Have You Seen Anyone Strange?

The Empty Spirit City Festival and the Auction Empty Spirit City are the two biggest events before the Sect Martial Arts Competition, and both have extraordinary significance.

First, each auction in the Empty Spirit City is held on a Mountain Peak that can accommodate 10,000 people.

Even setting aside the auction revenue, the ticket sales alone would be enough to make a fortune.

A ticket to the auction costs 40 Low-Grade Spirit Stone. The price isn't too high; in fact, it's affordable for almost anyone, including cultivators.

However, the Empty Spirit Sect has a partnership with some "official scalpers," so the real ticket price is always inflated, sometimes even reaching 80 Low-Grade Spirit Stone.

Even though it's much more expensive, I still have to buy it; after all, it's worth going to take a look.

It's important to know that the Empty Spirit Sect Auction House will bring out its best-kept items from the past year before the Sect Martial Arts Competition.

Even if you can't afford pork, you can still watch pigs run.

Furthermore, why is the Empty Spirit Sect's auction house the largest in the Wutong Continent?

It's very simple. Besides having the ability to guarantee it, the most important thing is reputation and fame.

Why is it that cultivators of the Empty Spirit Sect, at most, have a sense of superiority, but very few of them would cause trouble unreasonably?

For example, Jiang Lin's recent intrusion into the Empty Spirit Sect.

If it were just an ordinary Mountain Peak, they would probably launch a full-scale attack, without considering anything else. On a dark and stormy night, they would likely sneak in and ambush Jiang Lin, drowning him in the river.

But they're different. They reason with you and appeal to your emotions. Even though you trespassed into my Empty Spirit Sect and even had a scandal with our Sect Treasure Miss Mo Li, I have every reason to throw you into the river. But our Empty Spirit Sect wins people over with virtue, and we are magnanimous...

This is what reputation is all about; you need to be tolerant for others to trust you.

Then there's reputation, and that's exactly what the Sect Grand Tournament is all about!

Don't assume that hosting the Olympics is very expensive.

This is very important for enhancing international influence, and the economic development it brings is multifaceted and intangible.

Honestly, if it weren't for the fear of "aesthetic fatigue" and decreased "economic expectations" of the Olympics, which country wouldn't want the Olympics every day...?

Next is the Lantern Festival in Empty Spirit City.

Similarly, by taking advantage of the popularity of the Sect Martial Arts Competition, the Empty Spirit Sect has successfully achieved cultural export.

Originally, the Lantern Festival was just a festival for the patriarch of the Empty Spirit Sect to commemorate his Dao Companion.

As a result, after five or six Sect Grand Tournament, it gradually became a festival for the entire Wutong Province. How could it not be a source of pride?

Jiang Lin had a dream: to have the Sun Moon Sect hold a Sect Grand Tournament and export its culture.

At that time, the sales of the Sun Moon Sect's specialty bellybands will definitely increase many times over!

If Xiao Hei were to set up an assembly line to mass-produce Sun Moon Sect merchandise... he probably wouldn't have to worry about making a living for hundreds of years...

Let's get back to the main topic.

The Wutong Province Lantern Festival is indeed a form of cultural export, and it must be said that it is indeed lively, with the entire city basically celebrating.

Moreover, the events for this Wutong Province martial arts competition will be finalized on this day.

The martial arts competition in Wutong Province isn't just about five people attacking each other at once, with the last one standing winning...

Although it exists, it's much later in the story.

In the initial preliminary rounds, the competition formats were quite diverse. For example, the first match of one tournament was a contest to see who could compose the best poem...

This infuriated some of the martial arts practitioners...

Even in his volatile temper, he still diligently studied culture, eventually producing the enduringly famous lines, "The plum blossoms faintly scent the air, green stones lie amidst spring mud," which have been sung for centuries...

That time, the martial arts rankings were the worst ever; it was absolutely disastrous...

After that, these more professional-oriented martial arts competitions basically disappeared; you'd get beaten up by other professions...

Therefore... composing poems and couplets was placed within the Lantern Festival.

On this day, not only will the content of the competition be revealed, but the order of the Sect Competition and their group assignments will also be determined, and this order and group assignments can be chosen.

The requirements are the four arts: The Four Arts.

Whoever writes the best poem, plays the best instrument, or paints or plays chess, the best player gets to choose their opponent first.

There's no way around it; after all, these poets and musicians, these extremely leisurely cultivators, may possess high cultivation levels, but when it comes to actual combat, they're simply not up to par...

This is not to say that poets and other monks lack the skills of killing.

The poet's poetic realm, the musician's sonic attacks, and the chess player's "moving of pieces" are all techniques of warfare employed in the path of the Great Way.

Some monks specializing in arts and literature are also proficient in this.

For example, figures like the "Musical Demon" and other highly dangerous and artistic figures in the demonic path were born.

The problem is... there aren't enough of these cultivators...

Many monks who are artists also yearn for harmony with nature. Although they are quite powerful, they refuse to use their art to kill, believing it to be an insult to the art they have dedicated themselves to...

Therefore, having the ability and being good at fighting are two different things...

In order to accommodate those cultivators who specialize in art, and to avoid bias in the Sect Grand Tournament competition, we had to make things easier for them when selecting participants for the Lantern Festival.

The problem is that, with the changing times, the Demon Race World's attacks on the Vast and Righteous World have become increasingly fierce.

In recent years, many cultivators skilled in the Four Arts, and painting have taken up "Vegetable Knife" in order to protect themselves or to have the strength to fight if the Vast and Righteous World is destroyed.

Is their strength really that weak right now? It's hard to say...

Regardless, Jiang Lin and the others were determined! They absolutely had to achieve a good ranking in tonight's the Four Arts; otherwise, being placed in the "group of death" from the start would be absurd, wouldn't it?

Of course, Tong Jiang Lin wasn't the only one in his group who thought this way...

Meanwhile, on the very day the rumors began, the patriarch of the Empty Spirit Sect arrived at the Main Peak Back Mountain and saw his granddaughter again.

"Grandfather..."

"Lili..."

The girl was overjoyed to see her grandfather. Although he had always wanted her to get married, she knew it was all for the sake of the continuation of the Empty Spirit Sect.

If that weren't the case, Mo Li believed that her grandfather wouldn't be in such a hurry to marry her off.

Moreover, she had never seen her father since her mother left, and her grandfather was the only relative she had in the world.

The grandfather and granddaughter hugged each other, and the grandfather patted Mo Li's head. The old man, who hadn't seen his granddaughter for a year, was a little emotional.

In just one year, Mo Li has grown so tall, becoming increasingly graceful and elegant.

And I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I feel like Mo Li looks pretty good.

"Why did Grandpa come today?"

Looking up at her grandfather, Mo Li asked in confusion, "Grandpa always comes on my birthday."

Well...

The old man sat on the stool, holding his granddaughter's hand, looking somewhat embarrassed, unsure of how to begin.

"Is there anything Grandpa wants to say to Mo Li?"

Seeing her grandfather's hesitant expression, the girl asked.

"Lili..." The old man scratched the back of his head, "Grandpa has something he wants to ask you."

"Grandpa, please speak."

"Um... Xiao Li... have you seen any strange people these past few days?"