70 Start of the contest. (1/2)
The guard brought them through the city and over to an orange nine-floored pagoda located close to the center of the city. The central room inside of the pagoda was decorated rather sparsely, with only some blooming flowers and normal couches spread around. But to the people from the villages, this was still considered rather good, as these couches were not covered in beast hide, but delicate fabric. There was a spiral staircase that led to the upper floors, doors lining the walls of the pagoda. The guard stopped after entering the pagoda, giving Li Yang and the others a bow as she beckoned towards the various doors.
”Please rest up here. In half a month, we will come to escort you to the location where the contest will take place. Until then, you are free to wander the city as you like, but please do not cause any disturbances, as the punishment for that is rather severe.”
After delivering the warning, the guard left the pagoda, leaving behind the excited villagers to inspect the central room of the pagoda. After giving the couches and flowers a quick check, Tao Caizhi and the other villagers all gathered together, Tao Caizhi quickly extending an invitation to Li Yang.
”Brother Yang, me and some of the others are going to go sightseeing, would you like to join us?”
They were all people who had come from the surrounding villages, so even if they were to face each other in the upcoming contest, they felt that it was only right that they all stick together. Li Yang responded to the invitation by shaking his head, glancing at one of the many doors.
”I'm sorry, but I plan on quietly cultivating until the start of the contest, so I can't join you.”
Despite having used 1 Earth-Grade Spirit Stone to buy a map, Li Yang still had quite a few resources in his interspatial ring, so he was planning on taking this chance to quickly carve his sixth rune now that he had some time alone. Tao Caizhi was not perturbed by Li Yang's answer, giving him a few pats on the shoulder.
”A shame. But it is good to focus on your cultivation while young, I slacked a bit when I was your age, so I never got to take advantage of the period of time where I had the most potential. Once the contest is over, let us all go out and get some drinks to celebrate!”
Tao Caizhi and the other villagers left to check out the city, while Li Yang randomly picked a door and entered the room behind it. The room was just as sparsely decorated as the central room of the pagoda, containing only a single bed, a closet, as well as a desk filled with writing utensils.
Li Yang took out some food from his interspatial ring, placing it on the desk so that Jinwu and Shenlong could eat whenever they got hungry. After that, he sat down on the bed and closed his eyes, periodically taking out some crystals from his interspatial ring as he worked on carving a sixth rune for all his elements. Carving the sixth rune was easy for Li Yang, so by the time half a month had passed and the voice of the guard rang out within the pagoda, he had already finished the process.
”Please follow me, the contest will start shortly.”
Li Yang and the other villagers quickly left their rooms after the voice of the guard sounded out, gathering in the central room of the pagoda. Li Yang brought Jinwu and Shenlong, but they were not going to follow him into the battles, waiting outside the arena while he fought. Standing behind the female guard was a group of 15 other guards, each clad in the same armor as her.
The guards did not say anything else to the villagers, quietly turning around and leaving the pagoda. Tao Caizhi and the others quickly followed the guards, heading toward the center of the city. The closer to the center of the city they got, the more people they saw in the streets and on top of the roofs of their homes, each one bubbling with excitement at the upcoming contest.
They quickly reached the center of the city, which was a large and empty circular plaza, the ground covered in a thin layer of violet stones that released a faint heat. At the center of the plaza stood five circular stages, each one a few hundred meters in diameter. Of the five stages, four were placed in a circle, with the fifth located at the center of the four other stages. The five stages were surrounded by a large seating area, with the seats closer to the stages being more luxurious than those further away.
By the time they arrived, the seating area was almost fully occupied, with more and more people squeezing into the empty seats, with others standing wherever there was space. But even with people squeezing together like this, there was one particular part of the seating area that no one dared get close to, the place where the people of the sects and clans sat. It seemed like each clan and sect had sent three people to keep an eye on the contest, with the strongest person being someone at the late stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm, the Spiritual Rebirth stage, so Li Yang guessed that the clans viewed these contests as a fairly good place to scout for talents.
The group of guards quickly let the villagers to a separate seating area placed close to the five stages. Even this seating area was almost stuffed full, but not by spectators, but by contestants. Even if he just gave a quick count, Li Yang easily spotted several hundred people, far more people than he had expected to take part in this contest. If just this contest had so many participants, just how many would take part in the competition hosted by the Huo clan? The group of guards took out several jade tokens shaped like green clouds, handing one to each of the villagers as they spoke.
”Hold onto these tokens, as they are what will be used to identify you as a contestant. Please take your seats over there, the judges will soon explain how this will take place.”
After handing over the tokens and pointing at the seating area, the group of guards turned around and left to make sure that there was no one disturbing the peace during the contest. Despite the guards saying that the judges soon would explain, it was only five hours later than a hunchbacked old man who was clad in a light green robe and had a head covered in white hair walked onto the center stage, using Qi to increase the volume of his voice, allowing everyone to hear his words.
”Thank you all for coming today, I am the main judge for today's competition, Yan Li. For those who are participating for the first time or those who have only arrived today, please allow me to explain how this contest will proceed.”
The plaza instantly quieted down after Yan Li spoke up, both spectators and contestants turning towards Yan Li with excited and expectant gazes. Yan Li cleared his throat and pointed at the five stages, which each had a number carved into the side.
”As you can see, there are five stages placed around me, four outer and one inner. The inner one is for the most anticipated battles, while the outer ones are where the other contestants will battle. But do not be discouraged if your battles take place in the outer arenas, as long as you display your prowess, you can be moved to the inner arena.”