What a beautiful sunrise it was, bringing tears to Han Xuhan's restless eyes. He hadn't slept much last night, opting to reassess his future, his plans, and the little heist he was hoping to pull off today.
He sincerely wished to see the next sunrise, and all the sunrises after that too. One botched move today could, however, bring upon him the worst outcome.
The sect's bells rang with the transition of the dawn into the morning. Han Xuhan slowly climbed down from the highest peak of the Heavenly Hailstorm Mountain, heading to the central plain.
Sect Master Xuan Zi kept the assembly short. First, he addressed each team of ten who had been issued with tournament missions along with the side missions imposed by the sect master himself.
Out of seventeen teams, only three had managed to find a treasure set from the foreign sects. Even Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou hadn't been able to track down any treasure despite their lengthy, violent search yesterday. Those who had succeeded were just fortunate, perhaps. So the Crimson Snow Sect now had three new sets of treasures.
However, this news failed to bring any semblance of joy among the disciples, because while they had acquired three new sets, their defense team had also lost four sets of treasures in one day. These four originally belonged to the Crimson Snow Sect, to begin with. So, on the whole, the first day of the tournament for them could be evaluated as a day of losses.
Luo Yi, who had come to accompany Xuan Zi to the assembly, stepped forward to explain how their failed invasion attempts, numerous defeats in combat, and weak defense tactics had placed them at the bottom rungs of the ranking system reserved for this round in particular. Just as Han Xuhan was contemplating whether to reveal the 'trick' with the ranking system, Meatball, her spirit beast, was summoned in front of the assembly to display a new ranking, a plain table of amassed points.
The ranks were sorted normally in this table! The teams with the highest points were indeed placed at the top!
But it was also a table that didn't distinguish between sects. Any team belonging to any sect could be placed at the topmost ranks as long as they had enough success in acquiring treasure sets. But this also pointed to the fact that if anyone wished to stay at the top ranks, they couldn't break away from the team and join a new one!
Disgruntled, Han Xuhan decided to make sure no more tricks were being set up in the background while they were trying to make sense of such roundabout rules and regulations.
"How does this new ranking system affect our original ranking in the tournament? You just said this table is applicable only for the first round. So..." He didn't finish his sentence, watching her reaction.
A shadow of a smile flashed across Luo Yi's face, as if she was aware of his thoughts.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"The total points acquired by each team will be added after this event ends officially, closing the first round of the tournament. So the more successful teams your sect has on the table, the higher your overall ranking will be in the original system," she explained.
Wasn't that advantageous to sects with high disciple count?
Just as the thought occurred to him, Han Xuhan realized that such a phenomenon was unavoidable. The larger, more influential sects were bound to be more powerful anyway. Since this round was hardly about the individual capacity of the disciples, there was no reason to implement rules to put large sects at a disadvantage.
If the teams were skilled enough, their sect deserved to be ranked higher.
Meanwhile, Luo Yi went on to the length of criticizing Xuan Zi for his choice in selecting the members of the defense team, most of whom were the weaklings of their generation. Xuan Zi looked unperturbed, though.
As these statistics were being mentioned, many eyes flashed toward Han Xuhan and his two martial siblings. Nobody had forgotten his promise yesterday. Han Xuhan wore a completely unperturbed expression as the Sect Master droned on, moving over to the statistics of side missions.
"Disciples, the results of your event missions were all recorded by the observers in each sect and then compiled together. But the same cannot be said for the secondary objectives that I asked all of you to accomplish. So it's time we inspected your performances in that field. Come, submit your reports!"
In front of the sect master's scrutiny, no one had the guts to lie, not to mention, the infamous elder Wudi was standing right behind him. This Elder had a reputation for being something akin to a mind-reader.
Apparently, the last time a disciple had spoken too casually with him, the elder had discovered through him a huge chain of business pumping out 'illustrated epics' which had been banned in the sect for immoral content. All the senior disciples had advised the younger generation to avoid speaking around this man as much as possible, maintaining a highly focused mental state the whole time.
Xuan Zi nodded in approval when Han Xuhan handed him the scroll he had acquired from Shen Mi. He had taken a cursory look at the contents of the scroll. It was just a list of roughly 100 fissures, categorized according to their sizes and shapes. Xuan Zi's eyes showed immense satisfaction as he went through the list.
"Excellent work, disciple Xuhan! I'm assuming you didn't compile this by yourself? Where did you find this?"
Han Xuhan explained his deal with the Stardust Sect's Phoenix Faction, not bothering to hide anything, really. Xuan Zi seemed to appreciate that.
"It's gratifying to see that you valued the mission I gave you more than your own interests, disciple." Xuan Zi sighed at the end of his story.
"As a reward for your sincerity, I'm giving you a day's immunity from the side missions I've proposed. Use the time in any way you want to."
Was the sect master giving him an opportunity to focus on learning the treasure-tracing technique? It did seem so.
Thanking the man, Han Xuhan walked back to where Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou were standing, both appearing all fidgety.
"Alright, now that we're done here, it's high time to get on with the rescue mission. Xuhan, are you coming?" Mu Ran said eagerly.
"I have yet to master the tracing technique, boss," Han Xuhan answered somberly.
"Then sister Zhou and I will be leaving. Take care!"
Mu Ran pulled out his spear with a swish. At the previously broken end, he had attached a large butcher's knife at some point. It did look intimidating, but it did not have a speck of the aura of a genuine spear. Han Xuhan was forced to reassess why Mu Ran thought so highly of this seemingly useless weapon.
Yuen Zhou didn't seem to share the enthusiasm. She had a distant look on her face as she bade him goodbye.
Watching Han Xuhan's quick-moving figure crossing the plain, Mu Ran's cheerful smile disappeared.
"What do you think, martial sister? Was Leng Qing really boasting when he said he'd unmask Xuhan today?"
Hearing his heavy tone, Yuen Zhou shook her head lightly.
"Martial brother Xuhan has too many interests tied with his hands to act recklessly. He has orchestrated his rise to his current position, and that points to the fact that he values these ties. I doubt an outsider like this Leng Qing can point out any suspicious dealing he's been in touch with for which he'd not have a reasonable explanation. I'm more curious to know how, and why fellow cultivator Leng Qing is so interested in taking martial brother Xuhan down. Why is he so insistent on driving a wedge between us and brother Xuhan?"
"Well, it can't hurt to lend him an ear today," Mu Ran replied, unconvinced with her rationale. "If Xuhan really plans to attack him today to silence him, I'd say Leng Qing might not be entirely wrong."