Chapter 103: Who Said Disciples of the Central Province Aren't Cautious?

When Ru Hanhan heard Cao Xuan say this, she pondered for a moment, then a hint of understanding appeared on her face.

Cao Xuan of Yun Prefecture possessing a Dao Foundation Pill—was that really so strange?

Cao Xuan, however, did not think as much as she imagined. He simply found it troublesome; if he had to investigate what the pill did, it would waste too much time.

Ru Hanhan explained directly: "The Dao Foundation Pill can help stabilize one's Dao foundation, promote the fusion of essence, qi, and spirit, and condense a Golden Core!"

"You could say it raises the chance of forming a core by about ten percent."

Hearing this, Cao Xuan nodded, while Liu Yu and the others wore expressions of envy.

A ten percent chance at core formation—that was already a lot, wasn't it?

Many people might go their entire lives without even seeing a ten percent chance!

"Unfortunately, this pill can't be taken in excess, otherwise it wouldn't just be a reward for the top hundred!" Ru Hanhan said regretfully, though her eyes still carried deep envy.

For her, this Azure Cloud Dharma Assembly held no grand ambitions; just one Dao Foundation Pill would be enough to feel complete.

At that moment, everyone noticed the token hanging at Ru Hanhan's waist light up, and she smiled and waved her hand.

"It looks like my turn has come up. I'll head to the stage first. You all should hurry too—if the half-month limit arrives and you haven't gathered a hundred victories, you'll be automatically eliminated!"

With that, Ru Hanhan's form flickered with light, and she was teleported onto a platform suspended in midair.

Seeing her leave, Cao Xuan smiled and said, "Let's begin as well. It doesn't have to be a spot in the top hundred. As I see it, as long as we rack up wins, there are plenty of rewards that benefit Foundation Establishment cultivation."

"Do our best," Liu Yu responded, not sounding entirely confident.

Everyone activated their tokens simultaneously, waiting to be matched with an opponent.

Cao Xuan found it somewhat amusing for a moment, recalling a phrase from his past life: "Now matching you with an evenly matched opponent!"

Whenever those words were spoken, the opponents usually turned out to be vastly mismatched in strength.

Li Yao, however, grew nervous at that moment. She grabbed Cao Xuan's hand and said, "Junior Brother, what if I lose on my very first match!"

Seeing Li Yao like this, Cao Xuan found it rather funny. So even Senior Sister Li Yao had her moments of fear.

Still, he smiled and said, "Senior Sister, don't worry. You're a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator—if anything, it's the others who should be afraid of you!"

"Besides, you usually draw a fair number of talismans, right? I noticed the rules of this competition also state that talismans and pills you refine yourself can be brought into the arena!"

"And if worse comes to worst, when you face someone you're not confident against, just fling a whole stack of talismans at them. If that still doesn't work, surrender—simple as that."

Hearing Cao Xuan's words, Li Yao's eyes lit up. "Mwah~" She planted a kiss on Cao Xuan's cheek. "Junior Brother, you're so clever! Why didn't I think of that!"

Then Cao Xuan watched as Li Yao pulled out a handful of talismans.

He covered his face. Oh no—was he about to witness a pay-to-win cultivator thrashing the broke cultivators?

Master Yu Wan had never been sparing in assigning Li Yao homework—and that homework was always drawing talismans.

Over the past year, Cao Xuan had watched Li Yao produce several thousand late-stage Foundation Establishment talismans.

That was also why Li Yao had initially worried that Master would burden Cao Xuan with talisman-drawing duties as well, preferring to let him touch the great thunderbolt rather than take on talisman work.

Thinking that Senior Sister might even have tens of thousands of talismans left over from her mid-stage Foundation Establishment days, Cao Xuan felt a headache coming on.

If he couldn't defeat an opponent in a single strike, Cao Xuan had a feeling he might not even be a match for Li Yao himself.

"Hum—"

Suddenly, the identity tokens of all six people present lit up at once, a testament to just how many participants filled the venue.

The quicker a "game" matched players, the more it said about the numbers!

