79 The Second Round 1

The World Artefact was one of the treasures of the Southern Wind Academy. Several thousand years ago, a former disciple had gifted a World Artefact to the academy. The World Artefact spans a thousand Li. It was a pocket of space that contained the ancient Demonic Beasts of the past. Over the years, the World Artefact acts as a separate ecosystem where the ancient Demonic Beasts live in. They are unable to leave, while the Southern Wind Academy are able to send in their disciples to temper themselves.

The ancient demonic beasts that stayed within are limited by the spiritual energy and so, the strongest was only a grade three demonic beast. When the outer disciples arrived, the outer disciples were aghast at the sight of the world artefact. The entire side of one mountain had been carved into on purpose by the predecessor that gifted the World Artefact. The cultivators present could not imagine the strength one must possess in order to be able to achieve such a feat.

The carved wall had a deep cavern that housed the World Artefact. The portal into the alternate space was circular. Along the ring were carvings of the Demonic Beast language. Of course, those here were unable to fully understand what they meant and would at most be able to read the Truth Words.

"They who pass through the portal, shall enter a world that transcends time and space." Wang Li Tian read in his head. Elder Phoenix knew that he was coming here one day and so, he purposely taught him the words like 'portal' and 'transcends'.

Wang Li Tian couldn't remember the advice that Elder Phoenix gave to him before departing from his cavern that day. He had to visit some shrine within the World Artefact and do something in the world. That was all that the forgetful boy remembered. Luckily, Elder Phoenix had written it down for him and so, he only had to read through it once more when he entered.

"We shall now explain to you the rules." The administrator started to speak once everyone had calmed down.

"The second round will take place in the World Artefact. Typically, such a treasure is not available to Outer Disciples for use. However, the pocket of space had already been thoroughly explored for thousands of years and so, it could be considered a training ground for disciples." The inner disciple recited just as the Headmaster Liu Fei Ge told him to.

"The thousand and five of you would be teleported randomly throughout the 1000 Li circular space. Your physical body would still remain intact and only the spiritual image of you would be teleported into the World Artefact. You would each receive a crystal that would show the number of points you have. It will also act as a map that would be able to show your location on it. You earn points by either killing the Ancient Demonic Beasts that stay inside the World Artefact or by fighting against your fellow disciples."

"Teaming up is allowed in this round, but only those that deal the killing strike will gain the point. Even though you will not physically die in real life, you shall still feel the same pain if you to be stabbed to death. That is why, if you would like to leave the World Artefact prematurely, you would only have to break the crystal in your hand and it shall send you out immediately. Conversely, if another player were to break your crystal, you would be sent out forcefully too."

"The event will last until there are 50 disciples remaining. Every morning, for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the top 50 disciples with the most points would have their last location revealed. You would not be able to bring in anything other than your weapon of your desire. The weapon must not have any special properties and just made out of a regular material. If you do not have a weapon with no special property, the Academy would provide you with a regular weapon. Of course, you can try bringing in any special weapons, but the World Artefact would reject anything it doesn't like."

"Now, could the disciples separate and place your belongings at the designated location for each of your school discipline? Rest assured, nothing will go missing in the time that you are in the World Artefact." The inner disciple was finally done with explaining the rules. Over the years, the Headmaster had to add more and more rules to the explanation as the outer disciples would always fail to understand what was allowed and what was not. Stealing of other disciples items was very worrisome back in the day.

However, the artificing discipline had create a detection array that prevents anti-theft for this problem. Now, everything was more streamline and regulated.

Wang Li Tian and Jiang Rou Xuan separated and left to their respective School Disciplines storage location. They bid goodbye to each other and promised to find each other in the World Artefact. The boy trusted that his big sister would never betray him. Conversely, Jiang Rou Xuan thought the same way.

When everyone was finally done with the administrative side of things, disciples shall be able to enter the World Artefact. The reason why the competition is carried out every five years was because of the World Artefact. Every five years, the World Artefact would be open up to the academy to explore. After being open for three months, the gates would be closed and the people within would be forcefully expelled out of the World Artefact. Three months was more than enough time to decide the top 50 in the academy. As such, the academy decided to use this as a training ground for disciples as it was safe.

The disciples took turns to enter the circular portal that was activated just for today. The portal would only activate afterwards when the disciple was forced out of the world. Jiang Rou Xuan entered the portal separately from Wang Li Tian.

After the time it took to brew a cup of tea, it was finally Li Tian's turn. Stepping through the portal, a bright light blasted into the youth's eyes. Before he knew it, he was inside the World Artefact, in the middle of a green tropical forest.

His eyes widened, but not as a result of the changed backdrop, but instead, "Oh no! I forgot to read the paper that Elder Phoenix wrote for me!"