Chapter 144 The Competition Begins

In the three days after Huan Yin and Meng Li made the bet, he still repeated his usual efforts every day. Except for the changes brought by the top-grade magic furnace, there was no difference at all. It seemed that his state of mind was not affected by the appointment with Meng Li at all.

Meng Li and Huan Yin competed in strength and daily accumulation. Three days would not bring any changes to the results of the competition. Even if Huan Yin's new magic furnace had five million materials, Huan Yin could not master much in three days, so even if Meng Li knew that Huan Yin had obtained the magic furnace, he still made an appointment three days later.

Meng Li understood the truth, so Huan Yin naturally understood it, so he kept himself in a calm state of mind. Since the strength has been determined, the state of mind is stable, and it is best to be able to perform normally.

Unlike Huan Yin's calmness, there was a piece of news that spread wildly in Yijian Peak in the past few days, and it was almost known to everyone within three days. This news is that Huan Yin and Meng Li agreed to break through the seventh floor of the Nine-Layered Pagoda together.

Huan Yin first heard about this news when he went to the sixth floor of the Nine-Layered Pagoda to look through the classics and heard people whispering about his competition with Meng Li. Of course, as the news spread, some people came to Huan Yin to ask directly.

It seems that this news should have been spread by Meng Li himself, because Huan Yin is not a publicity person, it is impossible for him to talk about this matter to the outside world, and Ji Cangqiong is even less likely to say more about it. Meng Li spread this news, apparently hoping to achieve his own fame by defeating Huan Yin, but this also shows from the side that Meng Li is extremely confident.

The reason why the news of Huan Yin and Meng Li spread so much within three days was that they were going to compete on the seventh floor of the Nine-Layered Pagoda. The seventh floor of the Nine-Layered Pagoda is already the third to last floor. From ancient times to the present, there are less than a hundred people who can leave their names on this floor, and only three casual cultivators can leave their names on it. Therefore, the difficulty of this floor is far from comparable to the previous ones. The cultivators who break into this floor of the tower will always attract many people to stop and watch.

The second reason is Meng Li and Huan Yin. Meng Li is an outstanding weapon master of Yijianfeng. He is extremely talented and highly praised by the sect and respected by the weapon cultivators in the sect. Meng Li has many followers in Yijianfeng. There is no need to say more about Huan Yin. His popularity in Yijianfeng can be said to be second to none. Therefore, the duel between Meng Li and Huan Yin will naturally arouse great interest among everyone.

Because the news spread like wildfire, Huan Yin gradually learned about Meng Li's strength from the side again. It is said that Meng Li had passed the sixth floor of the Nine-Layered Pagoda three years ago, and he has not yet passed the seventh floor because he set his goal this time to recognize all the materials on the seventh floor. Meng Li kept reading various classics to increase his knowledge. The three years of preparation were all for the seventh floor of the Nine-Layered Pagoda. Therefore, Huan Yin can be said to have hit the tip of Meng Li's sword this time.

Not only that, Huan Yin also learned that Meng Li, a weapon cultivator, was best at identifying materials in swordmaking. Meng Li has a photographic memory and is well-informed. He probably already knows more than a million materials. Even the few new weapon masters in Yijianfeng are not as good at identifying materials as Meng Li.

Three days passed in a flash. Early in the morning, Ji Cangqiong and the other cultivators were waiting outside Huanyin's courtyard. Ji Cangqiong knew that Huanyin's opponent was not only strong, but also had a bigger stake, so he brought all the cultivators to help Huanyin.

Huanyin pushed open the door and saw the crowd at the door. He was moved. I don't know since when, he, an outsider participating in the test, has a real foothold in Yijianfeng, and there are people willing to stand behind him and support him.

Huanyin clasped his fists and bowed to all the fellow cultivators in the cultivator alliance, and walked towards the Nine-Layered Pagoda with everyone.

Huanyin and Mengli arrived almost at the same time, and both of them were very punctual. When they arrived outside the Nine-Layered Pagoda, it was already full of cultivators who came to watch the two compete. Many of them even cheered for Huan Yin or Meng Li.

Meng Li still had a proud look on his face. When he saw Huan Yin coming, he whispered provocatively: "Others don't know our bet, but you and I know it in our hearts. I am really flattered that you can come here today and give me the top-grade illusion furnace."

Huan Yin glanced at him coldly: "You didn't violate your oath to privately copy the "Nong Yan Sutra", right? After today, you will never see this sutra again. I heard that you are well-informed and have a strong memory. I wonder how much of the profound "Nong Yan Sutra" you have memorized?"

Meng Li didn't expect Huan Yin to be so eloquent. A fierce look flashed on his face, and he snorted: "Let's go, let your strength speak!" Then, he turned around and walked towards the Nine-Layered Pagoda.

"Brother Huan, keep a normal mind. Your strength must be above his." Ji Cangqiong whispered to Huan Yin.

Huan Yin nodded, bowed to Ji Cangqiong and the other cultivators again, and walked into the Nine-Layered Pagoda.