Ye Caixuan suddenly spoke up: "Wait—the few of us shouldn't end up matched against each other, right?"

Her words made everyone's hearts clench. They had forgotten about that.

It wasn't that they were afraid of anything—meeting a fellow disciple wasn't a big deal, and no one would go all out—but the key issue was wasting a loss.

Whoever it was, because of that one loss, might have otherwise won several more matches.

Cao Xuan quickly said, "After we come out, let's gather here. If possible, stagger our matchmaking!"

"And of course, if there's no one around, you can also match on your own like Ru Hanhan did!"

Everyone nodded, and then they felt the world spin around them again.

When Cao Xuan shook his head to clear his vision, he found himself standing on a floating islet, with a disciple in a green robe facing him on the other side.

The Azure Cloud Sect's standard green robes looked similar at a glance, but the material of the cloud motifs varied.

Like the outer disciple with one cloud stripe across from him—upon seeing the three cloud stripes marking Cao Xuan as a direct disciple—both understood each other's identities.

An outer disciple at Foundation Establishment was certainly from Central Province, while Cao Xuan's status as a direct disciple made it obvious he couldn't be a Nascent Soul cultivator from Central Province. The only possibility was that he was from a vassal sect in another region!

The disciple sensed Cao Xuan's aura, found he couldn't perceive anything at all, and muttered, "What rotten luck!"

Cao Xuan's expression turned cold. He summoned an Azure Cloud Sword and twirled it into a flourish of sword flowers.

"I surrender!"

Wait, dude!

Cao Xuan was utterly bewildered. You say "rotten luck," and I thought you were looking down on cultivators from other regions—but then you just surrender? What's that about?

Of course, Cao Xuan had also sensed that his opponent was an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

He had read plenty of novels in his past life—tales of defeating enemies above one's level, defying prodigies, and so on.

And Central Province had a long-standing reputation. He didn't want to capsize in a ditch.

But the man was decisive—he surrendered outright!

What Cao Xuan didn't know was that this Azure Cloud Dharma Assembly had an uncountable number of Central Province outer disciples participating.

There were plenty ranging from early-stage to peak Foundation Establishment, and in most cases, early-stage matched early-stage, late-stage matched late-stage—that much could be managed.

Among the vassal sects from the four regions—the Eastern Wasteland, Southern Frontier, Northern Territory, and Western Sea Archipelago—only the Western Sea Archipelago could send somewhat more people, barely over a hundred.

And not all who came were above mid-stage Foundation Establishment either. Some sects were so weak that their sect master might only be at peak Foundation Establishment, and sending an early-stage disciple was already the best they could do.

After sensing Cao Xuan, the man had realized that Cao Xuan clearly did not belong to that category.

Invincible at the same realm, perhaps even capable of crossing one level—Central Province had that confidence.

But this was only the second day of the Azure Cloud Dharma Assembly. The disciple felt his luck couldn't stay this bad forever.

So rather than bet on Cao Xuan being mid-stage Foundation Establishment, it was simpler to just surrender on the spot.

Besides, even if Cao Xuan were mid-stage, winning would be a struggle—and getting injured over it wasn't worth it.

Xian Xiangqiu had earlier urged Cao Xuan not to participate, knowing how fierce this competition would be—though of course, she meant the later stages. She feared Cao Xuan might get hurt and affect his future cultivation.

What she probably hadn't expected was that she wasn't alone in thinking that way—Central Province cultivators thought the same.

For early and mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, they had no illusions about making the top hundred. Their purpose in joining this Azure Cloud Dharma Assembly was to leech some free cultivation resources.

A flash of light, and Cao Xuan abruptly found that aside from Jin Tiehua, the other four had reappeared in the same spot, just like him.

"Junior Brother, just as you said—the moment I pulled out a stack of talismans, the opponent surrendered!" Li Yao said excitedly.

Cao Xuan wore an expression of "as long as you're happy." He could roughly guess what the man she had faced was thinking.

"Huh? Where's Junior Brother Jin?" Li Yao asked in confusion.