42. Tribesmen 4

Chen Liju was not dumb and had already realized that someone had purposely spread this news to everyone in a bid to go against her and did not want to implicate someone else especially since he was so nice to her.

So she decided to step forward and show her stance regarding the issue." Good morning everyone I am so sorry to be the cause of all this conflict."

She started and bowed down as a form of apology before going on."Even though I understand what you may be feeling right now I will not give up the chance that was so graciously given to me by you clan leader and so I will be taking part in the selection."

She confidently offered shocking all the people present except for Ye Qingyu who had concealed himself deeply in the crowd hiding away the evil smirk that spread across his lips.

"Are you sure about this?" the old man asked worriedly turning to her. She smiled at him gently and nodded resolutely. She had come up the mountain to train and even though the Ye clan had not been in her plans she would not reject the opportunity that had presented itself to her.

"Do you have any more complaints?" he asked abruptly turning to the man who spoke earlier making fearfully take a step back before shaking his head.

Ye Lin knew he had messed up all his years work of battering up to the clan leader but did not regret as now he had managed to change the way his peers thought of him. The change was quite evident as they consoled and praised him as they left the assembly grounds.

Chen Liju was left with the clan leader after everyone had left and followed him back into the hall where they sat in their previous positions. The tea had long grown cold and was carried away before a fresh pot was served.

She stopped the servant from pouring the old man's tea and did it herself making him smile as he watched her elegantly pour him tea before going back to her seat. They were silent for a while as they drank a few cups of tea.

They were about to start on the next pot when the old man finally spoke up." Do you even know what we test for during the selection?"

He asked as she poured him some tea she stopped her movements for a second before continuing while answering his question." No what do you test for?"

"Talent" he answered watching her go back to her seat before staring at him curiously urging him to continue.

"The first level of the selection is the checking if the spiritual root and only superior grade and special affinity roots proceed. In the second level we test for elemental affinity before checking the spiritual cultivation level.

No one is eliminated during this level but this when we lose many participants as they decided to give up after seeing the others' cultivation levels. After that the duels happen with only the top twenty being picked to enter the training grounds."

He explained in detail making her realize she had a couple of days to actually improve her mediocre spiritual skills before hoping to participate and even win in the selection.

"Did you know that our clan only has water related element users and so you cannot use any other element to compete." he continued shocking her out of her thoughts.

She had thought she could use her measly earth shields to tide through and now hearing it could be used made her realize that this time she had spoke too hastily.

She contemplated telling him about this but decided against it."Okay I will make sure to remember that"

She instead acquiesced and accompanied him for a few more minutes before running back to her room where she immediately went into the small realm to find Ren and ask him what to do.

She did not have to look for him for long as she immediately found him in his office going through some scrolls. She never understood what those were for and pretended not to notice him hide them before telling him what had happened.

He was not shocked by her report and asked her to follow him. She was quiet as she followed him to an unfamiliar hallway that led them to a bunch of steps heading down.

She was not familiar with this part of the mansion and curiously looked around as they walked down before stopping at a door which opened up into a huge arena shocking the breath out of her.

The arena was huge and reminded her if ancient Greek amphitheaters as it was built in a conical shape with thousands of seats dotted round the slope. A massive pentagon shaped stage stood in the center of the base of the cone.

The stage seemed to be hanging off the five bridges connecting it to five different doors one look down revealed a massive pool of water that lay beneath the stage area making it look like a floating sheet off rock.

Wentian didn't seem to be very fascinated as he immediately walked stepped on the bridge and walked further in forcing her to follow behind him with small shaky steps. She could feel her stomach lurch everytime she looked down the bridge at the dark cool pool that lay beneath them.

To make matters worse the bridges had no rails igniting her wild imagination that showed her a motion film of what would happen in the case of an earthquake or typhoon. She also hoped that her clumsy a** would not trip over her own feet on this very dangerous bridge.

Wentian did not seem to notice her actions and briskly walked forward and walked to the center of the stage where a huge stone slab was erected. Seeing him fiddle with it she decided to take a deep breath before focusing her eyes on him and walked to the stage.

Her racing heart finally calmed down once she was on the very sturdy and stage that blocked her view of the water underneath. She quickly walked up to Wentian after calming down and curiously watched him fiddle with before stepping back a mysterious stone slab that seemed to be made from the material that made the stage and the connecting bridges.

She was still confused about what he had been doing and was scared s***less when the ground below her feet started to shift and tremble. The motion was getting more and more intense and she only pretended to be calm after seeing how relaxed Wentian still was.

After a few minutes the shaking stopped she curiously looked around and wondered why nothing had happened before turning to the stone slab that had now transformed into a black shiny surface with some glowing words engraved on it.

"What does it say?" she asked breaking the silence between them and making Wentian turn to her before nodding his head towards the slab.

She hesitantly stepped forward and had just stopped next to the slab when he spoke."This are the rules of the water related combat that you will participating in."

He said shocking her as she turned back to the slab and read through the list of instructions. Which included not using any other element or else she would face severe punishment.

"What is the punishment?" she asked looking up at the calm Wentian.

"The arena chooses depending on the severity of the offense" he answered with a smile making her shiver as he suddenly looked like a psychopath who was calmly telling her how she would die.

She quickly shook off her dread and decisively placed her palm on the hand shaped dent that had formed below the words. Her hand seemed to be too small to cover the entire area but the dent shrunk to fit her hand.

She suddenly felt something move against her skin before she felt a stab of pain making her quickly pull away and stare down at the tiny prick that now lay on the fleshy part of her palm. A bright red drop of blood bubbled onto her palm making her wonder why the slab had taken a drop of her blood.

She even looked up at Wentian who was still as calm as ever making her understand what was going on."So who am I going to duel against?"

She asked after licking off the drop of blood filling her mouth with the slight irony taste making her saliva pool. Wentian did not have to answer as an unfamiliar man suddenly appeared at the door they had used initially and quickly matched up to them.

He was a head taller than the already tall Wentian and reminded her of a soldier due to his aura and black clothing that looked as if he was ready for a fight. His hair was short and well kept with no sign of a misplaced strand.

"This is Chu Jiangsu he is a water element practitioner and will be helping in your training." Wentian introduced a few seconds after Chu Jiangsu had walked up to them.

"Good afternoon young miss I hope you don't mind my disrespect for the next couple of days." he amicably introduced with his deep voice.

"I will also be under your care from now on." she smilingly responded before watching him place his huge palm in the dent that had not been used by her.

She subconsciously stared at his face as she knew he was getting pricked and was disappointed when he did not flinch. Seeing this made her feel both apprehensive and excited as it meant he would be a challenge to face but would benefit her greatly at the same time.

The words on the slab suddenly started to glow brightly the moment he pulled back his hand startling her as she watched them quickly swirl around for a while before quickly morphing together in the center emitting an even brighter light causing her to close her eyes.