The number of attendees did not disappoint Cheng Xiao Xiao. Little Yuteng chattered away next to her, “Young Mistress, guye, there were indeed some martial kings among the attendees. Do you think they will really sign up to the competition?”

Martial kings were already considered master level on this normally they didn’t come by very often, but now, not only were there some of them here, and there were more than just 1 or 2 of them!

If they were to join in the competition, then most definitely they’d take all top 7 places!

“Do you know them?” asked Cheng Xiao Xiao.

Mo Xuanzun took a look at them, shook his head and said, “No, I don’t know them. They are probably non-affiliated cultivators; otherwise they wouldn’t be here. Then again, it is possible that they belong to one of the top powers trying to infiltrate the Cheng’s!”

“Hehe, that’s interesting. That’s fine too. Young Mistress, we will contract them all as our servants and see how they will still be able to be loyal to others!

Exactly. It doesn’t matter who they are, we will see what they can do under the sacred contract!” Mo Xuanzun couldn’t help but chuckled.

Cheng Xiao Xiao has a slight smile on her. Her ability was exactly why she doesn’t worry whether any of these people were here as spies. Once she contracted them, they will only be loyal to her family and not their original affiliation.

“Quiet….” Came Old Man Ying’s voice, not too loud, not too soft, but the qi exuded out of his body like a powerful tidal wave and spread in all directions.

Several hundreds of attendees went quiet immediately with fear on their faces. They didn’t even have the desire to put up any resistance, and that included the several martial kings present.

Nobody expected the ordinary-looking old man was so powerful indeed.

“Alright, we have already made the announcement yesterday so I trust everyone had an idea so I shall not recapitulate. Regardless of whether you win out in the competition, anyone that we deem fit will have the opportunity to join Count Zhongyuan’s Residence. Of course, only the top 7 contestants will receive wards.”

“Elder….” Came a steady voice from below the stage. Old Man Ying looked around and finally identified the young man who had spoken, “What is your question, young man?”

“Yes, Elder. What we would like to find out is how many guards are Count Zhongyuan recruiting this time?” A simply-dressed young man asked carefully.

He wasn’t the only one who wanted to know; this was the question that was on the minds of most who were there.

“Ah, alright. We can divulge that information!” It was quite rare that Old Man Ying didn’t just snap. He went on to say that, “We are recruiting for around 200 or so individuals. Of course, if there are more of your that quality, we can take more. Count Zhongyuan’s Residence had no problem feeding extra dozens of people, it’s just a matter of whether you are worthwhile for our master.”

His speech made everyone surprised and happy. A minimum of 200 people! That meant they would at least have a shot, and that made everyone even more eager.

One must know that what the unaffiliated lacked the most were resources. It was extremely difficult for resources to come by; out of 10,000 unaffiliated cultivators, barely a few of them could gather enough resource to become martial king or martial emperor. They’d be lucky to become martial masters and, even when they came across any resources, it would difficult for them to hold onto them.

Whilst they weren’t able to get into any of the sects or powers, it was also difficult trying to join a prominent family to become a guard. Most prominent families already have a sizeable number of guards, and most cultivators wouldn’t want to become a servant of a smaller family.

And now, Count Zhongyuan’s Residence was not the same, they could easily rival the Top 9 Sects and it would not be shabby to be able to join them.

All of a sudden, upon hearing Old Man Ying’s reply, everybody looked happy.

“Anyone can challenge the first one up. The losing party would go to this elder for a badge. The winner would stay until he us defeated. Any questions!”