Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 87: Tournament Drawing Lots

The sects who came to watch the sect tournament all had their own purposes, nothing more than to observe the tournament and to make contact with promising young talents.

Zhanjin Sect was no exception. Its sect master had brought disciples over early, since every year they provided artifact-repair services for the major sects, giving them a special status.

Similarly, there were also sects like the Pill Sect and the Medical Sect, all staying near the circle of the Five Great Sects.

At this moment, in the hall where Zhanjin Sect was stationed, a man was gripping the Suhui Jade Disk in his hand, looking coldly at the steward kneeling on the ground. "What is this thing?"

"It was deliberately put out by someone. We couldn’t trace its source," the kneeling steward replied, sweating profusely. "For some reason, everyone is saying that person is from Qianji Sect."

He had checked it more than ten times, but only saw a partial profile, with no clear identifying symbols on the person. Although Qianji Sect’s robes were indeed black.

"Of course you wouldn’t know." The man slammed the jade disk hard against the steward’s head. The disk bounced to the ground and shattered instantly. "That person from Qianji Sect made a complete spectacle on Kunlun’s Xiantai with a broken flying vessel just days ago. That face is burned into everyone’s minds! Unless you’re blind, you should know who that is!"

The steward, who hadn’t yet arrived in Kunlun a few days ago, was completely confused, but didn’t dare ask at such a moment, just bowed his head and admitted fault.

The man standing in the hall took a deep breath and asked again, "Qianji Sect is competing on the Eastern stage, and even selling magical artifacts on the arena, why have I never heard of it?"

He knew there were a few people from Qianji Sect on the Eastern list, but had never really paid attention, only remembering there were two Qianji Sect disciples on the Baiqing Rankings, both fairly average.

So he had always assumed it was just another sect with the same name, and no one below had bothered to report it.

The steward on the ground quietly glanced at the woman next to him. "I reported it before," he said.

The man’s gaze shifted toward the woman in the bright yellow Daoist robe on his left, his tone cold as ice: "Elder Fan, did you know about this?"

The woman in the yellow robe stepped forward and cupped her hands in respect. "Sect Master, I investigated the magical artifacts they sold, they were very ordinary. And since you had just advanced your cultivation recently and had many matters to handle, I did not trouble you with it."

She moved her hand and took out a scroll, passing it to the man opposite.

Zuo Shengyuan unrolled the scroll. It recorded every magical artifact Qianji Sect had sold on the Eastern stage and indeed, they were all common items with no highlights.

"I was only worried Elder Fan still had feelings for her old sect," Zuo Shengyuan put away the scroll and tossed it back to her, showing a hint of a smile. "From now on, no matter how busy I am, anything about Qianji Sect must be reported to me."

"Father, what’s this?" A young man dressed in bright yellow robes, with a jade crown and black hair, walked in. Seeing the steward kneeling in front of the hall and Elder Fan still standing respectfully, he looked slightly puzzled.

"It’s nothing. Why are you back alone?" Zuo Shengyuan asked. "Where’s Daiyu?"

"She’s at Xuanji Peak with Master Su," Zuo Wenxuan replied.

Zuo Shengyuan’s expression softened slightly. Master Lu Chenhan’s master was on Xuanji Peak, so if Hua Daiyu was up there, she might run into Lu Chenhan.

"Father, this Suhui Jade Disk, I saw quite a few people with it yesterday." Zuo Wenxuan bent down to pick up the broken jade disk. "That Monk's Spade with Heaven’s blessing was refined by the person in this video."

"Heaven’s blessing is just a stroke of luck," Zuo Shengyuan sneered coldly. "No one can be lucky forever."

"Since that Monk's Spade was made by Qianji Sect, I hope they stop trying to ride on our Zhanjin Sect’s name," Zuo Wenxuan said impatiently, pinching a piece of the broken jade disk. "These past few months, people keep asking Daiyu and me to refine another tool with Heaven’s blessing."

Zuo Shengyuan, who had secretly fueled these rumors, fell silent: "……"

"The Cold Crystal Mud, have you found out any news?" Zuo Shengyuan continued questioning the steward still kneeling. "Where did Wendong Materials Shop get it, and how dare they take it out in the open?"

