Li Nanting nodded and said softly,

“The tradition of the Centennial competition among a hundred Sects has been passed down in the Northern Domain for thousands of years.”

“There are countless Sects of all sizes in the entire Northern Domain, but only a hundred Sects are invited to participate.”

“Each Sect has only ten spots available.”

Li Guanqi, upon hearing this, expressed his confusion,

“With so many Sects, that means a thousand disciples will be participating.”

“The scale of this competition is massive.”

The old man chuckled and nodded, replying softly, “Indeed, it is a grand event of immense scale.”

“Moreover, based on the rankings, the higher one places within the top hundred, the more generous the reward.”

“The prizes for the competition are even personally provided by the Northern Domain’s Heavenly King, Long Qu!”

“The Sects of the top fifty disciples will receive many benefits.”

Hearing this, Li Guanqi remained silent, well aware that

the more generous the rewards of such a competition, the fiercer the competition would be.

Li Guanqi turned to Gu Ran beside him and asked softly, “Sister Gu, did the Great Xia Sword Sect also participate last time?”

Gu Ran’s expression changed several times before she finally admitted, “Yes, we did.”

“And what was the best ranking achieved last time?”

Li Nanting, with an embarrassed expression, coughed and said, “Ahem… The best ranking was eighty-six…”

As the words fell, a hint of embarrassment appeared on everyone’s faces.

“Uh… isn’t that basically last place?!”

Although Li Guanqi had been prepared, he hadn’t expected the ranking to be so low.

Then, the Second Elder Xu Zhengjie spoke softly, “Be generous, there’s no shame in admitting it.”

“In the last Centennial competition, the Great Xia Sword Sect indeed ranked at the bottom.”

“But if you go back three competitions, when your Master led the team, the Great Xia Sword Sect ranked thirty-ninth!”

Li Guanqi looked at the old man in surprise, while Li Nanting waved his hand and said,

“Why bring up such old stories? It’s better not to mention the past.”

Xu Zhengjie nodded slightly, his eyes filled with satisfaction as he looked at the two and said softly, “This time, it wasn’t easy to secure spots for both of you.”

“As for Guanqi, there’s no need to say much; since the beginning of his cultivation, he has shown astonishing talent in swordsmanship.”

“In actual combat, he has faced several life-and-death crises, making him much sharper against enemies.”

As he said this, the old man turned to look at Gu Ran and spoke softly, “You, little girl, have good talent, but you’re too weak in actual combat.”

“Spending all day studying Spirit Spells is useless; I don’t have that many Spirit Spells to give you, sigh…”

Then the old man said solemnly, “The location for this Centennial competition is at Tianyu Pass in the Northern Domain.”

“There’s only one month left, and during this month, you must improve your strength as much as possible.”

“Strive to achieve a good ranking and secure more resources for the Sect.”

Listening to the old man’s words, both felt the weight of responsibility on their shoulders.

At this moment, Li Nanting spoke softly, “There’s no need to put so much pressure on them; let things take their natural course.”

“The Sect’s ranking is determined by the points earned in duels among the disciples.”

“It’s not just up to these two.”

With that, Li Nanting waved his hand, “The matter of the spots should be settled in the next few days.”

“When you have time, both of you should visit the Scripture Pavilion on Heavenly Pillar Peak to select suitable secret technique manuals; this time, no points will be charged.”

“And we will open the back mountain’s pavilion for you; seize this opportunity.”

After giving some brief instructions, the two left.

Before leaving, Gu Ran arranged to meet Li Guanqi at Heavenly Pillar Peak early the next morning.

Li Guanqi smiled and nodded, then flew on his sword towards Jade Bottle Peak.

Sure enough, when he returned, Ye Feng and the others were already waiting for him.

Thud, thud!

As soon as Li Guanqi landed, he looked at the group and asked softly, “Have you all received the news too?”

Ye Feng and the others exchanged glances and nodded.

Zhong Lin spoke softly, “The next three days will be the internal selection for the spots within the Sect.”

“I never expected that over a hundred Sects would participate in such a grand competition.”

Even the honest Lin Dong scratched his head and said solemnly, “If that’s the case, it seems I might also have a chance.”

Li Guanqi raised an eyebrow and asked, “Oh? Dong, you have a chance too?”

“Aren’t these ten spots supposed to be selected from the disciples in the late stage of Foundation Establishment?”

Lin Dong was taken aback and explained, “Didn’t you know?”

“Of the ten spots this time, four are for disciples in the early stage of Foundation Establishment.”

“Three for the middle stage, and three for the late stage.”

Hearing this, Li Guanqi pondered for a moment.

“If that’s the case… then would our Senior Brother Wu Bing, the Sect Master’s closed-door disciple, also participate?”

Lin Dong, also a disciple of Heavenly Earth Peak, shook his head, “All participants in this competition are Foundation Establishment stage disciples from the Sects.”

“Brother Wu has just broken through to the Golden Elixir Realm not long ago and is no longer eligible to participate.”

Li Guanqi was surprised; when he had first joined, he heard that Wu Bing was only at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.

Yet in such a short time, the other had continuously broken through and had become a Golden Elixir stage cultivator.

“No wonder he was taken as a closed-door disciple by the Sect Master; his talent is indeed not weak…”

Li Guanqi looked at everyone and smiled slightly.

“Since we all have a chance, let’s go for it, and we’ll all participate in this competition together!”

As his words fell, something sparked in everyone’s eyes.

Then Li Guanqi said softly, “In the coming time, you all work hard to secure a spot to represent the Sect.”

“I’ll be visiting Heavenly Pillar Peak early tomorrow morning, and after that, I might head to the Great Thousand Waterfall behind Thousand Peaks Mountain.”

“If you have any questions about swordsmanship, feel free to ask me; let’s all work hard together!”

Saying this, Li Guanqi slowly extended his fist.

The other three also extended their fists, and as their fists collided, their eyes grew more determined.

Soon, the news of the Centennial competition spread throughout the Northern Domain.

Countless cultivators flew on their swords towards Tianyu Pass; after all, this was a rare event to witness.

Whether or not they were participating in the competition, many people wanted to see the prodigies from these Sects and join in the excitement.

Li Guanqi also learned from his Master about the strongest Sects in this competition.

“The Great Xia Domain is divided into four continents: Qingyun, Lingxu, Cangwu, and Xuanming.”

“Boundless and perilous seas separate the four continents.”

Li Guanqi, with his eyes closed in concentration, recalled the information from his Master.

“The top forces of Qingyun Continent are known as the ‘Three Sects and Six Halls.’”

“And in the Northern Domain, only Purple Sun Hall and Xuanmen Hall exist, with Purple Sun Hall being somewhat stronger.”