Chen Wentian was not aware of the brewing conspiracy. He did sense the surge in spiritual energy in the dream room but this happened regularly. He attributed it to Gong Liyun doing her thing and maintaining the inscriptions in the room. He could not have guessed that it was due to another Spirit King but also couldn't be blamed on him.
His souls within the Purple Jade Sword and the Flawless Snowfrost were not infallible guardians that could sense their surrounding with perfect accuracy. Each soul had their own specialty. Chen Mo was the spy with the shadow anchors that became a separate set of eyes and ears. The Purple Jade Beetle was good for cultivating sword energy. The Snow Monkey was good for cultivating snow energy.
Not every soul was as special as the shadow fox which started out as a wisdom beast and became an origin beast. It was the only one, apart from the divine blue dragon. If the other souls could evolve and become origin beasts, perhaps they would gain more special abilities as well…
Chen Wentian returned to the amphitheater and landed on the stage with the other immortal masters. His five remaining disciples on stage had congregated together and the others in the top one hundred were doing the same. Some groups were large, some were small. His group was one of the larger ones.
"Master, welcome back." Li Yuechan said when he landed.
"Mmm, you girls alright?"
"Yes, no problems."
"How are Sister Wu and Sister Long?" Song Wushuang asked.
"Good, they should be having fun in their dreams. Hopefully, they don't get too crazy in there. But I'm still keeping an eye out so they should be fine. Can't trust that crazy old woman."
"Then why trust her at all?" Xu Lanyi asked
It was true. Chen Wentian did consider for while to not accept the reward for the top ten just to spite Gong Liyun. However, the benefits from the dream array and the time lengthening effects were undeniably good. A person's time and lifespan were precious and he did not want to deny this opportunity to his disciples.
"Well…"
He didn't know what to say but before he could think of anything, Huang Wuji's voice echoed through the crowd.
"It's time to begin the Golden Feather Hunt. For this, the four kings of the capital have gathered together all the major factions and organizations, immortal or otherwise, to present to you all with a number of exciting challenges!"
He lifted his hands and a large glass container appeared on the ground. It was as wide and tall as a person. Inside was filled with over a thousand metallic balls that were each labeled with numbers.
"Here, I have challenge balls that each contain a challenge, each of which if you are successful with will earn you one golden feather." Huang Wuji explained, "They are numbered from one to one hundred, representing one hundred unique challenges that we have painstakingly designed and procured. We judged these challenges to be approximately the same level but since they have a huge variety of tasks and activities, disciples with specialties will naturally find some easier or harder. It is up to you decide which order you want to tackle the challenges in order to maximize your chances at feathers."
"With only one hundred unique challenges, there are bound to be repeats. This is intentional. Some are group challenges where you may help each other. Others are solo challenges where you are competing against each other. Some challenges on principle, can only accept a few people. Others can accept more. This will depend on your luck."
"Now, let us distribute these to everyone. First one is Zhang Zhishu of the Hyacinth Spirit School, our eleventh place. Come!"
At Huang Wuji's beckoning, a man wearing glossy black robes walked up. He had a sharp face and long black hair braids. He was extremely handsome, almost another Peng Xiling. He was the type who could capture a woman's heart simply by existing, an unashamed pretty boy.
This Zhang Zhishu was lucky and unlucky. He came from a small immortal sect but his tremendous talent allowed him to reach such a height. Pity it was one rank too low. The four spirit kings seem to think along these lines and there was a quick discussion.
"Noble guests and citizens of the capital!" Huang Wuji spoke again, "As a special benefit for our eleventh-place finisher, he will be awarded fifteen challenges instead of fourteen!"
"Thank you, King Huang!" Zhang Zhishu bowed quickly.
Although it could not replace a sojourn in the dream array, getting another opportunity to earn a golden feather was still a great reward. The man's master also jumped out and thanked the Spirit Kings.
"No matter, no matter." Huang Wuji laughed, "You are very talented, we old folks can all see this. You could not make it into the dream array but why not turn it into an opportunity? Work hard and you may get your pick of the fabulous rewards!"
"Yes!"
"Now rise, come and pick out your challenges."
Zhang Zhishu rose and walked to the glass container. Using spiritual energy, he pulled out fifteen balls. There was a duplicate in two of them so he threw those back and drew more until he had fifteen unique ones. After this was done, he was given scroll.
"This scroll contains the rules of the Golden Feather Hunt as well as a guide to the ten districts that you will be required to explore."
"Thank you!"
Zhang Zhishu walked away and Huang Wuji summoned the twelfth-place competitor, then the thirteenth. After the long explanations for the first one, each subsequent person only took a few seconds to pick out their challenges. The line moved quickly and the challenge balls depleted steadily.
"Come up, eighty-first place, Li Yuechan of Ten Thousand Flower Valley!"
Li Yuechan was called up and collected her ten challenges.
"Come up, eighty-sixth place, Song Wushuang of Ten Thousand Flower Valley!"
"Come up, eighty-seventh place, Xu Lanyi of Ten Thousand Flower Valley!"
"Come up, ninety-second place, Su Xue of Ten Thousand Flower Valley!"
"Come up, ninety-fifth place, Su Yue of Ten Thousand Flower Valley!"
Everyone finally had their turn and the amphitheater fell into silence. There were still a fair number of balls left inside the glass container but that was to ensure that everyone would receive unique challenges.
The competitors clutched their challenge balls like precious babies. They were all eager to get started and earn their rewards. They had two months, two months to earn an immortal item and other rewards.
"Everyone, this brings to a close our ceremony for today." Huang Wuji said, "The Golden Feather Hunt begins at dawn tomorrow. I hope each one of you have a profound experience exploring the Eastern Sanmu Metropolis!"
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