Chương 118: Chapter 117: The Secret Realm

The other friends from the Banquet. The hot pot cauldron is a heaven-grade Rainbow Lotus Cauldron gifted to Jiang Zhen Hao on achieving Golden Core by his eldest Shixiong..

"Senior brother, you didn't tell me what the prize is for winning the competition?"

"Ah, you are right, we got off topic." Senior Brother Lin Yi turned back to Yang.

"The simple answer is that each winner of an event receives a treasure associated with the craft itself. The nature of the prize varies by event and by division."

"Last time the Golden Core late stage winner received a rather rare cauldron," Senior Sister Shen Yue said.

"It was a treasure, easily more precious than any other prize given in any other event that year."

"That cauldron is half the reason there are so many participants this year," Senior Brother Lin Yi said, clearly he had strong feelings on the matter.

"At least the one who won knew how to treat such an artifact." Senior Sister Shen Yue rolled her eyes. Yang had a feeling that this was about the hotpot cauldron and wisely did not ask for an explanation. Senior Brother Liu Te cleared his throat.

"Junior Brother Yang, more broadly, every winner of every event receives a prize associated with that particular craft along with ranking points. Each craft maintains its own ranking list, and winning competition events earns points toward climbing it. The top rankers in each list compete in as many events as they can to accumulate more points, because the rewards for topping the rankings after the competition go considerably beyond what individual event winners receive. Heaven grade tools.

Cultivation-aiding treasures. Rare pills. Anything considered precious."

"This year," Senior Sister Shen Yue said, picking up where he left off, "the sect has announced a visit to a recently acquired secret realm. The top-ranked disciples will be selected to enter. That is the real reason the participation numbers are so high this year. Not any particular cauldron." She gave Senior Brother Lin Yi a pointed look.

"Is this ranking only related to the competition?" Yang asked.

"The rankings exist year-round," Senior Brother Liu Te said.

"Winning competitions is simply the fastest way to accumulate points quickly."

"Are any of you aiming for the secret realm?" Yang asked. Senior Brother Lin Yi and Senior Brother Liu Te answered at the same moment.

"We are." Senior Sister Shen Yue looked at Yang when he turned to her.

"Just these two."

"We are both entering the Foundation Establishment middle stage event," Senior Brother Lin Yi said.

"If we score well enough we may have a chance at the top ranks."

"How many slots from each list will go to the secret realm?" Yang asked.

"The sect has not announced that yet," Senior Brother Liu Te said.

"They may not know themselves. It is a newly acquired realm and they would need to assess what kind of environment, flora, and fauna it contains before deciding how many disciples to send and from which fields. The uncertainty is also making everyone more desperate to place well. It could be top three, it could be top ten. No one knows." If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"You both actually have a good chance," Senior Sister Shen Yue said calmly.

"You were both already placed well in alchemy rankings. Especially you, Liu Te."

"You can be rest assured the dueling ranks will have a high number of slots" Senior Brother Liu Te said Senior Sister Shen Yue's expression shifted.

"More slots, yes. But they also have far more competition. There are more participants in the dueling event than all the crafters in this competition combined." She paused, "Neither I nor Sister Xing Fei have managed to place in the dueling ranks at all. We simply have no realistic path there."

"Xu Kai might," Senior Brother Lin Yi said.

"Zhen Hao has been helping him train. If anyone from our group places in the foundation dueling event it will be him." Yang noticed some tension in this exchange and stayed quiet. The seniors were getting into it now, Senior Brother Lin Yi making his case for the alchemy and crafting rankers deserving more slots to the secret realm, Senior Sister Shen Yue pushing back with equal passion on behalf of the dueling cultivators, their voices rising as the debate developed momentum.

Senior Brother Liu Te, Yang noticed, was doing something else entirely. Every time the argument looked close to dying down, Senior Brother Liu Te would contribute a single sentence or a well-placed observation that restarted it at full intensity. He watched this happen three times before he was sure of it. Senior Brother Liu Te was tending the debate the way you tended a fire, feeding it just enough to keep it going without appearing to do so. It was like watching a master at work..

"Are you all completely without shame?" Senior Brother Xu Kai arrived with Senior Sister Xing Fei, both of them looking at the ongoing argument with different degrees of exasperation. Senior Sister Xing Fei's was almost amused and Senior Brother Xu Kai's expression can be best described as furious. Senior Brother Liu Te's expression, on the other hand, shifted with a speed that Yang found astonishing. One moment he had been subtly stoking the flames of inter-cultivator rivalry.

The next he was sitting with the settled placidity of a man who had been quietly minding his own business this entire time and had no idea what all the noise was about. He caught Yang almost gaping, and sent him a small wink. Yang turned to greet the arrivals before his expression could betray anything.

"Junior Brother." Senior Brother Xu Kai settled into the empty seat beside Yang after delivering a short and pointed address to both Senior Brother Lin Yi and Senior Sister Shen Yue about conduct in front of juniors.

"Your talisman preparation going well?"

"Yes, Senior Brother. Going well."

"Good. I look forward to seeing you compete." Yang looked around and it looked like most seats were filled in while he was watching the "debate""Do neither of you want face? Do you have no shame arguing like that infront of juniors" Senior brother Xu Kai looked like he still wanted to continue his scolding.

"What is there to be ashamed of," Senior Sister Xing Fei murmured, just loudly enough, "we have watched enough elders and seniors do the same thing in front of us." Senior Brother Xu Kai looked at her. Senior Sister Xing Fei shrunk and suddenly found someone in the arena that required her full attention and waved. The background exchange continued at a lower volume as the others redirected their energy toward needling Senior Brother Xu Kai, who attempted to maintain his dignity with partial success.

Yang found that he could unfortunately only enjoy this in audio because his eyes were on the stage below. More long tables had been set out while the senior were providing him entertainement, the workers were now arranging herbs on them. Ingredients for the competition. He watched them being sorted and positioned with the attention of someone who had recently spent time learning what each one was for. The smaller tables had cauldrons on them. A long line of disciples was entering the arena floor.

An elder on the stage raised one hand and the arena noise settled quickly, even his seniors stopped with their bickering.

"Welcome to the first event of the alchemy division." His voice carried to every corner without effort, amplified by what Yang recognised as a sound technique.

"I am Elder Fan Yi and I will be supervising this event." He summoned a large brass-coloured metallic sphere that floated beside him, and called the disciples forward one by one to draw tokens from it. Each disciple who drew found their table assignment on the slip and made their way to their place. Once every competitor was seated, Elder Fan Yi faced the arena.

"Now to explain the rules of this event."