Chapter 22: Don’t

The competition for seven holy lands will go on for about 3 days and after that, for 3 days the smaller powers fight for the other 30 places under the gazes of seven holy lands and after that, there are two days of rest and recuperation and after that, you would tackle the trial.

The reason behind the 2 days of recuperation is that even with pills and potions some things need time to get fixed so these days are for more rest and in turn getting better results.

“Well you can say that the seven holy lands are resting for 5 days, but no one would tell it to their faces so you can rest with peace of mind…” Yuan Jia finished her explanation.

‘Of course, they wouldn’t…’ Li Huang snorted.

Thinking about the competition, I had some questions about the process of selecting participants.

“By the way big sister Jia, how do the others get selected to participate in these challenges for 10 positions?” I asked her. Although it doesn’t affect me, I want to know who I will be going against.

“With spars. In each court, 50 top candidates would be selected that of course are in the valid criteria and they would travel to the [Eternal Wail Chasm] and there they would select the final 10.” Yuan Jia explained.

So they would select the best in the outer court, inner court, and core court. After this selection, they would be competing with each other in the [Eternal Wail Chasm] to gain one of the 10 places.

It might seem unfair to bundle up outer court, inner court, and core court disciples in a competition but you have to remember that they are all in the same age range and same cultivation range. The only thing that could be out of the equation is the level of body cultivation, but because the age range is constant, there is a hard limit on this factor too.

If you look at it this way, there is a high chance of some outer court disciples having some gains from this. In this competition, they can show their talent and get to be chosen for inner or core courts.

Even if you don’t get to go to the trials you have gained from watching the spars of the best geniuses of your generation so this is a very sought-after thing for every disciple in the sect.

In fact, there are many disciples who don’t fight for the so-called thrones but they try to gain some insights from the fights and further their way of the sword, and in all honesty that is one of the best things that you could get from the trial even before the trial starts.

Many cultivators from the smaller powers do this too. Each of them might be using a weapon that is the main pillar of one of the seven holy lands, so by watching their fights they can also further their understanding and gain a very valuable improvement to their techniques.

As I was using my paranoia to think of the worst shit that could happen, Hu Anjing spoke and took me out of my thoughts.

“But sister Jia, why don’t the seven holy lands get more places? Are there really 30 geniuses as good as our holy land disciples?” she asked with a confused look.

“Well, we could do that but that would affect our face in the minds of ordinary peoples and it is not like we let them have it without any leverage.” Yuan Jia answered and shrugged.

This revelation intrigued me.

“What kind of leverage do we have over them?” I couldn’t help but ask her.

“A leverage that would let us get their thrones…” she grinned.

“What the fuck?” I muttered unconsciously, I was dumbfounded that we could just take their thrones.

“Language, Huang.” Yuan Jia lectured sternly.

“My apologies milady.” Putting my right hand on my chest I bowed a little.

“Whatever.” This time she didn’t even bother to ask about what the hell ‘milady’ is supposed to mean.

“Well, the rule is that if the 11th place of one of the holy lands can defeat at least more than half of the top 7 disciples of the smaller powers, we can also fight for their thrones.” She continued with her explanation.

She told us that there is an 11th throne and the one on it has to fight one of the top 7 disciples that are from the smaller powers and in case that 4 or more of them win against their foes we can challenge them for their 30 thrones too.

This is us giving them an opportunity and then telling them you are not strong enough so we use it instead.

Well, it is not like we would win all the time and they have some good geniuses so they can keep their positions most of the time.

“It is a good rule to have. If they can’t even win our reserve team, they could not hope for any gains in the trials and it is better to give this chance to someone who is worthy of it…” I nodded at Yuan Jia.

In a world that strength is everything, you can’t expect to keep something valuable without having the necessary power to do so.

Feeling eager to train I slapped my knee and stood up.

“So it is better that we start training.” I told them to get them to train.

What? I’m not a training maniac but let me give you a hint. What is going to happen to a poorly trained ‘young master’ in a big gathering?

Yes. He gets face slapped and I have no intention of letting it happen.

Nodding to myself for my genius in foreseeing this event I looked at Yuan Jia and Hu Anjing, waiting for their answers.

“Umm… there is no ‘we’ this time…” Yuan Jia said with a dry smile.

“What?” shocked, I narrowed my eyes.

“I mean that… you won’t be training with Anjing this time.” She said while she averted my eyes.

“I know that Anjing needs to grow up independent but what the hell is ‘this time’ all about?” I asked her with my eyes narrowed more. Something isn’t right here…

Hu Anjing looked at me to tell me that she is not a child but Yuan Jia spoke before her.

“I am not supposed to tell you this…” Yuan Jia looked at me with… pity?

“But?” I urged her to continue.

“You will be training with the master.” She told me in one breath.

‘Well, Fuck my life.’ I thought.

“For the whole week?” Trying to look calm and failing miserably I asked Yuan Jia.

I know the answer would be yes but I needed to make sure. There is always hope.

“…Yes.” Yuan Jia answered.

There is no hope.

Grandpa Long trained Yuan Jia Hard too but my training was a level harder. Why? Some bullshit about being a descendant of the Li family and making him proud and something about my parents only leaving me for him and I have to be better and shit…

“I know I should have gone to closed-door cultivation when the old man woke up.” I shook my head and blurted out.

I just hope that the old man won’t train me so hard that I go over and past the qualification of the trial…

Looking at Hu Anjing I put my hand on her shoulder.

“I never thought I say this, but I think I am going to miss your throwing hugs.” I told her as if I was leaving my will with her.

Hu Anjing was shellshocked. She never saw me in this way and that was new to her and she didn’t know how to respond.

As she was struggling internally to say something I turned around and walked toward the door.

“Let us meet again… if fate allows it…” I raised my hand as a sign of goodbye.

As I walked out of the courtyard I could feel a familiar Qi signature from the sky.

Yes, above me in the air, there was my grandpa looking at me while floating in the sky.