Brilliance Lotus Academy, Tournament ground
The crowd was rowdy and excited. They were looking forward to the upcoming match.
Even Jin Ju got up from his bed, albeit with some difficulty, to sit at his window and check out what the commotion was about.
The spectator's expectations weren't baseless. On one side stood the bulky Su Kang, a strong contender in this tournament. Facing him on the opposite side stood the number one talent in the class with A grade aptitude, Zhao Min.
Zhao Min had a straight posture and a dignified semblance. He sized up the hulking figure before him with nonchalance.
Su Kang was apprehensive of Zhao Min, he has already shown off his strongest move while Zhao Min advanced effortlessly in the first round. He felt like he was playing with open cards now.
"It is my fortune to have a match against young master Zhao." - Su Kang cupped his burly fists respectfully.
They might stood before each other as two students of the academy, but he was clear of their social hierarchy. He did not want to fall out with the Zhao family, no matter what. Giving them face was the least he could do.
"Mm, whatever..." - Zhao Min narrowed his eyes.
Su Kang has unknowingly struck a nerve with his flattery.
Zhao Min was not conceited because of his background, he knew his self-worth clearly.
But in the eyes of others, it was natural that the young master of a powerful house was exceptional. His own self was overshadowed by his name.
Zhao Min wanted none of this!
He cultivated so he could live a carefree life, to get rid of this burden and responsibility that was placed upon him.
He wanted to show off!
Subconsciously, he wanted to avoid his father's fate: all bark and no bite.
Hearing Zhao Min's bland reply, Su Kang cursed in his heart, but he did not dare to voice his dissatisfaction.
"Too arrogant! I gave you face. But it wasn't enough, now I'll give you my fist then!"
Teacher Tao sized them up apprehensively and then nodded to them.
"You may begin."
Zhao Min had his hands behind his back as he said:
"Attack me with your strongest move. I won't interfere." - He told Su Kang.
Su Kang had a strange expression upon hearing this provocation.
"I hope you won't regret your decision." - He replied to Zhao Min and readied himself.
"I'll make you eat your words, bastard! It was your mistake to underestimate me!" - Su Kang thought to himself.
He took a step, steady and unmovable like a mountain, one after another. His speed kept increasing as he started to run wildly.
His momentum kept developing rapidly, his Wind Strike Gu was activated to its limit. Soon a wind veil enveloped his whole body, making his features blurry and hard to distinguish.
Zhao Min was so far standing still, he hasn't moved since the match began, but he was keeping a close eye on his opponent's movement. He was ready to activate his own gu at the opportune moment.
"Get ready!" - Su Kang roared as he reached his top speed.
"This should be enough, I can't exert my aperture now in a drawn-out fight. He-he-he. Little did you know, but your arrogance played into my hand now. Finishing you off with a single strike is the best outcome for me!" - Su Kang was full of confidence as he evaluated this situation in his mind.
"Look! It's this move again. Su Kang's signature move!"
"Why is Zhao Min just standing there?"
"Ah, I can't bear to watch!"
The crowd was excited, it looked like the match was about to be decided right away. There wasn't a long build-up, no struggling, a confrontation of all or nothing!
Su Kang charged at Zhao Min with reckless momentum. Each of his heavy steps left an imprint on the ground.
Zhao Min could not stay still anymore, he activated his gu worms now!
Green roots started to emerge from the ground under his feet in every direction.
Su Kang arrived before him in a flash. A blur of a huge fist hurling towards Zhao Min was filling his vision!
Boom!
The stage shook from the shockwave. This was already at the limit of the power of a rank one gu master.
A huge cloud of dust and debris emerged as Su Kang's fist landed. The spectators were on edge, not sure what the outcome was.
"What happened? I can't see from the dust." - One of the students covered his eyes in the first row.
As the visibility slowly returned, one could see the silhouettes of the two contestants again gradually.
"What is going on? How can this be?"
"That's an A grade talent for you. I should have known to bet on him."
"I knew he was powerful, but... but to this extent?"
"Hmph! It's all thanks to his family's inheritance."
The onlookers were stupefied.
Zhao Min stood on a thick root in the air, about two meters above the ground.
He was totally unscathed from the violent attack directed at him!
Below him was a huge clump of thick roots, growing and twisting with vitality. Su Kang's figure was tangled among them, his right fist was stuck in the middle of the clump.
The thick roots pounced and twisted around him like a giant snake, constricting and engulfing him!
Zhao Min was using two gu worms now. One was Root Sprout Gu. It could grow roots out of the ground as long as there was soil around. The second gu worm was Wood Sensation Gu. When used, a gu master could extend their sense of touch and position to a plant they had contact with.
When the two gu worms were used together, they formed a primitive killer move.
Zhao Min could feel and use these roots as if they were his own limbs!
Su Kang struggled with all his might, but it was in vain. The vegetation around him was unyielding, growing thicker and thicker. Soon it formed a huge ball and buried Su Kang's tall figure fully.
He was subdued without Zhao Min lifting a finger!
Teacher Tao was proudly watching his top disciple's performance. He was already seeing his evaluation rising as a result of this. Only Su Kang's muffled cry for help from inside the blob of greenery startled him back to reality.
