Urban Cultivation with a Demonic System

Chapter 407 - 337: Set a Small Goal First—Take Down the Federation’s Number Two!

"Well, let’s skip the formalities. Everyone’s here, so let’s start."

At the top of the tower, Xuan Haoran scratched his head, speaking in a lazy tone, looking just like an unemployed youth waiting at home.

With his relaxed demeanor, it seemed as if he wasn’t participating in a sword competition gathering the top talents of the Blue Star Federation, but rather attending a market fair.

Even though the members of the Top Ten university teams knew Xuan Haoran was powerful, his attitude still made many feel dissatisfied.

And Xuan Haoran’s next words shocked almost everyone present.

"Given the opponents in this sword competition are a bit weak, directly fighting in the arena doesn’t present much of a challenge, so I’ve come up with a rule."

Xuan Haoran said lightly:

"Do you see this Nine-Story Treasure Tower under my feet?"

"I’ll give you fifteen days to set up your environment inside the tower."

"Whether you set traps or create advantageous conditions for yourselves, you can use any Magical Treasure you can master during the process without any constraints from me."

"However, the number of layers in the tower is limited, and I’m not bothered to fight all of you."

"There are two hundred of you in total from the Top Ten university teams, right? You can choose any layer when entering the tower. Once a layer is selected, you must defeat all competitors on that layer within fifteen days to become the Gatekeeper."

"All setups by competitors can be claimed by the victor until you build the strongest fortress for yourself."

"I will start my Tower Challenge fifteen days later, and once it starts, there will be no rest and no supplies, including resources from loot."

After elaborating on the rules of the sword competition, Xuan Haoran yawned:

"That’s it. Please try hard for the next fifteen days."

Members of the Top Ten university teams, including Su Yuan, could barely suppress their irritation after Xuan Haoran finished.

Too arrogant!

This Xuan Haoran is ridiculously arrogant!

Indeed, if it were in a one-on-one arena match, even the top-ranked Guo Zhengyi from Evil Extermination University, who is the second-ranked student in the Federation, might not be Xuan Haoran’s match.

Yet, he chose to give a top expert like Guo Zhengyi fifteen days to prepare.

Everyone knows that Batman has never won in fights but has never lost in scheduled battles.

Similarly, a prepared cultivator and an unprepared one are two different concepts entirely.

Moreover, Xuan Haoran will not rest or be resupplied during his Tower Challenge.

How is this different from being challenged consecutively by nine strong competitors?

With these rules, forget about Xuan Haoran being just a Foundation Establishment Cultivator; even some less experienced Golden Core Stage supervisors from the Top Ten would fall at some layer.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the sword competition’s rules themselves are an insult to all members of the Top Ten university teams.

An senior student couldn’t take it anymore, stepping out of line, shouting:

"I object!"

"Celestial Calculation Divine Child, your rules are too unfair. Even if we win under such rules, there would be no sense of achievement!"

Xuan Haoran looked down at this senior student, not angry, just said:

"Unfair? I think it’s quite fair."

"I don’t mean to look down on anyone. I’m just stating a fact."

"Let me share some Intel with you. These eyes of mine have the ability..."

Saying this, Xuan Haoran pointed to his dead-fish eyes:

"To predict the future."

With the four-character phrase "predict the future" spoken, the venue fell silent.

Xuan Haoran continued:

"I can see anything happening in the next twenty seconds, and it is a passive ability that requires no activation and lasts indefinitely."

"Being able to see all your move trajectories makes arena battles too unfair for you. Only using any means necessary in a battleground can bring me a bit of fun."

"So, please do your best to satisfy me."

With that, under the crowd’s silence, Xuan Haoran lightly jumped off the high tower, scratching his butt as he left.

Members of the Top Ten university teams: "..."

As Xuan Haoran said, the rules of the sword competition are fair indeed.

No one had any opinion anymore.

Within the team of Evil Extermination University, Jiang Taibai slowly spoke:

"Only fifteen days left. Time is tight. We must quickly decide the layer to enter and set up a site that can target the ability to predict the future."

Guo Zhengyi also said gravely:

"Right, and everyone shouldn’t be frightened by the so-called future prediction."

"After all, Xuan Haoran has to challenge the tower. As long as we set a trap at the tower’s entrance, even if he can predict everything, he must battle with us head-on, and our chances are not low."

Lv Tianqiao then said:

"Now the question is how to choose the layers of the tower."

"If all the strong gather on the same level and battle until only one is left, it will greatly weaken our team’s strength."

"The best setup is to have a student from the Federation’s top ten universities as a Gatekeeper on each level to pose the greatest threat to Xuan Haoran."

"But obviously, the further back the layer, the more advantageous it is for the Gatekeeper. It’s not easy to evenly distribute the layers of the high tower."

Su Yuan quietly listened to the discussion of the three top experts of Evil Extermination University without saying a word.

Because he feared the so-called prediction of the future was just a smokescreen thrown by Xuan Haoran.

Not that Xuan Haoran didn’t have this ability, but that this ability is not Xuan Haoran’s strongest means.

This concern had reasons because according to the dog system’s introduction about Xuan Haoran, this guy was born with mysterious eyes, so the innate talent for predicting the future is most likely innate for him.

And the Divinity Transformation Inheritance prepared by the Observing Heaven Pavilion Master for Xuan Haoran might be another set of means.

