Page 95: VIP at Merchant Ship

The middle of the day couldn't get any more brighter and hotter than any other time. Accompanied by the cheerful noise from the sect disciples and spectators, the parade of participants together with their respective elders were walking towards the luxurious merchant ship from the merchant union. The six star school collaborated with the merchant union to use the merchant ship, a large luxury ship that they use to travel from one island to another island.

The merchant ship is made of great wood, a giant tree that can only be found at the great forests of mainland. It has four decks, and is being driven by essence shards and cores.

In the union islands, the reason why even such large ship can't reach the mainland was because of the "death sea". Between the islands and the mainland, the water boundary was filled with thousand year old water beasts which could wreck ships that would pass through. A single thousand year old water beast can even rival hundred to thousand of immortals. In addition, the waves are too turbulent that steering on it would be impossible. In the past, a lot has tried to traverse the death sea but no one came successful until flying ships was discovered. Since a thousand meters above the sea is calm, the voyage would always be peaceful.

As the participants walk into the gangway, they waved their hands to the people who were cheering for them from below. Long Bai who was there felt like a celebrity with all the cheers directed at him. For a while, he didn't know how much he rose to fame until he experienced it today. However, he was still nowhere against Yue's army of fans who were cheering with all their might. Such armies could prove fatal if someone makes a bad move against their little goddess.

After everyone was able to board the 200m x 20m ship, the captain met up with everyone introducing the crew. After the formalities, each of the participants were escorted to their own cabin while the elders were escorted to a place where adults usually stays to spend the boredom of their lives. Back with Long Bai's group, each of them were given a single room but still the eight of them decided to meet first at Tan Zhong's room. Knowing that he came from the merchant union, he must know places in the ship which they could visit. Like a real children, they were genuinely excited to have a tour of the renowned ship.

"Brother Tan Zhong! Tour us around your ship. I can't wait to see what's inside this place!"

"Ahaha, don't jest brother. I don't own anything here. I just rode this ship five times in my lifetime. But what's the rush? We have an entire five days to stay here."

The cruise would last for five days before they would be able to reach the Cup Island where the important events would take place. Since there would be enough time to roam the ship, the group settled and planned their course of action.

On another side of the ship, the elders who were going to represent the participants together with the council members of the merchant union were discussing how they would be able to support their youngsters. It should be a given that these old fogeys should be talking more on how they can help the participants during the events but their greed on profit was more apparent. Discussions about investments were more interesting to talk about than topics that pertain to what they can give. This just goes with the statement, "an old dog's mind is impossible to bend" where once an aged person set his mind, it would take forever before they would accept someone's argument.

In a small country of islands where resources are not that abundant, a person's power can be dictated by the riches they have. The more resources one have, the more people they can influence and the more that their people will get stronger. Power comes with influence in this place. Since everyone reveere the strong, these people who follows the strong would try to be on their side in order to enjoy the benefit it brings. From protection to authority over others, these two are the most sought benefit from a stronger force. The 3rd rate sects are the best examples for this. If a higher rank sect takes in a lower rank sect into their tutelage, it is imperative that they (higher rank) would give support using cultivation resources in order to strengthen their people. On another note, there is also a different manner in which a lower sect could receive benefits and that's through a disciple transfer. As long as low rank sects can train strong candidates, they would be definitely scouted by bigger sects. In this note, the adoptee will offer thanks to the sect who produced a good student and will continue to support them until a period of time. If they see that they (small sects) can't produce good cultivators anymore, they can cut off the support and find another prospect from another place.

Outside the ship, darkness has started to set. It was the cue for everyone, telling them to proceed at the Lido deck where the most sumptuous food in the whole union islands would be catered. This time of the day, dinner had been set with a few entertainment about cultivations and alchemy. This time, mostly seniors and juniors will be asked to present sword dances and plays, martial techniques and alchemy refinement methods to entertain everyone. Although there's no prize, they would be recognized as someone with promising future.

Long Bai's group, a total of eight people marched into the dining area where it was already filled with people. Aside from the elders of the sect and the merchant union, people from the major houses were also present. During the embarkment, the participants were the highlights during that time which was why the others who entered were not noticed. There were more than 10 tables set inside and almost tables were already full except one which was reserved for the eight major participants. While Long Bai's group were walking towards their table, they saw the 6th to 10th placers of the martial meet together with their respective elders. There were also some of the prominent alchemist participants like Yusheng and Cuifen from the sect.

While Long Bai was almost to their table, he noticed someone looking at him with vindictive eyes. After looking at the man properly, he recognized it to be Cuifen who looks fine and full of vengeful aura. Long Bai thought that this person was punished but they might have gone soft on him. Anyway, he now know that if this person will do something to him in the future, he'll not hesitate to deal with him with the same resolve since he saw how this person has gone rotten. Before he passed by the table, Long Bai returned a disinterested look at Cuifen to silently say that he's nothing worth of his attention. Cuifen on the other hand got the message and almost made an outburst. He almost stood up but was reprimanded by his master who was sitting beside him. He didn't have a choice but curse silently.

A few minutes later, a bell was rung and the servers entered the area with trays of food in tow. Everything served were considered a luxury dish in every famous restaurant in the every island. They were cooked by food alchemists that the merchant union hired for the occasion. If one would look, the presentation of each food does not scream of edible "beast meat" and instead, they look like food art. The aroma of each food were not going against each other bit instead, they were even complementing each other. The dining area was filled with bliss as all have forgotten that they came here for something.

When almost everyone was done with their full course, Mo Lan stepped up on the stage and spoke with grace.

