The Competition

Zhao Song woke up early in the morning, brushed his teeth, freshened up, had a hearty meal before wrapping the fur of the inferior fierce beast Flame Bear around his shoulders and leaving his house. He came to the mountain where his junior brother was residing. It had been roughly a month since the master, he himself, and his junior brother had gone into secluded cultivation. It was time to come out now.

He started climbing up the mountain. He looked around, seeing so many animals and greenery on the mountain. As he went further up, however, he squinted his eyes. He was beginning to sense something different about the place. It was a pleasant feeling. He narrowed his eyes.

'Unless I'm sorely mistaken, this mountain has denser spiritual qi than any other place in the mountain.' His mind started to wander as he thought about how the master and the village chief had come here back then. Both of them were cultivators of the 4th level of body forging realm. Surely, what Zhao Song was guessing at, they could have definitely felt it.

'Forget it, I'll ask Master about it if he shows up today.'

As he was thinking about this a small house came into his sight. Jiang Ting was standing outside in turquoise martial arts attire, getting ready to leave. He locked eyes with Zhao Song, "Let's go together, senior brother."

"Sure."

* * *

The academy was bustling. Roughly twenty training grounds were merged together for the day's events. All people from the village, all students from all the 3 wings of the academy were all gathered there. It was the day of the competition.

The competition was an age-old tradition established by the ancestor when he set up Fudi Academy. It was held once every five years, and was a chance for all students to prove their mettle, and to show the results of their training over the past five years.

Based on the results of the competition, the students would be ranked, and according to their rankings they would receive a different tier of rewards. The first ranked student, in addition to the resources awarded, would also get the chance to be taken in as a disciple by the headmaster. The top 8 students would get the chance to be taken in as a disciple by the core elders. For the next 5 years, these students would be nurtured with the best available resources.

Such nurture was not to be underestimated. In addition to these 5 years of training, these students would be the top talents of their generation, as such, those ranked in the top 8 in the competition were basically guaranteed to reach the third level of the body forging realm, becoming elders of the village. Furthermore, if the students of the village performed well later on, they would even get the opportunity to go to superior holy lands for training. To any cultivator, this was a near fatal attraction.

Therefore, every time the competition rolled around, the students of the academy would put in their very best in order to secure a good ranking.

All of a sudden, the crowd went silent. From the direction of the Library, a group of elders walked out. The appearance of the elders surprised everyone.

Zhao Song and Jiang Ting had just arrived at this point, and were standing at the edge of the crowd. Zhao Song, with his level of training, possessed keen eyesight and could identify everyone from there. Jiang Ting, courtesy of the Dragon Body Technique, possessed a similarly sharp vision.

Zhao Song couldn't help but gasp in surprise when he saw the lineup of elders.

"What's up, senior brother? Anything wrong?"

"The elders, they are all here."

Jiang Ting was confused. "Shouldn't they all be here? It is the most important event held in the village after all."

Zhao Song shook his head, "You don't understand, junior brother. Most of the core elders were actually outside the village on a mission this time, and weren't expected to come back in time for the event." He then lowered his voice to a whisper. "Junior brother, I actually heard from the administrative elder a couple months ago that two of the core elders, along with their disciples, had gone missing outside the village. Their trails disappeared near the nest of a middle grade fierce beast, Thunder Falcon. They were presumed dead."

Jiang Ting was surprised," These Thunder Falcons, were they stronger than the core elders? What level were they at?" His confusion was understandable. Fierce beasts in the body forging realm were divided into 3 ranks- inferior grade fierce beasts with strength falling within the first three levels of body forging realm for human cultivators, middle grade fierce beasts with strength falling within the middle three levels of body forging realm for human cultivators, and advanced grade fierce beasts, with strength falling within the final three levels of body forging realm for human cultivators. Fierce beasts were only known for their strong physiques. They lacked technique and intelligence, thus becoming prey to human cultivators of the same level. Two core elders together should have been able to beat back a thunder falcon with the strength of a human level 5 body forging realm expert. A thunder falcon equivalent to a human level 6 body forging realm, meanwhile, had never appeared anywhere near Fudi in his past life.

"Junior brother, I don't know exactly what happened either, I guess we can only ask the master later. Either way, their safe return is a good thing." Jiang Ting nodded in agreement.

At this time, the elders took their seats on a stage built at one end of the competition grounds. The stage was at a certain degree of elevation, since the grounds were divided up so as to create ten combat arenas at once. Being at that elevation would allow the elders to look at all the arenas simultaneously. This way, if a student performed well, they may catch the eye of a core elder. As a result, it served to motivate the students further.