Yin Long focused entirely on his visualization, the four imaginary figures occupying his entire mind as he constantly honed them. Their techniques grew sharper, their moves faster and more intricate as he familiarized himself with them, and he slowly started using less and less energy on maintaining the corporeal spatial figures around him as he condensed and controlled them properly.
He wasn't conscious of the passage of time, only the short trip through the spatial array had registered in his mind due to the sensation of it. So when he finally ended his visualization training, he didn't actually know how much time had passed. As for what brought him out from his training, it was a subdued growl filled with bloodlust.
Yin Long's eyes slowly slid opened and turned towards the direction of the growl, his gaze landing on Jin Wang. The lion stood a few steps away from the door, the hair on his back standing straight as he bared his fangs at the youthful girl that seemed to have just stepped into the wagon. Her entire body was trembling under Jin Wang's gaze, her face pale as she hurriedly spoke to Yin Long.
"Yo...Young Master Yin, we've arrived at Wasteland's Heart city, so I was sent to fetch you... But there was no response when I knocked on the door, so..."
Yin Long moved his gaze slightly, spotting Lan Yun, who also just seemed to be finishing up her cultivation. It was quite rare for her to be this engrossed in her cultivation, to not even hear when someone approached them. Yin Long stood up from his seated position, waving his hand to have Jin Wang stand down.
"I see, thank you for coming to alert me. And please forgive him, he's a bit hasty when he actually musters up the will to act."
Yin Long spoke in a calm manner, but space around him was still shimmering and gleaming slightly thanks to the training he had just engaged in so it didn't really help calm the girl. But sadly for her, she had been sent here to carry out her duty.
"Do... No need to take it to heart, Young Master Yin. Since you have woken up, I would greatly appreciate it if you follow me. But only those going to enter the competition are allowed to follow, so your girl... companion must remain behind, she will be escorted to the lodging area."
Yin Long could somewhat guess at how things would play out based on the fact that Lan Yun couldn't follow him, it was quite likely that they would be sent directly into the pocket of fractured space to start the competition. It would also explain why the Territory Lord had said that they could use the time it took to reach the city to calm their minds, they simply didn't plan on giving them any time inside the city to calm their minds.
"That's fine, I came here to meet up with your sister after all. I'll put aside some of her wine for you, so you can just focus on meeting up with your other sister, you both probably need to have a good talk."
Lan Yun didn't even give Yin Long the chance to turn his gaze towards her, she knew that he would definitely take a peek at her to check her opinion. After all, it was her desire that pushed Yin Long to head here, it would be a tad unfortunate if they would have to split up straight away and thus ruin her plans.
But her reason for coming here was to meet up with Lang Ru while also making it possible for Yin Long to meet up with his own family. He wouldn't be able to meet Lang Ru or Tang Fen right away, but entering the fractured space would at least give him the chance to meet Lang Huo, so she could consider her goal accomplished.
"Alright, tell her that I'll be looking forward to drinking her wine again. And oh, tell her that it's about time she pops open that one wine she's been saving for so long."
Both Yin Long and Lan Yun were quite casual about this temporary separation. They knew that the Province Championship could drag on for years, but neither of them doubted that they would be able to meet again, that confidence and belief had already engraved itself on their souls.
Lan Yun nodded her head while memorizing the request, but Yin Long was the only one who actually knew what the request meant. That one gourd of wine that Lang Ru had kept away from him since she first started brewing, the wine she had kept fermenting until the appropriate occasion, until the wedding of the Lang clan's Young Master.
Yin Long cast one last look at Lan Yun and then stepped forward, placing his hand on Jin Wang's head and ruffling his mane. The youthful brown-haired girl was still quite pale due to fright, and seeing Yin Long so casually cuddle the source of her fear was definitely a surreal experience.
But just like she did when she talked, she could only swallow her fear and do her best to maintain the greatest degree of normalcy and calm. Luckily, she didn't know the fact that Jin Wang would have pounced on her and torn out her throat if she had just taken a single step closer, otherwise, she would only feel more fear.
