4 MEDICINE VALLEY
At Sunrise, Sophie and elders prepared breakfast for childrens; Condor was also in good mood, after his hunt in night, as he satiated his appetite and he was ready for flight. After refreshment, everybody hopped on Condor and continued their journey to Medicine Valley.
Sophie noticed Ashu and asked, ''Ashu, did you broke through last night?'' Ashu replied, ''Yeah, Sister I broke through to 2nd stage of Tempered body, last night !'' He hid his 1 realm to avoid suspicions of everyone and not to shock them that in one night, he broke through 3 stages of Tempered body.
As everyone was listening, Wang Golan came near to him and patted his shoulder and said smilingly, ''Good work brother, yyou a a re ha hard wo wor king, ke ep it u up !'' Ashu look at him and felt his good wished and shakes his hand. While shaking his hand, Ashu saw a mark on his neck of a beast; he remembers, it was the symbol of Beast God Tribe of Mythical Galaxy. Ashu wonders,'' there must be a story behind him; he is not a ordinary boy''.
Tara and other children also clap for Ashu; Tara even hugged him and says, '' Ashu, you need to treat us a meal, when we come back''. Ashu was astonished, when she hug him innocently. After meeting Ashu, Tara felt very intimate with him; it was as if, she thought of him, as his dearest treasure. Ashu spoke, '' Hey girl, this God has never treated his friends, poorly; fine, if you want a meal, then I will give a banquet''. Sophie laughs, while listening to them, she pulled ears of both of them, '' sister, sister, eeh, it hurts'', Tara says and Ashu was irritated and said, '' Young lady, treat this God better''. Sophie was dumbstruck, listening to Ashu, she said to both of them, '' you both are childrens, don't behave like adults; Tara, girls don't hug anyone casually and you Ashu, you also need to act like child, otherwise you will invite trouble to yourself; as for banquet, don't worry, this elder sister will treat everyone, after we successfully come back''. ''Yeah, yeah, as you say, so leave my ear'', Ashu requests. Ashu laments while thinking, '' this kid pulled my ear, if I had my cultivation, I could destroy this planet with just my breath; yeah, what they say, 'Adversity in Poverty' ''. Everyone giggle, seeing them like this....
After 4 hours of flight, they reached to a mountainous region of a lush greenery with abundant Spirit qi. There were many mountains, with varied vegetation, there were many large trees with broad leaves, herbs, shrubs, ginsengs, tubers, flowers, stones,etc; there was a river, flowing in between the centre of mountains. There was also a huge mansion on the peak of a Mountain called as Medicine King's Villa; birds were chirping and singing . There were many guardians patrolling in the Medicine Valley. It had many mountains and whole area was covered under a barrier without token of Medicine Valley , nobody can enter. Medicine King was a Late Stage Nascent Soul cultivator; medicine valley has many techniques to grow medicinal plants faster.
There was a vast gate in front of Medicine Valley, which was the only entry and exit path of the Medicine Valley Forest. Public had confusion for Medicine Valley, that in Medicine Valley, they can found medicinal plants everywhere, but fact was that, they had to search medicinal plants in the valley; valley itself was a vast forest which was preserved by elders of Medicine Valley.
In front of Medicine valley, there was a huge city called as 'Yaowu city under Medicine Valley' with many magnificent pavilions and buildings for trade of Medicines, Medicinal pills, exotic elemental materials for forging artifacts. There were varied precious ores, charms, wines, delicacies and many cultivation resources and their supply; the main form of currency were medicinal pills or spirit stones.
In front of the gate of city, there was an Administration courtyard, where visitors have to register themselves and to enter 'Medicine Valley Forest', they have to obtain token and these tokens were only given on special events to outsiders; otherwise outsiders were not allowed to enter. Only disciples of Medicine Valley were allowed to obtain token to enter 'Medicine Valley Forest' with elders permission.
