Different competitions have different adjudicators, such as the white-haired Professor Guo, who became a special guest for a TV station, accompanied by two foreign guests, responsible for one of the live broadcasts.
Although Immortal Sect is usually very vigilant against these foreign guests, at this time, they turn a blind eye.
After its establishment, Immortal Sect waged incessant wars with the surrounding major sects, with countless deep-seated grievances, but the purpose of all wars was to make life better for Immortal Sect, not for a fight to the death only for others to reap the benefits.
For instance, today, those people from outside Star Domains are here to do business with Immortal Sect.
Telecasting business.
Immortal Sect clamps down on gambling, but other Star Domains also feel troubled by it.
They opened numerous bookmakers, each betting house claiming to be fair to all, almost willing to lay bare their hearts and lungs to prove their innocence—why don't those "chives" trust our own bookmakers?
We guarantee fairness and justice, and we absolutely won't cheat or engage in fraud!
And yet, gamblers from various Immortal Domains really tend to trust the competitions of Immortal Sect more than the promises of their own Golden Core and Nascent Souls.
Especially the betting pools for Immortal Sect's annual college entrance examination competition, which are widely acknowledged as fair and free from underhanded tricks.
Don't underestimate the economic benefits of the gambling industry; in Meng Yu's original world, the revenue from Dongying accounted for one-seventh of the finances. Thus, every year before the college entrance examinations begin—ah no, ahead of its commencement, various powers from nearby Star Domains would come to inspect the timeliness and justice of Immortal Sect's information transmission.
Timeliness need not be mentioned, for starters, a vast amount of capital is invested in communications. Aside from planets connected by the Interstellar Expressway, for other planets, the investment in just a single large signal receiving tower pains one financially, but without it, who would bet? Would gamblers bet on yesterday's competition today?
Justice is equally important. These people have spent a lot of money on advertising, purchased broadcasting rights at a high price, and even sacrificed their propaganda front, to allow your videos to be live-streamed in casinos—well, although in many places, only text broadcasting is available. Anyway, such soft power output is a major affair for Immortal Sect, so they have to thoroughly investigate whether there has been any cheating again—don't pretend, we remember what happened in history!
Your people come to us to bet heavily, then manipulate the results!
Professor Guo from Taibai University is one who holds a good opinion of Meng Yu.
"Professor Guo, long time no see! What's up, when will you come over to our place?"
The cultivator beside Professor Guo said with a smiling face.
Although Immortal Sect brands the sects from beyond as Demon Gate and propagates how terrible things are on the other side, many aged cultivators of Immortal Sect still venture out to see if there are chances to kill or arson or to enlighten others and rob them.
Then, some of them succeed and build their undertakings in other worlds, opening new avenues. Classmate bonds and friendships cannot be severed, not to mention that Immortal Sect also needs the Spirit Stones and technology they bring back.
"No need, I plan to grow old on Supreme Star. It's a pity, I haven't found a suitable successor yet."
"I haven't found any good talent either. Well, if some budding talent over there no longer wishes to stay with you, they're welcome at our place—please recommend them."
The cultivator from the Blood God Sect said with great enthusiasm.
Despite often fighting with Immortal Sect, even to the point of life and death, the Blood God Sect still very much welcomes people from Immortal Sect to study abroad or even settle down, marry, and have children.
After all, people from Immortal Sect have high standards and moral lines, plus these high-quality talents are not even nurtured by the Blood God Sect.
The competition venue is vast, situated within a Minor World and occupies hundreds of square kilometers. It is built atop a Grade Five damaged Divine Artifact and is equipped with various Protective Formations preventing any external message from infiltrating to prevent Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and even Spirit-Transforming Cultivators from interfering and cheating.
Yes, I'm referring to the upper echelons of Immortal Sect.
Don't think that these big shots are wealthy; on the contrary, many are desperately impoverished fellows who, after failing to advance and struggling for centuries or even shamelessly cutting debts, really dare to make a move—and there will always be some who can't help but cheat.
