We woke up the morning of the first day of the outer sect competition refreshed and ready to fight our hearts out. We walked to the arena located on the edge of the sect’s main grounds. It was a large open-air structure with tiered sets of seating that was filled with various sect disciples. It seemed like the entire sect was present, but I knew that chores around the sect still needed to get done and guard posts needed to be manned. We found Ji and took our seats next to him to watch the events of the day. The outer sect competition was a two-day affair that resulted in a top eight section of fights after paring down the disciples using various methods.
The contest administrator came out and began speaking to the assembled crowd.
“Welcome disciples and guests to the Blooming violet sect outer sect competition!” He announced to the audience.
“Like every other year we’ve held this competition, the first stage the prospective cultivators must pass is a spirit cultivation test. To save time and prevent the delay of the main portion of this competition, only those disciples at the high level of the foundation building realm or higher or are in the body training realm of body cultivation will be allowed to participate in the competition.” He said. A murmur susurrated through the crowd, mostly from the outer sect disciples. A lot of disciples who thought they might have a chance at participating would be disappointed. Jia, Ji, and I were all allowed to participate in the competition.
“I’ll begin by asking that all disciples who qualify to participate and wish to do so come down to the stage and insert their name into the competition by using one of these provided tablets.” He said, pointing down to a large collection of tablets set up all around the arena.
A large crowd went down to fill in their names, but I planned on waiting until the main throng of disciples finished registering before I would go down. While people were filling out their names on the tablets the announcer was still speaking.
“While the contestants are signing up, let me introduce the arbiters of this event and the people who will ultimately decide who wins a round in the event of a draw, the elders of the Blooming Violet sect!” He motioned to a large wooden pavilion that dominated the top of one side of the arena. Atop the pavilion were myriad chairs situated with the ones in the center of the line of chairs populated by the elders of the sect with the chair in the middle unoccupied. The chairs near the edges of the pavilion were occupied by important guests that were specifically invited to see the outer sect competition.
Everyone in the arena clapped for the elders as they all stood up and appeased the crowd.
“And last but not least, let me welcome to the arena the patriarch of the Blooming violet sect, Jiang Long!” The administrator announced, and all of the disciples and guests began furiously clapping as a man flew down in front of the sole unclaimed seat in the pavilion.
“Welcome to the outer sect competition!" The patriarch of the sect shouted to the crowd. The crowd went wild with cheering.
“I would like to thank you all for coming to our glorious Blooming Violet sect today. We are pleased to present you with the best outer sect disciples our sect has to offer, and we hope you enjoy the matches today and tomorrow!” He said. Again, the crowd cheered.
Even Jia, Ji, and I were getting into it now, clapping along with the rest of the crowd.
Finally, the throng of cultivators registering for the competition was thinning out so Jia, Ji, and I went down and registered. I walked up to the tablet and picked it up. It asked for my name, my petal, my current cultivation style, and my realm of cultivation. I filled out the information, submitted it, and then handed the tablet to the person behind me.
I walked back to the seats Jia, Ji, and I were occupying and sat down to watch the fights. When the other two returned, most of the disciples had finished registering and we only had to wait a few more minutes before the matches started. None of the matches Jia, Ji, or I had on the first day were eventful. None of us even needed to show off our secondary cultivation. We decided we would hide it as long as possible as it would raise too many questions too early if we showed it off without needing it to win. We didn’t know what we’d do once it was revealed, but we figured they wouldn’t expel us from the sect just for practicing both spiritual and body cultivation.
We each participated in five matches over the course of the day, multiple arenas had been set up so that multiple matches could be fought at once. The number of cultivators was pared down from well over two thousand to just sixty-four after all of the matches for the day were done.
We all walked back to our own dorms and went to bed excited for the matches on the following day where we got to show off our true abilities against strong opponents.
The next day we all walked to the arena together and this time we met up with Cassandra outside the arena. She was just as chipper as ever and excited to see us go all out in some fights. She had been cultivating just like the rest of us, but whereas I had been diversifying my cultivation somewhat, Cassandra had been doing nothing but cultivating her body in an attempt to catch up before she tried to go to the core formation stage.
We found a set of seats that were close to the arena stage, and all sat down. Once enough spectators had gathered in the stands, the announcer started off the day’s festivities.
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“Welcome again ladies and gentlemen to the final day of the Blooming Violet sect’s outer sect competition! I know you all enjoyed the many fights we had yesterday, but today’s competition will be a little different. We’ve pared down the number of cultivators to just sixty-four remaining. This means we have sixty-three fights to entertain you all with today! These fights will be between the strongest outer sect disciples this sect has to offer!” The announcer said. The crowd applauded and the announcer continued on. He introduced the elders and the patriarch again and then the matches were under way.
The first few matches weren’t anything of note, but the fourth match was between a strong fire cultivator and Heng Jian, the lightning cultivator from the Cheng Lian city sect entrance exams. At least this time the fight was with someone I recognized. Too many of the fights the previous day weren’t exciting because I didn’t know who the fighters were.