"Good evening everyone, my name is Mo Lan. As someone from the merchant union and your host for today, I would like to start our evening program with a little presentation. I'll be presenting my martial form <Snow Mist Veil>. I still have lots to learn so please don't hesitate to advice me."

As she started moving with sets of motions, here palms began producing cold mist. With her smooth motions, there were no sharp curves on the figure she was making. The audience were silent but many were making whispers of fascination. As she dances on the stage, a figure of a white dragon is starting to form. Using her cold aura to control the coldness of her surroundings, she was able to maintain the cloud of mist in place. With such control, the cloud of mist that she was forming as she moves took its final shape and wrapped it around her. After pausing for almost five seconds, she moved the dragon mist away from her and aimed at Yue's area. When the dragon mist went 4 meters away from her body, the cloud dissipated. On another note, Mo Lan's action was understood by Yue. She knew she was also asked to proceed to the stage and present something.

The presentation Yue made was different from Mo Lan. Instead of graceful moves, Yue presented her own sword dance featuring her good dexterity and agility. The former was pure and graceful while the latter was the contrasting where it was full of vigor and sharpness. Since both showed wonderful display, the audience were satisfied. After the two, Mo Lan began announcing challenges on stage.

On the opposite table of Yue's group, some boys were starting to make a ruckus. One man final stood up and proceeded to the stage. The man was practically a martial cultivator in his early twenties. Also, he was wearing a scimitar on his waist. Among the disciples in merchant city, only the ones from the merchant union can have such kind of martial arts since the six start school focuses on emission type martial arts like the <dragon jade palm>.

"Brother Tan He! Show us the slash!"

"Yeah, brother Tan He, the slash"

All of the guys who were on the same table was asking the same. These people were asking Tan He to show his sword move that can cut 3 layers and 8 mini-layers of hardened tiles. The tiles were stacked with the weakest at the top. As you go more tiles, the toughness increases. This tells us that the higher the cultivation, the deeper one can penetrate and add the mastery on one's personal martial skill, one can even break more of those tiles.

The tiles are enhanced slab of rocks that corresponds to one's strength. For every nine thin slabs, it is equal to a single layer. Example, a person who's at the bone tempering layer would be able to cut two layers or 18 mini-layer of tiles. If one can break 4 layers and 3 minilayers, that's possibly because he's at the 3rd level of bone tempering layer and at the same time, his mastery of the skill have reached the intermediate success. In some regions of the union islands, they use this to ascertain the mastery of the student in his/her martial skills together with their cultivation level.

Back at the stage, it seemed that Tan He had prepared five of those things and has planned this all along. If not, their woldn't be too much materials prepared instead. When he was able to stand on the stage, he announced to the youths that he would welcome anyone from the participants to try after he demonstrates and taking thse crystals. After making his announcements, he intently looked at Tan Zhong's direction like he was sending a challenge through his stare. Tan Zhong who was at the receiving end understood that this senior from the merchant union was trying to challenge him. Tan Zhong thought that this guy who was a son of another major shareholder of the merchant union was practically blunt in his ways trying to put him in a situation where he could be humiliated.

As Tan He started his skill display, his supporters began to cheer loudly. Standing 2 meters in front of the five layer tile, Tan He unsheathed his sword and started doing some sort of sword dance. It must be his ritual to make the sword skill he will be releasing later fancier. After a couple of empty slashes in the air, he lifted the sword above his head, screamed with a deafening tone and swung it vertically towards the target.

Crack!

Veins were almost popping out from his right arm while the sword was busy breaking each tiles as it goes down. After reaching the tiles near the 4th layer, it could be noticed that Tan He was already struggling enough to break the next mini-tiles.

33 tiles...34...35!

Just like the record they claimed, Tan He was able to break the same number of tiles that was said. The only things was that he wasn't able to beat his last record.

On the audience, many were applauding at his display. On the other hand, Tan Zhong was having a dark face since he knew he can't beat such record since he doesn't have a fighting martial skill like Tan He. Being focused in alchemy, the family didn't want him to spend the time in martial training and instead, they wanted him to spent it all in alchemy. This way, they would be able to have more resources instead of being in a martial path where the death rate is too high. His parents were too practical.

Everyone in Tan Zhong's area was feeling his negative vibes due to his unusual silence. His face had some wrinkled areas which they only see when he's in a pinch. Long Bai was about to make a move saw Ling Tian and Ah Mu tried to stand but stopped halfway after seeing that another person was thinking the same.

"Brother Ling Tian, you also want to try? It does seem interesting, don't you think? Let's go and represent brother Tan Zhong."

"I agree. Should we try it?" Ling Tian responded with interest.

"Ahem!" Long Bai interrupted. "How about we all try but let's set a restriction. Are you up to the challenge?"

"How's it going to be?" Ah Mu asked curiously.

"Let's not use any of our weapon. Hear me out. This might help you also in your training. Instead, let's use our bare hands and think of it as our swords. The one with the least slab to break will go to the stage and perform like they're doing." Long Bai specified while pointing his index finger at the person at the stage.

"Oh, I want that. Who else wants to join?" Ah Mu excitedly asked the whole team.

While Yue, Ah Mu, Ling Tian and Long Bai were having nice conversation, Chen Weimin was dumbfounded by their interests. No matter how much he tried to join in, he still found himself getting surprised and amazed by their way of thinking. If many of the young ones here were trying to avoid such predicament, these three idiots and one goddess were treating like any other game.

"Alright then, no one wants to join. Let's settle this with a rock-paper-scissors." Ah Mu said. Little did he know that it would be his regret later.