NOVEL NEXT Ch. 18
Chapter 18: Sect Competition, Everyone Prepares!
Li Aotian moved quickly.
As an Inner Sect prodigy, he had people and methods.
In less than two days, a detailed dossier on “Ascension Group” was already on his desk.
“‘Heavenly Dao Mutual Aid Association’? ‘Ascension Group’? ‘Chief Product Officer’? ‘Contribution Points system’?”
Li Aotian stared at the strange terms on the dossier, his brow furrowing, his face full of contempt and disdain.
“Hmph, trickery and sham! To put it bluntly, isn’t it just a bunch of rubbish gathering together, using numbers and the lowest-grade methods to concoct some trash pills? Something that can’t even show its face, and yet dares to call itself a ‘Group’?”
The lackeys beside him immediately chimed in: “Exactly! Senior Brother Li, this Chu Feng is a fraud! He talks big and fools those brainless chores disciples! If it ever came to blows, his few hundred men wouldn’t be enough for you to kill one-handed!”
“Kill him?”
Li Aotian sneered, “Killing him would be too easy. What I wanted was to destroy his heart!”
“I would, in front of the entire sect, trample his ridiculous theories and him personally into the mud, so that he would never rise again!”
A cruel light flashed in Li Aotian’s eyes.
He knew that barging in with force would only leave him open to accusations of the strong bullying the weak, and Chu Feng currently had that old fox Liu Changqing backing him, so it wouldn’t necessarily be easy.
He needed an opportunity — one that would give him righteous grounds to crush “Ascension Group” completely.
And that opportunity came soon.
One day, the bell in the sect main hall rang, and an announcement spread throughout Qingyun Sect — the annual Sect Grand Competition would officially begin in one month!
The Sect Grand Competition was the greatest event in Qingyun Sect.
It was not only a stage for disciples to display strength, compete for honor and resources, but also a battlefield for elders and factions to jockey for power behind the scenes.
In past competitions, the protagonists had always been Inner Sect disciples, especially sky-born talents like Li Aotian.
Outer Sect disciples and chores disciples either had no qualification to participate, or they went up only to make up the numbers — to be a backdrop, instantly killed with one move, and become a laughingstock.
When the news reached the West Mountain Pill Institute, most of the members reacted with an attitude of indifference.
“Sect Grand Competition? That’s when the Inner Sect seniors perform. What does it have to do with us?”
“Exactly, we’ll just keep gathering herbs and refining pills, earning Contribution Points. That’s way more practical than chasing empty fame.”
However, they thought that way, but Chu Feng didn’t.
In his “past-life memories,” such company- or industry-wide events were priceless opportunities for “brand promotion” and “marketing”!
If they could make a showing at this Grand Competition, the “brand value” and “industry influence” of “Ascension Group” would explode!
Would there then be a shortage of new “customers” and “investors” coming to them?
“Who said it had nothing to do with us?”
That night at the Group meeting, Chu Feng stood on the platform facing hundreds of members below and spoke passionately.
“To others, the Sect Grand Competition was a stage to flaunt individual martial strength. But for us ‘Ascension Group,’ this was a war.”
“It was a war to present our new model, our strong cohesion, and our team power to the entire sect — a ‘brand launch’!”
Brand launch?
The crowd heard another new term; they didn’t understand it, but it sounded impressive.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
Chu Feng looked at the puzzled faces below and smiled.
“You’re thinking: our highest cultivations are only at Qi Refining Fifth Level or Sixth, how can we compete with those Inner Sect prodigies at Qi Refining Seventh Level, Eighth, or even Ninth?”
“If it came down to solo fights, we truly couldn’t match them.”
Chu Feng shifted his tone and became supremely confident, “But we are a team! A group!”
“I ask you, is a single chopstick easy to break?”
“Easy!”
The sparse crowd answered.
“What about a hundred, a thousand chopsticks bound together?”
Chu Feng’s voice suddenly rose.
“Not easy!”
This time many more voices rang out.
“That’s right!”
Chu Feng slammed his hand down, “I’ve studied the Competition rules. Besides the final individual ranking battles, there are team battles! And this is our chance!”
“They had geniuses like Li Aotian, but we had over two hundred brothers! They valued individual heroics; we valued teamwork, scientific tactics, and the stratagem of Tian Ji’s horse racing!”
“From today onward, I declared that ‘Ascension Group’ was entering a one-month ‘Grand Competition Preparatory State’!”
“All departments would halve production tasks! All members must gather at the square every afternoon for team tactical drills!”
“At the same time, I would launch the ‘Grand Competition Special Incentive Plan’! In the Competition, for every team battle we won, each participating member would be awarded one thousand Contribution Points! For each Inner Sect disciple defeated, an additional five hundred points! If we could break into the top three in the team battles, all Group members’ pill benefits for that month would be doubled!”
Boom!
When the reward plan was announced, the hall instantly exploded.
Everyone’s eyes reddened!
One thousand points! Pills doubled!
This was practically more than gathering herbs for a month!
Members who had been listless a moment ago were now like they had been injected with adrenaline, wildly cheering, eager to rush to the arena and fight the Inner Sect disciples to the death.
“Let’s do it!” Zhang Daniu roared with his arm raised, his shout shaking the heavens, “For the Group’s honor! For double pills!”
“Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Hundreds shouted in unison, the momentum soaring, as if the entire West Mountain were trembling.
On a distant peak, Li Aotian and several followers were looking toward the direction of the West Mountain Pill Institute.
Hearing the faint, fervent shouts, the lackeys beside him scoffed with disdain:
“A bunch of trash — shouting louder doesn’t change that. They want to join the Sect Grand Competition? How laughable.”
Li Aotian also wore a cruel smile.
“Good, saves me the trouble of going after them.”
“Since they wanted to step into the arena to find death, I would personally cripple them one by one at the Competition.”
“I would let everyone see how utterly fragile their ridiculous tricks were in the face of absolute strength!”
He turned, leaving a cold back to the West Mountain Pill Institute.
A storm that would shock the entire Qingyun Sect was quietly brewing.
Chu Feng stood at the center of that storm, a strategist’s smile on his face, beginning his next plan.
The first thing he did was visit his “angel investor” — Elder Liu Changqing.
After all, war was expensive.
He needed more “military funds.”