The voice came abruptly. Although the place was bustling with voices, this single voice instantly silenced the surrounding area. Even some people who were heading up the stairs to find empty seats stopped in their tracks.
Everyone looked towards the source of the voice and saw a group of people had arrived at the square, not very far from Huchen Wuding and his companions. The group consisted of about fourteen or fifteen people. At the head was a young man in a black robe with a gloomy face. His cultivation was impressively at the early stage of Foundation Establishment. At this moment, he was staring at Huchen Wuding with an unfriendly expression.
Seeing this person, there was no change in Huchen Wuding's expression. While the gazes of the surrounding people were all locked on him, he just said calmly, "So it is Big Brother. Hehe, but do you really think the family selection is all based on cultivation? Then why not just gather a few Foundation Establishment disciples for a competition?"
The person who had arrived was none other than the eldest son of the family head, Huchen Wanli. Hearing Huchen Wuding's words, he gave a disdainful smile. "Hehe, then how far do you think you can go with your cultivation?" After speaking, a surging pressure of a Foundation Establishment cultivator instantly spread out in a fan shape, directly suppressing Huchen Wuding.
Feeling the alarming pressure, Huchen Qiukong, who was standing beside him, couldn't help but change his expression. This pressure had also enveloped him. It seemed the Eldest Young Master was displeased that he was helping Huchen Wuding. He quickly said, "Eldest Young Master, this place is..." Before he could finish his sentence, he felt a figure flash before his eyes, and then all the pressure disappeared in an instant. Looking closely, it was the hunchbacked old man who had not spoken a word. At this moment, the hunchbacked old man was just standing there, like a great mountain.
The appearance of the hunchbacked old man caused the pressure that Huchen Wanli had just released to recede like a tide, directly hitting him. He couldn't help but be shocked. The other person had just stood there, without making any attack, and his own pressure was already out of control. Fortunately, this pressure was released by himself and was within his tolerance range. He quickly circulated his spiritual energy, and after a series of "crackling" sounds from his robe, he managed to offset the attack he had released. Even so, his aura became a little unstable. Although he was annoyed, he knew that he was far from being this person's opponent. And at this moment, one of the dozen or so people who had come with him quickly stepped forward.
"Young Master, the grand competition is about to begin. The old ancestor will be here soon. It would not be good if he sees this." It was Yu Jiangshi. As he spoke, he glanced at the hunchbacked old man with some apprehension. He thought to himself, 'It seems I was injured by this person when I probed with my Divine Sense yesterday. Although there are three Foundation Establishment cultivators among the people the Young Master brought today, the highest cultivation is only at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment. I estimate that even if they are added together, they are not necessarily this person's opponent.'
How could Huchen Wanli not know? It was just that the moment he saw Huchen Wuding, he had an inexplicable urge to teach him a lesson. He hadn't remembered that the current Huchen Wuding was completely different from more than ten years ago. This illegitimate son was no longer the meek person he had been in the family. He squinted his eyes. "Hehe, I almost forgot. The third brother now is not like he was as a child, who would either hide or kneel when he saw his big brother." After speaking, he gave a sinister smile and walked towards the stairs on the other side.
Huchen Wuding's face was still calm, but no one saw that the hand in his sleeve had been tightly clenched into a fist. As a child, even his mother did not dare to provoke the other few branches. He was bullied even more. A few times, he was forced to kneel on the ground by Huchen Wanli and Huchen Jianghai. These humiliations had carved deep scars in his young heart.
'This time, I will make you two lose all your qualifications and dignity,' Huchen Wuding thought silently.
What he had said to Huchen Wanli earlier was not wrong. The selection of the family's successor was mainly based on the Ghostly Poison Scroll, focusing on potential, and the competition system did not rely on cultivation to win directly.
Only after the sixth layer of the Ghostly Poison Scroll was it almost the same as a normal cultivation technique. Cultivating the Ghostly Poison Scroll to the sixth layer was equivalent to the Golden Core, and the seventh layer was equivalent to the Nascent Soul. Below the sixth layer was mainly for cultivating various basic techniques and laying a solid foundation. The realms were also not consistent with the normal division of Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment.
There were mainly two ways to cultivate the Ghostly Poison Scroll: one was to take the Ghostly Poison Scroll as the main cultivation technique and cultivate step by step. Only when one reached the fifth layer was the foundation considered complete, and one could basically reach the Foundation Establishment of a cultivator. But there were also some who could reach Foundation Establishment when they cultivated to the fourth layer. This mainly depended on whether the cultivator was willing to accumulate experience or achieve success overnight. However, this kind of cultivation was too difficult. The Ghostly Poison Scroll itself was extremely complex, making it very slow for cultivators to cultivate, and the difficulty of Foundation Establishment was twice that of an ordinary cultivator.
The other cultivation method was to take other cultivation techniques as the main one, and strictly follow the levels of Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core to cultivate step by step. At the same time, the Ghostly Poison Scroll would be used as a supplementary technique. This avoided the extremely complicated cultivation method in the foundation of the Ghostly Poison Scroll. After forming the Golden Core, one would switch back to the sixth layer of the Ghostly Poison Scroll as the main one and continue to cultivate. This cultivation method was about forty percent faster than purely cultivating the Ghostly Poison Scroll. It was just that the Ghostly Poison Scroll cultivated in the latter way, in terms of the way of poison, its power was far inferior to the former. Even if one had already switched to the Ghostly Poison Scroll as the main cultivation technique at the Golden Core stage, due to the foundation problem, many immortal arts and refining techniques could not be used.
Currently, the Huchen family all used the latter cultivation method. This way, the early progress was rapid. Even the current family head, Huchen Wandong, had only re-cultivated the Ghostly Poison Scroll as his main one after forming his Golden Core.
