32 The Rising Star Tournament Finally Begins! (2/2)
”Jun Qian was the first to realize and break the illusion, that was to be expected. He has been waiting for years for a chance to shine while staying in the lower valley.”
”Another yellow robe broke through the Star Zheng's illusion after only four hours. He is Tai Bu, one of Elder Peng's disciples, right?” asked someone, to which Elder Peng responded affirmatively.
”Who is the last one?” asked Elder Ku to himself before finding the last individual. ”Here! They're ... a red robed disciple?!”
Silence instantly fell on the assembly. No one could believe what they were seeing. Only Patriarch Sen had a strange light in his eyes that went unnoticed.
”How could a red robed disciple break such a powerful illusion after only four hours?!” said an Elder.
The comments flew from everywhere in the Grand Hall. Who was that individual? How come he was able to have such insight on the first stage of the tournament?
The young red robed boy was unknown. It was normal considering the fact that due to their status, Elders usually didn't pay any mind to anyone under the orange or even yellow talent.
Besides Patriarch Sen and Elder Zhu, virtually all the Elders present were frowning in disbelief. It had taken longer for Elder Zhu to realize who the red robed youth could be, but he finally understood the sly smile on the Patriarch's face.
Everybody was focusing their gaze on the youth sitting in the middle of the crowd of disciples just as the blue vortex of teleportation sprung up, making him disappear.
Most of the disciples in the illusion were still trying to run around, comically moving while remaining in place, not knowing what was going on at all. Only the most clever could realize that it was useless to move and concentrated on meditation.
On the top left corner of the massive jade screen, three squared formed. Each one centered around one of the awoken disciples that had just reached the second stage of the tournament, Jun Qian, Tai Bu and the nameless red robed disciple.
***
Shin Sumi had less trouble getting back on her feet after the second teleportation. She hadn't known what to expect the first time after all.
Upon opening her eyes, a sharp gasp was the only reaction she could have.
”And I thought the barren land earlier was strange and sad...” Shin Sumi commented. The place she had been teleported to was completely different from before. In fact it was different to anything she had ever seen in her short life.
In front of her, a huge landmass rose in the air. Simply judging by her vision, Shin Sumi was unable to tell how big it was. The floating land filled her entire line of sight, only revealing a pitch black abyss below. She was located on a small altar made of grey rock, the only similitude with the previous landscape.
A few steps ahead of her was an incomprehensibly high ledge separating the altar from the next piece of land. It was obvious in a single glance that the only path she could take was to jump from blocks to blocks and join the floating continent.
A red sky enveloped every part of the landscape in blood, as to give a taste of what would happen if one were to fall down to the abyss below.
A countless number of altars were located all around the landmass, and Shin Sumi was on one of them. The pillar of light she had come out didn't dissipate like she thought it would.
In the distance, two more pillars were visible. One was relatively close to her, maybe ten to fifteen altars away, and the other one was almost hidden by the landmass. It was still too far for Shin Sumi to see clearly the silhouette of the person coming out of the closest pillar but she guessed that it should have been another disciple that woke up from the illusion of the first stage.
”There is only one way to go now...” Shin Sumi thought. ”It is strange that we don't have any instruction as to what to do but I guess it is part of the trial.”
And that was when Shin Sumi started her journey through the floating rocks, only slightly behind the other two trial takers that were on the same stage.
After a hours of running and jumping from one land to the next she realized that the number of landmasses was way bigger than she expected. They were also progressively getting more massive.
Her first pause was on a chunk of rock that was as long as the entire lower valley. Running low on stamina, Shin Sumi sat cross legged to replenish her Shinsoo levels. In the distance she noted the appearance of more pillars of light.
”Ah, other disciples are joining progressively. So the fastest you complete the first stage, the most advance you get on the second. It is a race!”
The blue white pillars contrasted aggressively against the dark red sky, as if they were telling the contestants to hurry. Far behind her, Shin Sumi saw the pillar she came from. It already seemed so far away even though she didn't feel any closer to the huge floating continent ahead.
Two days later, Shin Sumi was still running along the landmasses. They had now become as big as the entire Dark Sky Starry sect, or at least she thought so.
”For a mortal, crossing one landmass would take around a whole day!”
Of course that was in the case a mortal could even get to this place, which was impossible due to the crazy jumps one had to take between each platform. Even Shin Sumi who was already well used to jumping and running at full power found the abyss below disturbing and feared falling down.
She realized though that she was now may more confident in jumping almost ten meters in one go.
”The high concentration of Shinsoo in this place, it is like constant training!”
By this point almost all of the light pillars were lit, indicating that nearly everyone had joined the trial dimension with the floating continent.
”Yue... I hope you're here to and we'll get together soon” Shin Sumi couldn't help but think.
Xiao Yue was an orange robed disciple, which represented less than ten percent of all the disciples participating. According to Shin Sumi's calculations, Xiao Yue should have arrived at least a few hours prior.
Both girls were looking at the pillars in the sky, hoping for the best for the other. Shin Sumi had tried sending a divine sense message via her jade identification medallion, but the strange laws that governed the place didn't allow such means of communication.
”If we're going to meet, it will be by chance... or fate.”
***
Back in the Dark Sky Starry Sect's Grand Hall, the Elders all wore serious faces.
”By now, ninety percent of the disciples have passed the first challenge. Some of them are even quite advanced along the daunting Path of the Hell Island.”
”Elder Won is right, two of the three contestants that did great in the first trial have even reached the first crossroads. The red robed youth that was with them doesn't seem that impressive after all. He is still about three quarters of the way there.”
”He must have a great mental aptitude to have broken the Star Zheng's illusion, but in the end he can't cut it. He is only a red robed disciple after all, no matter is aptitude he is far behind the yellow robes.”
Patriarch Sen remained silent. Sometimes the Elders would turn to look at him waiting for his input, but he stayed quiet. His lack of response was not unusual though, considering his personality.
All the Elders had learned along the years that the cunning Patriarch was good at hiding his thoughts. When he spoke it was often with great wisdom but when he didn't, it was impossible to know what to think of it.
His face partially hidden in the shadow of the high seat of the Grand Hall, not one person present was able to discern where his eyes were focusing.
Looking at a certain corner of the jade screen, he was thinking ”She is still a bit behind of course, but I wonder what tactics she will use in the long game...”
***
It took another few hours for Shin Sumi to reach the first crossroad. Crossroad was a big word, considering that it was a platform like any other along the way. But contrary to the others, it was where the path coming from different pillars joined.
For every ten pillars, there was only one way to reach the main landmass, and it was through one of these crossroads. If by any chance all ten disciples coming from these ten pillars of light were to arrive at the crossroad at the same time, it was very possible for them to start fighting to gain the advantage in the trial.
As such, if a disciple arrived way before the others like it was the case for the two yellow robed disciples in front of Shin Sumi, they would have the choice to take another path backwards to confront the incoming disciples.
Or it was the best occasion to lay down a trap and stop the nine others who would pass through there from advancing.
As fate would have it, Shin Sumi was only second in arriving to the key platform on her path.