Against The Heavens 72 Joining A Clan.

The contest quickly continued, Li Yang battling another four people who came from the sects. He made sure to put on a good show before amiably surrendering. With him keeping his head low, the last days of the contest quickly pa.s.sed, the final day quickly arriving. Once dawn of the 10th day arrived, the judge that had spoken up the first day, the hunchbacked Yan Li, once again stepped onto the center stage and spoke out in a loud voice.

"Now, the day you have all been waiting for, the finals have arrived!"

The crowd quickly started buzzing after Yan Li spoke out. The final day was the one that featured the best battles, the fights between the strongest contestants. Yan Li waved his hand to have the audience settle down, his lips curling into a smile as he continued to talk.

"The first battle of the day will be between the contenders for the 10th place, and then we'll slowly make our way up from there!"

There would only be 10 battles taking place today, the battles to determine who would take which spot within the top 10. And of course, to build more suspense, they kept the final battle for the very end. Yan Li turned towards the seating area where the remaining contestants sat, opening his arms wide and stepping back down from the stage.

"Without further ado, let's get the two contenders onto the stage! Li Yang, Shao Yun, please prepare yourselves!"

It had been quite difficult for Li Yang to make sure that he showed enough strength to become one of the top 10 contenders, but at the same time hid enough as to not look suspicious, but in the end, he had managed it.

Li Yang and his opponent, who was a tall and brown-skinned male that seemed to have reached his 30's, stepped onto the center stage. The black-haired Shao Yun cupped his hands and gave Li Yang a slight bow, giving the standard greeting.

"Shao Yun, let's have a good battle."

Shao Yun's solemn expression contained a mixture of graveness and resignation as he looked at Li Yang. He had seen all of Li Yang's battles, and he was very clear on the fact that he would not be able to catch Li Yang, he was simply too slow. He could only hope that Li Yang was unable to break through his defenses, leading to a stalemate he would have a chance of winning. Li Yang quickly returned the greeting, completely calm.

"Li Yang, pleased to meet you."

Li Yang was completely calm about this battle, as there was no chance that he would lose it. Worst case scenario and Shao Yun's defenses were tougher than he thought, he would create a stalemate that would end with Shao Yun running out of energy.

After they both gave their greetings, they both immediately prepared for battle. Shao Yun caused the floor of the stage to rise up, coiling around his body and forming a thick layer of armor. He then supplemented this armor bu causing the ground outside the arena to fly towards him, forming another layer of armor around him. He could not catch Li Yang with any of his attacks, so he saw no need to even bother with anything other than standing perfectly still and focusing on his defense.

Li Yang's body turned into a blur as he shot forward, arcs of azure lightning streaking behind him as he vanished from Shao Yun's sight. Right after he vanished from sight, Shao Yun felt a strong impact hit his waist on the left, a fist imprint appearing in his armor.

He quickly used the stage and the earth around it to repair the imprint, but as he did so, several more attacks landed on his body, battering him all over. Imprint after imprint appeared in his armor, small cracks starting to appear and spread. They were all quickly repaired using the stage and the earth around it, but every instance of repairing cost him a bit of Qi.

He continued to resist the pummeling for almost five minutes, gritting his teeth and keeping an eye out for any sigh of Li Yang's getting tired. But even after five minutes pa.s.sed, Li Yang's attacks had not slowed down in the slightest, even growing a bit faster. In the end, Shao Yun could only accept the truth, raising his arms in defeat.

"You cannot properly break my defenses, but neither can I catch up to you. If this battle continues, it will only end in me running out of energy and losing. I surrender."

Shao Yun was unwilling, but there was nothing he could do. He was weaker than Li Yang, so continuing the battle would only end with him collapsing to the ground exhausted, showing a shameful display. Li Yang halted his attacks, appearing in front of Shao Yun with the sound of m.u.f.fled thunder. He cupped his fists and gave a slight bow, showing proper etiquette.

"Your defenses truly were something."

Looking at Li Yang, Shao Yun felt like cursing at the difference between them. He had already started getting a bit tired from continuously repairing his armor, but Li Yang had not even broken a sweat, his breathing wasn't rushed in the slightest, as if he had not just spent the last five minutes pummeling Shao Yun.

Shao Yun's cultivation was at the late stage of the Xiantian Rune realm, he was just a single step away from breaking through to the Ascending Heaven realm. He had a higher cultivation than Li Yang, but Li Yang had an advantage in experience and elemental purity. While his own elements were currently still in their weakest stages, he could draw upon Shenlong and Jinwu's greatly strengthened elements, using them to compress and purify his own Qi, making it both stronger and making it last longer.

