Chapter 102: One of the Top-100 Rewards—The Dao Foundation Pill

Liu Yu’s words, at this moment, no longer looked like a sure claim before everyone; they sounded more like he was trying to rally his own courage.

The Azure Cloud Assembly was far larger than anyone present had imagined.

Even Cao Xuan had to admit how powerful the Azure Cloud Sect of the Central Realm truly was.

As if reading the stunned expressions on Cao Xuan’s group, a female cultivator let out a laugh as clear and bright as tiny bells.

“From another state, aren’t you?”

Cao Xuan turned, and a tall beauty in a plain cyan skirt-suit spoke to them.

Seeing them glance over, she smiled openly and introduced herself at once. “From the South Frontier, Guyun Prefecture—Ru Hanhan. You can call me Hanhan.”

Cao Xuan looked back, and his gaze flickered. His interface had improved enough now that he could read her very essence directly.

Name: Ru Hanhan
Spiritual Root: Supreme-Grade Spiritual Root
Cultivation Talent: Eighth Grade
Multiplier: 70-fold
Realm: Late Peak of Foundation Establishment

Li Yao murmured softly, “They always say cultivators from the South Frontier are passionate and uninhibited. It seems true enough.”

The standard garb of the Azure Cloud Sect was plain: blue robes for men, plain cyan skirts for women.

But on Hanhan’s skirt, there were obvious alterations.

The neckline sat low, and the garment split at both sides, like the front-and-back pleated style from a battle dancer. It was clearly cut for combat.

In Li Yao’s eyes, though, it looked unusually bold.

For Li Yao, only in private training with Cao Xuan would she ever wear anything more daring than that.

When out and about, she stayed to the conservative skirt-and-robe style.

Cao Xuan folded his hands politely. “Donghuang, Cloud Prefecture, Cao Xuan—my respects, maiden.”

“From your manner, you seem to know this Azure Cloud Assembly well,” he added.

Hanhan had arrived earlier than Cao Xuan and his party. Her fellow disciples had already gone into their matches, and she had just come off the platform when she happened upon them.

The Assembly had already been running for a day. But because of Elder Xian Xiangqiu, no one pushed them, so they assumed it had started only that day.

In truth, that was a small kindness from Xian Xiangqiu.

After all, arriving a day late could eliminate a large number of participants, and everyone’s pressure would ease a bit.

So though Xian Xiangqiu seemed frosty to the touch, he was warm at heart and had already arranged things early for Cloud Prefecture.

“Cloud Prefecture… this place feels oddly familiar!”

Hanhan didn’t answer Cao Xuan right away. She thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up.

“It’s the sect where Elder Xian Xiangqiu resides!”

Before Cao Xuan could even react, Hanhan stepped forward and took both his hands, shaking them.

“I admire your Elder Xian Xiangqiu very much!”

Li Yao, clearly annoyed, moved forward and brushed her hands off. “Admire him all you want, just don’t start touching my junior disciple!”

Hanhan didn’t mind the interruption and let out a little chuckle.

Then she seemed to remember what Cao Xuan had said earlier.

“There’s no real mystery to the Azure Cloud Assembly. Spend one day here and you’ll know everything important.”

She glanced at the tokens in everyone’s hands. “We were also shocked yesterday by the number of entrants.”

“Do you know what it takes to advance into the top one hundred?”

Cao Xuan and his companions had only checked their numbers, not the rules. Ye Caixuan and the others quickly pulled out their identity tokens to look again.

Hanhan answered plainly. “You must accumulate one hundred victories within this fortnight. Lose three times and you’re out.

“Also, every ten consecutive wins raises your opponent tier. For example, you might start against someone in Early Foundation Establishment, then move on to Mid-Early Foundation Establishment.”

Once they saw their tokens and found no further explanation beyond the one-hundred-victory threshold, everyone leaned in to listen.

When Hanhan said this, Xing Mengfan—who rarely spoke—finally voiced it. “But for people at our level, mid-stage Foundation Establishment, how does this matching even start?”

“By the rules, the first ten rounds are against Early Foundation Establishment. For them, aren’t we too strong by comparison?”

Hanhan snapped her fingers and pointed at Xing Mengfan. “That junior sister asks the right question.”

“This matching system was told to me by a senior brother earlier, but there’s luck involved too.”

“By looking at your number tags, you can tell this Assembly has more than ten thousand entrants. Maybe several tens of thousands. No one even keeps a proper count, and I don’t know either.”

Hanhan looked up at the battles in the sky, eyes fierce. “Cultivation is like thousands of people crossing a single-plank bridge. The purpose of this Azure Cloud Assembly, at heart, is to filter out the strong.”

“So the rules are meant for the strong.”

At that sentence, Cao Xuan understood at once.

“So what you mean is, if I activate my identity token now and start, the matching will favor me and give me opponents from Early Foundation Establishment?”

“And if I’m matched to someone else, I just have bad luck on my side, right?”

Hanhan clapped. “Exactly. It depends on luck.”

“For example, I am a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. So far I’ve won sixteen matches and lost one.”

“By the rules, I should be matched against Mid-Early Foundation Establishment, but, unfortunately, in my seventeenth match I ran into a ‘local’ from the Central Realm.”

When they saw Hanhan with clenched teeth and exaggerated expression, they roughly understood: that “local” was a Foundation Establishment disciple of the Central Realm Azure Cloud Sect.

She said in a dramatic tone, “It’s only been one day, and she was already almost at a hundred-consecutive-win point; by the rules she should have been matched with late-stage Foundation Establishment practitioners.”

“And then I got careless. As soon as I was riding high after sixteen straight wins, I jumped right into contest mode.”

“And then,” she pointed toward the floating ring in the sky, “straight up I went.”

“Luckily, I was quick-witted. With my combat-read of the opponent’s power, I knew I was no match and surrendered at once, so I didn’t get seriously hurt!”

She looked shaken. “If you’ve made it into the top one hundred, you can at least spend one Dao-Base pill and still afford one loss. I can’t let myself be seriously injured here!”

“Next time I must fight with everything I have, or two losses in a row and there’ll be no room for mistakes.”

Lose three times and you’re eliminated—meaning you can afford two losses, then you must reach a hundred total wins to make the Top One Hundred.

At the mention of the Dao-Base pill, a thought struck Cao Xuan sharply, and he pulled out a porcelain vial. “Is this a Dao-Base pill?”

Cao Xuan was bold in his own training, and he did not care to flaunt his possessions; he could read Hanhan’s level clearly. Even if a fitting chance arose, he would not mind giving a little in return.

Seeing him offer the porcelain bottle, Hanhan paused for a moment, then took it with casual ease.

After checking it, she said, “Yes, it is a Dao-Base pill. Damn—what should I call you, junior brother? Brother? Forget it. Cao Xuan, this is amazing. Where did you get it?”

In the Azure Cloud Sect, people usually address each other as senior or junior brothers and sisters according to cultivation level. Hanhan was at late-stage Foundation Establishment, so she could easily tell that Xing Mengfan was mid-stage Foundation Establishment, but she could not read Cao Xuan’s level.

She might call someone “elder brother” if he were of the same realm or one tier higher, but if he were lower she’d lose face, so she used his name instead.

Cao Xuan did not care what title she used.

The Dao-Base pill in her palm was the same pill Bai Tianxiang had given him earlier.

“No one, a senior sister gave it,” she said. “By the way, what effect does this Dao-Base pill have?”