We Celebrate The Lunar [II]

The first of the dignitaries were from Fountain-Fox, the nearest village to Sky-Spring. The residents of the two villages were well familiar with one another due to the regular trades being carried out between the two villages. Most of the Fountain-Fox villagers were hunters while farming is the occupation of most people in Sky-Spring. Hence, the needs to exchange goods frequently.

Wearing a blue and white robe, the massive frame of the Fountain-Fox village's chieftain appeared regal as he spread his hands with a big smile. Jiang Bin, a peak-stage silver core cultivator who had been advancing rapidly but became stuck at the gates of the golden core formation. His troubles regarding the bottleneck was a general knowledge.

Alongside him were the other two silver core cultivators. One was Yun Wu You, a late stage copper core cultivator. Ranked tenth among the salients, he was affiliated with the water element. While the other was Tu Yun Fan, the third ranked salient of the peak-stage copper core who cultivates the air and ice elements.

"Tu Yun Fan."

Chu Shang Wu slowly voiced with his mindvoice as they neared the dignitaries of Fountain-Fox. The day he had been waiting for was finally here. He had resolved to make Tu Yun Fan crawl back to his rightful position which was behind him, Chu Shang Wu. His loss, a thousand years ago, was still difficult for him to accept. Anyway, now he would make it right.

As Chu Shang Wu's body began to emit powerful terrain energy, Zhang Xiu Ying quickly covered her son with protective layers of shield just as her parents were activating their own shields too. Seeing the proceedings, Zhang Xiu Ying swiftly moved her son to one side and in the hands of his grandparents.

"Hehehe."

Tu Yun Fan laughed heartedly before replying in a low tone as the two met.

"Chu Shang Wu, how good to see you. You look better than the last time I saw you."

Standing at a distance from each other, the two of them had already began their own challenge before the start of the competition. As the energy gathered around them, the air surrounding them began to grow heavy, making the ground trembled slightly.

"Will you two be courteous?"

Chieftain Jiang Bin uttered with a smile while staring mildly at the two cultivators while gesturing towards the center of the plain. Although their collision wouldn't cause much destruction to their surroundings, the uncontrolled energy could massively impact the low-level salients. Again, it would be a great development to make sure Sky-Spring village stayed in their position behind them.

Slowly, the gathered energy dissipated and the vibrating ground settled back to its previous state. Chu Shang Wu and Tu Yin Fan nodded in agreement before disappearing in the direction of the open transparent dimensional space at the center of the plain.

The Haven-Guard open dimensional space.

There were two different kinds of open dimensional spaces, protecting the structural existence of the universe. The Haven-Guard and the Death-Keep.

The Haven-Guard was a dimensional space made by the most powerful cultivators of each plane, consisting of all the existing elements together with the rings of cosmic life. The mortal Haven-Guard made by the hegemons, the Nether Haven-Guard crafted by the daimons, and the heavenly Haven-Guard designed by the celestials.

The dimensional space provided the necessary protection and elements to the friendly combatants and their surroundings. Most importantly, if cultivators were to die inside the dimensional space, they would dissipate into the lights of life and materialize outside the dimensional space.

While the Death-Keep was a dimensional space created by the cosmic core to control the catastrophic energies dispersed during a real raging battle. In a death battle of greater powers, their killing intents and energies would generate the death aura which would activate the Death-Keep dimensional space around the battling forces. Unlike the Haven-Guard dimensional space, any cultivator that died inside the Death-Keep would not be respawned outside the dimensional space.

Zhang Xiu Ying observed the two copper rings with a bemused look before shaking her head slightly.

"What's with those two?"

Zhang Xiu Ying asked as she turned towards chieftain Huan Yu who slowly nodded his head in response.

"Honour, lady Zhang. Honour."

As Chu Shang Wu and Tu Yin Fan entered the transparent dimensional space, all the dignitaries fixed their eyes on the friendly battle about to take place.

Although it was better to test the strength of an opponent in a series of moves before using the top moves, the quick use of the ultimate moves would ensure a quick victory. With his eyes set on his opponent, Chu Shang Wu brought out his giant war-hammer. He jumped into the mid-air and performed a full-circle spin before descending.

As he returned to the ground, the passage of the hammer caused the air to tremble uncontrollably which resulted in a massive terran eruption as he slammed the hammer on the ground. The erupted energy transformed into a giant yellow skull which took off in the opposite direction.

Bane Of The Terran Ghost.

At the same time, Tu Yun Fan displayed a long blue spear with its pointed tip facing the sky. Enormous amount of energy gathered at the sharp edge of the spear which began to make a throbbing sound. Tu Yin Fan slowly lowered his spear and thrust it forward. A small blue shaft shot forward from the tip of the spear which tore rifts in the fabrics of the dimensional space.

Curse Of The Frozen Air.

There was an enormous crackling sound as the two techniques collided in a blinding light. When the light receded, the two cultivators found themselves outside the dimensional space, wondering what had happened to them.

"Well, it appears the two of you are evenly matched this time. We now have to get used to two third-ranked golden cores."

Jiang Bin said as he let out a long suffering sigh. He slowly shook his head when he saw the broad smile on the face of Huan Yu who couldn't help himself from smiling.

"Yun Fan, it looks like you'll be sharing the third position with Shang Wu for the next thousand years."

"Come on, Jiang Bin. Having two third-ranked silver cores isn't that bad, is it?"

Huan Yu said with a wider smile as Jiang Bin continued to shake his head.

Joining the others from Sky-Spring village Chu Shang Wu let out a soft breath in disappointment. He had hoped to put the ghost of Tu Yun Fan behind him, but now, he would have to live with it for another thousand years.

"That was really powerful, Shang Wu. You would've won any other day."

Zhang Xiu Ying nodded at Chu Shang Wu before glancing at their chieftain who also nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Lady Zhang

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Shang Wu. Tu Yin Fan was a great opponent too. The next time you meet, you'll surely be victorious."

Away from the Fountain-Fox dignitaries, they were introduced to the other village chieftains and their copper rings cultivators. Li Zhi Ruo, the fifth ranked late-stage silver core from Rain-Water village, sent out her congratulations through the mind voice, and indicated she wouldn't be challenging . And with that, the position for the third rank was settled before the sparring competition even began.