Grand Elder Wanshang of the Seven Clouds Sect fidgeted with his beard as he observed the competition within the Fractured Realm. A piece of an Immortal the sect had long found. “Hmm. I believe we still need to adjust the point reward system a bit more.” He looked to the sky, facing towards the Silvent Elder. Haze hasn’t returned yet. He was the one working on this project, so I'll tweak things a bit.
“Kuveiros, make it so points can be accumulated per combatant. It’ll force the high rankers to play more cautiously and the low rankers to coordinate. Also, double all points gained from killing beasts. They take too long to kill compared to these kids.”
Elder Kuveiros, who was observing one of the Silvent girl combatants with a Spiritscaller Staff, opened his palm and interacted with a floating cube. It glowed and pulsated rhythmically with lines of blue light, controlling each aspect of the Fractured Realm.
“Done. I’ll make an announcement in the realm as well.” Elder Kuveiros continued to observe the battlefield, with his eyes halting over Liu Shuren for a moment. “Was he not meant to join as a delegate? I believe the Sect Leader barred foreign clans from entering as a disciple.”
The Seven Clouds Sect was in a unique position. It often harboured foreign delegates; successors and those with high potential from various factions across the world. Even Immortal factions, those with the strength of Rank 6 and above, would send their best young members to study at the Seven Clouds Sect for a year.
This was the deal between The Sect Leader of the Seven Clouds Sect and The Great Nine, the main headquarters of the powerful Immortal heroes in the Granxian Continent.
Once upon a time, it was almost renamed The Great Ten with the advent of the Divine Sword Saint. But that tale has long disappeared in the annuls of history.
“I thought it would be interesting,” Grand Elder Wanshang shrugged as he said with nonchalance. That was his usual attitude towards these things.
Feeling the strange gazes of the other elders nearby, he felt the need to slightly clarify himself. “His father has worked hard for the past decade with our city. The boy he raised wishes to experience our sect without the airs of protection and privilege. Should we not reward such a good mindset?”
The reason why the Seven Clouds Sect’s reputation was most prominent across the world was due to one thing.
It’s not strange to assume only 1 in 100 Rank 1 cultivators would ever make it to Rank 2.
But for the Seven Clouds Sect, their rates of young cultivators achieving from Rank 1 to Rank 2 was the absolute highest out of everyone else. An absurd 1 in 20 Rank 1’s achieving Rank 2.
Most importantly, it was achieved without the advantage of various expensive resources whatsoever, which often came with its own drawbacks. Such as Crystallised Qi Overdose, which caused their Spiritual Meridians to be shattered. A phenomenon for those who overused these resources without enough self attainment and understanding of Qi and their Path.
The curriculum of The Sect Leader of the Seven Clouds Sect was just that impressive and impossible to recreate with others. Even with the pressure of Immortal factions looming over the Seven Clouds Sect, Grand Elder Wanshang had seen the ways his leader had kept them at a distance.
Watching Liu Shuren and Wu Ming face off against each other, Grand Elder Wanshang held a glint of curiosity in his eyes. “Let’s see if the staff wielder of the Sword Clan will follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, or walk an entirely different Path.”
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A behemoth of a land drake stood with its six legs, each leg boring deep cracks in the ground. Having just fed on a single glacial scorpion, its open maw desired more from where it rolled from, sparking its instinct to hunt.
The dark purple beast heaved steaming air. Its molten scales resembled cooled lava, with the rugged texture filled with bright blue crystal veins. The same pattern could be seen but far larger, with a crystallised spine running across its back, reflecting and shimmering with multiple colours. Yet it somehow fit perfectly along with the dark and molten skin.
Faced with its ghastly roar, Shuren and Ming both felt intense heat coming from it, with a dark cloud being formed in the depths of its maw. They both had a single nod, communicating without words that they’d enter a truce and cease this battle for now.
They both ran in opposite directions, and its volcanic breath of super heated air and ash exploded out, incinerating even the molten rocks and boulders amongst the terrain.
“It’s a Crystalisk! They brought a creature from the depths of Volkahor Mountains as well?” Shuren exclaimed, tensed as he considered whether to retreat. “Normally, they’re half this size. It has to be a Deviant Beast!”
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Not all creatures were the same. Even beasts could deviate and gain new abilities and unique growths from their lifestyle, breaking out of the norms of their species and capabilities. Though all beasts were born and died within a predetermined range of power, Deviant Beasts broke that shackle.
They were also the most likely to grow into an Immortal Beast. Which was why the market of Deviant Beasts was one of the largest economies in the world of cultivators.
Shuren’s bangle hummed, and words formed in the air for a second.
There are now 500 combatants remaining. Your opponent will now gain all of your points if they kill you. Doubled point rewards from beasts as well, while shared if taken down in a group. Deviant Beasts reward 100 times their stage number.
Shuren stood in his tracks, and no more did he look towards a direction to flee. It’s worth 800 points now?
“Hey staffman, team up with me!” Ming yelled out from the other side of the Crystalisk.