Huchen Wuding, on the other hand, had adopted the extreme first method of purely cultivating the Ghostly Poison Scroll. So although he was gifted and intelligent, his overall cultivation was still not strong, belonging to the type who accumulated experience over time.
"Young Master, this person's Foundation Establishment is unstable. At most, it's a second-rank Soldier's Way Foundation Establishment. It should have been forcibly raised with medicinal pills. I imagine it will be basically impossible for him to form a Golden Core in the future." Just as Huchen Wuding was thinking, Zhuo Lingfeng's voice sounded in his mind.
Hearing this, Huchen Wuding nodded slightly and also transmitted his voice. "Uncle Sang, if that's the case, then it means two things. First, his Foundation Establishment was forcibly raised for the sake of competing for the position of successor. Second, even he himself may not know that he is just a pawn. If he really wins the position of successor, his value will have been used up. A person who is destined not to form a Golden Core will be slowly abandoned after the Huchen family's power is handed over." Huchen Wuding thought for a moment, and combining it with the news he had received today, he had already made his own judgment.
Next, the few of them sat in the front row and waited slowly. Not long after, Huchen Huiqing also came to the square with four people. She was dressed in a emerald green dress, her skin was like congealed fat, and her curvaceous figure was even more soul-stirring. She saw Huchen Wuding at a glance and walked directly towards them like a lotus leaf swaying in the wind. Her gaze first fell on Zhuo Lingfeng and Li Yan. When she had come over yesterday, she hadn't seen the two who had come with her younger brother. She smiled and nodded to the two of them in greeting.
Behind Huchen Huiqing were four people, three men and one woman. Among them, two were actually at the early to mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, which showed the strength of the Second Branch's lineage.
After they came to Huchen Wuding's side, they also sat down. Then the brother and sister and Huchen Qiukong began to whisper together. And the four who had come with them, after looking at Huchen Wuding a few times with curiosity, began to size up Li Yan and Zhuo Lingfeng. When they passed over Li Yan, their gazes did not linger for too long. Even the two Qi Condensation cultivators among them were the same. Instead, they locked their gazes directly on Zhuo Lingfeng. Immediately, the two Foundation Establishment cultivators also showed a look of shock in their eyes. Zhuo Lingfeng had not deliberately restrained his aura today. Instead, he had released his Pseudo-Core realm cultivation without any concealment. His move was naturally to make those who had ideas about Huchen Wuding not to come over and cause trouble easily.
As more and more people arrived, the three of them, Huchen Wuding and his companions, rarely raised their heads. It was only when a fat young man came to the square with a group of people that he and Huchen Huiqing looked over. And that fat young man actually gave them a simple and honest smile. In the end, he walked to the other side where Huchen Wanli was. Then the two of them also began to talk in a low voice, but their gazes would from time to time look at Huchen Wuding and his companions.
"You have to be careful of Huchen Jianghai. I feel more and more that he is a hypocrite," Huchen Huiqing warned Huchen Wuding in front of her.
"Hehe, didn't he like to flatter Huchen Wanli when he was a child? Some things were all his idea. Our fourth brother has always been like this. How could I forget?" Huchen Wuding looked at Huchen Jianghai with a burning gaze. As he said this to his second sister, his face also smiled at the distant Huchen Jianghai, and he even stretched out his hand and waved gently.
"That illegitimate son seems to be quite confident," on the other side, Huchen Wanli looked at Huchen Wuding who was gently waving at Huchen Jianghai on the other side, and then said unhappily to Huchen Jianghai.
"Hehe, Big Brother, this kid hasn't learned anything else. He has learned to be a hypocrite over the years. But in the face of Big Brother's absolute strength, how can he turn the tables? He's only at the ninth layer of Qi Condensation," Huchen Jianghai withdrew his gaze, his face still smiling.
"Do you think he might have chosen that pure cultivation method? That's why he's so confident," Huchen Wanli said with a suspicious look on his face.
"Probably not. It is said that apart from the old ancestor who walked this path in the family, I haven't heard of anyone who dared to choose that cultivation method in the past thousand years. It's not just a matter of being slow, but there are almost no one who can cultivate to the Foundation Establishment. You have to know, he doesn't have time to wait. The competition for the inheritance can start at any time. Besides, what kind of cultivation resources can this kid have outside? To be able to reach the ninth layer of Qi Condensation with the ordinary cultivation method is probably already a great effort," Huchen Jianghai thought for a moment. He was also not sure. This was also the conclusion he had come to after thinking about it all yesterday.
"Yes, Fourth Brother and I think the same. This time, I will definitely make that illegitimate son completely give up. If there is any chance in the competition, I will not let him leave the family alive," Huchen Wanli said with a fierce look on his face.
"Big Brother, I've come this time to cheer you on. It doesn't matter if I participate or not. But this is just a formality. The old ancestor is watching from above. Don't worry. If that kid falls into my hands, how can I go easy on him? I will definitely let my third aunt see her son off."
After about another half an incense stick's time, more than a thousand people were already sitting on the viewing platforms on both sides of the square. And at this moment, they saw several dazzling flashes of light in the distant sky. The next moment, several figures had landed on the square. The light converged, revealing eight figures. At this moment, the square was instantly silent. And these eight people, after looking around, walked directly towards the red-carpeted steps at the edge of the square.
The four people walking in the very front were a young man, two middle-aged men, and an old man. Behind them were the family head, Huchen Wandong, and three stunningly beautiful women with different charms. They were Huchen Wandong's three wives. They exuded a mature charm that men yearned for. Their fair skin with a hint of red looked as if water would drip out with a single pinch. They were a mix of plump and slender, with the allure of a married woman.