Team of Lin Sophie landed near the administration courtyard, where already mounts of of other teams were landed; it seemed there were more than 1000 mounts. As they dismounted and stretched themselves, there was a lot of crowd, where many teams were waiting and it was very lively. Li Reiju asked, ''elder sister Sophie, you said that we were here to complete task of collecting medicines, but the scenario of this place is very different, as if there is a festival or event of some kind, what is happening?'' Elder Me Neha spoke, '' kids, this is a task for you by 'Mei Sect' i.e to participate in this event of Medicine Valley and it is also a Tournament of Medicine Valley . Team Leader, wanted you all to participate in it for experience to learn new things, to identify new plants, herbs, leaves, shrubs, trees, tubers and many more common and exotic medicinal plants, which will be helpful for your growth and experience. The most important point is, you will gain experience, when you are alone and nobody is there to help you, in those lonely situations. This knowledge will also guide for your development; by applying this knowledge, you will be able to move further on the path of cultivation, you will be independent and it's part of your training. Winning and losing is not important, it is a voluntary task given by sect, you just have to try your best''.
Other elder, Ji Rem also spoke, '' there is one more thing you should know, the more medicine you collect, the more credit point you will earn; later there is a chance to be in the category of winners and they can purchase medicine through their earned credit points.1stwinner will get 80% discount on medicine purchases and 2000 High grade spirit stones, 2nd Winner 70% discount and 1000 High grade spirit stones, 3rd winner 60% and 500 High grade spirit stones and remaining Top 10 participants will get 50% discount and other participants will get discount of 20% on the purchase of Medicines. Beside these things, Top 10 participants will get a opportunity to be disciples of Medicine Valley. So, credit point is the currency to purchase medicines here; thus, the more medicines you collect, the more credit points will be obtained. Therefore, this tournament is about medicine collection and trading of credit points, in exchange of medicines in Medicine Valley''.
Elder Ji Rem further explains, '' 'Tournament of Medicine Valley', it happens every two years to collect medicine. All the credit points are added to tokens; it is an event for 10 days, in which the highest credit point participant will be awarded by Medicine King. There are specific credit points, according to different realms of medicines, such as for, Tempered Body Realm, there are 10 credit points; for Qi Condensation Realm, there are 50 credit points; for Foundation Establishment Realm, there are 200 credit points; for Core Formation Realm, there are 1000 credit points which are rare medicines; for Nascent Soul Realm, there are 10,000 credit points, which are very rare medicines. There is also one more legendary medicine medicine, which I don't know, anybody has found it yet, it is a Soul Transformation Realm, there, are 1,00,000 credit points for it, but till now, nobody has found it; if it is found, it will be a miracle''. listening to Ji Rem elder, Ashu asked, ''if it's a legendary Medicine that nobody has found, then elder why are you telling us about it ?'' Elder Ji Rem smilingly looked at Ashu, and told,'' I have heard, Medicine King talking about it and he believes there is a secret territory in Medicine Valley, where there is a chance that Soul Transformation Realm medicine fruit is growing on a tree called Gelidem Tree. It's fruits are peach type, it helps 'Peak Nascent Soul Cultivators' to breakthrough to 'Early Soul Transformation Realm' and nobody knows, the region of secret territory. Everytime, during 'Tournament of Medicine Valley', many participants try to explore the region of 'Medicine Valley Forest' and make map, according to their experience but it's of no use because everytime location changes, due to arrays and the most difficult aspect of this tournament is that, participants are Tempered Body Realm cultivators''.
Childrens now understood, about task of Medicine Collection; elder sister, also reminded them by telling, '' you don't have to worry too much, about your safety in the Medicine Valley. This Medicine Valley is controlled by Medicine King, Kun Shruti; which is a King Alchemist. So, guardians here patrol regularly, and if you felt any danger in the competition, you can press the token and you will be immediately teleported out from the competition; it will be count as your lose and your ranking will be based on your credit points earned. You have to understand that medicinal plants are precious treasures of Heaven and Earth; these treasures are guarded by demon beasts. Generally, participants are of Tempered Body Realm from various sects in this tournament. Their disciples are here for same purpose as us, i.e for experience. Demon beasts are intelligent, vicious and cruel, either you have to kill them or trick them to obtain medicinal plants; danger varies, according to the various realms of Medicine.
