: The Heavenly Mist Platform and the Beginning of the Grand Competition

The place where the Ascension Ceremony was held was called Tianwutai, located in a secluded mountain range southeast of Lanzhou.

This mountain range is shrouded in a bewitching array. If one rashly enters without knowing the way, even a cultivator in the Qi Refining stage will be affected by the array and lose their way.

On this day, a man of about eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing a straw hat and a light gray robe, arrived outside the mountains of Tianwutai.

It was Li Yunfan who came here alone after parting ways with Han Li.

Looking at the mountains shrouded in mist, he took out a communication talisman, activated it with a spell, and then waved it into the air. The talisman instantly transformed into a streak of fire and shot into the formation.

A moment later, the formation suddenly emitted a fluctuation, and then slowly revealed a hole that could only be entered by one person.

Seeing this, Li Yunfan went straight inside without any hesitation.

When he saw the scene before him, he couldn't help but be amazed. The seven major sects were indeed orthodox immortal sects, and their strength and wealth were far beyond what ordinary immortal cultivation families could compare to.

The entire Tianwutai is situated in a huge valley surrounded by mountains.

The valley is very spacious, and in the center there is a huge plaza, which is more than four or five times larger than that of Tainan Valley.

Above the plaza, a platform several meters in size, entirely gray, with its surface engraved with various complex spiritual patterns, floated silently in mid-air.

On the front of the platform are two large gilded characters: "Tianwu".

Around the square, seven stone platforms, each over ten feet in size, surrounded the square. Behind each platform hung a giant flag, with the representative symbols of the seven sects embroidered on it.

Upon closer inspection, Li Yunfan noticed a silver greatsword embroidered on the flag of the leftmost platform, while a strange beast's head was embroidered on the flag of the platform to its right...

As Li Yunfan looked around, these high platforms, from left to right, represented the seven sects: Giant Sword Sect, Spirit Beast Mountain, Heavenly Palace Fortress, Blade Transformation Valley, Moon Concealment Sect, Pure Void Sect, and Yellow Maple Valley.

"It seems that this Ascension Ceremony is not arranged according to the strength of the sects, otherwise the sect on the far left would not be the Giant Sword Sect, but the Hidden Moon Sect..."

After thinking it over, Li Yunfan took a deep breath and walked towards the central square.

At this moment, many cultivators were already queuing up to register in front of the seven sects' high platform in the square.

"Wow, there are so many people..." Li Yunfan couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Looking at the cultivators gathered in the square, a rough estimate suggests there are probably as many as ten thousand!

Upon reaching the high platform in Huangfeng Valley, Li Yunfan joined the last place in the queue.

He arrived relatively early, and there weren't many people in line ahead of him. About half an hour later, it was his turn to have his bone age tested.

In front of him was a wooden table about half a meter long, on which sat a spherical magical artifact the size of a human head.

Sitting behind the table, the cultivator dressed in the robes of a Yellow Maple Valley disciple glanced at Li Yunfan and said, "Place your hand on this magic artifact. It will test your bone age. Anyone over forty years old will not be qualified to participate in the Ascension Conference."

Upon hearing this, Li Yunfan raised his right hand and placed it on the magic artifact. He immediately felt a warm current flow from the artifact, which entered his body through his palm and circulated through his limbs before returning to the spherical artifact.

After glancing at the text displayed on the magical artifact, the cultivator asked again, "Your bone age is eighteen. What's your name? Where are you from? What level of cultivation are you?"

"Li Yunfan, from the Li family of Qingmu Mountain in Jianzhou, has a cultivation level of thirteen levels of Qi Refining."

The cultivator paused, his brush poised to strike, and looked up at Li Yunfan in shock.

"Thirteenth level of Qi Refining??"

Li Yunfan nodded calmly: "That's right, is there a problem?"

Upon hearing this, the cultivator regained his composure, but a trace of shock still lingered in his eyes as he said, "No problem, this is your number plate!"

Li Yunfan accepted the number plate and glanced at it briefly. He found that the number plate was made of ordinary spirit wood, with his competition number "513" engraved on the front and a yellow maple leaf carved on the back.

Li Yunfan raised an eyebrow slightly: "There are already more than five hundred people...?"

