Chapter 35 - The Tournament Begins
The Yuso Clan Lord took a brief glance at Yaan, but he didn’t show anything on his face. Nobody noticed this quick glance, not even the other Origin Soul Realm cultivators.
‘The young disciple of the Heavenly Path Sect is even more formidable than expected. I cannot allow this potential threat to continue growing.’
The old man’s expression remained neutral and he continued speaking, but this time, he only spoke normally. The initial impression had left a successful impact. He had reminded the surrounding groups of the vast difference in power between them, scaring them to an appropriate degree.
“We will start with the youngest Innate Qi Realm disciples. In this league, only those below thirty years of age may compete.”
It was normal to start a tournament like this. These battles would be held between the young geniuses to showcase their talent. It wasn’t really a part of the competition, these were basically just display matches.
The old clan lord turned around and nodded towards a boyish looking young man seated in the Yuso Clan area. The young man grinned and jumped onto the stage, his white robe fluttering as the Yuso Clan Lord returned to his seat, which was the highest seat, positioned well above everyone in the crowd.
“Does anyone dare take my challenge?” The young man puffed out his chest and yelled proudly. It was abundantly obvious that he was enjoying the awe-struck gazes of the audience.
“Yuso Ging!”
“That’s Yuso Ging, the talented genius of the Yuso Clan!”
“To reach the Innate Qi Realm at 18 years of age, he really is amazing…”
…
The crowd seemed to forget about the intimidation of the Yuso Clan Lord and immediately erupted into chatter as the young man stepped foot on stage. From this chatter, Yaan was able to overhear quite a lot about this person.
Apparently, Yuso Ging was currently 20 years old and at the Early Innate Qi Realm. Just as Sect Lord Shin looked at Yaan and was about to advise him to go up, an arrogant sounding young voice rang out through the crowds.
“Hmph! I, Zue Yin of the Zue Clan, accept your challenge!”
Yaan glanced over as a young girl from the Zue Clan leapt onto the stage and stood opposite Yuso Ging. Her demeanour was shockingly even more arrogant than the arrogant Yuso Ging! The pride in her eyes couldn’t be hidden away. This was the pride of a young talent who had always stood high above her peers throughout her short her life.
“Zue Yin, it’s Zue Yin!”
“Woah, she’s even more stunning in person!”
“I heard that she’s even more talented than Yuso Ging, do you think that it’s true?”
…
Yaan was thankful for the loud, helpful chatter, as he didn’t need to ask anyone to provide him with any background information on all these new characters.
This young girl was perhaps the most arrogant looking girl he had ever laid eyes upon in his life. Really, her face said it all. Zue Yin’s eyes held contempt for everyone around her, as if she viewed them all as peons who were below her.
Whilst the other male disciples wanted to woo her, Yaan suddenly felt the strangest urge to punch her in the face. Well, it was only a mild impulse, he easily suppressed this odd desire and watched on calmly.
Zue Yin might have come across as excessive, but she indeed possessed the qualifications to flaunt her arrogance. She was only 17 years old, and like her opponent, her cultivation was at the Early Innate Qi Realm. Aside from Yaan, she was the youngest disciple present to achieve this stage. On top of that, her beauty was really peerless. She couldn’t compared to Xin Tia’s ice cold demeanour, but her features were flawless. Skin as as smooth as silk, hair coloured with an interesting mix of chestnut with streaks of fire-red, and a very well maintained figure.
A Spirit Core Realm elder from the Yuso Clan flew forwards. Surprisingly, this was the very same man who’d led Yaan and the others in the Heavenly Path Sect up Yuso Mountain three days earlier. He was still wearing that same polite smile and plain green robe.
He stopped above the arena, clearly planning to act as the moderator for the coming battles.
“Take your positions and get ready.” He spoke calmly, without releasing his aura. The two disciples stepped backwards onto the marks drawn on the ground. They each stood 75 feet from the edge of the arena, leaving 50 feet between the two of them.
“Begin!”
Without further ado, the battle began.
Both Zue Clan and Yuso Clan competitors dashed forwards at the exact same time. Clearly, they both wanted to prove their superiority by dealing with their opponent as quickly as possible.
