Seeking Immortality

After deciding to participate in the internal competition of Jiuhuamen, Xu Qingfan went to the front mountain with his senior brother to sign up the next morning. After signing up, he received a waist badge representing the identity of the participating disciples.

Number 66, a very auspicious number.

At this time, there were only three months left before the internal competition.

In the days that followed, Xu Qingfan began to practice more diligently, even the time originally used for reading was occupied. Although he knew that he would not be able to improve much in just three months, it was better than doing nothing.

As long as you work hard, you will gain something. This is what his father said to Xu Qingfan when he first participated in hunting when he was still in the Southern Wilderness. Xu Qingfan also believed in this and always took this sentence as one of his life principles.

Especially when he saw that Jin Qinghan, who had a rare qualification in hundreds of years, was still practicing diligently every day.

No one's success depends solely on talent and luck. Talent only represents a certain possibility, and only diligent practice can prevent it from being wasted. And luck also needs to be fully prepared so as not to regret missing it.

During these three months, in addition to meditating every day to speed up the refining of the spiritual energy in his body and intensifying the practice of "Withering and Flourishing Finger", Xu Qingfan also decided to re-practice his family martial arts - "Turtle, Elephant and Leopard".

As the name suggests, after this martial arts is practiced to perfection, it will have the defense of a turtle, and only divine weapons and sharp swords can hurt itself at all; it will have the power of an elephant, and a punch or a kick will have a force of more than a thousand pounds; it will also have the speed of a leopard, and a distance of dozens of feet will be reached in an instant.

To be honest, the martial arts of the mortal world are too far away from the Taoist magic of the cultivators. For example, after the "Turtle, Elephant and Leopard" is fully practiced, it will be invulnerable to swords and guns, but if a cultivator uses Taoist magic or magic weapons to hit you, you still have no power to resist; you have the power of an elephant, but you still have no way to face the magical spiritual power of the cultivator; you have the speed of a leopard, but it is a far cry from the cultivator's magic, not to mention that the cultivator has a more advanced cloud-flying technique.

The reason why Xu Qingfan still wants to practice this "Turtle, Elephant and Leopard" is that although practicing this martial art does not improve his strength much, it still improves it. It is better to know it than not to know it.

Second, Xu Qingfan suddenly feels that if he can combine martial arts with Taoism, his strength may be greatly improved. For example, after practicing "Turtle, Elephant and Leopard", his speed has greatly increased. If he adds the Taoist "Divine Movement Technique", wouldn't it be faster? With a strong defense, although it is far inferior to the defensive Taoist magic, it at least has an extra layer of defense. As for the power obtained after practicing "Turtle, Elephant and Leopard", it can also have unexpected effects in battle.

Lastly and most importantly, this "Turtle, Elephant and Leopard" represents more than just a martial art in the mortal world for Xu Qingfan. It is also a memory, the relaxed and naive time when he was in Xujiazhai. Xu Qingfan still clearly remembers what the elder said when he taught him martial arts - "As a member of the Xu family, how can you not practice "Turtle, Elephant and Leopard" well?"

As expected by Xu Qingfan, he made rapid progress in practicing "Turtle, Elephant and Leopard". In just over a month, he reached the thirteenth level, the highest peak. Now, in terms of martial arts alone, Xu Qingfan is no less than the elder in his heyday.

It has been said that martial arts was created by a talented predecessor in ancient times. Although this person's intelligence and talent are rare in the world, his aptitude and bones are not suitable for practicing immortal skills. Although he admired the immortal way, he was rejected many times when he became a disciple. After a series of setbacks, he was arrogant and determined to create a method suitable for his own practice. After decades of hard work, he finally created martial arts, a method that has never existed since ancient times.

Unlike the immortal way of absorbing the energy of heaven and earth to forge oneself, martial arts focuses on intercepting the excess essence in the body to transform it into internal strength. The difference between the two is simply like heaven and earth. And that senior was easily defeated by a low-level immortal cultivator whose skill was only in the late stage of Qi Refining, and then died of shame and anger.

Although martial arts are far inferior to immortal ways, because it does not require very high qualifications for cultivation, it has also spread far and wide in the mortal world. After years of perfection and improvement, it has its own unique system and a variety of different martial arts. And "Turtle Elephant Leopard" is one of the best.

And it is precisely because martial arts focus on intercepting excess essence in the body that it is so easy for Xu Qingfan to practice "Turtle Elephant Leopard". Because Xu Qingfan has experienced the two levels of Qi Refining and Bigu, the essence in his body is far more than that of ordinary people.

When you are busy, time always flies fast. Three months of time passed like flowing water in Xu Qingfan's tireless cultivation, silently. At this time, Xu Qingfan's "Withering and Flourishing Finger" had just made some progress.

According to the rules of Jiuhua Sect, before each internal competition, the participating disciples need to gather in the square in front of the Linghua Palace of Jiuhua Sect to listen to the master's instructions and encouragement.

This was the first time Xu Qingfan came to the Linghua Palace, but he saw that the Linghua Palace was about ten feet high and was built entirely of white giant jade. It was large in scale, magnificent in image, and rigorous in structure. Coupled with the surrounding white clouds and fairy mist, and backed by the magnificent Jiuhua Mountain, it was even more mysterious yet solemn.

