The autumn rain quietly rained down on the Gor Desert.
It was already late in the night, a light breeze blowing with the light rain.
Still, not all of the Gor Desert was covered in darkness yet, on massive mountain, dozens of tiny lights shone like fireflies .
These lights shone from tons of people, and while it could not be said to be a thousand lights, there were at least a few hundreds.
Situated on this mountain was the Ziur clan, giving the vast desert a rare touch of civilization.
In the middle of this mountain lied a magnificent pavilion.
Today, the 93° day of the Southern calendar was a special day for the Ziur clan.
" Ancestors, please bless us! We pray that this ceremony will bring many talents, great warriors of outstanding courage and intelligence, please hear us!"
The man who looked to be head of the group, was a tall middle aged man, with short greying hair, he was wearing a blood tinted robe and had his face covered by a white hornet mask.
He was facing a tall brown totem, there were three faces on the totem, the one in the middle had an extremely fierce expression , the one on the bottom was smiling, as for the one in the top, it could not be seen!
It was as if there was something cloudy blocking anyone from seeing it, no matter who was viewing it, nobody had ever seen the face on top of the totem.
On the ground, surrounding the totem there were copper incense, the smoke was rising constantly.
Behind him were 19 people kneeling, they wore loose blood tinted robes, and they were all the clan's elders, the important people, and those who had all of the authority.
After finishing the prayers, the Ziur clan head suddenly beat his head to the ground 3 times and started kowtowing, as his forehead knocked against the hard rock of the mountain, light thuds could be heard.
Behind him, everyone else followed suit, and soon, the night was filled with light thuds in sync.
After a while, the ceremony was over, the crowd of people slowly got up and silently walked out of this zone.
Once they were down the mountain, sighs of relief were heard from the crowd of elders and the atmosphere loosened up.
"Time sure flies fast, in the blink of an eye, ten years have passed."
" The previous ritual feels like it just happened yesterday, I can still recall it vividly."
"Tomorrow is the opening of the decennial soul stealing ceremony, hopefully everything will flow smoothly."
" I wonder what powerful warriors our children will obtain, It has been a while since a good soul was harvested."
" Indeed, it has been too long.. the Meng clan leader youngest daughter obtained a green horned demon last year, as for that monster Di Tian, he could summon a giant three headed sand shark from the outer realm!."
It was unclear who had brought up the name Di Tian, but the faces of the elders started to show worry.
The kid's qualifications were extraordinary, in just a short period of three years of training he had already reached the level of an elder, obtaining the cultivation of a third cycle summoner!
In the younger generation, he could be said to be the most outstanding one in the entire Gor Desert!
It was to the point that even the elders of his clan could feel pressured from this youth.
Before long, he would become the pillar of the Di clan, at the very least he would also be an extremely powerful warrior, no one doubted this fact anymore.
"Fortunately, this time, our batch is not too bad, we have Ziur Yi, who can speak all of the languages of the southern domain at 14! Ziur Bai, who killed a giant wolf at just seven years of age! Ziur Ma whose father is the strongest in the clan!."
" Yes, those three should be able to obtain some good things, not all hope is lost, our Ziur clan will not lose to anyone, never!."
The clan head was the last one to descend the mountain, and had been quiet during the long walk, hearing those elders talk he could not help but smile.
As the head of the clan, it is natural to pay attention to the outstanding youths, and so it happens that Ziur Bai is his brother's only son! How could he not be happy?
Experience has shown that those who have a great intelligence, a great memory, or those that possess incredible strength, or had any other inborn talents, tend to have outstanding cultivation qualifications.
"If Ziur Bai can obtain a green horned demon, our clan would be able to compete for a top spot in the Gor tournament within four years, even if he only obtains a yellow horned demon, with the right resources and training he could become a pillar of the clan in the future."
With this thought, the Ziur clan head curled up his lips slowly into a smile.
At once, with a dry cough he looked at the elders and said, " Everyone, it is late, for tomorrow's opening ceremony you should rest well tonight."
At his words, the elders looked surprised.
They looked at each other with an hint of sadness,disappointment and anger in their eyes.
The clan head words seemingly meant well, but these old fogeys knew very well what he was implying.
Every time there was a soul stealing ceremony the elders would fight among themselves, sometimes even heads would fly.
Nobody wanted their protègè to be second, often those elders would make sure that a prodigy would die before he could show his true strength, a dead genius was no longer a genius after all.
The fact that this year the leader himself interfered meant that the clan was no longer in the position to allow infighting..