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Zue Yin drew a thin short sword as Yuso Ging pulled out a wooden pole - both of these weapons were spiritual treasures.
They each injected their Innate Qi into their weapon of choice, resulting in the weapons shining faintly with pale light as they were enveloped by Innate Qi. With this, the treasures were activated, displaying their glamorous effects.
“Take my Flaming Dragon Slash!” Zue Yin shouted proudly, displaying a fierce and battle-keen expression on her face.
“My Earthen Pole Strike can smash through anything!” Yuso Ging yelled energetically.
A flame appeared around the blade of Zue Yin’s sword, which then erupted forwards as she slashed out. The flame transformed into the very faint outline of a dragon. Even though the dragon was indistinct and not fully formed, some people in the audience gasped in surprise, clearly shocked that she could even use the spell to this extent!
Yuso Ging countered this by dragging the pole along the ground, then striking upwards, bringing up a line of earth from the ground, which gathered into multiple sharp pillars of rocks protruding upwards. Strangely, the arena repaired itself immediately after, a scene that made Yaan raise one eyebrow in surprise.
BANG!
The two skills collided, creating an explosion of fire and earth. Yaan wasn’t particularly impressed by this grand display, instead, something had him feeling confused.
“Teacher, why did they yell out their spell names? Is that a requirement of some spells?"
Great Elder Wan had to suppress his laughter when he heard his disciple’s question. He shook his head and smiled at Yaan amusedly.
“No, it’s just that some people…mostly younger cultivators…like to show off by yelling the spell name. If the spell is difficult to master, then others might find it impressive.”
Yaan was speechless. It was actually for such a stupid reason like that? Weren’t they just giving away their plans merely to show off needlessly?
“There are some spells which require speech to activate, but such a requirement is not applicable to these low level spells. These two are ridiculous, if they want to show off, then they should try harder to win.” Rui apparently agreed with him.
Yaan returned his attention to the battle. It was obvious that each of the disciples only knew a single spell, because they kept using the same methods time and time again.
As fire exploded out and the earth rumbled constantly, in the end, Zue Yin managed to gain the advantage. Yuso Ging’s expression became panicked when he realised that he had been too rash, exhausting his supply of Innate Qi!
Bang!
A fiery dragon slammed into his chest, throwing Yuso Ging backwards. He tumbled along the ground and groaned in pain. His former arrogance was nowhere to be seen as a trail of blood tricked down his chin.
Zue Yin, on the other hand, was shining with an even greater radiance than before. Her confidence reached a new level after defeating Yuso Ging, the rising star of the strongest clan in the Greenwood Mountain Range.
As the second strongest clan, the Zue Clan was constantly competing against the Yuso Clan, yet they always seemed to be a single step behind. She had brought glory to her clan in the first match of the competition, so Zue Yin felt extremely proud right now.
However, there was one other person who she wished to defeat even more so than Yuso Ging. Whilst Yuso Ging was being carried off stage and the crowd chattered loudly about the fight, she turned towards the Heavenly Path Sect and pointed directly at Yaan.
“You, do you dare to accept my challenge?!”
Everyone turned towards Yaan with different expressions. Some showed concern, others expectation. As for Yaan himself, he was totally bewildered.
After he thought about it though, it made some sense. Before Yaan became known to the world, Zue Yin was considered the most extreme talent of the new generation. But then, Yaan came along, stealing away her achievement of being the youngest cultivator to reach the Innate Qi Realm in the Greenwood Mountain Range in the past century!
Yaan spared a glance at the over-eager girl, then stood up and smiled lightly.
“Sure.”
With that, he jumped down onto the stage. He knew that he would need to fight anyway, and this girl was a perfect warm up. She was clearly tired from her last fight…she was over-confident, and in Yaan’s eyes, her battle experience was lacking.
These young talents were often shielded from danger until they reached a higher realm. It would be too pitiful if they died before reaching their prime. As such, the clans often kept their younger generation sheltered until they reached maturity.
Yaan, on the other hand, already possessed extensive battle experience.
The two took their places on opposite sides. As they stared at each other, Yaan wore a calm expression whilst Zue Yin showed an intense desire to battle.
Even though he thought that this girl was a bit ridiculous, he wasn’t being overconfident. Yaan took the time to examine her carefully, knowing that any details could help him in the fight.
