The Evergreen Sect had advanced to a Foundation Establishment sect.
The top ten sects found this somewhat hard to accept. They realized that the gap between them and the Evergreen Sect seemed to be growing ever wider.
Originally brimming with confidence, they had thought the Evergreen Sect would, at most, earn a top-fifty ranking reward in this second week's competition.
But now, the Evergreen Sect had advanced to a Foundation Establishment sect and could already sweep through the advanced strongholds in the [Myriad Spirits Secret Realm].
It turned out that when the Evergreen Sect's Tiancan Tudou had boldly declared at the start that he would take all the advanced strongholds, he had not been boasting. The Evergreen Sect really was that strong.
The vast quantities of points produced by advanced strongholds each day were enough for the Evergreen Sect to exchange for vast quantities of resources that would increase its spiritual energy concentration.
It seemed that claiming first place in the competition again would not be particularly difficult for the Evergreen Sect.
In contrast to the gloom of the top ten sects, most sects viewed the Evergreen Sect's breakthrough to a Foundation Establishment sect in just ten short days optimistically.
Among their batch of Sect Worlds, Server 999 certainly was not the only one.
And their Sect World 999 had been the first to have a sect reach Foundation Establishment, becoming the first to unlock sales of Qi Refining Realm pills and artifacts in the trading house. Though quantities were limited, a few sects could always snatch up a little each day.
If the other Sect Worlds progressed normally, it would take at least another month or two for any of their sects to break through to Foundation Establishment.
And that month or two was enough for the average strength of their Sect World 999 to pull far ahead of the others!
Thus, for most sects, the Evergreen Sect being the first to advance to a Foundation Establishment sect brought a hundred benefits and not a single harm, since they had never intended to compete for the resources awarded to first place anyway.
The top ten sects naturally understood this reasoning too, but they still refused to resign themselves to their fate just like that.
[Myriad Spirits Secret Realm].
In front of an advanced fertile spirit land stronghold.
Over a dozen cultivators had gathered here. Even the weakest was at the Qi Refining fourth layer, while the strongest had already reached the Qi Refining sixth layer.
Their leader was none other than Perfected Daoxuan of the Daoxuan Sect. Beside him stood Chen Xuanli, the Daoxuan Sect's prodigy.
Without the Evergreen Sect, their Daoxuan Sect, with Chen Xuanli and its sect master both at the Qi Refining sixth layer, would have firmly held the position of number one sect in Sect World 999.
Of the top ten sects, excluding the Evergreen Sect, six major sects had gathered here.
And besides the Daoxuan Sect's two Qi Refining sixth-layer cultivators, there were also two Qi Refining sixth-layer cultivators from the Azure Luan Sect.
This made Perfected Daoxuan look at Fairy Qingluan a little differently, and he quietly listed the Azure Luan Sect among his main competitors.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Perfected Daoxuan cleared his throat and said, "I called everyone here today with just one main objective: to open fire on the advanced strongholds in the [Myriad Spirits Secret Realm]!"
"Though we aren't as strong as the Evergreen Sect, we can't just sit and await our doom, watching helplessly as the Evergreen Sect occupies every advanced stronghold."
"Every additional advanced stronghold we occupy means more points and more materials we can exchange for to increase our sects' spiritual energy concentration. Even if our rankings are more or less fixed already, it's all worth it for our sects."
"From my observations over the past few days, the spirit beasts guarding advanced hidden-vein spring strongholds are generally at the Qi Refining ninth or tenth layer. They aren't something we can pick a fight with, so we'll reluctantly leave those to the Evergreen Sect."
"The spirit beasts guarding advanced natural spirit-gathering strongholds are slightly weaker. Most are at the Qi Refining seventh or eighth layer, so we can give those a try."
"Our main targets on this expedition are the advanced fertile spirit land strongholds. The spirit beasts guarding these strongholds are relatively weak, mostly at the Qi Refining sixth, seventh, or eighth layer."
"For those guarded by Qi Refining sixth- and seventh-layer spirit beasts, we need to give it our all and occupy as many as possible."
"Rest assured, everyone. Even if we fail to occupy a single advanced stronghold this time, Fairy Qingluan and I will help each of you occupy at least two intermediate strongholds!"
The four sect masters of the Supreme Purity Sect, Dao Inquiry Sect, Limitless Sect, and Falling Cloud Sect all nodded at his words.
With their respective strengths, if they fought separately, even occupying a single intermediate stronghold would be somewhat difficult.
But if they banded together, they could take a shot even at advanced strongholds!
Seeing that no one objected, Perfected Daoxuan looked slightly pleased.
He wanted to fight on his own too, and had even tried it. But had he not run fast enough, he and Chen Xuanli would already have become the excrement of two Qi Refining eighth-layer spirit beasts.
Perfected Daoxuan looked at the advanced fertile spirit land stronghold before him. Besides earning points, another benefit of occupying such an advanced stronghold was that, after this Myriad Spirits Secret Realm trial ended, the advanced fertile spirit land stronghold would materialize in their sect and become part of it.
Perfected Daoxuan did not particularly care about the points, but when it came to fertile land resources like these, the more the better.
"Everyone, look. There seems to be only one azure wolf guarding this advanced fertile spirit land stronghold."
"I've observed several advanced strongholds. Wherever azure wolves appear, they seem to be lone wolves, whereas most other spirit beasts come in pairs."
"Moreover, this azure wolf keeps giving me the feeling that it isn't very strong. Its cultivation is most likely at the Qi Refining sixth layer!"
"As long as we join forces to break through this advanced fertile spirit land stronghold's protective spiritual barrier, occupying it will only be a matter of time!"
The other sect masters nodded as well. For some reason, they too kept feeling that these azure wolves did not seem as strong as they had imagined.
Their greatest problem now was breaking through this stronghold's protective barrier.
Fortunately, they had numbers on their side. Working together, they could break through this barrier in an hour at most.
At Perfected Daoxuan's command, everyone launched their attacks.
Several people held various artifacts, their attacks noticeably fiercer.
Perfected Daoxuan merely cursed inwardly at how fast their hands had been, then devoted himself fully to unleashing his sect's signature techniques against the barrier.
Inside the barrier.
The azure wolf assigned to guard this place saw a group of cultivators inexplicably attacking his stronghold and immediately sensed trouble.
He let out howl after howl, trying to frighten these cultivators while also calling for aid from the sect.
Unfortunately, the [Myriad Spirits Secret Realm] was far too vast, and its howls could only carry a few li.
Watching the spiritual energy barrier grow thinner and thinner, the azure wolf recalled the sect master's instructions and quietly slipped out through a corner of this advanced stronghold.
Crack, crack~
The protective spiritual energy barrier shattered like glass, scattering across the ground.
A hint of delight appeared on Perfected Daoxuan's face.
He shouted, "Wretched beast! Come out and meet your death!"
The group stood ready for battle and waited an entire incense stick's worth of time, yet the guardian azure wolf still did not appear.
Everyone exchanged looks.
Perfected Daoxuan swept his gaze back and forth through the advanced stronghold. Seeing that no one was willing to step forward,
he took the lead in going to investigate.
A moment later, Perfected Daoxuan's wild laughter drifted back. "Haha! I knew that azure wolf wasn't very strong. When it saw us attacking the stronghold, it actually abandoned the place and fled!"
"Fairy Qingluan, then I shall occupy this stronghold first. The next one will go to your Azure Luan Sect."