At this moment, Ye Qingfeng watched this scene and couldn't help but smile faintly without saying anything.

"Ye Qingfeng wins!"

The steward referee saw this scene and couldn't help but feel a bit helpless, eventually stepping forward to announce the result of the match.

At this moment, the female cultivator on the martial arts platform looked at Ye Qingfeng with a spring-like expression on her face and cautiously asked:

"Senior Brother Ye, can we have a hug?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Qingfeng naturally opened his arms with an indifferent smile.

At this moment, the woman saw this scene and couldn't help but feel extremely excited, quickly stepping forward to embrace him tightly. At this moment, she felt incredibly excited, and there was no trace of concern for the outer sect competition in her heart – she was solely focused on hugging him tightly.

It must be known that the opportunity to hug a male god like this is the happiest thing for an average female cultivator.

Senior Brother Ye not only has unquestionable strength, with no one questioning him, but his appearance is also so handsome – he's simply the perfect man.

At this time, the crowd below couldn't help but be speechless at this scene. This was still the outer sect disciples' grand competition, and such a thing happened. It's known that Senior Brother Ye possesses the Late Nascent Soul Stage cultivation, and although many understood the woman's actions, encountering such a strong opponent meant elimination was almost certain.

However, if only they could have seen Senior Brother Ye exhibit his martial arts, how great would that be? After all, witnessing such a genius cultivator in the competition isn't something ordinary people can easily see, but this is only the general feeling among male cultivators.

For most female cultivators, many were already filled with envy and admiration. To be able to stand so close to a male god-level figure like this is definitely a rare opportunity, let alone get to hug him.

"My male god..."

"Oh my God, that female cultivator is so lucky!"

"How didn't such a good opportunity fall to me..."

At that moment, many female cultivators looked quite regretful, discussing among themselves, while their eyes were already affectionately gazing at Ye Qingfeng on the platform...

Not long after, this dramatic competition ended.

Soon everyone looked for some matches featuring skilled disciples to watch, as this was also a rare opportunity.

In the subsequent matches, there were still many good cultivator disciples, with various results, but among them, everyone looked forward to only one person, as among the outer sect disciples, aside from Ye Qingfeng, there was only one cultivator worthy of such anticipation from so many disciples.

And that was Gu Feng!

At this moment, Gu Feng still sat on the boulder, eyes slightly closed, seeming to have already started cultivating. Besides his own turn, he seemed uninterested in everything else.

On occasion, some True Qi fluctuations emanated from Gu Feng, showing that he was truly immersed in cultivation, not just resting with his eyes closed. Clearly, he was a true martial enthusiast, as if nothing outside cultivation mattered in his life.

At this time, the outer sect competition was halfway through, and many cultivators focused on Gu Feng's matches, as Gu Feng was also a Late Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, almost the strongest disciple besides Ye Qingfeng.

However, in everyone's mind, they knew they couldn't decisively say who was stronger between Ye Qingfeng and Gu Feng, since no one had seen a fight between the two.

It's just that many years ago, it was rumored the two collaborated once to kill Yuan Beasts. The final result seemed like Ye Qingfeng single-handedly killed twenty Fourth Grade Yuan Beasts, while Gu Feng killed eighteen.

From this, it can be seen that although there was some gap between them before, it wasn't very wide, and that was many years ago when they seemed to still be at Nascent Soul mid-phase cultivation. Now that they were both at the Late Nascent Soul Stage, who was more powerful was really uncertain.

Yet, their personalities were indeed different. As outstanding disciples, both had a bit of a cold demeanor, but clearly, Ye Qingfeng had slightly better amiability than Gu Feng. After all, Gu Feng often traveled outside the Sect, specially killing those in the top three of the wanted list, and the murderous aura he carried was truly intimidating.

At this time, Ye Qingfeng had completed a comedic first-round competition, and clearly, all anticipation focused was on the not-yet-appeared Gu Feng.

At this moment, seeing Gu Feng already in a cultivation state couldn't help but make many cultivators quite shocked. It was unimaginable that this guy could cultivate anywhere. At the time of the outer sect competition, in such a noisy environment, he could still immerse himself fully in cultivation; his mental state was evidently incomparable to average cultivator disciples.

It's known that there were nearly ten thousand disciples and cultivators on the vast Southern Square, and at the same time competitions were underway. Being able to continue cultivating in this environment wasn't something an ordinary cultivator could do!

However, there really was someone like Gu Feng, who had also entered cultivation, and that was Ding Fan.

