Discussions regarding the competition were everywhere.
Even though the City was big, it was unable to provide lodgings for so many people at once. Therefore, all of the traveler inns, taverns, and restaurants were fully booked many days ago as they all had a sign showing full outside. Luckily he didn't need to stay the night and had the lightning dash skill to rush back to River town when he finishes his business here.
A lot of people rushed to City Square in order to find a good spot for the upcoming show.
"Human, follow them, the more we wait, the more humans fill these streets"
Hearing Gaya, he followed behind the crowd and eventually arrived at City Square.
"This square is really too big, It covers more than a dozen square miles"
Micheal was really surprised. This was the biggest square he had ever seen as it was more than ten to fifteen miles in circumference. This square made the earth's biggest football stadium look like a small tennis court.
This was beyond his imagination since this world looked medieval and didn't have any technologies.
In the middle of this open stadium called simply square by the people here, there was a fighting stage, and besides the stage, there were stairs so tall that they almost reached the clouds. In addition, there were stairs leading to platforms that were built in order to allow certain people to watch the fights more clearly.
"Heaven's Gate Square was built by the combined efforts of his many kings and the big sects for the sole purpose of the competition. Would it work if it was small?"
"Leave him be, he seems new to the city, what a yokel"
"Hehehe"
Gaya burst into laughter hearing some despiteful words coming around them. But Micheal just ignored them and kept looking around the square in wonder since this square was really the biggest stadium he had ever seen.
While looking at the stadium, he also concentrated on the conversations around him to get more intel.
"Do you know the heaven's gate stairway also called the Stairway to God?
It's said that every step is difficult, as difficult as reaching the heavens. Imagine how difficult it is to climb to the top"
"Top? No one has ever reached the last step, my teacher said the highest record was achieved by a mysterious young woman who reached the seventieth step"
"Holy shit, she must have been so powerful to reach so high while enduring the pressure created by Core formation cultivators"
Many people were discussing about the competition and how hard it would be. There were a lot of youngsters participating in the competition, and this Stairway was only the first round. Those who performed outstandingly would have a chance to enter the second round of the competition.
Some people described the competition as a Survival of the fittest - only those with strength would be able to survive.
"I heard that people who aren't a part of the sects can also participate in the competition"
" There was once this girl who wasn't a part of any of the four big sects participated and created a new record. Many sects wanted to take her as their disciples but the girl disappeared before the second round"
"It seems like a rare scenario! The requirements set by the big sects are incredibly high. Those who want to participate in the competition cannot be more than 29 years old, and they must be at the Body refining stage, a normal person can't reach that stage before the age of 39 let alone 29. And to become a disciple of one of the big sects, you would need to at least become one of the top 40"
"If the disciples of the big sects arent competing, many youngsters from powerful families would even become one of the top 20, since it's not the case, they should aim for the range between 20 to 40. To become the top twenty without any background, then they must be a genius but such geniuses would have become a disciple of one of the big sects long before this"
He understood the competition really well after hearing these conversations and just like Gaya said, people who weren't disciples of the big sects could participate as well, however getting good results would be incredibly hard because all the geniuses in the kingdom had already become the disciples of one of the big sects.
"Now where can I find the Sunrise Sect?"
"They should be near the stage on the other side of the square, human, go before the competition starts"
***********************
"Sect leader Claire, we searched all over the river town but we couldn't find Riyan anywhere but"
"But what, elder Mark?"
A couple of middle-aged men wearing dark red robes were talking to a gorgeous looking young lady who had a voice like the beautiful symphony of bells and was extremely pleasant to the ears. The youngsters behind the young lady and the elders were looking pale and clenching their fist against their chest.
"Sect leader Claire, the blood and bone sect"
The mere mention of the name made the female disciples' heart skip a beat and even the sect leader seemed uncomfortable.
"What of it?"
The young lady frowned and asked.
"The whole sect was annihilated overnight, Sect Leader"
The disciples and the sect leader were taken aback by shock. Even though their Sunrise sect was declined to the point that they only had thirty disciples in total just as the blood and bone sect, they couldn't be compared to that evil sect in terms of power. She might be the sect leader but she was only a body refining stage level 5 cultivator and the four elders were more powerful than her as they were all body refining stage level 10.
It was only because the previous sect leader, her father went missing that made her the new sect leader. Couple of elders quit the sect and joined the other sect when the four main elders chose her as the new sect leader making their sect even weaker.
"Which sect did that? Or it was the king's army?"
"Not a sect or an army, sect leader, they were killed by one man"
Soon after, the two elders started recounting the story of how the youth called the Ghost massacred the entire sect and burned Ralphy on a stake outside the city gates. The young woman Sect Leader and Elders were stunned and flabbergasted when they heard this.
"That..." The pair of other elders and the sect leader was astonished by this story. They had never heard anything as incredulous as this in their entire lives.
"It can't be, how a young man in the body refining stage level one could kill Ralphy, a body strengthening stage cultivator?"
One of the two elders asked
"I have the same doubt, Elder Sandra but the whole River town saw him burning Ralphy alive"
Incredible it sounded, it couldn't help with their current situation at all. Without Riyan, their core disciple, they had no hope of getting into the top 40 and getting the much-needed resources, the entire sect's survival was depending on the resources given by the king. If Riyan did not participate and get into the top 40, they wouldn't get anything and it'd be the end of their sect.
"If we don't find Riyan, our sect will also become like the blood and bone, dead"
Hearing Elder Sandra, Claire felt like she was going to faint on the spot. Her father trusted her with the sect and how could she let the sect die under on her watch.
"It seems this is the end of our sect"
Elder Sandra's voice broke as tears were flowing out of her eyes.
A few decades ago, the Sunrise sect flourished beyond words and their reputation was even spread across the kingdoms nearby Bredia. Talented youngsters would line up before their sect hoping to get admitted into their sect and powerful cultivators would try to get a job as a teacher in their sect.
During their golden age, they had more than ten thousand disciples, three hundred teachers, and fifty elders. But now they were reduced to thirty disciples and four teachers who were also the elders of the sect.
Elder Sandra practically grew up in the sect since she was a baby with her mother who was an Elder. She loved the sect just as much as Claire, so her heart ached to see the sect in its last leg.
"Elder Sandra!"
Thinking about this Elder Sandra felt dizzy and stumbled back as Elder Mark quickly grabbed her hand before she hit the ground
"ELDER SANDRA!"
Claire shouted looking at Elder Sandra who was lying in Elder Mark's hands without consciousness.
"Give me some water!"
Claire shouted at her disciples as they looked at each other for water and some of them rushed into the crowd to get her some water.
"You guys look like you need some help"
Suddenly they heard a voice and turned to look at a young man wearing black robes walking towards them with a smile.