As for Su Ruo, she was heavily injured ever since she ascended to the Realm of the Gods as she was being chased down. She recovered not long ago and was reconciled with Mei Ying before she learnt about what the Feixing Pavilion was.

Both of their experiences could be written into a passionate and tragic love story.

Three days later, they arrived at Tianyan City. Before they got off the flying spiritual artefact, Gu Lingzhi got Hunting Cat to wear a Yirong Mask. She had made this mask when she got to the Realm of the Gods. It was inconspicuous if one did not look closely. Even upon further observation, the Yirong Mask was made out of a material that even Divine Senses could not penetrate. Thus, no one would be able to tell what the person truly looked like under the mask.

Hunting Cat wore the mask and in an instant, his appearance changed from one of a cold-blooded hunter to a quiet and refined young man. Qin Xinran could not help but occasionally tease him so that she could see how he would look like when he was angry with this new appearance.

With the date of the Clan Tournament inching closer, there were more people streaming into Tianyan City. After visiting a few inns, they finally found one that still had available rooms. They squeezed into rooms in groups of twos and threes.

After they settled their accommodations, Tianfeng Jin retrieved the Clan Badge that she had gotten from the Feixing Pavilion before heading to the Tianyan Clan’s headquarters. When she returned in the evening, she brought an additional badge that had numbers on it.

“Our clan is the 532th in the Tournament. It seems that there are many clans competing this year,” Qin Xinran said as she examined the badge.

“Actually, we arrived rather early. Most people arrive on the day before the competition. The numbers go up to the thousands,” Zhuo Haoran explained further. Though his cultivation level was not the best, he was well-informed.

Gu Lingzhi nodded her head, “What about the order of the tournament? How do they arrange the duels?”

“It’s…based on luck,” Hunting Cat replied to her question. “Keep the badge well. The duels are arranged in pairs. The first clan is paired with the second, the second with the third, et cetera. Since we’re the 532th clan, we’ll be going against the 531th clan.”

Qin Xinran made a funny face behind him. Perhaps Hunting Cat did not realize it, but he had used “us” whilst explaining the order of the tournament earlier on, which meant that he had seen himself as part of the Gui Yuan Clan. For them, it was a good sign.

Everyone realized this, but they did not point it out.

Mei Ying clicked his tongue. “It’s really based on luck. One with bad luck would be paired up with an opponent from a clan that were ranked in the top 100 of the Clan Rankings.”

Gu Lingzhi thought the same thing bitterly. “If we go against the top 10 clans in the first round, we won’t even have the chance to enter the top 100.” Some of the duels would have a great difference in abilities.

“That won’t happen,” Zhuo Haoran reassured. “In order to avoid something like this from happening, the top 300 clans would always collude with each other to find out what their numbers are beforehand so that they would not have to go against an opponent that is too strong. Something like what you mentioned would only happen after at least three rounds. By then, all the smaller and weaker clans would have been eliminated.”

Zhuo Haoran suddenly gasped and asked Tianfeng Jin, “Lady Tianfeng, you didn’t meet anyone hateful when you were collecting the number badge, did you?”

Tianfeng Jin paused for a moment to think. Zhuo Haoran must have been worried that they would come face-to-face with a much stronger clan. Tianfeng Jin shook her head after she did not think of anything strange that had happened. “No.”

Zhuo Haoran dramatically sighed in relief. “That’s good. It would be difficult to keep ourselves in the tournament if we were matched against a powerful clan.”

Although Gu Lingzhi and the rest had ascended from the Tianyuan Continent and became True Gods not long ago, they were still rather talented for being able to excel in such a competitive place. They were much better than the True Gods in the Realm of the Gods that could reproduce. Furthermore, they had incorporated physique-strengthening techniques that they learnt in the Lost Lands into their Martial Skills. Thus, every single one of them were outstanding when it came to fighting. Zhuo Haoran’s confidence in them was not unfounded. He truly respected them.

In the next few days, the group of them took turns to gather information about the Clan Tournament at the inn, the Feixing Pavilion and at different business operations. They found out a substantial amount of information about the tournament.

After they had compiled their information, Gu Lingzhi came up with a list. With Hunting Cat’s help, they managed to come up with hundreds of strategies on how to deal with enemies that were strong in different aspects.

Eventually, the date of the long-anticipated Clan Tournament arrived.

To accommodate the tens of thousands of clans, the Tianyan Clan had specially vacated a few mountains and made it a gathering point. It was a shocking and mesmerizing view.

As a clan that was not well-known, the Gui Yuan Clan naturally did not have the rights to occupy the central regions of the mountain and were allocated to the outer regions instead. They were grouped with other clans whose strongest Martial Artists were the rank of a Demigod. Instantly, they became the center of attention.

Everyone surrounded them immediately and discussed all sorts of matters with them. The atmosphere was rather amicable.

Suddenly, there was a blanket of silence over them and they all looked in the same direction.

