Gazing in the direction of the first ring, Jiang Li stared intently.
By this time, the dust had already dissipated and more elders had arrived. They had not expected this to happen.
As for the disciple of the Heaven and Earth Hall, he stood there indifferently, as if waiting for the expected cheers and praises.
However, the cheers did not come, there was only the stern reprimand of a few elders.
Jiang Li’s hearing was far better than his vision, so he could still hear the voices over there clearly.
The content of the conversation was not difficult to guess. They were basically blaming the other party for how he could be so heavy-handed towards his fellow disciple. He should quickly put away his artifact and so on.
From the words of the elders, Jiang Li learned the name of that disciple from the Heaven and Earth Hall.
The surname was too long, but the given name should be “Karla”.
This kind of name that was more like syllables should be the style of the variant humans.
He did not expect that the disciple who occupied the first ring of the Foundation Establishment realm was actually from a variant race.
The cultivation world was vast and flourishing with humans. There were all kinds of strange-looking and eccentric variant races, and they were not rare to begin with. Jiang Li had seen quite a few of them in the Immortal Ascension Pavilion’s team, but the bulk of the people were undoubtedly still human.
However, the various races with fewer numbers and less developed culture did not live well among the humans in the Great Mountain Region.
This was especially true in the eyes of many countries. The variant races were not classified in detail for them. There were still many uncivilized tribes among the variant races.
This was also why most humans believed that the variant humans were savage and unreasonable existences. Naturally, they looked down on them from the bottom of their hearts.
Even when they entered the cultivation world, they would often suffer some bias.
In the Great Mountain Region, some sects were actually unwilling to accept outsiders as disciples. Even if they did, these disciples would most likely be pushed aside.
However, this variant race disciple, Karla, was able to enter the Heaven and Earth Hall, so it could be seen that his talent was extraordinary.
A dark look flashed across Karla’s face, but he did not flare up. His rationality told him not to act rashly at this time.
He formed hand seals and struck the mountain peak. Immediately, it floated up and slowly shrank before finally landing in his hand.
On the arena that was smashed by the mountain peak, a flat and huge hole appeared.
The surrounding disciples could not help but suck in a cold breath. They were all secretly thinking if they could escape from such an attack.
In the hole, a metal artifact that looked like the body of a frying pan was stuck to the ground.
However, it was almost impossible to see its original appearance.
At this moment, the nearby disciples cried out in surprise. From the gap between the “frying pan” and the stage, a stream of blood suddenly flowed out.
The two elders stepped forward and pulled away the metal. There was a small pit below, and a disciple whose flesh no longer had any semblance of a human was squeezed inside.
“He’s still alive! Someone come quickly!”
A group of Rejuvenation Hall disciples swarmed up, and two elders quickly made their move.
Instantly, the water and wood spell techniques erupted with vitality and rose up to a height of at least 30 feet in the air.
Jiang Li swallowed his saliva and stared blankly.
Ignoring the rules of the battle, he flew out of the arena and rushed over.
Unfortunately, his flying speed was still too slow. By the time he arrived, the soaring vitality had already dissipated.
Jiang Li who had just arrived at the edge of the arena sighed with regret for a long time, feeling endless regret.
So close. He was so close.
A few disciples that were maintaining order at the side originally wanted to make Jiang Li leave, but when they saw Jiang Li being so sorrowful, they thought that he knew that injured disciple well, so they couldn’t bear to drive Jiang Li away and instead went up to comfort him in a friendly manner.
“Junior Brother, don’t be so sad. He’s still alive. With the help of the elders of the Rejuvenation Hall, he should still be able to be saved.”
Jiang Li did not hear what that disciple said clearly, and he only nodded subconsciously before walking past them to the side of the injured disciple to watch.
He wanted to see if there was a chance to gain some buffs.
However, the first wave of high-intensity spell techniques was for the sake of saving the other party’s life.
The injured person was squeezed by a huge external force, and all parts of his body were intertwined and deformed. If they continued to use spell techniques to accelerate his recovery, it would only make the abnormal tissues grow together. The future healing process would only be more troublesome.
Thus, after waiting for a long time, Jiang Li still did not see the Rejuvenation Hall unleash their spell techniques.
