Waking up the next day, he looks hopefully towards where Cho Meng's bed is. Unfortunately, he is still not back.
He heads up for training as usual. Since they get used to the new training the instructor now adds a training for the Qi.
Using their Qi they are learning to strengthen their mana veins.
After that they head to the world's affair class. Having nothing more to teach them but political conflict between sects and clans it went without saying that it was boring.
In the next class they talked about activating a meridian. You had to slowly push against the boundary of the meridian. Taking time to make sure it wouldn't be damaged.
It would last between 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how perfect you wanted it.
You could always finish it sooner if you had good enough focus. It was basically the same when breaking through the dantian.
They went on to eat but Jiang skipped to open up his meridian. If he wanted to be of more help he would have to get stronger.
He sat down in his dorms, ready to begin breaking through his meridian in his neck.
the anatomy for meridians was basically the same as for joints. There were 2 in each arm, 1 on each shoulder, 2 in each legs 1 on each hip joint and 1 near his neck.
Each meridian was a step in the "Qi gathering" realm. It wasn't really a big upgrade in strength but it was a foundation for the future.
You had to open them all and strengthen them before you could breakthrough to "Bone adaptation."
Now focused, Jiang takes his Qi and brings it towards his meridian. The same as last time, he starts gnawing at the barrier.
Luckily, this barrier was much smaller and less thicker then his dantian. It didn't take as much focus to eat it all. Enhancing his Qi slightly, altering it in a way he didn't understand yet.
He had succesfully broken through his meridian since it was the neck, it directly allowed him to be called "Qi gathering II." this was only a formality.
As you went higher in the realm it only meant you could channel your Qi at more places.
Now having opened up this barrier, the Qi flowed fluently from his dantian to his neck, allowing for a small cycle. only barely changing his healing ability near his neck and chest.
He then takes some time to fully acclimate his meridian, since it wasn't full before it need time to adapt.
Realizing he still has time to eat, He goes back to the cafeteria. There was only a handful left here since it was almost time for class.
He heads to the lady serving the food and asks for a plate. She gives him one, it's cold and doesn't look appetizing at all but it would do.
After eating he didn't have time to transform that energy. He had to let his body work to get the maximum on it's own.
Joining the martial theory class, the instructor talked about something else. The tournament.
''Today is going to be special, since tomorrow is the tournament, I will give you information on how it will proceed.''
''Us and 3 other camps are going to join each other at another camp much bigger. Once there, everyone will be attributed an arena, they will fight once their names are called.''
''This tournament will decide your future. there is a total of 3500 recruits in this tournament. If you end up in the place 2501-3500, you get nothing. 1501-2500 you get an hour in an array formation. 1001-1500 you get a Qi strengthening pill. 101-1000 you also gain your own personal weapon. 11-100 you get a specialized weapon made just for you. top 4-10 you get access to all that and 10 Qi strengthening pills.''
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''Third place gets 12 hours of array formation, 20 Qi strengthening pill, a weapon of higher quality then the others below him, a chance to become a squad leader in your camp.''
''Second place gets a day of array formation, 20 Qi strengthening pills, a choice to learn a secondary job, such as cook, pill master, forger, etc. and assured to become squad leader.''
''First place will get the best treatment, he gets 3 days of array formation, 40 Qi strengthening pills. He also gets a choice to get a secondary job and a personally crafter weapon of his choice by a grandmaster blacksmith. The first place will additionally have a chance to fight for a place in a mystic realm filled with treasures.''
''I know this is a lot to take in all at once, but this should make you strive to get stronger. Otherwise, you might think this competition is worth nothing.''
At the end of his speech, the instructor told them they could take the time of his practice period to try moves against him. He would give one chance to everyone while lowering his realm to theirs.
He then went on to give instructions to everyone without fail. Jiang being next, he readies his body and mind.
He steps forward, waiting for the signal to go on. Soon after, he gets it.
Launching himself forward, he goes for a swift attack, directly on the opponent's leg. This would be an awkward move to block for most people.
It would open up his upper body but he was ready to risk it to gain a consequent advantage.
Before he can land his strike, the leg moves slightly to avoid it, now completely open. Knowing he had to move, he dashed backwards as fast as possible. Only getting slashed on his chest slightly.
''You have to remember that your opponent may have more control over their bodies than you do. Against soldiers with actual experience you would've been killed without fail every time.''
He then tried a couple more moves, he was lacking in creativity. This was the last comment his instructor said. They then went on with the rest of the recruits.
