The day before the competition, the elders of the Huolie and Shenshan sects arrived at the Qingyun sect with their respective cultivators.
Each sect had sent three elders as their leaders.
The leader of the Huolie sect’s delegation was the sect’s great elder, who was at the early stage of the true core realm. The other two elders were at the middle stage of the Xudan realm.
The leader of the Shenshan sect’s delegation was also the sect’s first elder, who was at the same realm as Wan Shanhai. The other two elders were at the advanced stage of the Xudan realm and the middle stage of the Xudan realm respectively.
Each sect had brought ten disciples.
Just like the Qingyun sect, the cultivators they brought were the strongest personal disciples they had chosen through their respective sects’ competitions.
Compared to the other top sects, the Qingyun sect, the Huolie sect, and the Shenshan sect had a pretty good relationship. At least on the surface, their relationship was extremely harmonious.
However, after arriving at the Qingyun sect, the elders of the two great sects secretly hinted to their personal disciples to secretly probe the strength of the Qingyun sect’s personal disciples.
Although the strength of the contestants would be revealed sooner or later, it was naturally best to be able to hide it. This way, they could catch their opponents off guard during the competition.
The cultivators of the Qingyun sect were normally quite good at keeping secrets. However, the disciples of the two great sects were too shrewd. They directly provoked them and forced some secrets out.
When they learned that the top two in the Qingyun sect’s competition were Li Qingyan and Yue, they were puzzled.
The three great sects often interacted with each other, so they had some understanding of the talented cultivators of the other sects. They basically knew all of the personal disciples.
However, they were completely unfamiliar with Yue and Li Qingyan. They had never heard of either one before.
They had believed the most powerful person in the Qingyun sect was Chen Xiaofeng, the disciple of Wan Shanhai, or the favorite disciple of the Great Elder of the Qingyun sect.
Then, they pulled a few more tricks and successfully ferreted out the background of Yue and Li Qingyan!
“I didn’t expect that Elder Ye Xuan would take in disciples!”
“That’s strange. It’s said that Elder Ye Xuan is obsessed with cultivation. Now, not only did he take in a disciple, but he took in two. Are these two extremely talented?”
Geniuses were extremely arrogant, and Ye Xuan was a monstrous genius.
In the eyes of everyone, Ye Xuan probably did not choose to take in disciples because his benchmark for doing so was too high. Ordinary geniuses were just like ordinary people in the eyes of the former. Why should he waste his energy teaching them?
For Li Qingyan and Yue to be able to become his disciples, there had to be something extraordinary about them!
“What? Li Qingyan is actually at the ninth level of the true essence realm? She is indeed a rare genius at such a young age. No wonder she was able to become Elder Ye Xuan’s disciple!”
“No way! You said that Yue’s strength has only reached the sixth level of the true essence realm? My cultivation level has already reached the seventh level of the true essence realm. If I were to fight against her, wouldn’t I easily beat her up?”
“F*ck! You’re telling me that Yue is less than 15 years old?”
“Uh… it’s no wonder she was able to become Elder Ye Xuan’s disciple. As expected, they are all monsters among monsters!”
“What did you say? You said that Yue became Elder Ye Xuan’s disciple a month ago, and before that, she was only a refinement realm cultivator? This… This is too unbelievable, is it not?”
“Oh my God! Could it be that Elder Ye Xuan has some great magical power? Otherwise, how could a cultivator who was originally at the fourth level of the refinement realm break through to the fifth level of the true essence realm in just a month’s time?”
“What? You said that Yue only spent a dozen days to break through to the fifth level of the true essence realm? I feel like you guys are taking me for a fool.”
“That’s right. Even if high-level cultivators infuse their spiritual power into their disciples, they still wouldn’t be able to reach such a level.”
As the cultivators from the two sects probed for more information, they became more and more shocked.
However, over time, they all revealed traces of doubt.
Especially those who heard descriptions of Yue and Li Qingyan. Their feats and stories were getting more and more ridiculous. They even felt that the cultivators from the Qingyun sect had tricked them.
“A cultivator at the sixth level of the true essence realm defeated a cultivator at the peak of the seventh level of the true essence realm in only ten moves? How is this possible? Do you really take us for fools? We won’t fall for such obvious lies!”
“If the peak seventh-level true essence realm cultivator was just an ordinary itinerant cultivator, there might have been a slight possibility of that being the truth, but that cultivator was the beloved disciple of the Great Elder of your Qingyun sect. He is a genius cultivator, how could he be defeated by a cultivator who was a minor realm below him?”
“You said that the martial technique displayed by Li Qingyan had the power equivalent to a full-strength attack of a purple spirit realm cultivator? Brother, please stop lying. I won’t believe anything you say anymore!”
“I think if I continue to listen to your lies, you’ll start telling us that Li Qingyan and Yue’s true strength has reached the purple spirit realm!”
“You are all really talented. Why didn’t I realize that the cultivators of the Qingyun sect were such great braggarts?”
“Do you think that everyone is like Elder Ye Xuan? Are Yue and Li Qingyan both peerless geniuses that are rarely seen in a thousand years?”
“Elder Ye Xuan is already a peerless genius. How can the disciples he recruited be so monstrous?”
“Are you guys still dreaming? Don’t try to fool us, okay? Are our sects still friends? Can you tell us the truth?”
“Okay, stop talking. We will see for ourselves. We want to see if Li Qingyan and Yue are as powerful as you say!”
After hearing the information shared by the cultivators of the Qingyun sect, the cultivators of the Huolie sect and the Shenshan sect did not believe a single word of it.
The more they heard, the more ridiculous it became!
If things were according to what they said, would that not mean that Li Qingyan and Yue were as monstrous as Ye Xuan?
Although Ye Xuan’s talent was monstrous, it did not mean that his discipleswere the same!
Little did they know that Yue and Li Qingyan had both made breakthroughs in the past few days.
Soon, the cultivators of the two sects went directly to Lingjiu peak to see for themselves if Li Qingyan and Yue were as outrageous as the rumors said.
Moreover, according to the description of the cultivators of the Qingyun sect, not only were both terrifyingly strong, but they were peerless beauties that could topple nations as well.
Unfortunately, everyone was destined to return disappointed.
Li Qingyan and Yue were in secluded cultivation, and could not be bothered with those people.
Just like that, the cultivators of the Huolie and Shenshan sects were directly shut out.
Time flew by and, soon, a day had passed.
Today was the day when the three great sects would commence their grand competition.
In just one day, the two great sects had not managed to get any valuable information. They even unanimously believed that the strength of Li Qingyan and Yue was just for show, and that it was all nonsense fabricated by the cultivators of the Qingyun sect.