It was towards the end of the day. Having very few competitors from the inner circle, the tournament could be wrapped up quickly. The Sun had already reached the west, causing the atmosphere of the arena to darken a little.
After Xi Hua left the stage, the space shook. Visible space cracks could be seen, expanding like a spider web until a mirage of an older man appear. He wore red robes that fluttered with seemingly no wind present. The pressure of his presence, even though unintentional, cause the audience to take a deep breath.
Besides the tournament displaying talents, it was also to select a personal disciple of the Grand Patriarch, the previous Patriarch of the Xi clan. Xi Meiying was offered discipleship immediately after her display of power when she defeated the younger generation. This was a very big event, as the Grand Patriarch hadn't taken a disciple in nearly 100 years. Xi Meiying accepted on the conditions of no restrictions, as Xi Meiying preferred to be around Xi Heji and his grandfather during her free time. Though she didn't have much free time due to her intense training, it showed with her talent for cultivation, already surpassing Xi Heji's grandfather to his speculations as Xi Fengge could no longer sense Xi Meiyings cultivation. She was also forbidden to tell anyone her cultivation from the Grand Patriarch. Xi Fengge was a Sky Saint Stage cultivator, and unless the Clan sold all of its resources, it wouldn't be able to afford such an artifact to deceive his senses. And so, many knew Xi Meiying was incredibly strong, but her exact cultivation remained hidden.
The Grand Patriarch gazed at the audience, only moving his eyes. He then shifted his attention to the inner circle viewing rooms.
"Participants of the Inner circle tournament should arrive at the arena immediately"
The space fluctuated again, causing his visage to disappear, reappearing at his viewing seat at the side of the arena.
Xi Heji stood up out of his seat, looking towards Xi Meiying as he walked over to her.
"Shall we head over?".
Xi Heji said as he lowered his head and extended his hand. Xi Meiying giggled as she took his hand and stood up.
"We shall"
Xi Meiying put on an icy blue transparent veil, as after she became the renowned genius of the clan, she started masking her appearance due to the many gazes she received from many male disciples, at least to her, that was the reason she thought she used it for. Using the teleportation array in the room, they, along with the other participants, arrived at the foot of the arena. Upon arriving, many gazed at them. Seeing Xi Meiying holding Xi Heji's hand, many grimaced, keeping thier thoughts to themselves.
Across the arena, at the entrance opposite to them, a boy especially had an ugly expression. Witnessing this scene, a boy next to him whispered to him.
"Don't worry senior brother Haohuan, with this tournament comes an opportunity to relieve your anger. It seems that even years later Xi Heji hasn't progressed in cultivation, participating in this tournament must be 5th elders bout of rebellion towards the mockery in these recent years".
"No" Xi Haohuan turned to face him.
"5th elder does not act without rationale, Xi Heji may have suppressed his cultivation*, or, uses a cultivation art that doesn't focus on qi".
"What difference does it make senior brother? Even if he practices body tempering, it is only at higher stages does it present a threat to its Qi Counterpart. Even if Xi Heji tempered his body for years, he wouldn't be your match."
Even facing the comforting of his junior brother, Xi Haohuan felt uneasy.
'This is common knowledge, Xi Heji must know this as well. So, why would he participate?'. Xi Haohuan widen his eyes.
'Could Xi Xeji had come across a spirit beast and contracted it? Impossible, there hasn't been word of anyone from the Xi Clan having a spirit beast in the past hundreds of years.'
Xi Haohuan then focused his attention to the veiled beauty.
'Xi Meiying! The grand patriarch always keeps to himself and is never around. It is possible that he captured an infant spirit beast and gave it to Xi Meiying as a gift, but in turn she may have given it to Xi Heji.'
Spirit beast are not to be underestimated. Having been birthed of the pure concept of elements, although they work better with masters that share the same elements as they do, they can still rival Sky Saint Stage Qi cultivators at their first stage. Even though this spirit beast in question may be an infant, it could easily battle with geniuses such as himself single-handedly.
Though Xi Haohuan was worrying over nothing, as the spirit beast in question did not exist.
***
Xi Heji walked with Xi Meiying in hand up the stairs of the arena. Only then releasing Xi Meiyings hand as this arrived at the last step. Their actions were watched by many, all of them expressing faces of disgust. How could the genius of the Xi Clan have interest in a human that has such weak talent for cultivation? Though many shared the same thought in their mind, only Xi Haohuan, the widely known strongest of the younger generation under Xi Meiying, expressed a face of worry.
After all of the participating inner circle disciples entered the arena, the patriarch of the Xi Clan, Xi Hongli, appeared before them.
"The tournament this year will proceed differently compared to the past years. This years opponents will be selected at random through a drawing".
The audience let out surprised gasps. The tournament has been the same since the founding, although it was well within the power of the patriarch to change the rules, many of the past patriarchs kept it the same for tradition. It would go without saying the people of the Xi Clan were surprised. Waiting for the audible exclamations to cease, Xi Hongli continued.
"Every participant has a right to refuse a battle once before he or she will be considered eliminated. The Outer elders will hand you stones with an engraved seal, you will inject your Qi and then return it to them."
As soon as Xi Hongli finished speaking, several outer elders appeared before the participants, handing them the rune stones.
Xi Heji received his and injected his qi inside it. The rune shone a light blue, before fading and returning to its original appearance. Xi Meiying and the other participants did this as well.
Soon, all the stones were returned to the elders, who then put the stones into a pitch black container located in front of the patriarch.
"For the first match". Xi Hongli reached into the container.
"Xi Cheng vs Xi Haohuan"
As they weren't selected, the rest of the participants along with Xi Heji and Xi Meiying headed to their designated seats around the base of the arena. Xi Meiying was seated next to the Grand Patriarch on the higher platform. As she arrived to her seat, the grand daughter of the Grand Patriarch happily greeted her. Unlike everyone else, she supported the relationship between Xi Heji and Xi Meiying. As Xi Meiying approached her seat, Xi Jiaying jumped up and hugged Xi Meiying. Xi Meiying smiled and returned her greeting. One of the few people Xi Meiying interacted with was Xi Jiaying. After becoming the direct disciple of the Grand Patriarch, Xi Jiaying would always pester and try to start conversations with her when she was training alone at the Grand Patriarchs residence. Xi Meiying ignored her for the first couple of months, but Xi Jiaying stayed persistent. In the end, Xi Meiying gave in and started answering to her demands. Xi Jiaying has been friends with Xi Meiying since then.
Xi Heji smiled at their interaction. Xi Jiaying felt his gaze, as she turned her head and stuck her tongue out at him. Xi Heji shook his head at her antics as he sat in the chair beside the raised platform. Xi Haohuan and Xi Cheng arrived at the arena, standing opposite to each other.
Xi Hongli noticed this and nodded to an inner elder beside him. The inner elder nodded back and appeared on the arena In between them. He was the 2nd elder of the Xi Clan, Xi Hai. He then looked to the audience.
"The first fight of the inner circle tournament begins now!".
*it is possible to suppress cultivation, but those of significant strength could see through it. This is not the same as concealing one's cultivation, as the person would have to either be stronger than the other person by a large margin or have a concealing Art or Artifact, which are both out of reach for a clan like the Xi Clan.