It took the rest of the time for practice until it was time for the spar, which again, they would give tips on how to get better.
Unfortunately for his opponent, he was paired with Jiang. Hence a swift exchange followed which didn't take long.
He used his sword to fake a strike downwards while side stepping on the right. The young man, completely fooled, was not expecting a strike coming from his right side. After three moves the man was down.
35 minutes after it was finally over, Jiang went back to his dorms and decided that he would focus completely to allow himself to "Breakthrough" Again.
He couldn't use the array or the spirit stones because it wasn't registered yet, it would take a couple of days.
Falling into a trance, he accumulates his Qi again, having opened a meridian, his Qi absorption speed was slightly faster.
It took him around an hour to get enough Qi. Once he did, he pushed it towards his right hip joint. He did the exact same thing he did with his neck meridian.
After 30 minutes, he had finally managed to eat at the barrier completely, transforming his Qi ever so slightly again. This was extremely faint but Jiang felt it.
Once Jiang was done he headed to bed. He didn't know what happened to his friend but he vowed to find out.
Waking up the next day, he heads outside his dorms, instructors are already making them follow everyone else towards the exit.
After reaching the yard, the director flies over.
''Hello everyone, I hope you are all ready! This will most likely change your future. We will go through some warp formations, there's 5 we need to pass through.''
''Since most people here haven't used one before, we're going to wait 30 minutes between each teleportation. We will arrive in time for the competition.''
The array formation wasn't big enough for everyone, they had to go through a hundred at a time. The teleportation looked instantaneous.
He was on the second batch to go inside, he thought it would be child's play.
He was wrong.
It felt like an hour passed before he got outside of the spatial warp. He felt his insides churn, he had only one thought and it was to vomit. He managed to hold it in.
Looking around though, most of them knelt on the ground vomiting, Zou and Sun being no exception. Han fared better but his complexion was as pale as Jiang.
It clearly wasn't the first time for the staff, looking around he could see that there were already people clearing the place up.
They then managed to go on the side to wait for everyone else. It took around 20 minutes for everyone to arrive, not because it wasn't fast but because most couldn't hold themselves back from vomiting.
After arriving, it was already time for the first batch to go again. Once they were in, Jiang went up. This time everyone felt better and anticipated what would happen.
Most managed to hold it in, the director already said not to use Qi in the space warp to not cause deviation in the trajectory.
They went on the side and it repeated 4 more times before finally arriving at their destination. It was a big bustling camp with loads of people.
There were men and woman too, they were all their ages! The camp was in a mountain pass, the scenery looked beautiful with a waterfall on one side of the mountain pass.
This felt like a magic place. Settling down, they patiently stood on the side to wait for the rest of the camp. It didn't take too long this time since everyone got used to it.
There wasn't any one else that got sick on the way.
They followed the Director, slowly making their way forward. It took a lot of time to register everyone, individually it didn't. That was because they already had jade slip with the faces of everyone participating on it.
They only had to find the face they were looking at and the person could go in. They only had to give their name and cultivation stage.
Jiang looked around to see who his competitors would be. There was a board registering the names and stages near the entrance. He went over to take a look and saw that most of them were at the second stage, some at the third.
He even saw someone at the fourth stage! This was a qualitative change. It meant the person manage to unlock the meridian of a member of his body fully.
He knew this tournament wouldn't be easy but he would try his best. This was a turning point in his life. He couldn't miss it.
They headed towards the stage, there were lots of seats around it. They found theirs and sat down, waiting for the hosts to start. The director left to go talk and arrange the rest with the others.
It took around 30 minutes for everyone to sit down. Once this was the case someone went in the middle of the stands.
He started talking and magically everyone could hear him even if he was more than 400 feet away from him.
''Hello everyone and welcome to the hudrendth tournament. This year is going to be slightly different. Everyone will be thrown in a small world, teleported randomly, you will have a week to stay inside. If you are in mortal danger, the small world will bring you out itself.''
''There will be treasures that you can get if you have enough. They are randomly placed throughout this world. finding one is the key to win. there are only a thousand treasures. If you don't have one after a week, you will lose this competition.''
''Rankings will then be determined according to how well you did inside. Did you eliminate a lot of people? Did you find treasures but get thrown out? Rankings will be fair and square.''
''Without further ado, everyone please get to the center near me please.''
It doesn't take long for everyone to get there. Once they are, the man says good luck to everyone and that's the last thing Jiang sees before seeing a forest around him.