Splash-! Splash-! Splash-!
Three individuals leapt out of the plunge pool beneath a short waterfall, landing firmly on the rocky shore. They each summoned a wave of energy, immediately returning their drenched appearances to a dry state.
With their emergence, chatter immediately started among the small crowd that had gathered around.
“They are back! Did they do it?”
“Just look at the satisfied look on their faces. I’m sure they succeeded.”
Thank you for your well wishes, everyone. We have indeed managed to enter the underwater cave and obtained a few small rewards. Let’s all do our best to obtain greater treasures from the rest of the mystic realm,” the man said with an amiable smile.
Donned in light chainmail and exuding an aura comprising both righteousness and might, he resembled a young general ready to charge straight into war.
His words drew mixed emotions among the crowd, many of whom feeling nothing but envy.
After all, most of them had also tried to enter the underwater cave earlier. Unfortunately, none of them had managed to breach the energy barrier at the entrance.
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“He might be a core disciple, but his cultivation level is not that high either,” another spectator rebutted. “Perhaps the key to entering this underwater cave isn’t through forceful entry, but by relying on greater talent to find a special way in.”
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They might have felt bad if another inner disciple managed to obtain something when they had failed to do so, but a core disciple doing so was another matter altogether.
Core disciples had always held a nigh unreachable status in the hearts of other disciples, thought to be capable of fetching the moon and plucking the stars.
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It was a rather ordinary-looking young man, sporting short black hair and dressed in neat battle robes with a sword hanging by his waist.
There was an excited light in his eyes, apparent to all three in Qi Yi’s party as he confidently matched their gazes.
“Crimson Sword Cheng Kai!” one of the spectators subconsciously blurted out the other party’s name.
Those in the crowd immediately felt uncomfortable upon hearing his name, and that included those from the Black Tortoise Sect.
However, Qi Yi was unfazed and promptly clasped his fists towards Cheng Kai. “I have heard of Brother Cheng’s great name for a while now. May I know if there is something that you wish to speak to me about today?”
Yes,” Cheng Kai smirked while taking a step forward. “Either hand over the treasures that you just obtained, or get ready for a good beating.”
Qi Yi furrowed his brows, the amiable expression from earlier instantly disappearing from his face.
From the fighting intent that Cheng Kai was emanating in an unbridled manner, he could tell that the other party was definitely being serious!
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A streak of light shot out from the huge energy globe above the tortoise statue, landing on Yuan Shang’s assigned spot in the participants’ tent.
This streak of light turned into a flash of bright light as it landed, though it quickly dissipated to reveal the appearance of Yuan Shang himself.
Two physicians rushed over, immediately starting to examine and treat the various wounds on his body. Thankfully, he did not seem to have suffered any grievous injuries.
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We have entered battle with Vermilion Bird Sect’s Quan Hui’s party, and are being heavily suppressed,” Yuan Shang explained in a frustrated tone. “They are a group of six, but they are a lot stronger than we expected!”
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What happened is like this...” Yuan Shang started to recount the details of the incident, understanding that while he had already been eliminated, whatever he said now might still be of help to the rest of his party, who were still struggling in the mystic realm.
Many of these sect administrators were not exactly concerned about Yuan Shang, especially those from other inner sect factions. However, all of them were definitely eager to use this opportunity to find out more about the current situation within the Four Symbols Mystic Realm.
“So, the fight broke up into small skirmishes, and your opponent forced you to exit,” Sect Protector Pei let out a helpless sigh.
This was essentially a friendly competition, not a life-and-death battle. Therefore, participants would not go to the extent of killing their opponents.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Still, most victors only forced the losers to leave the area. Forcing the losers to activate their jade tablets and exit the mystic realm altogether was quite the domineering thing to do, usually only done when there was some bad blood between the two groups.
For Quan Hui’s party to do so, it meant that either Quan Hui was acting with arrogance, or Yuan Shang had deliberately left out certain details with regards to their encounter.