With Shao Yun declaring his surrender, the battle had obviously ended. Yan Li once again walked onto the stage, heading to Li Yang and raising his arm up high, letting out a slight sigh as he spoke to the audience.

"A bit anticlimactic, but that's the end of the first battle! The winner is Li Yang, and as the one who has taken the 10th spot, he has earned the right to take part in the grand compet.i.tion that the Huo clan is setting up. Let's give him a round of applause for the show he put on!"

The crowd quickly started cheering, but as the battle had been quite dull to them, the cheering was rather subdued. After Shao Yun and Li Yang stepped down from the stage, Yan Li fished an orange cloud shaped tablet out from his interspatial ring, handing the table to Li Yang and explaining its use.

"This is the emblem to prove that you have taken the 10th spot and have earned the right to take part in the compet.i.tion. When the compet.i.tion starts, take this emblem to the Broken Rapid's city and hand it to Huo Guanting, he is in charge of accommodating people like you."

The tablet was engraved with the image of the Huo clan, as well as several numbers. One of the numbers showed which of the contests he had taken part in, and the other number showed what rank he had gotten. As Broken Rapid's was one of the largest cities owned by the Huo clan, the map he had bought spoke quite a bit about it, so he knew exactly where it was placed.

Li Yang accepted the token, storing it into his interspatial ring and thanking Yan Li. After Yan Li returned to the stage to start the next battle, Li Yang left the plaza and returned to his lodgings. He took a warm shower and put on some fresh clothing, sharing a warm meal with Jinwu and Shenlong. He had done his part, now he only needed to wait for the people of the sects to come to him. And if none of the sects or clans wanted him, he had already earned the right to partic.i.p.ate in the grand compet.i.tion, so he would only have to find some other way to gather resources.

Li Yang had to wait for a bit of time, five sect people coming to find him in the evening after all the other battles had taken place. Li Yang actually recognized all the people that had arrived, they had all been amongst the newcomers that had taken part in the contest. They didn't even bother to knock on the door, simply entering the room where he was quietly cultivating, stating the conditions they were willing to offer him.

The first one to speak up was a short, blonde haired man clad in a light green robe with the mark of the Tian clan, a tall mountain that pierced a lone cloud.

"Li Yang, the Tian clan is willing to accept you as a provisional disciple."

The second one to speak up was a somewhat chubby man with long black hair and round cheeks. He was clad in white robes marked with the emblem of the Endless Horizon Sect, a forest that seemed to continue into eternity.

"Li Yang, the Endless Horizon sect is also willing to accept you as a provisional disciple."

The third one that spoke up was a muscular woman with a bald head and the image of a bear tattooed onto her scalp. She was clad in a robe that seemed to be made out of the hide of a bear, leaving her collarbones exposed. Her collarbones bore a tattoo in the shape of the Myriad Beast sect mark, a roaring lion.

"Li Yang, the Myriad Beast sect is willing to accept you as an outer disciple in charge of two provisional disciples."

The fourth person that spoke up was a man with short azure hair and strangely amber eyes. He was clad in deep blue robes that bore the mark of the Duan clan, a ma.s.sive waterfall that fell into a vast ocean.

"Li Yang, the Duan clan is also willing to accept you as an outer disciple. If you join us, we will give you three servants."

The last person to speak up was the one Li Yang was most familiar with, as he had fought her once before, the cyan-haired Qing Luoyang. But looking at her robes, which were a light yellow in color and bore the mark of a wolf howling at the distant moon, the mark of the Yuan clan, he guessed that her name might actually be Yuan Luoyang.

"Li Yang, if you join the Yuan clan, you will immediately be accepted as an outer disciple, and in one year we will let you take the trial to become an inner disciple."

The other people that had extended their offers to Li Yang were quite surprised at the generous conditions that Yuan Luoyang was offering. Most disciples had to spend quite some time in the clan, completing many missions and providing meritious deeds before they could get the chance to become an inner disciple. Yet the Yuan clan was willing to give Li Yang this chance almost instantly?

But they did not know that it was Yuan Luoyang who had proposed this to her elders. The elders were confused at how insistent she was, but in the end, gave in to her demands. The reason she had done this was that the more she thought back to that last move Li Yang had used to defend against her attack, the more shocked, even slightly fearful, she became. That one instant where her attack had weakened kept replaying in her mind.

