CHAPTER 66: FIRST ROUND OF PILL TOURNAMENT

***

Two days later.

Nights at Ming Yuan Sect.

Female and male cultivators were resting in separate places. Ming Yuan Sect had provided five new islands to house them all.

A total of 250 people had successfully qualified for the tournament. Each island had two dormitories, each capable of housing around 25 people.

Li Shen was assigned to Bao Island.

From Li Shen’s eyes, most of the cultivators living on Bao Island were Nascent Soul and Soul Formation cultivators. Several guards from the Ming Yuan Sect’s outer disciples were assigned to each island to ensure security.

Unlike the others, Li Shen sat in the lotus position outside the dormitory. He found a large rock on the shore, with a spiritual energy flow that was not too abundant, but sufficient for his basic needs.

"Why did you come here?! Aren’t you ashamed of tarnishing your family’s name?!" someone shouted from behind, far enough away but loud enough for Li Shen to hear.

"This tournament is open to the public. I can join no matter what," explained another young man, intimidated.

"Really? Are you trying to restore your family’s honor by winning this tournament? How pathetic!" snapped another man.

Through his ears, Li Shen not only heard the two arguing, but also faintly heard the sound of many footsteps approaching from that direction.

’Three against one. The strong are in power; the young man has no choice but to surrender,’ Li Shen explained.

One important rule in that place, enforced by the sect elders, was that cultivation techniques were not to be used except for meditation. With that rule, they would not hurt the young man with magic.

PUNCH!

Now, Li Shen heard the sound of punches and kicks coming from that direction. He also faintly heard the young man’s cries of pain, mixed with pleas for mercy. It was a heartbreaking situation.

As the seemingly unfair fight between them continued, a woman who was an outer disciple noticed the fight.

She flew over and pulled the three men away from the young man. The female cultivator was only at the Core Formation stage.

"It is forbidden to hurt other participants. If you continue, I will record your names and report you to the Sect Elder to have you disqualified," she said.

One of the men turned his head, then smiled smugly while crossing his arms in front of his chest, acting arrogant. He said that he would not listen to anyone with a lower cultivation level than him, even if she was a disciple of the Ming Yuan Sect.

"I’ll let him go if you beat me in a fight!" threatened the man, his face cynical.

The vast disparity in strength between the two left the female cultivator stunned and confused. She continued to press the man, threatening to report him to the Sect Elder. However, her insistence was useless.

"Go ahead and report me. I’m sure Elder Mo will help me," the man said defiantly.

"Elder Mo?"

"He’s the son of Mo Gao, the younger brother of Elder Mo Hao," said the young man in pain, shocking the female cultivator.

"He’s from the Mo Family?"

"What? Are you daring enough to fight me?" asked Mo Ni, the arrogant man challenging the female cultivator.

The female cultivator floating in the sky was increasingly confused and frightened. If she didn’t stop them immediately, the young man could die and all the outer sect disciples assigned to guard Bao Island would be blamed.

However, if she accepted the challenge, it was possible that she would lose and the bullying would continue.

The woman had no one to help her. All the guards stationed on Bao Island were Core Formation cultivators, while the majority of the participants on the island were Nascent Soul cultivators.

However, justice must be upheld. The woman held the principles of equality and justice in high regard. She was willing to suffer severe injuries as long as the young man was saved.

"I agree!" said the woman firmly, her voice trembling and hoarse.

"Haha! Do you have an arena separate from this island? Fighting while breaking the rules is not good for me," explained Mo Ni.

The female cultivator nodded, she knew of an uninhabited island that was not used by anyone. There, there was a large arena commonly used by Ming Yuan Sect’s outer disciples for training.

The woman flew away first on the condition that the injured young man did not come with them. Mo Ni nodded, he would accept the condition as long as he could fight the female cultivator. That was because Mo Ni was very interested in magic battles.

When they left the island, Li Shen opened his eyes and rose from his lotus position. The blue qi aura around his body faded, a sign that he had meditated enough for the day.

His destination was not the participants’ dormitory, but the injured young man. With lightning speed, Li Shen moved from one place to another in a matter of seconds.

A flash of blue light suddenly appeared in front of the young man. The young man was shocked, his face frozen in disbelief. Standing before him was a blue-robed Azure Dragon cultivator, his expression serious.

"Who are you?" the young man asked.

