The Assembly Begins, Xiao Feng Stands Out

"Yes, my lord."

The three followed behind Ye Zichen.

"You two can find your own lodgings. My duty is done."

Ye Zichen glanced at Ling Yun and Xiao Feng and gave them their instructions.

"Then this is where we part, senior."

Xiao Feng cupped his fists and bid Ye Zichen farewell.

In a room in the Sword Sect's resting area,

"Thank you for coming to this sect assembly, my lord. It is truly an honor for our Eastern Continent!" Lin Feng fawned.

As soon as he had learned of Ye Zichen's arrival, he had rushed over without stopping to pay his respects.

Ye Zichen did not answer. Instead, he glanced at Xie Lingyun behind him and said, "Your name."

"My lord, this junior is Xie Lingyun."

"That little formation spirit seems to have helped you quite a bit."

Ye Zichen had seen it the last time he met Xie Lingyun, and seeing that Xie Lingyun had made another breakthrough this time, he mentioned it.

Xie Lingyun stepped forward. Knowing what Ye Zichen meant, he replied, "Many thanks, my lord. I have made a little progress."

The formation spirit was on good terms with Xie Lingyun, and its insights into formations and the nourishment of immortal spirit had already helped him successfully enter Spirit Transformation.

Looks like this person and Xiao Feng will meet in this competition.

Ye Zichen thought to himself, looking forward to their clash.

Xie Lingyun's starting point was high enough that his cultivation had left Xiao Feng's far behind.

There might be a gap between the two now, but Xiao Feng would certainly achieve more than Xie Lingyun in the future.

"Then please rest for a while, my lord. The three of us will come again tomorrow to invite you to accompany us," Ye Tian said with the utmost respect.

"Mm, you may leave."

With that, Ye Tian, Ye Ling, Xie Lingyun, and Lin Feng quietly withdrew.

The next day,

As the drums sounded, everyone from the three great holy lands and the nine great sects took their seats in the great hall of the Flawed Light Holy Land.

The other small and medium-sized sects did not have that privilege. They could only wait outside for the awards to be presented or watch the third event, the martial competition, but they could also see what was happening in the great hall from outside.

When Ye Zichen took the Sword Sect's secondary seat, the other eight great sects and the two holy lords were deeply puzzled.

Why could this mortal with no cultivation sit in the Sword Sect's secondary seat, on equal footing with Ye Ling?

In fact, Ye Tian had wanted Ye Zichen to take the chief seat, but Ye Zichen had not agreed.

Seeing this, the Danyang Holy Lord sneered, "Oh? Has your Sword Sect fallen so far that you've invited a mortal here?"

"Danyang Holy Lord, what makes you say that? This is an honored guest of my Sword Sect. Mind your words."

Ye Tian fired back passionately. Not a single bad word could be said about this lord!

"You!"

Mu Yang had not expected Ye Tian to dare speak like that, and his teeth itched with anger.

"The sect assembly is beginning, so stop arguing."

Lin Feng was a little afraid. If they offended this lord, everyone here would be buried with them.

Ye Zichen paid no attention, but Mu Yang would soon be a dead man.

The interlude ended, and everyone took their seats.

Xiaguang Holy Lord Ji Yaoguang spoke. "Today marks a new sect assembly for the Eastern Continent, and it is now my Flawed Light Holy Land's turn to play host. Thank you all for coming. Enough idle chatter; let us begin!"

As her voice fell, a list flew out.

"This is a compilation of all the small and medium-sized secret realms discovered in the Eastern Continent over all this time. Although the treasures within are of little use to the likes of us, we can make them known to the small and medium-sized sects outside, or use them for disciple trials."

After everyone had looked it over, Lin Feng, the Taiyuan Holy Lord, waved his hand and distributed the list outside.

"Next, we shall commend all the sects for the outstanding contributions they have made over this time."

As Ji Yaoguang read out the names of the sects one by one, their members entered from outside the hall to receive their rewards.