What the cultivators of the Rejuvenation Hall had to do now was protect the other party’s core meridians with all their might. As long as he did not die, they could bring him back to the Rejuvenation Hall for treatment. He could definitely be saved.
They were busy surrounding the injured, and it was not good for Jiang Li to go up and disturb them.
He circled around the sunken area. While he was surprised by the terrifying might of the mountain peak’s magic artifact, he also sighed with emotion at how ruthless the other party was.
Jiang Li picked up the artifact that had been completely deformed and destroyed.
He studied it carefully and utilized the limits of his imagination. Only then did he barely guess the original appearance of the artifact.
This thing that was turned into scrap metal should have been a huge bell.
Judging from the material, Jiang Li roughly determined the grade of this thing when it was intact. It should be low-grade Profound-rank.
However, such a treasure had been deformed to such an extent by the strange mountain.
He looked at the traces on the stage.
When that disciple faced the mountain peak, his actions were very decisive. While using the artifact given by his master to defend, he also decisively dug a hole.
Only then did he leave some room for himself before the final collision.
“Senior Sister Qi Yu, how are his injuries?”
A few minutes later, the disciples of the Rejuvenation Hall used their spiritual qi to carry the injured and were about to leave.
Jiang Li hurriedly grabbed Senior Sister Qi Yu and asked her about the situation.
“His life is saved. It’s fine if his body is injured, but his Dao Foundation has been severely damaged. It’s hard to say if he can still cultivate in the future.”
With that, she followed the elder back to the Rejuvenation Hall.
With that kind of injury, they would have to reconnect his body like building blocks. It would naturally require a lot of manpower and effort.
That injured disciple dared to challenge the first ring of the Foundation Establishment realm, so he was naturally extremely confident in his strength.
In terms of overall strength, he should be ranked in the top three or four among the eleven people. This time, his Dao Foundation had been ruined. If he could not continue to cultivate in the future, it would be a pity.
Jiang Li glanced at Karla. The other party was still forcing a smile, but the viciousness and eerie darkness under his expression could almost freeze one’s heart.
Because no one died in the end, Karla was not punished and could continue to participate in the martial arts competition.
But in his mind, if he won, everyone should cheer and scream for him.
That did not happen.
He did not think that his methods were ruthless, but he felt that it was all because of the other people’s prejudices against him! It was all because he was a variant human!
Soon, the crowd dispersed. Under the work of several elders, the first arena was also repaired. The martial competition that had been paused for nearly an hour continued.
With the help of his Senior Brother from the Law Enforcement Hall, Qing Lie, Jiang Li had already proven his strength to the others. After two hours, he did not receive another challenge.
He himself flew to the second ring of the Foundation Establishment realm, wanting to advance further and challenge this higher ranking.
However, the dark horse Jiang Li finally encountered an insurmountable enemy here.
This senior brother looked ordinary and harmless, but his chain array formation was exquisite and profound. He advanced step by step in an intricate manner.
Due to the convenience of defending the ring, the other party had already begun setting up array formations after stepping onto the stage. After several rounds of fights, the entire ring had practically become his backyard.
Fighting him under such circumstances was simply a disadvantage to the extreme.
Although Jiang Li had talent in runes and array formations, after borrowing the array formation manual from Elder Lin Fengying, he had only looked at the cover and catalog. He had not even memorized it yet.
Therefore, he knew nothing about these strange arrangements in the ring. He brandished his iron fists and rampaged through the array formation. However, in the eyes of the outsiders watching the battle, he was just spinning in place.
That senior brother did not even cast a single spell technique. He had only relied on the might of the formation to torment Jiang Li.
On the other hand, a brilliant array formation did not even need to be set up on the ground. Jiang Li’s intention to smash open the stage and forcefully break the formation was also foiled.
After failing several times in the end, Jiang Li could only obediently guard his third ring until the end of the martial competition.
It was worth mentioning that Shen Ruoshi, who was defeated by Jiang Li, went back to the arena in an injured state at the last moment.
However, because the fight with Jiang Li had exhausted too much of her turbid air heavy earth, or perhaps because she was afraid that she could not suppress the body cultivator with the Beast Blood Diagram, she did not choose to challenge Senior Brother Liu Bai again.
