Chương 30: The Court Of Seven Wonders and the Champion Tournament

Finding himself inside the Court of Seven Wonders, An was stunned. Everything around, all the walls, and the decor around him were overflowing with colors. Thousands of different items with price tags on them. The air carried an aroma reminiscent of mint. He immediately recalled the description of a certain plant: Rough Water Grass. This spirit plant was commonly used as a room freshener because of its delicate yet rich scent.

Looking around, he began carefully examining all the displays and all the goods shown on them: swords, spears, daggers, small axes... any weapon you could imagine. Each had a tag with its price and its artifact quality. The prices were absolutely insane. One small first-rank dagger of medium quality was priced at one hundred twenty spirit stones. Seeing these prices, An could only click his tongue and shake his head while looking around.

Besides weapons, there were also individual pieces of armor and full sets from head to toe, simple clothing, jewelry with runes, and many other things whose purpose he didn't even understand. Walking through the displays on the first floor, he reached the Alchemy section. Approaching the counter, to An's surprise, no one was there. Only a small chair with elegant legs stood alone behind the counter. The section itself was filled with flasks containing pills. On the counter lay a stack of brochures.

Reading the title of the brochure, An took one and began flipping through it. It was a list of what was sold in this section but not displayed on the shelves, such as many first-rank pills bordering on the second rank. Spirit plants sold only by the dozen. The prices immediately killed any desire to look further at the plant list. An decided to take a seat on a chair not far from the counter. Sitting down, he continued reading the brochure.

Reaching the subsection on cauldrons, he again started shaking his head and exhaling heavily, such prices even made his head spin.

"Are you sure they have this pill here?" An suddenly heard a girl's voice not far from him. Judging by the footsteps, two people were approaching the section.

"Yes! I saw it in this section a few days ago..." answered a second voice. Looking up from the brochure, he saw two girls. He recognized both immediately. They were both new disciples, like An. One of them he even knew by name. It was Miu Muye. On the first day, during the distribution between Peaks, Mo Fan had stood up for her. Over these six months, she had grown and changed significantly. Her white hair was braided and tucked behind her back, revealing her large blue eyes with slight shadows beneath them.

She wore grey robes with patterns, clearly embroidered by herself. She had become much taller compared to the first day. The second girl walking beside her, he had seen her in the same group as Miu Muye and Mo Fan. She looked slightly older than Miu Muye, more mature, thanks to her black hair, freely spread and falling across her perfect face, which, combined with her tall stature, could accidentally hypnotize anyone who paid too much attention to her. She wore slightly form-fitting grey robes with golden patterns.

Throwing one glance at them, An lowered his head and continued flipping through the brochure.

"Good afternoon, esteemed customers." Immediately, a young man who looked about twenty appeared behind the counter. An hadn't expected this. Raising his head and looking at him, he realized that the young man behind the counter had been deliberately ignoring him this entire time. He looked behind him and saw that there was a barely noticeable door.

Understanding that he had likely been ignored again on purpose, An decided to finish reading the brochure quickly and leave this shop, he'd lost all interest in exploring the other sections.

"Good afternoon. We would like to purchase the Qi Enlightenment pill!" Miu Muye spoke quickly with a wide smile. Hearing what they needed, the consultant nodded and took out several flasks from the shelves behind him, which were hidden behind a small screen.

"Medium quality, ten spirit stones per pill. High quality, thirty spirit stones per pill. Perfect quality, one hundred thirty per pill." The consultant, showing all the pills, slowly and clearly stated the prices.

"We'll take one of Perfect quality!" Miu Muye said in a confident voice, as if such an amount of stones meant nothing to her.

"Sister Miu, are you sure one pill will be enough for Brother Mo?" The second girl tugged at Miu Muye's sleeve and tried to whisper in her ear. An heard this and raised an eyebrow.

"You're right, Sister Xi! Even though our Brother Mo is a genius, he only has a few hours before the start of the Tournament! With two pills, he'll definitely be able to improve his techniques!" Miu Muye gasped and began nodding her head, agreeing with her Sister Xi. She quickly took out another one hundred thirty stones, buying two perfect quality Qi Enlightenment pills.

"Let's go quickly, Sister Xi! We must give these pills to our Mo Fan as soon as possible!" Grabbing and hiding the pills, as if afraid someone might steal them, they quickly ran toward the exit of the shop.' Only six months... and already two loyal companions... Isn't that too fast? When does he even find time to cultivate?' An, sitting and flipping through the brochure, snickered to himself. The consultant standing nearby finally threw a glance at him.

He demonstratively snorted, opened the hidden door, snorted even louder again, and closed the door behind him. Finishing the brochure, An stood up, tossed it onto the counter, and headed for the exit. Even if he found something he needed, with prices like these, even selling everything he owned, he still couldn't buy anything. And the desire to just walk around and look had been completely killed by that salesman behind the Alchemy section counter. Stepping outside, An decided to walk through the trading tents.

After a few hours of wandering, he managed to buy a huge number of spirit plants for his future pill experiments. He also picked up several hundred sets for Qi Enlightenment and Beginning of the Body Qi Path, and at bargain prices. In the end, out of his remaining sixty stones, An spent fifty-seven. Holding the three remaining stones in his palm, An sighed and continued walking in search of something interesting.

