In the small courtyard, another group of Cheng family members had been waiting for a long time. Their expressions were solemn and the atmosphere seemed a bit heavy.
At this time, when they saw Cheng Qingjia leading another team, they also looked like they couldn't cheer up.
Xu Chunniang secretly glanced at the monks in the courtyard. Among these ten people, there were two who had completed the Foundation Establishment, three who were in the late stage of Foundation Establishment, and the remaining five were all in the early stage of Foundation Establishment.
The overall strength of the team she is currently on is about the same.
"Uncle Seven, Fellow Taoist Tang."
Cheng Qingjia greeted everyone, "What's wrong with you, you all have such sad faces?"
"Qingjia is here."
Cheng Qi forced a smile. They arrived early and had just done some research outside. It was really not optimistic.
The Liu family sent out four teams this time, and the Zhang family also had three teams of elites.
The entire five islands on the southern route, including the Zhan family on Coral Island, have a total of eleven families. Only the Chen family on Qingzhu Island and the Dong family on Chisha Island also sent only two teams.
But the Chen family and the Dong family have always been at the bottom. Now, the Cheng family has fallen into such a situation?
After hearing the news, Cheng Qingjia's heart couldn't help but sink, "Where are the casual cultivators? How many hunting teams have they sent out?"
In addition to the eleven aristocratic families, there are three forces formed by casual cultivators in the five southern islands.
"I have also inquired about this. Only the weakest casual cultivators from Chisha Island sent out two teams. The rest were three hunting teams."
Cheng Qingjia's frown deepened. The hunting team was a group of ten, and the minimum requirement for cultivation was foundation building.
Therefore, every time a team is different, the gap will be difficult to make up.
From this point of view, the best result that the Cheng family can achieve in this hunting competition is to surpass the Chen and Dong families, as well as the group of casual cultivators from Chisha Island, ranking eleventh.
And whether it can defeat these three forces is still unknown.
No wonder Uncle Qi was so frustrated. In the last hunting competition, the Cheng family barely finished tenth, and the sea area they were assigned to was not only remote, but also extremely barren.
If the ranking drops again this time, Cheng Qingjia simply cannot imagine how passive the family will be.
Cheng Qi sighed softly and glanced at everyone, stopping for a moment on Tang Chuan and Xu Chunniang.
"I wonder what you fellow Taoists have to say?"
As a monk who has perfected his foundation, Tang Chuan is already very old. He has participated in hunting competitions more than a dozen times, so he has rich experience.
Hearing this, he pondered for a long time and then spoke slowly.
"The gap in strength cannot be easily bridged. How about reintegrating the two teams of monks and dividing them into strong and weak teams."
Cheng Qi understood what he meant, but still had concerns.
"If this is the case, the strong team has certainly been strengthened, but the weak team is too weak. They don't even have monks in the foundation building process. They may not be able to defeat the more powerful sea monsters in the late stage of foundation building."
The hunting competition is a hunt for the sea monsters by human monks, but there are also not a few monks who die every year from the sea monsters.
"It doesn't matter. The strong team can go deep into the sea, and the weak team can stay in the shallow sea area and hunt."
Tang Chuan obviously thought carefully and said without hesitation, "If the two teams are balanced, their hands will be tied up and it will be difficult to display their true strength."
Cheng Qi was somewhat convinced and looked at Xu Chunniang, "What do you think of this method, fellow Taoist Xu?"
Xu Chunniang thought for a while, "This is my first time to participate in a hunting conference. Everything is up to you."
So Cheng Qi made the decision, and according to Tang Chuan's suggestion, those with high cultivation levels were grouped into one team.
The other team of ten is composed of monks who are in the early stages of foundation building. They are probably the weakest team in this hunting conference.
Five days later, the hunting competition officially kicked off, and all the participants, led by the Zhan family, came to the Zhan family's training ground.
The training ground was full of people. In addition to the cultivator families and casual cultivators, many small cultivator families and rogue cultivators also participated in the hunting competition.
They may form teams of three or five, or go alone, and the total number of participants is not less than these major forces.
The Zhan family is indeed the first family among the five islands on the southern route to have Nascent Soul monks at their command. Its training ground is large enough to accommodate thousands of monks.
Xu Chunniang once again lamented the prosperity of the maritime cultivation world.
The number of foundation-building monks who came to participate in the hunting competition today alone has exceeded the number of foundation-building monks owned by Xiaoyao Sect.
"This ring is made from a shadow stone. It can automatically record the monsters you kill and score points by the way. The shadow stone is refined in a special way, and the record will disappear automatically after an hour."
When the head of the Zhan family, Zhan Siming, was explaining the rules of the hunting competition, the monks of the Zhan family happened to distribute the rings to everyone.
Xu Chunniang took the ring, and the records in the image stone would disappear automatically, so there was no need to worry about revealing the means of killing the enemy.
She looked into her consciousness and didn't notice anything unusual, so she put the ring on her thumb like the others.
The ring seemed to feel something and automatically shrank a little, fitting her finger tightly.
The words of the head of the Zhan family were still coming from the high platform, introducing the points calculation rules for killing the sea monster.
Every time a sea monster in the Qi training stage is killed, it will be awarded ten, twenty, thirty and forty points according to its level of cultivation.
Every time a foundation-building sea monster is killed, one hundred points, two hundred points, three hundred points and four hundred points will be calculated according to its level of cultivation.
If you kill the golden elixir stage sea monster, it will be doubled ten times, and you will get at least one thousand points.
As for Nascent Soul stage monsters, they are extremely rare in the five southern islands.
If you encounter it and you are lucky enough to save your life, it will be smoke coming from the ancestral grave. God bless you.
As the head of the Zhan family announced that the hunting competition had officially begun, many monks took action.
After Cheng Qi told the other team not to go deep into the sea, he was leading everyone out when a group of people immediately blocked the way.
The leading female cultivator is wearing hunting red clothes, her eyebrows are bold and bright, and she has a perfect cultivation base.
There are nine people behind her, eight of whom have completed Foundation Establishment.
There is even one person who has a powerful aura around him, far better than others, and he has a golden elixir stage cultivation level.
Xu Chunniang was still secretly guessing the identity of the other party, while Cheng Qi was already smiling and bowing towards the visitor.
"I've met Miss Zhan San, Senior Zhao."
The former gave her a slight nod in return, while the Jindan monk named Zhao didn't even raise his eyelids.
"I'm looking for Cheng Qingjia."
Zhan Yingluo's eyes fell on Cheng Qingjia, making no secret of her purpose.
A trace of displeasure flashed through Cheng Qingjia's heart. Due to the other party's identity, she responded, "Miss Zhan San."
Zhan Yingluo nodded and said calmly, "You will go to sea with me."
Cheng Qingjia took a deep breath to calm down, "Third Miss, I'm afraid this is against the rules. If I go to sea with you, my Cheng family's team will be missing one person."
"What are the rules? My third lady's words are the rules."
Zhan Yingluo didn't say anything. An old man beside her said calmly, "Miss Third, by letting you go to sea together, I am looking up to you."