Instead, she challenged and defeated another disciple, taking the fifth place of the Foundation Establishment realm’s competition.
Thus, after several rounds of intense battles.
The top six in the Foundation Establishment realm were finally decided.
On the first ring, the Heaven and Earth Hall’s disciple, Karla.
On the second ring, the Talisman Formation Hall’s disciple, Qiao Langxing.
On the third ring, the Demon Vanquishing Hall’s disciple, Jiang Li.
On the fourth ring, the Demon Vanquishing Hall’s disciple, Liu Bai.
On the fifth ring, the Heaven and Earth Hall’s disciple, Shen Ruoshi.
On the sixth ring, the Alchemy Hall’s disciple, Xin Wuguo.
The overall winner was the disciple of the Heaven and Earth Hall, Karla, who had won first place with the strange mountain artifact.
However, the focus of everyone’s attention was not him, but Jiang Li, who had gotten third place in the Foundation Establishment realm’s stage and first place in the Qi Refinement realm’s stage with his Qi Refinement cultivation.
With his Qi Refinement cultivation, fighting to this extent meant that he was definitely way beyond someone who was first in the Foundation Establishment realm.
When Jiang Li’s cultivation reached the Foundation Establishment realm, what level would his strength reach?
How powerful would the Foundation Establishment realm Jiang Li be? This topic was very popular in the outer sect.
Some people said that he would be invincible in the Foundation Establishment realm.
Some people said that Jiang Li could continue to battle those at a higher cultivation level and challenge the Core Formation realm!
After the martial arts competition ended, five Foundation Establishment cultivators, ten Qi Refinement cultivators, and fifteen disciples who were basically all injured boarded a spiritual crane raised by the sect.
They circled the venue in an extremely flashy manner before floating up to the floating Long Clear Hall.
Next was the reward after the hard work. All the winning disciples would receive the rewards personally given by the Valley Master under the observation of the elders.
Jiang Li stood on the back of the immortal crane and tried his best to assume a floating posture to complement the graceful aura of the immortal crane.
However, with his burly figure, it was difficult to look cool.
This kind of immortal crane was not a normal mount. After all, with the size of a spirit crane, it was too crowded to sit cross-legged on it. Most of the time, they could only stand on it and ride it. It was really not very practical.
Generally speaking, it would only be used as a venue for sect rituals.
After jumping down from the spirit crane, all the disciples quietly walked into the Long Clear Hall. The fifteen people stood in two rows. After bowing, they obediently stared at the ground in front of them, not caring about what they were looking at.
Then, they went up according to their rankings.
The reward for first place in the Foundation Establishment realm was a Scripture Hall token, an artifact, and a bag of spirit stones.
The reward for second place in the Foundation Establishment realm was a Scripture Hall token and an artifact.
Jiang Li was ranked third, and it was soon his turn to stand in front of the Valley Master and the elders.
He cupped his hands and bowed as usual. Compared to the last time he entered the inner sect, he was much calmer now.
“Little Jiang Li, oh Little Jiang Li. The last time I saw you was when you entered the inner sect, right? It’s only been a few months. I didn’t expect to see you again in the Long Clear Hall so soon.”
Daoist Wushe smiled at Jiang Li, causing him to feel a little embarrassed.
“It is this disciple’s greatest honor to be able to stand in the Long Clear Hall again to greet the Valley Master and the elders.”
On such occasions, Jiang Li had always been rather polite. After all, even if those in power asked you to relax, you could not act out of line.
“There’s no need to be so reserved. You performed extremely well in this martial arts competition. It seems that I was right to make you acknowledge Junior Brother He as your master.”
Behind them, the iron-towered Elder He pretended to nod reservedly, but everyone could see the smug smile on his face.
In this sect martial competition, the first place was still taken by the disciple of the Heaven and Earth Hall.
However, because of Karla’s excessive action in the last match, although he was not punished, the elders were still a little unhappy.
Coupled with Jiang Li, a freak at the Qi Refinement realm, and Senior Brother Liu Bai occupying the third and fourth positions, the greatest winner was naturally the Demon Vanquishing Hall.
