Time passed by quickly and soon, it was the next day. Lu Yang woke up only to meet Lu Zheng standing by her.
"Oh? Good morning" Lu Yang smiled.
"Good morning" Lu Zheng returned the smile as his gaze ran over her body.
A chill ran up Lu Yang's spine as she stared at Lu Zheng. Soon, that chill was replaced by shock.
"This… your aura!" Lu Yang shrieked. "You are already at the second tier of Refinement realm!"
"Oh that" Lu Zheng had a meaningful smile. "I brokethrough sometime before morning"
"Sometime before… morning" Lu Yang was slack jawed. "Breaking through even though the ambient Qi is sparse… family head was right, you are very talented"
Lu Zheng only shook his head: "I was just lucky"
Lu Yang's lip twitched: "Just lucky"
Naturally, Lu Yang didn't believe Lu Zheng. It was nigh impossible for a martial practitioner to breakthrough from one tier to another here where the ambient Qi was extremely sparse.
The truth was that after consuming An Lan's soul, Lu Zheng's soul foundation increased and his body became extremely sensitive to the ambient Qi and was able to absorb it quicker than normal people. With a little amount of diligence, he was able to breakthrough from the first tier of Refinement realm to the second tier of Refinement realm.
"We should probably leave" Lu Zheng scratched his head. It wasn't his business whether she believed him or not.
"Yeah"
Lu Zheng and Lu Yang left the wooden hut and retrieved the rank 1 Simple grade artifact that made it. After Lu Zheng's display of power the other day and his sudden breakthrough, Lu Yang subconsciously accepted him as a leader.
Using his Sea of Consciousness, Lu Zheng directed them to easy opponents and avoided people they could not fight.
As a result, his soul foundation increased from the normal human soul to a soul comparable to a hundred humans thus reaching the hundred man soul level.
His soul wasn't the only one to increase. His sensitivity to the ambient Qi also grew exponentially which made consequent cultivation easier.
Slowly, time passed till the last day of the tournament when Lu Zheng and Lu Yang encountered a female Fang clansman.
The female had fair skin and an oval face and long limbs that accentuated her beauty. She was initially running before she stopped when she saw Lu Zheng and Lu Yang.
"Hi, I am Fang Ai. Lu clansmen, let us fight" Fang Ai immediately took a fighting stance.
Lu Zheng's gaze turned cold as he heard her name but he did not dare make any presumptuous attacks. From her aura, he could tell she was already at the third tier of Refinement realm.
Before any of them could react, Fang Ai went underground without needing to dig. The gravity around Lu Zheng and Lu Yang suddenly tripled, making it almost impossible to move. At the same time, two earth thorns drove towards Lu Zheng and Lu Yang.
"Incinerate!" A pillar of fire formed before Lu Yang before moving towards the earth thorns, obliterating them in its wake.
"You can still move uhn?" Fang Ai's voice resounded all around them. The ground beneath Lu Zheng and Lu Yang became muddy and they began to sink.
"Hmph. Burn!" The mud turned crimson yellow as Qi gushed from Lu Zheng's meridians.
A shrill scream escaped into the air all of a sudden: "[pants], you burnt my dress! You dared to burn my dress?! Kid, die!"
The earth around them, except for the crimson yellow one suddenly became attracted to Fang Ai's body. In three breaths of time, she had transformed into an earth monster.
"I thought Fang clansmen cultivated water path" Lu Zheng said.
"Hmm, it seems she dual cultivates water path and earth path" Lu Yang said in response.
"Okay" Lu Yang pushed her palm forward and a fiery projection of her palm jutted towards the earth monster before becoming a palm print on her, causing her to cave in.
Soon, more sand flew up to Fang Ai, mending the earth monster.
"Tough" Lu Yang acknowledged.
"Hmph! Fire Dragon!" Lu Zheng shouted. A Fire Dragon 30 metres long appeared behind him and flew towards the earth monster, coiling around it.
The earth monster turned a crimson yellow before suddenly dispersing. Fang Ai's body fell from mid-air with a water bubble surrounding her. The Fire Dragon then bit down on her, killing her.
Under Lu Zheng's control, Fang Ai's soul flew into his forehead but this time, he didn't have to cultivate to refine its impurities. His soul foundation was now at the hundred man soul level and a single soul wasn't too much of a burden for him. Only, his soul foundation didn't increase.
Soul foundation wasn't easy to accumulate.
"Scary" Lu Yang exclaimed.
"This tournament ends today right?" Lu Zheng asked.
"Yes, it should be ending anytime soon" Lu Yang replied. "Third Uncle told me that Moon Palace is personally sponsoring this year's tournament and survivors should expect wonderful gifts"
"Moon Palace?" Lu Zheng was surprised.
In Asia, there were numerous clans just like the Lu Clan. These clans served under sects as subordinate forces like the Lu, Bai, An, Fang and Kang clans served Juanshei Sect. In turn, these sects served Palaces like the Moon Palace. Those Palaces served under Provinces in their countries.
In China, there were only two Provinces; Tian Ming Province and Ren Zu Province. Moon Palace was a subsidiary force to Ren Zu Province.
In this world of cultivation, these forces formed a pyramid with Provinces at the very peak. Whatever these Provinces said was law and a single decree of theirs could cause seas of blood to flow and millions of lives to be lost.
Compared to them, Lu Clan was merely a drop of water in the ocean.
"The tournament is finally over. You will now be teleported back to your clan's towers soon and your rewards will be passed on to your clan heads" Bai Long's voice filled the entirety of the individual realm.
Within seconds, Lu Zheng's body began to vaporise as space around him began to twist.
The same happened with Lu Yang's body, signalling the end of the tournament.