For the next more than a month, Lu Zhong spent most of his time practicing talisman painting.
In your spare time, take the time to write a storybook.
With Li Hejun and his two daughters around, he didn't need to worry about printing books.
Hua Ben's income continued to flow, and he no longer had to go out to work hard to set up a stall. He was able to devote his energy to cultivation, and in an unexpected way, he lived the life he had imagined before.
With a solid foundation for making talismans, the practice of golden light talismans has made progress little by little.
At the same time, the preparations of the mechanism beast group have not fallen behind.
The machine beast body ordered from the workshop is delivered on the agreed date. After the machine soul is installed inside, a copper leopard machine beast with combat power equivalent to the early stage of Qi refining is considered to be assembled.
Taking some time to find some time, Lu Zhong found a group of water-playing beasts to practice. He accidentally discovered it when he was looking for a soul-raising place last time. Their nest was located in a cave under the river. If he hadn't happened to see a group of water-playing beasts going out to hunt for food, he would have almost died. It was impossible to discover this group of monsters.
The water-playing beast is a first-level monster that lives in groups, and its individual strength is similar to that of the bronze leopard mechanism beast.
In one battle, the entire nest of water-playing beasts will be wiped out.
The materials obtained were not converted into many spiritual stones, roughly one thousand spiritual stones.
Lu Zhong's biggest gain was not in the materials of these monster beasts, but in the actual combat experience of controlling the machine beasts on a large scale.
Next, he focused all his energy on practicing the Golden Light Talisman.
On the eve of the ranking battle, a breakthrough was finally made.
After two months of dedicated study and practice, Lu Zhong has mastered the method of drawing the golden light talisman, and successfully drew the first golden light talisman today. Although it was just a moment of luck, it can prove whether the direction is correct or not.
He is confident that he can increase the success rate of making talismans to 30% before the ranking battle begins.
And this is the minimum requirement for assessing whether one has mastered a talisman.
…
Half a month passed.
The ranking battle begins today.
At dawn, Lu Zhong got up early.
Outside, Li Hejun and Hong Fu were holding hot water for breakfast. They had been waiting outside the door for a long time. They came to see their master off, and their actions were sincere. After all, if Lu Zhong could really become an outer disciple of Heling Sect, the two of them would also You can get some light from this and get a lot of benefits from it.
After washing up and eating meat porridge made from Lingmi, he went out.
Perhaps because of the start of the ranking battle, there were a lot more people on the street. Among them were many monks who had reached the late stage of Qi refining. They were either walking in groups or alone like Lu Zhong. , all heading towards the outer gate of Heling Sect where the ranking battle is held.
When we came to the mountain gate, there were more changes here than in the past.
On the normally snow-white white stone mountain gate, two long three-color banners were hung on the left and right. They were woven with brocade and were more than thirty feet long, with the emblem of the Heling Sect in white, blue and purple embroidered on the surface.
This emblem has a great origin, and the Heling Sect calls it "Three Spirits Return to One Seal".
They respectively represent the three inheritances of Heling Sect and have extremely special significance.
In addition to the two eye-catching flags, the roadside was also decorated with tricolor ribbons and pots of bright flower bouquets.
Walking on this carefully decorated avenue, all the monks participating in this ranking battle felt the feeling of being valued.
Keep going forward along the road, and at the end is a golden and glorious hall.
This hall is about ten feet high, which is obviously higher than the surrounding buildings.
The huge palace door is now closed.
Then, Lu Zhong followed the team and arrived at the square in front of the temple. Inside, there were more than thirty monks in different costumes standing or meditating, all participants in this ranking battle.
Xu Shi's people all arrived, and with a burst of drum music, the palace door slowly opened.
A group of people walked out of the main hall, wearing Heling Sect costumes of different colors. The leader was a short-bearded middle-aged man who was not angry and proud, exuding a powerful aura.
"It's the foundation-building monk!" Someone shouted.
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhong quickly removed his Qi-gazing technique to avoid being blinded again.
"The rules of the ranking battle are to determine the opponent after drawing lots, and the winner will be determined in one battle. The winner will continue to the next battle until the final winner is determined! You are only allowed to hurt people in the process, and you are not allowed to intentionally hurt people's lives, otherwise Disqualified from winning." The short-bearded middle-aged man said in a short and direct voice with a loud voice.
"Yes!" everyone below responded.
"Very good!" The short-bearded middle-aged man nodded with satisfaction.
Immediately, the lottery begins.
Lu Zhong and others took turns drawing lots to determine their respective opponents.
After getting the sign, Lu Zhong glanced at it and found that it was the word "seventeen".
A Heling Sect servant came over and said with great respect: "Master Immortal, your lottery number seventeen matches platform number nine. Please follow me."
