To say that all those who signed up were disloyal to the family would be untrue,
but to say that they were so loyal that they would sacrifice their own future for the family was also clearly not the case.
Cultivators are selfish; ties of blood and kinship can only bind them when they see little hope.
Once they have a tangible hope within their grasp, few would give up the chance to rise upward for the sake of those ties.
Zhou Chun asked himself, if one day he found himself stuck in the late stages of the Purple Mansion for a hundred years, with no hope of Core Formation in sight,
and suddenly a major Sect was willing to provide him with a set of Nascent Soul Spirit Material to aid in his Core Formation and allow him to join, he might not necessarily stay just for the Zhou Family.
After all, the Zhou Family would not fail to survive without him.
And without that set of Core Formation Spirit Material, he might truly never have hope of Core Formation in his lifetime!
The Zhou Family Cultivators who signed up all carried this mentality.
Moreover, many of them believed they could still aid their family even if they joined a Sect.
Some even thought, if they could successfully establish their Foundation at the Green Lotus Temple and become a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator of the Temple, they would be able to help the Zhou Family even more.
With this kind of psychology, there was no hesitation for them to sign up.
"Hmm, to make everyone accept the result, it's best to decide the outcome through a contest of spells!"
After some hesitation, Zhou Chun's gaze flickered and he decided to use the most common method in the Cultivation World to determine the candidates.
Besides, methods like drawing lots or random selection could easily lead to suspicions of foul play and discontent.
Of course, there could still be underhanded tactics in a contest of spells, and at the very least, following the principle of favoring a greater number of female participants, Zhou Chun had already decided to sponsor several registered female Clan Members with treasures.
Having settled on a method, Zhou Chun wasted no time. He immediately gathered everyone together and announced his decision.
Two days later, they gathered at an arena the Zhou Family often used for contests of spells where Zhou Chun personally presided over the event.
"In this contest of spells, we'll select three candidates. Apart from the prohibition of using secret techniques that damage the Essence Energy, all other methods are unrestricted. I will personally oversee the contest, so you may freely demonstrate your skills!""
On the platform, Zhou Chun calmly looked at the dozens of signing-up Cultivators and announced the rules, then let them take the stage one by one to compete, according to the drawing of lots.
With the Clan Leader presiding personally, it indeed reassured the Zhou Family Cultivators who had signed up, and soon the Cultivators of the Zhou Family ascended the stage in succession, striving with all their might for this hard-won opportunity at Foundation Establishment.
However, during the contest of spells, some Zhou Family Cultivators frustratingly discovered that several female clan members, who had not been particularly outstanding before, suddenly seemed like rich women today, casting rare and valuable Talismans as if they were free, defeating them with sheer financial force.
According to what they found out afterward, these suddenly enriched female family Cultivators had borrowed the Talismans from the Clan Leader with the promise of marrying a Foundation Establishment Stage disciple from the Green Lotus Temple if they made it through.
As for this, the defeated Zhou Family Cultivators, despite some grumbling in their hearts about Zhou Chun showing favoritism, could only bemoan that they were not female and therefore didn't have the option of marrying someone.
After all, it was much easier for a female Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Stage to marry a male Cultivator of the same stage versus the opposite.
The contest of spells eventually concluded with two female Cultivators and one male Cultivator claiming the top three spots.