Gu Lingzhi also turned to look in that direction. There were a few rows of people who were flying in from a distance, wearing robes that were adorned with blue and white flowers. They looked energized and magnificent, and anyone could tell that they were extraordinary.

“Look, they’re from the second-best clan, the Mingxin Clan.”

“Is that Lei Xiangzi on the far right in the second row? He’s as eye-catching as the rumors say. I’ve heard that he became a Demigod when he was 800 years old and before he turned 1000, he advanced into a middle-class True God. His abilities are insane.”

“Meanwhile, we’ve been cultivating for almost a thousand years and we’re just Demigods. I wonder if we can ever become True Gods.”

Upon hearing the discussion around her, a thought about something that she had found out earlier on surfaced in her mind.

The Mingxin Clan was placed second in the previous Clan Tournament. In total, they had five upper-class True Gods and a few more middle-class and lower-class True Gods. This meant that they could change the power dynamics in the Realm of the Gods with just a flick of their finger. Compared to the Mingxin Clan, their Gui Yuan Clan was no match for them at all.

“Don’t be afraid. Remember, quality over quantity,” Rong Yuan reassured her as he held her hand.

Gu Lingzhi hesitated for a moment. “Yes, you’re right.”

In terms of quantity, they would never be able to match up to these old clans that had many years of history. In terms of individual strength, however, Gu Lingzhi was confident that not many clans were superior in this aspect. It was extremely rare for anyone to possess all five Spiritual Roots like the descendants of the Spirit Tribe.

A few more clans arrived and they all belonged to the top 100 placings in the Clan Rankings. The moment they arrived they were brought to the main gathering point by the disciples of the Tianyan Clan.

After waiting for about another hour, all the clans that were participating in the Clan Tournament had arrived. The clan leader of the Tianyan Clan emerged and he made a speech to welcome and invigorate all the participants, before briefly explaining the tournament’s rules, regulations and order. With that, the Clan Tournament officially began!

Gu Lingzhi did not know whether their Gui Yuan Clan was considered lucky or not. In the first round, they were faced with the 531th clan that had registered for the Clan Tournament. This clan had attained a placing in the top 500 in the previous Clan Tournament.

Their opponents were not to be underestimated. To be able to stand out amongst tens of thousands of clans, it was testament to their abilities.

“Sigh, you’re all really unlucky to be met with such a strong opponent in just the first round,” one of the elders who had surrounded Gu Lingzhi and the rest earlier, the clan leader of the Tianshui Clan, Qiu Xiabing, said. Though he sounded like he was upset for them, his eyes revealed a glint of happiness.

How dare the Gui Yuan Clan come here and show off? Whenever they tried to ask them more questions, they avoided answering them. Now that they were going against the Tianluo Clan which was placed 465th in the previous Clan Tournament, the Guiyuan Clan would be swiftly eliminated for sure.

Many people had the same thoughts as Qiu Xiabing. Even the members from the Tianluo Clan were thinking the same thing. Given their position in the Clan Rankings, they had the right to be confident of themselves.

“

Tch

, the Clan Tournament is getting dull. We’re matched against such weak opponents, it seems that I’ll be able to earn a lot of god stones this round,” Wu Erlang said smugly as he swung the Meteor Hammer in his hands.

He was one of the contestants that was going to represent the Tianluo Clan in the lower-class True Gods category.

Due to the rarity of middle-class and upper-class True Gods, they did not fight in every round of duels. The top 100 placings of clans were solely determined by the duels between Martial Sages, Demigods and lower-class True Gods. The middle-class and upper-class True Gods would only fight in the later rounds.

With every match, there would be one representative from each clan. A victory would earn them one point while a defeat would result in the loss of one point. The top 100 clans with the highest number of points would advance to the next round, thus, every match was important.

“Let’s add another 100,000 god stones to the bet,” Wu Erlang said to a disciple of the Tianluo Clan who was standing behind him.

That disciple immediately followed Wu Erlang’s orders. Not only did he add another 100,000 god stones to the bet, he even used some of his money to contribute to the bet.

In a tournament like this, it was normal for people to gamble amongst themselves. For this match between the Tianluo and Gui Yuan Clan, the odds ratio was currently three to one against the Gui Yuan Clan.

This was because the Gui Yuan Clan was a newly-established clan and no one knew their true abilities. If they had more time to establish their reputations, surely the odds ratio would be drastically different.

Even if that were the case, Gu Lingzhi squinted unsatisfactorily when she caught a glimpse of the odds ratio. With a wave of her hand, she threw a Storage Ring at the bookmaker by the door and coldly stated, “I would like to bet 50,000 god stones on the Gui Yuan Clan.”

Everyone sucked in their breaths.

50,000 god stones were sufficient to establish a small clan, was she stupid or had she gone crazy to bet such a large amount on the Gui Yuan Clan? Did she not know that their opponent was the Tianluo Clan?

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