[WORD COUNT 2449]
The atmosphere was lively and full of overwhelming fighting intent.
Innumerable youths with ages ranging from 13 years old to 18 years old could be seen spread all over the venue for the family sparring contest.
Those youthful cultivators were divided into two major groups. There were those who were only spectating and those who were actually participating in the Martial arts event.
Most of the youngsters there wanted to be promoted to inner disciples and enjoy the prestige and resources that came with the rise of their status.
While most of these outer disciples were satisfied with just being inner disciples, there were some among them who were ambitious and full of determination. They yearned for recognition and their gazes were only directed at the top positions held by the top ten inner disciples.
Almost all the top 10 ten outer disciples were naturally inclined towards such reachable heights. Every one of them was a genius in their own ways with the heart of not easily giving up in the face of adversities.
Zhao Wei's eyes casually looked around, his senses trying to gauge the threat levels of the surrounding disciples.
"Shaky foundation…"
"Pill addict.."
"Weak yang energy…"
"Exhausted foundation…"
"Barely passable foundation…"
"Disruption of the Qi veins…"
"Hasty youngster…"
Zhao Wei easily identified the defects, problems, and overall strength of whoever his eyes fell upon.
His gaze was subtle and among thousands of disciples, no one would have been able to sense him.
It was worth noting that among the five hundred participating disciples, only the top 50 outstanding disciples were going to be promoted to the Inner sect.
'Zhao Feng.' Zhao Wei thought while rubbing his smooth chin as his eyes locked on one handsome youth that seemed to be a magnet for all types of trouble.
Zhao Wei didn't hold any particular interest in the person named Zhao Feng but his curiosity and focus was mostly on the unusual eye on his left eye socket. It was dimmer than the right one and for someone with superb senses like him, he could perceive the ancientness hidden deep inside. The slumbering will of an Ancient God that was slowly fading away. An already perished almighty entity from the Ancient Era with earth-shattering strength that could even shake the universe.
'Such an expert also succumbed to death despite having the power to easily overturn the mountains and seas and split an ancient continent into trillion pieces.' Zhao Wei sighed with a heavy expression on his face. He didn't stare at Zhao Feng's left eye any longer and retracted his gaze.
'I died once for my wishes to be fulfilled in this new life. I was once a mortal man but even supreme experts with almost infinite lifespans aren't exempted from death.'
'Fan Gu, a creator-level existence, someone who had just formed his own Great Dao and was slowly developing it, also had the same fate.'
Zhao Wei looked at the sky and sighed once again.
'What was the use of an infinite lifespan when you still had the scythe of death lingering close to your neck?'
'What was the meaning of cultivation?'
'What is the meaning of my own cultivation?' He asked himself, confused even.
A simple question yet even his brilliant mind couldn't formulate the correct answer.
Zhao Wei didn't realize that when it came to that simple question, he wasn't the only one to have been plagued by it.
Everyone had their own path and at some point in life, they would start questioning their own existence.
Zhao Wei had desires and ambitions that constantly fueled him forward but the true meaning of cultivation transcended mortal principles which he wasn't going to understand anytime sooner.
Pinching his cheek to return his dazed mind back to reality, Zhao Wei shook his head lightly while adorning a subtle embarrassment on his confused face.
"I am being hasty. If I start questioning everything that I have no answers to… I would easily start developing obsessions that are extremely lethal to my Dao Heart," Zhao Wei muttered under his breath.
"I shouldn't be so invested in questions that have no answers."
The Primal Chaos Plane could be considered inconsequential compared to the larger omniversal bubble. How many cultivators were there inside the larger omniversal bubble? They were really infinite in number!
And from each respective cultivation plane of existence, we have beings that have transcended their own systems to become the ultimate sovereigns of their dimensions. These sovereigns have climbed every step to reach what could be considered the end of cultivation but is it truly the end? No. Some of them would continue to search for the 'ultimate answer'.
"Wow, are those the top 10 inner disciples?"
A random outer disciple's words suddenly broke through Zhao Wei's thoughts.
"Isn't that Zhao Qin? She's so pretty. In addition to being a beauty, she is also more talented than each of us."
