I Can Upgrade My Talent Infinitely-Chapter 120: Between Sorrow and Joy

"If we don’t meet in the first round, there’s still a chance in the second or third. Of course, that’s assuming you haven’t been eliminated yet, Junior Brother Sheng," Fang Yun said.

"I knew you were confident you’d beat your first-round opponent, Senior Brother."

Sheng Qiyuan was not surprised by Fang Yun’s answer.

Even though Fang Yun’s first-round opponent was a disciple at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, he was still optimistic about Fang Yun’s chances.

To date, he had only sparred with Fang Yun in Magical Combat once, back when Fang Yun was at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer, but this didn’t affect his judgment of him in the slightest.

He knew about Fang Yun’s subsequent Magical Combat spars; so far, no senior brother or sister had managed to break through Fang Yun’s defense. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Of course, I’m confident." Fang Yun smiled. A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he said, "I remember your number is quite high, Junior Brother."

When Fang Yun was reading the information on the board at the foot of Battle Peak, the first thing he’d looked at was the number of disciples participating in the Inner Sect Grand Competition. His gaze had stopped on the very last line.

"Yes, I’m number two hundred fifty-two."

Sheng Qiyuan’s number was high because he had registered for the Inner Sect Grand Competition very late.

Just under half a month ago, he had finally broken through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer. Only then, upon becoming an Inner Sect Disciple, did he qualify to register for the Inner Sect Grand Competition.

After finalizing his change in status at Celestial Cloud Pavilion, Sheng Qiyuan went straight to another Steward to register.

He had broken through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer less than half a month ago, and he reached the Body Refining Seventh Layer the day before yesterday.

Currently, his Body Refinement and Qi Refining were at the same Realm.

’It seems he only recently became an Inner Sect Disciple.’ Fang Yun quickly came to this conclusion.

Based on what little he knew of Sheng Qiyuan, he was sure Sheng Qiyuan would have registered for the Inner Sect Grand Competition as soon as registration opened.

That being the case, there was only one reason for his late registration and high number.

"Number one hundred sixty-four versus number two hundred fifty-two!"

Sheng Qiyuan’s first-round opponent was also announced: an Inner Sect Disciple at the Qi Refining Eighth Layer.

When Sheng Qiyuan’s opponent was revealed, he stopped chatting with Fang Yun and returned to his original spot.

As time went on.

Soon, only the last two lots remained in the box Feng Tianrui was holding.

The final opponents didn’t need to be drawn.

Feng Tianrui directly announced the final match-up.

"Number two hundred thirty-eight versus number two hundred forty-nine!"

With that, all the first-round match-ups had been decided.

Next was to divide the one hundred twenty-seven pairs and the one person with a bye into two brackets and complete the seeding.

At this point, there was nothing left for the disciples below to do. They just had to watch as the three Elders on the stone platform took care of everything.

The disciples below the platform were now free to leave if they wished.

"I’m going to head out, Senior Sisters." At this point, Fang Yun glanced at the sky and spoke to Song Qiaoqiao and Bai Qinying.

Song Qiaoqiao looked at Fang Yun, and as if she understood something, she didn’t ask any further questions.

"Alright, you go on, Junior Brother."

"What for?" Bai Qinying asked.

"I’m going to Dan Cloud Peak to refine a cauldron of medicinal pills," Fang Yun replied.

He already had a plan in mind for the rest of the day.

First, he planned to go refine a cauldron of Qi Enhancement Pills. Then he would go home, absorb one of the pills, and spend the rest of his time relaxing, or at most reading for a bit.

"I thought the deadline for the Dan Cloud Pavilion task wasn’t that tight."

"It’s not." Fang Yun shook his head and said, "But I need to perform Alchemy."

Having said his piece, Fang Yun prepared to leave.

Seeing Fang Yun’s resolve, Bai Qinying didn’t say anything more.

At that moment, Fang Yun was the only disciple leaving Battle Peak.

All the other disciples wanted to see the final bracket assignments for the Inner Sect Grand Competition. They didn’t have as strong a sense of time management as Fang Yun.

For Fang Yun, every bit of time he could save now would make his future cultivation path that much easier.

"Senior Sister, we’re in the same bracket as our junior brother," Song Qiaoqiao said, looking at the results.

Those drawn by Elder Miao Qinghong were in the left bracket, and those drawn by Elder Long Xiangwen were in the right.

Bai Qinying’s master was standing in the middle; he wasn’t responsible for drawing lots.

"Now we just have to see when we’ll run into each other."

Once the pairs in each bracket were randomly matched up, Deng Qian, watching the final results from a corner, turned pale.

His first-round opponent was an ordinary Inner Sect Disciple at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, but his second-round opponent would be Fang Yun.

He knew that number two hundred thirty-five, Hong Lingfeng, had no chance of defeating Fang Yun, so his own second-round opponent was guaranteed to be Fang Yun.

When he had initially sought out Fang Yun for a Magical Combat spar, he thought Fang Yun would definitely accept his challenge.

Fang Yun had never refused other disciples, and that, combined with Fang Yun’s usual behavior on Battle Peak, had led him to misjudge his personality.

’He’s someone who appears calm on the surface but is actually wild at heart.’

’Otherwise, he wouldn’t have pointed a sword at his own forehead back then, ready to deliver a fatal blow to me at a moment’s notice.’

Now that he was facing Fang Yun in the second round, he would likely be tortured by him.

He would deliberately draw out the fight, slowly grinding him down instead of finishing him quickly. In that situation, the Elders wouldn’t be able to declare him the loser unless he surrendered voluntarily.

"Senior Brother Deng, you’re pretty lucky! Your first round against a junior sister at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer is a gimme, and in the second round, you might even get to face Junior Brother Fang, assuming he wins his first match... Huh? Senior Brother Deng, your face..."

"Ahem... uh, look at the sixth-round situation."

"Let me see... It’s Senior Sister Bai." The Inner Sect Disciple, who was at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, immediately understood. He then tried to console Deng Qian, "Senior Brother Deng, whether it’s you or me, we should be content just to make it to the sixth round. Don’t even think about the top four."

Having successfully deflected the conversation, Deng Qian breathed a sigh of relief internally.

Now, his mind was already preoccupied with how he would face Fang Yun the day after tomorrow.

Sheng Qiyuan looked at the state of the left bracket.

He mainly focused on his and Fang Yun’s potential paths.

He and Fang Yun could meet in the third round!

The prerequisite was that they both had to defeat two opponents.

"Where’s Senior Brother Fang?"

Upon seeing this result, Sheng Qiyuan looked over in Fang Yun’s direction.

He found that Fang Yun was already gone, with only the two senior sisters remaining there.

By the time the final results were out on Battle Peak, Fang Yun had already started refining Qi Enhancement Pills.

Today, he would just refine one cauldron of Qi Enhancement Pills.

For the current Qi Enhancement Pill task he had accepted, all the Spirit Medicines provided for refining the pills—whether primary or supplementary—were of ’Good’ grade.

Ever since the one hundred and eleventh cauldron, he hadn’t seen a single ’Excellent’ grade Spirit Medicine.

’This is undoubtedly Bai Heyan’s doing.’

Fang Yun had no objection to this arrangement; he had long been able to perfectly refine Qi Enhancement Pills.

What comforted Fang Yun the most was that Elder Bai Heyan hadn’t given him any ’Inferior’ grade Spirit Medicines.