here, why bother with a competition? Let's all go at him together!" someone in the crowd shouted. He carried the hope of his family and sought to redeem himself, not having the time for this kind of dilly-dallying.

"Lu Yang is going to be my big brother in the future; I dare anyone to try and lay a hand on him!" another voice rang out from the crowd, the speaker also bearing his family's hopes to acknowledge Lu Yang as an older brother, thereby lowering Daoist Buyu's generational rank.

"Ganging up on him shows no true skill, defeating Lu Yang in a fair fight is the Righteous Path!"

"Nonsense, you're at the Spirit Transformation Stage; of course, you have the gall to say you can fight him one-on-one. Let's see you reduce to the Nascent Soul Stage and try fighting Lu Yang then!"

"Quiet down, everyone just quiet down," Meng Jingzhou had anticipated such a situation.

"Whoever dares to make another racket, I will announce on behalf of the Meng Family that your clan is our best partners in cooperation!"

Meng Jingzhou, with his hands behind his back, looked down at the crowd, and where his gaze fell, people bowed their heads, not daring to meet his eyes for fear of becoming the Meng Family's partners.

"That's more like it. Any objections? If not, get ready for the competition," he declared.

Truthfully, many were quite happy to have a competition, as Imperial City was large, and they rarely had a chance to gather for one-on-one battles.

Those daring to form teams to challenge Lu Yang were confident in their Cultivation Levels, not those whose levels were purely a stack of elixirs.

Away from Imperial City, if placed in a Sect, they would be disciples from either a First-Grade or a Super-grade Sect.

"Come on, let's start drawing lots," Meng Jingzhou brought out a large box containing paired number plaques; whoever drew the same numbers would be opponents.

The box was also treated to isolate Spiritual Sense, eliminating the possibility of cheating with Spiritual Sense.

The young masters followed Meng Jingzhou's instructions and queued up to draw lots, hoping to encounter a slightly weaker opponent.

Some rejoiced while others despaired, and there were those confident in their strength, believing they would not be defeated.

"I'm doomed, my opponent is Sun Chuanxian!" someone went pale, knowing they stood no chance against their opponent.

Sun Chuanxian, the son of the Minister of War, one of the four young masters of Imperial City, excelled in martial strength.

Sun Chuanxian, after getting his number, didn't even check who his opponent was.

His Cultivation Level was achieved through sheer effort, without the aid of Elixirs, and few present had the credentials to be his opponent.

"An Nan'er is here too?"

Yet another individual unfortunate enough to draw a lot pitting them against one of the strongest cultivators of their age in the Imperial City.

An Nan'er, the granddaughter of the national guardian, was said to have experienced strange phenomena at birth, and if not for the national guardian's intervention, the entire Imperial City would have been enveloped by these phenomena.

Aside from her, there were also Luo Wushuang, son of the Minister of War, acclaimed as unparalleled in both literature and martial arts, and Zhong Yi, son of the Chief of Staff, with his meticulous mind, said to be able to obtain anything he desired.

Sun Chuanxian's match ended quickly. He condensed an icy frost dragon, exhaled a breath of dragon's breath, and turned his opponent into an ice lump, tossing them out of the arena.

Seeing how swiftly and cleanly Sun Chuanxian fought, Ning Fan, the son of the Grand Censor, looked up at the sky, realizing that with this pace, the competition might not last until the end.

Putting aside the final prize which was Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou had relied on his ability to fight and bullied him quite a few times. He really wanted to defeat Sun Chuanxian, but unfortunately, his strength didn't allow it.

"Ning Fan, do you want to win?" Meng Jingzhou quietly approached Ning Fan, smiling slyly.

"What advice does Young Master Meng have?"

"I wouldn't dare to advise, but I have a little something here that might be able to help."

"What little something?"

Meng Jingzhou pulled out a small wooden puppet from behind his back, three inches tall, unpolished, and without a painted face, looking extremely crude in its craftsmanship.

"This is a puppet I've just plucked from a tree."

"In the next match with Sun Chuanxian, you won't need to lift a finger, just throw out this puppet, and it will fight for you. This puppet can unleash a realm similar to yours, and it's not against the rules. So, what do you say, do you want it?"

"There's such a great thing?" Ning Fan exclaimed with joy.

"Five hundred thousand spirit stones to rent it once."

"That expensive?" Ning Fan was taken aback. He was not like Li Zhuo; he came from a family with particularly strict discipline and didn't have that many spirit stones.

"That's just perfect, we also offer lending services here." This was the Meng Family's old business, and Meng Jingzhou proficiently took out a bag of storage rings filled with high-grade spirit stones and a lending contract.

"Seeing as we're acquainted, the annual interest is only ten percent, not too much, right?"

"This..."

"Hey, you're on the verge of breaking through to the Divinity Transformation Stage. Once you reach the Divinity Transformation Stage, won't you be able to pay out five hundred thousand?" Meng Jingzhou hadn't swindled Ning Fan; reaching the Divinity Transformation Stage meant the family would give rewards, at least five hundred thousand.

"I'll take it!" Ning Fan said, gritting his teeth. He borrowed five hundred thousand from Meng Jingzhou and gave it right back to rent the small wooden puppet.

"Can this thing really fight?" Ning Fan skeptically held the small puppet, doubting its potency.

"What kind of talk is that? My reputation may not be great, but I've never sold a fake." Meng Jingzhou said.

Ning Fan thought back and realized it was true.

Soon, the first round ended, and it was time for Ning Fan's match with Sun Chuanxian.

Knowing how formidable Sun Chuanxian was, the crowd didn't think much of Ning Fan's chances.

Unexpectedly, at the start of the match, Ning Fan didn't use any magic skills to attack or defend, but instead threw out a small wooden puppet.

The three-inch-tall wooden puppet brandished its wooden sword, making hee-hee-ha-ha sounds as if to intimidate Sun Chuanxian.

Seeing this, Sun Chuanxian burst into laughter, not taking it seriously.

Suddenly, the wooden puppet unleashed a terrifying Sword Qi, shocking Sun Chuanxian into retreating and using an ice dragon to block so that he wasn't injured.

Sun Chuanxian, as if facing a formidable enemy, got into a battle-ready stance, no longer underestimating the small wooden puppet.

Up on the stage, Lu Yang was seriously controlling the wooden puppet to fight with Sun Chuanxian.

Lu Yang had created this puppet by combining a Wooden Avatar with Earth Shrinking. He figured as the grand prize, earning a small side profit wasn't unreasonable. It was after discussing with Meng Jingzhou that they staged this act.

Sun Chuanxian got his wish to fight with himself.

Ning Fan could defeat Sun Chuanxian.

Lu Yang made five hundred thousand spirit stones by renting himself out.

Meng Jingzhou acquired an IOU for five hundred thousand.

This was a situation where everyone wins.