"You... never mind, let me ask you a question." Ye Tianfan said, "The loneliness I experienced first, is it part of the Life Array or the Death Array?"

"Life Array? Death Array?" Heaven-Reaching Pillar murmured doubtfully and then said to Ye Tianfan, "It seems you have some misunderstanding about the Seven-Life-and-Death Array. This array doesn't have Life or Death arrays, or rather, each one can be a Life or Death array!"

"You mean..." Ye Tianfan had a vague idea but wasn't very clear yet.

"In this array, you will experience seven scenes. As long as you can endure through all of them, they are all Life arrays. If you can't endure one and choose to commit suicide or die within the array, that scene becomes a Death array. In reality, you won't die, but your spirit will suffer significant harm," Heaven-Reaching Pillar explained.

If an outsider were to ask, Heaven-Reaching Pillar wouldn't utter a word, but if a fellow disciple asked, he would speak. After all, it wasn't a highly divine array, and if Ye Tianfan wanted to learn it, he could. Instead, he might as well extend a favor now; explaining it wouldn't cost him anything.

"I see." Ye Tianfan nodded and then bowed to Heaven-Reaching Pillar, saying, "Thank you, Senior Brother Qi, for your assistance."

Heaven-Reaching Pillar heard this and repeatedly said, "Not at all, not at all," attributing Ye Tianfan's mastery to his profound skill.

The first round of Ye Tianfan's match ended amidst mutual compliments.

Ye Tianfan returned to the Taishui Peak stands, but once he landed, he heard Tian Chu Zhenren speak with a smile on his face, "Xiao Qi, go to the Sect Leader and draw the second round's lot."

"Yes, Master!" Ye Tianfan replied, then turned and flew to the Sect Leader at Taichu Peak stands.

After drawing lots, when Ye Tianfan returned to the Taishui Peak stands again, he saw Tian Chu Zhenren with a cold expression while Second Brother Mu Tianshun, Fourth Brother Xue Tianjie, and Fifth Brother Su Tianxing stood with heads bowed beside their master.

"Xiao Qi, what number did you draw?" Tian Chu Zhenren asked Ye Tianfan, trying to smile but failing due to the situation. He wasn't unwilling to smile, just found it impossible to do so given that Taishui Peak's first round had ended with four participants, and only Ye Tianfan advanced to the second round. The other three didn't make it, and even from his perspective, the remaining three were at a disadvantage, especially Old Third Liang Tianqi, who was soon to return as a failure. If this trend continued, unless Old First You Tianjiao or Old Sixth Dai Tianxin performed miraculously, they would also fail, meaning only Ye Tianfan from Taichu Peak would advance to the second round.

If he hadn't recruited Ye Tianfan into the Taishui Peak lineage, this tournament would have been a complete defeat, making it impossible to face his rival, the truly famous brother from Taishui Peak, who would surely mock him.

Thus, Tian Chu Zhenren really wanted to smile at Ye Tianfan but found himself utterly powerless to do so.

"Reporting to Master, I drew number forty-two again!" Ye Tianfan said somewhat reluctantly, as drawing number forty-two twice only showed he had a special affinity with the number.

"Hmm, just don't know who your opponent is," Tian Chu Zhenren said, turning to look at the competition's central arena. He knew his expression was very out of place, so to avoid putting any pressure on Ye Tianfan, he decided not to look at him.

Ye Tianfan saw Xue Tianjie secretly giving him a thumbs up, making him smile before standing behind Tian Chu Zhenren, right next to Xue Tianjie.

"Fortunately you arrived; otherwise, Master would have reprimanded us again for waiting," Xue Tianjie quietly said to Ye Tianfan upon seeing him beside him.

Ah, so that's what it meant! Ye Tianfan realized that Xue Tianjie's thumbs-up was referring to this; he thought it was for his victory.

Ye Tianfan had just stood for a moment when he saw Senior Brother You Tianjiao, Third Brother Liang Tianqi, and Sixth Brother Dai Tianxin return in succession, looking quite disheveled. His master's face darkened further until it turned pale upon Dai Tianxin's return. As the saying goes, extreme darkness leads to whiteness; extreme whiteness leads to darkness, though that's a joke. Tian Chu Zhenren's face turned white because even though Dai Tianxin looked disheveled, he won.

Yes, Dai Tianxin achieved victory, knocking down his opponent, immediately improving Tian Chu Zhenren's complexion, as he believed besides Ye Tianfan, everyone else would fail completely, but unexpectedly, there was such a surprising victory.

Despite this, Tian Chu Zhenren didn't display his joy but instead calmly instructed Dai Tianxin to draw lots and then glanced indifferently at the five defeated disciples.

Now, Tian Chu Zhenren wasn't angry at all. Although he said whoever didn't advance to the second round would go into seclusion, he didn't truly mean it. He understood the circumstances, as this year's participants were all elite, even including disciples of the Qian Yuan level.

If Ye Tianfan had luck and didn't encounter those Qian Yuan level disciples, advancing to the second or third round would suffice for Tian Chu Zhenren's satisfaction. He hadn't hoped for other disciples' advancement, not because he looked down on them, but because other sect disciples were too powerful this year; a small portion had training time similar to Old First You Tianjiao, but most exceeded You Tianjiao's duration.

Yet, Tian Chu Zhenren had never imagined Old Sixth Dai Tianxin would win and proceed to the second round, albeit embarrassingly.

This made Tian Chu Zhenren see Dai Tianxin in a new light; who wouldn't expect the unexpected from this year's first-timers?

While Tian Chu Zhenren was still feeling emotional, the Sect Leader Taichu Zhenren's voice, though not loud, seemed to penetrate deeply, came through.

"The second round is about to begin, ascend to your respective arenas."

Upon hearing this, Ye Tianfan made a bow to Tian Chu Zhenren.

"Master, I'm off."

After saying this, Ye Tianfan summoned his Flying Sword and flew towards Arena Number Twenty-three, which was located within the sixth row, third column of the merged arenas.

The arenas, having been merged, went from being eight by eight to four by eight.

Arriving at the arena, Ye Tianfan looked at his opponent, discovering she was a woman. He first cupped his hands in greeting, "Disciple Ye Tianfan from Taishui Peak greets Senior Sister."

The opponent, seeing Ye Tianfan initiate the greeting, also cupped her hands and replied, "Disciple Lu Waner from the Taiyi Peak greets Junior Brother Ye."

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