48 Ghost Emperor Duan Zhen
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"All Inner Sect Disciples and Core Sect Disciples. Please go to the Winter's Embrace. The briefing for the Regional Branch Tournament will begin."
"All Inner Sect Disciples…"
A loud voice of a lady could be heard echoing inside the sect. Countless of people were startled and some people started walking towards the Winter's Embrace. And of course, Sieg was also one of them.
His countenance is still the same, cold and uncaring, but underneath this face is a heart pumping with excitement and expectations. He prepared himself greatly for this event, he's now officially out of merit points thanks to his constant tempering inside the Frozen Chamber.
After a while of walking, Sieg finally arrived at the peak of the mountain, he was now looking at the large boulder like thing that's sitting on top of the mountain. On a closer look, this boulder is made out of Ice Crystal, a very smooth and refined one at that. The level of craftsmanship one have just to make this must be unimaginable.
The surface of the boulder was smooth as a mirror, it stood couple hundred miles tall, it constantly radiates an awe-inspiring and very mysterious power and for some reason, these radiations felt a bit familiar to Sieg he just couldn't put his thoughts around it.
"We will wait for a couple of minutes more, after that, we will officially begin the briefing." Mu Qingyin said in front of the Inner Disciples and Core Disciples.
Sieg looked around and saw that there's an impressive amount of people around him. The Inner Sect Disciples are about 100 in numbers, Sieg thought that there should be more than this but he also thought that their mission must've been asking for too much. The Core Disciples aren't that many.
From what Sieg can tell, there's just about 25 Core Disciples who's present today. All of them are wearing a white linen robes that has a golden outlines around it. The fluctuations that Sieg felt informed him that they're at least on Earth Foundation Realm and the strongest is at peak Heavenly Foundation Realm.
These people looked young as well, some of them are just in their 30's and the rest is no older than 50.
The way the sect elects someone to be a Core Disciple is a bit different. Normally, people like these should be already at the main branch for further nourishing but the environment there is harsh and they might now last long if they're just on early Heavenly Foundation Realm. The solution the sect made is that, these people would stay inside these branch until they are at least half-step Core Formation Realm so that they would have higher chance to survive. The sect would automatically elect someone as a Core Disciple using a checklist they formulate themselves, and these requirements are hidden for everyone.
Sieg of course saw few familiar faces, he saw Xu Qing, although she is covering her face with a veil, it still didn't hide the perfect curves of her body, some male disciples would sneak in a few glances here and there and everytime they do, their faces would be filled with curiosity and lust. From the fluctuations that Sieg felt, he discovered that Xu Qing's cultivation actually caught up to him, which is peak of the 9th step already. She is also radiating some calm and gentle Yin Ki fluctuations, it seems like being in the sect really made her a bit more mature.
Sieg also saw Gwen Dolin, Ji Potian, Zhu Fang and Fatty Wuhen. Fatty Wuhen nodded and smiled when their gazes met, while the other three actually went went beside him and greeted him nicely.
"See? I told you he's not going to miss this event!" Zhu Fang said to Gwen.
Gwen just chuckled and said: "Consider me defeated then."
"It's been a while Junior Brother." Ji Potian smiled and nodded to Sieg. Sieg returned the gesture and smiled as well.
"This is not the first time I saw this happen, but it certainly feels different to be here as a contestant." Zhu Fang sighed in amazement as he looked around.
In fact it's only not him who felt this, Gwen, Ji Potian and others felt this as well.
"I agree, I feels really strange." Gwen said lightly.
"How long have you guys been in here anyway?" Sieg asked out of curiosity.
"7 years." Zhu Fang.
"6 years." Ji Potian.
"7 years as well." Gwen.
"Well damn…" Sieg muttered under his breath, he also thought that they must've entered as Service Disciples too and slowly climbed their way out of there.
"Well, compared to your abilities Junior Brother, out time here in the sect is really nothing. In fact, I think we've been really spending it wrong." Gwen said and chuckled a bit.
"Yeah, the previous experience really left a mark, in fact I'm still thinking about it until now. It was scary but the adrenaline felt great." Zhu Fang said while shuddering.
"Come to think of it, Potian just came back a little while ago, where have you been?" Gwen asked him.
"Well, I asked on of my senior brothers to let me go with them when they hunt for some rare gems. The shop is still closed for this event and they thought it was good for me to experience real field work as well. Overall, it was a fantastic experience, the feeling of seeing the amount of gems we harvested after all of that field work is just so satisfying." Ji Potian made a quick summary of what he experienced outside the sect.