“Master, I owe this to your teachings, my debt to you is as heavy as a mountain. I, Jiang Li, will always be grateful.”
As he spoke, Jiang Li and Elder He glanced at each other. The other party’s gaze was obviously saying that there were extra benefits after returning to the sect.
The Valley Master, Daoist Wushe, nodded with a smile. Having taught him an important technique like the Beast Blood Diagram, it was a huge debt indeed.
“This is your reward. Just like your master said, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”
The Valley Master took a tray from a disciple beside him, and then he personally handed it to Jiang Li.
“Hehe, thank you Valley Master, thank you Master, thank you elders.”
Jiang Li took the tray and there were three items on it.
A token, a pair of boots, and a porcelain bottle.
He turned around and walked back to the line of disciples, only to see everyone looking at him with envious expressions.
This was because Jiang Li’s reward for third place seemed to be even more generous than the reward of the first place Karla.
Next, Liu Bai and the others’ rewards were only one Scripture Hall token.
After the Foundation Establishment reward ended, they retreated to the side and nine Qi Refinement realm disciples stepped forward.
“Senior Brother Liu Bai, help me hold this.”
Jiang Li handed the tray in his hand to Senior Brother Liu Bai, and then under their stunned gazes, he ran to the front of the group of Qi Refinement cultivators.
Not only was Jiang Li third in the Foundation Establishment realm, but he was also first in the Qi Refinement realm. Naturally, he could receive another reward.
Everyone looked at him speechlessly and enviously.
Jiang Li stepped forward and received another tray from Daoist Wushe.
This time, there was a token and a bronze-colored Heart Protection Mirror on the tray.
“You can’t slack off in your cultivation in the future. The sect hopes that you can reach Foundation Establishment soon.”
Daoist Wushe faced Jiang Li who walked up again. This time, even the Valley Master could only say a few words.
After the rewards were given out, the sect would even hang their names on the list for ten days in the inner and outer sect. These fifteen people could be considered to have gained a great reputation in the sect.
When he left the Long Clear Hall, Jiang Li did not immediately leave with Elder He and Senior Brother Liu Bai.
Instead, he chased after the several disciples that he had defeated.
The close range sword cultivator Mu Luo, Ma Donggui who had a lightning spiritual root, Qing Lie who was a disciple of the Law Enforcement Hall, and Shen Ruoshi who was a disciple of the Heaven and Earth Hall.
Jiang Li used the social etiquette of an adult in his previous life to express his ‘sincere’ apologies to them. At the same time, he also sent them a bottle of decent healing pills.
Jiang Li’s attitude made the four disciples who had lost to him feel overwhelmed by favor.
Even towards the most overbearing law-enforcement disciple, Qing Lie, Jiang Li showed him sufficient kindness.
Not only did he not mention the fact that he wanted to take advantage of the injured earlier, he even explained to the other disciples of the Law Enforcement Hall that Senior Brother Qing Lie had actually been lenient in the arena and thus lost by accident.
With a few words, he alleviated the embarrassing situation for the other party.
The other party had already been beaten into submission by Jiang Li. At this moment, Jiang Li knew from his faintly grateful gaze that this guy who might have been his enemy had turned into his friend.
After some pleasantries, the results were indeed impressive.
With Jiang Li’s current reputation as a genius and his enthusiastic attitude, very few people would choose to reject his friendship.
In the end, the four of them all expressed their gratitude and invited Jiang Li to their hall in the future.
As such, other than the closest Demon Vanquishing Hall and Rejuvenation Hall…
There were Senior Sister Little Four of the Alchemy Hall, Senior Sister Shen Ruoshi of the Heaven and Earth Hall, Qing Lie of the Law Enforcement Hall, Ma Donggui of the Foreign Affairs Hall, and Mu Luo of the Internal Affairs Hall.
Among the twelve halls of the sect, Jiang Li already had friends in more than half of them.
There was also Elder Weng Sanqi from the Mystic Gate Hall. Furthermore, because Jiang Li had learned how to draw runes in the Weapon Refinement Hall, he had some ties there as well.
If he had any needs in the sect in the future, Jiang Li could ask someone to help. This was the benefit of building one’s social relationships.