Below the high platform, countless mortals and cultivators packed together, a vast and mighty spectacle.
The Songyue Academy Dao Discussion Conference involved every participating instructor of the academy taking turns to expound the Dao before the public.
They spoke of their own cultivation insights and realizations.
The quality of their teachings was judged jointly by everyone present.
They had to earn the approval of mortals as well as low- and high-level cultivators.
Naturally, mortals and cultivators carried different weights.
To call it completely fair and impartial was simply unrealistic. Yet this approach ensured relative fairness and impartiality to the greatest extent possible.
Without wasting much time, the headmaster at the forefront spoke a few brief words, and the Dao Discussion Conference officially began.
On the high platform at the center of the square, figures descended one after another, sharing their respective understandings of the Dao with everyone present.
Cultivators at the Out of Body stage had merely touched the threshold of the path of cultivation.
Put nicely, they had only just stepped through the gate.
They remained an immensely long way from truly becoming immortals.
Listening to the voices around him, Su Shi'er remained patient, though he occasionally furrowed his brow in thought.
"A Dao Discussion Conference does not compare spellcasting prowess or cultivation; it compares one's understanding of the Dao, cultivation, and spells.
"This Taiqing Star Region—or rather, this Songyue Academy—is somewhat different.
"Neither the Azure Star Cultivation World nor the Immortal Cultivation Holy Land has ever seen any force hold such a competition.
"Well... rather than calling it a competition, it would be more fitting to call it an exchange.
"Through this method, independent cultivators can be subtly influenced by and exposed to the understandings of other cultivators.
*"The improvement it brings to the cultivators present is not