Together with Ying'er and Jinzi, we strolled along an open road with several people scattered around us. A number of people came alone, but there were several people in a group as well. Everyone here was going to the same set destination, some minor competition for those who've barely stepped half a foot into cultivation.
From just the road we walked on I could see around a thousand people around, but it couldn't be that everyone here would be participating. I spotted numerous old men and women, but they were never alone, always accompanied by those of the younger generation.
"Big Brother." A small familiar voice was heard by my left side along side several tugs of my sleeve.
"Yes? What is it Jinzi?"
"Um, what would my reward be if I happen to win the competition?"
"You're thinking of winning already? Haha, you haven't even heard the rules yet, nor do you even know your competition. If you can make it into the top half I'd be satisfied already. How about this, if you make it into the top twenty-five I'll get you something and if you get into the rankings I'll let you have one request, whatever you want."
"A-anything? Hehe~ I know exactly what I want!"
"I think you might be getting ahead of yourself, with the number of contestants here, do you believe you can hunt beasts better then the vast majority of them here?"
"I'll try my hardest!! And now with that incentive on top, I have a goal to work towards! Just you wait Big Brother, I won't let you down!"
"Well, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but don't worry. I didn't want to see the bar too high for you so as I said earlier I'll be happy if you beat half of them."
"Fufu~ This Little Sister is motivated isn't she? I sincerely hope you do well, so don't disappoint your 'Big Brother,' okay?" Ying'er, on my right, leaned her head forward just a bit to speak to Jinzi.
As we walked along with the crowd, there was almost like a force field around us as people kept their distances to peer at us every once in a while. There wasn't actually any force with blocked them, instead everyone around did this of their own volition. Their gazes weren't of disgust nor ridicule, instead some were of lust, admiration, and surprise.
I heard a number of the conversations around us and those three seemed the most common. There were still people who were envious and some who were resentful, but they were a minority.
Lustful eyes from both male and female, their gazes approriatedly fixed respectively on Ying'er, Jinzi, and I. Admiration from those who probably think Ying'er and I match perfectly as a couple, though I believe a few would simply assume that jinzi is our daugther. And surprise from that fact that Jinzi was wearing a set of Azure Sky Sect Disciple robes.
I asked Jinzi why she didn't wear a different set of clothes and she simply said that she was wearing it because it represented me as it was the first set of clothing I gave her. And since this competition was basically her exam she had to wear it.
As we walked Jinzi held onto a corner of my sleeve like a small child would with a parent and Ying'er held onto my arm like we were still in the honeymoon phase. The radius of our space seemed instinctive for the people around and never decreased in scale all the way until the end.
The end which had a tall platform for people to stand on. After a while of waiting it seemed there weren't going to be any others, capping out at around two thousand.
While we waited I scanned around to scout out her competition when I found someone particular.
"Ying'er, Jinzi, look over there." What I pointed at was a young man, but the interesting thing about him was the fact that he was also wearing one of our Azure Sky Sect Robes, the Outer Disciple one to be precise, just like Jinzi currently was. "That's neat, it looks like you won't be the only one in our robes huh?"
"W-where?! I-I can't see, I'm too short!!!" I was distracted for a bit from her cute little head weaving, but eventually I raised her up with my arms. I could have just moved her up with a wave of my hand, but her little child-like movements made me want to treat her like one too.
While I raised her to take a look I managed to see a glimpse of Ying'er's face and there was a trace of disgust as she looked at that disciple.
'Huh? Is there something wrong? Does she know him perhaps? Either way it doesn't seem like a good impression for some reason.
He doesn't look old, his face isn't amazing, but it's still a little better than normal. His stature is average and his build is the same. All around he's pretty average besides that singular extra point in his looks.'
After a moment I set Jinzi down and she looked a little more exaggerated than Ying'er and looked visibly unhappy though not by much. Once her feet touched the ground her expression returned to normal as she looked back at me.
'Is there something I'm missing here?'
Finally someone appeared on the platform above, an old man who I assume is running the event, followed by a few people behind him. Once people saw that there was a person above the whole area began to quiet down and after only a dozen seconds the entire crowd of around two thousand people became as quiet as they could.
"Thank you everyone for coming to this little event of mine! I hope everyone had a safe journey while on their way here. Now let's talk about this little event.
As you should all know the focus of this competition is on beast hunting! Whoever hunts the most is the victor, attaining the grand prize, the four runner-ups will get a medium prize as well and the twenty behind them will get an honorable mention along with a minor prize!
Now for the rules! Everyone listen up!
