Moreover, every sect and school had its own leader, and their cohesion was lacking as well. That was why everyone felt that the Heavenly One Path was the greatest sect under heaven, holding the reins of the cultivation world. Coupled with its rapid expansion, people often spoke this year of how the Heavenly One Path was doing this or that.
But the stronger a sect's cohesion, the more frightened these Earthsea sects became. Instead, they felt that the Ascension Altar Tournament was an opportunity. After all, within any sect, there were actually not many immortal cultivators who had truly cultivated an immortal body and dao bones. In second-rate sects, perhaps only one emerged from every few dozen or hundred people. Under the rule that one percent of a sect's total population could participate, this still gave them a great opportunity. At least quite a few cultivators could be selected.
But how should they be chosen? That was also a problem. If the decision were left to the sect masters, peak masters, and elders, there would be far too many personal factors involved. Therefore, most sects settled it through competitions, and the cultivators who won were usually taken to the Ascension Altar Tournament by their sect masters.
After discussing it to the end, the four great sects also felt that holding an Ascension Tournament was practical. Letting those who achieved good results in the early stages of the competition advance was only reasonable. As for the latter half, well, they could only apologize—they would have to obediently wait for death. That was not a matter of blaming heaven and complaining about others; they could only blame themselves for failing to cultivate properly and thus losing the competition.
Of course, the rules for competitions that granted qualifications were not strict either. Aside