Against The Heavens 70 Start Of The Contest.

The guard brought them through the city and over to an orange nine-floored paG.o.da located close to the center of the city. The central room inside of the paG.o.da was decorated rather spa.r.s.ely, with only some blooming flowers and normal couches spread around. But to the people from the villages, this was still considered rather good, as these couches were not covered in beast hide, but delicate fabric. There was a spiral staircase that led to the upper floors, doors lining the walls of the paG.o.da. The guard stopped after entering the paG.o.da, giving Li Yang and the others a bow as she beckoned towards the various doors.

"Please rest up here. In half a month, we will come to escort you to the location where the contest will take place. Until then, you are free to wander the city as you like, but please do not cause any disturbances, as the punishment for that is rather severe."

After delivering the warning, the guard left the paG.o.da, leaving behind the excited villagers to inspect the central room of the paG.o.da. After giving the couches and flowers a quick check, Tao Caizhi and the other villagers all gathered together, Tao Caizhi quickly extending an invitation to Li Yang.

"Brother Yang, me and some of the others are going to go sightseeing, would you like to join us?"

They were all people who had come from the surrounding villages, so even if they were to face each other in the upcoming contest, they felt that it was only right that they all stick together. Li Yang responded to the invitation by shaking his head, glancing at one of the many doors.

"I'm sorry, but I plan on quietly cultivating until the start of the contest, so I can't join you."

Despite having used 1 Earth-Grade Spirit Stone to buy a map, Li Yang still had quite a few resources in his interspatial ring, so he was planning on taking this chance to quickly carve his sixth rune now that he had some time alone. Tao Caizhi was not perturbed by Li Yang's answer, giving him a few pats on the shoulder.

"A shame. But it is good to focus on your cultivation while young, I slacked a bit when I was your age, so I never got to take advantage of the period of time where I had the most potential. Once the contest is over, let us all go out and get some drinks to celebrate!"

Tao Caizhi and the other villagers left to check out the city, while Li Yang randomly picked a door and entered the room behind it. The room was just as spa.r.s.ely decorated as the central room of the paG.o.da, containing only a single bed, a closet, as well as a desk filled with writing utensils.

Li Yang took out some food from his interspatial ring, placing it on the desk so that Jinwu and Shenlong could eat whenever they got hungry. After that, he sat down on the bed and closed his eyes, periodically taking out some crystals from his interspatial ring as he worked on carving a sixth rune for all his elements. Carving the sixth rune was easy for Li Yang, so by the time half a month had pa.s.sed and the voice of the guard rang out within the paG.o.da, he had already finished the process.

"Please follow me, the contest will start shortly."

Li Yang and the other villagers quickly left their rooms after the voice of the guard sounded out, gathering in the central room of the paG.o.da. Li Yang brought Jinwu and Shenlong, but they were not going to follow him into the battles, waiting outside the arena while he fought. Standing behind the female guard was a group of 15 other guards, each clad in the same armor as her.

The guards did not say anything else to the villagers, quietly turning around and leaving the paG.o.da. Tao Caizhi and the others quickly followed the guards, heading toward the center of the city. The closer to the center of the city they got, the more people they saw in the streets and on top of the roofs of their homes, each one bubbling with excitement at the upcoming contest.

They quickly reached the center of the city, which was a large and empty circular plaza, the ground covered in a thin layer of violet stones that released a faint heat. At the center of the plaza stood five circular stages, each one a few hundred meters in diameter. Of the five stages, four were placed in a circle, with the fifth located at the center of the four other stages. The five stages were surrounded by a large seating area, with the seats closer to the stages being more luxurious than those further away.

By the time they arrived, the seating area was almost fully occupied, with more and more people squeezing into the empty seats, with others standing wherever there was s.p.a.ce. But even with people squeezing together like this, there was one particular part of the seating area that no one dared get close to, the place where the people of the sects and clans sat. It seemed like each clan and sect had sent three people to keep an eye on the contest, with the strongest person being someone at the late stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm, the Spiritual Rebirth stage, so Li Yang guessed that the clans viewed these contests as a fairly good place to scout for talents.

The group of guards quickly let the villagers to a separate seating area placed close to the five stages. Even this seating area was almost stuffed full, but not by spectators, but by contestants. Even if he just gave a quick count, Li Yang easily spotted several hundred people, far more people than he had expected to take part in this contest. If just this contest had so many partic.i.p.ants, just how many would take part in the compet.i.tion hosted by the Huo clan? The group of guards took out several jade tokens shaped like green clouds, handing one to each of the villagers as they spoke.

"Hold onto these tokens, as they are what will be used to identify you as a contestant. Please take your seats over there, the judges will soon explain how this will take place."

After handing over the tokens and pointing at the seating area, the group of guards turned around and left to make sure that there was no one disturbing the peace during the contest. Despite the guards saying that the judges soon would explain, it was only five hours later than a hunchbacked old man who was clad in a light green robe and had a head covered in white hair walked onto the center stage, using Qi to increase the volume of his voice, allowing everyone to hear his words.