Following this servant, he came to Channel 9.
On the stage, a bearded monk wearing a bearskin coat and standing with his hands behind his back turned his attention.
Seeing that Lu Zhong's aura was not as good as his own, he immediately showed a confident smile and suggested: "Fellow Taoist's cultivation level is one level lower than mine. In my opinion, there is no need to fight this time. Why don't you just admit defeat like this?" "
Lu Zhong chuckled, shook his head and said, "I don't think so."
At this time, a horse-faced Heling Sect disciple came from the audience. Hearing the conversation between the two, he said coldly: "Stop talking nonsense. Two games have been played on stage 1. Let me read out the rules again. , In addition to what Uncle Niu said about not killing people, the criterion for judging victory or defeat is that one of the parties admits defeat, which means that no matter what method is used, as long as the other party can admit defeat, it will be considered a win, do you two understand?"
"Understood." The bearded man said quickly.
What he got in exchange was just a bad face from the horse-faced monk.
When the man saw Lu Zhong nodding, he took out a token in his hand.
In an instant, a bowl-shaped shield was formed, covering the two of them.
After a moment, the tall man with beard flew out of the shield.
The horse-faced monk who had been watching the battle looked at Lu Zhong on the stage with a strange expression on his face, thinking that even if he could use any means, this person's methods were really beyond his expectation.
Looking towards the platform, you can see that it is full of machine beasts.
Except for the seven tiger and wolf machine beasts, the other machine beasts are not very strong, but all of them are rough-skinned and thick-flesh. They pile up one after another, and even a monk in the late stage of Qi refining cannot bear it, let alone a monk of the same level next to him.
Therefore, the man with the curly beard lost miserably.
The knowledgeable horse-faced monk shook his head and said to Lu Zhong on the stage, "Fellow Taoist, put the machine beast away. Your next show is on stage three. Please go over there."
More than seventy monks participating in the ranking battle took turns taking the field.
One battle begins and another ends.
Soon, the ranking results will come out.
With a final record of four wins and one loss, Lu Zhong was temporarily ranked twelfth. Later, with the bonus point of being a Talisman Maker, the ranking was adjusted to fifth.
This result was something he didn't expect.
Originally, according to Lu Zhong's prediction, he should be ranked seventh or eighth.
Wei Tie came over and said with a smile on his face: "Congratulations to Fellow Daoist Lu!"
"Congratulations, congratulations!" Lu Zhong knew that Wei Tie was ranked tenth and was also the winner of this ranking battle. To be honest, he had not expected this. It seemed that in this ranking battle, the winner of the seventh level of Qi Refining There are a lot of monks.
Counting him, Wei Tie, and two other seventh-level Qi Refining monks, they almost accounted for half of the ten places.
The reason why this is the case has a lot to do with the bonus points at the end of the ranking battle. Many monks have strong combat power, but they can't add many points, so they are overtaken by lower-ranked monks.
…
In the Golden Palace, the ten people who had just won gathered here.
Standing or sitting, they are distributed throughout the temple
"Does anyone know what we are waiting for?" A beautiful female cultivator wearing a green skirt asked the people around her with her hands raised: "Is there any fellow Taoist who is willing to help me solve my doubts?"
"I know this. After I win the ranking battle, in addition to being accepted into the Heling Sect, I will also have the opportunity to be spotted by the foundation-building monks in the sect and be accepted as a disciple." The person who responded to her was a man in white clothes. A young man with a nine-level cultivation of Qi Refining, he is the well-deserved number one in this ranking battle.
When Lu Zhong on the side heard this, he thought that there was such a thing.
The female cultivator asked again: "I wonder what the benefits are of being accepted as a disciple?"
After asking this question, many people in the palace cast interested glances.
The young man seemed to like to be in the limelight. After receiving the attention, a smile appeared on his face, and he raised his voice and explained: "Of course there are benefits. I believe all fellow Taoists also know the hardships of casual cultivation.
The suffering lies in the fact that there is no one to guide you in cultivation, the suffering lies in the lack of resources for cultivation, and the suffering lies in the difficulty of finding suitable exercises.
Once you are accepted as a disciple by a foundation-building monk, even if you just become a master and become an ordinary nominal disciple, you can enjoy treatment that is better than that of an outer disciple.
From then on, someone gave guidance, someone provided resources, and someone gave me skills. "
"That's it." The female cultivator nodded, cupped her hands towards the young man and said, "I don't know..."
Seeing the two people starting to talk, Lu Zhong withdrew his gaze.
He heard everything the young man said just now, and he had some thoughts about it.
A sentence came to mind.
There is no gratuitous payment, all gifts have already been marked with prices.