"I wish I could marry such a fine woman. If I had her to protect me, I wouldn't have to worry about cultivation.'
'Look at yourself and then look at senior sister Zhao Qin. With a horse face like that, why don't you go marry your fellow horses in the stables?"
"Haha… You are too evil and sharp-tongued, Zhao Kong. Learn to give some face to your fellow disciple. Don't destroy him like that!"
"Kekeke!"
Zhao Wei pinched the bridge of his nose while closing his eyes after hearing those nearby disciples.
'Well played… I bet my existence would have been like that if I didn't have self-awareness. A background character.' Zhao Wei opened his eyes and turned his attention toward the arriving supposed-to-be outstanding inner disciples.
He then looked at Zhao Qin who was being simped over by some ignorant buffoons.
'She's so damn fine. Cultivators are really…'
Zhao Wei nodded his head in appreciation.
He had no aversion to all types of beautiful sceneries life had to offer.
'She's a beauty superior to even Earth's standards but she's sadly meant to be a forgotten flower. One whose petals would rot and fade away with the passage of time. Such was fate and destiny.'
He then analyzed all of them, profiling each one of them according to their strengths.
He didn't feel any threat whatsoever from them. Their intimidation levels couldn't compare to those annoying bastards he fought inside Sky Cloud Forest.
Of course, humans couldn't be judged by base evaluation alone. They had many tricks up their sleeve and could fight more cleverly compared to Demonic beasts. Even so, one shouldn't ever underestimate their enemy or else they would live to suffer the consequences or even… die.
'These family gathering contests usually made me laugh due to the common troupe that most cultivation novels liked to follow. The main character always seems to have some enmity with the spoiled son of some elder which leads to the troupe of 'after the younger generation comes the older generation'. Or where the main character's father dies and the clan elders fight for the Patriarch position and to make it more successful, the protagonist is plotted to die due to being a direct descendant.'
In terms of web novels consumption, he had digested most types of bad stuff and good stuff. Just imagine the determination and heart needed to read a novel that surpasses three thousand chapters. In fact, there had been exactly two novels that he had ever managed to read up to the three thousandth chapter and they were: Dragon-Marked War God and Invincible Conqueror. After that, he had been forced to drop.
'Dragon-Marked War God' had been really the epitome of cliche tropes but even so, he had enjoyed it nonetheless. It could be said that he liked experiencing new worlds every now and then. The most enjoyable thing is usually the end of these cultivation stories when the main characters achieve a hidden realm that has never been accessed since the inception of the universe.
"The preliminaries should be starting by now." Zhao Wei sensed a presence traveling unhurriedly toward the Sky Martial Field.
It didn't take long before the officiating judge's voice resounded like thunderclap inside everyone's ears.
"ATTENTION!"
"The family sparring contest is officially beginning from this moment henceforth!"
"Since today is the preliminaries, I hope all the participating disciples are present."
"You know the rules, only 50 of you would receive the qualifications to be promoted to the inner sect!"
"Now then, let me explain further…"
There was some brief explanation which was going according to the direction of what was inside Zhao Wei's mind.
Since there were over five hundred participating outer disciples, there was a need to divide the group into groups of fifty-ish across the 10 martial fields. The fifty are then further divided into 10 so that there would be an alternating cycle on the same Martial Field. And among the fifty outer disciples, only 10 can qualify from each Martial Stage Platform.
It was simply an elimination process to sieve the outstanding seeds from the wasteful husks. It was a good mix of strong disciples and weak disciples. And from each batch, there was the possibility of a dark horse appearing.
To prevent the top 10 outer disciples from meeting head-on during the elimination process, each one of them was placed on each Martial Stage Platform. This was probably to create some sort of anticlimactic ending. Those elders wanted to be entertained.
"Number 521, go to the fifth stage!"
Zhao Wei raised his eyebrows since he had been paying attention to his turn.
'And that's my cue.' Immediately, he walked towards his allocated platform.
'It seems as luck has it, I am not facing Zhao Feng at the start but soon…' Zhao Wei smiled to himself as his lazy eyes surveyed his soon-to-be opponents that he had to eliminate.
