26 Between the Battles: Catching Up with Family

With an entire day to converse before the end of this phase Yun and Fenglong walked to the side and sat down. As they spoke for the first time since they separated from their father, they both recalled all the things that had happened to them. It had nearly been three years since they'd left home.

Yun started by telling her brother about her experiences, recounting the boring time she spent studying under Sister Rong as an inner disciple before she reached 9th Change Meridian Opening and spoke with Elder Lei. Continuing on, she told him about her experiences with the Elder when he was promoting her, but she lowered her voice and kept vigilant about their surroundings as she spoke about the testing array and the fact she was a dual-affinity cultivator. Eventually she finished telling her brother nearly everything that had happened to her up to this moment, leaving out only those parts that directly related to the mysterious soul of that master warrior.

Marveling at his sister's experiences, Fenglong couldn't help but exclaim repeatedly as she animatedly told stories of her battles with vicious beasts during her training, then again when she talked about the first and second phases of the competition. He was absolutely astounded at his sister's cultivation rate thus far, and her ability to wield a spear impressed him even more.

Finally having his turn, Fenglong began to speak of his experience these past few years. He had started with basic cultivation, as all new members of the Bone Tool Sect did, and had good talent with it. As he advanced a few ranks and was confirmed to have the strength needed to operate all of the tools he would require in his profession, they began to teach him basics of crafting. Chemicals, heat sources, tools, breaking things down, building them up, weakening materials temporarily through various means, what materials can be weakened with what method. There was an incredible amount of studying needed for his future profession.

Fenglong eventually spoke about his first excursion outside the sect. He had left the city a full year earlier than Yun, and as is typical of a crafting cultivator he had made his own weapon. Currently he was using a set of ball and chain, with the weighted tips of his chains being small spiked balls to maximize their use. Each spike ball also had hooks set into their base so that if they wrapped around something they would latch onto either the target or the chain. This way he could use his chain to traverse or use it to bind an enemy easily. Yun looked at his chain and smiled, this was a good weapon to keep your distance and protect your important assets, such as your hands for a crafting master.

The two siblings happily spoke to each other through the entire day, not paying any attention to who was arriving from the competition. By the end of the day they'd both told their stories and conversed about everything from the past three years, then started wondering how their father was doing in his new position. As they spoke, neither of the two nearly nine year old children realized that more than one person was secretly staring at them. They had both made enemies within this tournament, but the enemies that Yun had made were far more vicious. Realizing that Fenglong was weaker than his sister, they began to scheme about ways to deal with him first.

Shortly after nightfall the Elders announced the closing of this phase of the tournament. All those who had already passed were escorted south to the riverside and instructed to rest for the night here. Finally having a chance to spend a day together, the twins used their materials to create a larger sleeping space and slept in the same tent, reminiscing about their time on that nameless little island where they had barely more than one room to live in.

Dawn arrived, and the Elders called all the remaining participants forward before announcing the current standings. This phase had proceeded precisely how they planned, and fifty percent of the participants had been eliminated. Of the six thousand who had begun this phase, only three thousand remained to proceed to the third phase.

Continuing, the Elders split the remaining group into three groups, randomly selected but intentionally breaking up teams and families into separate spaces. After everyone was separated, the Elder leading each group stopped them beside a massive stone arena constructed on the cliff beside the river. This arena projected out over the cliff side, and in fact over half of it was hanging over the river. Each of the three groups had one of these arenas, and each arena was three kilometers across. This provided a decent amount of space for each competitor to have to themselves, and the judges randomly placed all the competitors in the arenas like a grid, leaving the maximum space to each one.

The Elders then spoke out, and began to explain the rules.

"This battle will be a Battle Royale. We will eliminate two thirds of you from each stage, and at the end we will announce the numbers remaining. Stages will all compete at the same time, and being removed from the stage will count as a loss. Additionally, any competitor who admits defeat or is rendered unable to continue by their wounds or loss of consciousness will also lose. These people will be removed from the arena by an array formation for safety."

The Elders and the competitors all looked around, keeping an eye on everything they could see. Yun, in particular, was situated near the center of her stage. This was a terrible location to be in, as she was completely surrounded by opponents who would put a great deal of effort into defeating such a young fighter. Some of them knew her strength and wanted to eliminate her quickly, some just saw how small she was and wanted to eliminate her to get her out of the way. Regardless of their driving reasons, she was being glared at from all sides by a huge variety of enemies.

"Be warned, this is a free for all battle. Do not foolishly trust anyone to be on your side, or you may find yourself falling from this kilometer high cliff. Betrayal does not exist here, you are entirely on your own to succeed or fail."

Listening to the Elders booming voices, Fenglong also looked around himself. He was placed on the center platform, but thankfully he was placed closer to the edge of the platform. He only had a few opponents around him, and he gripped his chain whip extraordinarily tightly as the nervous tension began to seep into him. Thinking of his sister and all the things she had been through, he shook his head and determination showed on his face once again.

The Elders voices rang out, echoing and unified.

"You may begin."