105. Blunder of heavenly proportions

afflinghaze

The tournament began with glorious clear skies and a chilly wind that couldn’t penetrate inside the stadium.

The biggest stage at the centre rose up. Standing upon it was Lin Yijun, Zhou Sheng, along with a representative of each participating sect.

Spectators gathered, filling the seats entirely. Their chatter abated as Cultivator Lin Yijun began to speak.

“Good morning to fellow cultivators and honourable audiences…”

Lin Yijun’s voice was clear throughout the stadium. The light falling upon his robes made him shine like an immortal. 

The air was tight with anticipation. Lin Yijun did not speak down a winding path.

“...and so, we have gathered here today to determine who is the best and strongest immortal cultivator!” 

Cheers rose into the air.

In unison, the senior cultivators on the central stage announced, “Let the tournament begin!”

Fireworks exploded upwards from around the stadium edge. It was bright and dazzling to the audience.

And to open up the tournament with heart-thrumming excitement, the first battle was between two Peak-stage Nascent Soul cultivators! If it weren’t for the massive protection arrays, the earth would have split under their power!

The dazzling lights and display of power did not go unnoticed.

“What is this?”

An immortally handsome figure with a cold expression glared down at the fireworks and explosions of qi below. His eyes narrowed as he focused on a particular cultivator in golden robes similar to his own.

Something was wrong with that cultivator’s fate...And it wasn’t just him. Fates had been disrupted: the foretelling stars had changed. War was wiped from the immediate future: instead, the stars predicted the winners of the outlandish tournament.

The god hissed. In an instant, he appeared in front of another immortal. “You have been observing the Mortal Realm, have you not? What has happened?”

The second god was also immortally handsome, but frustration twisted his face. “I don’t know, something went wrong! This was not meant to happen! I reincarnated descendant Lin Yijun as was ordered after he was killed by a demonic cultivator!”

The first god whacked the second god on the head. “Well, you’ve clearly done it improperly!” He grabbed the second god by his collar and forced him to look down on the Mortal Realms below.

The first god was orders of magnitude more powerful than the second. Harnessing his heavenly qi, he cast an illusion that replayed the history of the mortal world.

“There—there! Lin Yijun reincarnated!” the second god pointed to where Lin Yijun was waking up in his room in the Golden Sun Sect.

The first god’s eyes flickered back and forth as he scanned that past time-slice of the mortal world. When he found the BUG, he growled and whacked the second god on the head again.

“Were you in a hurry? That is no excuse to be sloppy! Look, there, you created a rift in the barrier between the worlds.”

The second god’s eyes grew wide. Fuck! Now that it was pointed out, he could see it too.

His knees went weak. Reincarnating souls and rewinding time was tricky business and he had slipped in the task. There, he could see that he had pulled a bit of the demonic cultivator Zhou Sheng’s soul into the past too, but it was fragmented.

“It is a wonder that that demonic cultivator didn’t go mad from past memories,” the first god reprimanded. He sucked in a sharp breath when he noticed something else. His spell narrowed in on an outer disciple being thrown to the ground.

The second god immediately covered his head before he could be slapped again. “I see it, I see it!”

When the outer disciple hit the ground, his soul dislodged, and a dead soul from another world coincidentally slipped through the world rift and right into the body. Because the names were the same, the body didn’t have any major rejections.

“Find that lost original soul and reincarnate him. His luck needs to be compensated due to your folly,” the first god ordered.

“Yes boss, yes boss!”

The first god ended the spell and snorted. The present had already changed. Rewinding time again would only worsen the delicate nature of the world barrier. “Oh, and after you deal with the original soul of Wen Zhihao, you are demoted to outer-god until you can pass your exams again.”

The second god cried without tears. “Yes, boss!” If only he had been more careful the first time!

Unfortunately, his regrets won’t be able to turn back time again. His little ancestor Lin Yijun was meant to be reincarnated and use his knowledge to lead the righteous cultivators in victory. But now, instead of Lin Yijun wielding his righteous blade against demonic foes, he had become Dao Companions with a demonic cultivator!

Wen Zhihao, sitting among the audience, felt as though the sun was a little hot at times, but a straw hat solved his problems.

Sun Fuyu was in the Late-Stage Golden Core bracket. His first battle was scheduled for the late afternoon of the first day.

After Sun Fuyu headed down to the stages, Wen Zhihao turned to the children and lowered his voice in a secretive manner. “Do you remember what we made?”

The children nodded eagerly.

Wen Zhihao pulled out the banners he had prepared earlier. There was CHEERING UNCLE SUN FUYU! and SUN FUYU, JIAYOU!1jiayou: expression of encouragement and support; and SUN FUYU FOR THE WIN!

The teenagers shifted away, trying to pretend they didn’t know them.

Old Tang rubbed his chin and laughed. He couldn’t wait to tell Liu Jing about this!

The children eagerly grabbed the top of the cloth banners, letting them hang down: the space between the seating levels was high enough that the large words could be completely seen. With all the noise, it would be difficult for them to verbally cheer for Sun Fuyu and be heard. But among the crowd of sharp-eyed cultivators, these words were extremely eye-catching.

“Hmmf, is that not a little vulgar?”

“Who is this Sun Fuyu?”

“Ah! Cultivator Sun is the one who sold me that heart-soothing treasure!”

“Interesting…”

“Cultivator Sun Fuyu has a lot of supporters. He must be very talented.”

Interest grew towards Stage 3, where Sun Fuyu was facing off with another Late-Stage Golden Core cultivator. The other was a tall young man, dressed in short red robes that fell above the knee, revealing black trousers and boots underneath. He was also a sword user.

With the connection between them, Sun Fuyu was able to find Wen Zhihao among the audience in an instant. His eyes widened slightly as he read the banners.

Sun Fuyu’s heart felt soft and tight.

His family was watching him. Wen-ge even wrote that he would win!

He couldn’t let them down.

Under the referee’s eye, Sun Fuyu and his opponent bowed respectfully.

The referee’s hand swiped down. “And begin!”

Immediately, Sun Fuyu drew his sword. Cutting winds lashed around his sword.

An instant later, swords clashed with a zzingg!! The opponent’s fire burned hungrily, eating up Sun Fuyu’s wind and grabbing at his sword.

Sun Fuyu jumped back, slashing back as his own body twisted to dodge his opponent’s blow. His eyes narrowed. A fire root. That automatically placed Sun Fuyu at a disadvantage. Using wind would stoke the flames.

His opponent tilted his head, his posture deceptively casual. A beat later, he flew across the stage, fire dragon growing and twisting around his blade. The air roared as fire gobbled up air.

In short: Zhou Sheng’s “memories” and Wen Zhihao’s transmigration were complete accidents ^_^

I hope that explains some things from previous chapters~