The fire cultivator, Li Jian, and Heng Jian squared off across from one another in the arena. The announcer started the match and Heng Jian exploded into action. He formed a sword out of his lightning qi on his right hand. The sword crackled and I could smell something stale in the air. He swung out at Li Jian who tried to parry the blow with his martial arts, but under the power of the lightning sword he was left helpless. He was struck in the side of his arm as he dodged out of the way, leaving the arm injured.
He jumped backwards to make some distance, but just like his element was wont to do, Heng Jian was as quick as lightning and chased after him. Li Jian couldn’t get enough distance between himself and Heng Jian to put up much of a fight. The fight was over within a few more exchanges between the two, Li Jian finally conceding. I didn’t recognize anyone else until it was Jia’s turn to fight. She got up and walked down to the arena. She may have appeared calm, but I could tell she was thrumming with barely contained excitement. She was ready to fight, and she knew she was strong.
Her opponent was a peak foundation establishment wood cultivator I vaguely remembered from the qualification matches. He made it a point to trap his opponent within a copse of trees or a veritable thicket of vines and small bushes to restrict their movement.
She unsheathed her snow-white sword and held it in a common swordplay stance in front of her.
She stood across from the wood cultivator, Wang Lian, and took on the persona of the ice princess again, just like the first day I met her. The announcer started the match and she activated the movement technique from her new cultivation method. A giant snowflake appeared behind Wang Jian and Jia appeared from it in an instant. With her appearance came a burst of icy qi that hit Wang Jian before he could move. He hastily threw up a shield of vines in front of himself but he was unable to stop the slash from Jia’s sword. Her horizontal slice cut through the vines like they weren’t there, the internal moisture from within them exploding outward into icicles.
Some of the icicles hit Wang Lian in the chest and drew blood. Jia hounded Wang Jian with her sword and movement technique and didn’t give him any time to regroup or try to ensnare her. With each attempt to throw up a defense, Jia’s sword cut cleanly through it and caused damage to Wang Jian. He tired of the relentless assault by Jia, and he surrendered before she needed to go any further or use any other techniques.
We congratulated Jia when she returned, and she blushed at the attention but happily sat down and returned to petting Shimmer. A few matches later it was Ji’s turn to go down and fight.
His opponent, Chen Ling, was an earth body cultivator who was well into the body training stage. It was shaping up to be quite the impressive fight and I was excited to see if Ling would push Ji to use any of his spirit cultivation.
The fight started and both men rushed forward, their arms coated in their respective qi. I watched the fight using my qi sensing glasses so I could watch how each of them used their qi when fighting. I was hoping it would help me when I fought as I wasn’t used to fighting using body cultivation yet.
The qi moved through their pathways enhancing various parts of their bodies. Ji had the height and bulk advantage over Ling so he was hitting the man harder, but for every few punches and strikes that Ji threw out, Ling managed to dodge at least one. The battle was a pure battle of the cultivator's respective qi and it was a thrilling bout. They both traded blows back and forth, neither seeming to tire.
Eventually though something had to give. Ji’s opponent missed his chance to dodge a particularly vicious blow from Ji and it hit him square in the stomach. This prevented him from blocking or parrying the follow up strike and Ji punched Ling in the side of the head sending him careening down to the ground. Ji was breathing heavily, but raised his arms in triumph at the victory.
We cheered him on and welcomed him back to our group in the stands to words of congratulation and encouragement.
It wasn’t until the final five matches of the set when it was my turn to fight.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we only have five fights left of this round before we move on to the top thirty-two fights.” the announcer said.
“First up in these five fights is disciple Duan Bu versus disciple Astra!” He announced. I got up from my seat and walked down to the arena briskly. I noticed another disciple nearby making his way down to the arena and tried to remember what his cultivation was. I couldn’t place him anywhere; he looked too generic.
I walked onto the arena and Duan Bu stood across from me. The announcer started the fight and I decided to play the fight a little safe in the beginning. I summoned my swords but didn’t hold any in my hands, that way I'd be able to intercept whatever element he used against me. I took a fighting stance and calmed my breathing.
“Pyroclastic flow.” Duan Bu said calmly and a veritable stream of ash and molten rock flew at me at a speed I found difficult to keep up with. I used soft steps on the halcyonic sea to dodge out of the way. The stream passed through where I had just been and bounced off the formation around the arena designed to protect the audience. The ash and molten rock spread throughout the arena, partially obscuring my vision. I saw movement to my left and barely managed to get up my guard and block the attack. The attack sent me flying into the formation on the opposite side of the arena from where I had been. The breath was knocked out of me and I slumped to the floor.
“You should give up, girl. You’re no match for me.” Duan Bu said. As he spoke, he unleashed the shroud over his cultivation and revealed that he was in the core formation realm.