The Quest for Immortality

Mount of Tao, early morning.

Disciples from each sect gathered, an ocean of people.

The Elders from the Four Sects and Eight Gates took the Sect’s Command Tokens, and under the witness of the Sect Leaders of the Four Great Sects, threw bamboo slips into the Dao Discussion Heaven Instrument. After a round of isolating and deducing the heavenly secret, the sword discussion list for the Xuan Character Bureau was finalized.

Elders from each sect made copies of the list, and then retreated, leading their disciples back to the sect.

In the Yellow Character Bureau, which is the preliminary competition, there are many disciples participating, the schedule is dense, and time is constrained, so drawing lots in the morning, battles begin in the afternoon.

Reaching the Xuan Character Bureau, after the preliminary selection, only one-tenth of the sword discussion teams remained, and the number of people sharply reduced, thus the schedule could afford some leeway.

Today is the drawing of lots, and tomorrow will be the official sword discussion.

Moreover, the form of the Xuan Character sword discussion will change, opponents will become stronger, and the battle situation will become more complex, and the disciples’ struggles in the Sword Discussion Conference will truly start to intensify.

Therefore, before each round of battle, time will be given for everyone to discuss tactics and formulate strategies.

Within Taixu Gate, among the Great Dao Fields.

The list for the Xuan Character Bureau has been sent down.

Mo Hua, holding the Taixu Token, looked at the list intently, eyes showing deep thought.

The Taixu Gate’s team advancing to the Xuan Character Bureau consists of about fifty groups, with an elimination rate of eighty to ninety percent.

This means that roughly eighty to ninety percent of the disciples have concluded their journey in the Sword Discussion Conference; they can only participate in the Yellow Character Bureau, fighting only around ten battles, marking the end of their sole chance at sword discussion in this lifetime.

This elimination rate is actually much lower compared to other sects.

Plus, with the current large number of disciples in Taixu Gate, the sect managed to hold a huge advantage in the preliminary rounds, securing first place in sword discussion.

Mo Hua glanced at the surrounding disciples.

Those eliminated felt unsatisfied and regretful but were not despondent.

They had exerted all their efforts, contributing significantly to Taixu Gate’s sword discussion ranking.

The current sword discussion first place of Taixu Gate was earned little by little thanks to them.

The situation in subsequent rounds of sword discussion remains uncertain for now.

But at least the current victory wasn’t achieved through the overwhelming prowess of a ”Heavenly Pride,” but through the struggle of these numerous, slightly weaker ordinary disciples, with swords and blades.

Mo Hua suddenly paused, deep in thought.

”In this world, existence and non-existence complement each other, difficulty and ease become each other, strength and weakness are relative...”

”If there’s strength, naturally there’s weakness; if there’s weakness, naturally there’s strength...”

”Since there are Heavenly Pride disciples, then there are ’ordinary’ disciples, who are relatively plain compared to ’Heavenly Pride.’”

”Heavenly Pride is strong, and ordinary disciples are weak...”

”Heavenly Pride are few, ordinary disciples are many.”

”If... the maximum unity could be achieved, fully harnessing the power of ordinary disciples, ordinary cultivators, even the vast majority of the bottom-tier cultivators in the cultivation world—doesn’t this mean one can ’accumulate weakness into strength,’ ’turn weakness into victory over strength’?”

”With enough gathered cultivators, the strength becomes formidable, enough to truly alter heaven and earth...”

Mo Hua’s gaze became fixed.

A surge of enlightenment regarding existence and non-existence being symbiotic, strength and weakness reversing, Eryi’s transformation of mutual creation and subjugation sparked in his heart.

The thought of ’accumulating weakness to defeat strength,’ was like a ’spark of fire,’ buried deep within his heart, like a glimmering flame lighting up a faint, obscure path.

Above the Taoist Field, Elder Xun Zixian originally intended to say something, seeing Mo Hua in this ’trance,’ instinctively held back his words, fearing to disturb him.

Unknown for how long, Mo Hua raised his head, gaze profound, pupils bright, as if a flickering candlelight in the night, somewhat dazzling.

Xun Zixian saw and was taken aback.

”This child... what has he realized this time?”

Possessing superior Divine Sense, amazing talent, clear-mindedness, keen intuition, observing, learning, and thinking more indeed makes it easier to have an ’epiphany’ on the myriad things of the world, even the truths of the Great Dao.

He had witnessed Mo Hua in this trance of ’epiphany’ quite a few times.

To be honest, Xun Zixian was extremely envious internally.

This time, however, Xun Zixian felt something different.

It was as if Mo Hua’s epiphany this time concerned some remarkable thing.

The faint ’firelight’ in his eyes seemed to convey a sense of... ’outrageousness’?

Xun Zixian shook his head, noticing Mo Hua had come to his senses, only then did he compose himself, cleared his throat, and started talking about the sword discussion:

”Previously, the Yellow Character Bureau sword discussion was only the preliminary, so the pattern was just a simple melee.”

”In the Xuan Character Bureau, it’s different.”

”In the Xuan Character Bureau, various sword discussion competition formats are mixed, and these formats are randomized, deduced by the Dao Discussion Heaven Instrument.”

”Each round is different.”

”The exact format won’t be revealed until six hours before the sword discussion...”

A disciple queried in confusion, ”Elder, why isn’t the format determined earlier?”

Other disciples nodded, ”Indeed, this way, we could better prepare in advance.”

Xun Zixian retorted, ”When you travel the cultivation world in the future, if someone wants to kill you, do they inform you in advance so you can prepare?”

”Or, when you lead Taoist soldiers into battle and encounter an ambush, would you ask others to wait so you can strategize how to duel them?”

The disciples were silent.

Xun Zixian continued, ”In the earliest sword discussion, the format was revealed at the last minute to train disciples in adaptability.”

”Whether attacking, defending, killing, escaping, decapitating, or surviving... they all require you to decide swiftly.”

”Considering that you are disciples, having not experienced many life-threatening kill-or-be-killed scenarios...”