First of all, the competition will last 3 days, if anyone returns late they will be disqualified as the prize handouts will take place immediately afterward
Second, everyone who plans to compete will wear one of these bracelets as they'll track your beasts hunted by points. Higher grade beasts are worth more than lower grade ones, but most should be one point. Any beast you hunt is yours to do whatever you want with."
When said that the beast corpses would freely go to the one who killed it I thought back a bit about this morning. I was outside the house waiting for the two to be ready. I remember the both of them talking in the distance about the storage ring gift that Ying'er had given Jinzi, at least I think they were. It was the object that they were holding at the time and Ying'er made a number of gestures with it.
"Anyone hunting in groups please note that it's whoever gets the last hit before a monster beast dies who'll get the points added to their bracelets.
And Third, no one is allowed to kill one another, if anyone does they will not only be disqualified, but will be dealt with accordingly. The bracelet will immediately bind to someone's wrist and glow a bright red for all to see.
Now to my right is the forest you'll be going to be hunting in. The population of monster beasts here is tremendous and still growing. So we have another incentive as well and this is for everyone, not just those at the top, for every ten points you gain we are willing to hand out a single Unrefined Low-grade Spirit Stone!"
Once that final announcement was made the once quiet crowd was now extremely rowdy.
"Did-did I hear wrong!? A single Unrefined Low-grade Spirit Stone for just ten beasts!"
"There must be something wrong, isn't that practically giving out money?!"
"This can't be right! Usually it takes at least twenty or even twenty-five to earn one of those!"
"What a Steal! Brothers, we have to kill as many as possible!"
All around people were exclaiming as they recounted the news. Their excitement drowned out any attempt for casual conversations around, for the time the only conversation topic was about the ten points for that singular Unrefined Low-grade Spirit Stone.
***
(Jinzi POV)
I was only half listening to the announcer as I still thought back to that man that Big Brother showed me. I turned to my right and saw that Big Sister was looking back at me. We had an understanding gaze for perhaps the first time ever, but that was only for a moment before we looked away from one another.
'Why did that person have to be here! Out of all the places! I don't even remember his name, not that I even want to! I've got it, as long as I see the initial direction he heads out to I'll go the exact opposite direction and then we'll probably never meet the entire competition!'
Suddenly loud excited voices rang out from the previously calm surroundings. I was a little stunned and shocked by the sudden turn of events. Wanting to understand a bit I tried to listen into some of the nearby conversations to see if I could understand anything.
"Did-did I hear wrong!? A single Unrefined Low-grade Spirit Stone for just ten beasts!"
'Huh? An Unrefined Low-grade Spirit Stone? Is that a cultivator resource? From the sound of it it should be quite rare right? It even sounds like the announcer is practically giving them out from the voices of those around, so it's a good deal I guess. I should ask to make sure!'
"Big Brother! What's a Spirit Stone?"
"A Spirit Stone? Hmm I guess you could call it both the money and resource of cultivators. It's dual use for either trading or you could directly absorb the Qi stored within them."
"A-also um.. What did that announcer say just now?"
"Huh? Were you not paying attention? Alright I'll repeat it first…"
"Oh, Ok!" Thanks Big Brother! I knew I could count on you!
"Everyone, Everyone! Come collect a bracelet now! Once you get your bracelet you can immediately head off into the forest! The hunting grounds are extremely expansive and populated so there's plenty to go around!"
Quickly everyone crowded around the mobile tables for bracelets, scrambling to be one of the first people in the forest. Our little group on the other hand didn't rush, instead taking our time to get there. As I looked ahead I saw that man's robes which were identical to my own. After he got his point tracking bracelet he stood in front of the forest for a little while.
'Come on!! Just pick one! I don't care which one you pick, just hurry up!! I'm getting close to the front and I don't want to have to awkwardly stand behind to wait for you!'
It seemed my internal yelling might have actually worked as he soon picked the left side and started to run in a straight line that direction.
'*Phew!!* Finally! It's just before I got my own bracelet as well!'
Once I finally had mine I walked up to the forest entrance with both Big Brother and Sister behind me.
"Alright! I'll see you two in three days! And don't you worry Big Brother! I'll make sure I kill a lot of those beasts! I'll definitely be one of twenty-five, so you better get ready to make my request come true!"
"Okay, well what would that request be exactly?"
"Hehe! It's a secret that you'll know only after I win! I can't give it away so soon or else it'll spoil my surprise for you!"
"Huh? Surprise? Surprise…request?"
And with that I ran away as far right as I could go away from that man.