The three left the carriage, and when Yin Long finally set foot in Wasteland's Heart city, the first thing that struck him was the environment. The air was exceedingly dry, it was as if small granules of sand entered your throat with each breath. And the sky was also different, it had turned a dark shade of violet, cracks spreading out as far as the eye could see.
Yin Long couldn't see the rest of the wasteland as the city around them was protected by a large wall, but he had no doubt that it was as bizarre as the sky. This was what happened when a demon descended, the very world itself was brought to its knees. And as Yin Long was closely attuned to the law of space, he could feel how devastated that law was here. Space felt like it was constantly creaking, folding and drifting apart without rhyme or reason.
The city itself was just about what you'd expect from a place located at the very centre of an inhospitable region. People really only lived here whenever the Province Championship took place so the buildings were kept simple, wooden or stone and mostly undecorated. There were a few buildings that were larger and covered in some more exquisite decorations, but that was only because some of the people that were brought along had high statuses.
The youthful girl quickly guided Yin Long through the streets, which were mostly deserted. At best he would see one of the other competitors or one of the people that had been brought over, but mostly it was just silent and empty. It didn't take too long for the girl to bring Yin Long to what seemed to be the centre of the city, a circular depression where the earth looked like it had turned into lava that eventually solidified.
And at the very centre of this depression was what would undoubtedly be the entrance to the pocket of fractured space, a single lightning-bolt like crack in space that shot into the sky before vanishing from sight. There were quite a few people gathered on the edge of the depression, the crowd separated into 18 different groups.
"The other members of your province are gathered over there, the warden will arrive shortly. Godspeed, Young Master Yin."
The girl bowed respectfully and then hurried away, only letting out a quick sigh of relief when she was a good bit of distance away from Jin Wang. Yin Long's gaze settled on the group that did indeed contain the participants from his province, Xiao Yin Yu and Fang Yau beckoning him over by raising their chins slightly.
Yin Long brought along Jin Wang and met up with them, his gaze sweeping across the other groups. But whether or not it was because their provinces were on opposite sides of the planet or not, the people from the Sunsong Province were situated at the other side of the spatial crack, perfectly obscured by it so that Yin Long couldn't see Lang Huo.
But he didn't let this bother him, because he could feel her. It manifested as a slight tugging sensation within the very core of his soul, a type of longing that Yin Long was certainly could only be produced because it had sensed his closest family.
A few more people arrived after Yin Long, the 18 different groups eventually ending up with 10 people in each. And as the final group received its final member, the originally chaotic space in the area actually quieted down somewhat. Yin Long could feel that a small portion of space in front of the heaven-reaching spatial crack twisted for a short second, a man walking out from it.
The man who arrived had a stout build, he was so muscular that he may as well be considered a bear rather than a man. He was clad in a simple brown robe and didn't have a single strand of hair on his head, his green pupil carrying a stern light as it swept over the surroundings.
His left eye was fine, but he had a scar that went from the top of his forehead and all the way down to his chin, cutting straight through his right eye. But the scar wasn't just a neat and thin line, a three-centimetre wide area around the scar had sunken into the man's face, creating a nearly five centimetre-deep indent. Whatever had caused that scar had not been a kind or clean attack, and Yin Long had no idea how the man even managed to survive it.
Stolen story; please report.
"I am the Warden of the Waste, you can consider me the same as a Province Emperor, except I watch over this entire wasteland and make sure that it receives the respect it deserves. I will be one of the overseers of this championship, and I'll also be the one who explains the rules to you, so listen closely!"
The man's voice was heavy, to the point where just listening to him felt like someone was actually pushing down on Yin Long's eardrums. But it was certainly effective, silencing even the soft rushing sound of the wind so that everyone present could hear his every word.
"The first thing: As many of you are aware, there are actually 180 more competitors, those specifically chosen by the Province Emperors. And as you can see, they aren't here at the moment. That is because they have already been sent into the fractured world, they are currently being forced to wait in an empty area so that they cant get a headstart. We will not provide you with any information about them, so you will have to learn about their skills on your own. But the opposite is also true, they know nothing about you or your skills, you can use this to your advantage!"
