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Li Zhu cultivated for a week straight in Spirit Palace, not wasting any precious time. Buddy was also with him, as summons were allowed in the "palace" without the need to pay an extra fee.

Yu Hui, instead, after giving Li Zhu the amount of spirit stones required to pay for a week, left, wanting to return to his business as an alchemist salesperson.

'I will definitely return here in the future!" thought Li Zhu, as he looked around himself, admiring the beauty of Spirit Palace.

Since it was a massive dome shaped building, the sect had left the natural environment of the peak in the palace, which was sprawling with trees and flowers.

Each cultivator that entered could simply choose a spot to cultivate, and do so in peace, since there was enough room for hundreds of disciples to move around freely.

Cultivation in the palace was much faster, which made it the most popular training area in the sect, though most disciples could only afford it for a few weeks at a time, and that was assuming they constantly went on missions.

Although it was a system that favored the rich, the Flaming Saber Sect did need funding after all, and there was not enough heavenly energy in the spirit spring for everyone to share. Every Inner disciple as well as every elder received an allowance from the sect in the form of spirit stones, meant to aid cultivation and increase the prowess of the sect as a whole. Because of this, the sect also required a massive quantity of spirit stones, to gather which they found ways such as the fee for entering Spirit Palace.

'Time to enter the tournament!' thought Li Zhu, realizing it started today, and he still needed to sign up.

Yu Hui had told him where the tournament was held, which was a collection of peaks east of Phoenix Peak, all with imposing arenas, sturdy enough that even fights between inner disciples at the core consolidating realm were held here, without any damage being caused.

As he reached the Glory peaks, as they had been named hundreds of years prior, Li Zhu noticed that thousands of disciples formed a crowd, entering the different arenas or signing up at the last moment.

There were a few thousand disciples in Flaming Saber sect, and most of them were part of the outer sect, in the lower stages of cultivation. Close to all outer sect disciples participated in the inner sect tournament, even though only the top ten would actually enter the inner sect. This was due to the other rewards which could be won by weaker disciples, and the chance to impress elders, most of which were spectating the fights.

There were many sign up booths scattered around the different peaks, each with long lines having formed in front of them.

Li Zhu was not impatient, and he simply waited in line, knowing that he would eventually reach the front.

Although there were many people in line, the workers at the booths were quick, and soon it was Li Zhu's turn.

"Name, cultivation, and stage you want to fight against..." a middle aged man with a nasal voice was sitting at the booth, as he asked Li Zhu his information.

"Li Zhu, eighth stage, ninth stage" Li Zhu said, having already expected what information he needed to give, since Yu Hui had explained it all to him.

Since there were a few talented disciples who could fight people at higher stages than them, the sect gave everyone the opportunity to choose the stage of cultivation of the enemies they would fight.

Of course, one couldn't choose to fight against weaker people than themselves, but if they felt confident they could try to fight stronger people. Not many disciples actually took this opportunity, since the ability to jump stages in a fight was extremely rare, yet some people simply took the risk to impress elders with their bravery.

Hearing that Li Zhu wanted to fight against ninth stage cultivators, the middle aged man chuckled, thinking to himself, 'Another fool trying to impress... hasn't he heard that people have died jumping stages?'

Although killing was not allowed in the tournaments, the disciples were after all fighting with all their strength, and occasionally someone would die before the elders could step in. Usually, people who fought against stages higher than themselves were the most likely to die in such a way, since their opponents couldn't properly control their strength.

Although the booth operator knew this, he stayed quiet, simply carving the information Li Zhu had given him on a small, silver token, before handing it over.

"head over to the black arena, fighting starts in two hours" said the man, before turning his attention towards the person behind Li Zhu.

The arenas were color coded, according to the cultivation which they could hold up against. The black arena was the strongest and also the smallest, since there were much fewer people at the ninth stage than all the other stages.

Li Zhu quickly headed over to the arena, which had pitch black walls, with a massive stone floor, reinforced with defensive formations, to avoid any damage.

In the arena, there were about a hundred disciples sitting around the edge of the stone platform, most of them cultivating or meditating, to reach the optimal condition for fighting.

The stands were raised above the arena, and blocked off with pitch black fences, sturdy enough that the spectators couldn't descend to the arena without permission. Sitting on the stands there were a few hundred people, waiting in excitement to watch the battles between ninth stage cultivators.

The tournament lasted many days, with the first one being dedicated to ninth stage cultivators, who were the main focus of the entire event, since the top ten could enter the inner sect and receive incredible treasures.

Even the disciples that fought on other days would come to watch the fights between ninth stage cultivators, since they were generally more exciting to spectate that lower strength battles. Furthermore, elders also watched the fights, each of them sitting in a custom room at the bottom of the stands, blocked off from other disciples.

Seeing the lively atmosphere, Li Zhu began to feel excited. As the crown prince, he had often fought in tournaments, and he found the feeling of adrenaline rushing through his veins exhilarating. When fighting in front of hundreds or even thousands of people, it was a completely different experience than normal battles, to the point that often you would not even feel pain, at least until the fight was over and your mind calmed down.

On the sidelines of the platform, Li Zhu also spotted Hua Shu, who was silently cultivating. Not wanting to interrupt her, he simply sat a yard from her, as he awaited the start of the tournament.

"Hi, Li Zhu, you finally got here?" it seemed as though he was not sneaky enough, since Hua SHu easily sensed his presence, opening her eyes and talking to him.

"Yeah, I was cultivating in Spirit palace... you should visit that place, since it helps cultivation!" replied Li Zhu, moving closer to Hua Shu.

"Do you know how the tournament works?" he asked, since Yu Hui had refused to give him any information.

"Every year is different, so we will have to wait for the elder who looks over the tournament to explain the rules" said Hua Shu, a look of excitement crossing her eyes.

'I guess that's why he wouldn't tell me!' thought Li Zhu, realizing that Yu Hui was probably one of the few people that actually knew the rules before hand, since he was the disciple of the Grand elder.

For the next two hours, Li Zhu and Hua Shu talked about the competition, as well as checking out their opponents, to find out as much as they could before the fight.

The time passed quickly, as the stands got increasingly more crowded, with disciples now having trouble finding places to sit.

Finally, exactly two hours after Li Zhu got his token, a middle aged woman flew to the center of the arena, clearly having been chosen as the judge elder for this year's tournament.

"Hello, disciples of the Flaming Saber sect!" her voice could be clearly heard everywhere in the arena, as she used her cultivation to amplify the sound.

"You are all here today to learn through fighting, and prove your worth and talent to the sect. If you fight your way to the top, you can win immeasurable rewards and Glory, and if you lose you shall remember this day with shame. As long as you have the determination to grow strong, though, regardless of today's result, you shall!". The elder had decided to begin with an inspiring speech, as she knew that most disciples would be discouraged after today. This could potentially bring down the strength of the Flaming Saber sect as a whole, if the disciples did not have strong enough willpower, and stopped putting in effort.

"That said, the competition needs to begin! The first round will be a preliminary round, intended to bring out the talents from the ninth stage disciples. All participants will be divided into two groups, with about fifty disciples each. Each group will then enter the arena, and the disciples will fight until there are only twenty remaining participants in their group. If you received a Bronze token, you will be in group two, and if you received a Silver token, you are in group one, and will now fight!"