Teacher Tao: "Quickly release him! Don't let him suffocate inside!"
...
The match concluded with Zhao Min's victory and Su Kang's elimination from the tournament.
The students were captivated, they were still talking about this match. The next matches simply couldn't capture their attention after this show of power.
One of such matches was Bao Zhi's. There was not much to comment on his fight. It ended just as his first-round match.
His opponent was knocked unconscious by a well-aimed palm strike before he could activate any gu and retaliate.
Teacher Tao couldn't help but adjust his opinions about Bao Zhi.
"Maybe this kid is useless in cultivation, but his fighting instincts are quite sharp."
He was conflicted internally, he already had a preconceived bad opinion of Bao Zhi. But he knew that he was supposed to treat his students fairly, so why did he feel contempt against him? He couldn't put his finger on it but felt that something was off. He called for Bao Zhi after the match.
Teacher Tao: "What was this again? You gave no chance to your opponents to show their techniques. Explain yourself."
"One must strike with precision and determination. In a life and death fight, ending it quickly is better than giving the enemy time to turn the situation around. I thought the most direct way to obtain victory was to strike first, I couldn't know what techniques my opponent has prepared. I was afraid to face them head-on... Was I wrong, teacher?" - Explained Bao Zhi with a helpless expression, but his bloodshot eyes showed defiance and cold indifference. He was still refining the Primeval Elder Gu in his fake aperture without pausing.
Teacher Tao didn't reply immediately, he thought:
"Tsk! You are not wrong. But this is not a life and death battle. Where does this kid get such ideas? How are we supposed to assess the students' abilities now if you end the match before it even begins?" - This gave him a headache, he would have to explain the matter later on why some students had missing info.
This tournament was organized by the academy mainly to test the students and tell the baseline of their skills.
Teacher Tao: "Good. But you need to remember to take care of your classmates. Listen, this is just sparring and not a life-threatening situation. Be rest assured, the elders are here as well, there's no real danger to be afraid of."
"You may leave."
Bao Zhi bowed and cupped his fists respectfully then headed back to his seat.
A message arrived at Teacher Tao. He recognized it immediately.
Teacher Tao gulped, then activated the letter gu to read its contents.
It was sent by one of the academy's elders, Ye Xuegang.
The letter told teacher Tao that he wasn't doing a good enough job disciplining his students, and should deal with troublemakers. They didn't mention Bao Zhi, but the meaning was clear from the timing.
"So quick!" - Teacher Tao panicked. He almost forgot that Bao Zhi had an A grade aptitude. The higher-ups were clearly paying close attention!
Teacher Tao looked at Bao Zhi's leaving figure, then at the urn in front of him from which the matchups were drawn. He frowned and narrowed his eyes.
"Hmm... Should I?" - He hesitated for a moment but then decided to reach into the jar to fish out a certain name.
"I can't help it. You troublesome brat, why did you have to attract elder Ye Xuegang's attention now?" - Teacher Tao felt wronged.
* * * * *
Lingering Mountains Grotto, Golden Peak Pagoda
Many floating islands were making rounds and orbiting each other in a seemingly chaotic manner. On the biggest island stood a mountain, its peak glistening in golden colors. This was Wen clan's headquarters.
Wen clan had a similarly deep foundation as the Bao clan. But there was a clear difference in the routes of development they took.
Bao clan's immortals only cultivated wood path, this way when they died they could fuse their blessed lands into the Ancestral Grotto without much conflict of dao marks. It could strengthen and expand the small world without becoming a typical public blessed land.
Public blessed lands had obvious weaknesses because they were stitched together from different immortal apertures. Public blessed lands usually had low defenses, as the different dao marks from the various paths conflicted.
Wen clan was taking a different approach.
Their grotto heaven was fused with a fragment of the Immemorial Nine Heavens!
What did this mean? When one fused their immortal aperture with a fragment, no more tribulations would occur! It would be treated as a part of the gu world by the heavenly power.
This also meant that the aperture could not be picked up again by the owner of the grotto. It would be a permanent change, immortals wouldn't do it recklessly.
But it also meant that they were safe from tribulations, but without tribulations, the grotto heaven wouldn't gain dao marks. This stifled long-term development. It was a tradeoff.
The original owner of Lingering Mountains Grotto was long dead, only her will remained. Her situation was similar to Bao Zhi back in the time of their calamity. Her grotto was placed down in the gu world, hidden from prying eyes to provide a way of survival for the defeated Wen clan.
Wen clan decided to merge many small and different environments together, they had a method to turn most of the resources in a blessed land into a floating island. It was an exquisite and ingenious solution to their unique problem.
Most of the floating islands were resource points of various sizes. The core behind them was the rank eight Revolving Mountain formation. This is where the name of the grotto came from. Each floating island had a mountain on it, this was a requirement by the formation to act upon.
Inside the Golden Peak Pagoda, Wen Jie opened her eyes after days of deducing matters with her wisdom path methods.
"The crucial person has indeed arrived. I need to contact ancestor now." - She told herself as she flew out in a particular direction.
* * * * *