Ning City was the province’s capital. It was situated on a plain surrounded by the Sunset Mountains which stretched out more than twenty times the size of Green Moon City. Its landscape was filled with a tight conglomeration of buildings. In the middle of it all, a towering mountain was present.
The mountain in the city’s center could not be compared to the mountains which surrounded the area, but it stood out because of it shape. Its silhouette resembled a sloped cylinder, and instead of a sharp peak, there was a wide, flat platform on the mountain’s top as if it was cleaved off by a gigantic sword.
There were eighteen amethyst platforms in the middle of the flat mountain, and they were surrounded by rows and rows of small antique jade palaces and houses.
“We’ve arrived!”
Xu He led all fourteen South Star cultivators out of the runicle, and just as they got out a few Warriors in silver robes ran towards them.
“Would you be the guests from South Star Academy? This way please!” They bowed and quickly led Xu He and the rest to one of the palaces. These three Warriors, along with many others, were responsible for the receiving the compet.i.tors on behalf of the City Lord of Ning City.
The palaces Ning City had prepared for the guests were magnificent, and within each of them, there were pavilions, lofts, a garden with a small decorative hill made of rock, pools, and other luxurious facilities. Although the South Star representatives were a group of fifteen, the palace was s.p.a.cious enough to house all of them with room to spare.
“Don’t leave; I will go to the officials and get ahold of the tournament’s schedule.” Xu He left Liu Jian in charge after making room arrangements and getting everyone situated.
After the vice-princ.i.p.al left some of the students were pacing around enjoying the tranquility of the s.p.a.cious palace while others were either cultivating in their rooms or chatting with their fellow students.
“Come!” Ye Wei patted Cai Ning’s shoulder as he signaled the one-star Warrior to follow him.
“Okay.” Cao Ning earnestly nodded. He was then led to the courtyard Ye Wei was a.s.signed to.
Ye Wei ordered Cao Ning to use the stances he knew. Although he was not sure about Ye Wei’s intention, he trusted his friend enough to display his Rolling Stone Punch and the Onyx Tortoise stance without holding anything back.
Strands of runes appeared in the air and shortly after formed a stance. Cao Ning used the Rolling Stone Punch. Ye Wei did not say a word but just nodded with no facial expressions. However, when Cao Ning displayed the Onyx Tortoise stance Ye Wei looked astounded, and there was an undisguised glow of excitement in his eyes.
“The Onyx Tortoise stance was awesome; it has great potential!” Ye Wei patted Cao Ning on the shoulder with a bright smile on his face.
Even though Ye Wei knew many stances at this moment, it was already too late to teach Cao Ning any of them. It would be much more efficient and effective to refine a stance he already knew and get strengthened by the cosmic energy than to learn something completely new.
“What do you mean great potential?” Cao Ning said with a bewildered look on his face as he struggled to comprehend what Ye Wei meant.
“Come back again after sunset, and you will find out what I mean.” Ye Wei laughed. He enjoyed leaving Cao Ning confused. “Haha, just go there are some things I have to think about.”
“Okay…” Cao Ning said as he scratched his head and left the courtyard confused.
“Rolling Stone Punch is pretty mediocre. I can make it into a mid-level Spirit stance at best, but on the other hand, the Onyx Tortoise stance can be developed extensively…” He mumbled to himself as he replayed the two stances in his head repeatedly. He then decided to focus on studying the runic structure and flow of the Onyx Tortoise stance.
While Ye Wei concentrated on perfecting the Onyx Tortoise stance on the other side of the building, more than ten Polaris cultivators trespa.s.sed into the South Star Academy’s palace.
“Is this where they are staying? Smells horrible here! Oh well, what do you expect, they have to pick the right place for the right people!” The front gate was kicked open violently as mocking voices as the group entered the premise. They were led by an arrogant looking teenager who had straw dangling from his mouth who gazed around with a disdainfully.
He was followed by a group of black-robed teenagers, and every single one of them had a powerful presence. The cultivators humiliated by Ye Wei were also in this group.
Liu Jian, Chen Mo, Joe Yin, and others came out of their rooms as they heard the noise. When they saw the group entering and the embroidery on their robes, their faces became cold, and they gasped. “Polaris Academy!”
They rushed out of the entrance and glared at the cultivators from Polaris Academy with hostility. Mo Feng, who was knocked down by them, glared at the intruders with rage in his eyes.
None of the South Star students were happy to see the people who had just caused a ruckus at their school no more than three days ago.
“This palace was a.s.signed to South Star Academy; you people have no right to be here and no business here!” Mu Feng stared at the red-haired cultivator who knocked him out in one strike as he shouted with a cold voice.
“These facilities belongs to Galaxy Academy, when did they give this place to South Star?”
