Monster Fighting Competition

The rest of the sects were able to safely teleport their disciples away with no further complications after Chen Wentian flew off. Once all the non-combatants left, Huang Wuji laid out the plan for the remaining contestants and their sect masters.

Of the nine provinces under attack, the central province was where they were currently, the Beast God Province. The nine provinces were situated in a rough line, running from north to south along the eastern fringe of the Eastern Sanmu Subcontinent. The two Spirit Kings of the Beast God Sanctum were given responsibility over the five continents in the middle, including their own. Gong Liyun took over the two provinces to the north and Huang Wuji the two to the south.

A vast distance separated each province. Each Spirit King would control their own sector and would generally not interfere with each other's operations. The aim was to spread out and stem the flow of devils and beasts coming from all directions. As long as they could prevent the monsters from taking root within the human territories, it could be counted as a success. Defeating or killing the Spirit King leaders was not necessary and also very difficult as immortals treasured their own life the most.

For the year-long monster fighting competition, there would be a baseline amount of points awarded for simply killing monsters, regardless of a mission or not. All enemies killed or captured at the Body Refinement Realm were given one point. For the competitors, enemies at the Body Refinement Realm would be as easy as killing chickens. All enemies killed or captured at the Mind Focusing Realm were given points based on a scale. Level 1 through Level 5 were five points. Level 6 through Level 10 were ten points. Enemies at the Spirit Initiate Realm started to get very rewarding as the base amount of points started at one hundred and grew by one hundred per level all the way to one thousand for a peak 10th Level.

The point system was fair. Even though killing weak enemies was tedious and time consuming, they often came in waves and packs. It was roughly about the same effort and points to eradicate an infestation of a thousand monsters as it would be to defeat a single powerful one. Missions awarded bonus points based on the difficulty of enemies encountered and the specific mission goals.

In order to dissuade cheating, all competitors were forced to declare a spiritual oath. A spiritual oath is a special contract made between an individual and laws of heaven and earth, drawing upon the spiritual energy of the world. Competitors swore to honestly report their monster killing contributions and mission results or else they would suffer a backlash and lose their ability to use spiritual energy. Breaking the oath would thus leave them crippled, something nobody wanted.

Another interesting development was where the sects would be assigned. Gong Liyun initially chose to have Ten Thousand Flower Valley and the Glacier Sect within her sector but also ended up taking Divine Blazing Mountain and the Tower of Swords. The other less famous sects all went with Huang Wuji. Chen Wentian's province was closer to the northern sector so Wu Qianyu, Lin Yuechan, and the other girls were happy with the arrangement.

It seemed that Gong Liyun wanted to stir up the spirit of competition. Naturally, Divine Blazing Mountain and Glacier Sect never saw eye to eye and they would compete fiercely with each other. Gong Liyun also heard about Peng Yuefeng picking a fight with Chen Wentian so she put the two sects in close proximity, hoping to see some conflicts.

The Beast God Sanctum were fine by themselves. They were a super sect with forces belonging to three Spirit Kings and ten Spirit Lords. Even though the Snake Lord died, there were still countless experts.

Gong Liyun led her contingent away and teleported to the Red Bamboo Province. Her sector included Cloudy Mountain Province to the north. The temporary base of operations would be within the capital city of the Red Bamboo Province, Crystal Bamboo City.

Wu Quanyu led her junior sisters as they walked into the city, following Gong Liyun. It was an interesting region where the bamboo absorbed the special minerals within the ground and grew into crystal bamboo that were harder that stone. Crystal bamboo was used to build everything within the city, even the tall city walls. Wu Quanyu came from the country and the Black Mist Mountain where she grew up had a fair number of bamboo groves. She felt comfortable walking along buildings with their roofs and walls made completely of bamboo.

"Get away from me, you asshole!"

She was distracted by a commotion behind her. She turned around and saw a couple of Divine Blazing Mountain disciples harassing a Glacier Palace disciple. The Glacier Palace disciple was short and petite. Apparently, she had stopped to look at a street vendor and got hemmed in by the other two.

"Bitch, you dare slap me?" One of the guys yelled.

Slap!

This time it, the two were completely surrounded by the other Glacier Palace disciples who also heard the commotion. A random girl went forth and slapped the guy again.

The Divine Blazing Mountain disciples were not used to women being combative and unyielding and they became angry as well. Both sides started emitting their elemental arts and the road began to simultaneously feel burning hot and freezing cold. Fight was about to break out over nothing...

"Stop!"

"Halt!"

Both sect masters, Murong Aiyin and Fen Jue, rushed over to forcibly separate their disciples. All the while, they glared at each other as if to say this whole thing was the other's fault.

Wu Qianyu turned around after the issue was resolved only to catch a smile on Gong Liyun's face as the venerable lady turned around as well. She suddenly remembered her master describing Gong Liyun as a bit of a pervert. Was she the type that enjoyed women being bullied by men? Her thoughts strayed as she continued to walk.

---

Wu Qianyu followed Gong Liyun into a hotel that she chose while the other sects found their own lodging. It was better to stick with the weird old lady until her master came back. Who knows what other trouble those sects might cause?

Wu Qianyu and her junior sisters had dinner at the hotel restaurant and their conversation eventually drifted towards the altercation that afternoon.

"So, what's is the deal with the Glacier Sect and Divine Blazing Mountain?" She asked.

Li Yuechan looked at the others before replying in a quiet voice. "We've actually never interacted with Divine Blazing Mountain disciples before or even met them. But we've heard some terrible stories."

"Really, what kind?" Wu Qianyu asked.

"Really bad..."

"A bunch of pigs, rapists!" Xu Lanyi said with loathing.

Li Yuechan continued, "Apparently, a lot of the cases where the Glacier Sect disciples die or go missing can be attributed to Divine Blazing Mountain. They like to kidnap and ruin them."

Song Wushuang chimed in, "Yeah, I've also heard that the Eternal Winter Sutra's ice attribute makes men who cultivate the Blazing Sun Art lose their composure and they will become like beasts in a rut."

The girls shuddered as they tried to imagine what would make men act like that. Each of them had only experienced it Chen Wentian who was always very caring and tender.

"Halfway true." A strange voice said.

The girls looked around in surprise and saw that Gong Liyun had stealthily sat down at their table.