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Chapter 313 313 – Challenging the Great Sects

While everyone was interested in the challenge, two beautiful ladies sat next to each other at the summit of the Serene Lotus Sect. One had a tanned skin that indicated she had been honing her skills outside for a long time, while the other had a whiter color, with light yellow tones.

"Elder Layla, do you know where those five sects came from?" Yuhua asked the tanned woman by her side. 

"I believe they are… old friends of ours. They did not materialize out of nowhere, and many of their disciples\' skills remind me of the famous techniques of the top ten evil sects. Some, on the other hand, remind me of the Qiteria Continent\'s techniques, many of them even exist in our very sect."

"Evil cultivators? If so, why aren\'t we banning them from the contest and hunting them down?" Yuhua asked while raising one leg and putting it on top of the other, her pose says anything but tension.

"Because we do not know their plans yet, and we do not have proof yet. Anyway, unless they think they can challenge us, they can be useful; I\'m sure the reason they popped out now is the tensions between the great sects. I expect we will have a vote soon on whether to support them, and our troublesome members will probably vote for it."

Layla smiled as she shook her head when she remembered some of the quirkier elders of the Serene Lotus Sect. Her red hair moved from side to side with her head\'s movements, looking like a flowing river of lava. Even if they wanted to challenge the Serene Lotus Sect, first, they\'d have to be in the top twenty for the right to do so.

"Hmm," Yuhua only hummed in response while thinking about the situation. For now, the Serene Lotus Sect faced nineteen hostile sects, although the level of hostility differed between the various sects. 

If the Serene Lotus Sect insisted on letting the unranked sects challenge the others and they won, they\'d have five fewer enemies, and perhaps five allies that could shift the threat back to the other sects.

In the end, no matter what kind of war they were going into, the great twenty sects had to make sure their overall power was significantly higher than the five kingdoms of the smaller continent by the end of it, or else the oppressor would become the oppressed, and the resources of the Verdant Qi continent would be snatched by their enemies.

The Serene Lotus Sect could now choose whether to prefer certainty and cooperate with the other sects to keep the evil sects away, or feign ignorance and support the evil sects, allowing them to get a foothold on the continent, which could be a dangerous gamble.

"Yeah, they\'ll probably choose the risky option," Yuhua nodded when she finished reviewing the different options in her mind. 

It\'s not that the elders of the Serene Lotus Sect wanted to give legitimacy to the evil sects, but they were selfish enough to do it for their benefit before going to hunt the evil cultivators down after the other things settled. Their risk-taking tendencies were the reason they were at the top, and it was a necessary characteristic for a sect that specialized in stealing others\' specializations. 

"But for now, everyone will just watch what the evil cultivators are capable of. The first sect they will choose… will be sacrificed for the sake of probing those new sects."

While they talked, a big burly man stood in the sky, and his aura was made clear to everyone. He radiated the overwhelming power of a ninth-stage cultivator, raising an instinctive sense of danger and fear in the weaker cultivators\' hearts.

"I, Tai Anderson of the esteemed Mysterious Mountain Sect, ask to challenge the sixteenth-ranked sect, the Myriad Beasts Sect!" He said in a clear and loud voice that everyone could hear.

"As par with traditions, we will guide this challenge with our authority as the top five sects." Five ninth-stage elders appeared in the sky above the valley. Each of them had a different symbol, each belonging to another top-five sect. Their role was to guide the contest now as it was out of Steve\'s capabilities given the power of the participants.

They looked at each other before a blue-wearing elder with the embroidery of a sword on his shoulder spoke, "The Myriad Beasts Sect has 24 hours to assemble its elders and answer the challenge. We ask a representative of the sect to come forth and set the time they need."

It didn\'t take too long for the said sect to respond, and a short man with a shaved face had leaped to a face-off with the burly challenger.

"I\'m Grand Elder Tony Gurira of the Myriad Beasts Sect. We have 30% of our sect\'s elders here. If the challenger agrees to a challenge on a 30% basis, we can start now."

Tony\'s suggestion meant that the two of them would take an oath that they would only use 30% of their sect\'s elders, and would engage in competition with the numbers they had available instead of calling all the available elders to participate. 

"Sure, that\'s fine by me. But are your pets here?" Tai asked with a hint of mockery in his smirk.

"We have those we need. They are our partners." Tony spoke coldly, not caring for the tease in Tai\'s words. His sect was specializing in rearing beasts, and almost every disciple and elder there had a beastly partner by their side. The cost, of course, was their weaker fighting strength when separated from their beast partners.

"Rivalry is good, it encourages us to rise higher than our peers," the elder from the Serene Lotus Sect said. It was not Layla, but a man who had come to back her up in case of a fight. "However, let\'s not waste everyone\'s time and let the challenge begin. Elders of both sides are asked to assemble here."

In response to the man\'s call, about 132 elders stepped to the sky. Forty of them had the symbol of a tiger, snake, and rhino heads on their shoulders, the symbol of the Myriad Beasts Sect, while the other 92 were adorned with robes embroidered with mountains.

"That\'s impossible! Are you telling me that an unranked sect has more Supremacy Phase cultivators than we do?" Tony shouted in protest, knowing it wasn\'t possible. He wasn\'t stupid; he understood that those were evil cultivators who kept their existence secret until now, and he knew that the other sects were using them to probe those newcomers.

"This is indeed hard to believe. Elder Tai, you must take an oath that your sect will not send more than 30% of its elders, and of course, so does Elder Tony," the elder of the Divine Sword Sect took back the role of hosting the event.

"I swear that the Myriad Beasts Sect will not send more than 30% of its elders, and that there are no elders promoted, hired, poached, or recruited for the purpose of inflating our numbers." Tony took the lead to swear first in order to set a standard for the oath.

"I swear that the Mysterious Mountain Sect…" With a smile on his face, Tai repeated the same oath himself without any hesitation. 

The agreement of the ten evil sects was to truly fuse two sects into one, knowing that there would be oaths including such conditions. They made sure to keep the matter "clean" from any dirt that could be prevented by oaths. Besides, they had to remain united to keep their spots at the top later.

"Good. In the name of the great twenty sects, if we find out later you had found a loophole in the oath and took advantage of it, the rest of the continent will come together to destroy you. Knowing that, do you want to revoke your challenge? This is your last chance to change your mind."

"We would like to continue. Our consciousness is clear, and we have no reason to regret our choice." Tai spoke resolutely, exuding an air of confidence. He did not let the presence of the top five sects affect him.

"Good," the elder of the Divine Sword Sect nodded. "The Supremacy Phase is about strength and absolute control. We normally respect a more straightforward approach when it comes to comparing strengths in those stages. Although you can compete in any way you see fit, we recommend solving it directly in battle."

\'This asshole wouldn\'t give up on using us to probe their strengths!\' This thought crossed the heads of many of the present elders from the Myriad Beasts Sect. By demanding a head-on battle, the sects wanted to gauge the evil sect\'s strength and estimate the others as having equal value.

"The challenger may offer the format of the challenge, but I recommend using battle royale across stages or elimination rounds of one versus one battle."

The two sects took a few seconds to think about their answers.