As they watched the ten figures on the arena below, the many cultivators present all wore looks of envy.
The rules for ranking the new Top Ten Sects remained the same as in previous years.
Based on the rankings of the major sects from the previous convention, the newly admitted Qingyang Sacred Sect and Hundred Flowers Palace were placed in the final two positions.
Since Qingyang Sacred Sect had ranked among the Top Ten Sects many times before and possessed a deeper foundation, it edged out Hundred Flowers Palace and took ninth place.
Song Qingming's Carefree Sect had ranked ninth at the previous Sword Assembly.
After defeating Three Yuan Sect this time, it advanced another step to eighth place.
Divine Gu Sect, meanwhile, directly replaced Taiyi Immortal Sect and rose to seventh place after the latter was eliminated.
Formless Sect, Myriad Beast Mountain, Pill Origin Valley, Heavenly Dao Sect, Bixia Palace, and Xuan Mu Sect—the six sects ranked above them—remained unchanged from the previous convention.
However, these rankings were only temporary.
According to the rules, as long as someone issued a challenge, the rankings of the sects above could be changed at any time.
"Fellow Daoists, if any of you wish to enter the arena for a match, please step forward."
"I, Lin Tianrong, wish to invite Elder Gu Yu of Pill Origin Valley to enter the arena and offer me instruction!"
No sooner had the Immortal Origin Sect cultivator finished speaking than Lin Tianrong, representing Heavenly Dao Sect, became the first to step forward voluntarily.
The opponent he sought to challenge was Pill Origin Valley, ranked third above Heavenly Dao Sect.
Since Song Qingming formed his Nascent Soul, he had participated in the Eastern Phoenix Sword Convention three times.
The top three places among the Top Ten Sects had