"Thank you all for coming today, I am the main judge for today's compet.i.tion, Yan Li. For those who are partic.i.p.ating for the first time or those who have only arrived today, please allow me to explain how this contest will proceed."

The plaza instantly quieted down after Yan Li spoke up, both spectators and contestants turning towards Yan Li with excited and expectant gazes. Yan Li cleared his throat and pointed at the five stages, which each had a number carved into the side.

"As you can see, there are five stages placed around me, four outer and one inner. The inner one is for the most antic.i.p.ated battles, while the outer ones are where the other contestants will battle. But do not be discouraged if your battles take place in the outer arenas, as long as you display your prowess, you can be moved to the inner arena."

The purpose of the inner arena was very simple, it was supposed to make it easier for the clans and sects to pick out the most talented contestants. In comparison, the outer stages were barely ever looked at by them. After pointing at the arenas, Yan Li turned his head towards the seating area where the partic.i.p.ants sat, raising both hands and stretching out his fingers.

"The battles will take place over a ten-day period, with the final battles being held on the dawn of the tenth day. The actual process of the battles is quite simple, as long as you don't intentionally kill or cripple your opponent, anything is legal. The first battles taking place today will be between random contestants, but all battles past the first one will be between people who have won and lost an equal amount of battles."

While they said intentionally crippling or killing was forbidden, accidents always happened during hectic combat, so even if you killed or crippled your opponent, as long as it wasn't too obvious, you would rarely get punished. Being looked at by Yan Li, the contestants felt their blood slowly start to boil, so Yan Li gave a nod of his head, giving the audience a quick bow before he spoke up and left the stage.

"Now then, I am certain all of you didn't come here to listen to little old me talking, so without further ado, let us begin the contest. If your token lights up, please head onto the specified arena."

After Yan Li left the stage, several of the tokens amongst the contestants started to light up, with Li Yang's token being one of those that lit up. The number 3 appeared on his token, so he stood up and headed towards the stage marked with the same number. His opponent quickly arrived, a youthful girl who had a cultivation at the same level as his, having carved six runes. She had emerald eyes, a curvaceous body, silky brown hair, smooth skin, and delicate features, quite a charming girl. The girl cupped her hands at Li Yang, sending him a smile as she introduced herself.

"Jia Xinyue, pleased to meet you."

Facing this girl, Li Yang could feel quite a few stares land on their stage, the spectators attracted by the beauty of his opponent. Li Yang simply ignored the stares, cupping his hands and returning the greeting in a calm fashion.

"Li Yang, greetings."

After he returned the greeting, his body tensed up slightly as he raised his fists and took up his stance. The moment both of them had entered the stage, the battle had officially started, so they could attack whenever they pleased. Just as Li Yang was planning on how to attack, the voice of Jia Xinyue was sent into his ear through the use of Qi, sending a secretive message.

"Please forfeit this battle, I will make sure to reward you handsomely afterward."

After the voice reached him, Jia Xinyue sent him a stealthy and seductive wink, implying what one of the possible rewards was. She was quite confident in her beauty and charm, so the completely flat reply from Li Yang could not help but shock her slightly.

"Not happening. Prepare to fight."

Even if she was a thousand times more beautiful and seductive, she was not his Fang Ying, so he would not be tempted by her in the slightest. After giving his warning, he was going to launch his attack, but the voice of Jia Xunyue was sent to his ears once more.

"Wait just a sec...!"

This time, Li Yang did not even give her the chance to finish what she wanted to say, turning into a blur as he dashed forward, the m.u.f.fled sound of thunder ringing out. Before she even had the chance to react, Li Yang had reached her front, his fist crashing into her abdomen and causing her to collapse to the ground and throw up the breakfast she had eaten not too long ago. With her lying on the ground and heavily vomiting, it was clear who had won this battle, so one of the judges quickly called the result, Li Yang giving Jia Xunyue a quick reminder before he left the stage.

"I said it's not happening, so any further talking is not only a waste of time, it leaves you completely open for attacks."

Jia Xunyue only had a cultivation that was at the same stage as Li Yang, so he was not worried about anyone being shocked by him defeating her so easily, as something like this was rather common amongst the clans and sects. As he stepped off the stage, there were quite a few spectators that started booing at Li Yang, scolding him for acting so heavy-handed against a beauty who hadn't prepared herself. Facing the booing of the crowd, Li Yang merely let out a quiet little chuckle.

"Really, beauties always attract trouble."

He found it amazing how little people cared about the circ.u.mstances of things when a beauty was involved. Was it his fault that Jia Xunyue hadn't prepared for battle the moment she stepped into the arena? The way he saw it, if she was going to try and rely on underhanded tricks the moment the contest started, she shouldn't have partic.i.p.ated in the first place.

After returning to his seat, Li Yang ignored the somewhat shocked gazes of Tao Caizhi and the others, casting a slight glance at the people from the clans and sects, checking their reactions as he gave a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh well, as long as I get to show off enough."