They may be the greatest geniuses chosen specifically by the Province Emperors, who had great influence over the entire Dominion despite being gathered on this planet, but that didn't mean that they would get any great advantage. They would have to go into the competition just as blindly as the others, that was a rule set down by the Dominion Deity himself, anyone found to break it would be killed.
"Secondly, the format of the competition. Very simply, it's a gathering and arena-style contest. Everyone that gets sent in receives a set amount of points, 1 for each small realm in the immortal door, 2 for each small realm in the Earthen Door, and 3 for each small realm in the Skyborne doors. Your goal is simple, defeat other cultivators or native lifeforms, just making them believe that they have lost will be enough to count as a win."
Yin Long listened intently to the warden's description, the actual format of the championship was generally only known the participants and those close to the championship, others could only form guesses based on what they heard or saw in the final stage.
"For natural resources or native lifeforms, you receive points based on how much energy they contain, following the same rules as the initial points you receive. Defeating other competitors gives you all their points, but you can also lose all your points if they manage to beat you. You will all be separated at the start, but meeting up with the other competitors of your province is not a bad idea since it lets you group up on those who are alone. But if this was all there was to it, it would hardly be enough, so let's talk about the third point."
Yin Long would initially be at a bit of a disadvantage due to his low cultivation, he would only start with 4 points after all. But the starting points could really only be considered a slight boost, you would still have to rely on your own strength to gather more points. Of course, Yin Long wasn't really discouraged by the disadvantage, his main goal here was to meet his sister and to improve his swordsmanship after all.
"The third point is the arena part of the competition. It's very simple, once you've gathered up 100 points, you get sent to the first arena, titled simply Rank 1 Arena. This is where you will be forced to fight other competitors who have acquired 100 points in a 1 versus 1, you can either fight to the death or until one of you leaves the arena, it’s up to you. The winner gains the opponent's points and moves on to the second part, and the loser loses everything and has to start from scratch. You can stay in the arena for a total of three days, and each day you can send out three challenge requests, but you cannot leave until you've fought or get forcibly sent out. If you reject three requests or stay in the arena for more than three days without fighting, you will lose all your points and get sent out to start from scratch again."
Yin Long's ears perked up when he heard about this part of the competition, this meant that he wouldn't even have to track down the people he wanted to spar with. He could just gather enough points and head to the arena, from there he could even observe the ongoing battles, it was perfect for his goals. Of course, to some others, the prospect of having to win a one versus one was a bit daunting, as none of them had any control over who would reach the arena during the time they spent there.
"The second stage of the competition is the same format as the first, but you need to gather a total of 500 points, the third stage requires 2000 points, the fourth requires 6000 points, the fifth requires 20 000, and the final stage requires 99 000. Now you may think that this is an extreme number of points to gather, and you'd be correct, which leads to the next point."
The warden calling the number of points extreme was nothing short of an understatement to Yin Long. Even if you won the fifth arena, you would only end up with 40 000 points, you would still have to gather a further 59 000 points, more than you had gathered in the entire rest of the competition.
"The next point consists of two different points. The first is that the points gathered from natives and natural resources are double upon reaching the second stage, tripled upon reaching the third, and so on. Do note, this tripling is of the original number of points, not of the already doubled points. And secondly, anyone who has cleared one of the arenas, can at any time choose to return to any of the arenas they have beaten. So if you're on your way to the sixth arena, you can return to Rank 5, Rank 4, Rank 3, any of them, and send out new challenges for points. Of course, once you enter one of these arenas, you become subject to the same rules as the others, so you can still end up losing everything."
The increase in gathered points was a nice help, after all, this fractured space was incredibly old so the number of natives lifeforms and civilizations was already beyond count. But the second part was something that could only be considered unfair, how could someone who had gathered 20 000 points possibly be on the same level as someone who still had only gathered say 500 or so?
But it wasn't supposed to be fair, no competition or championship was meant to be entirely fair from the start, they were meant to weed out the weak. The strong grew stronger and the weak fell further down, such was the natural law of the cultivation world, crying for fairness would only get you laughed at.