At this moment, Ding Fan had completely immersed in cultivation. Everyone around him had already completed their competitions successfully, so he truly had nothing to worry about. Earlier, Ding Fan had already released his Divine Sense and scanned all the cultivators on the Southern Square, not finding the whereabouts of Zhou Ruoran, Gusu Qingwen, or Ye Ningbing. Ding Fan could basically confirm that Zhou Ruoran, Gusu Qingwen, and Ye Ningbing were not in this outer sect competition. Though Ding Fan would still look for their whereabouts whenever possible, he wasn't as focused on it anymore since he had already scanned everyone around.

Subsequently, Ding Fan also started cultivating. Although Ding Fan was not as martial-obsessed as Gu Feng, ignoring everything but cultivation, Ding Fan still understood the importance of cultivation time.

During the previous period, Ding Fan had been focusing on cultivating the "Golden Dragon Emergence," so he had less time to fully concentrate on training, and he wouldn't waste even a minute or second.

Although both Ding Fan and Gu Feng were cultivating, Ding Fan's depth of focus was even more intense than Gu Feng's. At this time, besides occasionally glancing around, he was fully immersed in his cultivation.

Neither of them paid attention to each other, nor did they care about the situation of the outer sect.

However, the attitude of the crowd toward Ding Fan's cultivation was entirely different from that toward Gu Feng's. Among all the disciples, only Ding Fan cultivated like Gu Feng, which inevitably drew considerable attention.

But the surrounding onlookers viewed Ding Fan with a mix of difference and disdain, unable to understand why a cultivator who hadn't even reached the Embryonic Breath stage would participate in the outer sect disciple competition—it was simply self-humiliation. Imitating Gu Feng's cultivation style seemed ostentatious.

"This kid looks like he's just pretending!"

"With such low cultivation, he has the nerve to mimic Senior Brother Gu Feng; it's shameless!"

"He'll just be cannon fodder later on..."

Many cultivators who noticed Ding Fan cultivating couldn't help but comment disdainfully.

Meanwhile, Lianzi, Wang Hu, and others ignored the opinions around them. They knew that Ding Fan was deeply focused on his cultivation and naturally wouldn't disturb him. Hearing the discussions, Lianzi and Wang Hu periodically formed a protective circle around Ding Fan to facilitate his cultivation and prevent interruptions.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Xiao was astonished. She couldn't understand why everyone valued such a low-level disciple so much, almost making Ding Fan the core figure of the group, which perplexed her.

However, after briefly interacting with Ding Fan, Zhou Xiao knew that he was a good person, so being friends was no issue. But was his popularity just because he was a nice person? Zhou Xiao found it confusing, though she occasionally joined Lianzi and others in cautiously protecting Ding Fan—not for Ding Fan's sake, but because of Lianzi and Wang Hu.

As the most beautiful female of the outer sect, Zhou Xiao naturally drew a lot of attention. Coupled with Ding Fan's cultivation actions, it attracted even more disciples' attention.

Seeing Zhou Xiao carefully guarding Ding Fan, many were astonished.

"What good fortune did this kid have in his past life to have even the goddess Zhou Xiao standing by his side? It's unbelievable!"

"Oh dear, really, why is Junior Sister Zhou Xiao standing with someone like that? It's insulting to Junior Sister Zhou Xiao!"

"That kid better not meet me in the competition, or I'll give him a proper lesson for daring to make our goddess stand guard over him. It's outrageous!"

"..."

Before long, many cultivators redirected their focus to Ding Fan. Seeing his cultivation state left them shocked; how could a novice-like cultivator be so close to Junior Sister Zhou Xiao?

Moreover, Senior Brother Wang Hu also acted courteously towards him. What skills did this person possess?

Looking at the kid, I see nothing substantial about him—he's just putting on a show!

Soon, discussions grew louder, and many cultivators began to notice Ding Fan's cultivation style. Everyone looked dismissive, not expecting him to imitate Senior Brother Gu Feng, clearly just an act.

As the discussions intensified, even many elders on the judging platform turned their attention to Ding Fan.

"That disciple is interesting; his cultivation isn't high, yet he's trying to learn from others to gain attention! It's a shame for the sect..."

"Indeed, he's quite ordinary. Such a disciple must have expended all his cleverness on these matters instead of improving his cultivation, hence his weakness."

"..."

Many elders began discussing upon seeing Ding Fan; clearly, they weren't optimistic about him.

Meanwhile, the chubby elder, hearing everyone's comments, looked grim and angrily said:

"Don't jump to conclusions; whether this disciple is heroic or cowardly, we'll find out when he competes."

The elders were momentarily stunned by the chubby elder's words. His perspective apparently differed from the others, as if he had faith in this disciple—wasn't that ridiculous?

The True Qi in this disciple was so weak it seemed he hadn't even reached the Embryonic Breath stage, yet people wondered why such a weak disciple was recruited into the sect. It was a misfortune for the sect!