Inside the room.
Wang Jianqiang sat cross-legged, his consciousness already within the Sea of Consciousness.
In the vast emptiness of the Sea of Consciousness, a light screen appeared.
Wang Jianqiang looked at the Attribute Panel.
Recently, the consumption of Cultivation Points had been limited, and the accumulation was quite substantial, reaching a total of 358 points.
With a thought, the Attribute Panel flashed, switching to the Auxiliary Page.
"Dao of Alchemy: First-Rank Advanced Alchemist"
"Dao of Forging: Unranked"
His attention fell on the Dao of Forging, and with a thought, he allocated 60 Cultivation Points to it.
With the experience equivalent to 60 years of hard cultivation, his cultivation base in the Dao of Forging instantly climbed from Unranked to First-Rank Advanced.
His consciousness withdrew from the Sea of Consciousness.
With a flip of his hand, he took out a Jade Slip from his Storage Pouch.
As he focused on the Jade Slip, the system's voice unsurprisingly rang out.
"Ding, detected inferior blueprint. Optimization upgrade requires 20 Cultivation Points. Proceed with optimization upgrade?"
"Yes."
"Ding, Water-Moon Skirt blueprint successfully optimized to Perfect Water-Moon Skirt blueprint."
Wang Jianqiang set aside the Perfect Water-Moon Skirt blueprint and took out three more blueprints.
"Ding, detected inferior blueprint. Optimization upgrade requires 20 Cultivation Points. Proceed with optimization upgrade?"
"Ding, detected inferior blueprint. Optimization upgrade requires 20 Cultivation Points. Proceed with optimization upgrade?"
"Ding, detected inferior blueprint. Optimization upgrade requires 20 Cultivation Points. Proceed with optimization upgrade?"
Three consecutive prompts sounded.
"Yes."
"Ding, Amethyst Slippers blueprint successfully optimized to Perfect Amethyst Slippers blueprint."
"Ding, Profound Water Ring blueprint successfully optimized to Perfect Profound Water Ring blueprint."
"Ding, Cloudwater Coldglow Sword blueprint successfully optimized to Perfect Cloudwater Coldglow Sword."
After optimizing all four Intermediate Blueprints he had purchased, Wang Jianqiang took out the only High-Grade Magical Artifact blueprint he had, the Minor Thousand-Mountain Seal blueprint.
"Ding, detected inferior blueprint. Optimization upgrade requires 30 Cultivation Points. Proceed with optimization upgrade?"
"Yes."
"Ding, Minor Thousand-Mountain Seal blueprint successfully optimized to Perfect Minor Thousand-Mountain Seal blueprint."
Once all the blueprints were optimized, Wang Jianqiang took out the Alchemy Furnace he had prepared and began forging the magical artifacts.
With the system's 100% success rate, he succeeded in forging a magical artifact on his first attempt.
To his surprise, forging magical artifacts also rewarded him with Cultivation Points.
His motivation for forging increased significantly.
In just three days, he successfully forged four Perfect Intermediate Magical Artifacts and one High-Grade Magical Artifact.
He called Wang Yuyao over.
Her Favorability increased once more.
It shot up to 99 points.
Just one point shy of the maximum value.
This unexpected surprise invigorated Wang Jianqiang.
After calming down, he couldn't help but grumble.
Why did it have to be stuck at 99 points?
This kind of stinginess was simply disgraceful.
As Wang Yuyao happily took the artifacts back to refine them, Wang Jianqiang returned to his arduous cultivation.
Time passed.
As the day of the Grand Competition approached rapidly, some Outer Disciples who had been on missions or in long-term seclusion emerged.
The entire Outer Sect became noticeably more lively.
In the blink of an eye, the day of the Outer Sect Grand Competition arrived.
Wang Jianqiang ended his seclusion and headed to the plaza where the competition was held.
Along the way, the flow of people was endless.
Some participants wore expressions of nervousness and anticipation, while others, like Wang Jianqiang, were there purely for the spectacle.