Some of these sects had produced promising chosen, while others had earned merit by slaying demons and monsters, and so on.

At that moment, Mu Yang, the Danyang Holy Lord, suddenly spoke. "Has anyone found any clues about the destruction of the Tyrant Saber Sect some time ago?"

Ye Tian and Ye Ling, who knew what had happened, and Lin Feng, who had only been told the day before, were all taken aback. Since when had the Danyang Holy Land cared about this?

The eight great sects were momentarily at a loss for words. With destruction like that, how could they simply investigate and find the answer?

"Wasn't the Sword Sect investigating the Crimson Yang Sect? How is that going?"

Mu Yang put the question to Ye Tian in an interrogating tone.

"Danyang Holy Lord, we are still working hard to investigate the Crimson Yang Sect."

Ye Tian was not afraid and casually gave him a perfunctory answer.

"Hmph! You can't even properly investigate such a small matter!"

Mu Yang angrily pounded the armrest.

The Tyrant Saber Sect was a dog of his Danyang Holy Land. Now that the dog was dead and its killer could not be found, its master was naturally angry.

But it did not matter. As long as his Danyang Holy Land could win the final competition, it was prepared to make the Sword Sect its first target!

Amid some unpleasantness, the sect assembly reached its final and liveliest part.

"Everyone in the hall, please follow me to the martial viewing platform." Ji Yaoguang walked out of the hall with a graceful, swaying gait.

For the sect martial competition, a fighting platform had been placed in the square. Everyone would compete by defending the platform to decide the final victor.

Small and medium-sized sects could generally earn decent rewards by achieving a certain result on this platform.

Ye Zichen followed the others to the martial viewing platform to watch the coming matches with them.

"Next comes the most intense part of every sect assembly: the sect competition!"

"This fighting platform was built by our esteemed Xiaguang Holy Lord. None below Body Integration can break it! Chosen disciples, you may compete without worry!"

"The rules are as follows: sect chosen may freely take the stage for one-on-one matches. Anyone who does not take the stage will be considered to have forfeited!"

The Flawed Light Holy Land elder finished reading the rules aloud.

The drums sounded! The sect martial competition officially began!

Sitting in the Sword Sect's chief seat, Ye Zichen compared Xie Lingyun and Xiao Feng behind him and murmured, "Don't disappoint me, hehe."

"I'll go first. My name's Da Niu, from the Axe Sect, a small sect. Please enlighten me."

"I'll take you on!" Another person flew onto the platform.

"My name is Zhang San, from the Lotus Cloud Sect."

And so the small sects took the lead, and people from the other sects continued to spar with one another.

About an hour passed before Xiao Feng finally walked onto the platform. At the very last moment, he had raised his cultivation to Peak Nascent Soul, ensuring he was at his strongest.

He would bring glory to the Heavenly Cloud Sect!

"Heavenly Cloud Sect, Xiao Feng. Please enlighten me!"

"I'll go!"

As the second disciple took the stage, the match began once more!

Two and a half hours later,

Standing on the platform, Xiao Feng said to the hundredth disciple lying on the ground, "Thank you for letting me win."

"Is there anyone else?"

Xiao Feng was still brimming with strength. The earlier fights had not required him to use even half his power.

If he could go back to that time, he would surely be able to save his master now, Xiao Feng thought, a bitter smile involuntarily crossing his face.

The people below could not help exclaiming.

"Heavens, when did the Heavenly Cloud Sect produce such a powerful disciple?!"

"He hasn't even used his full strength, has he? He actually beat a hundred disciples with nothing but ordinary sword techniques!"

"This is a small sect? Then how are the rest of us from small sects supposed to live?"

"Look at you. With strength like that, he's probably from some great sect, out to gain experience, right?"

"He's even stronger than those from the medium-sized sects!"

"Looks like we won't get any good results this year!"

Discussion buzzed below the platform, everyone admiring this rising star among the sects.