"They only said they suddenly took it out, claiming it was a material their business had treasured for many years," the steward said with his head lowered. "In order to survive, they had no choice but to sell it."

Zuo Shengyuan twisted the thumb ring on his finger forcefully. "Don’t let them sell it. If Wendong Materials Shop tries to auction it off, have someone sabotage the deal."

The steward was silent for a long moment, then said, "…The news only came out after Wendong had already lined up a buyer."

Zuo Shengyuan’s chest visibly heaved up and down a few times. He swept out a wave of spiritual energy with force, knocking the steward to the ground. "I told you to gather intelligence, did you feed all of it to the dogs?"

The steward flipped over, hurriedly crawled back, and knelt down again. "The buyer is the Shangque Sect."

As one of the Five Great Sects, if they wanted to cover up the news so no other sects found out, it wouldn’t be difficult.

"Shangque Sect?" Zuo Shengyuan recalled. "They want to repair that ancient zither."

"Sect Master," Elder Fan raised her head, "since Shangque Sect wants to repair the ancient zither, in the end they will certainly bring the Cold Crystal Mud to us personally. Besides us, who else has the skill to repair it? And Wendong Materials Shop is no real threat, a materials house with no resources, trying to survive on a single drop of Cold Crystal Mud, cannot save itself."

Hearing this, Zuo Shengyuan paused to think, then calmed down again and waved for the steward to withdraw. "You are right."

"Now that Sect Master has reached the middle stage of the Great Vehicle realm, I believe it won’t be long before Shangque Sect asks you to personally restore that ancient zither," Elder Fan continued.

"You all may leave," Zuo Shengyuan said as he sat down. "I need to look for some manuals on repairing ancient zithers."

……

Ye Su had no idea what was happening over at Zhanjin Sect. She was currently on the road to the sect competition arena. Today, the four regional participants plus the Kunlun disciples, a total of five thousand admission tokens, all had to be submitted for the drawing of match pairings.

Ming Liu Sha and the other two had stayed behind in the courtyard to refine artifacts and organize the materials sent by Huang Erqian.

"We’re putting all our admission tokens in together," Lu Jiu said, uncharacteristically nervous. "If we draw one of our own, that’ll be trouble."

The sect grand competition was different from the preliminary rounds. On the first day, the participants from the four regions plus the Kunlun disciples— totaling five thousand, would each draw a lot, then face off. If you lost even one match, you were eliminated.

In past years, there had been people with poor luck who could have made it to the top ten, but ended up meeting a powerhouse in the very first round and going straight out.

"Just do your best," Ye Su said, holding two admission tokens in her hand. One for herself, one for her junior disciple.

You Fushi was following right behind her, empty-handed, with the Chongming Sword already stored back in his qiankun bag.

All along the road, people could not help sneaking glances at him.

On the first day of the sect grand competition, there was only the lottery drawing, but everyone had to show up.

The first-place disciple of Shangque Sect from the northern region, the first-place disciple of Hehuan Sect from the southern region, and the new Buddha Child of Ten Thousand Buddha Sect from the western region were all already standing at the very front of the arena.

When Kunlun’s Lu Chenhan walked out, the entire place fell silent. Everyone was unconsciously drawn to him, holding their breath. This was the number one genius of the younger generation in the cultivation world!

Just standing there, he emanated a powerful sword aura, dazzlingly brilliant.

Ning Qianyao stood in the crowd, gazing at Lu Chenhan from afar, her doe-like eyes glistening with tears, cheeks flushed red. No matter when or where, Brother Lu was always the brightest star.

Lu Chenhan carried his sword as he stepped into the arena. He was long used to all the gazes around him, filled with all sorts of emotions, and paid them no mind at all.

They were just people who would be eliminated sooner or later.

He paused, trying to find the person he wanted to see and met the gaze of the new Buddha Child from the western region, Gu Liangtian.

When their eyes met, the entire arena’s atmosphere seemed to grow tense, to the point that some lower-level sword cultivators could not even hold their swords steady; their swords began to hum and tremble.