"This competition is one of the highlights of this Dominion, but that does not mean that everyone inside it is worth paying attention to! Only those who are ranked in the top 50 will be paid proper attention to, their every move projected across the dominion. So if you want to draw the attention of the world and become famous, either reach the top 50 or enter a fight with someone in the top 50, just don't regret that second one when you end up dying to them."
It might be a bit disheartening to others, but this particular point was actually in Yin Long's favour. He wanted to meed Lang Huo without the Lang clan or the surrounding clans knowing about it, that way they couldn't try to use this information to shake her seat of power. So if he could just stay out of the top 50 until they were so strong that no one could shake her position then it would be perfect. Of course, that only went for him, he would never ask his sister to stay out of the top 50, the higher she ranked the better.
"Those are the rules, the competition will reach its final stage when there are either only 100 competitors left, or when 100 competitors have reached the sixth arena. Once that happens, we will enter the final arena stage to determine the top 100, and all of those fights will be projected to the greater world, so bring your best!"
The final 100, one among them would become the strongest youth on this planet, and quite possibly within the entire Dominion for that matter. That was an honour countless others would be willing to abandon everything else for, and it was also the target of just about everyone present. The warden was clearly reaching the end of his explanation, the quiet fire of excitement starting to surface within the hearts of the people present. But the warden wasn't entirely done, waving his hand and causing three different items to appear at his side.
"You will all receive three things before entering. The first is this, it will attach to your soul and serve as the counter for your points, it will store the special energy used to denote the points. The second is this, it will serve as a communication treasure. At the start, it will only contain the marks of those from the same province as you, but every time you meet a new competitor, it will mark their signature and can from then on be used to contact them. And the final item is this, it will serve as the spatial tether that can drag you back should you reach some of the special areas, you'll know them the moment you see them. At the same time, it will also be the item that drags you to the arenas when you've gathered the required amount of points."
The first item he brought out looked like a massive transparent leech, its organs fully visible. A slight touch from the warden caused the leech to split up into 180 smaller pieces, one flying to each competitor and sinking into their chest.
Yin Long felt the leech move up through his body and slide into his soulsea, aiming for his soul. But the moment it entered his soulsea, its movements were instantly halted, its entire body quivering in abject fear. Yin Long's soulsea was completely different from other peoples, just the apocalyptic amount of Netherworld Energy stored within it would be enough to bring about untold amounts of ruin.
The leech continued quivering, not daring to move further, so it just positioned itself where it was and started to unleash a very weak suctioning force, waiting for the special energy it was designed to gather.
The second item that the warden brought out was a branch covered in light blue leaves filled with orange veins. He shook the branch once, sending out one leaf to each person. The leaf followed the same path as the leech, sinking into Yin Long's soulsea before settling down. But this leaf wasn't a sentient being so it didn't shiver in terror, it just rested there calmly. Yin Long only had to touch upon the leaf with his mind to detect the 9 other signatures already stored in it, allowing him to contact the others with ease.
The final item the warden brought out was a silver scale that was larger than a house, space around it constantly twisting and contorting. The scale split up into several smaller pieces, flying into the bodies of the competitors and settling in their chests. It radiated a very weak trace of power, but it felt like dead wood when Yin Long tried to interact with it so it didn't seem like they could do anything with it.
"The things I've stated here are the rules, memorize them properly! You now represent your respective provinces, do not disappoint them and throw away their face!"
The warden swept his stern gaze across everyone once more after he finished handing out the three items, his voice turning so heavy it almost felt like a hammer on their eardrums. He flung out his arm with all his might, the crack behind him trembling for a short second before it released a pulling force. The force acted upon the scales embedded in the chests of the competitors, drawing them all into the crack.
Yin Long immersed himself in the sensation of the spatial crack, it felt unlike any spatial movement he had ever experienced before. There was no folding or twisting of space around him, it was as if his body was being pulled in all directions, multiplying and eventually recombining with the body that was heading in the correct direction.
But as he was being sent into the fractured space to participate in the Province Championship, he didn't notice a pair of chilly crimson eyes gazing directly at him.