Scum Of The Demonic Sect

Chapter 84 Xie Ruolan Returns

Xie Ruolan arrived at the fourth level of the sect via the teleportation array and began flying upwards.

Upon entering the second level, she suddenly heard the guards respectfully addressing her as Martial Aunt Xie. Xie Ruolan then noticed that one of them was someone she knew before, named Jin Fuxing.

A very common name, and he looked like a farmer, but his cultivation was not weak; in his early twenties, he had already reached the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining stage.

“Oh, it’s you, Fuxing. I have something to ask you. How did the recent competition for the Red Leaf Mountain spirit stone mine in the sect go?” Xie Ruolan asked.

"I am aware of this matter. We achieved a great victory this time! A mere outer sect disciple named Lin Haoming actually managed to snatch a top-grade spirit stone in the mine, thus winning first place!"

"What? He was so lucky?" Xie Ruolan was also surprised. She had been worried that the boy might die in there, but who knew he would actually win first place.

Seeing Xie Ruolan's surprised expression, Jin Fuxing continued with a forced smile, "That's right. However, it seems he offended Wu Hongfei. After Wu Hongfei returned, he declared that he would eliminate him before he even reached Foundation Establishment!"

"You mean, he made a deadly enemy of Wu Hongfei in the mine, and still won first place?" Xie Ruolan asked again, somewhat incredulously.

"Yes, that's the rumor!" Jin Fuxing replied.

"By the way, how is Wang Chen?" Xie Ruolan asked again.

"Manager Wang is back too, and he even got a top-three finish! I heard that after recovering from his injuries, he's planning to directly pursue Foundation Establishment!" Jin Fuxing said respectfully.

Xie Ruolan was genuinely surprised again. She knew Wang Chen's strength; it was normal for him to have obtained a Foundation Establishment Pill while following Wu Hongfei, but getting a top-three finish was beyond his capabilities. Thinking of this, she continued, "How is Wu Hongfei?"

"Wu Hongfei got sixth place and also obtained two Foundation Establishment Pills, but I heard he was in terrible condition when he returned. Both his arms were completely useless. If it weren't for good luck, he might have died inside," Jin Fuxing said truthfully.

Hearing this, Xie Ruolan sensed that this matter was probably not simple, and even realized that she might have underestimated Lin Haoming.

"Thank you very much, here you go!" Xie Ruolan casually tossed a spirit stone as a reward.

Catching the spirit stone, Jin Fuxing was overjoyed. Seeing Xie Ruolan about to leave, he said, "Thank you, Senior. If you're going to find someone, you'll probably have to go to the Life and Death Arena. Today happens to be the day of the competition for the Linglun Mountain cave dwellings; most of the inner disciples will be there!"

"Oh! Looks like I've come at the right time!" Xie Ruolan's lips curled into a meaningful smile. Then, she stamped her foot and flew directly towards Linglun Mountain.

The inner disciples' competition was held at the Life and Death Arena at the foot of Linglun Mountain.

As disciples of the Demonic Sect, the sect itself encouraged competition among disciples. If all Demonic Sect disciples had no desire to fight, what kind of Demonic Sect disciples would they be? The sect only established rules to prevent disciples from fighting excessively or using unscrupulous methods that could affect the sect's development.

The Life and Death Arena is called that because everyone who goes up to compete must sign a life-and-death contract. Once signed, if someone is killed during the competition, the sect will not hold them responsible for killing a fellow disciple. Therefore, within the inner sect, besides competing for cave dwellings or other benefits, it's also a place for conflicting cultivators to settle their disputes.

When Wu Hongfei returned, he vowed to kill Lin Haoming before he reached Foundation Establishment, intending to resolve the conflict through a duel on the Life and Death Arena.

The former Lin Haoming had no fondness for the Life and Death Arena. He had been forced to hand over treasures obtained from the ancestor under duress from numerous fellow disciples in life-and-death duels, ultimately ending up as a butcher in the Floating Pagoda Cave.

Of course, that was the former Lin Haoming. The current Lin Haoming has no aversion to the Life and Death Arena.

When Lin Haoming arrived at the Life and Death Arena, several Foundation Establishment stage deacons were already present.

The Life and Death Arena wasn't a single platform, but rather a group of five, one high and four low. The central platform was the tallest, with the other four slightly lower. Each platform was a hundred zhang in length and width.

The inner sect disciples were said to number three thousand, but the actual number hadn't been tallied. Lin Haoming saw nearly two thousand present.

That meant two-thirds of the inner sect disciples were here to watch the competition, demonstrating the high importance they placed on the cave dwelling contest. However, Lin Haoming didn't see a single familiar face; he simply stood alone near one of the platforms, observing this grand inner sect event.

Calling it a grand event was no exaggeration. Not only were most of the inner sect disciples present, but five Foundation Establishment stage seniors were also presiding over the competition.

The competition for cave dwellings, according to the rules, started with the lowest-ranking ones.

More than thirty yellow-ranked cave dwellings were offered for competition, and the number of people registering to compete for these was extremely high. On average, each cave dwelling attracted at least five or six applicants.

Of course, there were also three or four cave dwellings where only one person registered, and they were immediately claimed by that person. Lin Haoming himself wouldn't believe there wasn't something fishy going on, especially since Ling Shengjie himself had warned him about this before.

When Lin Haoming arrived today, he specifically checked to see if Ling Shengjie was there. Finding him missing, he felt a little strange, because a disciple of Ling Shengjie's status would usually have betting on such competitions; he shouldn't be absent.

After thinking it over, he figured he was probably delayed by something, or something prevented him from coming.

The competition for the Yellow-ranked cave dwellings was actually quite fierce.

All cultivators participating in the competition, regardless of their cultivation level or gender, had to sign a life-and-death contract after confirmation before the competition began.

Once the competition started, even inner disciples fought tooth and nail for the better cave dwellings.

After only a few rounds, Lin Haoming saw someone directly blasted to death on the life-and-death arena.

This situation, while eliciting gasps from the spectators, was short-lived. Once the next pair of cultivators stepped forward to fight, the earlier commotion quickly passed.

Because the battles were so exciting, time seemed to fly by. It wasn't until they realized most of the unclaimed caves had been taken in that they noticed half a day had already gone by, and nearly ten cultivators had died on the life-or-death arena.

Overall, Lin Haoming noticed that these inner disciples who went up to fight weren't as wealthy as he had imagined. Most of their magical artifacts were mid-grade, while those with high-grade artifacts immediately had a significant advantage. Their use of talismans was also extremely cautious.

Seeing this prevalent situation, Lin Haoming suddenly realized that even among the inner disciples, the highest-ranking were only worth around a thousand spirit stones.

He had been used to spending lavishly, and his trip to the spirit stone mine, where he spent his days surrounded by piles of spirit stones, had caused him to overlook some things he should have understood.