Chapter 351 (1/2)

With a little click, the lock on the cultivation cave came undone. The large door swung open while a certain someone escaped outside.

”Huh?”

The person responsible for watching these cultivation caves turned his head up but he could not see anything there. The door seemed to be closed but he could spot a bit of snow falling down.

”Must have been my imagination…”

The man shrugged and turned back to the other side. A certain elder had given him some spirit stones to watch one cultivation cave in particular. It seemed that he was interested in keeping a certain disciple locked inside. The man agreed as it was easy money and he just needed to contact the elder if he saw the youth leaving.

'Those days as the demon hunter sure came in handy…'

Zhang Dong's figure was coated in a translucent filament which allowed him to blend with the scenery. If he held his breath and didn't move a muscle it was impossible to be spotted. This and a few other techniques he picked up for when he was out adventuring. It was much easier to go around as a sword for hire than a sect leader so he had to brush up on the assassination skills.

After the guard turned his head some more snow started falling but this time around there really would be no one for him to look at. Zhang Dong descended from the mountain while keeping to the shadows, he arrived at the outer sect just as the sun started to go up which turned the scenery red.

The scenery was quite breathtaking but Zhang Dong was preoccupied with the mission before him. He had already been noticed by many outer sect elders, he could join the outer sect at any moment. The problem was the inner sect elders which he needed to prove his worth to.

'Will those other old farts try to stop me as well?'

He stopped before a large outer sect building. Inside of this one the last competition would take place. While being a trial disciple he would not be able to refuse any of the outer sect elders. If one decided to walk up to him, they could even take him by force to wherever they wanted.

Some of the pill makers and blacksmiths after seeing his crafting techniques had that look in their eyes. Each one of these old fogies was focused on face and status. Making him not be noticed by any inner sect elders was a silly plan but when face was involved, rationality went out the window.

Thus why he decided to hide his presence and watch for the time being. Even though it was four hours away from the start of the competition the disciples were already gathering.

Just as he had predicted he saw people that followed him from the other four competitions. He didn't even need to remember their faces as their behavior was a giveaway.

There was only one star disciple but many hungry elders. They all started glaring at each other, it seemed that a brawl could happen at any moment.

The first checkpoint consisted of some guards but they weren't checking the permits for taking part in the competition. After sleeping through this part he turned back into Dai Rong once again.

With his infiltration now being successful, he blended in with the crowd of other disciples. Along with them, he made it through the second checkpoint which would allow them to go into the side of the competitors. Time continued to pass and finally, everyone had gathered.

'So that's the inner sect elder?'

Even though this was not an arena building there were many people looking in from an elevated point. There was one large tower in which all of the important elders were sitting in. They could overlook the disciples that could battle on many solid rock-slab-covered platforms.

”Let us get this over with...”

Zhang Dong looked up to the large tower and he could hear a bored voice calling out to everyone. From his vantage point he could barely make out his features, it seemed to be the same elder that greeted the new disciples by the name of Jingyi. The characteristic well-kept red beard and hair made this clear.

If someone looked at the ground from the vantage point of Elder Jingyi, they would see a checkerboard pattern down below. These were actually battle stages on which the disciples would be fighting on.

Each mini stage was quite large with thirty meters in diameter. Without the disciples having the capability to fly there was no need to make them any bigger.

The rules were easy, each of the disciples would be given several tokens. Everyone had three challenge tokens with which they could challenge anyone with a higher number in the ranking.

There were a thousand people here, each one with three tokens but this wouldn't translate to three thousand fights. Anything above the top hundred didn't matter to anyone and the bottom 900 would be only challenging the top 100.

This competition was good for the challengers but not so good for the ones being challenged. Some people strategically waited till the competition was almost done before they used their token.

The disciples were only given five minutes to rest before being forced to fight again. There weren't that many that could last through the continued battles before retiring. If a disciple was crafty enough they would be able to get rid of their competition and do it while everyone watched.