The more fair the competition and the larger the audience, the bigger the scale of gambling and the greater the potential to make money.
Over thousands of years, there have been catches of Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and even Spirit-Transforming Cultivators cheating, so one must prevent, prevent, and then prevent some more. In the end, this place is made into a real fortress.
A Grade Five damaged Divine Artifact, Mirror Twelve cutting off all information, and aside from the necessary staff—including a hundred Foundation Building Cultivators and four Golden Core Cultivators who stayed inside since last year—the rest are various Wooden Puppets and Spirit Beasts, among others.
After passing through the Light Gate, Meng Yu saw numerous handsome young men and lovely young women, and Meng Yu, the person who loves making friends, naturally gravitated toward the crowd.
They were all naive and clear-hearted middle schoolers. Although some hailed from noble families and were snobbish, the majority of young people were still eager to make good friends. However... Meng Yu wasn't warmly welcomed.
The reason being, he primarily approached the group of girls.
He has a soft heart; after becoming friends with these naive and clear-hearted boys and then having to stab them in the back, or stab them at all, always felt oddly uncomfortable. But with the girls...?
It's a joke; he didn't go to make new friends but was instead very interested in watching them.
Having lived two lifetimes, his heart felt somewhat aged. High school students, always grouping by school or region, especially the girls, clustered together more tightly. For the first time away from the watchful eyes of their parents, they were bombarded with warnings before setting off: be wary of perverts!
"Study hard and make progress every day," the adults said. "Don't even think about falling in love at this time. Cultivation is what's important!"
And the children, now set free for the first time, looked around, some wary, others excited.
They were truly restless.
With no parents or teachers here, everyone could turn the world upside down.
And believe it or not, there were indeed scenes where competitors met up with their parents after their matches ended.
Not just one or two.
...
After three days of joyful living, the fourth day arrived, and the competition began.
The grand tournament involving ten thousand people used a round-robin format. Those who lost could still revive, but the victors could continue fighting on.
Meng Yu's debut surprised many who were following him.
His weapon and equipment had all been displayed in advance.
"Since when have we seen such a poor contestant?"
"Is the prison garb he's wearing a magic artifact?"
"Right, a pop-up just appeared, it mentioned a Red Leaf Wooden Sword, a great offer at nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine apiece, are they kidding? Would someone really use a weapon priced at nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine for competition?"
"I remember someone had calculated that the average price of magic artifacts on-site starts at a million, and this Red Maple Wooden Sword even had a discount coupon—buy three, get one free; buy five, get two free; share and forward for a chance at a lucky draw. Is he really using this kind of wooden sword to participate in this competition?"
The audience was baffled, one after another, even Meng Yu's opponent, a pretty girl, frowned.
"Meng Yu, you should just give up. I don't want to slaughter you," she said.
A pale aqua barrier of Spiritual Energy appeared in front of her as six golden Flying Knives hovered at her side.
She had watched Meng Yu's previous matches, but she believed she could win.
"Hmm, you're right," he said.
Meng Yu's body, graceful as a white crane, unfolded and with one swift move, he was in front of her, delivering a sword strike!
From Third Grade Qi Cultivation to Grade Five, his combat strength had increased twofold, just based on that.
"Ah?"
She was taken aback as Meng Yu's strike forcefully collided with her protective barrier.
The greatest advantage of the Red Maple Wooden Sword was its toughness and this strike, concentrating all of Meng Yu's power at one point, broke through her defense and drove straight into her chest!
The difference between a Third Grade Cultivation and a Fifth Grade Cultivation was absolute.
A child's punch might not kill a person, but an adult's could.
She thought her shield would hold, Meng Yu also made her think it would hold, everyone was happy, right?
"You..."
Her lips twitched and then she died.
The people watching the match recordings were dumbfounded.
What happened? How did Meng Yu's strength improve so much? How exactly did he train?
Was it an illusion?
First match, Meng Yu won.