Chapter 4 : The clan ratio is approaching.

"Fourth brother, wait for me," Zhou Xuanfei ran over excitedly.

"Big brother, why are you here?" Zhou Tong asked in surprise.

Zhou Xuanfei glanced at Zhou Tong and grinned, "Judging by your strength, you don't seem like someone who just advanced to the early stage of the Heavenly Yuan Realm. So, what have you been up to?"

"Nothing, just a stroke of luck," Zhou Tong nodded.

"Haha... it seems you, Fourth Brother, are not simple. This time in the family competition, let's have a good match," Zhou Xuanfei laughed heartily.

Zhou Tong smiled wryly, "Big brother, you've been in the Heavenly Yuan Realm for a long time. I just broke through, and my strength is still a step behind."

"Don't underestimate yourself. Although you're the youngest, your talent is the strongest among us brothers. Your strength is definitely not as simple as it appears on the surface," Zhou Xuanfei said with an incredulous expression.

The two brothers continued chatting as they arrived at the conference hall, where several clan members had already gathered.

The arrival of Zhou Tong and Zhou Xuanfei attracted attention, as, in this family competition, only Zhou Xi and the two of them had reached the cultivation level of the Heavenly Yuan Realm.

Zhou Tong scanned the surroundings and found that, besides them, there were three others who had reached the peak of the Earth Yuan Realm: Zhou Haoyu, Zhou Haoran, and Zhou Xue'er. These three were just one step away from the Heavenly Yuan Realm. Zhou Haoyu, in particular, ranked second in the collateral line, defeating Zhou Tong when he was still in the Earth Yuan Realm.

"Isn't this Young Master Zhou Tong? I heard you broke through to the Heavenly Yuan Realm?" Zhou Haoyu cast a disdainful glance at Zhou Tong, his eyes revealing a hint of jealousy and resentment.

He had been lingering in the Earth Yuan Realm for a long time without a breakthrough, and Zhou Tong had just reached the Heavenly Yuan Realm before the family competition. This made Zhou Haoyu quite displeased.

"Yeah," Zhou Tong replied indifferently. He had no intention of engaging in conversation with Zhou Haoyu.

As Zhou Tong glanced around, he looked towards the main seat in the conference hall, where several elders were already seated.

Seated at the main seat was the clan's eldest elder, Zhou Ming, whose strength was only surpassed by the clan leader. The second seat was occupied by Zhou Xuan's eldest son, Zhou Xuan, followed by Zhou Tong's father, Zhou Yan.

"Eldest Elder, Uncle, Dad," Zhou Tong greeted each of them.

The elders of the Zhou family nodded in acknowledgment. Zhou Tong also clasped his fists towards Zhou Xi, Zhou Yeling, Zhou Yeyuan, and others from the younger generation.

These three were among the strong individuals of the third generation in the Zhou family.

"Cough, cough." At this moment, the elder sitting in the main seat cleared his throat, suppressing the discussions among the crowd.

"Everyone, quiet down," the elder said in a deep voice, and the hall gradually fell silent.

"Well, today we have gathered everyone to discuss matters related to this family competition. In this family competition, all participants will be drawn into pairs, and the final winner will receive a reward. The reward this year is different from the past, so there are penalty measures. Apart from the top eight winners of this family competition, the rest will have twenty percent of their monthly cultivation resources deducted."

As soon as this statement was made, there was an uproar.

"Deduct twenty percent?"

"Why is there such a rule added this year?"

"Unfair, why deduct cultivation resources?"

People whispered and discussed among themselves, expressing their discontent.

Zhou Ming snorted, sweeping his gaze around. "Enough talk. This meeting today is to discuss the matters of the family competition. In this competition, everyone will be divided into eight groups, and it will follow an elimination format. The victors will advance."

"Each group will consist of eight participants, with the first-place winner in each group receiving a spiritual medicine as a reward. The matchups will be determined by drawing lots, and the final eight participants will enter the finals."

"If you find this plan unreasonable, you can withdraw. No one is forced."

Having said that, Zhou Ming glanced at everyone indifferently and then closed his eyes.

"Alas, we can only participate," someone sighed.

"I agree."

Soon, the conference hall became silent, and everyone tacitly accepted this arrangement. After all, no one wanted to miss this opportunity. If they could advance to the top eight, it would be a significant leap forward.

"Alright, now let's begin drawing lots, and the meeting will be adjourned afterward." Zhou Ming opened his eyes, stood up, and left. The other elders followed suit.

Soon, eight boxes of lots were placed in front of the table.

Zhou Tong reached out, grabbed one, and checked the number.

"Group Five," he silently noted.

On the other side, Zhou Yeling, Zhou Yeyuan, and others finished drawing lots. They got Group Five and Group Three, respectively, which were quite far apart, making it challenging to compete for opponents.

"Fourth brother, which group did you draw?" Zhou Xuanfei asked Zhou Tong.

"Group Five," Zhou Tong casually replied.

"Hahaha

, Fourth brother, you're really unlucky. You're in the same group as Zhou Yeling," Zhou Xuanfei patted Zhou Tong on the shoulder.

Zhou Tong rolled his eyes at him, too lazy to explain, and left directly.

Exiting the conference hall, Zhou Tong found Zhou Yan waiting for him at the door.

"Dad, I was just looking for you."

"What's the matter?" Zhou Yan smiled and looked at his son.

Zhou Tong scratched his nose and said, "Dad, the bracelet..."

Zhou Tong explained in detail what had just happened. Zhou Yan, after hearing the story, showed no surprise at all. Seeing Zhou Tong's reaction, he immediately understood. "Son, do you know the purpose of this thing?"

"I used this thing back then. Of course, I know. Just wear the bracelet, and Grandpa will tell you more in the future," Zhou Yan smiled.

"I understand, Dad."

"Also, Tong'er, your goal for this family competition is to be the first!" Zhou Yan's tone was more serious than before.

"The first?" Zhou Tong frowned slightly.

"This year is a bit special. The top three rewards are the same as before, but the first place has an additional reward – the opportunity to choose an item from the family treasure trove," Zhou Yan slowly explained.

"The family treasure trove?" Zhou Tong was surprised. "Isn't that where the family stores spiritual medicines and treasures? Why would they let us younger generation choose?"

"A while ago, during a high-level meeting, Elder Zhou proposed it, saying it could motivate the younger generation's cultivation. What do you think?" Zhou Yan asked with a smiling face.

"Is it because of Zhou Xi?"

"Your mind is quite sharp. Zhou Xi reached the Heavenly Yuan Realm half a year ago. In this family competition, if everything goes as expected, he will be the first. A month ago, when the proposal was suggested, many people opposed it. However, today's meeting passed unanimously. It seems that he put a lot of effort into it in the past month. But even the Elder did not dream that this year there would be two more people breaking through to the Heavenly Yuan Realm." Zhou Yan chuckled.

"So it looks like I have to fight for this first place. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a loss?" Zhou Tong grinned.

"This family competition seems to be a trial for the younger generation on the surface, but who can't see that Elder Zhou wants to repeat history?" Zhou Yan said lightly.

"Repeat history? Is there more hidden information here?" Zhou Tong asked in confusion.

"I'll tell you when you win the family competition. Ten days left, go back and cultivate well. Off you go," Zhou Yan instructed.

Zhou Tong nodded and, after paying his respects, turned and left.

With his current strength, although he didn't have full confidence in defeating Zhou Xi, it wouldn't be easy for Zhou Xi to defeat him either.

"Ten days left. I should go to the Scripture Pavilion and see if there's a suitable martial art."