In front of the Linghua Palace, there is a main stage more than ten feet high. All the elders and guardians who have disciples participating in this competition are sitting on it, and their proud disciples are standing behind them. And these disciples are undoubtedly the strong contenders for the top five places in this competition.

When Xu Qingfan and his senior brother Yue Qingru came to the square, all the disciples who were going to participate in the Jiuhua Sect's competition had gathered in the square. There were about hundreds of people, with different expressions. There were also many disciples who came to watch the excitement and stood aside, pointing at the people in the square, predicting the outcome of the competition, and their mouths were full of foam, looking like they knew everything.

Xu Qingfan also quickly found Jin Qinghan, who was standing behind an old man with a faint golden face, standing far away on the main stage, and was obviously deeply appreciated by his master. After Jin Qinghan noticed Xu Qingfan's gaze, he also nodded slightly to Xu Qingfan, and then lowered his head again.

Then Xu Qingfan saw Feng Qingtian, who he had only met once. Because his skills and Taoist techniques were all learned from his family, he stood alone at the front of the crowd without a master. He still looked so aloof and aloof, with a faint sarcastic smile on his face. No one approached within three feet of him, forming a strange blank area in the crowded square. I guess everyone standing with him would be ashamed of themselves, right?

Just as Xu Qingfan carefully looked at the disciples who were going to participate in the competition, he suddenly felt a slight chill on his back, as if a poisonous snake was staring at him. He couldn't help but look up, but found that it was Nangong Qingshan who was standing behind the guardian Xu, staring at him with resentment on the main stage. Xu Qingfan just snorted disdainfully at his gaze and turned his head away, but he regretted holding back last time. The fact that Nangong Qingshan could stand on the main stage with the guardian Xu proved that he was now valued by the guardian Xu. With his vindictive character, it seems that there will be a lot of trouble in the future.

At this time, the fairy cranes chirped and the fairy clouds shot from afar. From a distance, it was even more dazzling than the sun. It was the head of the sect Zhang Hualing and the supreme protector Zhou Huahai who brought several elders who had no disciples to participate in the competition. Zhang Hualing still had a peaceful expression on his face, and his expression was full of relief when he looked at the disciples below. Zhou Huahai still had a cold face.

When Zhang Hualing lowered the auspicious cloud and landed on the main stage, all the disciples bowed to him and said in unison: "Welcome to the head of the sect."

The voice was mighty and rushed straight to the sky.

Zhang Hualing said to the disciples below: "Disciples, there is no need to be polite." Although the voice was low and gentle, as if someone was whispering beside you, it easily overwhelmed the greetings of the disciples.

Seeing the admiring eyes of the disciples under the main stage, Zhang Hualing's face became more kind, and he said to the audience in a gentle voice: "The internal competition of my Jiuhua Sect is held every sixty years. Of course, there is a reason to select the winner to participate in the newcomer competition jointly held by the six major holy places ten years later, but the more important reason is to let you promote each other and find out the shortcomings of your own skills and Taoism in the competition. So you must cherish this opportunity."

Amidst the roar of the audience, Zhang Hualing continued: "You are all the essence of the low-level disciples of Jiuhua Sect. Jiuhua Sect belongs to us old guys today, but also to you young people. And a hundred years later, Jiuhua Sect will completely belong to you young people, so you must not let us old guys down. "

After Zhang Hualing finished speaking, in the respectful eyes of his disciples, he slowly sat down in the middle of the main stage.

Then, the Supreme Protector began to announce the rules of the competition, which were nothing more than not killing each other when competing with the same sect and fair competition. After Zhou Huahai finished speaking, another elder came out to announce the rewards that the top five disciples in this competition would receive.

The disciple who won the first place in this internal competition will receive a bottle of "Gathering Spirit Pill". This kind of spiritual pill is extremely effective for disciples in the Spiritual Silence Period, but unfortunately the materials are hard to find. In the entire cultivation world now, except for the six major holy places, it is simply hard to find a pill.

The reward for the disciple who won the second place is a "Golden Feather Eagle" monster egg, which can be hatched after dripping blood to make the monster recognize the master. The Golden Feather Eagle is a human-level intermediate monster, known as the "Steel Pecking Iron Feather Wind and Thunder Wings", flying very fast, and can naturally control the power of wind and thunder.

The disciple who won the third place will get a human-level top-grade magic weapon - "Three Zhang Qingling". It is the magic weapon used by Xu Qingfan's master Lu Huayan during his lifetime. It can be used to protect the body, fly, and bind opponents.

The fourth and fifth place disciples will also receive a human-level top-grade magic weapon, but their usefulness and power are not as good as the "Three-foot Green Silk".

Although most people have received the news in advance, after the elder announced the rewards, the group was still in an uproar, and they all wanted to compete immediately so that they could perform well, as if these rewards were prepared for them. However, Xu Qingfan and Yue Qingru only wanted to get the third place.

In this expectation, the newcomer competition of Jiuhuamen in this sixty-year year began.