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Qi Tian emerged from the house and saw the notice for this month's Moon-duel posted on the signage at the end of the hallway. The notice detailed the rules, timing, location, and other specifics of the competition, and the Sparrow List was also posted. The Sparrow List is a ranking of all the High-level Disciples of the Imperial Master Mansion, from the first place Zhou Kunlin down to the last place - Guan Xun, who is ranked 2,913th.
This time, the Elders of the Imperial Master Mansion did not specifically designate who must engage whom; instead, they left it to the outer sect disciples to decide who they would challenge for themselves.
The rules of the Moon-duel are numerous. For instance, it is prohibited to intentionally kill an opponent in the Moon-duel. Higher-level cultivators are not allowed to actively challenge those of lower cultivation levels. Additionally, those with lower rankings can only challenge those with higher rankings, not the other way around. In short, the rules provide a certain degree of protection for the weaker participants. However, if one wishes to rank higher and obtain more cultivation resources, they must continually challenge stronger opponents. Simply playing the victim will not suffice.
This Moon-duel has set up a hundred arenas, all located in the square outside the National Master Manor. Everyone is free to watch without any fees. The arenas aren't big - just nine square meters in size. Let alone protective boundaries, even stages are not available. The competition literally takes place on the flat ground of the square.
The official start time of the Moon-duel is 9:30 in the morning. Before 8:30, everyone needs to submit the list of the people they want to challenge to Huangque Hall. Then, Huangque Hall will coordinate and announce the final challenge list, and the Moon-duel will proceed according to this list. The Imperial Master Mansion has existed for hundreds of years, and its Moon-duel system, established at the very start of the mansion's founding, has a set of effective methods; even though there are nearly three thousand outer disciples, the preparation process is smoothly operated—quick and efficient.
Each outer-sect disciple has three opportunities to challenge others and three opportunities to be challenged. Qi Tian is no exception. Having cleared three meridians and mastered the first six forms of the Eight Desolate Demon Tiger Fist, his confidence is sky-high. This time, he's determined to gain a good ranking.
During this time, Qi Tian realized that he didn't have any acquaintances in the National Master Manor. No one ever visited him, whether he was in seclusion or not. Even after Qi Tian had disgraced Zhou Kunlin and evoked resentment from Yuan Dan - who was most familiar with him - everyone simply believed that he had suffered a shock, resulting in a major personality shift, without anyone thinking that his soul had been replaced.
The fear Qi Tian had that others might suspect him of possessing his predecessor's body can be confirmed as unwarranted. With that concern dismissed, Qi Tian felt enthusiastic about doing his best in this Moon-duel. Therefore, he was extremely selective about his challenge options, and finally settled on three people: Ling Mu who ranks at the 450th place, Huang Yaozu who ranks at the 200th place, and Zhou Kunlin who ranks first.
When Qi Tian handed over his challenge list to the executor in charge of tallying, the executor gave him a surprised look. It was already astonishing enough for Qi Tian, nearly ranked at two thousand, to challenge Ling Mu, at 450. But, Qi Tian aiming to challenge Zhou Kunlin who ranks first, left the executor speechless. He didn't know whether to say Qi Tian was overconfident, or simply courting death. To praise Qi Tian for his courage would almost be an insult to his intelligence.
The disciple didn't bother more but simply used a specific pen to write Qi Tian's challenge list onto a jade book. This jade book is a part from one of the Heavenly Grade Spirit Militaries and doesn't possess any offensive capabilities. It is used to manage all disciples from the Imperial Master Mansion and is extremely powerful in its functions.
Soon, the identity jade badges worn by the three individuals whom Qi Tian wished to challenge lit up.
Ling Mu picked up his identity jade badge, poured a stream of True Essence into it, causing a red light to be emitted immediately, showing a long list of nearly a hundred names - these were the fellow disciples intending to challenge him in the Moon-duel.
With a sweep of his gaze, Ling Mu examined the nearly hundred names, and a smirk surfaced on his lips. He vaguely remembered all these people. They had mostly challenged him before, and all of them failed without exception. Ling Mu had no interest in rematches against those he had previously defeated. Just as he was about to retract the True Essence he had fed into his identity jade badge, a specific name caught his eye.
Qi Tian!!!
Ling Mu's gaze sharpened suddenly, and his breathing became heavy. Not out of excitement, but anger.
A few days ago, in front of many people, Qi Tian had forced him into an embarrassing situation., making him borrow a massive sum of ten thousand taels of silver from Zhou Kunlin to cover up the incident. Over the past few days, although Zhou Kunlin didn't say anything, Yuan Dan had taken plenty of opportunities to ridicule him and urged him to repay the money. This gave Ling Mu a lot of stress, and he didn't dare to lose his temper with Yuan Dan. He knew that Yuan Dan's words represented Zhou Kunlin's intentions. Yuan Dan wouldn't be able to go so far without Zhou Kunlin's tacit approval. Over the past few days, Ling Mu had been trying to suppress a belly full of anger, with nowhere to vent.