This made Gwen and Zhu Fang feel a pang of jealousy, Sieg on the other hand just smiled when he heard about their new experiences. He even thought that finally, this people could more or less, be called Inner Disciples already, but of course, this is far from enough for his standards. Good thing they are about to experience another real battlefield experience, this would hone them more and make them even more fitting of that title.
"It seems that this is everyone." Mu Qingyin sighed and continued talking, "Listen up people, the following instructions would be very important and I would not repeat it, so you could only blame yourself if you miss out."
The whole area went silent as they heard her voice, their attentions were concentrated to her, afraid that they might miss out important details if they didn't. Seeing this made Mu Qingyin a bit appreciative and she started stating the mechanics of the tournament.
"As you all know, The Regional Branch Tournament is very important not only to the sect, but also for you as well. This is your lucky break and if you could grasp it well, then you'll be like 'A fish who entered the Golden Gate and transformed into a Dragon.' Now, the decree containing the details already manifested and told us everything that we needed to know about the tournament." Mu Qingyin paused, seemingly hesitant to continue but she did anyways.
"The Regional Branch Tournament would take place inside the Gray Crags." As soon as her words fell, there was a total silence in the whole mountain.
It was incredibly silent that even the sound of a needle falling could be heard. Countless of people sucked in cold air, while the other visibly trembled.
Gwen, Zhu Fang and Ji Potian are one of those people. Sieg was clearly shocked and a bit scared as well. This is because he heard of the place called Gray Crags.
This place is one of the 'Infamous Places' all throughout the Avalon Empire.
It is a land filled with death and darkness. No matter how the sun shines, it couldn't penetrate this place at all. People told stories about how there's no heat present inside, only plants and vegetations that needed rich Yin energy existed inside. There also stories about how they could hear ghastly voices inside and some powerful fluctuations at a distance. Some even said that there is a city inside this place.
All of this rumors spread everywhere and as a result, countless of people went inside. Never to return.
They weren't prepared for what's inside. This is what people guessed the reason of their deaths. As time passed, more and more people attempted to enter the place, and these people are always stronger than the last one as well, but all of them had the same fate. Dead.
It wasn't until the glorious figure that goes by the title: Ghost Emperor Duan Zhen, went it and returned alive. This feat reverberated everywhere and people sand praises about him. Countless of popular figures and powerful people asked for an audience. Their curiosity about the place needs to be satiated and only the ghost emperor could do that. In order to appease to everyone, the ghost emperor made a recording and said:
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"This one only wanted a nice burial. I didn't thought that a lucky chance would present itself in there. What's inside? Souls. Lots of them. They would devour you and everything that you know of, well that's unless you devour them first. I placed a Grand Formation inside so that people could experience it for themselves if they wanted to. I, have one warning though. If you ever find a void portal inside that fucking place. Do. Not. Enter. It. Well, if you have a death wish and don't want your body anymore then don't listen to my warning. You'll end up like me, no body to return to. That's all."
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All of this informations just started to rush back to Sieg's memory. He knew about the tales of Ghost Emperor Duan Zhen as well and this is one of the history that really fascinated him.
"I'm starting to think that this is a bad idea." Zhu Fang muttered while breathing nervously.
Gwen and Ji Potian didn't say anything but there's a trace of anxiety on their faces as well. Sieg couldn't blame them though. Gray Crags is a real danger zone for people like them.
"I know that this new gave you a shock, and believe me, none of us expected this either." Mu Qingyin said after a while.
"But the Main Branch already made precautions. The first round would take place in the outskirts of Gray Crags. All of you have to search for an inheritance in these outskirts, some of you might get a full inheritance, while some of you might get just a fragment, in the end of the day it is your choice so give it your all. This round would take 3 years."
"After this three years is up, the second round would begin. We will give you 1 year to close up im cultivation and master whatever inheritance you received. Then the final round, which would determine the final rankings would begin."
"I would also want to inform that anyone who makes a distinct mark throughout this tournament would be heavily rewarded. Now then…" as Mu Qingyin's voice fell, a loud commotion happened behind him.
The disciples were panicked by the commotion, the whole mountain was shaking a bit. After the small quake, they felt a towering pressure that swept throughout the mountain. A large beast descended and issued a loud roar towards the heavens.
The beast is about few kilometers in length and could easily wrap itself around the mountain, it had a long serpentine body and had feathers a blue as the skies themselves. It had three pairs of wings and spanned for about a kilometer each, four short limbs and sharp claws, a head of a dragon and two long and wavy whiskers beside it's nose.
"It's a Blue Luan!!!" One disciple exclaimed. His words echoed throughout the whole area and made countless of people gasp for air. In fact, even Sieg who is calm most of the times, couldn't help but breathe in heavily at the sight of this beast.
'Are we about to ride this thing?' As he thought about this, Sieg couldn't help but feel endless excitement.