When you think about it, Xuan Haoran’s level of difficulty has increased by another notch.

"Su Yuan, this sword competition sounds so hard, why don’t we just muddle through and then withdraw?"

As Su Yuan furrowed his brows, Qi Hanyan tugged at his sleeve and made her usual idle remark.

But this time, Su Yuan didn’t get angry.

Because he indeed couldn’t see any hope of winning the sword competition, perhaps giving up early, without stubborn persistence, was the best choice.

But just at this moment, a mature and gentle voice suddenly sounded from behind:

"Thinking of giving up?"

Su Yuan, Chen Nuoyi, and Qi Hanyan turned instinctively, and then they saw Wu Luo True Monarch smiling warmly.

Before the three could greet her, the red-haired beauty gracefully pulled her own daughter and apprentice into a warm embrace.

She gently caressed the two beautiful girls’ silky long hair with motherly affection and looked at Su Yuan, smiling:

"Su Yuan, I actually hope you do well in this sword competition."

"Because this sword competition is not something Xuan Haoran wanted to organize, it’s the idea of the Observing Heaven Pavilion Master."

"The idea of the Divinity Transformation Celestial Monarch?"

Upon hearing this, Su Yuan’s expression suddenly became serious.

Wu Luo True Monarch said:

"I’m not going to hide it from you, the sword competition is just an excuse."

"It’s a way to gather the most talented young people from the entire Federation, from whom the best will be selected, allowing you to participate in a very important plan."

"Xuan Haoran is more like a quality inspector than a challenger."

Su Yuan blinked in realization.

Perhaps this was what his master had mentioned as the true purpose of Xuan Haoran and Wu Luo True Monarch.

The plan of the Divinity Transformation Celestial Monarch indeed tempted Su Yuan a bit.

After all, even the tiniest bit coming from such an important figure could make him immensely successful.

But soon, Su Yuan calmed down and asked a sharp question:

"Senior Wu Luo, may I ask what level of performance is considered good?"

Wu Luo True Monarch tilted her head, smiling:

"It’s not difficult; as long as you lead your team to clear any layer of the tower and become a gatekeeper, it’s considered good performance."

Su Yuan: "..."

How could you say such cold words with a thirty-seven-degree mouth?

Gatekeeper?

Listening to the previous discussion among Guo Zhengyi and the others, each layer of the Nine-Story Treasure Tower is at least guarded by a student ranked in the Top Ten of the Federation’s universities.

How am I, a freshman just starting my second half-semester, supposed to compete with the Federation’s Top Ten?

But soon, Su Yuan realized.

Wu Luo True Monarch was not just talking about him, but the entire team!

That’s right! Team!

Even though there’s only one gatekeeper for each layer, before deciding on the gatekeeper, you can definitely form a strong team, strategize the battle environment together, and defeat competitors together.

Clearly, Su Yuan’s team was based on the Primordial Sect.

Chen Nuoyi and Qi Hanyan need no further introduction, and Zhu Tianqing from Myriad Beasts University’s school team could also be a member of his team.

What one person can’t do, a team of four could manage quite well.

Su Yuan was very aware of his advantage; if it came to facing off directly, he was definitely no match for Guo Zhengyi and others, but once he was well-prepared, creating a battleground extremely favorable to him... it might be possible to give it a try.

With this in mind, Su Yuan took a deep breath and said solemnly:

"I’ll give it a try."

Wu Luo True Monarch nodded in satisfaction, then rubbed her daughter and apprentice’s little heads firmly before disappearing.

Obviously, this True Monarch had used some method to isolate the outside, her appearance and disappearance, along with her prior conversation with Su Yuan, had gone unnoticed by anyone.

Su Yuan took out his phone to contact Zhu Tianqing, and after pulling her into the team, the Su Yuan squad formally established.

Meanwhile, Guo Zhengyi and the other two were already in discussions with leaders from other school teams.

The leaders from other school teams mostly had only two people; only Star River University and True Martial University, like Evil Extermination University, had three leaders.

These twenty-three people were all the top students in the Ten Great Immortal Sects who had mastered the complete Divinity Transformation Inheritance.

They were university students ranked in the top twenty-three within the Federation, with limitless futures.

And after more than half an hour of negotiations, these twenty-three Federation prodigies finally reached an agreement.

The agreement was simple, choosing the tower’s layers according to their Federation rankings.

The ninth and tenth ranked prodigies would occupy the first layer of the tower and lead another prodigy from their sect who also mastered the complete Divinity Transformation Inheritance to compete with others, deciding the gatekeeper of the first layer.

Additionally, the second to ninth layers of the tower would be occupied by the top eight ranked prodigies in descending order.

Students from the same school as these eight prodigies, who had mastered the complete Divinity Transformation Inheritance, would fight alongside them to construct a battleground against Xuan Haoran.

Under this agreement, Guo Zhengyi, Jiang Taibai, and Lv Tianqiao occupied the Eighth Layer of the tower.

As expected, the gatekeeper of the Eighth Layer would be Guo Zhengyi, with Jiang Taibai and Lv Tianqiao using their methods to assist him.

The allocation for other universities’ layers was similar.

As for how the school team members who haven’t mastered the complete Divinity Transformation Inheritance would be distributed?

It doesn’t matter.

Could these people possibly contribute much help in combating Xuan Haoran?

Let them choose a preferred layer to muddle through, gain some experience, what more do they need?