Three months later
Sleeping Dragon Arena
Centered in a enormous arena stood 12 obsidian platforms arranged in diagonal orders from each other. On each side of a platform stood a towering obsidian column with strange designs. The faint paintings of dragons and pheonixes layered the obsidian floor while an enormous statue of a hero of legends looked down upon the dull floor of this luxurious arena. This was where today's grand even would take place.
Today was the day the Nine Great Families had been preparing for and had spent countless resources to raise their family geniuses and heirs to compete for, The 7 Gates Of Demise to win benefits and warriors for their respective families.
Persons had travelled from far and wide for a chance to participate in the events that would be held by the Nine Great Families. Among such people were Yi Xiaoyi, an adventurer approaching the peak of the Disaster realm. Perhaps if she could reach enlightenment she could breakthrough to the Nirvana realm!
Adventurers like Yi Xiaoyi would wait for events held by large families like these to latch onto a resourceful family to assist their growth. Yi Xiaoyi became hopeful the more she thought about. Clearing her thoughts Yi Xiaoyi finally took notice of the noise in her surroundings.
"I heard the Quazi Monastery is also participating this year!" a girl in the crowd blurted out.
"Ssshh do you want the Yang family to slice your tongue open?" another girl shot her a terrified look.
A narrow path opened in the crowd followed by the gasps of the astonished onlookers.
"Look! it's the young master from the Yue family" someone from the crowd spoke up.
"I don't remember seeing this young master before?" asked a woman with a questioning tone.
"Don't you know? he is the direct descendant of the previous family head and the acting head's nephew" someone nearby said with an enthralled voice "not only is he drop dead gorgeous but I heard he is very talented"
"Drop dead gorgeous? what nonsense!" Qiyuan ShiDe snorted as the words reached his ears. "it's only the barbaric Yue family, what about him could possibly be appealing, if it hadn't been for that 'Feng' fellow i would have punished that brat a long time ago!"
Qiyuan Xia let out an exasperated sigh and tugged at Qiyuan ShiDe's sleeve "Grandpa please restrain yourself"
"Of course for Xiao Xia's sake grandpa will leave that brat for now"
One by one families had started to arrive at the Arena and the crowd was bustling with excitement in anticipation of the proceedings for the day.
A clear unhurried voice entered the ears of everyone present at the Sleeping Dragon Arena causing heads to turn simultaneously "Ahem, today is the day we have been anticipating with great fervor, today I am your host, Pan Jiahao ,err" the commentator scratched his cheek and fumbled for a piece of paper that had escaped his grasp. Before the clumsy host could regain his composure a young girl came to his side and continued "as everyone gathered here is already aware of who I am I will skip the formalities. Today we will be holding a joint qualification event by the Nine Great Families and the Quazi Monastery to compete for a chance to enter the 7 Gates Of Demise. Unless you were personally chosen to represent one of the factions participating is mandatory"
Pan Jiahao's cheeks became a bright red from embarrassment. He was not familiar with dealing with large groups like his younger sister was and could only lower his head in silence.
"You're in my way" Pan RuYue pushed her elder brother to the side and stepped forward to continue her speech "young masters of the factions who have only returned recently are also required to compete as well"
The noisy crowd immediately became silent upon hearing RuYue's announcement. Fighting against the young master of a great family? which one of them weren't complete monsters?
Pan RuYue understood the worries of the participants but didn't quite understand the motive behind the great families' actions. It wasn't until recently that she had been notified of young masters having to participate to enter the gate.
Pan RuYue cleared her throat and washed her mind of any doubt that was present "Today's first theme battle will be a free for all. Only a total of 30 persons may remain on each stage to pass on to the next stage.
"Thirty? Five years ago over two thousand went in, are the great factions trying to hoard all the resources to themselves?!" unable to contain his anger an infuriated adventurer spoke up
"That's right! the Gates are open to the public how much do the families want to dominate?!"
"I understand your frustrations seeing as you might not make it into the set." stepping down from the Mo family stands Mo Gui gave the adventurer a scornful glance "well of course someone such as yourself would have such doubts"
"Do not misunderstand our intentions, our Nangong family has no intention of usurping the world and would not take such actions without reason. Unfortunately the difficulty upon entering the 7 Gates Of Demise have increased by ten-folds in recent years, in order to reduce our losses only the strongest will be allowed to enter" Nangong Jia spoke up from the Nangong family stands. As the Nangong family were the ones responsible for deciding matters regarding the gate Nangong Jia could not help but rectify the situation with haste.
After the crowd's doubts had finally been settled the competition had officially begun with Pan RuYue's approval.
The ticket Yue Chen drew was stage 9, the stage with the most participants. Coincidentally this was also where Mo Gui and Yi Xiaoyi were located. As if there was a tacit agreement all the participants on stage 9 gathered around the two young masters and Yi Xiaoyi like hunters eyeing their prey.
"Take the young masters first!'
Yue Chen frowned at the group that had surrounded him and began to circulate his true energy [Frost of the Sleeping Dragon]