Soon, a massive plaza capable of accommodating tens of thousands appeared ahead.
Looking around, ten towering arenas, each three hundred meters high, rose from the ground, dividing the plaza in half.
Rows of seats lined both sides.
Wang Jianqiang entered the Spectator Area and casually found a seat.
Half an hour later.
The surrounding seats were completely filled, a sea of heads stretching as far as the eye could see.
Whoosh~
Suddenly, three figures appeared in the sky above the plaza.
Their powerful auras spread throughout the area, and the once noisy plaza fell silent.
Wang Jianqiang's gaze swept over the three individuals.
Information about them instantly appeared in his mind.
"Two at Early Core Formation Stage, one at Mid Core Formation Stage!"
"As expected of a grand event of the sect, three Inner Sect Elders have come at once."
As Wang Jianqiang marveled, the Mid Core Formation Stage elder among them slowly spoke, "I am Cloud Sparrow, the host of this Grand Competition."
With a wave of his hand, a sphere of light appeared in mid-air.
"These spheres of light each contain a Number Token, a total of 1,880 spheres, corresponding to the number of participants in this competition."
"Those who draw the same number will be opponents in this round."
"Now, begin drawing lots."
Moments later, each of the 1,880 spheres was taken by a participant, revealing the Number Tokens inside.
Among the participants, Wang Jianqiang saw Wang Yuyao, Su Yutong, and even Chen Jiaojiao with her Dao Companion, Niu Shouren.
To his surprise, Su Yutong's cultivation had also reached the perfection of Qi Refining.
This cultivation speed seemed somewhat abnormal.
On second thought, he understood.
Recently, he had sold a considerable number of Perfect Cloudmist Pills to the Hall of External Affairs to purchase resources.
If she was determined, it wouldn't have been difficult for her to acquire some.
"She got lucky," Wang Jianqiang shook his head and stopped paying attention to her.
"Those who drew numbers 1 to 10, step onto arenas 1 to 10."
Cloud Sparrow's voice rang out again.
Wang Jianqiang focused his attention and saw twenty figures already on the arena stages.
Among them was Wang Yuyao.
Wang Jianqiang raised an eyebrow, concentrating on Arena 3.
Wang Yuyao's opponent was a burly middle-aged man.
His cultivation had reached the ninth level of Qi Refining.
Such cultivation was considered average among all participants.
"Begin the match."
As Cloud Sparrow spoke once more, the twenty participants on the ten arenas moved simultaneously.
On Arena 3.
Wang Yuyao and the burly middle-aged man both made their moves.
Wang Yuyao wielded the Perfect Cloudwater Coldglow Sword, the sword gleaming like cold light, leaving her opponent with no chance to retaliate.
After a brief exchange, Wang Yuyao emerged victorious.
Watching the battle, Wang Jianqiang couldn't help but shake his head.
The fight seemed to show Wang Yuyao's absolute advantage.
But her opponent's magical artifact was only a Low-Grade Magical Artifact.
Wang Yuyao had an absolute advantage in both cultivation and magical artifacts, yet she couldn't defeat her opponent instantly.
It could only be said that her foundation was too weak.
If not for the advantage of her magical artifact, even with a cultivation advantage, defeating her opponent would have been extremely difficult.
He couldn't help but chuckle.
Half a year ago, Wang Yuyao was only at the sixth level of Qi Refining.
Although her cultivation had rapidly advanced to the perfection of Qi Refining due to the Perfect Elixir, her spell technique cultivation hadn't caught up. Currently, her spell technique level was still at the sixth level of Qi Refining.
It was understandable that she struggled.
In contrast, he didn't have such worries.
Because he had always been focused on arduous cultivation, he had never practiced combat spell techniques.
Thinking of this, Wang Jianqiang felt a bit embarrassed.
"I'm about to head to the Cold Pool Secret Realm. I should start cultivating some spell techniques soon."