Before long, the originally bustling crowd fell silent. One by one, they turned their gazes toward the high stage.
Gu Ming did the same, looking up at the platform.
On the stage, Elder Zhong stood up and walked to the edge. He cleared his throat and began to explain the rules of the Martial Arts Tournament.
He highlighted two main points.
First, Saintess Mountain would only recruit the first-place winner of the tournament as an Outer Disciple.
Second, participants could use any means necessary, but they had to show restraint; killing was strictly forbidden.
After explaining the main points, he went over the tournament’s progression.
There were 128 participants in total. To reach the finals, one would have to fight through six rounds. The tournament would last for four days, with two rounds held each day, culminating in the finals on the fourth day.
Having finished the explanation, he invited the Saintess to say a few words before stepping back.
As soon as the Saintess walked to the edge of the stage, an uproar broke out among the contestants below.
During the previous eight tournaments held to recruit Outer Disciples, the Saintess had never made an appearance. Her presence at this specific tournament was a source of both surprise and delight.
Shen Lingxi swept a faint gaze over the crowd. The corners of her lips curled slightly as her pleasant voice echoed throughout the venue.
“The rules and process explained by Elder Zhong are already very clear.”
“However, I would like to add a few things.”
“First, this tournament to recruit Outer Disciples will be the very last one. In other words, after this session concludes, no more tournaments will be held.”
As soon as she spoke, everyone present was shocked. Even Elder Zhong broke out in a cold sweat.
‘The last one?’
‘Why haven’t I heard about this?’
‘Saintess, you… have acted on your own again!!’
Elder Zhong wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Originally, this tournament to recruit Outer Disciples had been the Saintess’s own proposal. The Great Elder and the other elders had initially disagreed, saying it didn’t fit the traditional process for selecting disciples. However, the Saintess had ignored their opposition and forced it through anyway.
At the time, the Great Elder and the rest of the elders were absolutely furious, but they could do nothing about her. Who could blame them when the Saintess was the greatest representative of Saintess Mountain?
However, after the previous eight selections, Saintess Mountain had indeed gained several Outer Disciples with decent talent and strength. These disciples had since entered the Inner Sect. Gradually, the Great Elder and the other elders had come to accept this method of recruitment.
Now, without discussing it with the elders, the Saintess had directly announced that this session would be the last and that it would never be held again.
When the Great Elder and the others found out, wouldn’t they be worked up into a frenzy? She hadn’t consulted them at all…
The contestants below the stage immediately fell into a heated discussion, everyone wondering why the events were suddenly being discontinued.
However, before they could reach a conclusion, Shen Lingxi dropped another bombshell.
“Since this is the final session, I want to add a little prize to the competition.”
“The winner of this tournament will become my Personal Disciple.”
The moment these words were spoken, the entire venue erupted. Every single contestant felt their blood begin to boil.
The Saintess’s Personal Disciple!!
She was rumored to be the strongest person on Saintess Mountain.
She had personally led the Sword Saint Successor and several other masters to turn the territory of the Demon Cult’s Second Heavenly King upside down. Furthermore, she had successfully led everyone to a safe retreat before the Demon Cult Leader even arrived, leaving him with nothing but an empty camp.
If one could receive her guidance, their cultivation would surely progress at lightning speed.
Moreover, becoming her Personal Disciple meant gaining the opportunity to spend time with the Saintess day and night! Such an opportunity was something one could only dream of!
A blazing fire ignited in their eyes, and they were filled with motivation.
In contrast to the passion of the contestants, Elder Zhong was drenched in sweat. His hand never stopped wiping his brow.
As an elder of Saintess Mountain, Elder Zhong knew all too well that the Saintess’s power came from The Inheritance. It was different from that of ordinary cultivators. Therefore, the Saintess basically had nothing she could actually teach others.
If one had to name something, it would be the Saintess’s Deduction Method. But that wasn’t exactly a rare treasure; it was simply a technique that was easy to start but difficult to master. There wasn’t much to teach.
So, why was the Saintess recruiting a Personal Disciple?
Besides, as the unique symbol of Saintess Mountain, if she truly wanted to recruit a disciple, she couldn’t be so casual about it. At the very least, she should have consulted the Great Elder and the other elders first to set up a different tournament format for selection, rather than using this Outer Disciple tournament.
It simply didn’t follow the proper procedure! It was too reckless!
The Great Elder would definitely go crazy once he found out.
However, since the Saintess had already made the announcement in public, it wouldn’t matter how angry the Great Elder got. But he — Elder Zhong — would surely become the Great Elder’s punching bag.
Elder Zhong sighed inwardly. If he had known this would happen, he would have resigned as the Chief Supervisor for this tournament. But since he had been the Chief Supervisor for all the previous sessions, he hadn’t known what excuse to use to step down.
Elder Zhong wanted to cry but had no tears. He could only plan to find an opportunity to report this to the Great Elder as soon as possible.
After hearing the Saintess’s announcement, Gu Ming was stunned. He started cursing in his head.
He had originally intended to find a suitable opponent to lose to during the tournament so he could return to his own territory. If he really couldn’t find a suitable opponent, he would have been forced to take first place and become an Outer Disciple of Saintess Mountain.
He figured that as an Outer Disciple, it would take a long time before he ever had contact with the Saintess. During that time, he could do many things — like “accidentally” revealing that he was the Fifth Heavenly King of the Demon Cult — and then have a legitimate reason to return to his territory.
Now, the Saintess’s words had completely derailed his plans.
‘Dammit, what is this Saintess thinking?’
‘How can she be so casual about taking a Personal Disciple?’
Gu Ming felt a wave of frustration.
He had scanned the participants earlier and hadn’t found a single opponent suitable enough to let him lose convincingly. If he just lost to some random person, it would definitely arouse the Cult Leader’s suspicion when he returned.
Just as he was feeling annoyed, a sharp voice exploded in his ear.
“The Fifth Heavenly King! It’s the Fifth Heavenly King of the Demon Cult!!!”
A young man was pointing a trembling finger at Gu Ming, his face pale with terror.
The corners of Gu Ming’s lips curled slightly. There it was — his legitimate chance to leave this place had arrived.
In truth, he had noticed long ago that there were occasional, lingering gazes fixed on him. Most likely, people had realized he looked very much like the Demon Cult’s Fifth Heavenly King, but none of them had spoken up. Perhaps they weren’t sure and simply thought it was a coincidence.
However, there were always people who thought outside the box.
The person in front of him was one such person.
But why did this young man’s face look so familiar? Gu Ming felt as though he had seen him somewhere before!