The streets where full of people. This was especially chaotic due to the single destination that they all shared. The Arena, located at the center of the Xi Clan, was a grand arena that could accommodate millions. It was a traditional stage where most challenges and death matches would occur. But today, much like every other year, it would be the location for the younger generation tournament.
Xi Heji made his way there, albeit slowly due to the massive crowd. Normally Outer circle disciples, as well as clan residents would normally make way upon seeing the golden stripe of his uniform, but due to the crowding, no one paid much attention.
Another reason for this was the recognition of a inner circle disciple. As Xi Heji was no genius, whose name only brought shame to the inner circle, he was normally out of the public's eye. The training with his grandfather occurred privately, away from prying eyes. Having been provided resources by his grandfather who held an elder position, he was never lacking cultivation materials. Much less any of the outer circle disciples, many inner circle disciples never had seen his face. This stark contrast with the geniuses of the inner circle like Xi Meiying is incomparable, in the way which everyone would immediately recognize her. Though, Xi Heji had no problem with this, as he was never one to want to attract attention to begin with, it was just his nature.
Xi Heji arrived at the arena. The inner circle disciples had a separate entrance area. This entrance was guarded by inner circle disciples that graduated and became outer circle elders, which had influence compared to inner circle disciples. This was due to the talent they showed when originally joining the inner circle not progressing far enough to the standards of an inner circle elder.
As Xi Heji walked to the inner circle entrance, the outer elders eyed him.
"Stop!"
The two outer elders appeared in front of him with great speed. Having not sensed any fluctuations of qi emanating from him, they immediately assumed that he had stolen or borrowed it from a relative that was an inner circle disciple.
Xi Heji, already used to this kind of situation, reached into his spatial ring and pulled out a token.
This token was dark red in color, and had a single rune inscribed into it. This was the identifying token of the Xi Clan, which through a sealing rune, preserved the qi of the person it corresponded to to ensure not anybody could use it.
Xi Heji tossed it to one of the outer elders, to which the elder received it. Verifying it, he looked to the other elder and nodded, quickly handing the identifying token back.
"We apologize for our mistake"
Xi Heji nodded, and entered as the elders returned to their places. Secretly trying to identify who he was*.
Xi Heji used a teleportation rune that took him to the highest floor. He walked down a long hallway that had special viewing rooms for inner disciples. The Outer disciples would fight first, with the inner disciples following next. So, most of the inner circle disciples were resting in their rooms awaiting their half of the tournament.
Since Xi Heji's grandfather was an elder, his viewing room was higher. Xi Heji walked to the end of the hallway, and entered a door that was engraved with 4 golden stripes surrounded by a red circle, the symbol of an inner elder. Immediately upon walking in, he was greeted by the bright Sun that shone through the open room. 3 chairs faced the open wall that overlooked the arena. Of the 3 chairs, 2 were occupied.
"Hello Grandfather, Meiying".
Xi Meiying turned around, smiling at Xi Heji's entrance. Sitting opposite to her was Xi Fengge, the 5th elder of the Xi Clan and Xi Heji's grandfather. Xi Fengge stood up, as his image disappeared from his chair. He appeared in front of Xi Heji and looked at him for a moment, putting his hand on his shoulder. Xi Fengge stood a foot taller than Xi Heji, his towering figure looked over him.
"I'm glad you decided to participate this year".
No emotions of relief or discomfort could be seen on his face. Despite the many years his grandfather was disrespected for keeping such a useless grandson around, he never forced Xi Heji to train, much less participate in clan battles. His urging for Xi Heji to fight in the tournament was not for himself, but because he truly believed that even though Xi Heji's talent for Qi may be poor, his many years of practicing martial arts certainly made up for it. Having extremely poor cultivation is unheard of from major families and clans. Due to the immense resources available even to outer circle disciples, cultivation, even if not the greatest talent for a person, was the route that was always taken. Because of this, many martial arts manuals are extremely basic, as no one ever took martial arts seriously enough to purse as a path. Even with limited resources concerning the martial path, Xi Heji has been able to create a new fight style unique to him. This is what Xi Fengge believes will allow Xi Heji to fight alongside disciples of the inner circle. Because, while most inner circle disciples solely focus on the mastery of their element, they neglect the important element of combat, strategy. While many Inner circle disciples stay holed up in the clan, Xi Heji and Xi Meiying have ventured out since young and engage in combat with intelligent magical beasts. Through only real combat experience could you learn things that cannot be explained, instinct.
"I feel that I have reached a point where I am able to now contend with my fellow disciples". Xi Heji smiled as he looked at his grandfather.
Xi Fengge took away his hand from his shoulder while returning to his seat laughing.
"I'm sure Mei'er has nothing to do with it?"
Xi Fengge look toward Xi Meiying to see her lightly chuckling. Xi Heji shook his head as he walked towards his seat. The Outer circle tournament started not long after. And due to the preliminaries that occurred the month prior, only around 5,000 outer circle disciples fought.
Soon enough the outer circle disciple tournament ended, with the winner being a 17 year old girl named Xi Hua. She was given an option to participate in the inner circle tournament, to which she accepted.
This start of the tournament began now.
*the identifying token does not show personal information such as name or age, but acts like a keycard that confirms the rank of disciple that belongs to a person. The identifying is for the rank, not the person themselves which is why the outer elders were trying to find out who Xi Heji was.