97. Oh, do you think you’re the best? No, it’s me!

afflinghaze

“Take a deep breath in…. now breathe out...”

Sun Fuyu quietly used his wind qi to help spread Wen-ge’s voice far and wide.

Nearby junior cultivators swayed on their feet as a sleepy feeling struck them. The cats yawned unashamedly and cozied up to Wen Zhihao.

The calming stones, scattered across the plain and in the possession of humans and cats alike, resonated with the calming aura. The calming aura’s range was boosted from the righteous cultivators’ side all the way to the demonic cultivators’ side.

Zhou Sheng and Lin Yijun halted their movements, as did their opponents.

The demonic pets of various cultivators succumbed next. The feeling made them want to roll over and sleep. In this qi environment, fighting was the last thing on their minds.

Despite being quite individualistic, cultivators still had a sense of peer pressure. When the others around them stopped fighting and shouting and jumping, they too reconsidered their actions.

The Heavens above realised what was wrong. Who is that cultivator? This soul is not from this world! The lightning that had gathered in the clouds had nowhere to go.

“Cease that nonsense,” Elder Wang spat out. His cultivation was far beyond the little aura that Disciple Wen put out. “This is a war. Do your duty and fight!”

“But I don’t want to,” Wen Zhihao said calmly. “Elder Wang wants to fight. If any demonic cultivators consent to fighting, then you can all amuse yourselves. However, I have more important things to do. Leave the rest of us in peace.” Wen Zhihao glanced at Zhou Sheng. “If any cultivator has been unlawful, enslaving or killing or assaulting others, then those crimes need to be brought to light and the individual cultivators dealt with in a proper manner.”

Zhou Sheng smirked slightly. “Indeed. I won’t even kill you or hurt you.” Any ‘hurt’ you feel would be your own doing.

“Stop preaching your stupid hypocritical peace!” a senior demonic cultivator sneered. “We haven’t had a war in hundreds of years, it’s time to see who really is the strongest!”

“Tch, we righteous cultivators have won every war,” a senior righteous cultivator retorted.

“Ah, if that is what you want…” Wen Zhihao rubbed his hairless chin. His eyes brightened as he found a solution. “To truly determine who is strongest, you must hold a tournament. The winner of the tournament will be the most powerful and skilled champion cultivator.”

Eyes widened.

A tournament?

“You’re just saying that because you know you’ll lose the war,” the same senior demonic cultivator sneered again.

“Oh, so you’re scared of a proper tournament? Scared that, under the audience’s eyes, your weaknesses will be revealed?” the same senior righteous cultivator retorted.

Wen Zhihao rubbed his chin some more. Of course, there would be multiple different cultivators with multiple different reasons to fight. And there would be cultivators on both sides who should...have a taste of their own crimes.

But a war was messy, and survival was affected by luck. It also adversely affected everyone's quality of life. In contrast, a tournament had economic benefits, was orderly, and didn’t require Wen Zhihao’s participation.

It was time to lay it thick to these big bosses.

“Fellow Cultivators, consider this little one’s words,” Wen Zhihao began. “In a war, your beautiful skills and powerful moves will be forgotten, and in the end, only the survivors will be remembered. But in a tournament, you can showcase your compelling, impressive, domineering power. Use your skills and your treasures to overwhelm your opponent in a fair fight, and gain the recognition of peers, righteous and demonic alike. Why, if you believe so much in your own strength, the tournament can even be open to rogue cultivators. The winner’s name will be known across the entire cultivation world.”

“To judge, we can have a representative from each Sect. There will be multiple streams, for each cultivation-level bracket,” Lin Yijun said. Having previously helped organise the Intra-Sect competition in the Golden Sun Sect, Lin Yijun had tournament administration experience.

“And those who win can definitively say that they are the best, the top of the peak of all other fellow cultivators in their class,” Zhou Sheng said. “Though, I’m obviously the best among Nascent Soul cultivators, so there is no need to hold that competition—”

“Suck eggs, Zhou Sheng!” a Blood Sect cultivator yelled. “Hold the damn tournament, and we’ll show you who’s best!”

“That’s right, hold it!”

“Tournament to show who is the top immortal!”

“Hold the tournament! Who’s scared of fighting one-on-one? NOT ME!”

“Tournament! Tournament! Tournament!”

Lin Yijun looked over the crowds of cultivators. How different it was from his past life. Instead of the ravaged flowers and pockmarked landscape caused by fighting, there was this.

And most importantly, there was Zhou Sheng standing by his side. Lin Yijun was glad for this second chance at life.

The lightning under the dark clouds disappeared. This wasn’t why Lin Yijun was given a second chance..! There was supposed to be a bloody war! But without any death, there couldn’t be rebirth. Teeth could only be gritted, feet walking away in frustration.

The air over the plain suddenly lightened as the Heavenly pressure disappeared.

Lin Yijun raised his voice above the chanting. “In that case, each sect, please send a representative and we may start planning the tournament immediately.”

Rowdy cultivators cheered.

Wen Zhihao secretly let out a sigh of relief. He was glad that Lin Yijun decided to take charge and organise the tournament, because Wen Zhihao sure didn’t. He turned to Sun Fuyu.

“It looks like Senior Lin has everything under control. We can return back home.”

Sun Fuyu hesitated. “But all your calming stones…”

Wen Zhihao rubbed Sun Fuyu’s hair. “I’ll make you some more, it’s easy.”

Thankfully, none of the cultivators who had scrambled so desperately for a special heart-soothing treasure heard Wen Zhihao’s words, or else they’ll be coughing up blood.

Hu Jingyan felt a heavy stone in her heart drop. Her shoulders lightened. “Yes, let’s go back. Sun-shidi, your Wen-ge has interesting ideas.”

Sun Fuyu straightened proudly. “En!”

Wen Zhihao smiled sheepishly. “Thank you, Hu-shijie.” He nudged the cats sprawled around him. “Come on, let’s go home, ba. After all this business, I think it’s time for lunch…”

Meanwhile, the senior cultivators in the Golden Sun Sect gathered to discuss their next steps.

“I say, Elder Wang, a tournament is not a bad idea.” The senior Golden Sun Sect cultivator who spoke was not of anyone’s faction, but still held a lot of sway in the sect.

Elder Wang’s heart burned with anger, but when the other righteous sects started to agree to a tournament too, there was nothing he could do to stop it. He hated to admit it, but without the support of others, he could not wipe out the demonic cultivators alone. This...this was all the fault of that Disciple Wen! And that, in turn, made it Elder Liu Ru’s fault!

Fighting Elder Liu Ru was not possible, but as for Disciple Wen—damn it, curse him! For Disciple Wen was leading a crowd of disciples away, and he was surrounded by the demonic beasts...And that accursed sword too! When did it escape?!

Sun Fuyu secretly praised Wen-ge’s sword for its fast and amazing actions. If the sword had a tail, it would be wagging proudly. And later, when Wen Zhihao was not looking, the sword sneakily returned to the spatial ring where it rested, Elder Wang none-the-wiser.

Another work that I’ve been reading on Chrysanthemum Garden is Life is a Game. I even made some fanart for it for the CG 10k event ????

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