The dry wind whooshed around the stadium, sweeping away the dust along with it. The entire arena had fallen silent upon the entrance of an Elder dressed in a green robe. This man was none other than Elder Shen, the one who was responsible for handling any type of events happening in the vermillion bird peak.
As such, he was also the one who had taken care of the assessment test when Le fang Ling and a new batch of students had arrived a week ago.
He calmly glanced around the place. His gaze alone was more than enough for people to stay focused on what was happening there. Satisfied with the attention he was getting, he took out the scroll he was holding.
"Disciple Bai Lo from the Azure Dragon Valley, Heavenly Dragon Abode," he announced in a loud voice as he looked at the section where white dressed cultivators were gathered.
Following his gaze, everyone turned to look at the place where the person whose name was called was sitting.
Upon hearing his name being called, a youngster who was barely 165 cm tall stood up with a neutral expression on his face. He had not a single sign of being scared or anxious about his naming being called for the first match.
He gave a light bow to his sect members and turned to Lady Shen Yuan. She too smiled a bit with a slight bow of her head. Without making any scene, he made his way down the stairs that led to the fighting ground.
"Zhen Bo from the Divine whiter Tiger Temple, The Great Tiger Palace," Elder Shen announced the name of another youngster. Hearing the name, everyone's breath stilled. The white beauty from the Azure Dragon Valley was going up against the mysterious cultivator from the western province!!
Everyone's gaze shifted to the place where purple-robed cultivators were sitting with their eyes closed. Since their cultivation required contracting with other beings and spirits, they needed to maintain mental and emotional balance.
The best way for that was to stay calm and meditate. That was also the reason why these purple robe disciples were always found meditating and cultivating. After all, the spirits that they made a contract with had their own will.
And no creature with their own will will ever try to stay under the influence or rules of someone else.
Under the thousands of gazes, Zhen Bo opened his eyes. He stood up from the place he was sitting on and headed towards the exit. No one else bothered to open their eyes to wish him luck.
Luck?! Who needed that? If the loss was pre-written in fate, the simple cheering words of all the best were not going to make anyone win a losing battle.
The Sect Leaders who were looking at the matches turned their attention at the old master who was sipping on a cup of wine.
This man was the leader of the Great Tiger Palace, and the boy named Zhen Bo was one of his disciples. Yet, the man seemed not too distressed about this whole situation. There was not a hint of anxiety on his face as he continued to calmly sip the wine under the piercing gazes of other sect leaders.
"Is there something on my face?" He finally asked when he could not stand being looked at.
Let a man drink wine in peace! He lamented inside his heart but managed to keep an uninterested look on his face.
All the other sect leader shook their head.
There was consecutive coughing from the sect leaders as they turned away.
Seeing that they had nothing to say, he resumed his action of drinking the wine without a care in the world.
Meanwhile, Shen Qinyue who was stuck there could only helplessly sigh inwardly as she tried to swat away the boredom she saw feeling. She ran her gaze over the crowd in hope of finding her little maid, her little Qin.
"Tsk, if only I had a good cultivation, I would be able to see her without straining myself like this," she sighed. But there was no point in staying sad and pitying herself. Forcing a smile on her face she decided to just focus on the ongoing matches and if fate willed, she might see her little maid somewhere among the crowd.
Although she had met her just in the morning, she still wanted to be with her. Her company was 1000X times better than the company she had at the moment. Just as she was sighing, her eyes caught sight of one person.
"It's that junior brother," she said when she saw a 165 cm tall youngster enter the fighting ground.
Bai Lo was the first one to appear on the ground first. Soon after, Zhen Bo followed him and stood right next to me. Elder Shen, who was on the middle of the platform looked at both of the youngsters, a bit amused.
He could see the fighting spirit in both of their eyes. Even though one looked calm and the other looked apathetic, both of them were itching to fight and show what they got.
He gestured to the purple-robed youngster to stand opposite to Bai Lo so that he would be the one in between them. That way, he could easily start the match.
Despite looking like a high school delinquent with some serious mentality problem, Zhen Bo complies with the request of the elder and shifts his position to where he was being pointed at.
"Disciple Bai Vs Disciple Zhen, Begin the Match!" he shouted and disappeared from the center without leaving behind even a hint of his existence.
As soon as the Elder disappeared from the stage, the expression on both Bai Lo's and Zhen Bo's faces changed.
Bai Lo was the one to charge forward from where he was standing. He carried two talismans in his hand. He threw them at Zhen Bo while still being on move, not even giving a chance to Zhen Bo to react to what had happened.
Seeing that the talisman was red, he believed they were explosive talismans or talismans that could hinder his vision, if not any physical damage.
But instead of an explosion, the two talismans changed their direction and trajectory, and instead landed somewhere else, where he had not expected one bit.
'Talisman? Constricting talisman?' Zhen Bo eyed the talisman that had landed on either side of him. But he was a bit too late on guessing it. He could feel himself being restricted to the place he was standing at. Not only his muscle but even his internal organs and hair in the body were paralyzed.
He felt as if he was locked inside a narrow coffin where all he could do was breathe.
They were indeed constricting talismans but a little different.
"They are paralyzing talisman, they have been embedded with my qi," Bai Lo said as he clasped his hand in front of him in a praying gesture.
His eyes produced a purple hue. The same aura covered his entire body, with the emergence of a few lightning sparks.
"Lightning-based elemental spiritual root? A variant root?!" Everyone gasped when they saw the 165 cm tall boy wild such a powerful element.
"Another lightning-based elemental spiritual root," Le fang Ling exclaimed. The only other person she knew who had this was Fu Yao Yao, the young miss who hated her to bone.
She narrowed her eyes as she tried to engrave everything that the boy was doing. She too was going to have to develop her lightning-based spiritual root someday, and this match was going to help her see another wielder.
"Lightning is just a form of electricity anyway," she nodded her head as she tried to see the working behind the paralyzing attack that Bai Lo used just now.
"Impressive!" Feng Po Po clapped her hand in excitement. It was her first time attending something like this. During her era, the only time people fought were for power and showing their seniority. It used to become a fight till death. The only one reaming alive was called the victor!
So, seeing those matches but in a different kind of setting and condition was something truly unexpected by her.
"Heh," Le Fang Ling smiled when she saw the smile on her face. Just a few minutes ago, she was talking about the sad history of her life and now she was smiling like a kid, Le fang Ling could only feel more attached towards the wind maiden.
Rubbing Nagina's round head, she turned her attention on the match again.
"Surrender! And we both can peacefully leave," Bai Lo said with a smile on his face. He was pretty sure he had the advantage over his opponent since he used a mid-level attack on him. Also, he did not want to drag it as he did not want to show all of his cards now.
Zhen Bo could not even struggle as he stayed tied in the same place.
"You are correct, we both can peacefully leave," Zhen Bo said with a sneer. This was the first line he had spoken after arriving here.
"But, I think that person is you and not me," he chuckled as he bit his lips. Immediately, red blood dripped from his lips. The drop of blood continued to fall on the ground and when the fifth drop landed on the top of the four blood drops from before, something happened!
The blood started to bubble as if it was being heated.
"Come forth, the beast that lives in each drop of my blood, which feasts on my blood!" He chanted a weird spell until he was engulfed by the big red bubble of blood.