Now it's just great, Qi Tian has actually initiated a challenge to him. This is like a death wish, as if his life was too long for him.
A hint of a cold smile appeared at the corners of Ling Mu's mouth. Since Qi Tian had voluntarily come to his door to seek death, there was no reason for him to easily let Qi Tian go. During the match later, he would definitely look for an opportunity to ruthlessly deal with Qi Tian. It wasn't impossible for him to accidentally kill Qi Tian.
Qi Tian, it's your turn now.
Ling Mu's finger jabbed harshly on Qi Tian's name.
At the same time, Huang Yaozu, the second person Qi Tian challenged, was also checking the list of challengers.
In the Sparrow List, he is a well-known tycoon. Not only does he have full defensive equipment, but he also doesn't skimp on money, buying a large amount of disposable attack talismans. Everyone among the outer sect disciples know that he is one of the toughest to mess with. Therefore, every time it comes to the Moon-duel, he is one of those with the fewest challengers.
Huang Yaozu saw that there were only two names on the list. Thus, he casually put a mark on Qi Tian and then closed the list.
According to the rules of Moon-duel, each outer sect disciple can accept three challenges every month, but it doesn't mean they have to accept three. They can challenge others as well. They can challenge once or three times, twice is acceptable. There are no hard rules, they can either accept or refuse challenges, as long as you are satisfied with your ranking on the Sparrow List and have a clearance card.
As the strongest of the outer sect disciples of Imperial Master Mansion, Zhou Kunlin, who is the first on the Sparrow List, was also reviewing the list of challengers. Every Moon-duel, the number of people who challenge him is the most, at least hundreds, or even over three hundred at times. Almost every challenger wants to get famous, hoping to establish their status in the Huangque Hall by defeating him, and to become the most outstanding person on the Sparrow List.
Zhou Kunlin glanced through the list quickly. He noticed Qi Tian's name, a trace of contempt appeared at the corner of his mouth. These people are overrating themselves, not knowing their own weight. They are fantasizing about taking shortcuts and becoming famous overnight. It's clear they don't know the immensity of heaven and earth. He closed the list right away. This time he did not plan to accept any challenge. He decided to make a breakthrough into the inner sect Disciples with this Moon-duel.
According to the rules of the Manor, any outer sect disciple can challenge an inner sect disciple. If they can defeat the last ranked inner sect disciple, they can immediately replace him and become a glorious inner sect disciple.
This rule has been in place for a long time, but since its implementation, no one has been able to successfully do it. Qi Cultivation 3rd Level and Qi Cultivating Stage 4 seem to be only one level apart, but they are the gap from the initial stage of Qi Refining to the Qi Cultivation Mid-Phase. If a cultivator can leap past this gap, their strength will take a minor leap, the improvement will be much greater than the improvement from Qi Cultivation First Level to Second Level, or from Second Level to Third Level.
This rule exists to make high-ranking cultivators even more advantageous, and it unintentionally widens the gap between the two, making the challenge even more difficult.
Zhou Kunlin is a very self-reliant person, the more difficult the challenge is, the more he wants to accept it. Not only accept it, but also succeed. He wants the whole Imperial Master Mansion to know that he is not only the strongest of this generation's outer sect disciples, but he is also unprecedented and unsurpassable among the strongest outer sect disciples. He wants to accomplish a feat that no outer sect disciple has ever done before - to successfully become an inner sect disciple with the Qi Cultivation 3rd level, and to become the most attention-wearing star figure in Imperial Master Mansion.
When Ling Mu, Huang Yaozu, and Zhou Kunlin were checking their list of challengers, Qi Tian's identification jade book also lit up. He too, received his list of challengers.
Qi Tian's ranking is close to 2000. There are over 900 behind him so it's no surprise that he's being challenged by others. However, due to the rules of Moon-duel and Qi Tian's own cultivation limitations, there aren't many people who are qualified to challenge him.
Qi Tian looked at the list of the five people, and in the order from top to bottom, he chose the first, third, and fifth person, a total of three. These three people without exception, like him, are all in Qi Cultivation First Level. They will almost certainly not pose any threat to Qi Tian, nor will they provide him with any benefit in improving his combat experience. The main reason for him choosing to accept as many challenges as possible is for the points.
In the Moon-duel, winning a match earns points. These points can be directly converted into silver, or into cultivation resources. For Qi Tian, who is at the moment broke, every point is precious, and must be cherished.