Upon seeing her up close, Yaan could have sworn that the streaks of red in her hair were glowing, whilst there seemed to be faint flames flickering within her eyes! Strangely, after he blinked, this illusion vanished.
“Begin!"
Zue Yin shot forwards, whilst Yaan only took a single step forwards, his expression not faltering in the least.
“Master, why is Yaan not moving, will he be alright?” Elia turned to Sect Lord Shin and asked worriedly.
However, the sect lord did not reply.
If one looked around, they would see that many of the elders from each of the nine factions were staring at Yaan intensely. They were all thinking the same thing.
What an impressive temperament!
The younger cultivators often overexerted themselves in battle, putting in their full effort to show off to others. They would become anxious and excited, quickly wearing themselves down needlessly.
Yaan was the opposite. He had been in many near death situations and knew the importance of staying calm, whilst conserving his energy and stamina. Since Zue Yin was rushing towards him, he saw no need to waste any energy on moving.
“Flaming Dragon Slash!” Zue Yin exclaimed as she excitedly struck towards Yaan. Her expression showed her confidence, her pride, and her expectation…
Unexpectedly, Yaan didn’t use a spell. In fact, he simply stepped to the side calmly, at almost the same instant that Zue Yin cast her spell. She shot straight past him, then stumbled as Yaan stuck out his leg and tripped her. As her footing became unsteady, he reached out with one hand, then casually pushed her on the back.
She almost fell over, but she managed to just about remain on her feet. Feeling embarrassed at her apparent humiliating blunder, she stood up straight, then turned towards him angrily.
Her expression changed right away. She hurriedly raised her sword to block the sharp water blade, which to her shock, was almost on top of her! Because of her poor footing and hasty block, she was thrown backwards, flying through the air and landing painfully outside of the arena.
From start to finish, Yaan took only three steps. He still looked extremely calm, as if he had already foreseen this exact outcome.
Honestly, he didn’t think that what he did was anything special. In Zue Yin’s last match, it was obvious in Yaan’s eyes that her style was extremely predictable. She only had one move, which was slashing out with that fire-based spell. As soon as he was able to estimate which side she would attack from, he was able to evade and counter attack her with relative ease.
If she had been more cautious, it would have been much more difficult to defeat her. That said, Yaan had confidence that he would be able to defeat her nine times out of ten.
“Winner, Yaan from the Heavenly Path Sect!” The Yuso Clan moderator called out the result from above them, his expression remaining indifferent and unchanged.
Zue Yin wasn’t badly injured, but she was left in a daze and struggled to process this result.
She…lost?
Suddenly, the young girl was filled with a burning sense of rage. She jumped to her feet, then glared at Yaan with a red face filled with embarrassment.
“You, just wait until I reach your age and gain more experience, I will definitely defeat you!”
With that one sentence, Zue Yin turned around and stormed off. Yaan was once again left feeling bewildered.
“I’m younger than her though…” He muttered to himself.
“Hmm…I thought this might happen.” Rui perked up.
“What is it?” Yaan frowned.
“Some of these people think you’re a reincarnated immortal. It makes sense given your ‘talent’, young age and combat sense.”
“A what?” Yaan spoke quietly as he slowly walked towards the edge of the arena, intending to sit back down with his sect.
“A reincarnated immortal. Immortals are beings who have overcome Nirvana, they’re not constrained by samsara in the same sense as other cultivators. Immortals also have a chance to retain or restore their memories after passing through the cycle of reincarnation.”
Yaan’s eyes widened in awe.
“Why don’t you just do that?” He couldn’t help but ask her. The way he saw it, Rui was far above any other cultivator he had ever met, he could only assume that she had once been an immortal!
“Reincarnating is nothing simple, it’s dangerous and unreliable, nobody would choose to do so given an alternative. Especially for demons, it’s not something that any demon would willingly do to themselves.” Rui sounded irritated as she said this, so Yaan didn’t ask anymore despite his curiosity. He would certainly question her later on though.
Yaan was just about to leave the stage, when he was forced to stop. His guard was immediately raised, after all, he had not sensed anyone approaching him from behind…
“Yaan, I would like to spar with you for a bit. That is, if you accept my challenge?”