On the 25th day of the third month.
Only five days remained until the first round came to an end.
The atmosphere within the Dao Cauldron World was tense to the extreme. Even in the outside world, numerous cultivators were filled with anxiety, and felt oppressed to the point of being on the verge of suffocating.
At this point in time, all the disciples who were lucky enough to remain in the Dao Cauldron World were experts amongst experts. All of them possessed peerless might, and they were like geniuses that led an era.
At the same time, the situation within the Dao Cauldron World was extremely clear since a very long time ago, and it wasn’t difficult to even find an opponent like it had been in the days before now.
All of this was because of the Ancient Dao Engraved Cauldrons.
These treasures couldn’t be put away, and the obscure aura of the Dao they emanated couldn’t be concealed at all. So, when one brought it along as one moved about in the Dao Cauldron World, it was like carrying a beacon beneath the night sky. Not only would one be unable to conceal one’s tracks, it would even draw over numerous covetous gazes.
Presently, the 25 cauldrons had been split up between the five great powers, and this means that when these disciples moved about, it was very easy for them to be noticed by the others.
Under such circ.u.mstances, conflicts and battles were utterly unavoidable.
It was even to the extent that one could say that extremely intense battles were erupting practically every single day within the Dao Cauldron World!
…
Something worthy of mentioning was that a battle between Li Lufeng’s group and Donghuang Yinxuan’s group had erupted on the 25th day of the third month, and it drew the attention of all the cultivators in the outside world.
After the battle with Chen Xi and Kong Youran, the group from the Dao Inst.i.tute still possessed 18 members. Unfortunately, such a force didn’t possess much of an advantage any longer.
During the recent period of time, the group from the Dao Inst.i.tute that was led by Li Lufeng had experienced many battles, and some were lost while some were won. So, at this point of time, only 14 of them remained when Li Lufeng was included.
On the other hand, when Donghuang Yinxuan was included, the Divine Inst.i.tute’s group consisted of an entire 13 Powerseal Disciples. Even though it seemed like their group had one disciple lesser than the Dao Inst.i.tute, if it was in terms of true combat strength, then they were even superior to the Dao Inst.i.tute.
The reason was extremely simple. The Divine Inst.i.tute’s group didn’t just possess Donghuang Yinxuan, and there were figures like Zhu Qianyu and Gongsun Mu amongst them as well.
On the other hand, the Dao Inst.i.tute’s group merely possessed Li Lufeng. Even though the other disciples possessed extraordinary combat strengths as well, not a single one of them could compare to existences like Gongsun Mu and Zhu Qianyu.
Of course, if Yea Chen and Yu Jiuhui were present, then such a situation would definitely not appear.
Unfortunately, they weren’t present here.
There wasn’t much suspense when it came to the outcome of the battle. In the end, the Dao Inst.i.tute’s group lost seven disciples, lost two Ancient Dao Engraved Cauldrons, and the remaining 11 disciples had no choice but to flee.
On the other hand, four Powerseal Disciples of the Divine Inst.i.tute were eliminated, causing only 9 to remain.
This battle was especially horrifying, and it caused the Dao Inst.i.tute to completely lose the advantage it possessed.
At this point in time, the amount of Ancient Dao Engraved Cauldrons in the possession of the Dao Inst.i.tute’s disciples had reduced from six to four, and two of these cauldrons were in the possession of Yea Chen and Yu Jiuhui.
This was undoubtedly an extremely heavy blow to Li Lufeng.
But it couldn’t be helped. Up until this point in the Dao Discussion, all the other four great powers besides Oracle Mountain were filled with bloodl.u.s.t for the sake of seizing even more cauldrons. So, even if it was the Dao Inst.i.tute that had always maintained a neutral att.i.tude, it was utterly unable to detach itself from this.
…
The 27th day in the third months of the Dao Discussion.
Conflict erupted between Kong Youran’s group from Nuwa’s Dao Palace and the Sovereign Sect’s group that was led by Leng Xinghun.
This was a practically equally matched battle. In the end, a single disciple from Nuwa’s Dao Palace was eliminated, causing only seven of them to remain.
On the other hand, a single disciple was eliminated from the Sovereign Sect’s group as well, and eight of them remained.
Moreover, on this very same day, the Sovereign Sect’s group and the Divine Inst.i.tute’s group converged together and joined forces.
…
On the 29th day.
Li Lufeng’s luck seemed to be declining. Under his lead, the group of disciples from the Dao Inst.i.tute had the misfortune of encountering the joint attack of the converged forces from the Sovereign Sect and the Divine Inst.i.tute.
In the end, Li Lufeng’s group was a.s.sisted by Yea Chen and Yu Jiuhui who’d rushed over in time, and their complete annihilation was prevented.
However, four more disciples from the Divine Inst.i.tute were eliminated during this battle, so only nine of them remained when Yea Chen and Yu Jiuhui were included.
…
These horrifying battles erupted successively, and practically every single one of them could be considered as world shocking battles that caused countless uproars and exclaims of shock in the outside world.
In the end, even the great figures within Convergence Hall were unable to maintain their calm, and all of them felt extremely worried for their respective disciples.
It was too horrifying!
As the end drew nearer, the entire Dao Cauldron World was in utter chaos. An atmosphere of slaughter filled it while terrifying killing intent surged throughout it.
No matter which power it was, all their disciples had utilized all their might, and they didn’t dare hold back at all.
All of this was done merely for the sake of the Ancient Dao Engraved Cauldrons.
So long as one possessed a cauldron, it meant that one possessed the qualifications to enter the second round of the Dao Discussion and had obtained an opportunity to enter the Forgotten Grounds of Chaos!
