Qi Gathering Layer Four

For those disciples who had already collected a fair number of tokens, this was even more agonizing than being eliminated outright.

Being eliminated at least meant they could keep half of their tokens.

Now, having to start from scratch to find tokens again, there was no guarantee they would find more.

Even if they did find them, there was no guarantee they could keep them.

For those who had only harvested half, it was a different story; as long as they weren't eliminated, there was still hope.

In short, regardless of what one thought of Chen Xuan's actions.

The disciples who had heard of this matter had all become much more vigilant.

More people began to travel in groups.

Of course, traveling in groups was useless.

Chen Xuan's methods remained clean and efficient; he would tie up whoever came, one by one or in pairs.

Two more days passed.

With the trial halfway over, every disciple in the Floating Cloud Secret Realm now knew that a sinister villain was lurking about, ambushing fellow disciples.

Moreover, he was incredibly strong, only interested in binding people and taking their tokens.

Some unlucky souls were even tied up twice in a row, which was enough to drive anyone mad.

Inside a certain cave.

Chen Xuan sat cross-legged upon a rock.

The spiritual energy around his body shifted abruptly, and his cultivation base stepped from the third level of Qi Gathering to the fourth.

The spiritual energy within the Floating Cloud Secret Realm was roughly on par with that of the Sect Main Hall.

In any case, it was far better than Hundred Herb Valley.

Thus, in just five days, Chen Xuan had successfully cultivated the Flowing Cloud Technique to the fourth level of Qi Gathering.

Although Chen Xuan did not know that there were light screens above the plaza observing the disciples participating in the trial.

He could roughly guess that the sect elders would certainly be able to monitor the situation within the secret realm.

Therefore, to maintain a facade, he had pretended to be in deep meditation before his breakthrough.

With his cultivation broken through, it was time to continue!

Chen Xuan left the cave and began searching for targets.

However, the further he went, the harder targets were to find.

Quite a few people had already been eliminated.

Because of Chen Xuan, many of those he had previously caught simply tore up their Teleportation Talismans after finding a few new tokens.

They would rather settle for half the harvest than risk being caught again; they had been scared witless.

Those who remained were mostly working in groups of a dozen or so to search for tokens.

Aside from them, there were only those disciples with exceptional strength who could act alone.

The three disciples with Spirit Bodies were all loners.

They didn't worry about being unable to find tokens while alone; for disciples with great strength, their goal wasn't to search for tokens, but to seize them.

When the trial reached the eighth day, for the final three days, the top one hundred people holding the most tokens would have a pillar of light erupt from them, reaching into the clouds, marking their locations.

Therefore, they only needed to find people to fight and steal their tokens during those last three days.

Furthermore, by waiting until the final three days to strike, the disciples still in the secret realm would have accumulated enough tokens.

As for why Chen Xuan had started acting from the very first day.

It was because he didn't know about this rule.

No one had told him.

Neither Senior Brother Li from Hundred Herb Valley, who had already returned home, nor Song Tao from the Medicine Hall thought he could make it into the top hundred, so neither had mentioned it.

Over the next two days.

Chen Xuan made quite a few more gains, and his token count reached nearly one thousand.

One token could be exchanged for ten contribution points, so one thousand tokens meant ten thousand contribution points.

Added to the rewards for his trial ranking... if all went well, he was set to make a fortune from this Floating Cloud Trial.

In the blink of an eye, the dawn of the eighth day arrived.

As soon as dawn broke.

Outside, Elder Zhang activated the formation of the secret realm.

In the next second, within the secret realm, a beam of light erupted from the heads of the one hundred disciples holding the most tokens, shooting straight into the sky.

On the plaza.

The disciples who had been tied up by Chen Xuan were all focused on his light screen.

Seeing this scene, many of them laughed with glee.

"Let's see how he's going to tie people up now!"

"Forget about tying people up; with that beam of light over his head, he's bound to have people knocking on his door. I hope someone gives him a good beating."

"That's unlikely. We've been watching for days; while the guy is a bit underhanded, his strength is genuinely formidable. Aside from those three, it's not certain anyone can actually beat him."

"There are three days left. It's very likely those three will track him down."

Many began to look forward to the moment Chen Xuan was eliminated.

Among those he had tied up, who wouldn't want to see Chen Xuan meet with misfortune?

Outside the main hall.

Three elders sat chatting.

"Senior Brother Xie, that kid has really stirred up public anger."

Elder Zhang said, smiling at the old man beside him.

"It matters not. These disciples lack the strength; they have no one to blame but themselves."

Elder Xie chuckled softly.

"He broke through to the fourth level of Qi Gathering two days ago. How can a cultivator with a Mortal Body progress so quickly? Could there have been an error in the initial assessment, or perhaps he has a hidden constitution that wasn't detected?"

Elder Song looked at the two and brought up another matter.

The two pondered for a moment.

Elder Zhang said, "The Myriad Dao Stele used for the constitution assessment was passed down from the Holy Land. Even a hidden Saint Body would be detected, so it is unlikely there was an error."

"Regardless of the reason, his talent is good, which is a good thing after all."

Elder Xie did not want to delve into these matters; all three of them could sense that Chen Xuan likely had some fortuitous encounter.

Chen Xuan would be a member of his Danxiao Peak in the future.

Naturally, he did not want others digging into Chen Xuan's secrets.

Seeing this, Elder Song said nothing more.

Inside the secret realm.

Chen Xuan looked at the beam of light above his head, his face full of question marks.

What is going on?

What is this thing?

Immediately after, he saw beams of light rising from various directions.

Chen Xuan began to speculate.

Could this beam of light be locking onto the positions of the remaining disciples?

Chen Xuan's eyes lit up.

If that were truly the case, it might not be a bad thing.

Did they really think that just because he kept launching sneak attacks, he was only capable of sneak attacks?

Although his position was now public and he might encounter others coming to snatch his tokens, conversely, this was also a good thing for him.

It would be easier to compete for tokens.

"Just do it!"

Chen Xuan locked onto the nearest beam of light and charged toward it.

Chen Xuan's guess was not entirely correct.

He thought everyone's position had been revealed, but in reality, only the positions of the one hundred people with the most tokens had been exposed.

However, it didn't matter; it wouldn't hinder him from snatching tokens, and snatching from the top hundred yielded even greater rewards.

Not far away.

A disciple noticed a beam of light rapidly approaching him. He did not panic, but instead drew his Floating Cloud Sword, readying his Dao techniques and preparing for battle.

He was now at the third level of Qi Gathering; aside from the three disciples with Spirit Bodies, he feared no one.

Even if he couldn't win, he could still run.

If it really was one of the Spirit Body disciples, he would just have to accept his bad luck.

Before long, the other party caught sight of Chen Xuan's figure.

Upon closer inspection, he realized it was not a Spirit Body disciple, and his confidence surged instantly.

"This junior brother, I am Feng Ran of Azure Sky Peak. May I ask who you are?"

Feng Ran cupped his hands in greeting.

"Yellow Maple Valley, Li Feiyu!"

Chen Xuan blurted out the lie, simultaneously unleashing the Floating Cloud Sword. The long blade sliced through the air, streaking straight toward Feng Ran.