C429 Break the Pot!

The Thousand-village Martial Competition kicked off directly.

The participants surged into the Green Sun Forest area, and the group from Great Leaf Village joined the flow. Originally, six people from Great Leaf Village were supposed to participate, but in the end, seven entered. The unexpected addition was a little kid named Rice, surprising everyone.

Great Leaf Village's move left many observers dumbfounded. They thought that even if Great Leaf Village didn't back down, they would at least trim their numbers. Instead, they added a five or six-year-old kid. Were they courting disaster?

Faced with skeptical looks, those remaining from Great Leaf Village appeared calm, leaving others puzzled. Did Great Leaf Village have some special strategy this time? The more they thought about it, the more plausible it seemed, causing concern among many villages.

To make a good impression on Blue Jewel Village, many villages had instructed their people not to show mercy when dealing with Great Leaf Village. If Great Leaf Village really had some extraordinary tricks, their own people might suffer.

However, they quickly relaxed, believing that among the eighteen hundred villages, many must have had the same idea. With so many competitors, unless Great Leaf Village's young participants had someone at the Inner Stage, they would struggle to pass the first round.

Ye Fengchun approached Sun Li with a light chuckle, saying, "I think you all might want to start packing your things to head back..."

The implication in Ye Fengchun's words was clear: those who entered from Great Leaf Village wouldn't be coming back this time.

In the past, Sun Li would have taken the bait and gotten provoked by Ye Fengchun's taunts. But this time, Sun Li said nothing, simply smiling as he looked at Ye Fengchun's head.

Ye Fengchun was wearing a hat, but everyone knew that after yesterday's events, there was definitely no hair underneath it. No matter how much Ye Fengchun tried to provoke him, Sun Li just kept smiling silently at his head. This was a tactic taught to him by Woo Zhengyang, who believed that with Ye Fengchun's personality, he would inevitably come back to show off again. And indeed, that was the case.

Eventually, Ye Fengchun stormed off in anger. No matter how hard his fists were, they couldn't do much damage to a pile of cotton.

A short while later, all the village escorts rose into the air, flying above the Green Sun Forest. Participants in the Thousand-village Martial Competition weren't allowed to fly over the forest, but the escorts could, even observing everything happening below from mid-air.

It wasn't until the people from Great Leaf Village stood on their flying swords in the sky that their previously calm expressions finally began to change.

To outsiders, they seemed calm and composed, but who knew they were more nervous than anyone else? Woo Zhengyang had indeed used his abilities to persuade them, but whether things would go as smoothly as he promised, they couldn't be sure. After all, they had many enemies.

In the end, they chose to trust Woo Zhengyang because his words opened their eyes. He said, "No matter which place you go, oppression will always exist. If you escape from one town, another will pop up. Are you going to keep barely surviving, hopping from one place to another? Even if you do, how long can you hold on?"

From above, the Green Sun Forest looked vast, and entering it felt like a fish swimming in the ocean, surrounded by Green Sun trees of various ages as far as the eye could see.

Apart from the villages confident in making it to the top hundred, the others were very concerned about the first stage of the competition. The number of people passing and the order determined each village's ranking in the Thousand-village Martial Competition.

In the past, the people of Great Leaf Village would rush forward as soon as the first stage began. However, this time, everyone agreed to follow Woo Zhengyang's lead. So, even though Dahu and the others were anxious, they stuck close to Woo Zhengyang, strolling leisurely through the Green Sun Forest, ending up at the back.

The people above watched the scene unfold, speechless once more. Was Great Leaf Village aiming for last place? Even if they were, it wouldn't come easily.

The Green Sun Forest, as the first test, wasn't too difficult but not a walk in the park either. It was chosen because of the Green Sun Vines that filled the forest. These vines, which grew alongside Green Sun Trees, appeared to be simple plants but held a rare Demon Core.

Legend has it that demons weren't just beasts; plants and trees could become demons too. For reasons unknown, while demonic beasts still roamed the world, plant demons had vanished, leaving the Green Sun Vine as a unique anomaly.

These vines were everywhere in the forest. They weren't strong attackers, but their sheer numbers and tangled growth made them hard to navigate. Once caught, it was tough to break free, making them the biggest hurdle in passing the first test.

Those leading the way frequently encountered the vines, which could bind their legs or, worse, wrap around their entire bodies. The young participants in the Thousand-village Martial Competition, even those at the Peak of Martial Master level, could quickly cut through the vines if only their legs were bound. But hesitation could lead to being completely ensnared, and if wrapped layer upon layer, even the strongest would need help to escape, inevitably slowing down the entire village's progress.

Woo Zhengyang carried little Rice on his back, walking leisurely at the rear with Liu Dahu and the others. It was the easiest spot to be in. Most of the troublesome vines had already been cleared by those ahead, and any stragglers were easily handled by Liu Dahu and his group. Being at the back, they could afford to take their time without any real consequences.

Their relaxed pace was enough to make those ahead grit their teeth in frustration. During the Thousand-village Martial Competition, even the smallest villages didn't want to finish last, or they might as well not have shown up at all. But the folks from Great Leaf Village seemed to have embraced their underdog status with a carefree attitude, which was both admirable and infuriating to others.

Especially for those villages hoping to curry favor with Blue Jewel Village by giving Great Leaf Village a hard time, Woo Zhengyang's laid-back approach threw a wrench in their plans. They couldn't afford to slow down and risk their own rankings just to target Great Leaf Village.

Before long, it became clear that some villages were up to something. A few groups began to break away and gather together, deliberately slowing their pace. It was obvious these villages had been given special instructions by Blue Jewel Village to deal with Great Leaf Village...

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