''There are danger zones in which survival is difficult; don't try to be too greedy. Try to survive and hide or run away, if you can't handle the opponent, because you all are still child. There will be lots of opportunities for your vengeance, because your survival is important. Don't be over confident and never consider yourself over smart; in this Tournament, opponents will try to rob through suppression, by showing their dominance or cultivation. There are two strategies for survival and to obtain credit points which are 'Team Work' and 'Loner'. Team work needs strong cultivation individual to be leader and through their leadership and strategies, they can defeat an opponent which is much stronger than them; certainly, there are benefits of team work, i.e they will have a good network, for source of information and through cooperation, their overall team strength increases and opponents strength gradually reduces and they are not bullied by strong individuals but there are few problems to regulate a team, i.e they have to share their credit points with other team members because it was obtained by overall team cooperation, so the profit is less; they have to maintain discipline and there are often traitors in team, which leaks out the location of team and many times they are raided by other strong team, which leads to extinction of team; therefore there are pros and cons in 'Team Work'.
''Some people will work in team and try to trap 'Loner' individuals; you will think, what is their need to be alone, during tournament ? Well, there are lots of benefits, if you want to collect more credit points, you have to be 'Loner', because then you don't have to share anything to anybody and you will have all the shares, but 'Loners' need to be strong in cultivation, because if they are surrounded by few teams and are unable to escape,they will expend their energy, as time increases; later, they have to surrender or they will have to use their token for escape out of tournament, which will be count as their losing. So, you need to be strong for to face such traps of groups; there is another benefit of being 'Loner', that they can hide easily and if they don't create troubles for others, they can hide till tournament ends and their safety is ensured but if 'Loner' wants to win tournament, they need to be strong because fights are inevitable. 'Loners', will have to depend on themselves for source of information; therefore, you have to calculate, analyse and predict your move according to overall situation and remain alert all the time.
'' In this competition, in fightings are allowed, but killing other opponent is deemed as Disqualification from Tournament and with additional punishment form Medicine Valley. If someone is accidentally critically injured and unable to continue tournament, then Medicine Valley elders will notice them and send them out of the Tournament. You have to use your intelligence and wits to collect medicine, if you are not strong enough; don't worry there will be lots of chances to collect medicines''.
Team Leader Sophie looked at children and said, '' Kids, now you have to perform your best and from this tournament, if we are able to get more profits, then our courtyard ranking will be increased as well and we will also get rewards from sect; therefore, good luck and remember to hold your anger, if you are not able to handle your opponent, because your life is more precious to me; we can beat the crap out of them later, it's never too late for vengeance. Let's go''.
As they were moving towards the gate of courtyard; in crowd, another team came in front of them, whose Team leader was a charming young women of 24 years of age, called as Kun Mengmei. Her hair were red, blue eyes, bright complexion; her dress had a symbol of cauldron on her back, wearing purple robe with 6 young childrens, all wearing white robe with cauldron on their back. she stood, in front of Lin Sophie and spoke in a irritating and teasing voice, '' Well, Well, isn't this our star of 'Mei Sect'; Team Leader Lin Sophie, I thought, you would not come to this tournament, because you were scared. Last time, I wasn't able to defeat you, in flute city, but remember in this tournament, my team will be Winner''. Sophie, expected this, because in her previous tournament in Flute city's Martial Tournament of 'Rezan Nation', where she was 1st in Tournament from 'Mei Sect' and 2nd was Kun Mengmei, from Medicine Valley; Medicine Valley is an Alchemy sect, but they are also strong in Martial arts. They are leading in, for Trade centre for Medicines and Alchemy in 'Haim Nation'; 3rd was Su Reiko from 'Umbaryu Sect'. After her defeat, Mengmei and sophie became good friends, but rivals also. So, in this competition, Mengmei also participated with her team; she knew, that Sophie will come.
