Thanks to Zhou Jiapeng's notification, Zhou Chun had half a year to prepare in advance.
He first sought out Zhou Jiahe, the Peak Master of Baozhi Peak, to inquire about the rules of the magical combat competition.
He soon learned from Zhou Jiahe that for such competitions designed to test junior cultivators, there are usually either restrictions on the use of talismans or limitations on the number and quality of talismans allowed.
As for Spirit Pets, there certainly would be no restrictions; otherwise, even the use of Magic Artifacts would have to be constrained.
Therefore, to achieve a good ranking in such magical combat, one must polish their skills in managing Magic Artifacts, Spirit Pets, and Spell cultivation, in addition to their Cultivation Realm.
Zhou Chun's current array of Magic Artifacts was actually quite decent, ranking among the upper level for his peers in the mid-stage of Qi Refinement Realm within the Zhou Family, but it wasn't decisively advantageous.
When it comes to Spell cultivation, entrants in the youth division were limited to cultivators under thirty years old, and everyone was around the same age, so the difference in ability wouldn't be too significant.
If he really encountered someone with a talent for Spell cultivation, then he could only blame his own misfortune.
There's no need to elaborate on Spirit Pets; for families not renowned for their Beast Taming Techniques like the Zhou Family, most cultivators in the Qi Refinement Realm wouldn't be able to afford or properly care for a Spirit Pet.
So after much consideration, in addition to ensuring he reached the eighth layer of the Qi Refinement Realm before the competition, Zhou Chun also decided to try to acquire a top-grade first-tier Magic Artifact for himself.
With such preparation, as long as the top ten youths weren't all cultivators above the tenth layer of the Qi Refinement Realm, he should stand a great chance of getting in.
To acquire a top-grade first-tier Magic Artifact, Zhou Chun only had two options: to purchase it in the Hongya Marketplace or to exchange for it from the family's resources.
Although the Zhou Family no longer provided Spirit Coins as welfare offerings to clan members, the annual substitutions in good deeds could still be exchanged for items from the family's treasure vault.
However, a top-grade first-tier Magic Artifact was extremely precious, with a market price of at least three hundred Spirit Coins.
The Zhou Family had only implemented the good deed system for a little over two years, and Zhou Chun, being an ordinary clan member, received a welfare offering of only twenty good deeds annually.
Even when adding the good deeds he earned from his previous venture to Red Peach Ridge, it was far from enough to exchange for a top-grade first-tier Magic Artifact.
Luckily, even if he didn't have enough good deeds for the exchange, he could still make up for the shortfall with Spirit Coins.
As a result, Zhou Chun took stock of his assets and discovered that, thanks to the compensation from his previous visit to the Mu Family, he had nearly eighty Spirit Coins on hand.
In this case, he only needed to gather about a hundred more Spirit Coins, and then he could exchange them for a top-grade first-tier Magic Artifact from the family's vault.
When considering how to collect the needed hundred Spirit Coins, Zhou Chun's first thought was to borrow money.
It's common for people to consider borrowing when they need to buy something essential but lack the funds.
But after going over all the possible lenders, Zhou Chun hesitated.
There weren't many cultivators within the Zhou Family who had a good enough relationship with him to lend him money.
And those few who could lend him money seemed to be eligible to sign up for the combat competition as well.
If Zhou Chun were to approach them for a loan now, unless they had no intention of participating, whether or not they lent the money could potentially affect their relationship.
"Better to feel out the situation first, and let them know about the competition. If they're planning to participate, then I won't ask to borrow any money," he thought.
With this in mind, Zhou Chun immediately started visiting each of them one by one.
As he had expected, upon learning about the upcoming joint magical combat competition orchestrated by the five major cultivating families, several people, including Zhou Zhengyong, expressed their intentions to sign up and compete for the family's honor.
There were a couple of people who, due to being overage or recognizing their own lower Cultivation Level, had no plans to sign up.
However, when Zhou Chun brought up the matter of borrowing money, even pooling their resources, those two could only scrape together less than thirty Spirit Coins for him.
It turned out they had already spent most of their own Spirit Coins on Elixirs and other expenditures.
Zhou Chun, seeing their situation, felt it would be inappropriate to deplete what little emergency funds they had left, so he abandoned the idea of borrowing money.
Since he couldn't borrow the needed Spirit Coins from the family, Zhou Chun had no choice but to look to the Marketplace for a solution.
He had a few Magic Artifacts he could sell in the Marketplace for Spirit Coins, and if he took a risk and purified a Hundred-Year Spirit Herb with Purification Spirit Water to sell, he could easily cover the shortfall of over a hundred Spirit Coins.
With his plan set, Zhou Chun calmly resumed his cultivation, preparing to head to the Marketplace to implement his plan once he reached the eighth layer of the Qi Refinement Realm.
About a month later, news of the joint magical combat competition hosted by the five great families was officially announced to all Zhou Family members, along with the published rules.
