232 Chapter 232 (1/2)
The labyrinth was the main competition that the junior members were able to participate in. The Yinglong Pavilion had hidden various treasures in this area and everything inside was up for the taking. Various high quality pills, weapons, and even cultivation manuals that could raise weak sects into behemoths.
These were all treasures that you could gain in this competition. The winner would even get a large monetary reward that consisted of high tier spirit stones. This was a big opportunity and honor for the junior's that were here. They were all foundation establishment cultivators and even one high tier spirit stone would allow them to live like kings.
They were all motivated greatly and wanted to win this competition at all costs. The treasures wouldn't just be handed over to them though. There were various traps and spirit beasts littered in the many tunnels. The contestants needed to watch their every step as one wrong turn could mean certain death.
Even with all the dangers that the Yinglong Pavilion had prepared in the competitions, this wasn't the thing that the participants were afraid of. The things that they would have to fear the most were each other. Most of the deaths and injuries in this type of competition were delivered by the contestants. Battles for the artifacts broke out constantly and there were no rules against it.
Killing and crippling each other was allowed. The nascent soul cultivators above the labyrinth could look over their juniors but they weren't supposed to interfere. They weren't but they could, there was a certain rule that allowed the guardians to protect their junior members. They would need to either convince the other party's senior to order their juniors to spare theirs. They could do it forcefully but that had some ramifications later. Sometimes even death battles between the nascent soul masters occurred due to this.
Something like this was rare, one of the sides relented most of the time. No nascent soul Patriarch would give their life to defend a foundation establishment junior. So in general both sides ended up bluffing against each other until one side gave up. Only if both sides were bent on fighting each other a battle to the death would take place.
Something like this was starting, on the large peak, the Patriarch of the Divine Fist Sect was staring daggers at another nascent soul elder. He had noticed that a certain golden-haired junior had been forcefully taken inside the labyrinth grounds. He could see her moving through the corridors with a sword in hand.
”What is the meaning of this, I didn't sanction something like this!?”
”Fang Heng, what do you mean? Your niece wanted to participate in the competition to bring honor to your sect, my sect juniors just lent her a helping hand.”
Another man replied. This person had a peculiar look. His hair was green as jade grass and his large beard looked like thick roots. His skin color was dark and looked like fresh soil that you would use for planting or gardening.
Zhang Dong was at the side and listened with one ear while glancing down at the labyrinth. He noticed who the man was looking at, it was a pretty young lass with blonde hair. It looked like she was being chased by people that had similar robes to this plant looking elder. From what he could tell this sect was called the Yggdrasil Sect.
He was familiar with this name. This sect was also part of the top ten and as the name implied there were cultivators versed in plants. They were wealthy due to producing superior grade pills and spiritual herbs. There were one of the biggest providers of herbs and plants in the empire. It had something to do with how they cultivated, their bodies were similar to plants after they went through some kind of body refining technique.
From his point of view, this tree hugger sect was clearly picking a fight with the other one. Why he didn't know but it might have something to do with the man's low cultivation. He could see the arguing elder backing off, the plant looking cultivator had activated some of his aura. He was at the late stage and was clearly more powerful.
Zhang Dong started moving back, this had nothing to do with him and the woman below wasn't in danger quite yet. He thought to himself that he couldn't risk getting involved in something like this.
While inching away from the commotion, some of the other cultivators moved closer. They seemed to be in cahoots with the Yggdrasil Sect as they started laughing at the old man from the Divine Fist Sect. This looked very suspicious to him; it was as if they had set this whole thing up. He even saw his old friend from the Limitless Sword Society joining in on the chuckling.
'Do they want to coax that Divine Fist elder to fight to save his junior or something? But judging by his level he would surely die.'
He glanced over to the labyrinth, the woman was constantly getting chased by the other juniors. They had smiles on their faces as if this was a fun activity. He could even see some other sects joining in the chase, this was probably no coincidence. This looked more and more like something planned.
”You might not know this ol' chap…”
While Zhang Dong was watching Sebas Tian from the Yinglong Pavilion joined him. For some reason he had come to give him the info about this, probably to gain favor.
”The Divine Fist Sect had tried hiding it but the news had spread, they should have not come here…”
The man was sure to use a special technique to whisper the info right into Zhang Dong's ear. Apparently, this sect was one of the stronger ones, they were bordering with those tree huggers.
There had been some kind of newly evolved beast that moved in on their land. It was a beast king that could control various demonic beasts. There was a large scale battle between the sect and a monster horde.
There was no detailed info yet but it was clear that the Divine Fist Sect had suffered. The appearance of this man instead of the real sect leader was a giveaway. He was either dead or injured.
”So, are they testing him?”