Big Data Cultivation-Chapter 1951 - 1953: Luohua’s Strategy

Director Wenxu isn’t particularly fashionable, but the Dragon Gate Conference is well-organized, clearly understanding the importance of the topic.

He doesn’t fully agree with this idea, yet he recognizes its importance, feeling a bit irritated, "Isn’t Luohua being too capricious?"

During registration, we have to proactively urge you to join, and now you say you’re not participating just like that. What happened to the Daoist Sects’ grand collaboration?

However, Feng Jun’s answer was completely unexpected to him: "Gao Qiang has reached the Innate stage; it’s inappropriate for him to compete again."

"Wh...what?" Director Wenxu almost thought he heard wrong, "He has...reached Innate?"

By cosmic justice, he indeed praised Gao Qiang might reach Innate in one or two years, but that was just flattering the other party; he himself didn’t believe it—Innate isn’t as common as cabbages, where is it so easily achieved?

"Gao Qiang counts as accumulated strength bursting forth," Feng Jun said casually, "His foundation is very solid."

Director Wenxu’s shock hasn’t subsided. Since when did Luohua have such luck? Other families don’t produce an Innate for hundreds of years, and your family has them one after another—counting Feng Jun, this is the fourth Innate, right?

So he hesitated and remarked, "Gao Qiang achieving Innate stage? Truly cause for celebration, our Daoist Sects gain a supreme expert, though I wonder... when did Gao Qiang reach the peak?"

"Three days ago, he is currently consolidating his cultivation level," Feng Jun replied nonchalantly, "Upon knowing it, I considered it inappropriate for Innate experts to compete, hence contacting Director Wenxu to inform you of the change."

Director Wenxu still hasn’t completely digested this surprise, "This indeed surprises me. At the time when Lu Xiaoning reached Innate, there was a natural phenomenon with wild winds and torrential rains. I wonder where Gao Qiang achieved his breakthrough?"

"When Lu Xiaoning achieved Innate, no one knew," Feng Jun replied lightly, "Luohua has its disciplines. Little Celestial Master wasn’t part of Luohua at the time, so we couldn’t cover for him. Director Wenxu asks so much, do you perhaps not believe me?"

"Where would I not believe you?" Director Wenxu was startled, "Since Luohua keeps producing Innate experts frequently, I can’t afford to disbelieve you... To be honest, I’m quite shocked."

"No need for shock, Daoist Sects will flourish, you’ll gradually get used to it," Feng Jun answered with a smile, and then asked, "Is there any issue with Li Shishi entering directly into the finals?"

Feng Jun was most concerned about this because Li Shishi’s actual strength is quite lacking, so minimizing her competition entries prevents someone from seeing through the reality and devising a corresponding strategy.

Actually, even if others devise a plan, they may not successfully implement it; even if implemented, it might not work—Li Shishi has Elder Feng’s full support, her trump cards aren’t merely one or two.

However, with such justifications, unless she achieves overwhelming strength, various variables exist.

Thus, if fewer of Li Shishi’s trump cards are exposed, it’s better to keep them hidden, considering she’s the well-known Luohua Chief Steward, and if she fails to secure first place, it affects Luohua’s reputation.

In fact, Feng Jun’s thought was that ideally, this Dragon Gate Conference wouldn’t force Li Shishi to reveal all her trump cards—Luohua is already quite high-profile, and exposing more outlandish trump cards would only make them targets.

How can the exposure of trump cards be minimized? Naturally, by reducing Li Shishi’s competition entries as much as possible.

Therefore, directly sending her into the finals is Feng Jun’s primary demand.

However, for Director Wenxu, this isn’t a serious matter—the event organizers have the authority related to this. Even in official international competitions, there can be wild card players, let alone in such informal events?

If Feng Jun’s strength wasn’t enough, Wudang might reject to preserve its prestige, but both Luohua and Kunlun are renowned, inherently qualified to demand direct finals entry.

Moreover, initially Luohua didn’t intend to claim it, currently, two contestants have become one, in case of encountering a dark horse and failing to enter the finals, Luohua would be humiliated!

Director Wenxu immediately stated, "This is a proper request; I’ll inform them to adjust the quota... we’ll decide on sixty-three competitors."

He agreed promptly, but upon hanging up, a nearby Taoist lamented, "Director, another plan change! This is already the absolute final version; I might die if there’s another change."

"What else can we do without changes?" Director Wenxu glared at him, "Let Innate experts compete?"

Another short Taoist spoke up, "Has Gao Qiang truly reached Innate stage?"

"Can such a thing be faked?" Director Wenxu retorted indifferently, "Or are you suggesting... Feng Jun would disgrace himself like this?"

The short Taoist’s eyes darted, "Since there’s one direct entry to the finals, why not another? As Wudang is the host, directly allotting a spot in the finals wouldn’t be opposed, that’s also international practice."

Thus it’s apparent, a bad precedent must not be lightly set. Once opened, others will remember to follow suit.

Director Wenxu paused at the words, clearly somewhat tempted, but after a moment of contemplation, he still shook his head.