Under such circ.u.mstances, how could anyone dare to hold back?
“Only the last day remains, and the final outcome will be revealed tomorrow!”
“Presently, merely three disciples from Oracle Mountain remain. The Nuwa’s Dao Palace has seven, the Sovereign Sect has eight, the Divine Inst.i.tute has nine, and the Dao Inst.i.tute has nine. Besides Oracle Mountain, the other four great powers still lack some cauldrons for all of their remaining members to enter the second round. Tomorrow will be their last chance!”
“Exactly. The disciples of Oracle Mountain possess a cauldron respectively. Nuwa’s Dao Palace possesses five, the Sovereign Sect possesses six, the Divine Inst.i.tute possesses seven and the Dao Inst.i.tute has four. Comparatively speaking, the Divine Inst.i.tute clearly possesses an extremely large advantage.”
“Presently, the disciples of both the Sovereign Sect and Divine Inst.i.tute have converged together. They’ll probably launch an all out attack tomorrow in order to seize even more cauldrons.”
“Everything will depend on what happens tomorrow!”
On this night, numerous cultivators were in animated discussion, and they looked forward to the arrival of tomorrow. They looked forward to the final outcome of the Dao Discussion.
In Convergence Hall.
“I never expected this, I truly never expected this.” The Sovereign Sect’s Red-robed Grand Priest Lei Fu sighed with emotion, and his voice reverberated through the hall.
It wasn’t just him, even Chi Song’zi, Wen Ting, Yu Zhen, Huai Kong’zi, and the others had never expected that the Dao Discussion that had been carried out for almost three months would develop to such an extent.
However, they naturally had their own way of thinking.
In Lei Fu and Chi Song’zi’s opinion, they’d already made sufficient preparations and extremely precise plans for this Dao Discussion.
According to their expectations, at this point of the Dao Discussion, it was utterly impossible for any disciple of Oracle Mountain and Nuwa’s Dao Palace to be able to persist within the Dao Cauldron World until now.
But it just so happened that something unexpected had occurred.
There were many reasons for this unexpected event, but as far as Lei Fu and Chi Song’zi were concerned, it was mostly because of Chen Xi.
Yes. They’d utterly never imagined that Chen Xi’s combat strength would be so formidable. Not only did he successfully avoid all sorts of danger, he even caused the Sovereign Sect and Divine Inst.i.tute to lose numerous disciples.
But the matter had already developed to such an extent, so they could only hope that their disciples would be able to eliminate the last three disciples of Oracle Mountain before the Dao Discussion came to an end tomorrow.
On the other hand, Wen Ting and Yu Zhen had similarly never expected that their disciples would suffer such heavy losses.
They felt that this was a scheme, and they were utterly unable to accept Huai Kong’zi’s explanation. Perhaps, they would seek an explanation from the Dao Inst.i.tute once the Dao Discussion came to an end!
Similarly, they were hoping that their respective disciples would be able to persist until the end and enter the second round of the Dao Discussion.
Huai Kong’zi and all the Instructing Elders of the Dao Inst.i.tute had similarly never imagined that the situation would develop to such an extent.
Not only had their disciples suffered heavy losses, they’d even offended all the other four great powers during this process.
So, at this moment, Huai Kong’zi’s mood couldn’t improve at all, and it was even to the extent that he was enduring extremely heavy pressure.
Presently, he only hoped that nothing unexpected occurs again!
…
“Have all of you noticed that Oracle Mountain’s Chen Xi’s luck seems to be really good. Since the Dao Discussion entered its third month, the others had fought countless times, yet he actually didn’t encounter a single opponent all along the way!”
“Hmm? Now that you say that, I noticed that this Chen Xi’s luck is heaven defying indeed.”
“Unfortunately, the luck of the other disciples from Oracle Mountain wasn’t that good. Otherwise, how could only three of them remain now? Compared to the other four great powers, Oracle Mountain’s results in this first round of the Dao Discussion is slightly inferior.”
“Is it? That may not necessarily be the case. Don’t forget that merely 10 disciples from Oracle Mountain partic.i.p.ated in the Dao Discussion, and it’s already really difficult to be able to accomplish this.”
“Stop arguing. Could it be that both of you didn’t notice that there was something off since this first round of the Dao Discussion began, and too many fishy incidents have occurred?”
“I can’t be bothered to pay attention to all of that. Now, I’m only looking for to being able to witness true peak one on one battles during the second round and not these chaotic group battles.”
The sounds of discussion were ceaseless in the outside world, whereas, it was deathly silent in the Dao Cauldron World. All the battles had fallen into deathly silence on this final night.
It was like they had tacit understanding amongst each other. All the disciples of the five great powers had chosen to recuperate and acc.u.mulate strength instead of setting out to seize Ancient Dao Engraved Cauldrons.
They were clearly aware that the first round of the Dao Discussion would come to an end tomorrow. However, the period of time before it came to an end was bound to be extremely dangerous beyond anything that they’d experienced throughout the Dao Discussion!
“Tomorrow is the last day….” Beneath the veil of night, Chen Xi frowned and muttered at the banks of a stream within a jungle. “Even until now, I haven’t seen another disciple from our sect. Could it be that they’d all been eliminated?”
Gu Yan opened his mouth yet didn’t know what to say, and his heart was rather heavy.
“Nevermind. Everything will be clear once the Dao Discussion ends tomorrow.” Chen Xi shook his head and stopped thinking about this. However, he’d decided in his heart that he would absolutely not give up on searching for his fellow disciples until the last moment of the Dao Discussion.
But Chen Xi was similarly clearly aware that persisting through tomorrow until the Dao Discussion came to an end would be an extremely serious test for Gu Yan and him as well.