"Move." You Fushi had somehow arrived next to Lu Chenhan, pointing at the "East One" marker on the ground, and said impatiently, "That’s my spot."

That mortal had taken their admission tokens to be submitted, leaving him to find the spot on his own, and when he arrived he found someone even uglier than Yi Xuan standing in his place.

Lu Chenhan felt a shock in his heart. He hadn’t noticed anyone approaching him at all.

When You Fushi appeared, the entire arena seemed to suddenly come to life.

Originally, Lu Chenhan had looked incredibly outstanding, but in an instant, he was overshadowed and dropped to only about sixty percent of that brilliance.

Everyone unconsciously began to ignore Kunlun’s Lu Chenhan, and started talking about You Fushi instead.

"That must be the first place from the eastern region!"

"My uncle was right, you’d know him immediately the moment he appeared."

"My elder martial uncle also said the best-looking one would definitely be first place in the east."

"That day on the Immortal Platform, the cultivator sitting next to him was also really good-looking."

"Just one? I thought there wasn’t a single ugly person on that whole flying vessel."

"You calling me?" Mei Chouren looked back toward a few rows behind him and asked.

The disciples in the back rows of the southern region: "……"

Lu Chenhan stepped forward a few steps, then turned around: "Are you You Fushi, first place of the eastern region? I look forward to facing you in the competition."

You Fushi didn’t bother acknowledging strangers especially ugly ones.

He lowered his head and stepped right onto the "East One" mark on the ground, then stood there waiting for Ye Su to come back.

Those around them, who had already been eavesdropping with their ears pricked, couldn’t help drawing in a sharp breath.

This first place from the eastern region, if his looks didn’t kill you, then his manner certainly would.

Ye Su had just finished handing in the admission tokens and was returning with Yi Xuan. As they walked over, they saw Lu Chenhan standing in front of You Fushi.

"In a bit the presiding elder will begin drawing lots randomly from the admission tokens," Ye Su glanced over, then withdrew her gaze, taking out a chair from her qiankun bag and placing it next to You Fushi. "You can’t leave until it’s done."

When they saw You Fushi actually sit down, everyone sucked in another breath of air.

Next to him was Kunlun’s strongest disciple, Lu Chenhan yet these people from Qianji Sect not only ignored him, but even had the nerve to pull out a chair and sit down.

So arrogant. Way too arrogant.

What Lu Chenhan thought in his heart didn’t show on his face. He even nodded slightly at You Fushi before turning to leave.

Once everyone had handed in their admission tokens, they needed to wait for the randomly drawn match pairings to be announced, starting with the first places from each region.

Ye Su also pulled out a chair and sat in the back to wait patiently.

The Kunlun elder in charge of the drawing looked around the arena, his gaze landing on You Fushi at the very front. There was clearly a hint of displeasure between his brows, but in the end, he said nothing.

— After all, the sect competition rules did not state you couldn’t sit in a chair during the drawing.

"If I’d known, I would have brought a cushioned chair too," Mei Chouren turned to Yan Hao and said. "Those artifact refiners really have all the tricks."

Yan Hao was gently waving a pink feather fan and replied, "Next time, whatever you want to do, go ask them first."

"The drawing of lots for this sect grand competition will now officially begin. Kunlun’s first place and the first places of the four regions, please step forward," the presiding elder announced in a loud voice.

After drawing lots, the matches would start on the second day, with a schedule lasting ten days. This round alone would eliminate about half of the contestants.

The presiding elder raised his hand, and a scroll unfurled and floated in midair. First to appear on it was Lu Chenhan’s name, and after a moment, another name showed up.

—Zhang Shan.

Zhang Shan, ranked ninth in the eastern region, saw his name appear on the scroll, and his face instantly turned ashen. He was probably going to be eliminated in the very first match.

"Not everyone gets the chance to go up against Lu Chenhan," Cheng Huaian turned around to say to Zhang Shan in the back row. "You should seize this opportunity."

If he performed well, he could still make a name for himself in the cultivation world.