The three days of training attacks with his sword, and training his abilities until he could activate any ability with ease finally end.
Tired and sighing loudly, Zao Ning takes a bath, and gets some long need sleep.
Soon after he falls asleep, the door to Zao Ning’s room shudders and is finally unsealed. Zao Ning senses this and his eyes slowly open.
Zao Ning gets up and puts on his blood colored robe, walking over to the now unsealed door. He gets ready to open it when someone opens the door from the other side.
“Baby Zao, are you okay?” a weak and soft voice says from the opening in the door that is slowly getting bigger as Wei Ning opens it. Zao Ning sighs a breath of relief and opens the door all the way to see his mother, but she seems sickly and weak.
Zao’s heart skips a beat and he slightly panics, which is soon consumed and turned into rage.
“What happened to you mother?” Zao asks hurriedly. Wei Ning smiles brightly as she finally sees his son after so long.
“It’s nothing baby, I’ve just been so worried about you that I haven’t been able to eat much lately.”
Zao Ning’s rage calms down as he realized no one did anything to his mother except herself, but Zao Ning is soon gasping as he can see his mother as now reached the 4th Mortal Realm.
Zao Ning guesses that his mother decided to dedicate to cultivation to calm her heart as she waited for her son’s return and didn’t even take a break from cultivation until now.
Being in the 4th Mortal Realm is actually really good progress and would land Wei Ning a spot as a disciple in this Heaven's Pavilion's branch.
“Well mother, we should go find some food, but not have an adventure like last time and just eat the food the servants are serving.”
“Alright!” Wei Ning says with a bright smile as she is able to see her son again. She didn’t even like the idea of him being gone for a week, let alone 24 days.
Zao Ning is able to relax and spend the rest of his last day before the tournament. The whole time, Zao Ning was with his mother. Whether it was giving her tips on her to cultivate, or them going for a swim at the old stream they went to when they lived in the shack, Zao and Wei were able to enjoy each other’s company.
Like a mother and her son should.
Being in the 7th Mortal Realm, there was not much in this area that could scare Zao Ning as he was confident in being able to fight an 8th Mortal Realm and winning. Unfortunately, peak 8th Mortal Realms that were half a step into the Spirit Realm would soundly beat Zao Ning, but those people were few and far between in this area.
Eventually, the day of the tournament rolled around. Bells were ringing throughout the entirety of the Heaven’s Pavilion, signaling to all disciples and alike that the day is here.
Soon, hundreds of disciples gathered towards an arena near the edge of the sect. People ranging from the 2nd Mortal Realm and the 4th Mortal Realm littered the area.
Zao Ning looks around and the cultivation of all of the people that seem to be signing up for the tournament and his jaw drops to the floor.
‘Am I… Too strong? The level of everyone here is too sad for me to even waste energy walking on to the stage, let alone engaging in combat.’
Zao Ning starts to think that he didn’t even have to participate in the Tournament but he remembers that there is an inheritance reward at the end and Zao Ning is curious as to what it is.
‘Well I guess I can entertain and show the audience what the true power of a higher being is like.’
Zao Ning thinks that as a dragon reincarnate, that he is on a higher plane than everyone else, which causes him to smile widely. This shows off his vicious and dangerous teeth.
As Zao Ning makes it towards the lines where you’re supposed to sign up, someone notices the blood colored robe, which causes a small anxiety to build in the crowd due to the rumors that Zao Ning beat and Elder.
Only Zao Ning wears a blood colored robe within the Heaven’s Pavilion.
As Zao Ning comes closer to the lines, the crowd parts and makes a way for Zao Ning to go straight to the front of the line and sign up immediately. This was due to fear of the unknown surrounding Zao Ning.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
This of course strokes Zao Ning’s massive ego and he wears a deadly smile across his face.
Zao Ning signs up for the tournament and gets his number.
Receiving the number 232, Zao Ning makes his way into the arena and takes a sit in the stands made for the participants.
Of course, no one is willing to sit near Zao Ning and he is forced to sit alone, not like he would let anyone sit near him anyways.
On the other side of the arena, Zao Ning can see his mother Wei Ning, sitting the stands for the audience, accompanied by a servant from Grand Elder Chi’s estate.
Seeing that someone is with his mother, Zao Ning nods his head in approval and then focuses on all of the opponents he will most likely face. Even within the arena, Zao Ning can see that no one exceeds the 5th Mortal Realm and that is only 2 people.
Those 2 people are two in the top 10 disciples in the Heaven’s Pavilion. They both are catching glances at Zao Ning as they recognize him as their greatest enemy when getting first in the tournament.