Just as he was thinking about it, there was a sound of footsteps outside the hall.
After a while, six monks of different ages walked in from outside.
The only similarity is that they both exude powerful auras and are obviously foundation-building monks.
Walking at the front was a white-haired old man. He was leaning on a dove stick. He didn't seem to have any inconvenience in his legs and feet. He kept talking: "Senior brother, the leader is the same. I have already said that I will never accept any more disciples in this life." , but he insists on asking me to come over, isn’t this a waste of time?”
"Senior Brother Sha, don't you know what the head brother is like? He is also for the good of the sect, so please be considerate." A burly man wearing a jade crown, a red face and a long beard said next to him.
"Then why didn't he call for water... Come over too." The old man with the dove stick said excitedly.
There was a Taoist priest in the team who was wearing a black Taoist robe and had a fairy-like appearance. He turned around and said with a smile: "Hey, no one of us can afford to offend that guy. The head brother can't even call him, Junior Brother Sha." If you don’t accept it, just go and ask Senior Sister Shui to come over!”
Hearing this, the old man with a dove stick suddenly became speechless and hesitated.
He had experienced how powerful Senior Sister Shui was several times.
As Fat Taoist said, no one in the entire Heling Sect except the three ancestors could afford to offend her.
Seeing the rare deflated look of the old man with the dove stick, the three foundation-building monks in the crowd who had been silent could not help but laugh, but they were quickly glared back by him.
The three people immediately stopped smiling. This master was not a fuel-saving lamp, and they did not want to offend him.
At this time, the red-faced and bearded monk called Lu Zhong and others.
"If any of you want to become a disciple, please come out and introduce yourself." After saying that, he was afraid that everyone would not know how to introduce himself, so he reminded: "To put it at best, focus on your strengths. It doesn't matter if you exaggerate a little." .”
Good old man. Lu Zhong silently labeled this future master uncle.
After being reminded by this uncle, everyone introduced themselves in a decent manner.
The first one to be picked was undoubtedly the young man in white. After all, he was an array master and already had the ninth level of Qi refining. It would not be difficult to cultivate him. Maybe he could simply support him for more than ten years. It can provide an extra boost of foundation-building cultivation.
Almost everyone knows how to choose.
Lu Zhong's side.
"Are you...really qualified for the Four Spiritual Roots?" Taoist Hefa suddenly asked.
"Back to Master, my disciple does have the Four Spiritual Roots." Lu Zhong said truthfully.
"Alas..." He-haired Taoist looked regretful and sighed: "It would be great if you had three spiritual roots. Let me... think about it again."
It's not that Taoist Hefa discriminates against Lu Zhong's qualifications. In fact, he has already accepted three disciples, and two of them have the qualifications of the Four Spiritual Roots. He really cannot afford to train more disciples of the Four Spiritual Roots, otherwise Lu Zhong can draw the Golden Light Talisman alone. A little bit was enough to make him accept it.
In the Heling Sect, when accepting disciples, one must allocate part of one's salary to train disciples.
This will not be rewarded until the disciples grow up in the future.
In view of Lu Zhong's mediocre qualifications, Taoist Hefa could only reluctantly give up.
On the other side, two people were not selected.
One is nearly sixty years old, and his potential for breakthrough has been exhausted. The other is overdrawn, and his potential has also been exhausted.
It can be said that they were not selected.
"Junior sister Han, why don't you accept him." The red-faced long-bearded monk accepted Wei Tie and another person. Seeing that Lu Zhong had not been selected, he turned to the man next to him who exuded a strong smell of medicine and had an old face. The woman said.
"Ouch, my senior brother Lin, it's really not that I don't want to accept it."
The woman took the hand of the female cultivator in the undergarment and explained with a wry smile: "Look, I have already accepted one. Taking on one more apprentice means more expenses. I don't have so many resources to train him."
"It's okay, I'll take it!"
A gentle female voice suddenly came from outside the hall.
Following the words, a beautiful female cultivator walked in.
She was wearing a crimson skirt, with a shimmering aura on her face. There was a ribbon tied around her waist, embroidered with lifelike petals, which made her figure more graceful and light when fluttering, and her plain face was full of smiles.
"Ah...Senior Sister Shui, why are you here?" The red-faced and bearded monk was very surprised when he saw the person coming.
"Yes! Who asked Patriarch Lingjun to specifically issue a decree for me to come here and recruit disciples." The visitor said with a smile on his face. She looked towards the people in the palace, and on the way, she fixed her gaze on the young man in white. After a while, she turned to look at the others with a look of disgust on her face.
Falling on Lu Zhong, his eyes lit up and he greeted:
"My good disciple, why are you still standing there stupidly? Come here and let me take a look!"
