Scorched Earth City in the Soaring Crane Country was officially a major trading center but was better known among cultivators as a Treasure Hunting hub. The reason for this was its proximity to the Forbidden Ruins, the Red Mist Forest, the Well of Stars and the Twin Crag Mountains, all of which were premium treasure hunting locations.During this point of time, the talk of the city was the upcoming Cloud Mountain Tournament. This was the rare ten year intake of new disciples for the Cloud Mountain Sect, and only people below the age of thirty who achieved Innate Qi stage (or higher) were qualified.
Naturally, the Prosperity Trading Center opened up betting on the results of the Top Ten Registrants. A lot of heated debates and heavy bets were placed between the top two contestants; Zhao Heng, who was the second son of the City Lord, and Xue Yueli, also known as Big Li.
No, she wasn"t really big, but she had a Very Well Known Younger Sister that she called Little Li, and who in return called her Big Li, and the name stuck.
Why did it stick? Well, that Very Beautiful Please Stop Kicking Me Younger Sister was very… vocal, verbose and very, very Persuasive…! Enough, can you please bother someone else?!
Ahem.
Anyway, the odds between Zhao Heng and Xue Yueli were a close 5:4 until a rumor went out that Xue Yueli had run into trouble during cultivation and suffered internal injuries. With just three days to the Tournament, and not enough time to recover, the odds immediately swung 9:2 in favor of Zhao Heng.
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Shockingly, the day before the Tournament, Zhao Heng likewise encountered catastrophe! In the middle of his well-guarded cultivation, at the most crucial point of a possible breakthrough, he suddenly leapt to his feet with a yell and his Qi went haywire. There was some screaming, some clawing at his own head, a good deal of coughing blood and then he collapsed.
An hour later, the odds at the betting booths shifted again, but this time favoring the Third Candidate, Singing Saber Mo, with the odds of 5:1:1 against both the previous favorites.
That very night, Singing Saber Mo woke up screaming about ghosts haunting his room. He shifted rooms three times, each time getting more and more upset, until he finally fled the city, abandoning the Tournament entirely.
People began to mutter that perhaps this Tournament was Cursed. Great suspicion was heaped upon Malice Ho, who was the Sixth Top Candidate, and somewhat famed for her skills with Cursed Seals. As for whether she was really responsible for the distress of the Top Three Candidates, she would neither confirm nor deny it, only cackling evilly every time she was asked.
At least, she did until she got arrested. Afterwards, she completely denied it, but they held her in jail anyway. Just in case.
It didn"t seem to help. The morning of the Tournament Day, the Fourth and Fifth Candidates apparently started hearing voices that n.o.body else could hear, and that made absolutely no sense at all. Afraid that the ghost of some powerful ancient cultivator was attempting to possess them and take over their bodies, both fled the city and forfeited the Tournament before lunch-time.
Seeing this, the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Candidates all likewise backed away from the Tournament very, very slowly.
At this point, the Betting Booth had stopped placing odds on the success of individual candidates and opened new odds as follows: Odds of All Top Ten Candidates suffering mishaps prior to the Tournament – 1:1. Odds of Any Top Ten Candidate partic.i.p.ating in the Tournament suffering mishap – 1:2. Odds that None of the Top Ten Candidates would actually partic.i.p.ate in the Tournament – 1:1.
At that point, even Zhao Heng quit. In fact, more than half the interested candidates gave up on the Tournament for fear of curses, ghosts, and other calamities.
But despite all the scary events going on, the Tenth Candidate bravely took part, along with the injured Second Candidate.
As a result, the Tenth Candidate won First Prize! She did not even suffer any ghosts, curses or strange accidents! The Second Candidate also partic.i.p.ated despite being injured and still came in Second!
That night a banner was hung over the Xue Clan Main Gate where they ran a celebration.
It said, "Congratulations Little Li, who won First Place, and Big Li, who won Second Place, in this year"s Cloud Mountain Tournament!"
***
"Lem-lem! Come drink!" Little Li pushed an ebony mug almost into Remian"s nose. After all their efforts over the past few days together, Little Li had become a lot less hostile towards Remian. "It"s a paaarty!"
"Are you even old enough to drink?" Remian asked suspiciously.
"What does age have to do with anything? I"m the Second Daughter of Duke Xue! I"m the champion of the Tournament! I can do whatever I want!" she proclaimed, one finger pointed to the sky.
"Are you drunk already?!" Remian gaped. "How many cups have you had?!"
On the other side of the celebration party, Big Li was surrounded by strong, handsome guys from well-known clans and organizations all trying to flatter her and boast about themselves at the same time. On occasion, they would even succeed.
"Little Li! Who"s your friend?" A younger guy came over and approached her. Oddly enough, in this party, he and Little Li seemed to be the only youngsters of their age in attendance.
"He"s not my friend!" Little Li shot back immediately. "He"s my servant!"
"Servant?"
"Yes! He must do everything I tell him to do, or else!"
The guy looked over Remian sympathetically. "Friend, I don"t envy your situation."
"I"m not that great a fan of my situation either." Remian replied dryly. "But at least it"s an improvement from before."
"What happened before?" the guy asked.
Remian shook his head. "Don"t ask."
Then the doors to the side burst open and a flood of youngsters around Little Li"s age swarmed in. "Surprise!!"
"You guys! You all came!" Little Li, already red in the face from the wine, was almost in tears.
"Congratulations!" They brought out a huge three-tier cake and all sorts of presents. Pretty soon Little Li was overwhelmed with attention and fawning.
***
Oddly enough, the next day, Remian was laying down in his servant"s side room still recovering from a bruising and a beating, when Little Li came in with an elderly man.
"So, what"s wrong with him?" Little Li asked. "He seems to be very weak, and it"s taking him forever to heal."
"Obviously, he is a cripple. He has no cultivation whatsoever, and I get the sense that he couldn"t cultivate if he tried." The elder put fingers on Remian"s wrist, hesitated, then a trickle of warmth threaded through Remian"s body momentarily. "Also, his meridians are withered. It looks similar to someone who"s been severely hurt by Corrosive Death Qi and failed to heal himself in time."
"Can he recover?" Little Li asked. "Is there a way to help him?"
The elder shook his head. "The only thing I can think of that would work is an expensive Green Jade Vitality Pill, and even then, it won"t be a complete recovery. We could increase his lifespan, at most, but short of Ancient-grade medicinal pills, I don"t see any way to restore him to full health, much less cultivate to any worthwhile level. Best to just let this one go, Little Li. It"s not worth the effort to save him."
"But… but…" Little Li lowered her head. "What if we used cheaper pills? Help him out just a little?"
"I could mix him a herbal concoction. It should help a bit, and wouldn"t cost much."
"Perfect." Little Li looked over Remian. "How about it, Lem-lem? You did us a favor, so this is a favor in return. On top of that, we"ll even let go of past grudges! You should be grateful."
"Should I?" Remian shook his head slowly. But then, he asked, "More importantly, it sounds like you actually do have medicines that could help me. It"s just that they are expensive. I was wondering… how much would it cost to buy them from you?"
"Buy them? You?" Little Li scoffed. "It"s going to cost hundreds of Earth Crystals!"
"What are Earth Crystals?" Remian blinked.
"Earth-grade Spirit Crystals! Each one is worth a thousand Black-grade Spirit Crystals!" Little Li clarified. "And that"s just for the Green Jade Vitality Pill! As for Ancient medicines… you"re going to have to pay in Heaven-grade Crystals!"
"I"m guessing those are even more expensive than Earth Crystals?"
"A thousand times more!"
Remian paused, then finally, he asked. "Is there a way I can earn money around here?"