Shuren ran towards the back of the Deviant Beast, yelling back to the man he just exchanged blows with. “You know what this beast is?”
“Of course I do. Who do you take me for!” Ming ran towards the tail end of the Deviant Crystalisk, grouping up once more with Shuren. Though the Crystalisk had great power and durability, in return, its speed was lacking.
But Deviant Beasts were an anomaly. They could have unheard of abilities that make up for that weakness. This one was able to burrow deep in the ground with such intense speed that it managed to ambush Shuren and Ming.
“That crystal spine should be its weakness. I’ll smash it. You cut open its head to destroy the brain!” Shuren said with haste, running up the Crystalisk by its tail.
“So I’m the bait, huh? Remind me who exactly was the one to break my wrist again?” Wu Ming complained, and would’ve denied the proposition, but Shuren’s weapon was more likely to damage the spine of the Crystalisk.
Shuren cocked his chin high with a deep smirk. “What, the Stage 8 is too scared?”
“Shut up,” Ming said with an annoyed tone, but listened either way. The rumbling of the giant Crystalisk continued as it twisted its head, and Shuren climbed from its tail to reach the middle of its spine.
The Crystalisk was known for absorbing and refining ores and minerals in the Volkahor Mountains, to extend its defence and help store even more Qi. Shuren controlled his balance, even as the Crystalisk bit away at Ming, while swiping towards him with chunks of rock.
“Come on, you overgrown lizard! That all you got?!” Ming taunted out of boredom as he weaved through the claw swipes, like a child was wailing on him with a stick.
Crazy battle maniac. Shuren ignored the yells, holding his staff firmly with both hands. The brilliant crystal spine flickered with specks of light, and when Shuren looked closer, he noticed blood vessels running across it.
Once he broke it, the Crystalisk’s Qi reserves would rapidly diminish.
With all his might, Shuren slammed his staff with a brutish overhead slam.
But all he felt was his numbing wrists as he rebounded back, with only a few shards chipping away from the spine. A ringing sound shouted out like a bell had been rung, and the air around Shuren became far hotter.
No, it wasn’t the air.
The crystal spine glowed with incandescence.
“Ming, stand on guard! It’s going to attack!” Shuren leapt off the madly crawling beast, trying to shake off the bug that crawled on it.
Without batting an eyelid, Ming backed away with haste. Observing the shining light of crystal veins covering the Crystalisk, he knew it was best to clear distance.
It lifted all of its legs as its sharp reptilian eyes that glistened with silver stared down at its opponents. With a single stomp, rocks of the volcano and debris were thrown around it.
For that one moment, its body was camouflaged.
Both Shuren and Ming whacked away the smaller pieces coming towards them, stepping to avoid the more dangerous pieces. But one thought remained in both of their minds.
There’s no way this is it!
And by the time the barrage of rocks ceased, the hulking Crystalisk stood on its hind legs, towering over Shuren and Ming.
With maws wide open up as if to devour the skies itself, it roared.
This time, they had to use some Qi to protect their eardrums from crackling under the pressure. But Shuren saw a figure dash forward even with the roar. Ming, blade in hand, saw the underbelly as a suitable piece of meat to slice up.
“Don’t run off to die, Wu Ming!” Shuren yelled, but expected him to at least do some damage.
He didn’t make a retort, this time wholly focused as he stabbed his blade deep into its gut. But he didn’t stop there. Using the hilt as leverage, Ming dragged it across to cut as wide of a surface as possible.
Forming a deep gash across parts of its underbelly, Ming immediately took his sword out and fled. Those three seconds of stabbing and cleaving were already a greedy manoeuvre.
The ravaging, pernicious roar soon blew brilliant specks of light.
Cold and glacial spears of light, dancing across the sky.
No, it wasn’t light.
Jagged spears of ice rained down upon them, stabbing deep into the ground. Even a far off glacial scorpion was speared and killed without warning.
Shuren and Ming both ran as far as they could, but even as they weaved around the spears of ice that almost pierced them, a few managed to cut lacerations across their limbs.
In the chaos of cold, Shuren felt the warmth of his blood taint his robes. He clicked his tongue, eyes filled with irritation.
If I knew the test wouldn’t have been just the usual duels with wooden weapons, I would’ve left these robes behind! I just bought them as well!
The ground of the volcano rumbled.
“Hey staffman, stop running parallel to me! Run outwards!” Ming yelled out as he changed course.
Shuren realised as well, without needing to look behind. That ominous rumble as the ground shifted beneath them told enough.
The Crystalisk had already burrowed beneath.
They had lost the environmental advantage.
The familiar hum of his bangles once more came out, breaking Shuren’s focus.
“What now?!”
His field of vision was once more obscured by words of cloudy mist for a few seconds before dissipating.
The Walls of Destruction has begun. The lands will now be destroyed towards the final region.
“Huh.”
The next thing Shuren knew, the ground had disappeared as his vision turned to nothing but the dreary sky, its colours sucked of life. And amid the air, the stench of dead fish and wild carcasses overcoming his sensations.
The maws of death loomed beneath him.