[Congratulations, host, on taking first place in the first week's disciple aptitude recruitment competition in Sect World 999. You have received an additional reward: one targeted random entry draw from the advanced entry pool.] [Advanced entry pool: entries in this pool are purple, pink, and gold.] [Targeted entry: you may select the broad category of the entry you wish to draw. Available categories are personal entries and sect entries.]
He had not expected a reward from the Entry System as well: one targeted draw from the advanced entry pool.
Lin Feng did not draw immediately, choosing to save it instead.
Judging by the competitions in previous editions of Sect World, the second week should be a competition of sect cultivation environments.
It would not be too late to draw this targeted entry then.
Next, Lin Feng opened the trading house he had long been looking forward to.
This was the exclusive trading house for server 999. Here, you could list any item or purchase items listed by others. In addition, you could purchase cultivation supplies listed in the system shop.
However, cultivation supplies listed in the system shop often cost considerably more than those listed by individuals.
At present, Lin Feng held the Ancient Spirit-Guiding Platform Construction Blueprint, as well as blueprints for the Low-Grade Yellow-Rank Spirit Gathering Array and the Low-Grade Yellow-Rank Mountain Protection Array, but he still lacked the materials needed to build them.
Lin Feng first began searching the trading house for the materials needed to build the Low-Grade Yellow-Rank Spirit Gathering Array.
The Low-Grade Yellow-Rank Spirit Gathering Array was the lowest tier of Spirit Gathering Formation, capable of increasing the sect's Spiritual Qi concentration by only 10%.
But even this was extremely important to a newly founded sect.
The materials for building the Low-Grade Yellow-Rank Spirit Gathering Array were not expensive. It required only low-grade Spirit Stones ×100, green-patterned array stones ×12, spirit-breath grass ×30 stalks, crudely refined spirit sand ×25 jin, and cold-patterned wood ×6 lengths.
Of these, the green-patterned array stones were the main material for the array foundation, the spirit-breath grass primarily served as an auxiliary material for guiding spirits, the crudely refined spirit sand was used to trace the array patterns, and the cold-patterned wood served as the material for the array stakes.
Aside from the low-grade Spirit Stones, Lin Feng had none of these and could only buy them from the trading house.
With the construction blueprint for the Low-Grade Yellow-Rank Spirit Gathering Array, Lin Feng only needed to collect these materials before he could use the blueprint to set up the Spirit Gathering Formation directly. For a sect without an array master, this saved a great deal of trouble.
Lin Feng quickly searched the trading house for the materials, then clicked to purchase them one by one. For less than 1,000 low-grade Spirit Stones in total, he gathered all the materials needed to build the Low-Grade Yellow-Rank Spirit Gathering Array.
Spiritual light flickered over the Spirit Gathering Formation blueprint in Lin Feng's hand, and a sweet, refreshing breath spread outward from the main hall, covering an area a kilometer around and encompassing the External Affairs Hall as well.
Then gentle breezes began to blow, filled with the presence of Spiritual Qi, and the Spiritual Qi concentration within the sect immediately rose considerably.
After setting up the Low-Grade Yellow-Rank Spirit Gathering Array, Lin Feng checked the blueprint for the Low-Grade Yellow-Rank Mountain Protection Array and quickly purchased the materials needed to build it from the trading house.
Another thousand-plus low-grade Spirit Stones were spent. Then a barely perceptible wave of light enveloped the entire Evergreen Sect.
Finally, Lin Feng turned his attention to the Ancient Spirit-Guiding Platform Construction Blueprint.
Compared with the Low-Grade Yellow-Rank Spirit Gathering Array and Mountain Protection Array, the Ancient Spirit-Guiding Platform required far more materials, and they were considerably more precious.
There were even many materials Lin Feng had never heard of. For example, it required 36 supreme-grade spirit jade blanks: primarily used to hold the spirit-guiding patterns and stabilize Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, they formed the main body of the platform's surface.
Four void spiritwood cores: used to build the spirit-guiding pillars and connect with the spiritual workings of heaven, earth, and the void.
120 green-patterned spirit porcelain tiles: used to encase the spirit pillars, isolate impurities, and purify Spiritual Qi.
50 jin of earth-vein spirit copper: used to inscribe the array foundation and anchor it to the earth veins.
It also required 1,000 middle-grade Spirit Stones and numerous other ordinary materials.
Lin Feng searched the trading house for them one by one, then was dumbfounded. It was one thing for no ordinary players to be selling several of the main materials.
Even in the system shop, both supreme-grade spirit jade blanks and void spiritwood cores were marked as sold out.
And in the system shop, a single supreme-grade spirit jade blank cost 30,000 low-grade Spirit Stones, while a single void spiritwood core cost 10,000 low-grade Spirit Stones. Both were extremely expensive materials.
Ordinary sects simply could not afford these two materials.
Clearly, some sects near the top of the first week's competition points rankings might be targeting him. These people evidently had their own channels as well and knew what materials were needed to build the Ancient Spirit-Guiding Platform.
Lin Feng cursed inwardly and could only shelve the matter for now. He refused to believe these people could keep buying out these materials whenever the system shop put them on sale.
Sect World 999 chat channel.
"Brothers, following the usual practice of previous editions, a sect trial will begin after the first week's competition ends. Is everyone ready?"
"The first sect trial should still be a demon beast assault. As long as we hold our sects for two hours, the demon beasts will retreat."
"The demon beast strength for the top ten sects is calculated separately, using the average strength of those ten sects. For us, it's the server-wide average. No big problem. Holding our sects for four hours should still be no trouble!"
"I wonder how strong the demon beasts attacking the top ten sects will be this year. Last year, even Qi Refining First Layer demon beasts attacked the top ten sects."
"There shouldn't be much difference this year, right? After all, the top ten scores in the first week's competition points rankings are considerably higher than last year's. Clearly, our batch is stronger."
"Besides, everyone should have started setting up their sect defenses on their very first day in Sect World. Only the sects that didn't rank in the top 80% will be in a little danger."
Lin Feng watched the world channel discuss the approaching sect trial.
He had made some preparations at first, too, but after recruiting Liu Yurou into the sect, Lin Feng felt that some of his earlier preparations would no longer be needed.
Lin Feng looked at his sect panel.
[Sect: Evergreen Sect.] [Sect level: newly established Qi Refining Sect.] [Sect master: Tiancan Tudou (Lin Feng).] [Number of sect disciples: 26.] [Sect buildings: main hall (D-rank), External Affairs Hall (D-rank).] [Sect arrays: Low-Grade Yellow-Rank Spirit Gathering Array, Low-Grade Yellow-Rank Mountain Protection Array.] [Direct disciples: Liu Yurou: supreme-grade spirit root, Qi Refining Ninth Layer. Tie Dali: heavenly spiritual root, Qi Refining Sixth Layer. [Outer disciples: 14 (middle-grade spirit root: 3; low-grade spirit root: 6; five-element mixed spiritual root: 5).] [Servant disciples: 10, all with four entries.]
Among the outer disciples, almost all those with middle-grade and low-grade spirit roots had entered the Qi Refining Realm.
Only a few newly recruited disciples with five-element mixed spiritual roots had yet to formally enter the Qi Refining Realm.
After the first week's competition ended, the Evergreen Sect's strength could only be described as top-tier.
With the added support of the low-grade yellow-rank cultivation method "Tiger Roar Fist" and the sect's Mountain Protection Array, Lin Feng had not the slightest concern about the approaching first-week sect trial.
The ones who should be worried were the other sects in the top ten of the first week's points rankings. With the Evergreen Sect's strength factored into the average, this demon beast assault would probably be a little on the strong side.