642 An Old Acquaintance
Several hours later, we finally arrived to the gate. And the thick line behind us had no intention on thinning down anytime soon.
Hundreds of millions of partic.i.p.ants isn"t something that can be easily accommodated. However, the city itself even beyond the walls seemed comfortably taking all those people in.
As we arrived to the gate there was a desk where a man was sitting comfortably scanning people up and down, along with him four origin realm cultivators acted as guards.
Once we arrived to the desk he looked up at us and asked Old Fu first.
"Partic.i.p.ating, or watching?" he asked.
"I"ll be watching," Old Fu replied.
The old man then gestured for Old Fu to hand him his arm over. Once old Fu did so, the old man placed a silver bracelet on it and infused it with Qi. "You"ll find all you need in the bracelet including the city map and all available ins. Next," he said and it was my turn.
"Partic.i.p.ating or watching?"
"Partic.i.p.ating," I replied.
The old man looked me up and down then sighed, "What is your affiliation?"
"Loose cultivator," I replied.
He sighed once more, "The tournament will not guarantee your survival, are you sure you wish to partake?" he asked.
"I do," I replied.
He then handed me a golden bracelet.
"You"ll find all you need inside the bracelet. There is a summoning function in it, do not resist it once it starts. Next!" he said.
We then moved away from the desk and entered the city.
At first I thought the entire thing will be packed full like how it is outside. But it was a far cry from what I had believed.
Instead of a fully bloated up city, what I saw was gigantic empty streets with a minimum traffic and people out and about. And the colosseum structure that you could see from outside the city seemed to be hundreds of kilometers away.
"Spatial Displacement, the whole city is under spatial law…" I said.
"This is incredible," Old Fu clearly surprised stated. "For the whole city to be under spatial law, so it is bigger on the inside than the outside, this requires an immense amount of Qi to make. But, without something like this, I doubt the city could have taken in that many people," he said.
I nodded to his a.s.sessment, and he was right. To enable a formation of this size would require an incredible mind.
"Do you smell that?" I asked.
Old Fu shrugged.
"This smells like good food," I turned my head and realized the smell was coming from a nearby three-story inn.
"Shadows of the Phoenix, what a grandiose name," Old Fu said.
"Let"s give it a shot, they say never judge an inn by its name, but for it to be open in this city must mean that it serves good food," I said.
"I"ve long since lost appet.i.te for food. But at least I hope they serve some good wine," he said.
I moved forward, "If you wanted wine we could always drink my special brew," I said reminding him of the Dragon Tears wine I had given him last time.
"That one should be reserved for special occasions," Old Fu said as he pushed the inn"s door open.
The moment the door was opened a sweet smell of incense and food tickled our noses. The area inside was softly lit with low hanging lanterns, giving the inn a comfortable and cozy mood. Music played lightly over the voices of cultivators sharing stories and eating from well displayed plates.
People had already taken many spots in the lower floor, and it seems that we"ll need to go up to find a spot.
One of the busboys came rus.h.i.+ng in, "Do you wish to rent a room or have some food or both?" he asked.
"Both, what"s the place"s specialty?" I asked.
"Well, we do have a variety of meals we pride ourselves…"
However, the kid couldn"t finish his words when a burly looking man pushed him on the ground. The man was bald from the top of his head and had barely any hair on the side. He displayed his chest muscles proudly under a ragged looking robe and carried behind him an axe that could easily weigh more than a few dozen tons of weight.
The man spat next to the busboy and said, "Why the f.u.c.k is it taking so long to make a meal!"
"I"m sorry sir! I"ll go and check with the kitchen staff!"
"No, I"m already annoyed, how are you going to compensate for my time!" he said.
I looked at old Fu and he looked back at me.
The ambiance in the inn soon died down. The people who were eating stopped, and the people from the upper floor leaned in and checked the situation below.
"What the f.u.c.k are you looking at greenhorn! You want me to bash your skull in?!"
"Why is there always someone like this in an inn?" I muttered.
"It"s a given that the smell of food attract stray dogs," replied Old Fu.
"This time it attracted a rabid and disgusting looking one," I said.
The man in question, feeling belittled in front of the whole crowd grabbed his axe and said, "I dare you to say that again. Because I thought like I heard you calling me a dog!"
"d.a.m.n, ad to rabid and unclean, this dog is also deaf," I replied.
The man roared in rage as he was about to swing his axe but it was immediately stopped by a man"s two fingers who flashed in between us.
I couldn"t even notice him until he was standing right there, even old fu was slow to react. However, the man wearing a full set of black clothes and a mask said, "Fighting inside the city is strictly forbidden, this is your first offense," He said and the man with the axe clearely annoyed disregarded the clear difference in ability as he said, "f.u.c.k YOU!" and then readied for another swing.
He never realized that the moment the words had finished leaving his mouth that his head was already separate from his body.
The busboy sighed as he casually walked behind the counter and grabbed a bucket and an already b.l.o.o.d.y mop forward, "Please excuse me dear clients for this ugly sight, I"ll clean this up first and tend to your needs, for now there is an empty table in the second floor you can both occupy," he said.
The dead man was rapidly removed and the floor was cleaned in seconds, while the man wearing black had already left the area.
The people who were sitting earlier resumed their conversation as if nothing had happened and the music continued.
"I guess this is normal here," I said.
"It would be, since we"re in a nonaffiliated area," Old Fu said.
"How would you know that?"
Everyone including the guy that died have a different brand. These are all loose cultivators or people who had left their sects. Not to mention the city was largely empty, if this was an area that belonged to one of the eight suns you"d see a larger concentration of the same type of robes that belong to the eight sects. But here, no one is wearing any of the Suns"s clothes, and the few that do are probably spectators and not partic.i.p.ants."
"I see, that completely skipped my mind. Good observation skills old fu," I said.
"I"m honored, let"s go up now, this actually opened up my appet.i.te a bit."
"Hearing you say that really makes me think that your clothes fit you well," I said.
"Well, unlike many others, only the people of the Slaughter Sect would find joy in seeing death, and you"re more fitting for this sect than most," I smiled as I walked up the stairs to our table.
Soon the server came and began presenting us with the many dishes that the restaurant prides itself of.
And just as we ordered another commotion started once again, only this one was less physical and more verbal.
"I"m telling you! The Demon Sword has the highest chances of taking the t.i.tle, he managed to reach the fourth position the last time and this time he is even stronger!"
"Just because he made it to the fourth position doesn"t give him an automatic win!"
"The Fairy Queen and the Bladeless Monk have already died, and the victor of the last tournament is nowhere to be seen since many years now. If there is an antic.i.p.ated champion it gotta be the Demon Sword."
"Well, I heard the Demon Sword received an internal injury a few years ago, so he"d be lucky if he even makes it through the preliminary rounds…"
The two groups continued talking and many others joined in, voicing their opinion on who might be the most likely to win.
"You"re all mistaken," said one of the guys who was wearing a full set of black robes with a dark sun symbol on it.
The man smiled as he said, "There is one guy who the Darkest Sun himself had handpicked, he grabbed him from a far away land and trained him himself. That man is a real monster that you all never seen the like of before," he said.
I frowned at the specific wording of that guy, because the moment he started talking it gave me an awful feeling.
"That man had reached the Void Shattering Stage in less than a year from being an Emperor rank," he added.
"Who is he? Does he have a name? for someone to do something like that and be handpicked by the Darkest Sun they must have a t.i.tle," said one of the people below.
"Well, he has no t.i.tle here, but back in his former world he was known as the Fire King…"
"would you look at that…I guess my premonition was right… that f.u.c.ker is still alive…"