Having hammered out the rules for the joint magical martial tournament, the specific date was swiftly set for one month later.
During this month, the Zhou Family would also hold their own martial competition to select the thirty cultivators who would defend in the matches.
As Zhou Chun had anticipated, the official announcement of the joint magical martial tournament immediately caused a strong reaction within the Zhou Family.
The most enthusiastic and active were those family young cultivators who were not yet thirty years old.
These individuals had truly entered the cultivation world after the great battle with the Dragon Transformation Sect, so they had never participated in such events, nor had they fought for family honor on the battlefield.
This fact often filled many with regret when they heard the elders recount past glories, wishing they had been born twenty or thirty years earlier.
Now, with the news that the Zhou Family was leading several cultivation families in organizing the tournament, they saw a golden opportunity to make a name for themselves.
If they could represent the Zhou Family and prevent cultivators of the same level from the other families from taking away the Zhou Family treasures,
they would surely become famous figures within the Zhou Family, and succeeding in Foundation Establishment later would be no difficult task.
After all, the announcement had stated that the defending cultivators would be awarded conduct points based on the cultivation level of their opponents if they defeated a challenger, while if they were to lose a defense, only half of the points would be deducted.
Going by the reward of fifty conduct points for defeating a ninth-layer Qi Refinement Realm cultivator, if one were to defeat a hundred challengers of this level without suffering a single loss, they would accumulate five thousand family conduct points.
Such a reward would tempt not only those young cultivators whose temperaments had not yet matured but also those Zhou Family cultivators in their fifties and sixties as well.
It should be noted that for this tournament, the Zhou Family, which was the defending side, permitted cultivators up to seventy years old to participate, while the limit for the challenging side was set at sixty years old.
"With me, Zhou Xinlan, present, no one will gain an advantage over the Zhou Family in this magical martial tournament!"
Atop a certain peak, a tall and muscular young man with dark skin looked up at the sky and declared ambitiously, standing beside a golden-furred, red-tailed giant monkey even taller than himself.
Meanwhile, on Formation Mystery Peak of the Zhou Family, a blue-clad woman in flowing skirts was blinking her beautiful eyes, whispering to herself, "It’s been over twenty years. Whether I have a chance to achieve Foundation Establishment in this life hinges on this opportunity. Zhou Xindie, you must seize the moment and prove your worth to the Clan Leader!"
Soon, the martial competition within the Zhou Family began.
The event was personally overseen by Zhou Chun and was open to all Zhou Family cultivators of middle-stage Qi Refinement and above who were of eligible age.
The reason for setting such a low threshold for participation was because among the thirty defending cultivators, ten needed to be of middle-stage Qi Refinement.
The main reason was to consider the weaker families, to avoid having their contestants unable to win a single match during the event.
And because the bar for entry was lowered, a total of one hundred twenty-four Zhou Family cultivators ended up registering.
To be honest, before the event truly got underway, even Zhou Chun didn’t know the specific strengths of those family cultivators.
After all, the Zhou Family hadn’t organized such an event in many years, and the power levels of Qi Refinement Realm cultivators could change significantly over just a few years.
So, when he finally presided over the family’s internal martial competition, he found himself regarding some of the outstanding clan members with new respect.
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on freёwebnoѵel.com.
In Zhou Chun’s view, none of these clan members might be as strong as he was during his Qi Refinement phase, but they were certainly much stronger than those who had participated in the previous combined magical martial tournament of the five great cultivation families.
This meant that the talent cultivation efforts of the Zhou Family in recent years had been quite successful.
He personally felt very satisfied and comforted by this outcome.
Now, as he looked upon these promising young clan members, he felt like an old farmer watching over his thriving crops, filled with anticipation for future harvests.
After three days and many fierce battles, the thirty cultivators who would represent the Zhou Family in the defense were finally selected.
Most of them were middle-aged, under fifty years of age, with only four individuals over sixty.
After these people were selected, they were immediately gathered together to listen to the admonishment of Clan Leader Zhou Chun.
"During these three days, I’ve seen everything, there’s no doubt about it. If you can stand here now, it proves that you are the cream of the crop among the cultivators of the same realm in our Zhou Family, the true elite clan members!" Stay updated with freewebnovel
"As the Clan Leader of the Zhou Family, seeing such an outstanding group of clan members in the Zhou Family indeed fills my heart with great satisfaction."
In front of the Central Peace Hall’s plaza, Zhou Chun looked at the thirty clan members who had assembled there and began with a generous amount of praise.
Just as those clan members’ faces showed pleasure from his praise, Zhou Chun’s tone shifted and he continued, "However, the competition thus far was just our Zhou Family’s internal contest, behind closed doors, and your excellence is only relative to the other cultivators in the Zhou Family."
"Whether you are truly excellent, whether you can truly bring glory to the Zhou Family, and whether you can impress me will need to be validated by outsiders!"
"This joint cultivation family competition and martial event is the most grandiose event our Zhou Family has undertaken since arriving in Jingguo Country, and its importance is no less than the Family gaining another Purple Mansion Phase Cultivator!"
"You all are currently the most outstanding members of the Zhou Family. Whether this joint martial competition can be successfully held, whether we can truly show the other families the strength of the Zhou Family, earn their recognition and acceptance of the Zhou Family’s esteemed status, all depends on your performance!"
At this point, Zhou Chun paused, his gaze intensifying as he looked at the clan members and demanded, "Now answer me, can you live up to the great expectations of me and our family?"
"We definitely can!"
"We will definitely live up to the Clan Leader’s expectations!"
One by one, Zhou Family Cultivators replied loudly, many with their spirits surging and faces turning red.
"Good, I will remember your words today. Now let us see your performance!"
Zhou Chun nodded slightly, his eyes full of encouragement as he finished speaking to everyone.
He had said all there was to say; now, it was time to see the performance of these clan members.
If these clan members performed extremely well, it would naturally greatly enhance the reputation and morale of the Zhou Family.
If these clan members were defeated and taught a lesson, that would also serve to grind away their arrogance and temper them.
Regardless, the prizes put forth by the Zhou Family would not go to waste.
A month passed quickly.
As the agreed-upon date approached, those families that had promised to participate in this joint cultivation competition began arriving at Jiufeng Ridge one after another.
This time, the eighteen cultivation families were primarily local ones from Lanzhou, with only four coming from outside, not including the Su Family from Jiangzhou.
However, even though there were only four families from outside, they were all powerful cultivation families with a Purple Mansion Phase Cultivator at the helm.
They were the Yu Family from Lianzhou, the Xie Family from Lianzhou, the Wen Family from Yunzhou, and the Li Family from Yunzhou.
Together with Hongyao Valley’s Wang Family and another powerful cultivation family from Lanzhou, the Qin Family, there were exactly six major cultivation families.
Since it was a competition among Qi Refinement Realm juniors, the Purple Mansion Phase Cultivators from these powerful families did not lead the teams personally but sent only the Clan Leaders and Foundation Establishment Elders with team members to participate.
On the last day of assembly, members from all the cultivation families had arrived, and the total number actually exceeded two hundred!
Seeing this, the Zhou Family Cultivators who were representing their family to defend the position wavered, their full confidence somewhat shaken.
Facing opponents that outnumbered them by eight or nine times, could they truly hold their ground?