20 Tournament in the Depths: Learn the Ropes!

After moving out from the Gathering Hall all the disciples who were participating in the tournament were lead down the exit to the city gate by the four Elders. After leaving the city they proceeded north to a few miles away from the north city gate and gathered near the other two major sects and the few minor groups of cultivators. Once everyone had gathered together the small group of mixed Elders spoke out to the crowd, telling them of the first phase of the competition. This would be a Survival Endurance Race.

The goal was to reach a specific location before a specific time by traveling on foot from the starting point. There would be no protection for the participants between the two points and each had only themselves to rely on. This was the most dangerous portion of the tournament because not only could you encounter vicious beasts, but you could also encounter Volvaka military action as well. Sect members were encouraged to work together with others who had similar strength in order to safely arrive at the other end of this grueling Endurance course. The Elders directed everyone to separate, groups could be no larger than three members, but solitary cultivators could choose to proceed alone as well.

After all the cultivators had split up the Elders began to lead them to the massive starting line before showing them the map of their route. The travel time allowed was three months. In this time the competitors would have to follow the River Wood north and then continue east around the Volcanic Ridge Mountains before continuing to follow the woods south to the riverside. When three months passed the next phase of the tournament would begin, and anyone that was not past the finish line, even by an inch, would be disqualified. Any disciples that were disqualified were allowed to remain as observers for the next phases of the tournament. The following tournament phases would be explained at the time of the event in order to prevent anyone from being able to prepare ahead of time.

After spreading all the competitors out along the line and providing enough space for them all to travel forward without too much conflict, the Elders released them to begin. With that simple moment began what many of these young cultivators would remember as one of the most difficult tasks they ever performed. There were just over ten thousand competitors presently participating in the tournament, but the Elders assured them that at the end of this Endurance Race there would be half as many competitors remaining.

When the event began most of the groups of cultivators took off for the distant horizon at a trot, but a number could also be seen walking leisurely. By this you could tell who had experience with spending long periods in the wild, and who did not. The groups that were travelling quickly had much less experience overall in the wilds, but this was not a rule of things. There were a few groups or solitary cultivators who had extremely large amounts of experience and were travelling extremely quickly in order to reach a known location before nightfall and rest for the night, or who had high levels of endurance and were going to rely on this to travel farther and faster, pushing their limits to be first and recieve a reward from their sect.

Over the course of the first few days there was very little happening. The groups that travelled quickly were putting a good deal of distance between themselves and those behind them, creating a much more open field of travel for everyone, but a few of the more malicious teams were intentionally taking or sabotaging any food sources they encountered, even going out of their way, in order to make life more difficult for their opponents behind them. Yun had spent the first two days casually moving forwards, like a child strolling through the woods having a look around. As she walked, she observed the other teams that she could, getting a feel for the strength and confidence of the others travelling in a controlled pace. After four days of light travel she began to speed up, beginning to overtake others who were still travelling slowly, as well as a few who had travelled much too quickly in first few days and were now exhausted. On encountering one of these people who had travelled too quickly early on she was finally accosted.

"Stop right there child! I, Gu Jian, cannot stand by and let you pass me so easily! How could my face survive if I allow a little fox-child to pass me so early without first seeing if she has the strength to make it to the end?"

As he shouted this out, the large Canis male stepped out in front of her while hefting his two large clubs onto his strong shoulders. Stopping a dozen meters away, she gave him a quizzical look, "Are you saying that a big strong Canis like you is going to fight with a little Vulpis like me because I started moving faster than you?" Yun sighed and shook her head at the large man, "Is your face thick enough to bully a child like me, but not thick enough to let me past?"

This one statement made Gu Jian growl angrily before he responded, "Little girl, your tongue certainly is vicious. Take out your weapon quickly, before a smash you flat!" The large Canis roared angrily as he charged forwards, not even giving her the chance to prepare. As he rushed forward she drew the new spear that Zhu Cai had fashioned from her first round of kills.

This new spear had a long golden shaft with spiraling black fibers densely working their way from the butt to the blade, the blade was a swept-back blade like a saber, but was only half the length. The butt of the spear was mounted with a small black spike that would be effective at penetrating armor in a pinch, and also served to help offset the weight of the saber-like spearhead, giving the spear a better balance. The saber head was mounted into the spear shaft deeply, with the end of the shaft being hollow with three mounting points to stabilize the spear head, and the end of the shaft flared out like a fan to meet the base width of the blade. As she drew it out of her dimensional storage artifact, the tempered black blade with its silver, polished edge, drew a sharp hiss from the Canis as he continued forward.

As she swung the blade in a deadly arc towards him the shaft bent slightly, giving it more force on contact from the elasticity given to it by the Immortal Wyrm's fibrous hide. The Canis looked like he was prepared to ignore her blade, but as it got close he reached out with one club and blocked her sweep by making contact with the shaft and avoiding the blade. He continued to charge in, attempting to close the distance and negate the advantage her spear gave her. As he got close and swung his two clubs together with all his might Yun twisted the spear into the path of his two clubs and, suddenly, pulled her feet up and planted them on the shaft near where he was going to make contact.

With a resounding bang and panic in his eyes, the Canis sent Yun flying dozens of meters away, but to his dismay she was unharmed and merely twisted in the air to land gently on the ground. As the fight continued on and Yun began to adjust to her new weapon she managed to keep the Canis out of clubbing range, but was unable to truly harm him. She managed to put a few nicks in his club over the course of the fifteen minutes they had fought, but neither of them could harm the other. The brute force of the Canis could stop her spear with little effort, but her technique and speed made it impossible for him to reach her. After another ten minutes of fighting the two were glaring at each other from a few meters apart when they heard an unusual sound from nearby.