“We are all guests of Galaxy Academy, surely were allowed to greet one another?” Ning Yang laughed coldly. “I have to say this palace is in such a sorry state, but well I guess that’s only when compared to what the host prepared for the top ten schools from last year. Like Qi Xiu said, it smells a bit like a pig sty that’s all!”
None of the South Star cultivators could stand Ning Yang calling them pigs; they all struggled to remain calm.
“Ning Yang, how can you so shamelessly come here? I thought making you kneel down to us and apologize would have taught you a lesson.” One of the students who saw his intrusion a few days back stepped forward and said.
“What, is what they’re saying true? You’re a disgrace! People like this made you kneel down? Do you know how hard we worked to build a good name for Polaris Academy?!” The teenager with straw in his mouth looked at the South Star cultivators around him then his gaze landed on Ning Yang.
Ning Yang had a stiff look. He ground his teeth as he thought about the shame he was put through. He then shook his head and said, “None of the garbage here was the person who disrespected me.”
“What did you call us? Watch your mouth!” Enraged by Ning Yang’s words, Liu Jian stepped forward. He raised his sword-shaped brows and glared at the Polaris cultivators, “The reason why you can speak like this today was because I was not there when you came, or else I would have knocked every single tooth out of your filthy mouth and forced you to crawl back to Polaris!”
The atmosphere became heavy as every South Star student at the scene was furious. They all started channeling their Qi ready for a fight to break out any second.
“Pfft, who do you think you are?” The teenager chewed on the straw in his mouth and replied. He stepped forward and without using his hands, a surge of Qi burst from his body towards Liu Jian in the shape of a flying serpent.
A thundering noise sounded as the Qi wave hit Liu Jian, and after taking ten steps backwards he finally regained balance, but his face was white and a line of blood dripped down from the corner of his mouth.
Everyone from South Star was startled. They couldn’t imagine that their best cultivator would struggle so much just taking one hit from this unknown person.
“See what I mean. You should learn to walk the walk before you talk the talk!”
“Who are you?” Liu Jian clutched his chest where he was. .h.i.t. He was dismayed by the powerful strike as he started to realize he was not a match to the person standing in front.
“I am Qi Xiu of Polaris Academy, just call your best cultivator out to face me. I don’t want to waste my time taking out the trash!” He knew how strong these guys stood in front of him were just with one glance, he then immediately lost interest in them.
Qi Xiu’s body gave off an exceptional presence that exceeded everyone else there.
‘It’s him…”
Everyone was scared and looked startled. They didn’t think Qi Xiu would be at such a high level; therefore, Liu Jian was afraid that even Ye Wei would not be able to do anything against Qi Xiu. If they were to fall to Qi Xiu’s might here, then South Star would become the laughing stock of all other partic.i.p.ating teams.
“So you are Qi Xiu? Nevermind, I don’t really care who you are, but this palace was a.s.signed to our school, if you don’t leave immediately I will have to use force!” Chen Mo took a small step forward as sequences of runes appeared around his body.
“None of you here are worthy enough to fight me just fetch the kid who embarra.s.sed Ning Yang before any of you get hurt! Call him out, and make him kneel and apologize! If he is not here, then I want all of you to kneel down for him!” Qi Xiu chewed on the straw again as his gaze became cold.
“You want us to kneel down for who?” Not all the South Star cultivators understood what Qi Xiu meant but judging from the aggression in his tone they knew they were in trouble.
“p.i.s.s off!” Chen Mo, Zhao Kun, and Zhang Jie pointed at Qi Xiu and shouted.
“You asked for it, now kneel!” Qi Xiu narrowed his eyes and rose his hand, and he then swung it towards Chen Mo. The runes around it flew out and formed eighteen bright Qi fists. ‘Low-level Myst stance – Floating Light Fist!’
The fists of Qi reached the South Star students in a flash, and they traveled too fast for any of them to react. Even Liu Jian and Chen Mo could do nothing more than stare at the approaching Qi fists.
“What was that!”
None of the South Star students antic.i.p.ated Qi Xiu, who was not condensed-prime Warrior to their knowledge, to use a Myst stance. There was only one explanation, ‘He must have refined the stance himself!’
Ordinary Warriors were mere ants compared to a Warrior who could use Myst stances. For the South Star cultivators fighting Qi Xiu would be as hard as fighting an armed Warrior bare-handed.
The South Star cultivators were not ready to give in. One by one they used their best stances in the hopes that their joint effort would be enough to stop Qi Xiu.
“Golden Scale stance!”
“Scarlett Spirit stance!”
“Fire Spirit Burst!”
Despite the great effort, all of the stances were neutralized by Qi Xiu’s Qi fists.