There are roughly two ways to be accepted into the yearly tournant of Azure Peak Town.
Since it is a town-owned celebration of its founding, outsiders are not allowed to join.
The first way is to enter the early preliminary round and fight your way into qualification, with only ten of them earning a spot out of the thousands who register.
The second way is through nomination from a major clan. The Luo Clan holds ten reserved spots for their top ten disciples, as do the Han Clan, the Flaming Cloud Sect, and the other clans that follow behind them, but these seats are hard to co by.
Even his Wu Clan still cannot secure a single seat.
So, ninety are reserved for the clans, and ten are left for everyone else.
Still, with Luo Phen pulling the strings, he will be accepted and fast-tracked into the Luo Clan’s kinship, and his marriage to Luo Lan will be approved.
But all of this will only co after one condition: he has to prove himself first.
He has to steal a seat among the top ten disciples.
It’s not like he can’t snatch a top ten spot through the preliminary round, but it would be a waste of ti.
"Wu Han, your fight is set for two days from now, against our number ten, Hong Qing. Do you accept?" Tong ca as a ssenger, but the mont he laid eyes on Wu Han, his heart thumped in terror. Only a week had passed, and the boy had already grown past him.
"Hong Qing? That crazy girl with a sword?" Wu Han rembered her.
Just yesterday she had almost cut him in half, and now he had to fight her?
"You... could say that." Tong sighed. "Did you also do sothing to that girl?"
Tong whispered, curious.
"No?" Wu Han frowned. He hadn’t done anything to her at all. He mostly beat her fiancé’s ass, though. "Did she ntion or sothing?"
"No, not that, but she seems to be more aggressive lately. Coincidentally, it was after she t you the first ti. Her sword arts improved imnsely, and around that ti she stole the tenth spot among the inner disciples." Just imagining the change made Tong’s face pale.
Hong Qing had always been a sword prodigy, but her cultivation had been lacking because she focused more on her relationship than training. After Wu Han defeated Yan Fei the first ti, she changed so much that Tong couldn’t think of any other reason.
Maybe the illusion broke, or she simply found inspiration.
"Interesting..." Wu Han thought.
It’s not unheard of that when you et soone strong, you get inspired to start climbing the wall yourself.
He had gained many useful followers and a few annoying rivals because of this countless tis in the past. The question was, which one would Hong Qing be?
’I hope it’s the latter. It’s more fun that way.’
Contrary to what people might expect, Wu Han liked having a challenge, because it ant he could still grow.
A lack of challenge sotis made him nervous.
He never knew when sothing far above him might descend, wipe out everyone he loved, and strip him of everything, leaving him to flee and later return to see his comrades remade into living weapons.
Like that was going to happen.
"Anyway, I believe you’ve got this. She might have grown stronger lately, but you’re in a whole different league. You might have even surpassed ." Tong spoke while watching Wu Han’s intense expression.
"You can tell?" Wu Han was curious. Because of his Dao Seed of Gravity, all qi was constantly pulled into him, so the usual thods of judging soone’s cultivation no longer worked on him.
"Completely concealing your qi is the sa as being out of reach. I’ve lived many years, traveled far, and t many masters. You give the sa feeling they did," Tong explained.
If you can’t calculate soone’s cultivation level, it usually ans you’re not qualified to fight them.
"Haha, I see. You think too highly of ." Wu Han bowed.
"Don’t sell yourself short, Wu Han. You are still the disciple of the Miracle Doctor." Before he left, Tong turned and offered his condolences. "I’m sorry about what happened to your family. If you need anything, you can tell ."
"Goodbye, brother." After seeing him off, Wu Han closed the door.
Wu Han lay on his bed and pulled out the spirit stones, ten thousand of them.
"Two days, huh? That old man works fast. Not bad." He had already received the paynt from them, which was nice.
He had even made a counteroffer, but that wasn’t important right now.
They wanted to see results first, then the negotiation would continue to the next stage.
The victory was guaranteed, yet he still found himself thinking about Hong Qing.
’That woman...’
He could see it in her eyes. Beneath the lovely expression she showed her lover and her gentle, well-behaved appearance, there was madness. Sothing was very wrong within her, and she kept it buried deep.
Compared to Luo Lan, who was like clear water that never had the chance to surface, Hong Qing was more like polluted water pressed beneath the current.
"But until then, let’s check the progress on the other front." Wu Han sealed his room with runes to block intruders and prying eyes and ears. An illusion of him cultivating remained in place while his true self vanished from sight.
Wu Han pulled the trigger of the heart explosion out of his body and used it as a dium. It had been marked both ways and crafted with extre delicacy. With enough skill, one could easily locate the other party very quickly.
And how did he intend to use it while resting in his room?
Theron!
--
Deep in the mountain valleys, piles of bodies were stacked against the cliff. Most of them were still intact, which made the sight even more grueso. Rivers of blood and spilling organs could be seen everywhere across the heap.
They wore different clothes. So had red cloud uniforms, so were dressed in green and carried swords, and so wore the light blue of the Luo Clan. It had targeted only cultivators from the major factions.
Every one of them had died to a single beast.
Usually, such a scene would attract all kinds of scavengers.
But none dared approach the throne of the king of the sky.
Theron had now ascended to the eighth stage of Qi Condensation. His wingspan had nearly doubled, and his feathers radiated wind energy.
The rule his master gave him was clear: he was not allowed to consu the flesh of cultivators. But he had never forbidden him from hunting other beasts. So he did. Piles upon piles of bones from enemies he would never have dared face before lay scattered near the heap of human flesh.
Suddenly, he felt a slight headache as one of his eyes turned black and red.
"Master?"
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