According to the rules, each cultivator participating in the combat competition could only bring five talismans per match, and they were only allowed to carry one top-grade first-tier talisman.
And each family could only send ten participants for each group in this magical combat tournament.
That is to say, even if all the eligible cultivators of the Zhou Family registered, they could only send out a total of twenty members from the elite and youth groups to participate.
Because of this restriction, the Zhou Family had to hold an internal selection trial.
The selection trial was already scheduled to take place one month before the official start of the event.
As the news was announced, those cultivators of the Zhou Family who qualified to participate began to eagerly prepare for the battle.
Any Zhou Family cultivators with some sense knew that this joint event of the five major families would be an important performance for the Zhou Family to secure its position in the cultivation world of Lanzhou in Jingguo Country.
If they could achieve good rankings representing the Zhou Family during the event, not only would they be able to win the prizes prepared jointly by the five families, but they would also gain the favor of the clan leader and the elders, benefiting from countless advantages in the future.
Under such circumstances, Zhou Chun soon received some disheartening news for himself.
The news was that the majority of the premium grade one magic artifacts in the family treasure vault had been traded away, leaving only a few unwanted items behind.
"It seems I can no longer count on the family for this, now I have to find another way through the marketplace."
A flicker of frustration flashed through his eyes, Zhou Chun shook his head and gave up on the idea of exchanging magic artifacts with his family.
Time gradually passed, and after Zhou Chun consumed his eighth Spring Sun Pill, his cultivation level finally broke through to the eighth level of the Qi Refinement Realm as scheduled.
At the time, he was just over two months past his twenty-fourth birthday.
A Qi Refinement Realm level eight cultivator at twenty-four, Zhou Chun's cultivation speed was considered among the faster ones within the numerous members of the Zhou Family.
Zhou Zhengyong, who was several years older than Zhou Chun, had only just broken through to the eighth level of the Qi Refinement Realm, and he too had relied on elixirs for assistance in his breakthrough.
However, Zhou Zhengyong's spirit pet, the Red-Tailed Monkey, had consumed a Blood Spirit Pill and successfully advanced to a premium grade one Demon Beast, greatly increasing its strength.
After consuming all three Beast Spirit Pills, Zhou Chun's Rock Earth Turtle had just managed to catch up with its master's cultivation level.
If Zhou Chun, with only the cultivation of the eighth level of the Qi Refinement Realm and a mid-grade one Demon Beast Rock Earth Turtle, were to face other families' cultivators in the late stages of the Qi Refinement Realm during the magical combat tournament, his chances of winning were not high.
After all, those other families' late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators participating in the magical combat would surely have premium grade one magic artifacts at their disposal.
Consequently, after his breakthrough to the eighth level of the Qi Refinement Realm, Zhou Chun visited Pagoda Peak to see the clan leader, Zhou Daoyi, and disclosed his plans to go to the Hongya Marketplace.
"The Hongya Marketplace is a place rife with mixed crowds and rampant with bandit cultivators. If you, Zhengchun, are going to the marketplace, it's best to find companions to go with you. Also, be extra cautious when leaving and don't let anyone follow or ambush you."
Inside the Central Peace Hall, Zhou Daoyi gazed at Zhou Chun before him and, after pondering for a while, did not reject his request to go out. He solemnly cautioned him to be careful while away from home.
After listening to his advice, Zhou Chun responded solemnly, "I will certainly bear the clan leader's teachings in mind."
Then, he left Jiufeng Ridge and headed straight for the Hongya Marketplace.
Zhou Daoyi's caution was something Zhou Chun naturally wouldn't neglect, but the task he needed to accomplish this time was not suited for other Zhou Family cultivators to follow him.
Suddenly, after leaving Jiufeng Ridge about a hundred miles behind, he changed into different attire, then took out his flying artifact and continued on his journey.
After flying every one to two hundred miles, Zhou Chun would stop to meditate for two hours to recover his mana.
After spending most of the day like this, Zhou Chun finally arrived at the outskirts of the Hongyan Mountain Range.
Standing on the fringe of the mountain range, he looked in the direction of the Hongya Marketplace and could not help but recall the situation the first time he visited there more than three years ago.
Back then, his trip to the marketplace was fraught with anxiety and fear to the extreme.
But this time, such a scenario would definitely not occur again!
Zhou Chun first found a place to meditate and recover his mana. After his mana was fully restored, he took a large gulp of Purification Spirit Water, then commanded his flying artifact to ascend over three hundred meters into the sky. He raised his protective barrier and flew straight toward the Hongya Marketplace.
This action undoubtedly exposed him to the view of many cultivators within the mountain range below.
However, seeing his flying altitude, the bandit cultivators soon abandoned any thoughts of making a move.
Such a high flying altitude made it impossible for them to lock onto the target, and it would also expose their positions.
Moreover, someone possessing a flying artifact would make them apprehensive about the person's background and connections, deterring rash actions.
And so, until Zhou Chun flew directly to the outskirts of the Hongya Marketplace without interruption, he encountered no attacks at all.