146 Chapter 146 (1/2)
The door shut behind the Nascent Soul elder. The man with the crooked nose didn't give away his emotions but he was glad that that man left. He noticed that the young lord Kai gave out a visible sigh, making him think that he was feeling the same way as he did. This man was someone that liked to gossip and gather information on various things, so he spoke up and tried to probe this young lord a bit.
”Elder Ming is such a composed man, isn't he? Heard that among the grand peak elders he is one of the more virtuous!”
He smiled while looking at Yang Kai that looked to be taken aback by what this crooked nosed man just said.
”Composed? Hah, that's a nice joke there. Elder Ming makes my old man look like a docile little puppy in comparison.”
The cultivator looked to be amused, the man that asked the question was bewildered by the answer. The elder that just left was quite stoic, he never talked much or complained either. But apparently he was a lot more ferocious than even Yang Kai's father, just the mention of that person made this outer sect elder shiver in his boots.
”Young Master must be joking, how could Elder Ming be that fierce?”
Yang Kai's eyes twinkled a bit and a smirk appeared on his face. He leaned back in his seat and got more comfortable. He would tell this ignorant outer sect elder what was really going on.
”Well, you might not know it as you're not part of the inner sect... but let me tell you something... never go against Elder Ming in any way... don't even meet his eyes if you aren't willing to lose your life!”
The outer sect elder was taken aback as he gasped. Was this elder Ming so vicious that he would give you a good thrashing for looking at him the wrong way?
”What, you think that I'm lying?”
The man moved his hands in front of his face and waved them around in protest while replying to that question.
”My young lord, how could I presume such a thing!”
Yang Kai just smirked while taking a swig from some spirit alcohol that one of his bodyguards handed him.
”I don't blame you, If I didn't see it with my own eyes I would probably have a hard time believing some of the stories concerning him...”
The young lord started relaxing and drinking, he got a lot more chatty as well. He started recounting some of Elder Ming's misdeeds and they were quite ghastly. The man even wiped a whole middle-sized clan from the face of the planet, just for a trivial-sounding offense. From the stories, the outer sect elder found out that the man was awfully pedantic. Everything had to go by the book, so if someone of lower status offended him in any way he wouldn't just let it slide. Either they apologized right away in the appropriate fashion or they were in for a bad time.
”You'd better tell your people to keep things nice and tidy around Elder Ming, or he might blame you if someone offends him.”
The crooked nosed elder shivered and started sweating profoundly. He soon excused himself from the room that they were talking about and alerted his most trusted aides. He heard some tales about this nascent soul monster, but he thought they were highly exaggerated. But apparently most of those grim stories were the truth, he needed to put more people on the job and keep anyone that might cause trouble away from this overbearing elder.
'What if he blames me if someone steps on his foot? Then decides to chop my head off along with the rest of my bloodline...'
The man went pale and headed out, he wouldn't be sleeping much for the duration of this auction. He had to make sure that no one offended this merciless sect elder.
At the break of dawn in Jade Grass City, you could hear people shuffling around. Everyone was putting up various stands with all sorts of items. Food, trinkets, and even low-level magical treasures could be seen everywhere. This was the true beginning of the Dao Festival, the residents were ready to earn some cold hard cash. Milking the tourists was one of the main reasons that this event was set up. The clans would have a stick measuring competition and the residents along with the Dark Palm sect would profit.
The tournament would start before noon and depending on how long the participants fought, it could take more than one day to finish. Everyone knew the rules before going inside the ring. There would be a main judge at the side of the ring that was of core formation strength.
His or her job would be to determine if the opponent couldn't participate and to point out the winner. There were no life-saving formations that would prevent death, only a shield that blocked any outcoming attacks going into the audience's stance. The judge was required to jump in if the fight got too spicy.
The juniors that were participating were considered the best of the best at this point, so no one wanted their future leaders to get hurt. Still, accidents did happen, anyone could lose their life in a nerve-racking bout like this. The youngsters mostly weren't that good at holding back and if you tried, you might be the one to die instead.
The place that the tournament took place looked similar to an old Roman colosseum. It was just much, much larger than the old earthen structure. The center stage was the size of a soccer field and it was circular in shape. There was a body of water separating the battle stage and the audience area.
There were a couple of two-meter wide bridges leading to the stage through which the contestants were guided into it. The audience stands were layered and could fit thousands of people. The more elite members like from the Dark Palm sect had their own VIP area that had the best spot to overlook the battles.
The participants would face each other on that large stage, due to the size of it they had enough space to maneuver and use their foundation establishment techniques to their heart's content. Even though the distance from the battle stage was far, the eyes of cultivators above a certain level allowed most people to see just fine.