After leaving the registration area, Li Yunfan walked to the side of the platform and found a quiet spot where there weren't many people, waiting for the conference to begin.

About two hours later, with a loud gong sound, the Ascension Ceremony officially began.

"It's finally starting!"

Li Yunfan looked up at the Sky Mist Platform, which was suspended in the air. He saw seven Foundation Establishment cultivators of different ages, dressed in the robes of the seven sects, standing on the platform and looking at the many Qi Refining cultivators below the square.

"This Ascension Ceremony will be overseen by the seven of us. As in previous years, each of the seven sects will only have ten slots. Only those who rank in the top ten will be accepted into the sect to which the battle stage belongs..."

He then explained the competition rules to everyone. Simply put, the two sides in the competition are determined by their numbers. The cultivator ranked first fights the cultivator ranked last, the second fights the second to last, and so on, until all the battles are over. Only the winners can qualify for the next round of the competition.

If only one person remains at the end, that person will directly advance to the next round of the competition.

The way to win is simple: either the opponent leaves the arena to indicate surrender, or you completely defeat them, rendering them unable to fight any longer.

"...I now declare the Ascension Ceremony officially open!"

As the person in charge of the Heavenly Mist Platform finished speaking, the disciples from various factions on the seven battle platforms announced the names of their participants.

At this moment, on the battle platform in Huangfeng Valley, a man who was nearly forty years old was facing off against a young man in his twenties.

Both of them were at the tenth level of Qi Refining, which is considered quite high among the many participants.

"Fellow Daoist, you're not young anymore, and you've only just reached the tenth level of Qi Refining. I imagine your aptitude isn't very high. Even if you manage to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill, the probability of successfully establishing your foundation is not high. Why bother getting involved in this mess?" the young man kindly advised.

The middle-aged man stared at the other man with a resolute expression, his long sword emitting bursts of spiritual energy, clearly indicating that he was ready to fight at any moment.

Upon seeing this, the young man's face suddenly turned cold, and he let out a cold snort: "You won't listen to reason, so you'll have to suffer the consequences..."

He then waved his hand and released his own magical artifact, a crescent-shaped arc artifact.

The next moment, the two launched their attacks almost simultaneously, their magical artifacts clashing repeatedly in mid-air, the clanging sounds of their weapons echoing across the battle platform...

Looking at the two fighting on the platform, Li Yunfan noticed that although they were both at the tenth level of Qi Refining, the younger man's strength and cultivation were clearly more profound, and his crescent-shaped magic weapon was also obviously of a higher level.

The middle-aged man, though weaker in cultivation, was superior in combat skills.

"It seems the young man is from a family, while the middle-aged man is a rogue cultivator..."

After several rounds of fighting, the middle-aged man's face turned pale, while the young man laughed loudly.

He suddenly raised both hands, pouring his spiritual energy into the crescent-shaped magic weapon above his head. Then, with a loud shout, he swung his hands down forcefully, and the magic weapon shot straight at the middle-aged man like an arrow.

Upon seeing this, the middle-aged man's eyes rapidly shifted between several expressions. Finally, he gritted his teeth and poured all the remaining magical artifacts within his body into the longsword in his hand, intending to fight to the death...

Seeing this, Li Yunfan shook his head with some regret. In his opinion, the middle-aged man was bound to lose.

As expected, as the longsword and the crescent wheel clashed in mid-air, the longsword magic weapon only held on for a few breaths before emitting a crisp breaking sound, as it was actually cut in half by the crescent wheel magic weapon.

The middle-aged man's face turned deathly pale as his magical artifact was destroyed, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Before he could react, the crescent-shaped magical artifact slammed into the ground in front of the middle-aged man, sending him flying.

Clearly, the young man from the family was not a murderer; otherwise, this attack would have definitely cut the middle-aged man in half.

As the disciples of Huangfeng Valley announced the young man's victory from the high platform, the first battle came to an end.

The disciple then named two other cultivators.

In battles between Qi Refining stage cultivators, unless they are evenly matched, the outcome is usually decided in a short time.

Several hours later, more than two hundred matches had been played. After the disciples of Huangfeng Valley announced the two sides for the next battle, Li Yunfan finally faced his first battle...