865 Red Stone Fores (1/2)
As an ancient martial art practitioner, Mo Wen knew all too well that if an ancient martial art practitioner revealed his entire hand to others, danger would soon follow.
Mo Wen's spiritual pills were flying of the shelves in droves. His fame grew and at the same time, he drew the envy of some people. Many people were already paying attention to Mo Wen's shops. However, many people were merely observing things for the time being. After all, this was Dragon City; no one dared to act recklessly.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed. Mo Wen concocted almost three hundred spiritual pills. However, most of them were third and fourth-grade spiritual pills. The difficulty of concocting high-grade spiritual pills was too high and the success rate was too low. They could not be mass-produced at all. Over the past few days, Mo Wen had only concocted one cauldron of sixth rank medicinal pills and there were only seven pills. These were the highest-ranked medicinal pills that he had ever concocted, and it was his best result after he mastered the Spiritless Clean Fire.
After passing the audition for the Three List Tournament, it was time for the elimination round. The format of the elimination round was different for different lists. Therefore, during the Three List Tournament, each list would organize its own elimination round independently. There was no relation between the three of them.
Mo Wen had received the list of participants' names after the Heaven List audition. What surprised him was that more than one thousand people had actually succeeded in registering. As expected, Hua Xia Country was full of talents, and strong practitioners could be found everywhere. There were actually so many Golden Elixir Realm ancient martial art practitioners below the age of fifty. This list did not feature all of them, only those who were contesting for the Heaven List this time around.
The elimination round would take place outside of Dragon City in the Desolate Dragon World. The Huatian Palace had marked out an area especially for the Heaven List elimination round.
During the so-called elimination round, some people would be chosen from the more than one thousand that passed the audition. These people would continue on to the next round of the competition.
Dragon City had eight city gates. Outside each gate, there were teleporting stratagems that could send them straight to the Desolate Dragon World.
Dragon City was situated on top of the goddess' scepter while the Desolate Dragon World was on the ground. If they did not use the teleporting stratagems, they could not reach the ground at all. Even a Martial Arts Grandmaster strong practitioner would fall to his death if he fell from too high a height. After all, when falling from a great height, the speed of their descent would keep increasing. There would be friction between the air and their bodies, and it most likely would burn a person to ash.
After passing through the Huatian Palace's special passageway, Mo Wen successfully entered the Desolate Dragon World. He was in an area called the Red Stone Forest. This area had been completely cordoned off by the Huatian Palace. During the Heaven List elimination round, unauthorized personnel could not enter this area.
A flash blurred everything before Mo Wen's eyes, and then it cleared up again. Mo Wen looked at his surroundings. He was in a wasteland of red stones. It was like a stone ocean; not even a blade of grass grew here.
The red stones had bizarre shapes. Some looked like trees, and some were as big as houses. Some looked like giants. There were all kinds of shapes and sizes.
Mo Wen discovered that this place appeared to be a wasteland without any life force, but he faintly noticed a living aura that seemed to be wandering around the area. However, even with his sensory ability, he could not pinpoint it clearly.
”This place seems to be somewhat bizarre,” Mo Wen mumbled to himself. This place was the Red Stone Forest. A thousand participants of the Heaven List Tournament would be sent here. The rules were very simple. They had to kill the escaped criminals that were in the forest. Whoever killed more people would score higher points.
In the end, after the final score would be tabulated. Those whose points ranked them in the top ten would be the top ten of this round of the Heaven List Tournament. After the elimination round, the Heaven List's ranking battles would take place. They would compete to determine their ranking on the Heaven List.
From more than a thousand people, in the end, only ten of them would pass this round. It was a situation where only the strongest would make it to the end.
The people that were here were not only those who participated in the Heaven List Tournament. There were more Huatian Palace criminals around here. These criminals had been captured by the Huatian Palace after committing various crimes.
The criminals that could appear here were not ordinary people. Their cultivation was at least at the Golden Elixir Realm. They were also sly and cunning beyond compare. They were sinister and cruel. They were brave and fierce in combat. If an ordinary youth did not have enough combat experience and they encountered such a person, even if their own cultivation was slightly higher than the other party's, they would very likely be killed.
The Red Stone Forest was also known as the Land of Exile. It was the Huatian Palace's prison for major criminals. Those who were imprisoned here were mostly those who could make it onto the Savages List. Each of them was wicked and very difficult to deal with.
Back then, Gong Biluo making it onto the Savages List with pinnacle of the Embryonic Breathing Realm cultivation was considered an exception. Usually, the people who could make it onto the Savages List had at least Golden Elixir Realm cultivation. It was because Gong Biluo had committed too severe a crime and wiped out many sects in a short amount of time that the Huatian Palace had made an exception and placed her on the Savages List. However, she had only been on it for a week before dropping off the list.
Mo Wen knew some things about the Savages List. There were five hundred names on the Savages List. The further up one was ranked, the more frightening they were. Rumor had it that it was difficult for even for Huatian Palace veterans to capture those ranked in the top ten. Those in the top ten of the Savages List had been listed there for many years. There were even some that were up there for more than a decade.
However, the Savages List merely listed immortal cultivators below the Primordial Soul Realm as well as ancient martial art practitioners. Those beyond that scope would not be on the list. For example, Primordial Soul Realm immortal cultivators and ancient martial art practitioners that became immortals were considered people from another world when comparing their level with the mortal world. The Huatian Palace would usually not disclose the names of such people.
The Red Stone Forest was very big. It was equivalent to a province in Hua Xia Country. For a thousand people to be dispersed in here was equivalent to water vapor dissipating into the air. Mo Wen scanned around with his soul and will. There was not a single soul in at least a kilometer radius around him.
Mo Wen flipped his hand and a jade pendant appeared there. Lights flowed on its surface. It was beautiful and gentle looking, and it was made from excellent jade. On the jade pendant, there was a rune. It was the ancient character for ”ten.”
The jade pendant was a simple magical treasure distributed by the Huatian Palace. It was his identity insignia that recorded information about him. At the same time, it was also a scoring token. The ”ten” on it was his starting score. Each person would start off with ten points. Then, by killing off criminals of different cultivation, one could obtain different points. The stronger the criminal, the more points they would be awarded.
Mo Wen was not anxious. He minded his own business and found a spot to sit down cross-legged. He focused on cultivating.
He had a sense that he was about to break through the shackles and reach the Martial Arts Grandmaster Realm. Recently, this sensation had been getting stronger. However, there seemed to be something hindering him, causing him to be unable to take the final step.
He knew that the appearance of such a sensation was a fateful encounter for any ancient martial art practitioner. If he grasped the opportunity, he would be able to take that final step. However, if he did not, the sensation would disappear. He did not know how long it would be before it resurfaced. It was even possible that it would not appear again in his entire lifetime.
Mo Wen really wanted to seize the opportunity and break through to the Martial Arts Grandmaster Realm in one swoop. However, this last step was indeed not easy to make.