Chapter 148: Pretending There Is an Issue

Qing Yanzi did not recite the general preface on a whim.

According to the information that Wan Linqian had revealed, their sect's official members had all heard a few lines from this preface to ensure that they would recognize the Yin-Yang Secret Scroll if they ever saw or heard it. The only exceptions were the peripheral errand runners and the experimental subjects like the Blade Slave, who nurtured demonic blades before the authorities captured him.

By reciting the entire preface aloud, Qing Yanzi made it clear that the Yin-Yang Secret Scroll that the Yin-Yang All-Creation Sect had been tirelessly pursuing was clearly in the hands of the authorities, whether they believed it or not.

Thinking back to the ancient legends of immortals descending from the heavens to pass down the Dao, of that stone tablet retrieved from the moon, and of Bu Yu being highly skilled in the Dao of Yin and Yang...

Some things were best left unconnected. Once the mind started to draw connections, every piece of evidence seemed to point in the same direction. Still, from the All-Creating Yin-Yang Sect's perspective, the celestial tablet from the moon, the one said to contain the Supreme Immortal Sutra, could very well be the very same secret scripture that had been taken from them in the past—the Yin-Yang Secret Scroll!

The Yin-Yang All-Creation Sect members hidden among the audience had already relayed news of it. Those who had infiltrated the ranking matches could not contact the outside world for now, but each had already come to a decision.

With the four arenas now ready, the referees entered. Wang Sheng followed Gao Shixing, acting as the on-site referee for the Baihu Arena.

The second day of the Immortal Dao Conference officially began.

As the competing cultivators began entering the field, Gao Shixing walked over to Wang Sheng and said in a hushed tone, "If we have to deal with anyone, just point them out. I'll handle it. Your cultivation realm isn't high enough; you could end up exposing the operation."

"Thank you, Martial Uncle Gao," Wang Sheng quickly responded.

The thin, dark-skinned Daoist master returned to the center of the arena. A display had been set up beside it, showing the names of the two fighters for each match in real time, along with a queue of those waiting to compete.

Wang Sheng cleared his throat and announced, "Han Zhenzi of Mount Kongdong, Meng Fanlong of the Jiangdong's Meng Family, please enter the arena!"

A young Daoist and a middle-aged cultivator entered from the sidelines. Both were exuding intense auras, and their eyes were full of spirit, making it clear that they were prepared for a full day of ten intense battles. They handed their participation ID cards to Gao Shixing.

After carefully confirming their identities, Gao Shixing instructed, "Step back ten paces. Stop at the moment of contact when striking."

The two complied and retreated, facing each other across more than ten meters. They had twenty seconds to prepare.

Each began circulating their true essence. One summoned an artifact, while the other grasped a set of talismans. They then locked gazes, tension sparking between them.

Gao Shixing slowly exited the arena. Another referee at the side raised a wooden mallet and shouted, "Ready! Three! Two! One!"

Clang!

At the gong, the combatants moved. The disciple from Mount Kongdong hurled a seal[1] the size of a fist, while the unaffiliated practitioner summoned over a dozen talismans in quick succession.

Wang Sheng's eyes lit up. This method of talisman usage seemed to originate from the lineage of the Longhu Mountains. Clearly, the practitioner's family had been among those who had purchased the first two volumes of the Celestial Master Secret Scroll.

The Longhu Mountains no longer pursued those matters. Still, to display the techniques of the three talisman sects so openly here at the Immortal Dao Conference, with so many watching them, was undoubtedly a bit reckless.

Sure enough, one of the Longhu Mountains disciples, who had been waiting off to the side, had already taken out a phone and begun making a call. They couldn't pull someone in on the spot, but after the Immortal Dao Conference concluded, the Meng Family would surely face scrutiny from the Celestial Master Sect.

The ranking matches would consist of ten rounds in total, and matchups were determined by rank. Someone ranked thirty-fifth in the first round could face an opponent selected from ranks thirty to forty in the next round.

Though it felt random, there was some manipulation behind the scenes. The Special Investigation Unit had not only placed corrupted referees, but once a suspicious contestant was identified, they would pair them against known righteous experts.

With both tactics working in tandem, their "crocodile-fishing plan" could proceed flawlessly.

The match soon ended. The Mount Kongdong disciple misstepped, allowing a Qi-Suppressing Talisman to strike his grand seal. His flight speed instantly turned sluggish.

Losing control of his artifact, the Mount Kongdong disciple's strength dropped immensely. A barrage of talismans swiftly overwhelmed him, leaving him no choice but to retreat from the arena and concede.

Wang Sheng watched with great interest.

It was good to observe how others used talismans, formations, and spells to fight. In the future, if he encountered similar opponents, he would have a better idea of how to deal with them.

Today's schedule was more balanced. Unlike yesterday's single elimination, the ten-round points system provided a fairer assessment of individual strength. As the victors rested at the edge of the field, those who lost focused on healing in preparation for the next bout.

The second round began quickly. After all, with ten rounds in one day, the schedule was quite tight. Over a dozen drones hovered around the venue, projecting live footage of the matches onto the big screens.

Among the first round of matches, what stood out most to Wang Sheng was not the two suspicious individuals lurking in plain sight. Rather, it was a young, clean-faced Buddhist disciple who fought in the fifth match of the Baihu Arena. He entered the arena with a devil-subduing staff, facing a dual-blade female cultivator in an exciting duel.

The female cultivator was the cherished disciple of a reclusive cultivator from Mount Tian. Today, she had deliberately worn a short skirt and bat-winged outer robe. Not only was her footwork graceful, but her twin blades also fluttered like a butterfly's wings—elegant and mesmerizing.

However, before she could make a few graceful turns, the Buddhist's devil-subduing staff came crashing down from above. Emitting golden radiance, it nearly disfigured the young Kun Daoist.