Continuing to wander between the tents, he saw that a large crowd had gathered around one tent and was making a lot of noise. Coming closer, he saw what was depicted on the sign: ordinary spherical stones, stones split in half with coins and precious stones, resembling diamonds, pouring out of them. Listening to the conversations from the crowd, he understood that this was a gambling tent. You choose and buy a stone, then open it. If there's something inside, it's yours. If not, alas.

He immediately began remembering how when reading about such moments in novels he had always imagined something like a flea market: lots of people, bad smells, noisy, and someone about to pick your pocket. And now, seeing it all live, with his own eyes, he realized it was exactly like that. Except for the smell, surprisingly, even here among the crowd, the air carried the scent of fresh flowers." Ah! The Young Master has extracted Black Gold essence from a stone again!"

"How many is that? Four out of ten stones? Or was it five?!"

"Now that's luck!"" Aah! Envy! Envy! Where is my luck?! When I need it so badly!"

"Young Master Eleo! That's the way! The heavens themselves have blessed you with their luck!" A small crowd had gathered around one particular cultivator. This cultivator, looking no older than eighteen, was tall, with curly golden hair and golden eyes, dressed entirely in black robes with golden dragon patterns, and holding something the size of a pea in his hand, he laughed loudly and politely accepted the flattery around him. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation."

Haha! Thank you for your kind words, my friends!" Young Master Eleo turned to face the crowd and with a warm smile continued exchanging pleasantries.

"Listen, my friends! How about..." At the height of Young Master Eleo's speech, An lost any interest and walked away to the tables a bit further from the crowd and began examining the stones. Each stone had its own price. The cheapest cost one spirit stone. The most expensive up to ten. Starting to study the stones, he found several with conflicting Qi flows emanating from them.

The thing was, the stones themselves were spirit objects, even if their spirituality was very low, it was still present, and because of that, reading the flows of something inside was slightly more difficult than it might seem at first glance. Reading them carefully, An understood that in the first stone, there was something close to the Black Gold essence that Young Master Eleo was holding, but slightly different, it was much weaker.

In the second, something very similar to what he had read from the weapons inside the Workshop on the Outer Platform. After examining the stone, he decided that there was probably some kind of small dagger inside. He immediately started imagining what it was: probably something like a super-weapon with infinite power or something along those lines, that would change the fate of the wielder.

In the third stone, there was a dead spirit plant seed, but he could tell that this seed was only on the border of death, clinging to its last strength to stay alive. Thinking it over, An bought only the stone with the seed. Handing over the spirit stone, he grabbed the stone.

"Would you like us to cut it for you?" The consultant who had sold him the stone offered to help him open it and find out what was inside. An, in response, simply shook his head and, taking the stone in both hands, activated Qi Fists. Playing with the vibration frequencies, he crumbled the stone into sand without any effort. The consultant was surprised, watching with interest as the hard stone turned into ordinary sand.

Even though he was a cultivator at the sixth layer, even he couldn't open a stone without a special technique and artifact. Crumbling the stone, An quickly hid the little seed in his palm. Raising his gaze to the consultant, he simply nodded to him and decided it was time to leave. As for the other two stones, he simply saw no reason to buy them.

He wasn't interested in the stone with the essence, since Artifacts didn't appeal to him, and for selling it, his entire pouch was full of Kavana fruits, which he could sell whenever he wanted. As for the dagger inside the stone, at the moment when An began practicing and expanding his Frequency Control technique, he realized that all these swords, spears, shields, they were only additions to oneself, parts that weren't truly your own.

What would one do when his sword cracked in battle or he dropped it at the most critical moment? And if his shining armor or strongest shield shatters from the enemy's strikes, what then? What would that person do then? That's why he decided, he needs only his body and Qi, nothing else. His fight in the forest, when he was ambushed, showed An clearly that only thanks to his body had he survived.

Leaving the gambling tent, he heard out of the corner of his ear that the crowd was still praising Young Master Eleo, and kept urging him to continue gambling while his luck was at its peak. Already outside, he glanced at the darkening sky. The sun had already set, and through the clouds, the three moons were becoming clearly visible. Staring at the sky, looking for stars, he suddenly remembered his meeting with Yan Eli.

"Grandpa! Granny! Faster! Faster! It's about to start!"

"Don't rush so much, sweet pie! Our legs aren't as fast anymore. Oh..." The elderly couple walked past An, holding a little girl by the hands from both sides, afraid that if they let go, they wouldn't be able to catch up with her. Looking around, he realized that even more people were heading toward the Coliseum. Everyone was eagerly awaiting the second stage of the Festival: the Champion Tournament. …. At the Sleeping Doves tavern. On the third floor, in a private room.

"It's almost midnight... Where could he be?!" Yan Eli, sitting at a small table laden with dishes and wine, was irritably tapping her finger on the table. In her other hand, she held a pocket watch made of pink metal. She kept looking at it, almost every second.