Today, many weapon cultivators came to the sixth floor of the Nine-Layered Pagoda, and even several weapon cultivators on the seventh floor stayed on the sixth floor. The purpose of their coming here is to witness the duel between Meng Li and Huan Yin with their own eyes. For almost all the weapon cultivators on the sixth and seventh floors, Meng Li and Huan Yin are considered their juniors.

Comparing a recognized outstanding junior of Yijian Peak with a peerless young man from outside, they all want to know whether Yijian Peak’s talent recognition and attainments are the best in the world, or the world is so big that it encompasses everything.

After Huan Yin and Meng Li reached the sixth floor, they looked at each other again, walked through the crowd and bookshelves on the sixth floor, walked to the light curtain and stretched out their hands to press it.

After Huan Yin and Meng Li disappeared from everyone's eyes, Huan Yin came to the familiar world of the Nine-Layered Pagoda assessment again.

"The test of the seventh floor of the Nine-Layered Pagoda requires one million casting materials. If you recognize 500,000, you will pass. The assessment begins!"

As the voice sounded, Huan Yin's eyes were gradually filled with densely packed sword-making materials. The test of the seventh floor of the Nine-Layered Pagoda requires a total of 500,000 materials to be recognized, which has reached 50% of the total number of materials here. No wonder this floor is so difficult to pass.

However, today, Meng Li and Huan Yin are competing to see who recognizes more, not whether they can pass or not. Therefore, the battle between the two of them is much more difficult than the assessment of this floor.

At this moment, as Huan Yin and Meng Li appeared in the assessment area, a strong light suddenly shone from the light column representing the seventh floor on the right side of the Nine-Layered Pagoda, shooting towards the sky.

Although this light was not as strong as when passing the test, it was enough to attract the attention of all the onlookers. After the light rushed to the sky, it suddenly split into two, and finally formed two light curtains in the air.

These two light curtains showed the scenes of the test sites where Huan Yin and Meng Li were respectively. Although the onlookers could not see the specific content of the test, they could see clearly every move of the two, and even whether they succeeded or not, and how many materials they identified.

There is a rule for the last three levels of the Nine-Layered Pagoda, which is that the light column representing this level will project the image of the person taking the test for outsiders to watch.

The purpose of this rule is actually to allow the younger generation of weapon cultivators of Yijian Peak to see the style of the senior masters breaking through the tower with their own eyes, and to experience and learn, so as to make greater progress. In this light curtain, the onlookers can see every move of the person breaking through, so the person breaking through is like demonstrating teaching.

However, now, because the weapon cultivators who can enter this light curtain are all amazingly talented, even those who are not weapon cultivators will occasionally come here to watch the excitement and see the style of the masters.

"Brother, who do you think is better, Junior Brother Huan or Senior Brother Meng?" A young disciple who was watching asked the senior brother next to him while looking at the light curtain.

"I believe in the sword-making of my Yijian Peak, and Meng Li is recognized as the leader of our generation. I know his strength. He has been preparing for the seventh floor of the Nine-Layered Pagoda for three whole years. He can't lose. Maybe he can recognize all the one million materials." The person called "Senior Brother" answered.

"This senior brother, I think being too superstitious about the strength of your own sect will make you fall behind and become a frog in the well. Although Huan Xiaoxiu is young, he has surpassed the achievements of the ancestor Lan Yanzi in one fell swoop. I'm afraid his attainments in identifying materials are not inferior to Meng Li." Among the people of Yijian Peak, there were actually people who spoke for Huan Yin.

"Hmph, I remember that to pass the sixth level, you only need to recognize 100,000 out of 500,000 materials, but this time they are competing to see who can recognize the most. Not to mention that the requirement for passing this level is 500,000, even if Huan Yin recognizes 800,000, as long as Meng Li recognizes 810,000, Huan Yin will still be considered the loser!" The man at the beginning was relentless.

…

As soon as Huan Yin and Meng Li entered the seventh level of the assessment, the onlookers began to talk, and the supporters of Huan Yin and Meng Li were almost quarreling. This scene made people feel that it was the onlookers outside who were competing, not Huan Yin and Meng Li.

At this moment, on Tongtian Peak, far away from here, Lan Tongtian, dressed in blue, stood on the edge of a cliff and looked up, and the direction he was looking at was the Nine-Layered Pagoda.

Lan Yu stood beside his grandfather and said with a smile: "Grandpa, I've heard that Senior Brother Huan has amazing sword-making skills, and he has even surpassed Grandpa Lan Yanzi's achievements. Grandpa, you are not allowed to cheat with Yu'er."

Lan Tongtian turned to look at his granddaughter and smiled kindly: "Grandpa, would I cheat with you kids? But this Huan Yin really does everything that is unexpected. This time, he has reached such a high level of sword-making within a year. How did he do it? No wonder Junior Brother Xuanyuanzi told me that this Huan Yin cannot be viewed with common sense. Forget it, the stronger he is, the more at ease I will be with him."

Lan Yu blushed when he heard his grandfather's words, and said "yeah" softly.

I seem to have some spare energy to write, so I will continue to type after dinner. However, the release is estimated to be around one o'clock in the middle of the night, so everyone should get up tomorrow morning to read it! The third update is here!