All thirty-six teams representing their outskirt city were gathered around the martial platforms. Everyone was trying to figure out how strong everyone else was, and the exchange of looks were not all that friendly.
The young cultivators were running around exchanging information.
“I heard that Zhoutian Sword School only sent one person this year!”
“I know that kid’s name, Jian Chen. He fought five ten-star Warriors simultaneously in a sparring match and won! Their school has never fallen out of top three, and I’m guessing that this year will be no exception.”
“What!? Are you serious? Do you think they have a chance at first place this year then?”
“Well, you can’t just write off Galaxy Academy like that as three of the G.o.d’s Seven are on their team!”
The moment their t.i.tle was mentioned looks of envy and admiration appeared on the young cultivators’ faces as they heard the t.i.tle they dreamed of gaining; it was the reason they trained so hard.
With two opposing schools a.s.signed to one martial platform, It was the first time since last year cultivators from all thirty-six schools gathered in the same place. Other than the G.o.d’s Seven, who would be the strongest out of each school was another hot topic.
Young cultivators from South Star and Polaris Academy were glaring at each other with rage and hostility in their eyes.
Qi Xiu was standing around a hundred meters away from Ye Wei, and he was wickedly glaring at his recent opponent.
“Is that Qi Xiu?”
“Yeah, he is strong enough to fight the G.o.d’s Seven. A couple of days ago, he came to Ning City before the tournament started just to challenge Xuan Yu, the third strongest of the seven. They fought for a whole hour, and Qi Xiu lost just by a small margin. If he could fire out just one more stance he could have won the fight, but he lost valiantly. I’d say if he challenged any of the weaker seven, he might actually be one of them right now!”
“Wow, kudos to his courage and confidence to challenge the third best young cultivator of the region as well as the fact that he lasted an hour!”
“Polaris’ opponent, though, South Star Academy, is ranked a tier lower! I doubt this match-up will last long.”
“South Star Academy? The school that got eliminated in the first round last year? I heard their best cultivator is called Liu Jian… Wanna bet how long it will take Qi Xiu to beat him? I say he will not even last one stance!”
“I say two stance exchanges!”
Liu Jian’s face turn pale as he overheard conversations between the speculating cultivators from other schools.
The Polaris cultivators looked at Liu Jian and the others and laughed. Although Ye Wei’s strength was beyond what they expected, Qi Xiu did say he was confident he could take care of the new face; they all trusted the master of seven Myst stances!
The atmosphere was thick enough to be cut with a knife, as the fights would start soon. All the cultivators were restlessly checking out their opponents.
“Welcome, everyone!!” A rich, thick voice vibrated the air. It wasn’t loud, but it could somehow be heard clearly by all the cultivators and the teachers leading them. They all looked respectfully towards where the voice came from and saw a middle-aged man with his hands crossed behind his back.
He was wearing a simple green robe and had a gentle smile, and while there was no Qi disturbance around him, his elegant presence and posture made enough of an impression that everyone who saw him wanted to bow in reverence. This was the City Lord of Ning City. The leader and the only returned prime Warrior of the province.
At the Battle of Trapped Beast City Lord Chen singled-handedly destroyed more than six-hundred condensed prime demons during the pivotal fight. The returned prime Warrior was rumored to have achieved that with strength to turn rocks to dust and part rivers bare-handed. Many also believed that Chen Feng was a descendant of Supreme Chen Feng and that he was powerful because of his Supreme bloodline.
“Greetings your lordship!”
“Greetings your lordship!”
At the Martial Square, school leaders followed by the youngsters bowed to the City Lord.
“Welcome everyone to this year’s tournament. I am sure you have been told the rules but if you haven’t they are as follows: scrolls, arms, pills, or any other kinds of external aids are prohibited on the martial platforms!”
“If any contestant violate the rules and they do not obey judges’ decisions, your whole school will be disqualified and ejected from the premise by force!” Chen Yuan’s voice echoed throughout the square and in the minds of the audiences. The message was said in a calm tone and there was a magnetism to it that made it fearsome.
“So this is what a returned prime Warrior look like? What is this bone chilling feeling?” Moved by the magnificent presence of Chen Yuan, Ye Wei wanted to bow down and worship the City Lord.
‘No! If I want to become strong, I can not fear or bow to anyone! Not even a returned prime Warrior can get me on my knees without a fight!’ Ye Wei’s determination was rock solid. He clenched his fist, and the golden presence of the Mystic Mount in his Sentient unshackled the chains of fear.
As Ye Wei’s mind cleared up, his body felt light. He could also feel his Sentient was closer to a major breakthrough.
Ye Wei’s eyes started to clear up too, and he could see that Liu Jian, Chen Mo, Mu Feng, Joe Yin, and other weaker Warriors were tamed by Chen Yuan’s bewitching presence as their faces displayed fear. Only a handful of youngsters were able to break the mental shackle and kept their minds clear while the condensed prime Warriors like Xu He and other school leaders were obviously unaffected.
Ye Wei then felt a penetrating gaze on him. Chen Yuan’s presence did not only work on a physical level; it was psychologically challenging too. This was intentional so the City Lord could see which young cultivators he should keep an eye on. He looked around and gave everyone who kept their mind clear a nod of approval.
Other than Qi Xiu, Jian Chen, and other faces he was told by the vice-princ.i.p.al to keep an eye on, there was also a dark-skinned teenager who caught Ye Wei’s attention.
Ye Wei could tell from the person’s uniform that he was looking at someone from the School of Seven Stars, and he knew from the gossip that they ranked thirty-fourth out of thirty-six schools in the last tournament which meant they were in the bottom three.
But for some reason, the dark-skinned teenager gave off a strange presence which was ultimately what Ye Wei was extremely curious about. He noticed Ye Wei glancing at him, and they exchanged a look.
Chen Yuan grunted as he removed the mental shackle, and the clouded minds of the weaker cultivators became clear once more. “Now let the tournament begin! Please honor the spirit of positive and fair compet.i.tion!” He said with arms folded behind his back; his gentle smile never fell from his face.
“Let’s go!”
All the contestants then stepped onto the eighteen battle platforms as they revised their strategies one last time. They were all waiting for the signal so they could start fighting.
Just when the contestants positioned themselves to fight the sky began to darken, and more than two hundred cultivators flew towards the platforms. All of them were condensed prime Warriors or stronger.
They came from different forces, martial families, and also the Green Army; the audience of today was full of various important figures.
Chen Yuan looked at them and nodded. He lifted his hand up and clenched his fist and the clouds above the mountain began to gather. They turned into a circular-shaped platform with a hole in the middle then sequences of runes appeared on the clouds. The runes shaped the white fluff into seats and tables on top which fine wines and spirit fruits appeared.
“Please be seated!” The City Lord looked at the guests who arrived late and said politely.
He then led them to the cloud platform and sat on the seat in the middle.
“They have gotten stronger this year haven’t they!”
“Look at these youngsters, they all look pretty confident. I’m looking forward to seeing how long they can keep that up.” The guests on the cloud platform started speculating and chatting while some of the City Lord’s closer friends walked up to him and greeted him.