"How dare he?! How dare he ignore me, that disgusting little runt?!" Yan Eli had already started grinding her teeth, and scratching the edge of the table with her nails. But then a quiet knock came from the door.

"S-senior Sister Yan? It's me, junior brother Maen..." A quiet, timid voice came from behind the door. Hearing his voice, the entire atmosphere of hatred and irritation completely disappeared." Ah! Junior brother Maen! Come in, come in!" Yan Eli ran to the door and opened it.

Behind the door stood an outer disciple of the Heavenly Soul Sect, looking no older than fifteen, clearly a new disciple from this year, in standard grey robes that were slightly worn, with bronze skin that made it easy to guess he came from peasant origins. Seeing his embarrassed face, Yan Eli hugged him tightly, so tight that the sound of air sharply exiting junior brother Maen's lungs could be heard." Oh! Junior brother, I was afraid you'd forgotten about our meeting... Come in quickly!"

She released him from her embrace, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him into the room. The junior brother, lost, with a red face and a stupid grin, not even thinking of resisting, walked in behind her and closed the door. …. Entering the main hall of the Coliseum, An decided to follow the flow of people heading toward the huge open doors, several dozen meters wide and about ten meters high. Moving forward slowly with the crowd, the queue finally brought him to the front.

Passing through the threshold of the huge gates, he found himself in a massive room with dozens of platforms resembling the altar that had teleported him to the dungeon. An headed toward one of the altars, next to which stood a group of cultivators in the red robes of the Hall of Justice.

"Stop! Ticket or personal disciple plaque of the Heavenly Soul Sect!" One of the group stopped him, extending his hand forward. An pulled out his plaque and showed it to him. Taking the plaque in his hands, the cultivator checked it with his Qi, nodded, and handed it back.

"Here's your ticket! And don't lose it until the end of the Tournaments taking place on the Arena itself!" He also gave him a small sheet, similar to his plaque, but thinner and flimsier. Taking the plaque and the ticket, An walked over to the Altar. Standing where there were fewer people, he took out the ticket and examined it. On the sheet: Internal ticket, Sector F. Internal ticket, meaning its free. These are issued only to disciples of the Heavenly Soul Sect.

Sector F was the very last row in the stands, from A to F. The reason he received a ticket for the last row was that he was only an outer disciple and even his status as an Alchemy Apprentice hadn't helped. After some time, when the entire altar was filled with people, it began to glow. The runes inscribed on it started to spark, and the Qi flows around began behaving chaotically. Already accustomed to this, he closed his eyes and after the bright flash, he waited a few seconds before opening them.

Looking around and finding a free corner, where no one else was, he sat down on a creaky wooden bench. In front of him, or rather, in front of row A, was a huge projection of the Arena's center. Even from row F, An could see everything perfectly, even though he was sitting in the farthest seats. There weren't many people around him. He had thought he would be surrounded only by outer disciples like himself, but he was wrong.

For the most part, the people around were those who could only afford the cheapest seats, or didn't want to spend too much on tickets. Many old people with grandchildren and children, several young couples, and also a few disciples like him. Looking at the huge projection, An was surprised.

In just a few hours, the Arena had transformed from an ordinary sand field into four massive biomes: Winter mountains Summer flat fields with sparse vegetation Dead hilly wastelands Dense colorful forests All these biomes were covered in vast forests with foliage of different colors, from bright yellow to gloomily dark shades. Even the dead wastelands were filled with dried and cracked trees.

Through all four biomes ran a wide river, beginning in the snowy mountains and curving around all the other biomes, into a huge lake located in the center of the Arena itself, as if uniting all these biomes into a single whole. Suddenly, the projection changed its angle, again showing the four Sect Leaders slowly descending from the clouds. Gu Bai flew forward and began delivering his welcome speech again, almost no different from the speech he had given at the opening of the Non-Combat Tournament.

An listened with one ear, still thinking about the biomes. After some time, Gu Bai finally moved on to the Rules of the Combat Tournament. Hearing this, An began listening with full attention.

"As you all already know, the Champion or Combat Path Tournament will be divided into Three Stages: Group Battles, Paired Battles, and Solo Battles. This year, in order to strengthen the friendly ties between our Sects, my brothers, my sister, and I have decided to change the usual rules." Gu Bai gestured toward the other three Sect Leaders, who nodded in response.

"Group Battles will be distributed randomly. That is, in each group, there will be disciples from all Sects. Not like before, when groups were randomly formed but from a single Sect. This new rule will apply to every group!" Gu Bai continued, not even giving the spectators time to digest all the information.

"Paired Battles, we give the choice to the participants themselves. They can sign up for random pairings or team up with a companion of their choice! The decision is up to the participants themselves!"

"As for Solo Battles, that's clear enough anyway! Every man for himself! Haha!" From behind Gu Bai, Black Marcus shouted out, interrupting and throwing him off his train of thought. Gu Bai spun around sharply and glared at him, undisguised anger written across his face. In response, Marcus simply grinned, showing his white teeth." Ahem! My good brother Black Marcus is absolutely right! The rules for solo battles remain unchanged!"

Gu Bai turned back toward the artifact that was transmitting the recording to the projections, showing his broken smile throughout the Coliseum.