Li Shen remained silent, not answering. Instead, he swung his hand forward, sending his qi energy into the young man’s body. Slowly, the spiritual energy was absorbed through his pores and flowed steadily through his meridians. The wounds all over the young man’s body healed by themselves.

"Wait... you healed me?" the young man asked, seeing the bruises and wounds on his body disappear.

"I heard everything—about you and about the man’s challenge to the Ming Yuan Sect’s disciple," Li Shen replied flatly.

"Are you a disciple of the Ming Yuan Sect?"

"There is something you can do to save that woman’s life—report this incident to the Head Guardian of Bao Island."

"Tell them about the man’s challenge. They will certainly know where he is," Li Shen replied.

"Alright. Thank you very much, Senior."

The burly young man got up and flew away, heading for the island guard post as Li Shen had told him. Li Shen had no intention of getting further involved; he would let the young man deal with the matter himself.

There was nothing Li Shen could do, so he flew back to the dormitory to rest.

***

The next day.

Bao Island, Ming Yuan Sect.

"All tournament participants! Gather around!" ordered the island guard cultivator.

One by one, the cultivators from the two dormitories arrived at the square field with five people floating in the air, one of whom was Ming Yuan Sect Elder Mo.

Surprising! Li Shen did not find the female cultivator. A guess popped into his head about her condition.

To confirm, he turned his head and looked around the area. The stocky young man from last night was present with a gloomy face, bruised again.

Mo Ni and his two friends also gathered. Unlike the stocky young man, they looked satisfied, smiling brightly, either because they had won the fight or done something last night.

"Because of Elder Mo’s prestigious status in the Ming Yuan Sect, Mo Ni can do anything without fear of punishment," explained Li Shen.

"Let’s just hope he doesn’t cause trouble for me. If he does, I might be able to destroy him easily," said Li Shen.

"Today is the first day of the Ming Yuan Sect Pill Tournament. We call this round the Basic Pill Selection," explained Elder Mo to all the participants.

"You will enter the Ming Yuan Sect’s treasure dimension and search for the ingredients you need to make pills. Those of you who successfully make a third-level pill will advance to the next round," explained Elder Mo.

"Another requirement for the pills is that they must be elemental pills!"

"That’s right! The pills you make must contain one of the five basic elements. Third-level healing pills and third-level cultivation pills will not be evaluated and will be immediately disqualified!" explained Elder Mo.

’Elemental pills are very helpful for cultivators with certain elemental affinities. These pills are usually consumed by those who need to increase their strength for attack or defense,’ said Li Shen.

Elder Mo threw a time token to all the participants, who received it one by one. Written on it was that the time limit for this round was one day.

"Each participant must complete their pill within one day. If you are late, you will fail."

"Do you understand what I said?" asked Elder Mo, and several participants nodded in agreement.

"Alright. Get ready. We will open the portal. You must enter it in an orderly manner," explained Elder Mo.

One of the participants raised his hand. It was Mo Ni. He asked if the other participants could fight each other for the materials. Elder Mo nodded.

"The participants can fight each other, or they can work together. You can do whatever it takes to win this round."

"Only the strong will survive in this situation."

Slowly, the portal to the Ming Yuan Sect’s treasure dimension opened before them. Elder Mo and the others cleared a path to allow the tournament participants to enter one by one. Mo Ni and his two friends were the first to enter the place, followed by the other participants.

Li Shen followed the other participants into the treasure dimension. As he passed through the portal, he witnessed the landscape of the treasure dimension in the sky, filled with large floating hills.

The place was rich in pill-making materials, which the sect disciples had collected and stored there to celebrate the Ming Yuan Sect Pill Tournament.

Li Shen landed gently on one of the floating hills. He glanced at the time token, which began displaying a countdown—he didn’t have much time left.

"A third-tier elemental pill? I must decide which pill to make," Li Shen asked himself.

"Senior! Please help me," someone cried out from behind him, causing Li Shen to reflexively turn around.

There, he saw that the stocky young man was being chased by Mo Ni and his two friends. Their bullying hadn’t stopped yet; they seemed angry because the stocky young man had reported them last night.

"Please help me."

"You?!" Mo Ni said sternly, pointing at Li Shen.

"Don’t get involved in my matters if you don’t want to die!" Mo Ni snapped, threatening Li Shen.

"Really? How exactly are you going to kill me?" Li Shen asked.

Mo Ni smiled slyly as he took out the Mo family’s artifact weapon, "With this!"

"Elder Mo said that only the strong can survive. I’m curious, can you survive?"