I didn't have time to practice with the weapons or get used to them. There wasn't enough time to develop an immunity, so that I wouldn't get mesmerized and lost to the music of the Tessen. The view screens began ordering those competing to gather. I made my way back to the main stage as quickly as possible. People seemed to understand I was a participant and made way for my passage.
I arrived with little time to spare as a Dragon Sect Elder took the stage.
"The martial phase of the competition is about to start," he informed those that had gathered.
"This year the field of entrants is larger than normal. Sects that don't normally compete have gathered almost doubling the expected number of contestants.
"This was expected, so we changed the first round of the competition.
"First, instead of individual duels, we have tailored the first round for group combat.
"Second, we will only consider the round complete when there is one person left standing.
"Third, this round is timed. A five-minute warning will be given when time is about to expire, if more than one person is left standing at the end of that five minutes, we disqualify everyone left.
"Finally, tournament rankings will be determined for all but the top one hundred with this first exhibition. Your ranking will be determined by how long you last, and when you are defeated.
"If by some strange twist of fortune two individuals are eliminated at the exact same second, we will award the person with the higher Realm the higher ranking. There will be no appeals, the Array and Formation Masters have created a method to track the names and times when each individual is eliminated. Recounts, accusations of bias, and corruption will have no place in today's events," he warned ominously.
"Participants should have received a group number by now. The screens have been set to flash those group numbers, for those not competing clear those areas."
He turned and exited the stage after that last directive, not allowing anyone to ask questions or complain about the rules.
The martial competition was nothing like I'd expected. I like everyone else had envisioned dueling rings, with cultivators showcasing their abilities in individual contests. That was still possible, the announcer had offered no hint of what the following rounds would entail.
"Jay," Elder Shadow called surprising me. I hadn't realized he was near, but his words stopped me before I could head towards my assigned group, "this new Sect...." He began before hesitating. He seemed conflicted over what he should say.
I waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts my belief in him unwavering even with the assumptions I'd reached, that he and Elder Tye knew what would be offered. He must have thought better over what he had been about to say. He gave me a wry smile and motioned me in the direction I had been headed.
"Good Luck, Jay," was all he said before he turned to join the rest of the Sect Elders.
His actions left me confused. Was he trying to warn me that joining the newly created Sect was not the opportunity I thought it was? There was nothing I could do if that were the case. I was almost certain that my placement in the alchemist competition was high enough that I would receive an invitation to join. Considering my circumstances at Flowing Water, I would be a fool to refuse that invitation.
It was possible he had something else he wanted to say, perhaps some warning about the free for all that was about to begin. I was more certain than ever that he and Elder Tye had some foreknowledge that they would create a new Sect and that I might gain a chance to join.
They had been adamant that I waited to claim a province for my barony, which shouldn't have been an issue, to begin with. They would only give me the option to form a barony after I survived my first tribulation and reached the Qi Gathering Realm. Now that I knew that I would have to relocate if I was selected, their advice made sense. It would be better to build up a city and community in an area on the island.
I moved to the screen that was flashing the number I'd been assigned. It took a few moments but soon it became obvious that we would be divided into a group that numbered around a hundred. I noticed from the Sect insignia displayed on some of the uniforms that there were people from the same Sect.
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I wasn't the first to arrive. Elder Shadow's word had barely delayed me, yet almost fifty of my fellow competitors had already gathered. The projection that was blinking with our assigned number, updated with a number count after an associate from Dragon Spire Sect matched our tokens and made sure we were at the right place.
The blinking ended and the view screen dimmed when the last of us had arrived.
Most of us were checking each other out, trying to evaluate who might be our biggest challenge. We all started with the same handicap, not knowing who we were up against, what their spirit root, affinities, and realm were, or what techniques and weapons they had trained in. For those people that came from the same Sect, they did enjoy a small advantage. Their real advantage would depend on how willing they were to work with each other to eliminate everyone else.
A Portal opened, exactly as had happened this morning for the professional competition. This portal opening was different, random locations flittered across the portal opening every few seconds. The array masters had created scenes that suggested a maze construct would be used.
The limestone walls, floors, and walls were made up of massive stone slabs. Each so expertly fitted together the gap between slabs was near invisible. The flickering torches, hieroglyphic pictograms on the wall, and the occasional beetle was devised to make it appear we would be battling within a pyramid. Labyrinths connected the inside of the giant edifice.
Entering the pyramid was simple enough, the Dragon Spire Sect member organizing us so that we entered in batches of five. There was a difference though. Instead of us taking a step into the Portal, the portal reached out to embrace each grouping. It created a bubble of energy each time they activated the array.
When it was my turn, I didn't feel movement, there was no sense of displacement to suggest that we had been teleported, but between one breath and the next, my group was translocated.
I'd barely had time to identify each person who was transported with me, before the difference in space and location resolved and we were there. There had been no time for talk, no time to introduce ourselves. I thought that was done by design. Whoever was running this tournament wanted to discourage us from forming parties.
I'd never visited the pyramids on Earth, but I'd seen movies and documentaries. I remembered visiting a museum when King Tut's body and regalia toured our country. The halls appeared to be constructed using the same labor-intensive methodology.
There were differences.
This building was constructed using spatial and illusion arrays. The technology allowed architectural norms to be ignored. Instead of the narrow passages and low ceilings you might expect, the interior was expansive, some rooms being wide open garden-scapes that had sun filtered and reaching plants using an imaginative adaption of mirror and glass.
There was no one else around me, the portal using an algorithm that I didn't understand determining where we would be settled. As I'd moved furtively along the passages glancing into rooms I passed, I considered strategy. Without knowing what my opponents were capable of, the only thing I could be certain of was that no one had advanced to the Qi Gathering Realm.
I could have attempted the tribulation and ascended, but there was no way to predict when Heavenly opportunities would be given. I'd been lucky so far, but I'd also been able to capitalize on that luck. I had prior knowledge and experience from Earth that allowed me to embrace more fully the insights the [Dao of Movement] presented. I was hoping that I could gain further insights to increase my understanding of my [Dao] before braving that tribulation.
My Qi perception was extended as far as it could reach. I'd noticed no changes in Qi density. The only signs of life the plants and insects that populated some of the rooms. My affinity with water and air alerted me that something was out of place. The air currents were behaving as if they had encountered an obstruction and had been forced to deviate.
There were still no signs of another contestant, my perception returning stimuli and information that seemed to suggest the room that I was about to pass was safe, but those fluctuations to air could not be ignored. Someone was nearby, hiding. Whoever they were, they had deployed an enchantment or device that was able to deceive my perception.
Before stepping into the room, or ignoring it and moving past it, I made one simple change. I removed the flowing dress that was the benchmark for martial tournaments. The woman that continued to conform to this outlandish and outdated tradition were handicapping themselves, especially in this venue where being conspicuous was idiotic.
The leathers that Yvonne had created for me didn't apply active camouflage techniques, but the color was more in keeping with the limestone that made up the walls, floors, and ceilings of the pyramid. The dress was well-crafted and could serve well as armor, but it was a liability in this arena.
One that I was more than happy to remove.
The planet, Shijie, wasn't some backwater world. The advances in science and technology had simply diverged from the practices of Earth. Here the focus was on Qi. But that focus didn't negate the experience and lessons I'd received. The two ideologies could converge, and I'd make use of that convergence.
I refused to be pigeonholed into some sexist sensibility, to conform to some archaic standard and mindset that defined gender roles.
Free of that hateful garment, I activate [Flux Capacitor] to enter stealth, using the myriad shadows the flickering torches created to fade into the background. I hadn't achieved true invisibility, but unless you knew to look, you wouldn't notice me.