"Forget it, Luohua has only one contestant, and their name is quite prominent. Securing a spot in the finals is quite normal. If we secure a spot in the finals, then what about other disciples? It wouldn’t be the international norm to secure one while others are still queueing outside, right?"

The Taoist in charge of revising the plan couldn’t help but speak out, "Why isn’t there a similar situation? For instance, in football, Britain alone has several teams, and FIFA hasn’t said anything about it."

Director Wenxu shook his head and confidently replied, "Last time Maoshan didn’t have any disciples directly entering the finals, and Wudang can’t afford to lose face like that."

Whether a sect develops well or not is indeed greatly influenced by the person in charge, and Wudang’s leadership has no issue in this regard.

The short Taoist was still somewhat unwilling and persistently tried to persuade.

"I’m saying we should secure a spot for someone truly capable, like Wang Dapeng. Last time, he wasn’t able to participate due to his father’s death, and now he’s cultivating outside of Luohua Sect. I feel he has the capability to win the championship, so why not let him fight fewer battles?"

Upon hearing this, Director Wenxu was momentarily stunned, and others thought he was reconsidering the pros and cons.

However, after a moment, he shook his head in confusion and muttered under his breath, "Could it be Luohua... wanting her to win the championship? Not to that crazy extent, right?"

The day after Feng Jun made the call, Wudang Elder Guo personally came to visit—he had just returned from the Gaul Convent in Qingcheng. Poor old Taoist, in his seventies, still constantly running around, truly restless.

He arranged to meet with Qing Xiaozi, Daoist Master Qiu, and other guest elders to visit Luohua Manor, officially to congratulate Gao Qiang on entering the Innate realm and reaching the pinnacle.

Feng Jun’s decision to conceal Gao Qiang’s advancement to Innate was to catch Wudang somewhat off guard, not asking for Gao Qiang’s entrance, but rather ensuring Li Shishi’s entry into the finals through a sudden strike.

As for why he wanted Gao Qiang to withdraw from the competition? Well, it’s just about flaunting—my Luohua intended competitor has directly ascended to Innate, and even the remaining little girl can still clinch the championship!

Thus, Gao Qiang hosted them, exchanging a few polite remarks.

Then, upon the invitation of Qing Xiaozi and Elder Guo, he went to Xiuzhen Courtyard to demonstrate the aura of Innate to the disciples from various Daoist sects—so far, his aura restrained isn’t very well, making it fitting for demonstration.

The opportunity to sense the aura of Innate is something ordinary people don’t get. Gazi once reached Innate, but at that time no one was around; when Little Celestial Master reached the peak, there were many, but who should feel the aura and who shouldn’t?

It’s only in Xiuzhen Courtyard, where the elites picked from various sects attend, coupled with the Qi Refinement realm of Luohua in control, that such an opportunity arises.

However, Gao Qiang’s demonstration wasn’t just for free; his promotion of other Taoist disciples benefited various sects’ elites, naturally gaining advantages in the future. Moreover, after this operation, overnight, all Daoist sects knew that Luohua produced another Innate.

Considering that this Innate is participating in this year’s Dragon Gate Tournament, the various Daoist sects couldn’t sit still, and they started calling Wudang.

Director Wenxu followed the trend and expressed: Luohua’s stance is high, indicating Gao Qiang won’t participate anymore; in return, the organizers will secure Li Shishi’s spot in the finals, does anyone have objections?

Anyone with objections would be foolish; if Gao Qiang insisted on competing, his odds of winning the championship would be at least eighty percent.

Luohua’s cultivator winning the championship wouldn’t affect everyone gaining the electric version of Spirit Gathering Array and Aptitude Testing Formation, but since there’s a chance to take the first place, why compete for the runner-up? Don’t the words "champion" sound appealing?

Seven or eight days later, cultivators from Xiuzhen Courtyard started taking leaves; among one hundred twenty people, only a dozen were left behind. No choice, as they are elites from each sect—though their combat strength isn’t very strong, but helping secure a good rank also counts.

Previously, there were rumors that after this tournament, Wudang planned to establish a ranking called Dragon Tiger List.

Someone raised objections to establishing this list — considering the negative impacts similar to the "Slaughter List," so this time the list wouldn’t rank individuals, it would rank the "Newcomer Influence" of various Daoist sects.

Nonetheless, there were still objections, saying in literature there’s no first and in martial arts no second; Wudang, you can’t have selfish interests, you shouldn’t provoke a potential conflict risk! We understand your desire to increase influence and voice within Daoist sects, but it shouldn’t create possible conflict hazards!

Therefore, whether this list would be established, and how it would be set, remained an issue.

However, various Daoist sects realized their own disciples should enroll more; if not for the overall performance, it’s good to hone the disciples anyway.

Xiuzhen Courtyard still had some who weren’t capable of participating, going to Dragon Gate Tournament for insight wasn’t bad either.

The remaining dozen non-departing ones had each their reasons, some reaching critical points in cultivation, others preferring peace over activity. Wang Keer stayed as well, but her reason was relatively peculiar—having just switched sects, she was embarrassed to run into her Wangwu fellow disciples.

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