At first, she had been uncertain if he had actually weakened her attack, but after going over the scene time and time again, carefully examining her arm, she became certain that he had indeed weakened her attack. And beyond that, she had also noticed a tiny mark on one of the veins within her arm, so small that they were almost unnoticeable. She was certain that the mark wasn't there before, so it could only mean one thing. During the short instant where they had made contact, not only had Li Yang managed to weaken her attack, he had even created a tiny wound on one of her veins.

For him to be able to do all that despite his young age, it was clear that he was hiding away quite a bit of his strength. Yuan Luoyang did not care about why Li Yang was hiding his strength, all she cared about was that he could be useful to the Yuan clan, maybe even one day allowing them to rise in the ranks amongst the clans and sects. After being given all the offers, Li Yang did not spend too much time thinking about his response, cupping his hands at Yuan Luoyang.

"Alright, since the Yuan clan is willing to offer such conditions, it would be uncouth of me to not join."

Li Yang didn't even bother thinking about the offer of the Tian clan and the Endless Horizon sect. Disciples among the clans and sects were ranked into Provisional, Outer, Inner, Core, and Private disciples. Core disciples were the disciples of elders, while private disciples were the disciples of the current clan leaders, as well as the previous generations of leaders. Outer and inner disciples mostly didn't have any single masters but were instead taught by several different ones.

Provisional disciples, on the other hand, were basically servants that had to follow the whims of anyone within the clan. Even if they were killed or crippled, it was unlikely for the clan to do anything. Yet despite this, none of the clans lacked provisional disciples, as countless people dreamed of making their way up through the ranks of the clan and were willing to risk it.

After Li Yang gave his answer, the rejected parties could only shrug their shoulders and leave. Li Yang was just a single youngster, so they didn't care too much about his rejection. Yuan Luoyang's lips curled into a smile, giving a light clap of her hands as she spoke up.

"Wonderful! Once dawn arrives, you can meet me at the plaza, we will use a spatial array to head directly to the Yuan clan."

After telling him where to meet her, Yuan Luoyang also left the room, likely to extend an invitation to a few other people. Li Yang simply returned to his quiet cultivation, waiting for the night to pa.s.s. Now he had managed to secure a spot in the grand compet.i.tion, and he had also managed to join a clan that would give him a steady supply of resources, so he only had to wait for the compet.i.tion to begin.

Once dawn arrived, Li Yang left his room and returned to the plaza where the contest had taken place. There were several groups spread throughout the plaza, but Li Yang quickly spotted Yuan Luoyang, heading over to her. Standing around Yuan Luoyang were five other youths that were already members of the clan, as well as two elders and the three other newcomers that were going to join the clan.

Li Yang recognized the three newcomers, one was the girl that used the rudimentary version of the law of motions, the other was the boy that used the law of sound, and the third one was a girl that used the law of wood and the law of plants. The law of plants wasn't too useful in frontal combat, but it could allow one to easily grow various herbs that could be used to make poisons or medicines. Thanks to that, anyone who used the law of plants was a fearsome foe, always carrying some strange potions or medicines.

Of the three other newcomers, the two girls were both accepted as outer disciples, while the boy was accepted as a provisional disciple. Li Yang seemed to be the last one that arrived, one of the two elders, a man who had hair that was half brown and half cyan, nodding his head and speaking up.

"Good, you have all arrived. Follow me."

The elder started walking towards a tall building located a short distance away from the plaza, a building that had a golden five-clawed dragon statue coiling around it, a building belonging to the Royal Dragon Pavilion.

After entering the building, the elder showed a silver pendant in the shape of a crescent moon to the receptionist that greeted them. The receptionist quickly nodded his head, taking the group over to the stairs that led to the second floor. Rather than take the stairs up, the man led them behind the stairs, to a well-hidden door on the floor.

The group entered the door, following a flight of stairs down into the earth, entering a simple square shaped room. The room was completely empty, the walls, floor, and ceiling covered in winding runes that formed a complex picture. The receptionist did not follow them down the stairs, so only the people of the Yuan clan were in the room.

The elder brought out the silver pendant once again, holding it against the floor and channeling his Qi into it. The myriad of runes lit up with a silver light, s.p.a.ce within the room stretching and twisting, coiling around everyone within the room as their vision turned gray and blurry.

s.p.a.ce continued to twist and coil around the group for a few minutes before suddenly stopping. When s.p.a.ce stopped twisting around them and they regained their vision, the group now found themselves standing atop a tall hill. Spreading out in front of them was a vast forest, a few lakes spread throughout the forest. Standing at the center of the forest was a ma.s.sive mountain that stretched into the sky, the peak obscured by the clouds.

