Chapter 503 - 223: Refusing to Join! Too Proud!
Who will come out on top? Yuchi wanted to know which sects he needed to pay attention to in the upcoming Ascension Gate tournament. After all, if the major sects monopolized it, he would definitely need to keep a low profile. It’s not purely out of fear, but because his "Zong Liangqing" was new to the scene; while Ascension Gate could become very powerful in the future, for now, it’s still too young.
It’s impossible for a novice to take out members of some major forces right from the start. If that happened, either the novice was cheating, or those so-called major forces were just washed-up.
"I, Zong Liangqing, am not cheating!"
The Ascension Gate exerts quite a force in training disciples, but this doesn’t prevent other sects from doing the same in the Ascension Gate tournament.
Other sects will continue to choose to intensively train certain disciples at this critical moment, so these disciples can bring them honor.
It’s impossible for all sects to be inferior to the current Ascension Gate; that would be too unrealistic.
The cultivators at the inn heard what Yuchi said, but they weren’t overly concerned. After all, they were just chatting and exchanging information, which was not a secret.
A white-bearded old cultivator holding a wine gourd said, "Young friend, looking at the history of the Ascension Gate tournament, I think the Purple Gold Sect is pretty formidable."
"Yes, last time the Purple Gold Sect was quite impressive, a colossal sect, known as a prominent force in our Third State."
People nearby nodded:
"The Purple Gold Sect is indeed good, but if you’re talking about having an overwhelming advantage, not quite. I’ve heard some rumors that the Purple Gold Sect’s elder was poached by another sect. As for which sect the elder went to, that’s unclear, but this elder had previously trained many formidable disciples, and had a lot of powerful followers under his command."
"He went to the Da Xin Sect," someone in the crowd said.
Da Xin Sect? Da Xin Sect is powerful, right? Last time in the Ascension Gate tournament, they seemed to rank in double digits?
"They were ranked forty-seventh."
"Forty-seventh, impressive. Among so many sects, getting a forty-seventh rank is quite a remarkable statistic!"
The crowd continued to chat in whispers, getting more excited as the discussion progressed. This inn has never lacked visitors; when one group leaves, a new group enters, gathering and chatting.
To many cultivators, most of the information isn’t really secret; what they know includes these things. But for Yuchi, he was unfamiliar with anything that anyone said.
After starting the conversation, he sat in the corner quietly drinking tea. To note the name of every sect would be too difficult.
He could only roughly summarize the situation of the Ascension Gate tournament. After three or four hours passed, and the sky turned dark, he felt satisfied.
He didn’t leave the inn, continuing to listen to conversations late into the night, contemplating the information he had gathered.
"First, aiming for first place in the Ascension Gate tournament means at least preparing to train a hundred disciples well."
This alone left Yuchi shocked.
As for why he said this, it involves explaining the rules of the Ascension Gate tournament. The tournament never restricts how many disciples a sect can bring — you can bring ten thousand disciples if you have the ability. But regardless of how many disciples, they all need to be well trained.
From the perspective of Ascension Gate itself, Qinghan is currently at the Qi Cultivation Realm. If she wins the tournament this time, the next time her cultivation evaluation could significantly increase, thus providing positive help to Ascension Gate.
Similarly, if all five disciples of Ascension Gate perform well, that would be positive, resulting in a good overall effect.
But there are still too few people.
Other sects simultaneously train a hundred disciples. Even if some disciples ultimately cannot provide positive contributions to the sect, like constantly losing matches, or their cultivation level stagnates, as long as the training intensity is appropriate, the overall effect is still good.
This relates to planting; the Ascension Gate tournament looks at the total amount.
Ascension Gate is like an excellent plant with large fruits but few in number. After many years of nurturing, the effect of fruit increase is good, and they can be well cared for, but the increase is still too limited.
Other major sects cultivate a whole orchard, which has a massive quantity. Even if some fruits are neglected and wither, the total still looks good.
Thus, winning sects in the Ascension Gate tournament generally train at least a hundred disciples and ensure the rate of cultivation increase for these hundred disciples!
This rate might not be outstanding, and even may not surpass Ascension Gate, but they can’t be beaten because they bring large numbers simultaneously.
"Regarding the first point, I understand the organizer’s intention: they hope more disciples receive attention, rather than only a few isolated disciples being very strong. So even if the rate of cultivation increase for certain individual disciples isn’t top-notch, if the overall performance is excellent, then it’s considered excellent."
Yuchi felt quite relaxed:
"Hmm... So our Ascension Gate brought five... Unless my five disciples miraculously ascend and all achieve unparalleled excellence within this century, relying on just five disciples, it’s impossible to dominate the Ascension Gate tournament."