The female cultivator stomped her foot in frustration. "Alright! I concede!"

The young Buddhist monk, who was already at the Illusory Core Realm, blushed slightly and performed a Buddhist salute. "Thank you for yielding."

He then dragged his devil-subduing staff and quietly exited the arena.

The disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple's abbot, Dharma name Huai Jing, was twenty-nine years old. He began cultivating at the Heavenly Dragon Temple from a young age. The Buddhist sects had sent him, a seeded contestant, for this competition. He was also one of the cultivators who had long assisted the Special Investigation Unit in their cases; his seniority was second only to Wang Sheng.

It was rumored that the Buddhist sects would have decided not to get involved in the Immortal Dao Conference if Huai Jing had not recently undergone a breakthrough in his cultivation. Since he now possessed the strength to reach the top three, more than a dozen temples had organized a sightseeing delegation to join in on the excitement.

Huai Jing...

Wang Sheng glanced at his ranking after the first round. Since he had won a match, he was neatly tied for first place with fifty-four others.

Soon, they proceeded to the third round of the ranking matches. Whether by coincidence or arranged secretly by the Special Investigation Unit, one of the suspicious individuals under their close surveillance was matched up against Huai Jing.

The person entered the arena with a gloomy expression. However, like most others who faced Huai Jing, they chose to immediately concede and conserve their strength. As long as they could advance from today's rankings, they couldn't care less about placing first or sixteenth.

Five rounds of ranking matches were held in the morning. By the end of it, the real-time rankings were pretty much clear. The strongest contestants had all gathered within the top thirty.

Since the black whistle plan had not been deployed in the morning, three of the six suspects had made it into the top thirty, making the afternoon matches critical. Naturally, the goal was to suppress all suspicious individuals and, ideally, keep them all out of the top sixteen.

After the midday break, all contestants were reassigned to new arenas. The top thirty were evenly distributed across the four arenas.

It was unclear whether Mou Yue had done it deliberately, but the number of suspicious combatants assigned to the Baihu Arena had increased to three. Nearly half the pressure of making biased decisions now rested on his shoulders.

In the seventh round, two of the suspicious contestants suddenly revealed higher cultivation realms. One had even reached the Illusory Core Realm. Judging by his aura, he had practiced an orthodox Daoist sect's mental cultivation method.

Within families of unaffiliated practitioners, an Illusory Core Realm cultivator under the age of thirty-five remaining obscure and nameless was already a glaring inconsistency.

Hence, in the eighth round, the person was directly matched against Huai Jing.

If Huai Jing won the round, the advancement of the suspicious Illusory Core Realm cultivator would depend on others' point totals. If he lost again in the next match, he would be completely eliminated from the top sixteen. On the other hand, if he won this round, his place in the top sixteen would be almost guaranteed.

Huai Jing naturally treated the match seriously, his delicate features giving him a solemn expression. Before entering the arena, he stood to the side and chanted mantras for a while.

"Stop at the moment of contact when striking," Gao Shixing shouted. "Now, step back ten paces!"

The two retreated. Golden light flickered in Huai Jing's eyes, while his opponent gripped a wooden bow with an azure glow. Aiming to secure victory, the suspicious cultivator had already revealed his trump card.

As Gao Shixing exited the arena, the other referee prepared to strike the gong and begin the match.

The man drew his bowstring. Its glow coalesced into three azure mystical arrows, all nocked and ready.

"Hold on!" Wang Sheng shouted. The suspicious cultivator's true essence was thrown into chaos, and the mystical arrows in his hands spiraled out of control. They shot up into the sky, and he turned toward Wang Sheng in fury.

Wang Sheng said calmly, "While long-range weapons like bows are not prohibited in the competition, you cannot charge up before the match begins. Otherwise, wouldn't your opponent become a living target?"

"

Oh?

" the suspicious cultivator responded. "Then why are those skilled in talismans allowed to prepare them in advance? Am I not allowed to get my artifact ready?"

"Are you questioning the professionalism of the referees?" Wang Sheng replied without a change in tone, displaying his epaulette as he stepped forward. Sword intent erupted from him.

Unprepared for the sudden release of sword intent, the suspicious Illusory Core Realm cultivator was half a beat too slow to react. The pressure immediately suppressed his mind, causing his pupils to reflect a vast starry sky in which a bright star shone brilliantly.

"You!"

Wang Sheng's sword intent had come and gone in a flash. By the time the man recovered, his Dao heart had already been affected by the force of the sword momentum. He clenched his fist instinctively.

Wang Sheng added, "The match will proceed. Remember, you cannot draw and charge your bow before it starts."

Afterward, he gave the monk Huai Jing a gentle smile, as if to say, "Go ahead and fight. Everything is under control."

The suspicious Illusory Core Realm cultivator immediately shifted all his anger toward the Buddhist disciple before him. There would be no mercy in their first clash.

Meanwhile, Huai Jing seemed a little puzzled. Looking at Wang Sheng's calm and composed expression, he felt as if the prominent figure had just inexplicably set him up.

Did the Special Investigation Unit arrange this? Has Daoist Master Fei Yu been told to provide me with special treatment? Oh, Buddha above, was it really necessary to make it that obvious?

Clang!

With the gong, the duel resumed.

Huai Jing leaped into the air. The Illusory Core Realm cultivator immediately dodged to the side and hastily drew his bowstring. Eventually, the suspicious cultivator ended up losing in a rather disgraceful manner.

What should have been a fierce and evenly matched battle turned completely lopsided. He did not even have the chance to fully display his strength. After just a dozen or so exchanges, the devil-subduing staff struck him out of the arena.

1. the seal here refers to the tools used for stamping ☜