The three other newcomers looked at the vast forest and the ma.s.sive mountain with their mouths agape, continuously sweeping the area with their eyes. The elder with half brown and half cyan hair let out a light chuckle upon seeing their reactions, pointing at some of the log huts spread throughout the forest.

"Spectacular, isn't it? That is your future home, the headquarters of the Yuan clan."

Not only were there huts spread throughout the forest, the closer one got to the ma.s.sive mountain, the more luxurious the huts became. Li Yang could also tell that the Qi within the air here was far denser than it was in Fire Cloud city, so it was likely that the entire area was surrounded by at least one ma.s.sive array. He also guessed that the closer you got to the mountain, the denser the Qi would become. The elder with the strange hair put on a serious face, giving the newcomers a solemn reminder.

"From this day forward, the lot of you are members of the Yuan clan, with all the advantages and disadvantages that it brings with it. We won't interfere in battles between the younger generation, but if someone from the older generation were to step forward, we would fight back with all our might. At the same time, should the Yuan clan face a calamity, you are all expected to lay your lives on the line and fight alongside us."

The three newcomers quickly swallowed their saliva, deeply nodding their heads. Li Yang had already expected this, so he simply gave a quick nod to show that he understood. After making sure that the new disciples understood, the elder went on to explain a little about their duties, as well as their rewards.

"Provisional disciples will have to clear one clan mission every month, as well as take up one job inside the clan, otherwise they will be kicked out. At the same time, you will receive 100 Mortal grade Spirit Stones every month. Every mission you complete will also earn you contribution points, points you can use to buy better lodgings, resources, weapons, or cultivation manuals."

100 Mortal grade Spirit Stones was nothing to Li Yang, but to the three other newcomers, who were nothing but normal villagers, it was enough to be considered a fortune. After explaining about provisional disciples, the elder turned toward Li Yang and the two girls, explaining about outer disciples.

"Outer disciples on the other hand only have to clear one clan mission ever six months, and they won't have to take up any jobs within the clan. As long as you do not commit any crimes against the clan, you will not be kicked out. Every month you will receive 10 Spirit grade Spirit Stones, and once a year you will receive one bowl of spiritual fruits or other resources that can be used to purify your Qi and help with cultivation."

Spiritual fruits were simply fruits that had been grown in an environment where Qi was abundant, causing them to absorb it and gain certain special effects. The two girls could not help but salivate slightly when they heard about the fruits they would get, while the boy could only look at them with envy. Since they had been told the most basic of information, it was time for them to be brought to their lodgings, so the elder pointed at two of the youths that were already disciples.

"The provisional disciple can follow Yuan Meng, the outer disciples can follow Yuan Luoyang, they will take you to your lodgings. At dawn tomorrow, they will also come to pick you up and lead you to the place where you will officially join the clan."

Yuan Meng, a male youth with short brown hair and cyan colored eyes, beckoned over the lone boy, bringing him into the forest and heading toward one of the log huts. Yuan Luoyang also beckoned Li Yang and the two girls to follow her, the two elders and the remaining disciples heading towards the ma.s.sive mountain.

Yuan Luoyang led the three people a bit into the forest, stopping at the sh.o.r.e of a small lake that was located about 20 kilometers into the forest. The lake was almost four kilometers across, 15 small houses located in the area around the southern half of the sh.o.r.e. The three people were a.s.signed the three houses that were furthest away from the lake, making them neighbors in the future. After settling the two girls, which were called Cheng Xun and Qiao Ping, Yuan Luoyang brought Li Yang to his house. The two stopped outside the house, which was a few tens of meters in width and length, Yuan Luoyang shrugging her shoulders.

"This will be your home for the future. After officially joining the clan, you can come to look for me in the inner disciple area if there is anything you need. I'd say you should come to look for me if someone is bullying you, but I doubt you need my help with that."

For Li Yang to be able to leave a small wound on her vein, she guessed that he likely had the power to become an inner disciple. Compared to the inner disciples, the outer disciples here were quite a bit weaker. Li Yang simply cupped his hands and thanked Yuan Luoyang, not giving any sort of reply to her statement.

The two split up, Yuan Luoyang heading towards the mountain, and Li Yang entering the house. The inside of the house was very simple, containing a well-stocked kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living room where he could meet with guests. Li Yang let Jinwu and Shenlong explore the house and the area around the building, while he himself started working on making some food. With Jinwu and Shenlong exploring the surrounding area, he didn't have to scout the surroundings, as they would do it for him. All he had to do now was wait for tomorrow, and after that, he could focus on gathering up resources to fuel his cultivation.