Either way... how unlucky!
“Please help Senior Martial Brother San and the others!” Yuan Shang pleaded.
It was not as though the rest were in any sort of mortal danger, but he still hoped that his party would be able to survive this battle, even if it meant doing so without him.
The opening of the Four Symbols Mystic Realm had always been largely regarded as the most important event for inner disciples every year.
If their entire party ended up getting routed here, they would have to bear the shame of achieving nothing for at least the rest of the year. There was even a possibility of the matter being brought up repeatedly for decades to come!
“Send a message to San Wanfan. Get them to stop being stubborn and retreat!” Sect Protector Pei promptly turned towards Zhao Yunxiao.
“We have been trying to retreat as well, but they just keep chasing!” Yuan Shang added.
What? Those arrogant brats are going too far!” Sect Protector Pei cursed. “It seems like they won’t give up until they have forced everyone to exit!”
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What kind of party are you? How can you bunch go into the Four Symbols Mystic Realm with so little communication?” Sect Protector Pei berated. “Ah, whatever! Just tell San Wanfan to use whatever trump cards he has to get out of there!”
Zhao Yunxiao did not know about San Wanfan, but he definitely would not!
I understand what you are thinking, but why don’t we tell him something more constructive than to just do whatever he can?” Fei Weng advised.
Constructive advice? That’s easier said than done! What kind of constructive advice can we possibly give him with the limited information we have?” Sect Protector Pei complained. “If you have any idea, why don’t you enlighten me a little?”
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In the end, most disciples refrained from revealing all their trump cards to fellow disciples, much less the sect protectors and deacons with whom they had an even more distant relationship.
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Tch! Just tell them whatever I said!” Sect Protector Pei insisted. “Get them to use whatever trump cards they have to retreat from there!”
Apologies, Senior Pei, but I agree with Senior Fei,” Yuan Shang interjected from the side. “I don’t think that will help Senior Martial Brother San at all. Can’t we tell him how to deal with Quan Hui’s party instead? Or at the very least, how to get out of there?”
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That might be true, but they are right as well,” another sect protector intervened at this point. “What you are telling them is of no value. Doing so will be nothing but a waste of sect resources.”
Tch! Why don’t you tell me what we can do then?” Sect Protector Pei clicked his tongue in irritation, though his tone inevitably mellowed a little in response.
Through the jade tablets, it was possible for them to send messages to the participants in the mystic realm, but each and every message would expend a certain amount of energy that had to be accounted for through spirit stones.
This essentially meant that each message sent would cost the sect precious resources!
While the Black Tortoise Sect had a relatively large reserve of resources, their rate of expenditure was not small either.
Considering that, burning resources just to send a completely useless message was frowned upon as prodigal and wasteful.
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Zhao Yunxiao had gotten tired of the long discussion.
This matter had a direct impact on six of the participants under his watch. If all of them ended up eliminated this early, that would definitely have a negative impact on his assessment even though it was not exactly his fault.
Rather than just waiting around for a decision to be made, he decided that he might as well try something in the meantime.
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This was not an unprecedented matter as well. In fact, it was actually quite common for observersto be tasked with giving temporary guidance to the participants while the solution was being discussed among the sect administrators.
It allowed the participants to at least receive some updates on the situation, giving them a slightly better fighting chance while waiting for an actual solution from the sect administrators.
However, observers were usually tasked to do so. Seldom would they voluntarily request for this, mostly because they wanted to avoid being made responsible for any potential mistakes.
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In his mind, information gathered from past years of research and personal reports rapidly reconciled with the statements from the participants who had been eliminated early thus far, coming together to form a tentative map of the Four Symbols Mystic Realm.
It was a map that was lacking in terms of completion, comprising several empty gaps as well as overlapping layers that suggested different possibilities due to unverified sources of information.
Zhao Yunxiao slowly opened his eyes with a determined gaze.
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