The rumors of Zao Ning beating an Elder where confirmed by both of their masters so the two 5th Mortal Realm disciples know that Zao Ning is not someone to trifle with, plus they also heard whoever gets first will get an amazing reward.
With both of them thirsting for the great reward from first place, they seem to be willing to sacrifice anything for it.
As time goes by, the stands in the arena become fuller as many people want to participate in or watch the biggest tournament in Xi’an.
At noon exactly, 20 people came to the middle of the arena, all dressed in white robes. There was 13 women and 7 men, all seeming older than the age of 40 in terms of looks.
One of them was Elder Mo, who still seems distant after the lose to Zao Ning. Grand Elder Chi is also there with him.
“WELCOME ALL TO THE MOST THRILLING TOURNAMENT OF THE YEAR! As you all know, there will be several groups with randomly selected disciples. In total, each disciple will face 50 people, and depending on their wins will determine if they move on to the next round tomorrow!”
Explains an Elder that Zao Ning does not recognize with a loud voice. The man seems to specialize in a Wind Ki that can amplify his voice.
“The disciples already know their numbers so let’s not waste anytime and let the tournament… BEGIN!”
As the loud voice booms out the word begin, an explosion of fire appears in the sky, causing a loud boom to go throughout the whole Heaven’s Pavilion, signaling the start of the tournament.
With there being 20 platforms within the arena and 20 judges, plenty of fights were going on at once. The audience is thoroughly entertained as fire is throw, water shot out and dirt manipulated as fights rage everywhere.
Zao Ning isn’t immediately called but soon, he hears his number called by an Elder he hasn’t personally met before to come to that platform.
As Zao Ning stands up, all of the eyes in the arena drift towards him and even some of the fights on the other platforms stop to look at the frightening genius problem child of Grand Elder Chi.
Noticing all of the looks, Zao Ning smiles and decides to put on a show for everyone. He doesn’t mind to show of some of his since no one in this tournament is his match.
Lightning Ki begins to fuse to Zao Ning’s body, but not to the point where he is going all out so he doesn’t show off too much power that would make Grand Elder Chi suspicious.
Using his new speed boost, Zao Ning flashes out of everyone’s sight and reappears on the platform he was called to.
Arriving, Zao deactivates his Lightning Ki Form and the Lightning that was once emitting from his body stops completely.
Some people gasp at the raw speed that Zao Ning has so casually and it causes his opponent, who is in the 3rd Mortal Realm, to sweat profusely.
Zao Ning’s opponent is an regular disciple, so they don’t have a powerful master nor access to expensive materials but that is no excuse because most of Zao Ning’s progress has been made on his own without the use of many materials, just pure knowledge.
Of course he has the knowledge of a Legendary Fiend level Dragon who was nearly in the Never Realm, but Zao Ning would not let these useless Mortals know that.
Even the Elder is impressed at Zao Ning’s speed, but little did they know was that Zao Ning was in the same cultivation level as them, being the 7th Mortal Realm. Also, Zao Ning would most likely beat them to a pulp in a fight.
The Elder puts their hand in the air, and does a chopping motion down to signify the beginning of the battle.
“I FORFEIT!” the disciple yells as soon as the hand reaches the lowest point. He then bows and shakily walks away as he felt like he had been being eyed upon by a beast staring at its prey.
Of course this was just Zao Ning looking at the poor disciple and having eyes that resembled those of a dragon, most would quake under Zao’s gaze.
Disappointed at how fast the fight ended, Zao Ning scoffs and reactivates his Lightning Ki and reabsorbs it into his body.
He returns to his seat as fast as he went down to the platform.
No one is surprised that the 3rd Mortal Realm disciple decided to forfeit and they don’t blame him either.
Doesn’t mean they didn’t want to see someone stand up to the beast that is Zao Ning.
Unfortunately, they didn’t get to see that. All 50 of Zao Ning’s opponent’s immediately forfeited as he faced no one within the top 10 of the Heaven’s Pavilion’s disciples.
“AND WITH THIS LAST FIGHT AND LU FAN BEING THE WINNER, THAT WILL CONCLUDE TODAY’S MATCHES. THE FINAL 20 WILL BE POSTED ON SEVERAL BOARDS PLACED ALL OVER THE SECT. GOODNIGHT EVERYONE!”
Zao Ning sighs in boredom and quickly gets up to leave.
‘Looks like this tournament is equivalent as a pie falling in my lap. I don’t even have to fight and I win. I guess the humans truly realize how powerful I, Zao Ning, really am!’