'Huh… I guess that should be Zhao Guang, the fifth ranked top outer disciple. Good. So unlucky for him to be the first to be destroyed by me.' Zhao Wei's figure remained inconspicuous among the 50 or so outer disciples on the platform and what made him get a little recognition was his cultivation base which he hadn't bothered to hide.
Among the outer disciples, there were at least 60 of peak 3rd rankers, so it wasn't a big deal. It was just surprising that they didn't know him very well except for his name… which was quite as expected since he was a sour loner.
Despite his cultivation base, his presence was overlooked and Zhao Guang still remained as the favorite contender on the fifth stage.
"He probably used medicinal pills to force his breakthrough. I bet his foundation and strength are fake! I think he would even find it troublesome to deal with a true Peak second ranker!" Is what they said all about his current realm.
It honestly made Zhao Wei wanna laugh till his lungs burst out like overinflated balloons.
To be underestimated was a good feeling.
Could it be that those protagonists pretending to be pigs felt like this?
"Number three hundred and fifty vs number two hundred!"
"Number sixty nine vs number ninety six!"
The awaited tournament was now starting for real in all the ten platforms
"Number five hundred and twenty one vs number four hundred and forty four!"
'So which brat would be my opponent?' Zhao Wei touched his chin while jumping onto the stage.
Later on, a face full of disdain and assurance of complete victory tainted his field of vision.
Arrogant. Check.
Disdainful. Check
Background supporters. Check.
His supposed opponent was a youth with a big towering physique like Mil-tan from DXD and his face… Let's just say it was a masterpiece. That was in itself Zhao's way of giving face… to the man's face.
"I don't like your face. Why don't you give up and just admit defeat instead of wasting my precious time?" Number 444 taunted with a sneer on his face. He looked at Zhao Wei with unbridled arrogance and disdain. He clearly didn't put him in his eyes.
To him, Zhao Wei looked too… ordinary. A useless nobody.
"Number 444… it seems your repulsive mouth is really as shitty as your face. Were you born out of horse shit by chance?!" Zhao Wei didn't hold back with his sharp words while cracking his neck with an interesting expression on his face.
When Number 444 heard Zhao Wei's direct insult, he went mad. And when he's extremely mad, his muscles involuntarily flexed and increased in density.
"Demonic Ape Transformation!" Number 444 bellowed like a raging tempest while activating his core technique immediately.
His upper shirt was tattered into pieces due to the sheer force of his muscles contractions. A terrifying third rank aura then radiated off his muscular figure.
His eyes were red with extreme anger and his nose spewed out fumes like an enraged bull. He really wanted to tear Zhao Wei's body into little bloody pieces and then feed them off to demonic beasts.
"NUMBER 521! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Number 444 flexed even more with utmost zeal.
'Fuck, is this guy secretly one of those tailed monkeys in Dragon Ball?' Zhao Wei cringed while wondering. His technique alone filled him with some doubts.
"I AM GONNA BREAK YOUR-!"
Zhao Wei got bored by him and decided to act.
TAP!
Zhao Wei took one step.
There was only one sound in existence at the very moment - the sound of one step!
One step… and the temporal forces seemed to have become fully static!
It only took one step for the fight to end before it could even start!
Number 444 didn't know how it all ended. He was rendered unconscious even before he could finish his insignificant sentence.
Some of the outer disciples who had nothing to do and were vouching for Number 444 couldn't understand what had just happened in front of their eyes!
Even the judge couldn't believe it and thought it was an optical illusion.
How could a mere outer disciple move that fast?!
"It's as if he had… teleported. As if time seemed to have stopped at that very moment!"
The judge, a clan elder with rich experience, had his mind bamboozled silly!
"Erm… Number 521 wins!" The judge forced himself to declare the winner or else he would have been left speechless for far too long.
Anyways, Number 521 - Zhao Wei - a nobody he had never heard of, managed to catch his interest.
"It seems a hidden dragon has finally emerged." The judge ran his hand through his thick beard while having an interesting look on his face.
He then continued to oversee the next matches.
***