'' Well, our Madam of Medicine Valley' is the daughter of Medicine King, but that doesn't mean our Medicine King is a biased person. So, remember Team Leader Kun Mengmei; my team is also strong and capable, therefore don't forget, my team will be Winner'', saying this Sophie and Mengmei both looked each other, there was a tense atmosphere as if Sparks were emitting from the collision of their aura; suddenly their facial expressions changed, both laughed and hugged each other; their laughter was heard in the courtyard, like chimes of musical instruments and tense atmosphere vanished.
As the team entered courtyard, there was a busy middle aged women with her assistants, doing administration duty, Aunt Mu Xing on the counter of reception of Courtyard. Sophie's team registered themselves in Courtyard and got their tokens and Spatial storage bags to store Medicinal Plants. Team of Lin Sophie, had to purchase tokens and storage bags of 3000 spirit stones due to 6 childrens being participants. These tokens will automatically scan medicinal plants and convert them into credit points value and the ranking will be updated automatically. All tokens will share their information to the source and calculate ranking accordingly; this ranking, will be displayed on a screen in the plaza of 'Yaowu City' to the audience. This screen is an artifact, which projects images and runs on spirit stones.
In this Scenario, all teams, especially both teams of Sophie and Mengmei were evaluating, each others strength. There were 4 girls and two boys in Mengmei's team. Mengmei asked, '' Sophie, yours team has come from so far, let me arrange your accommodation, competition will start from tomorrow for 10 days''. Then she brought their team to a elegant courtyard in the city and said to servants of courtyard, '' These are our guests, and competition will start tomorrow; take good care of them. Sophie, We will have to gather tomorrow at plaza of 'Yaowu city', which is a gathering point for all participants; from there, departure and competition will begin'', saying this Mengmei left.
This type of accommodation was provided to all teams, but this courtyard was special due to Mengmei's arrangements. Spirit qi was dense and security was very strict and their were servants for any help. All team members accommodated and started doing, tomorrow's preparation. Sophie, told them, ''all the information related to plants is a all available in token, just enter your spiritual energy, you will be able to see; information on participants and your ranking status in the tournament will be seen by you through token, with little spiritual energy and keep your storage bag safe''. Spiritual energy is a energy, which is formed in every living being at birth and later developed in life; it is also called consciousness, later it evolves into Divine sense and further many evolutions happens, on the path of cultivation.
Members of Sophie's team, read all the information in token, such as Rules, Description of Plants, Participants name, identity and cultivation. Finally, Tara spoke, '' Sister let's rest for today and have a meal, we are really hungry''. An Ren also spoke, ''yes sister, let's rest today, because rest is also part of preparation''. Sophie said while teasing,'' you kids are just worried about your appetite and rest; do you even worry about your elder sister's respect ? If I lost to that girl Mengmei, she will flaunt to the world, for her success; you better prepare yourselves. Have meal and go to rest, you all must be tired from journey''. Servants served their meal and everyone went for sleep; guardian elders were still alert and patrolling in the premises. Ashu and Tara played in the evening, but elder sister Vant Temala, made them study information again. Later in evening, they roamed in 'Yaowu City' with all team members and met many teams of various sects, while understanding cultivation of opponents. They also met again with Mengmei in evening; she invited our team for dinner in 'Phoenix Pavilion', a lavish restaurant. Sophie and Mengmei, were both dazzling, but they still teased each other. Everyone was anticipating for tomorrow, when tournament will officially begin. With these thoughts, team of Sophie returned and rested; therefore, with the increase of every hour, fierceness of competition increased more and excitement was blooming in heart of participants and gradually Night ended.
